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MDCCCLXVI. 



BIBLICAL COMMENTARY 



ON 



THE BOOK OF JOB. 



BY 



F. DELITZSOH, D.D., 

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TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN 
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MDCCCLXVI. 



MURRAY AND Q1BB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. 



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 



IT is with no ordinary feeling of relief and satisfaction that 
I am at length able to send forth the second and concluding 
volume of this Commentary. And I am confident that the 
trifling delay in this year's issues of the Foreign Theological 
Library will be readily pardoned, when the tedious toil 
involved in carrying such a work through the press amidst 
the pressure of other duties is considered. No pains have 
been spared to render the work worthy its position ; and the 
care bestowed upon the work by myself has been fully 
seconded by the attention of the printers. 

The duties of translation have been carefully discharged, 
and it has been my aim to preserve the complexion of the 
original as far as possible, even sometimes at the expense of 
an easy flow of language. Conscious of imperfection in the 
working out of my design, I have nevertheless sought to put 
the reader in the position of a student of the original volume. 
The task which I imposed upon myself has not been confined 
to mere translation ; but close attention has been given to 
the accurate reproduction of the critical portions, with the 
hope of contributing in some small degree to the diffusion of 
sound exegetical knowledge for the elucidation of one of the 



VI TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 

grandest and most practical books of the Old Testament 
Scriptures, and from a conviction of the need there is for the 
cultivation of the cognate Semitic languages. This latter 
branch of study is specially applicable and necessary in the 
interpretation of the book of Job, and the established scholar- 
ship of Dr Delitzsch eminently qualifies him for the effective 
execution of the work. 

Further explanation need scarcely be added, except in 
reference to the retention of the word Cliokma, and the 
character of the translation of the text. As to the former, 
I regret that I did not append a note to vol. i. p. 5, to the 
effect that the word Chokma ("""9^, Wisdom) was reproduced 
because used technically by the author. I presumed that 
students of the volume would at once recognise the word ; 
but from the consideration that the Commentary may also 
be used, so far as the practical parts are concerned, even by 
readers unacquainted with Hebrew, this explanation has been 
deemed needful. 

And it may further suffice, in connection with the second 
section of the Introduction, to define Chokma as the one 
word for the lofty spirit of wisdom which dwelt in the minds 
of the wise men of Israel in the Salomonic age, a wisdom 
taught, inspired, by the Holy Spirit of God the culmination 
of -which is found in Solomon himself. In brief, the Chokma 
is the divine philosophy of the Jewish church. 

With reference to the new rendering of the text : it aims 
at a literal and faithful reproduction of Dr Delitzsch's trans- 
lation, as representing his " sense and appreciation of the 
original," and as the embodiment of the results of the critical 
notes. Therefore I have not felt at liberty to use that 



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. Vll 

freedom of expression which I regard as most desirable in 
adapting the translation of the original text to the require- 
ments of the general reader. This portion of my under- 
taking has not been free from difficulty; and occasionally 
an amount of stiffness has seemed unavoidable, owing to the 
different structure of the Hebrew and English languages, 
while, from the plastic nature of the German language, 
the author is enabled to mould his translation closely after 
the original text, and still render it elegant, and at times 
rhythmical. 

A note on the transcription of Arabic words will be found 
at the end of the Appendix. The references have been 
verified, so far as the means of verification have been acces- 
sible ; and I believe I may speak with confidence of those 
that I have not been able to verify, from the general accuracy 
I found in the others. 

To clear up the misapprehension which has been mani- 
fested in many quarters, I would add that this Commentary 
forms a part of the Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament 
by Drs Keil and Delitzsch. But the name of the latter only 
is appended to these volumes, because Dr Delitzsch is the 
writer of this portion, just as Dr Keil only is the author of 
the Commentary on the Pentateuch, and all the other volumes 
that have appeared to this date. 

I have still to acknowledge the kind promptitude with 
which my esteemed friend Dr Delitzsch has, in more than 
one instance, given me an explanation of a difficult point, and 
favoured me with an additional amendment of the original 

o 

work during the progress of this translation through the 
press. 

b 



Vlll TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 

In the hope that the usefulness of Dr Delitzsch's valuable 
contribution to Biblical Exegesis may be extended beyond 
his original design, I commend it to all earnest students of 
the Holy Word, with the prayer that the blessing of the 
Spirit of Jehovah may rest upon the labours of our hands. 

F. B. 

ELLAND, November 2, 1866. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



SECOND PART. THE ENTANGLEMENT. CHAP, iv.-xxvi. 

THE THIRD COURSE OF THE CONTROVERSY. CHAP. XXII.-XXVI. 

{Continued.) 

PAGE 

Job's First Answer Chap, xxiii. xxiv., .... 1 

Bildad's Third Speech Chap, xxv., . . . .44 

Job's Second Answer Chap, xxvi., . . . ,.49 



THIRD PART. THE TRANSITION TO THE UNRAVELMENT. 

CHAP, xxvu.-xxxi. 

Job's Final Speech to the Friends Chap, xxvii. xxviii., . . 65 

Job's Monologue Chap, xxix.-xxxi., . . . .117 

thirst Part Chap, xxix., . . . . .117 

Second Part Chap, xxx., ..... 136 

Third Part Chap, xxxi., ..... 172 

FOURTH PART. THE UNRAVELMENT. CHAP. XXXII.-XLII. 

THE SPEECHES OF ELIHU CHAP, xxxn.-xxxvu., . . 206 

Historical Introduction to the Section Chap, xxxii. l-6a, . 206 

Elihu's First Speech Chap, xxxii. 66-xxxiii., . . 209 

Elihu's Second Speech Chap, xxxiv., . . .246 

Elihu's Third Speech Chap, xxxv., . . . .267 

Elihu's Fourth Speech Chap, xxxvi. xxxvii., . . 276 



X TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

THE UNRAVELMENT IN THE CONSCIOUSNESS CHAP. XXXVIII.-XLII. 6, 311 
The First Speech of Jehovah, and Job's Answer Chap. 

xxxviii.-xl. 5, . . . . .311 

The Second Speech of Jehovah, and Job's Second Penitent 

Answer Chap. xl. 6-xlii. 6, . . . 354 

THE UNRAVELMENT IN OUTWARD REALITY CHAP. XLII. 7 SQQ., 385 



APPENDIX. 

The Monastery of Job in Hauran, etc., .... 395 

Note on Arabic "Words, etc., ..... 449 

INDEX OF TEXTS, ....... 451 



THE BOOK OF JOB. 



SECOND PART. THE ENTANGLEMENT. 

CHAP, iv.-xxvi. 

THE THIRD COURSE OF THE CONTROVERSY. 
CHAP. XXII. -XXVI. 

(CONTINUED.) 



JoVs First Ansiver. Chaps, xxiii. xxiv. 
Schema : 8. 8. 8. 8. | 8. 9. 9. 9. 5. 10. 9. 

[Then began Job, and said :] 

2 Even to-day my complaint still biddeth defiance) 
My hand lieth heavy upon my groaning. 

3 Oh that I knew ivhere I might find Him, 
That I might come even to His dwelling-place ! 

4 / would lay the cause before Him, 
And fill my mouth with arguments: 

5 / should like to know the words He would answer me, 
And attend to what He would say to me. 

SINCE "nip (f^r which the LXX. reads eic rov xeipos /JLOV, 
^TB; Ew. 1TD, from his hand) usually elsewhere signifies 
obstinacy, it appears that ver. 2 a ought to be explained : My 
complaint is always accounted as rebellion (against God) ; 
but by this rendering ver, 2b requires some sort of expletive, 

VOL. II. A 



a THE BOOK OF JOB. 

in order to furnish a. connected thought : although the hand 
which is upon me stifles my groaning (Hirz.) ; or, according 
to another rendering of the /V: etpourtant mes gemissements 
negalentpas mes souffrances (Renan, Schlottm.). These inter- 
pretations are objectionable on account of the artificial re- 
storation. of the connection between the two members of the 
verse, which they require ; they lead one to expect ^1. (as a 
circumstantial clause; LXX., Cod. Vat. KOI fj ^elp avrov), 
As the words stand, it is to be supposed that the definition of 
time, Di*n"D3 (even to-day still, as Zech. ix. 12), belongs to 
both divisions of the verse. How, then, is "nD to be under- 
stood? If we compare ch. vii. 11, x. 1, where "ID, which is 
combined with n^, signifies amarum = amaritudo, it is natural 
to take **\n also in the signification amaritudo, acerbitas (Targ., 
Syr., Jer.); and this is also possible, since, as is evident from 
Ex. xxiii. 21, comp. Zech. xii. 10, the verbal forms TID and 
HID run into one another, as they are really cognates. 1 But 
it is more satisfactory, and more in accordance with the rela- 
tion of the two divisions of the verse, if we keep to the usual 
signification of ^E ; not, however, understanding it of ob- 



d mD both spring from the root "i [vid. supra, i. p. 279, note], 

with the primary signification stringere, to beat, rub, draw tight. Hence 

tf / 

^, to touch lightly, smear upon (to go by, over, or through, to move by, 
etc.), but also stringere palatum, of an astringent taste, strong in taste, 



-to be bitter, opp. &, soft and mild in taste, to be sweet, as in another 



direction r6n, to be loose, weak, sick, both from the root ^je* in 
solvit, laxavit. From the signification to be tight come amarra, to stretch 
tight, istamarra, to stretch one's self tight, to draw one's self out in 
this state of tension of things in time, to continue unbroken ; mirreli, 
string, cord ; JT1D, to make and hold one's self tight against any one, 

i.e. to be obstinate: originally of the body, asjt> jUJ, to strengthen 
themselves in the contest against one another; then of the mind, as 

t^jLcj i^Ujj to struggle against anything, both outwardly by contra- 
diction and disputing, and inwardly by doubt and unbelief. FL. 



CHAP. XXIII. 2-5. 3 

stinacy, revolt, rebellion (viz. in the sense of the friends), 
but, like '*np, 2 Kings xiv. 26 (which describes the affliction 
as stiff-necked, obstinate), of stubbornness, defiance, con- 
tinuance in opposition, and explain with Raschi : My com- 
plaint is still always defiance, i.e. still maintains itself in 
opposition, viz. against God, without yielding (Hahn, Olsh. : 
unsubmitting) ; or rather : against such exhortations to peni- 
tence as those which Eliphaz has just addressed to him. In 
reply to these, Job considers his complaint to be well justified 
even to-day, i.e. even now (for it is not, with Ewald, to be 
imagined that, in the mind of the poet, the controversy 
extends over several days, an idea which would only be 
indicated by this one word). 

In ver. 2b he continues the same thought under a different 
form of expression. My hand lies heavy on my groaning, 
i.e. I hold it immoveably fast (as Fleischer proposes to take 
the words) ; or better : I am driven to a continued utterance 
of it. 1 By this interpretation H H retains its most natural 
meaning, manus mea, and the connection of the two members 
of the verse without any particle is best explained. On the 
other hand, all modern expositors, who do not, as Olsh., at 
once correct 'T into VP, explain the suffix as objective : the 
hand, i.e. the destiny to which I have to submit, weighs upon 
my sighing, irresistibly forcing it out from me. Then ver. 2b 
is related to ver. 2a as a confirmation ; and if, therefore, a 
particle is to be supplied, it is ^ (Olsh.) and no other. Thus, 
even the Targ. renders it ^nio, plaga mea. Job's affliction is 
frequently traced back to the hand of God, ch. xix. 21, 
comp. i. 11, ii. 5, xiii. 21 ; and on the suffix used objectively 
(pass.) we may compare ver. 14, ""jpri; ch. xx. 29, ft*?K; and 



1 The idea might also be : My hand presses ray groaning back (because 
it would be of no use to me) ; but ver. 2a is against this, and the Arab. 
Icamada, to restrain inward pain, anger, etc. by force (e.g. mat kerned, 
he died from suppressed rage or anxiety), has scarcely any etymological 
connection with 



4 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

especially xxxiv. 6, ^n. The interpretation : the hand upon 
me is heavy above my sighing, i.e. heavier than it (Ramban, 
Rosenm., Ges., Schlottm., Renan), also accords with the con- 
nection. ?y can indeed be used in this comparative meaning, 
Ex. xvi. 5, Eccl. i. 16 ; but h> 1 s rrm is an established 
phrase, and commonly used of the burden of the hand upon 
any one, Ps. xxxii. 4 (comp. ch. xxxiii. 7, in the division 
in which Elihu is introduced ; and the connection with 7K, 
1 Sam. v. 6, and D>, 1 Sam. v. 11); and this usage of the 
language renders the comparative rendering very improbable. 
But it is also improbable that " my hand" is = the hand [that 
is] upon me, since it cannot be shown that T was directly 
used in the sense of plaga; even the Arabic, among the 
many turns of meaning which it gives to Jo, does not support 
this, and least of all would an Arab conceive of ^jj passively, 
plaga quam patior. Explain, therefore : his complaint now, 
as before, offers resistance to the exhortation of the friends, 
which is not able to lessen it, his (Job's) hand presses upon 
his lamentation so that it is forced to break forth, but 
without its justification being recognised by men. This 
thought urges him on to the wish that he might be able to 

o o o 

pour forth his complaint directly before God. t!?P*? is a ^ 
one time followed by an accusative (ch. xiv. 4, xxix. 2, xxxi. 
31, 35, to which belongs also the construction with the inf., 
ch. xi. 5), at another by the fut. y with or without Wow (as 
here, ver. 3&, ch. vi. 8, xiii. 5, xiv. 13, xix. 23), and at 
another by the perf., with or without Wato (as here, ver. 3a : 
utinam noverim, and Deut. v. 26). And ^VX ^ s ? as ' m cn - 
xxxii. 22, joined with the fut. : scirem (noverim) et invenirem 
instead of possim invenire eum (te>p) ? Ges. 142, 3, c. If 
he but knew [how] to reach Him (God), could attain to His 
throne; nran (everywhere from p3, not from fi) signifies 
the setting up, i.e. arrangement (Ezek. xliii. 11) or establish- 
ment (Nah. ii. 10) of a dwelling, and the thing itself which is 



CHAP. XXIII. 6-9. 5 

set out and established, here of the place where God's throne 
is established. Having attained to this, he would lay his 
cause (instruere causam, as ch. xiii. 18, comp. xxxiii. 5) before 
Him, and fill his mouth with arguments to prove that he has 
right on his side (riirDin, as Ps. xxxviii. 15, of the grounds of 
defence, or proof that he is in the right and his opponent in 
the wrong). In ver. 5 we may translate: I would, or: I 
should like (to learn) ; in the Hebrew, as in cognoscerem, 
both are expressed ; the substance of ver. 5 a makes the 
optative rendering more natural. He would like to know 
the words with which He would meet him, 1 and would give 
heed to what He would say to him. But will He condescend? 
will He have anything to do with the matter? 

6 Will fie contend with me imtli great power t 
No, indeed; He will only regard me ! 

7 Then the upright would be disputing with Him, 
And I should for ever escape my judge. 

8 Yet I go eastward. He is not there, 
And westward, but I perceive Him not; 

9 Northwards where He worketh, but I behold Him 

not ; 
He turneth aside southwards, and I see Him not. 

The question which Job, in ver. 6a, puts forth : will He 
contend with me in the greatness or fulness of His strength, 
i.e. (as ch. xxx. 18) with a calling forth of all His strength ? 
he himself answers in ver. Qb, hoping that the contrary may 
be the case : no, indeed, He will not do that. 2 &6 is here 



is generally accented with Dechi, DD with Munach, according 
to which Dachselt interprets : scirem, quss eloquia respondent mihi Deus, 
but this is incorrect. The old editions have correctly njTTK Munach, 
D^ID Munach (taking the place of Declii, because the Athnach-word 
which follows has not two syllables before the tone-syllable; vid. Psalter, 
ii. 104, 4). 

2 With this interpretation, yf? should certainly have Rebia mugrasch; 



6 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

followed not by the *3, which is otherwise customary after a 
negation in the signification imo, but by the restrictive ex- 
ceptive f\$, which never signifies sed, sometimes verum tamen 
(Ps. xlix. 16; comp. supra, ch. xiii. 15, vol. i. p. 215), but 
here, as frequently, tantummodo, and, according to the hyper- 
baton which has been mentioned so often (vol. i. pp. 72, 238, 
and also 215), is placed at the beginning of the sentence, 
and belongs not to the member of the sentence immediately 
following it, but to the whole sentence (as in Arabic also 



the restrictive force of the Ujl never falls upon what im- 



mediately follows it) : He will do nothing but regard me 
(D^J, scil. A, elsewhere with ?XJ of the object of regard or 
reflection, ch. xxxiv. 23, xxxvii. 15, Judg. xix. 30, and with- 
out an ellipsis, ch. i. 8 ; also with ?&, ch. ii. 3, or ?, 1 Sam. ix. 
20 ; here designedly with 21, which unites in itself the signi- 
fications of the Arab. < _ > and ^J, of seizing, and of plunging 
into anything). Many expositors (Hirz., Ew., and others) 
understand ver. 65 as expressing a wish : " Shall He contend 
with me with overwhelming power ? No, I do not desire that ; 
only that He may be a judge attentive to the cause, not a 
ruler manifesting His almighty power." But ver. 6a, taken 
thus, would be purely rhetorical, since this question (shall 
He, etc.) certainly cannot be seriously propounded by Job ; 
accordingly, ver. 65 is not intended as expressing a wish, but 
a hope. Job certainly wishes the same thing in ch. ix. 34, 
xiii. 21 ; but in the course of the discussion he has gradually 
acquired new confidence in God, which here once more 
breaks through. He knows that God, if He could but be 

O ' 

found, would also condescend to hear his defence of himself, 

its accentuation with Merclia proceeds from another interpretation, pro- 
bably non utique ponet in me (manum suani), according to which the 
Targ. translates. Others, following this accentuation, take JO in the 
sense of j^>n (yid. in Dachselt), or are at pains to obtain some other 
meaning from it. 



x CHAP. XXIII. 6-9. % 7 

that He would allow him to speak, and not overwhelm him 
with His majesty. 

Ver. 7. The question arises here, whether the SW which 

55 / 3 > 

follows is to be understood locally ( J) or temporally ( J) ; 

it is evident from ch. xxxv. 12, Ps. xiv. 5, Ixvi. 6, Hos. ii. 
17, Zeph. i. 14, that it may be used temporally; in many 
passages, e.g. Ps. xxxvi. 13, the two significations run into 
one another, so that they cannot be distinguished. We here 
decide in favour of the temporal signification, against Rosenm., 
Schlottm., and Hahn ; for if bW be understood locally, a 
" then " must be supplied, and it may therefore be concluded 
that this tiw is the expression for it. We assume at the 
same time that nDIJ is correctly pointed as part, with Kametz; 
accordingly it is to be explained : then, if He would thus pay 
attention to me, an upright man would be contending with 
Him, i.e. then it would be satisfactorily proved that an up- 
right man may contend with Him. In ver. 76, B?3, like ?, 
ch. xx, 20 (comp. nns, to have open, to stand open), is inten- 
sive of Kal : I should for ever escape my judge, i.e. come off 
most completely free from unmerited punishment. Thus it 
ought to be if God could be found, but He cannot be found. 
The fn, which according to the sense may be translated by 
"yet" (comp. ch. xxi. 16), introduces this antithetical rela- 
tion : Yet I go towards the east (JH with Mahpacli, CHi? with 
Mwiacli\ and He is not there ; and towards the west (^ n ?, 
comp. DTinx, occidentales, ch. xviii. 20), and perceive Him not 
(expressed as in ch. ix. 11 ; / p2 elsewhere : to attend to any- 
thing, ch. xiv. 21, Deut. xxxii. 29, Ps. Ixxiii. 17 ; here, as 
there, to perceive anything, so that ii? is equivalent to ink). 
In ver. 9 the left (TiKE^, Arab, shemdl, or even without 
the substantival termination, on which comp. Jesurun, pp. 
222-227, sham, sham) is undoubtedly an appellation of the 
north, and the right (p&J, Arab, jemiri) an appellation of the 



8 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

south; both words are locatives which outwardly are undefined. 
And if the usual signification of nby and *]Dy are retained, it is 
to be explained thus : northwards or in the north, if He should 
be active I behold not ; if He veil himself southwards or in 
the south I see not. This explanation is also satisfactory 
so far as ver. 9a is concerned, so -that it is unnecessary to 
understand tob^B other than in ch. xxviii. 26, and with 
Blumenfeld to translate according to the phrase te"H n^V, 
Judg. xvii. 8 : if He makes His way northwards ; or even 
with Umbr. to call in the assistance of the Arab, .c^ (to 
cover), which neither here nor ch. ix. 9, xv. 27, is admissible, 
since even then in^vn i'lXDb' cannot signify : if He hath 
concealed himself on the left hand (in the north). Ewald's 
combination of nb>y with HDy, in the assumed signification "to 
incline to " of the latter, is to be passed over as useless. On 
the other hand, much can be said in favour of Ewald's trans- 
lation of ver. 96 : "if He turn to the right hand I see 
Him not ; " for (1) the Arab. L gU- ? . by virtue of the radical 
notion, 1 which is also traceable in the Heb. *]Dy, signifies 
both trans, and intrans. to turn up, bend aside ; (2) Saadia 
translates: "and if He turns southwards ^atafa 'gunubari);" 
(3) Schultens correctly observes : *py signiftcatione operiendi 
commodum non efficit, sensum, nam quid mirum si quem occul- 
tantem se non conspiciamus. We therefore give the preference 
to this Arabic rendering of t\W*. If f]W, in the sense of 
obvelat se, does not call to mind the JDH ""Tin, penetralia austri, 



ch. ix. 9 (comp. jJo-, velamen, adytum), neither will 



1 The verb j^-c signifies trans, to turn, or lay, anything round, so 
that it is laid or drawn over something else and covers it ; hence u 



a garment that is cast round one, u-auO' with t-J of a garment : to cast 
it or wrap it about one. Intrans. to turn aside, depart from, of deviating 
from a given direction, deflectere, dedinare ; also, to turn in a totally 
opposite direction, to turn one's self round and to go back. FL. 



CHAP. XXIII. 10-13. 9 

point to the north as the limit of the divine dominion. Such 
conceptions of the extreme north and south are nowhere 
found among the Arabs as among the Arian races (yid. Isa. 
xiv. 13) ;* and, moreover, the conception of the north as the 
abode of God cannot be shown to be biblical, either from ch. 
xxxvii. 22, Ezek. i. 4, or still less from Ps. xlviii. 3. With 
regard to the syntax, cjDJP is a hypothetical fut., as ch. xx. 24, 
xxii. 27 sq. The use of the fut. apoc. THX, like BS, ver. 
11, without a voluntative or aoristic signification, is poetic. 
Towards all quarters of the heavens he turns, i.e. with his 
eyes and the longing of his whole nature, if he may by any 
means find God. But He evades him, does not reveal Him- 
self in any place whatever. 

The Vp which now follows does not give the reason of Job's 
earnest search after God, but the reason of His not being 
found by him. He does not allow Himself to be seen any- 
where; He conceals Himself from him, lest He should be 
compelled to acknowledge the right of the sufferer, and to 
withdraw His chastening hand from him. 

10 For He knoiveth the way that is with me : 

If He should prove me, I should come forth as gold. 

11 My foot held firm to His steps ; 

His way I kept, and turned not aside. 

12 The command of His lips I departed not from it; 

More than my own determination 1 kept the words of His 
mouth. 

1 3 Yet He remaineth by one thing, and who can turn Him ? 
And He accomplisheth what His soul desireth. 

That which is not merely outwardly, but inwardly with 

1 In contrast to the extreme north, the abode of the gods, the habitation 
of life, the extreme south is among the Arians the abode of the prince 
of death and of demons, Jama (yid. vol. i. p. 325) with his attendants, 
and therefore the habitation of death. 



10 THE BOOK OF JOB. 



any one, is that which he thinks and knows (his con- 
sciousness), ch. ix. 35, xv. 9, or his willing and acting, ch. 
x. 13, xxvii. 11 : he is conscious of it, he intends to do it ; 
here, ver. 10, Dy is intended in the former sense, in ver. 14 in 
the latter. The " way with me" is that which his conscience 
(trweiBrjcris) approves (o-v/JL^aprvpeT) ; comp. Psychol. S. 134. 
This is known to God, so that he who is now set down as a 
criminal would come forth as tried gold, in the event of God 
allowing him to appear before Him, and subjecting him to 
judicial trial, ^rm is the prcet. liypotlieticum so often men- 
tioned, which is based upon the paratactic character of the 
Hebrew style, as Gen. xliv. 22, Ruth ii. 9, Zech. xiii. 6 ; 
Ges. 155, 4, a. His foot has held firmly 1 to the steps of 
God ("i^'N, together with *tt$K, ch. xxxi. 7, from IP'K Piel, to 
go on), so that he was always close behind Him as his prede- 
cessor (THN synon. ^EH, Ps. xvii. 5, Prov. v. 5). He guarded, 
i.e. observed His way, and turned not aside (BS fat. apoc. 
Hipli. in the intransitive sense of deflectere, as e.g. Ps. cxxv. 5). 
In ver. 12a, Vfiat? J"TCM? precedes as cas. absolutus (as re- 
spects the command of His lips) ; and what is said in this 
respect follows with Waw apod. ( Arab. <_;) without the 
retrospective pronoun H3BD (which is omitted for poetic 
brevity). On this prominence of a separate notion after the 
manner of an antecedent, comp. vol. i. p. 91, note 1. The 
*Hiph. Eton, like nan ? ver. 11, and t^n, Prov. iv. 21, is not 
causative, but simply active in signification. In ver. 12& the 
question arises, whether |p |B is one expression, as in ch. 
xvii. 4, in the sense of " hiding from another/' or whether p 

/ O ' 

is comparative. In the former sense Hirz. explains : I re- 
moved the divine will from the possible ascendancy of my own. 



1 On fritf , Carey correctly observes, and it explains the form of the 
expression : The oriental foot has a power of grasp and tenacity, because 
not shackled with shoes from early childhood, of which we can form but 
little idea. 



CHAP. XXIII. 10-13. 11 

But since JBV is familiar to the poet in the sense of preserving 
and laying by (B^sy, treasures, ch. xx. 26), it is more natural 
to explain, according to Ps. cxix. 11 : I kept the words 
(commands) of Thy mouth, i.e. esteemed them high and 
precious, more than my statute, i.e. more than what my own 
will prescribed for me. 1 The meaning is substantially the 
same ; the LXX., which translates i> Se KoKirw JJLOV (^i?!??), 
which Olsh. considers to be "perhaps correct," destroys the 
significance of the confession. Hirz. rightly refers to the 
" law in the members," Rom. vii. 23 : ''ipn is the expression 
Job uses for the law of the sinful nature which strives against 
the law of God, the wilful impulse of selfishness and evil 
passion, the law which the apostle describes as erepo? w/^o?, 
in distinction from the 1/0/^09 rov Oeov (Psychol. S. 379). 
Job's conscience can give him this testimony, but He, the 
God who so studiously avoids him, remains in one mind, viz. 
to treat him as a criminal ; and who can turn Him from His 
purpose? (the same question as ch. ix. 12, xi. 10) ; His soul 
wills it (stat pro ratione voluntas\ and He accomplishes it. 
Most expositors explain permanet in uno in this sense ; the 
Beth is the usual 3 with verbs of entering upon and persist- 
ing in anything. Others, however, take the 3 as Beth essentice : 
He remains one and the same, viz. in His conduct towards 
me (Umbr., Vaih.), or : He is one, is alone, viz. in absolute 
majesty (Targ. Jer. ; Schult., Ew., Hlgst., Schlottm.), which 
is admissible, since this Beth occurs not only in the comple- 

1 Wetzstein arranges the significations of jQV as follows : 1. (Beduin) 
intr. fut. z, to contain one's self, to keep still (hence in Hebr. to lie in 
wait), to be rapt in thought ; con jug. II. c. ace. pers. to make any one 
thoughtful, irresolute. 2. (Hebr.) trans, fut. o, to keep anything to one's 
self, to hold back, to keep to one's self ; NipTi. to be held back, i.e. either 
concealed or reserved for future use. Thus we see how, on the one hand, 
JQX is related to JEB, e.g. ch. xx. 26 (Arab, itmaanna, to be still) ; and, 
on the other, can interchange with nD in the signification designare 
(comp. ch. xv. 22 with xv. 20, xxi. 19), and to spy, lie in wait (comp. 
Ps. x. 8, Ivi. 7, Prov. i. 11, 18, with Ps. xxxvii. 32). 



12 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

ments of a sentence (Ps. xxxix. 7, like a shadow ; Isa. xlviii. 
10, after the manner of silver; Ps. Iv. 19, in great number; 
Ps. xxxv. 2, as my help), but also with the predicate of a 
simple sentence, be it verbal (ch. xxiv. 13; Prov. iii. 26) or 
substantival (Ex. xviii. 4 ; Ps. cxviii. 7). The same con- 
struction is found also in Arabic, where, however, it is more 
frequent in simple negative clauses than in affirmative (vid. 
Psalter, i. 272). The assertion : He is one (as in the primary 
monotheistic confession, Deut. vi. 4), is, however, an expression 
for the absoluteness of God, which is not suited to this con- 
nection; and if inm Kin is intended to be understood of the 
unchangeable uniformity of His purpose concerning Job, the 
explanation : versatur (perstat) in uno, Arab, hua fi wdliidin, is 
not only equally, but more natural, and we therefore prefer it. 
Here again God appears to Job to be his enemy. His 
confidence towards God is again overrun by all kinds of 
evil, suspicious thoughts. He seems to him to be a God of 
absolute caprice, who punishes where there is no ground for 
punishment. There is indeed a phase of the abiding fact 
which he considers superior to God and himself, both being 
conceived of as contending parties ; and this phase God 
avoids, He will not hear it. Into this vortex of thoughts, as 
terrible as they are puerile, Job is hurried forward by the 
.persuasion that his affliction is a decree of divine justice. 
The friends have greatly confirmed him in this persuasion ; 
so that his consciousness of innocence, and the idea of God 
as inflicting punishment, are become widely opposite extremes, 
between which his faith is hardly able to maintain itself. 
It is not his affliction in itself, but this persuasion, which pre- 
cipitates him into such a depth of conflict, as the following 
strophe shows. 

14 For He accomplished that ivhich is ^pointed for me, 
And much of a like kind is with Him. 



CHAP. XXIII. 14-17. 13 

15 T/ierefore lam troubled at His presence ; 
If I consider it, I am afraid of Him. 

16 And God hath caused my heart to be dejected, 
And the Almighty hath put me to confusion; 

17 For I have not been destroyed before darkness, 

And before my countenance, which thick darkness covereth. 

Now it is the will of God, the absolute, which has all at 
once turned against him, the innocent (ver. 13) ; for what He 
has decreed against him (''pn) He also brings to a complete 
fulfilment (Dv^n, as e.g. Isa. xliv. 26) ; and the same troubles 
as those which he already suffers, God has still more abun- 
dantly decreed for him, in order to torture him gradually, 
but surely, to death. Job intends ver. 146 in reference to 
himself, not as a general assertion: it is, in general, God's way 
of acting. Plahn's objection to the other explanation, that 
Job's affliction, according to his own previous assertions, has 
already attained its highest degree, does not refute it ; for 
Job certainly has a term of life before him, though it be 
but short, in which the wondrously inventive (ch. x. 16) 
hostility of God can heap up ever new troubles for him. 
On the other hand, the interpretation of the expression in a 
general sense is opposed by the form of the expression itself, 
which is not that God delights to do this, but that Pie pur- 
poses (toy) to do it. It is a conclusion from the present 
concerning the future, such as Job is able to make with 
reference to himself ; while he, moreover, abides by the reality 
in respect to the mysterious distribution of the fortunes of 
men. Therefore, because he is a mark for the enmity of 
God, without having merited it, he is confounded before His 
countenance, which is so angrily turned upon him (comp. 
D^JS, Ps. xxi. 10, Lam. iv. 16) ; if he considers it (accord- 
ing to the sense fat. hypothet., as ver. 95), he trembles 
before Him, who recompenses faithful attachment by such 



14 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

torturing pain. The following connection with \ and the 
mention of God twice at the beginning of the affirmations, 
is intended to mean : (I tremble before Him), and He it is 
who has made me faint-hearted (T1D HipJi. from the Kal, 
Deut. xx. 3, and freq., to be tender, soft, disconcerted), and 
has troubled me ; which is then supported in ver. 17. 

His suffering which draws him on to ruin he perceives, 
but it is not the proper ground of his inward destruction ; it 
is not the encircling darkness of affliction, not the mysterious 
form of his suffering which disconcerts him, but God's hostile 
conduct towards him, His angry countenance as he seerns 
to see it, and which he is nevertheless unable to explain. 
Thus also Ew., Hirz., Vaih., Hlgst., and Schlottm. explain 
the passage. The only other explanation worthy of mention 
is that which finds in ver. 17 the thought already expressed 
in ch. iii. 10 : For I was not then destroyed, in order that 
I might experience such mysterious suffering ; an interpreta- 
tion with which most of the old expositors were satisfied, and 
which has been revived by Kosenm., Stick., and Hahn. We 
translate : for I have not been destroyed before darkness (in 
order to be taken away from it before it came upon me), and 
He has not hidden darkness before my face ; or as an excla- 
mation : that I have not been destroyed! which is to be equi- 
valent to : Had I but been . . . ! Apart from this rendering 
of the quod non utinam^ which cannot be supported, (1) It is 
doubly hazardous thus to carry the &6 forward to the second 
line in connection with verbs of different persons. (2) The 
darkness in ver. 176 appears (at least according to the usual 
interpret, caliginem) as that which is being covered, whereas 
it is naturally that which covers something else ; wherefore 
Blumenfeld explains : and darkness has not hidden, viz. such 
pain as I must now endure, from my face. (3) The whole 
thought which is thus gained is without point, and meaning- 
less, in this connection. On the other hand, the antithesis 



CHAP. XXIII. 14-17. 15 



between VJ& and ^SD ? I3ft and ?j!Prp:)B, is at once obvious ; 
and this antithesis, which forces itself upon the attention, 
also furnishes the thought which might be expected from the 
context. It is unnecessary to take nyj in a different signi- 
fication from ch. vi. 17 ; in Arabic C^/KO signifies conticescere ; 
the idea of the root, however, is in general a constraining de- 
priving of free movement, ^n is intended as in the question 
of Eliphaz, ch. xxii. 11 : "Or seest thou not the darkness?" 
to which it perhaps refers. It is impossible, with Schlottm., 
to translate ver. 175 : and before that darkness covers my 
face ; J*p is never other than a prcep., not a conjunction with 
power over a whole clause. It must be translated : et a facie 
mea quam obtegit caligo. As the absolute D'OS, ch. ix. 27, 
signifies the appearance of the countenance under pain, so 
here by it Job means his countenance distorted by pain, his 
deformed appearance, which, as the attributive clause affirms, 
is thoroughly darkened by suffering (comp. ch. xxx. 30). 
But it is not this darkness which stares him in the face, and 
threatens to swallow him up (comp. 7]Tro)D, ch. xvii. 12) ; 
not this his miserable form, which the extremest darkness 
covers (on ?N, vid. ch. x. 22), that destroys his inmost 
nature; but the thought that God stands forth in hostility 
against him, which makes his affliction so terrific, and 
doubly so in connection with the inalienable consciousness 
of his innocence. From the incomprehensible punishment 
which, without reason, is passing over him, he now again 
comes to speak of the incomprehensible connivance of God, 
which permits the godlessness of the world to go on un- 
punished. 

Ch. xxiv. 1 Wherefore are not bounds reserved by the Almighty, 

And they wlio honour Him see not His days ? 
2 They remove the landmarks, 

They steal flocks and shepherd them. 



16 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

3 They carry away the ass of the orphan^ 
And distrain the ox of the widow. 

4 They thrust the needy out of the way, 

The poor of the land are obliged to slink away together. 



The supposition that the text originally stood 
HBto is natural ; but it is at once destroyed by the fact that 
ver. la becomes thereby disproportionately long, and yet 
cannot be divided into two lines of comparatively independent 
contents. In fact, dW"v is by no means absolutely necessary. 
The usage of the language assumes it, according to which 
fly followed by the genitive signifies the point of time at 
which any one's fate is decided, Isa. xiii. 22, Jer, xxvii. 7, 
Ezek. xxii. 3, xxx. 3 ; the period when reckoning is made, or 
even the terminus ad quern, Eccl. ix. 12; and DV followed by 
the gen. of a man, the day of his end, ch. xv. 32, xviii. 20, 
Ezek. xxi. 30, and freq.; or with niiT, the day when God's 
judgment is revealed, Joel i. 15, and freq. The boldness of 
poetic language goes beyond this usage, by using EW directly 
of the period of punishment, as is almost universally acknow- 
ledged since Schultens' day, and VE>J of God's days of judg- 
ment or of vengeance; 1 and it is the less ambiguous, since 
i^f, in the sense of the divine predetermination of what is 
-future, ch. xv. 20, especially of God's storing up merited 

1 On DTW, in the sense of times of retribution, "Wetzstein compares the 
/ 

Arab. cul^Xc, which signifies predetermined reward or punishment; 



moreover, fijj is derived from my (from *iyi), and D^riy is equivalent to 
D^my, according to the same law of assimilation, by which now-a-days 

they say 'fi? instead of THP (one who is born on the same day with me, 

/ 
from jJ> lido), and i)Tl instead of im") (my drinking-time), since the 



assimilation of the ^ takes place everywhere where fi is pronounced. The 
D of the feminine termination in DTiy, as i n HIDpC' and the like, perhaps 
also in DTD (battim), is amalgamated with the root. 



CHAP. XXIV. 1-4. 17 

punishment, ch. xxi. 19, is an acknowledged word of our 
poet. On ft? with the passive, vid. Ew. 295, c (where, how- 
ever, ch. xxviii. 4 is erroneously cited in its favour) ; it is 
never more than equivalent to CLTTO, for to use ft? directly as 
VTTO with the passive is admissible neither in Hebrew nor in 
Arabic. Ijn 11 (Keri VJH*, for which the Targ. unsuitably reads 
*%"?) are, as in Ps. xxxvi. 11, Ixxxvii. 4, comp. supra, ch. 
xviii. 21, those who know God, not merely superficially, but 
from experience of His ways, consequently those who are in 
fellowship with Him. *in N? is to be written with Zinnorith 
over the &6, and Merclia by the first syllable of Itn. The Zin- 
norith necessitates the retreat of the tone of 1TH to its first 
syllable, as in mrPS, Ps. xviii. 8 (Bar's Psalterium, p. xiii.) ; 
for if lin remained Milra, N? ought to be connected with it 
by MaHcephy and consequently remain toneless (Psalter, ii. 
507). 

Next follows the description of the moral abhorrence which, 
while the friends (ch. xxii. 19) maintain a divine retribution 
everywhere manifest, is painfully conscious of the absence of 
any determination of the periods and days of judicial punish- 
ment. Fearlessly and unpunished, the oppression of the help- 
less and defenceless, though deserving of a curse, rages in 
every form. They remove the landmarks ; comp. Deut. xxvii. 
17, "Cursed is he who removeth his neighbour's landmark" 
(JPBB, here once written with b, while otherwise J^n from 
JB>3 signifies assequi, on the other hand ^Bn from ttD signifies 
dimovere). They steal flocks, Wifl, i.e. they are so barefaced, 
that after they have stolen them they pasture them openly. The 
ass of the orphans, the one that is their whole possession, and 
their only beast for labour, they carry away as prey (JHJ, as 
e.g. Isa. xx. 4) ; they distrain, i.e. take away with them as a 
pledge (on 2?n ? to bind by a pledge, obstringere> and also to 
take as a pledge, vid. on ch. xxii. 6, and Kohler on Zech. xi. 
7), the yoke-ox of the widow (this is the exact meaning of 

VOL. II. B 



18 THE BOOK OF JOB. 



SP, as of the Arab. thor). They turn the needy aside from 
the way which they are going, so that they are obliged to 
wander hither and thither without home or right : the poor 
of the land are obliged to hide themselves altogether. The 
IlipJi. ntan, with B^toK as its obj., is used as in Amos v. 12 ; 
there it is used of turning away from a right that belongs to 
them, here of turning out of the way into trackless regions. 
JtoX (yid. on ch. xxix. 16) here, as frequently, is the parallel 
word with 1JJ, the humble one, the patient sufferer ; instead 
of which the Keri is ^V, the humbled, bowed down with suffer- 
ing (yid. on Ps. ix. 13). pN~\13y occurs without any Keri in 
Ps. Ixxvi. 10, Zeph. ii. 3, and might less suitably appear here, 
where it is not so much the moral attribute as the outward 
condition that is intended to be described. The Paal W3p 
describes that which they are forced to do. 

The description of these unfortunate ones is now continued ; 
and by a comparison with ch. xxx. 1-8, it is probable that 
aborigines who are turned out of their original possessions 
and dwellings are intended (comp. ch. xv. 19, according to 
which the poet takes his stand in an age in which the original 
relations of the races had been already disturbed by the 
calamities of war and the incursions of aliens). If the 
central point of the narrative lies in Hauran, or, more exactly, 
in the Nukra, it is natural, with Wetzstein, to think of the 

o^ o^ 

or .js^sJ <*->) i' e * the (perhaps Itursean) "races of 




the caves" in Trachonitis. 

5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert, 

They go forth in their work seeking for prey, 
The steppe is food to them for the children. 

6 In the field they reap the fodder for his cattle, 
And they glean the vineyard of the evil-doer. 

7 They pass the night in nakedness without a garment, 



CHAP. XXIV. 5-8. 19 

And have no covering in the cold. 

8 Tliey are wet with the torrents of rain upon the mountains, 
And they hug the rocks for want of shelter. 

The poet could only draw such a picture as this, after 
having himself seen the home of his hero, and the calamitous 
fate of such as were driven forth from their original abodes 
to live a vagrant, poverty-stricken gipsy life. By ver. 5, one 
is reminded of Ps. civ. 21-23, especially since in ver. 11 of 
this Psalm the B^^B, onagri (Kulans), are mentioned, 
those beautiful animals 1 which, while young, are difficult to 
be broken in, and when grown up are difficult to be caught ; 
which in their love of freedom are an image of the Beduin, 
Gen. xvi. 12 ; their untractableness an image of that which 
cannot be bound, ch. xi. 12 ; and from their roaming about 
in herds in waste regions, are here an image of a gregarious, 
vagrant, and freebooter kind of life. The old expositors, as 
also Rosenm., Umbr., Arnh., and Yaih., are mistaken in 
thinking that aliud hominum sceleratorum genus is described 
in vers. 5 sqq. Ewald and Hirz. were the first to perceive 
that vers. 5-8 is the further development of ver. 4&, and 
that here, as in ch. xxx. 1 sqq., those who are driven back 
into the wastes and caves, and a remnant of the ejected and 
oppressed aborigines who drag out a miserable existence, are 
described. 

The accentuation rightly connects "Q*i3 DWB ; by the 
omission of the Capli similit., as e.g. Isa. li. 12, the compari- 
son (like a wild ass) becomes an equalization (as a wild ass). 
The perf. W^ is a general uncoloured expression of that 
which is usual : they go forth &^M, in their work (not : to 

1 Layard, New Discoveries, p. 270, describes these wild asses' colts. The 
Arabic name is like the Hebrew, el-fera, or also \\imar el-wahsh, i.e. 
wild ass, as we have translated, whose home is on the steppe. For fuller 
particulars, vid. Wetzstein's note on ch. xxxix. 5 sqq. 



20 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

their work, as the Psalmist, in Ps. civ. 23, expresses himself, 
exchanging 3 for ?). *n.B7 ^.I^P, searching after prey, i.e. to 
satisfy their hunger (Ps. civ. 21), from ^tp, in the primary 
signification decerpere (vid. Hupfeld on Ps. vii. 3), describes 
that which in general forms their daily occupation as they 
roam about ; the constructivus is used here, without any 
proper genitive relation, as a form of connection, according 
to Ges. 116, 1. The idea of waylaying is not to be 
connected with the expression. Job describes those who are 
perishing in want and misery, not so much as those who 
themselves are guilty of evil practices, as those who have 
been brought down to poverty by the wrongdoing of others. 
As is implied in nncto (comp. the morning Psalm, Ixiii. 2, 
Isa. xxvi. 9), Job describes their going forth in the early 
morning ; the children (B^W, as ch. i. 19, xxix. 5) are those 
who first feel the pangs of hunger. & refers individually to 
the father in the company : the steppe (with its scant supply 
of roots and herbs) is to him food for the children; he 
snatches it from it, it must furnish it for him. The idea is 
not : for himself and his family (Hirz., Hahri, and others) ; 
for ver. 6, which has been much misunderstood, describes how 
they, particularly the adults, obtain their necessary subsist- 
ence. There is no MS. authority for reading fr"v3 instead of 
iW>3 ; the translation " what is not to him " (LXX., Targ., 
and partially also the Syriac version) is therefore to be re- 
jected. Kaschi correctly interprets fay as a general explana- 
tion, and Kalbag inKUn : it is, as in ch. vi. 5, mixed fodder 
for cattle, farrago, consisting of oats or barley sown among 
vetches and beans, that is intended. The meaning is not, 
however, as most expositors explain it, that they seek to 
satisfy their hunger with the food for cattle grown in the 
fields of the rich evil-doer ; for "TCjJ does not signify to sweep 
together, but to reap in an orderly manner; and if they 
meant to steal, why did they not seize the better portion of 



CHAP. XXIV. 5-8. 21 

the produce ? It is correct to take the suff. as referring to 
the yvn which is mentioned in the next clause, but it is not 
to be understood that they plunder his fields per nefas ; on 
the contrary, that he hires them to cut the fodder for his 
cattle, but does not like to entrust the reaping of the better 
kinds of corn to them. It is impracticable to press the Hiph. 
of the Chethib to favour this rendering ; on the contrary, 
stands to isp in like (not causative) signification as 
nn:n to nru (vid. on ch. xxxi. 18). In like manner, ver. 6b 
is to be understood of hired labour. The rich man pru- 
dently hesitates to employ these poor people as vintagers ; but 
he makes use of their labour (whilst his own men are fully 
employed at the wine-vats) to gather the straggling grapes 
which ripen late, and were therefore left at the vintage 
season. The older expositors are reminded of t^'ijv, late hay, 
and explain ^?* as denom. by W\h WO* (Aben-Ezra, Im- 
manuel, and others) or w\h fa &0 (Parchon) ; but how un- 
natural to think of the second mowing, or even of eating 
the after-growth of grass, where the vineyard is the subject 
referred to ! On the contrary, t?j3/ signifies, as it were, sero- 
tinare, i.e. serotinos fructus colligere (Rosenm.) i 1 this is the 
work which the rich man assigns to them, because he gains 
by it, and even in the worst case can lose but little. 

Vers. 7 sq. tell how miserably they are obliged to shift 
for themselves during this autumnal season of labour, and 
also at other times. Naked (^"iV, whether an adverbial form 
or not, is conceived of after the manner of an accusative : in 

1 In the idiom of Hauran, fcj>p*>, fut. i, signifies to be late, to come late ; 
in Pielj to delay, e.g. the evening meal, return, etc. ; in Hiihpa. telaqqas, 
to arrive too late. Hence laqis ty\h and loqsi ""b^, delayed, of any 
matter, e.g. jyij^j and i^jp^ JDf, late seed (= W\b, Amos vii. 1, in connec- 
tion with which the late rain in April, which often fails, is reckoned on), 
^\h "6l a child born late (i.e. in old age) ; bakir TO2 and lekri 
are the opposites in every signification. WETZST. 



22 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

a naked, stripped condition, Arabic 'urjdnaii) they pass the 
night, without having anything on the body (on W, vid. on 
Ps. xxii. 19), and they have no (p^ supply D?v) covering or 
veil (corresponding to the notion of ^3) in the cold. 1 They 
become thoroughly drenched by the frequent and continuous 
storms that visit the mountains, and for want of other shelter 
are obliged to shelter themselves under the overhanging 
rocks, lying close up to them, and clinging to them, an idea 
which is expressed here by ip^n, as in Lam. iv. 5, where, of 
those who were luxuriously brought up on purple cushions, 
it is said that they "embrace dunghills;" for in Palestine 
and Syria, the forlorn one, who, being afflicted with some 
loathsome disease, is not allowed to enter the habitations of 
men, lies on the dunghill (rnezdbil), asking alms by day of the 
passers-by, and at night hiding himself among the ashes which 
the sun has warmed. 2 The usual accentuation, D1TD with Deehij 
with Munachy after which it should be translated ab in- 



1 All the Beduins sleep naked at night. I once asked why they do 
this, since they are often disturbed by attacks at night, and I was told 
that it is a very ancient custom. Their clothing (kiswe, mp3), both of 
the nomads of the steppe (ledu) and of the caves (?ra'r), is the same, 
summer and winter ; many perish on the pastures when overtaken by 
snow-storms, or by cold and want, when their tents and stores are taken 
from them in the winter time by an enemy. WETZST. 
. 2 Wetzstein observes on this passage: In the mind of the speaker, riDHD 
is the house made of stone, from which localities not unfrequently derive 
their names, as El-hasa, on the east of the Dead Sea ; the well-known 
commercial town El-hasa, on the east of the Arabian peninsula, which 
is generally called Lahsd; the town of El-hasja (iVDrvH), north-east of 

Damascus, etc. : so that Tiv ipun forms the antithesis to the comfortable 



dwellings of the ^^y^-j hadan, i.e. one who is firmly settled. The 

roots pin, "pn, seem, in the desert, to be only dialectically distinct, 
and like the root ply, to signify to be pressed close upon one another. 
Thus npin (pronounced hibtsha), a crowd = zdhme, and asdbf mahbukc 
(rbtihb), the closed fingers, etc. The locality, hibikke (Beduin pro- 

T : - 

nunciation for ha&afca, HDUn with the Beduin Dag. euphonicwm), de- 



CHAP. XXIV. 9-12. 23 

undatione monies humectantur, is false ; in correct Code!. D"iTD 
has also Munach ; the other Munach is, as in ch. xxiii. 5a, 9a, 
xxiv. 6&, and freq., a substitute for Declii. Having sketched 
this special class of the oppressed, and those who are aban- 
doned to the bitterest want, Job proceeds with his description 
of the many forms of wrong w 7 hich prevail unpunished on 
the earth : 

9 They tear the fatherless from the breast, 

And defraud the poor. 
10 Naked, they slink away without clothes, 

And hungering they bear the sheaves. 
1 1 Between their ivalls they squeeze out the oil ; 

They tread the ivine-presses, and suffer thirst. 
12 In the city vassals groan, 

A nd the soul of the oppressed crieth out 

And Eloah heedeth not the anomaly. 

The accentuation of ver. 9a (bw with Dechi, 1'D with 



scribed in my Reisebericht, has its name from this circumstance alone, 
that the houses have been attached to (fastened into) the rocks. Hence 
p^n in this passage signifies to press into the fissure of a rock, to seek 
out a corner which may defend one (dlierwe) against the cold winds and 

rani-torrents (which are far heavier among the mountains than on the 

/ / 

plain). The dlierwe (from \j^, to afford protection, shelter, a word fre- 
quently used in the desert) plays a prominent part among the nomads ; 
and in the month of March, as it is proverbially said the dherwe is better 
than the ferwe (the skin), they seek to place their tents for protection 
under the rocks or high banks of the wadys, on account of the cold 
strong winds, for the sake of the young of the flocks, to which the cold 
storms are often very destructive. When the sudden storms come on, it 
is a general thing for the shepherds and flocks to hasten to take shelter 

O .1 

under overhanging rocks, and the caverns (mughr _v) which belong to 
the troglodyte age, and are e.g. common in the mountains of Hauran ; 
so that, therefore, ver. 8 can as well refer to concealing themselves only 
for a time (from rain and storm) in the clefts as to troglodytes, who 
constantly dwell in caverns, or to those dwelling in tents who, during 
the storms, seek the dherwe of rock sides. 



24 THE BOOK OF JOB. 



Munacli) makes the relation of Dirv ib? genitival. Heidenheim 
(in a MS. annotation to Kimchi's Lex.) accordingly badly inter- 
prets : they plunder from the spoil of the orphan ; Eamban 
better: from the ruin, i.e. the shattered patrimony; both 
appeal to the Targum, which translates Din 11 DfOD, like the 
Syriac version, men bezto de-jatme (comp. Jerome : vim fece- 
runt deprcedantes pupillos). The original reading, however, is 
perhaps (vid. Buxtorf, Lex. col. 295) NP2 ? airo fiv&ov, from 
the mother's breast, as it is also, with LXX. (airo /-tao-ToO), 
to be translated contrary to the accentuation. Inhuman 
creditors take the fatherless and still tender orphan away 
from its mother, in order to bring it up as a slave, and so to 
obtain payment. If this is the meaning of the passage, it is 
natural to imderstand vferp, ver. 9&, of distraining; but (1) 
the poet would then repeat himself tautologically, vid. ver. 3, 
where the same thing is far more evidently said; (2) tan, 
to distrain, would be construed with ?JJ, contrary to the logic 
of the word. Certainly the phrase !>y bsn may be in some 
degree explained by the interpretation, "to impose a fine" 
(Ew., Hahn), or "to distrain" (Hirz., Welte), or "to oppress 
with fines" (Schlottm.) ; but violence is thus done to the 
usage of the language, which is better satisfied by the ex- 
planation of Ralbag (among modern expositors, Ges., Arnh., 
Yaih., Stick., Hlgst.) : and what the unfortunate one pos- 
sesses they seize ; but this ^ = ^ "iPtf directly as object is 
impossible. The passage, Deut. vii. 25, cited by Schultens in 
its favour, is of a totally different kind. 

But throughout the Semitic dialects the verb tan also 
signifies "to destroy, to treat injuriously" (e.g. Arab, el- 
chdbil, a by-name of Satan) ; it occurs in this signification in 
ch. xxxiv. 31, and according to the analogy of ty jnn, 1 Kings 
xvii. 20, can be construed with *?y as well as with ?. The poet, 
therefore, by this construction will have intended to distin- 
guish the one ^nn from the other, ch. xxii. 6, xxiv. 3 ; and it 



CHAP. XXIV. 9-12. 25 

is with Umbreit to be translated: they bring destruction 
upon the poor; or better: they take undue advantage of 
those who otherwise are placed in trying circumstances. 

The subjects of ver. 10 are these D^y, who are made serfs, 
and become objects of merciless oppression, and the poet here 
in ver. 10a indeed repeats what he has already said almost 
word for word in ver. la (comp. ch. xxxi. 19) ; but there the 
nakedness was the general calamity of a race oppressed by 
subjugation, here it is the consequence of the sin of merces 
retenta laborum, which cries aloud to heaven, practised on 
those of their own race : they slink away (n?n, as ch. xxx. 28) 
naked (inide\ without (v3 = v21D, as perhaps sine = absque) 
clothing, and while suffering hunger they carry the sheaves 
(since their masters deny them what, according to Deut. xxv. 
4, shall not be withheld even from the beasts). Between 
their walls {TTW like nhB>, Jer. v. 10, Chaldee K**!^), i.e. the 
walls of their masters who have made them slaves, therefore 
under strict oversight, they press out the oil (wny^ air. 767/3.), 
they tread the wine-vats (&^, lacus), and suffer thirst withal 
(fut. consec. according to Ew. 342, a), without being 
allowed to quench their thirst from the must which runs out 
of the presses (fiifia, torcularia, from which the verb ^TJ is 
here transferred to the vats). Bottch. translates: between 
their rows of trees, without being able to reach out right or 
left ; but that is least of all suitable with the olives. Carey 
correctly explains : " the factories or the garden enclosures 
of these cruel slaveholders." This reference of the word to 
the wall of the enclosure is more suitable than to walls of the 
press-house in particular. From tyrannical oppression in the 
country, 1 Job now passes over to the abominations of discord 
and war in the cities. 

Ver. 12<z. It is natural, with Umbr., Ew., Hirz., and others, 

1 Brentius here remarks : Quantum iyitur judicium in eos futurum est, 
qui in homines ejusdem carnis, ejusdem patrise, ejusdem Jidei, ejusdem Christi 



26 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

to read D'Tip like the Peschito ; but as mite in Syriac, so also 
DTlD in Hebrew as a noun everywhere signifies the dead 
(Arab. mauta\ not the dying, mortals (Arab, maituna); where- 
fore Ephrem interprets the prces. " they groan" by the perf. 
" they have groaned." The pointing D'TO, therefore, is quite 
correct; but the accentuation which, by giving Mehupacli Zin- 
noritli to TJJUD, an*d Asia legarmeh to DT1D, places the two words 
in a genitival relation, is hardly correct: in the city of men, 
i.e. the inhabited, thickly-populated city, they groan ; not : men 
(as Rosenm. explains, according to Gen. ix. 6, Prov. xi. 6) 
groan ; for just because B^p appeared to be too inexpressive 
as a subject, this accentuation seems to have been preferred. 
It is also possible that the signification fierce anger (Hos. xi. 
9), or anguish (Jer, xv. 8), was combined with "i^, comp. 



.xc, jealousy, fury (^nfrOp), of which, however, no trace is 

anywhere visible. 1 With Jer., Symm., and Theod., we take 
DTID as the sighing ones themselves; the feebleness of the 
subject disappears if we explain the passage according to 
such passages as Deut. ii. 34, iii. 6, comp. Judg. xx. 48 : it 



committunt quod nee in ~bruta animaUa committendum est, quod malum in 
Germania frequentissimum est. Vx igitur Germanise! 
1 "Wetzsteiii translates Hos. xi. 9 : I will not come as a raging foe, with 






of the attribute = uA* &LnJ (comp. Jer. xv. 8, T'JJ, parall. "HKO 



after the form D>p, to which, if not this TJJ, certainly the T 1 
occurring in Dan. iv. 10, and freq., corresponds. What we remarked 
above, vol. i. p. 440, on the form D^p, is cleared up by the following 
observation of Wetzstein: "The form Q^p belongs to the numerous class of 
segolate forms of the form ^j, which, as belonging to the earliest period 

of the formation of the Semitic languages, take neither plural nor feminine 
terminations; they have of ten a collective meaning, and are not originally 



abstracta, but concreta in the sense of the Arabic part. act. ^^uL*. This 

/ 

inflexible primitive formation is frequently found in the present day in the 



CHAP. XXIV. 9-12. 27 

is the male inhabitants that are intended, whom any con- 
queror would put to the sword ; we have therefore translated 
men (men of war), although " people" (ch. xi. 3) also would 
not have been unsuitable according to the ancient use of the 
word. P^ is intended of the groans of the dying, as Jer. li. 
52, Ezek. xxx. 24, as ver. 126 also shows : the sdul of those 
that are mortally wounded cries out. &V?D signifies not 
merely the slain and already dead, but, according to its ety- 
mon, those who are pierced through, those who have received 
their death-blow ; their soul cries out, since it does not leave 
the body without a struggle. Such things happen without 
God preventing them, npsn D^'SO, He observeth not the 
abomination, either = 13^3 D* 1 ^ fc6, ch. xxii. 22 (He layeth it 
not to heart), or, since the phrase occurs nowhere elliptically, 
= fe 13^ D 1 ^ vb, ch. i. 8, xxxiv. 23 (He does not direct His 
heart, His attention to it), here as elliptical, as in ch. iv. 20, 
Isa. xli. 20. True, the latter phrase is never joined with the 
ace. of the object; but if we translate after 2 QV, ch. iv. 18 : 
non imputat, He does not reckon such rfen, i.e. does not 
punish it, tt ( a ^?) ought to be supplied, which is still some- 
what liable to misconstruction, since the preceding subject 

idiom of the steppe, which shows that the Hebrew is essentially of pri- 
meval antiquity (urali). Thus the Beduin says : Jiu qiili (^jpp Kin), he 
is my opponent in a hand-to-hand combat ; mth? Ontp}), niy opponent 
in the tournament with lances ; chilfi (''Dpn) and diddi ("H^), my ad- 
versary ; thus a step-mother is called dir ("p'tf), as the oppressor of 
the step-children, and a concubine diVr (TlV), as the oppressor of her 
rival. The Kamus also furnishes several words which belong here, as till) 
(I&13), a persecutor." Accordingly, D"p is derived from Dip, as also T>y, 
a city, from Tiy (whence, according to a prevalent law of the change of 
letters, we hav^e TJJ first of all, plur. D* 1 "!^, Judg. x. 4), and signifies the 
rebelling one, i.e. the enemy (who is now in the idiom of the steppe 
called qomani, from qom, a state of war, a feud), as TJJ, a keeper, 
and "VV, a messenger ; iiy (T'p) is also originally concrete, a wall 
(enclosure). 



28 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

is not the oppressors, but those who suffer oppression, 
is properly insipidity (comp. Arab, tafila, to stink), absurdity, 
self-contradiction, here the immorality which sets at nought 
the moral order of the world, and remains nevertheless 
unpunished. The Syriac version reads npSfy and translates, 
like Louis Bridel (1818) : et Dieu ne. fait aucune attention a 
leur priere. 

13 Others are those that rebel against the light, 
They will know nothing of its ways. 

And abide not in its paths. 

14 The murderer riseth up at dawn, 
He slayeth the sufferer and the poor, 
And in the night he acteth like a thief. 

15 And the eye of the adulterer ivatchethfor the twilight ; 
He thinks : u no eye shall recognise me" 

And he putteth a veil before his face. 

With n?|>n begins a new turn in the description of the moral 
confusion which has escaped God's observation ; it is to be 
translated neither as retrospective, " since they" (Ewald), nor 
as distinctive, "they even" (Bottch.), i.e. the powerful in dis- 
tinction from the oppressed, but "those" (for non corresponds 
to our use of "those," n?X to "these"), by which Job passes 
on to another class of evil-disposed and wicked men. Their 
general characteristic is, that they shun the light. Those 
who are described in vers. 14 sq. are described according to 
their general characteristic in ver. 13 ; accordingly it is not 
to be interpreted : those belong to the enemies of the light, 
but : those are, according to their very nature, enemies of the 
light. The Beth is the so-called Beth essent.; vn (comp. Prov. 
iii. 26) affirms what they are become by their own inclination, 
or as what they are fashioned, viz. as aTrocrrdrai, <<WT09 
(Symm.) ; TiJJ (on the root ID, vid. on ch. xxiii. 2) signifies 
properly to push one's self against anything, to lean upon, to 



CHAP. XXIV. 13-15. 29 

rebel ; Tib therefore signifies one who strives against another, 
one who is obstinate (like the Arabic mdrid, merid, comp. 
mumdri, not conformable to the will of another). The im- 
provement TiK ''lib (not with Makkeph, but with Mahpach of 
Mercha mahpach. placed between the two words, vid. Bar's 
Psalteriumj p. x.) assumes the possibility of the construction 
with the ace., which occurs at least once, Josh. xxii. 19. 
They are hostile to the light, they have no familiarity with 
its ways ("i*??, as ver. 17, Ps. cxlii. 5, Ruth ii. 19, to take 
knowledge of anything, to interest one's self in its favour), 
and dc not dwell (^fj, Jer. reversi sunt, according to the false 
reading ^^) in its paths, i.e. they neither make nor feel 
themselves at home there, they have no peace therein. The 
light is the light of day, which, however, stands in deeper, 
closer relation to the higher light, for the vicious man hateth 
TO <ew9, John iii. 20, in every sense ; and the works which 
are concealed in the darkness of the night are also epya rov 
oveoTou?, Rom. xiii. 12 (comp. Isa. xxix. 15), in the sense in 
which light and darkness are two opposite principles of the 
spiritual world. It need not seem strange that the more 
minute description of the conduct of these enemies of the 
light now begins with Tiao. It is impossible that this should 
mean : still in the darkness of the night (Stick.), prop, 
towards the light, when it is not yet light. Moreover, in 
biblical Hebrew, TIN does not signify evening, in which sense 
it occurs in Talmudic Hebrew (Pesachim la, Seder olam 
rabba, c. 5, W2X& TIN, vespera septima), like NFiTiN (= *)tw) in 
Talmudic Aramaic. The meaning, on the contrary, is that 
towards daybreak (comp. TIN Tpin, Gen. xliv. 3), therefore 
with early morning, the murderer rises up, to go about his 
work, which veils itself in darkness (Ps. x. 8-10) by day, viz. 
to slay (comp. on te^ . . . D^ Ges. 142, 3, c) the unfor- 
tunate and the poor, who pass by defenceless and alone. 
One has to supply the idea of the ambush in which the wav- 



30 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

layer lies in wait ; and it is certainly inconvenient that it is 
not expressed. The antithesis nj???*, ver. 14c, shows that 
nothing but primo mane is meant by "ri&6. He who in the 
day-time goes forth to murder and plunder, at night commits 
petty thefts, where no one whom he could attack passes 
by. Stickel translates : to slay the poor and wretched, and 
in the night to play the thief ; but then the subjunctivus 'rH 
ought to precede (vid. e.g. ch. xiii. 5), and in general it 
cannot be proved without straining it, that the voluntative 
form of the future everywhere has a modal signification. 
Moreover, here W does not differ from ch. xviii. 12, xx. 23, 
but is only a poetic shorter form for nvv : in the night he 
is like a thief, i.e. plays the part of the thief. And the 
adulterer's eye observes the darkness of evening (vid. Prov. 
vii. 9), i.e. watches closely for its coining on (">P^, in the 
usual signification observare, to be on the watch, to take care, 
observe anxiously), since he hopes to render himself invisible ; 
and that he may not be recognised even if seen, he puts on a 
mask. D^S "ino is something by which his countenance is 

T V " O v 

rendered unrecognisable (LXX. onrotcpvftr) TrpocrtoTrov), like 
the Arab, sitr, sitdreh, a curtain, veil, therefore a veil for the 
face, or, as we say in one word borrowed from the Arabic 

/ / o , 

iL~W<, a farce (masquerade) : the mask, but not in the 
proper sense. 1 

16 In the dark they dig through houses, 
By day they shut themselves up, 
They will know nothing of the light. 

1 The mask was perhaps never known in Palestine and Syria ; VID 
D"OD is the mendil or women's veil, which in the present day (in Hauran 
exclusively) is called sitr, and is worn over the face by all married women 
in the towns, while in the country it is worn hanging down the back, and 
is only drawn over the face in the presence of a stranger. If this expla- 
nation is correct, the poet means to say that the adulterer, in order to 



CHAP. XXIV. 16, 17. 31 

1 7 For the depth of night is to them even as the dawn of the 

morning, 
For they know the terrors of the depth of night. 

The handiwork of the thief, which is but slightly referred 
to in ver. 14c, is here more particularly described. The 
indefinite subj. of inn ? as is manifest from what follows, is 
the band ' of thieves. The 3, which is elsewhere joined with 
"inn (to break into anything), is here followed by the ace. 
DTO (to be pronounced bdttim, not bottim)^ as in the Tal- 
mudic, faw inn, to pick one's teeth (and thereby to make 
them loose), b. Kidduschin, 24 b. According to the Talmud, 
Ralbag, and the ancient Jewish interpretation in general, 
ver. 166 is closely connected to DTD: houses which they 
have marked by day for breaking into, and the mode of its 
accomplishment ; but Dnn nowhere signifies designare, always 
obsignarej to seal up, to put under lock and key, ch. xiv. 17, 
ix. 7, xxxvii. 7 ; according to which the Piel, which occurs 
only here, is to be explained : by day they seal up, i.e. shut 
themselves up for their safety (to? is not to be accented witli 
Athnach, but with Rebia mugrasch) : they know not the light, 
i.e. as Schlottm. well explains : they have no fellowship with 
it ; for the biblical JTP, rywwo-fceiv, mostly signifies a know- 
ledge which enters into the subject, and intimately unites 

remain undiscovered, wears women's clothes [comp. Deut. xxii. 5] ; and, 
in fact, in the Syrian towns (the figure is taken from town-life) women's 
clothing is always chosen for that kind of forbidden nocturnal undertak- 
ing, i.e. the man disguises himself in an izar, which covers him from head 
to foot, takes the mendil, and goes with a lantern (without which at night 
every person is seized by the street watchman as a suspicious person) un- 
hindered into a strange house. WETZST. 

1 Vid. Aben-Ezra on Ex. xii. 7. The main proof that it is to be pro- 
nounced battim is, that written exactly it is DT13, and that the Metlieg, 

' I T 
according to circumstances, is changed into an accent, as Ex. viii. 7, xii. 7, 

Jer. xviii. 22, Ezek. xlv. 4, which can only happen by Kametz, not by 
Kometz (K. cliatupli) ; conip. Kohler on Zech. xiv. 2. 



32 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

itself with it. In ver. 17 one confirmation follows another. 
Umbr. and Hirz. explain : for the morning is to them at 
once the shadow of death ; but l^rr, in the signification at the 
same time, as we have taken irp in ch. xvii. 16 (nevertheless 
of simultaneousness of time), is imsupportable : it signifies 
together, ch. ii. 11, ix. 32 ; and the arrangement of the words 
to . . . VJPP (to them together) is like Isa. ix. 20, xxxi. 3, 
Jer. xlvi. 12. Also, apart from the erroneous translation of 
the HiT, which is easily set aside, Hirzel's rendering of ver. 
17 is forced : the morning, i.e. the bright day, is to them all 
as the shadow of death, for each and every one of them 
knows the terrors of the daylight, which is to them as the 
shadow of death, viz. the danger of being discovered and 
condemned. The interpretation, which is also preferred by 
Olshausen, is far more natural : the depth of night is to them 
as the dawn of the morning (on the precedence of the pre- 
dicate, comp. Amos iv. 13 and v. 8 : walking in the darkness 
of the early morning), for they are acquainted with the terrors 
of the depth of night, i.e. they are not surprised by them, 
but know how to anticipate and to escape them. Ch. xxxviii. 
15 also, where the night, which vanishes before the rising of 
the sun, is called the "light" of the evil-doer, favours this 
interpretation (not the other, as Olsh. thinks). The accen- 
tuation also favours it ; for if "ipn had been the subj., and 
were to be translated : the morning; is to them the shadow of 

o 

death, it ought to have been accented mohf ID? "ip3, Declu^ 
Mercha, Athnach. It is, however, accented Munach, Munacli, 
AtJmacJi, and the second Munacli stands as the deputy of 
Decln, whose value in the interpunction it represents ; there- 
fore 1D$> "ip2 is the predicate : the shadow of death is morning 
to them. From the plur. the description now, with T 1 ^, passes 
into the sing., as individualizing it. J"iin^>3, constr. of nirfea, is 
without a DagesJi in the second consonant. Mercier admir- 
ably remarks here : sunt ei familiares et noti nocturni terror es, 



CHAP. XXIV. 16, 17. 33 

neque eos timet aut curat, quasi sibi cum illis necessitudo 
et familiaritas intercederet et cum illis ne noceant fcedus aut 
pactum inierit. Thus by their skill and contrivance they 
escape clanger, and divine justice allows them to remain un- 
discovered and unpunished, a fact which is most incom- 
prehensible. 

It is now time that this thought was once again definitely 
expressed, that one may not forget what these accumulated 
illustrations are designed to prove. But what now follows 
in vers. 18-21 seems to express not Job's opinion, but that 
of his opponents. Ew., Hirz., and Hlgst. regard vers. 18-21, 
22-25, as thesis and antithesis. To the question, What is 
the lot that befalls all these evil-doers? Job is thought to 
give a twofold answer: first, to ver. 21, an ironical answer 
in the sense of the friends, that those men are overtaken by 
the merited punishment ; then from ver. 22 is his own 
serious answer, which stands in direct contrast to the former. 
But (1) in vers. 18-21 there is not the slightest trace observ- 
able that Job does not express his own view : a consideration 
which is also against Schlottman, who regards vers. 18-21 as 
expressive of the view of an opponent. (2) There is no such 
decided contrast between vers. 18-21 and 22-25, for vers. 
19 and 24 both affirm substantially the same thing concern- 
ing the end of the evil-doer. In like manner, it is also not 
to be supposed, with Stick., Lowenth., Bottch., Welte, and 
Hahn, that Job, outstripping the friends, as far as ver. 21, 
describes how the evil-doer certainly often comes to a terrible 
end, and in vers. 22 sqq. how the very opposite of this, how- 
ever, is often witnessed; so that this consequently furnishes no 
evidence in support of the exclusive assertion of the friends. 
Moreover, ver. 24 compared with ver. 19, where there is 
nothing to indicate a direct contrast, is opposed to it ; and 
ver. 22, which has no appearance of referring to a direct 
contrast with what has been previously said, is opposed to 
VOL. II. O 



34 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

such an antithetical rendering of the two final strophes. Yer. 
22 might more readily be regarded as a transition to the 
antithesis, if vers. 18-21 could, with Eichh., Schnurr., Dathe, 
Umbr., and Vaih., after the LXX., Syriac, and Jerome, be 
understood as optative : " Let such an one be light on the 
surface of the water, let ... be cursed, let him not turn 
towards," etc., but ver. 18a is not of the optative form ; and 
18c, where in that case nj) s "i?N would be expected, instead of 
ruB 11 '^, shows that 185, where, according to the syntax, the 
optative rendering is natural, is nevertheless not to be so 
rendered. The right interpretation is that which regards 
both vers. 18-21 and 22 sqq. as Job's own view, without 
allowing him absolutely to contradict himself. Thus it is in- 
terpreted, e.g. by Rosenmiiller, who, however, as also Renaii, 
errs in connecting ver. 18 with the description of the thieves, 
and understands ver. 18a of their slipping away, 185 of their 
dwelling in horrible places, and ISc of their avoidance of the 
vicinity of towns. 

18 For he is light upon the surface of the water ; 
Their heritage is cursed upon the earth ; 

He turneth no more in the way of the vineyard. 

19 Droughty also heat, snatch away snoio water 
So doth Sheol those ivho have sinned. 

20 The womb for getteth him, worms shall feast on him, 
fie is no more remembered ; 

So the desire of the wicked is broken as a tree 

21 He who hath plundered the barren that bare not, 
And did no good to the widow. 

The point of comparison in ver. 18a is the swiftness of 
the disappearing : he is carried swiftly past, as any light 
substance on the surface of the water is hurried along by 
the swiftness of the current, and can scarcely be seen ; comp. 
ch. ix. 26: "My days shoot by as ships of reeds, as an eagle 



CHAP. XXIV. 18-21. 35 

which dasheth upon its prey," and Hos. x. 7, " Samaria's 
king is destroyed like a bundle of brushwood (LXX., 
Theod., <f)pv>yavov) on the face of the water," which is 
quickly drawn into the whirlpool, or buried by the approach- 
ing wave. 1 But here the idea is not that of being swallowed 
up by the waters, as in the passage in Hosea, but, on the 
contrary, of vanishing from sight, by being carried rapidly 
past by the rush of the waters. If, then, the evil-doer dies 
a quick, easy death, his heritage ( n i?c"!?j from Ppn, to divide) 
is cursed by men, since no one will dwell in it or use it, 
because it is appointed by God to desolation on account of 
the sin which is connected xvith it (yid. on ch. xv. 28) ; 
even he, the evil-doer, no more turns the way of the vine- 
yard (fij?, with SjTl , not an ace. of the obj., but as indicating 
the direction = TH''? ; comp. 1 Sam. xiii. 18 with ver. 17 of 
the same chapter), proudly to inspect his wide extended do- 
main, and overlook the labourers. The curse therefore does 
not come upon him, nor can one any longer lie in wait for 
him to take vengeance on him ; it is useless to think of vent- 
ing upon him the rage which his conduct during life pro- 
voked ; he is long since out of reach in Sheol. 

That which Job says figuratively in ver. 18a, and in ch. 
xxi. 13 without a figure : " in a moment they go down to 
Sheol," he expresses in ver. 19 under a new figure, and, 
moreover, in the form of an emblematic proverb (vid. 
Herzog's Real- Encyklopadie, xiv. 696), according to the 
peculiarity of which, not }3, but either only the copulative 
Waw (Prov. xxv. 25) or nothing whatever (Prov. xi. 22), is 

1 The translation : like foam (spuma or bulla), is also very suitable here. 
Thus Targ., Symm., Jerome, and others ; but the signification to foam 
cannot be etymologically proved, whereas f|Vp in the signification confrin- 

gere is established by PISVp, breaking, Joel i. 7, and i_ g^> * ; so that conse- 
quently 5]V[p, as synon. of f]tf, signifies properly the breaking forth, and 
is then allied to 



36 THE BOOK OF JOB. 



to be supplied before 1XDH 1K$. 1NBH | s virtually an object : 
eos qui peccarunt. Yer. 196 is a model-example of extreme 
brevity of expression, Ges. 155, 4, b. Sandy ground (njy, 
arid land, without natural moisture), added to it (03, not : 
likewise) the heat of the sun these two, working simultane- 

ously from beneath and above, snatch away (vT 3 T > cogn. "1T3, 

/ / / 
root M, to cut, cut away, tear away; Arab. j'j>-i fut. i y used 

of sinking, decreasing water) &W ^ft, water of (melted) 
snow (which is fed from no fountain, and therefore is 
quickly absorbed), and Sheol snatches away those who have 
sinned (= IKtpn lK'jrn rfoa). The two incidents are alike : 
the death of those whose life has been a life of sin, follows 
as a consequence easily and unobserved, without any painful 
and protracted struggle. The sinner disappears suddenly ; 
the womb, i.e. the mother that bare him, forgets him 
matrix = mater ; according to Ralbag : friendship, from 



to love tenderly ; others : relationship, in which sense 

/ 

Brn is used), worms suck at him (ip*? for W{tf)K> } according 
to Ges. 147, a, sugit eum, from which primary notion of 
sucking comes the signification to be sweet, ch. xxi. 33: Syriac, 
metkat ennun remto ; Ar. untosahnm, from the synonymous 



a^o pD, nvo, nto), he is no more thought of, and thus 

then is mischief (abstr. pro concr. as ch. v. 16) broken like a 
tree (not : a staff, which Y% never, not even in Hos. iv. 12, 
directly, like the Arabic 'asa, 'asdt, signifies). Since n7i$J is 
used personally, 'W1 nv% ver. 21, can be connected with it as 
an appositional permutative. His want of compassion (as is 
still too often seen in the present day in connection with the 
tyrannical conduct of the executive in Syria and Palestine, 
especially on the part of those who collect the taxes) goes the 
length of eating up, i.e. entirely plundering, the barren, child- 



CHAP. XXIV. 18-21, 37 

less (Gen. xi. 30 ; Isa. liv. 1), and therefore helpless woman, 
who has no sons to protect and defend her, and never showing 
favour to the widow, but, on the contrary, thrusting her away 
from him. There is as little need for regarding the verb njn 
here, with Kosenm. after the Targ., in the signification con- 
fringere, as cognate with VJH, Y^ as conversely to change BJpfi, 
Ps. ii. 9, into SV^ft ; it signifies depascere, as in ch. xx. 26, here 
in the sense of depopulari. On the form ^Jp^ for ^tD^, vid. 
Ges. 70, 2, rem.; and on the transition from the part, to the 
v.fin., vid. Ges. 134, rem. 2. Certainly the memory of such 
an one is not affectionately cherished ; this is equally true with 
what Job maintains in ch. xxi. 32, that the memory of the 
evil-doer is immortalized by monuments. Here the allusion 
is to the remembrance of a mother's love and sympathetic 
feeling. The fundamental thought of the strophe is this, 
that neither in life nor in death had he suffered the punish- 
ment of his evil-doing. The figure of the broken tree 
(broken in its full vigour) also corresponds to this thought ; 
comp. on the other hand what Bildad says, ch. xviii. 16 : "his 
roots dry up beneath, and above his branch is lopped off" 
(or : withered). The severity of his oppression is not manifest 
till after his death. 

In the next strophe Job goes somewhat further. But 
after having, in vers. 22, 23, said that the life of the ungodly 
passes away as if they were the favoured of God, he returns 
to their death, which the friends, contrary to experience, 
have so fearfully described, whilst it is only now and then 
distinguished from the death of other men by coming on late 
and painlessly. 

22 And He preserveth the mighty by His strength; 
Such an one riseth again., though he despaired of life. 

23 He givelli him rest, and he is sustained, 
And His eyes are over their ways. 



38 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

24 They are exalted a little while) then they are no more, 
And they are sunken away, snatched away like all others. 
And as the top of the stalk they are cut off. 

25 And if it is not so, wlio will charge me with lying, 
And make my assertion ivortliless ? 

Though it becomes manifest after their death how little 
the ungodly, who were only feared by men, were beloved, 
the form of their death itself is by no means such as to reveal 
the retributive justice of God. And does it become at all 
manifest during their life? The Waw. with which the 

o / 

strophe begins, is, according to our rendering, not adversative, 
but progressive. God is the subject. T^'? ? * extend in 
length, used elsewhere of love, Ps. xxxvi. 11, cix. 12, and 
anger, Ps. Ixxxv. 6, is here transferred to persons : to pro- 
long, preserve long in life. & V T2X are the strong, who bid 
defiance not only to every danger (Ps. Ixxvi. 6), but also to 
all divine influences and noble impulses (Isa. xlvi. 12). 
These, whose trust in their own strength God might smite 
down by His almighty power, He preserves alive even in 
critical positions by that very power : he (the "V2K?) stands up 
(again), whilst he does not trust to life, i.e. whilst he believes 
that he must succumb to death (P!*j!! as Ps. xxvii. 13, comp. 
Genesis, S. 368 ; pn, Aramaic form, like fte, ch. iv. 2, 
xii. 11 ; the whole is a contracted circumstantial clause for 
'w vh Kim). He (God) grants him nito?, in security, viz. 
to live, or even directly : a secure peaceful existence, since 
nvJ? is virtually an object, and the J is that of condition 
(comp. 217, ch. xxvi. 3). Thus Hahn, who, however, here is 
only to be followed in this one particular, takes it correctly : 
and that he can support himself, which would only be possible 
if an inf. with ? had preceded. Therefore : and he is sup- 
ported, or he can support himself, i.e. be comforted, though 
this absolute use of |J^ cannot be supported ; in this instance 



CHAP. XXIV. 22-25. 39 

we miss taltrpy, or some such expression (ch. viii. 15). God 
sustains him and raises him up again : His eyes (^\^V = l^y) 
are (rest) on the ways of these men, they stand as it were 
beneath His special protection, or, as it is expressed in ch. 
x. 3 : Pie causes light to shine from above upon the doings of 
the wicked. " They are risen up, and are conscious of the 
height (of prosperity) a little while, and they are no more." 
Thus ver. 24 is to be explained. The accentuation IDn 
with Mahpach, DJJD with Asia legarmeh (according to which 
it would have to be translated : they stand on high a short 
time), is erroneous. The verb Di signifies not merely to be 
high, but also to rise up, raise one's self, e.g. Prov. xi. 11, 
and to show one's self exalted, here extulerunt se in altum or 
exaltati sunt ; according to the form of writing ytsfn, tt"i is 
treated as an Ayin Waw verb med. 0, and the Dagesli is a 
so-called Dag. affectuosum (Olsh. 83, &), while ran (like toi, 
Gen. xlix. 23) appears to assume the form of a double Ayin 
verb med. 0, consequently Db"J (Ges. 67, rem. 1). B^p, 
followed by Waw of the conclusion, forms a clause of itself, 
as more frequently } BVD Ity (yet a little while, then . . . ), 
as, e.g. in an exactly similar connection in Ps. xxxvii. 10 ; 
here, however, not expressive of the sudden judgment of the 
ungodly, but of their easy death without a struggle (evOa- 
vatr la) : a little, then he is not (again a transition from the 
phir. to the distributive or individualizing sing.). They are, 
viz. as ver. 246 further describes, bowed down all at once (an 
idea which is expressed by the perf.), are snatched off like all 
other men. ttfin i s an Aramaizirig HopJial-form, approaching 
the Hopli. of strong verbs, for EJD^n (Ges. 67, rem. 8), from 
?I?B, to bow one's self (Ps. cvi. 43), to be brought low (Eccl. 



x. 18) ; comp. ciLc, to cause to vanish, to annul. piS[ (for 

which it is unnecessary with Olsh. to read I^i^, after Ezek. 
xxix. 5) signifies, according to the primary signification of 



40 THE BOOK OF JOB. 



comprehendere, constringere, contrahere (cogn. yip, 
comp. supra, i. 437) : they are hurried together, or 
snatched off, i.e. deprived of life, like the Arabic <dJ! 



13p) and passive v* 9 equivalent to, he has died. 



There is no reference in the phrase to the componere artus, 
Gen. xlix. 33 ; it is rather the figure of housing (gathering 
into the barn) that underlies it ; the word, however, only 
implies seizing and drawing in. Thus the figure which 



follows is also naturally (comp. fttp, ^JsJj, manipulus) con- 

nected with what precedes, and, like the head of an ear of 
corn, i.e. the corn-bearing head of the wheat-stalk, they are 
cut off (by which one must bear in mind that the ears are 
reaped higher up than with us, and the standing stalk is 
usually burnt to make dressing for the field ; vid. Ges. Thes. 
s.v. V?_ l ). 

On 4g (fut. Niph. = hw), vid. on ch. xiv. 2, xviii. 16; 
the signification prceciduntur, as observed above, is more 
suitable here than marcescunt (in connection with which sig- 
nification ch. v. 26 ought to be compared, and the form 
regarded as fut. Kal). Assured of the truth, in conformity 
with experience, of that which has been said, he appeals 
finally to the friends : if it be not so (on iatt = Niax in con- 
ditional clauses, vid. ch. ix. 24), who (by proving the oppo- 
site) is able to charge me with lying and bring to nought 

1 Another figure is also presented here. It is a common thing for the 
Arabs (Beduins) in harvest-time to come down upon the fields of standing 
corn especially barley, because during summer and autumn this grain 
is indispensable to them as food for their horses of a district, chiefly at 
night, and not unfrequently hundreds of camels are laden at one time. 
As they have no sickles, they cut off the upper part of the stalk with the 
'aqfe (a knife very similar to the Roman sica) and with sabres, whence 
this theft is called qard pp, sabring off; and that which is cut off, 

as well as the uneven stubble that is left standing, is called qarid. 
WETZST. 



CHAP. XXIV. 22-25. 41 

= p^ Ew. 321, by perhaps by ^ being conceived of 
as originally infin. from ??K (comp. 'vK), in the sense of non- 



existence, fJ*!i) my assertion? 

The bold accusations in the speech of Eliphaz, in which 
the uncharitableness of the friends attains its height, must 
penetrate most deeply into Job's spirit. But Job does not 
answer like by like. Even in this speech in opposition to 
the friends, he maintains the passionless repose which has 
once been gained. Although the misjudgment of his cha- 
racter has attained its height in the speech of Eliphaz, his 
answer does not contain a single bitter personal word. In 
general, he does not address them, not as though he did not 
wish to show respect to them, but because he has nothing to 
say concerning their unjust and wrong conduct that he would 
not already have said, and because he has lost all hope of his 
reproof taking effect, all hope of sympathy with his entreaty 
that they would spare him, all hope of understanding and 
information on their part. 

In the first part of the speech (ch. xxiii.) he occupies him- 
self with the mystery of his own suffering lot, and in the 
second part (ch. xxiv.) with the reverse of this mystery, the 
evil-doers' prosperity and immunity from punishment. How 
is he to vindicate himself against Eliphaz, since his lament 
over his sufferings as unmerited is accounted by the friends 
more and more as defiant obstinacy ("HD), and consequently 
tends to bring him still deeper into that suspicion which he 
is trying to remove? His testimony concerning himself is 
of no avail ; for it appears to the friends more self-delusive, 
hypocritical, and sinful, the more decidedly he maintains it ; 
consequently the judgment of God can alone decide between 
him and his accusers. But while the friends accuse him by 
word of mouth, God himself is pronouncing sentence against 
him by His acts, his affliction is a de facto accusation of 



42 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

God against him. Therefore, before the judgment of God 
can become a vindication of his affliction against the friends, 
he must first of all himself have defended and proved his 
innocence in opposition to the Author of his affliction. Hence 
the accusation of the friends, which in the speech of EHphaz 
is become more direct and cutting than heretofore, must urge 
on anew with all its power the desire in Job of being able to 
bring his cause before God. 

At the outset he is confident of victory, for his conscious- 
ness does not deceive him ; and God, although He is both 
one party in the cause and judge, is influenced by the irre- 
sistible force of the truth. Herein the want of harmony 
in Job's conception of God, the elevation of which into a 
higher unity is the goal of the development of the drama, 
again shows itself. He is not able to think of the God who 

o 

pursues him, the innocent one, at the present time with suffer- 
ing, as the just God ; on the other hand, the justice of the 
God who will permit him to approach His judgment throne, 
is to him indisputably sure : He will attend to him, and for 
ever acquit him. Now Job yields to the arbitrary power of 
God, but then he will rise by virtue of the justice and truth 
of God. His longing is, therefore, that the God who now 

O O 7 ' 

, afflicts him may condescend to hear him : this seems to him 
the only way of convincing God, and indirectly the friends, 
of his innocence, and himself of God's justice. The basis of 
this longing is the desire of being free from the painful con- 
ception of God which he is obliged to give way to. For it is 
not the darkness of affliction that enshrouds him which causes 
Job the intensest suffering, but the darkness in which it has 
enshrouded God to him, the angry countenance of God 
which is turned to him. But if this is sin, that he is engaged 
in a conflict concerning the justice of the Author of his 
affliction, it is still greater that he indulges evil thoughts 
respecting the Judge towards whose throne of judgment he 



CHAP. XXIV. 22-25. 43 

presses forward. He thinks that God designedly avoids him, 
because He is well aware of his innocence ; now, however, 
he will admit no other thought but that of suffering him to 
endure to the end the affliction decreed. Job's suspicion / 
against God is as dreadful as it is childish. This is a pro- * 
foundly tragic stroke. It is not to be understood as the 
sarcasm of defiance ; on the contrary, as one of the childish 
thoughts into which melancholy bordering on madness falls. 
From the bright height of faith to which Job soars in ch. 
xix. 25 sqq. he is here again drawn down into the most 
terrible depth of conflict, in which, like a blind man, he gropes 
after God, and because he cannot find Him thinks that He 
flees before him lest He should be overcome by him. The 
God of the present, Job accounts his enemy ; and the God of 
the future, to whom his faith clings, who will and must vin- 
dicate him so soon as He only allows himself to be found and 
seen this God is not to be found! Pie cannot get free 
either from his suffering or from his ignominy. The future 
for him is again veiled in a twofold darkness. 

Thus Job does not so much answer Eliphaz as himself, con- 
cerning the cutting rebukes he has brought against him. He 
is not able to put them aside, for his consciousness does not 
help him ; and God, whose judgment he desires to have, leaves 
him still in difficulty. But the mystery of his lot of affliction, 
which thereby becomes constantly more torturing, becomes 
still more mysterious from a consideration of the reverse side, 
which he is urged by Eliphaz more closely to consider, terrible 
as it may be to him. He, the innocent one, is being tortured 
to death by an angry God, while for the ungodly there come 
no times of punishment, no days of vengeance : greedy con- 
querors, merciless rulers, oppress the poor to the last drop of 
blood, who are obliged to yield to them, and must serve them, 
without wrong being helped by the right; murderers, who 
shun the light, thieves, and adulterers, carry on their evil 



44 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

courses unpunished; and swiftly and easily, without punish- 
ment overtaking them, or being able to overtake them, Sheol 
snatches them away, as heat does the melted snow; even 
God himself preserves the oppressors long in the midst of 
extreme danger, and after a long life, free from care and 
laden with honour, permits them to die a natural death, as a 
ripe ear of corn is cut off. Bold in the certainty of the truth 
of his assertion, Job meets the friends : if it is not so, who 
will convict me as a liar?! What answer will they give? 
They cannot long disown the mystery, for experience out- 
strips them. Will they therefore solve it? They might, had 
they but the key of the future state to do it with ! But 
neither they nor Job were in possession of that, and we shall 
therefore see how the mystery, without a knowledge of the 
future state, struggled through towards solution ; or even if 
this were impossible, how the doubts which it excites are 
changed to faith, and so are conquered. 

Bildad's Third Speech. Chap. xxv. 
Schema: 10. 

[Then began Bildad the Shuhite, and said :] 

2 Dominion and terror are with Him, 
He maketh peace in His high places. 

3 Is there any number to His armies. 
And whom doth not His light surpass ? 

4 How could a mortal be just ivith God, 
And how could one born of woman be pure ? 

5 Behold, even the moon, it shineth not brightly, 
And the stars are not pure in His eyes. 

6 How much less mortal man, a worm, 
And the son of man, a worm I 

Ultimum hocce classicum, observes Schultens, quod a parte 



CHAP. XXV. 45 

triumvirorum sonuit, magis receptui canentis videtur, quam 
prcelium renovantis. Bildad only repeats the two common- 
places, that man cannot possibly maintain his supposedly per- 
verted right before God, the all-just and all-controlling One, 
to whom, even in heaven above, all things cheerfully submit, 
and that man cannot possibly be accounted spotlessly pure, 
and consequently exalted above all punishment before Him, 
the most holy One, before w 7 hom even the brightest stars do 
not appear absolutely pure. ^PD is an inf. abs. made into a 
substantive, like tip>n ; the Hipli. (to cause to rule), which is 
otherwise causative, can also, like Kal, signify to rule, or 
properly, without destroying the ZTzp/wY-signification, to exer- 
cise authority (yid. on ch. xxxi. 18) ; feftn therefore signifies 
sovereign rule. nfe>V, with Kin to be supplied, which is not 
unfrequently omitted both in participial principal clauses (ch. 
xii. 17 sqq,, Ps. xxii. 29, Isa. xxvi. 3, xxix. 8, xl. 19, comp. 
Zech. ix. 12, where "OK is to be supplied) and in partic. subor- 
dinate clauses (Ps. vii. 10, Iv. 20, Hab. ii. 10), is an expression 
of the simple prces.^ which is represented by the partic. used 
thus absolutely (including the personal pronoun) as a proper 
tense-form (Ew. 168, c, 306, d). Schlottman refers n^y 
to insi febn ; but the analogy of such attributive descriptions 
of God is against it. Umbreit and Hahn connect VpiiJpB 
with the subject: He in His heights, i.e. down from His 
throne in the heavens. But most expositors rightly take it 
as descriptive of the place and object of the action expressed : 
He establishes peace in His heights, i.e. among the celestial 
beings immediately surrounding Him. This, only assuming 
the abstract possibility of discord, might mean : facit maj estate 
sua ut in summa pace et promptissima obedientia ipsi ministrent 
angeli ipsius in excelsis (Schmid). But although from ch. 
iv. 18, xv. 15, nothing more than that even the holy ones 
above are neither removed from the possibility of sin nor the 
necessity of a judicial authority which is high above them, can 



46 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

be inferred; yet, on the other hand, from ch. iii. 8, ix. 13 
(comp. xx vi. 12 sq.), it is clear that the poet, in whose con- 
ception, as in Scripture generally, the angels and the stars 
stand in the closest relation, knows of actual, and not merely 
past, but possibly recurring, instances of hostile dissension and 
titanic rebellion among the celestial powers ; so that Dlbt? nb>y, 
therefore, is intended not merely of a harmonizing reconcilia- 
tion among creatures which have been contending one against 

o o o 

another, but of an actual restoration of the equilibrium that 
had been disturbed through self-will, by an act of mediation 
and the exercise of judicial authority on the part of God. 

Ver. 3. Instead of the appellation VBi"ip, which reminds 
one of Isa. xxiv. 21, where a like peacemaking act of judg- 
ment on the part of God is promised in reference to the 
spirit-host of the heights that have been working seductively 
among the nations on earth, ^HVia, f similar meaning to 
VfcOy, used elsewhere, occurs in this verse. The stars, accord- 
ing to biblical representation, are like an army arrayed for 
battle, but not as after the Persian representation as an 
army divided into troops of the Almramazdd and Angra- 
mainyus (Ahriman), but a standing army of the children of 
light, clad in the armour of light, under the guidance of the 
one God the Creator (Isa. xl. 26, comp. the anti-dualistic as- 
-sertiou in Isa. xlv. 7). The one God is the Lord among these 
numberless legions, who commands their reverence, and main- 
tains unity among them ; and over whom does not His light 
arise ? Umbr. explains : who does not His light, which He 
communicates to the hosts of heaven, vanquish (/JJ Dip in the 
usual warlike meaning : to rise against any one) ; but this 
is a thought that is devoid of purpose in this connection. 
imiN with the emphatic suff. elm (as ch. xxiv. 23, W?y)' at 
any rate refers directly to God : His light in distinction from 
the derived light of the hosts of heaven. This distinction 
is better brought out if we interpret (Merc., Hirz,, Halm, 



CHAP. XXV. 47 

Schlottm., and others) : over whom does (would) not His 
light arise 1 i.e. all receive their light from His, and do but 
reflect it back. But Ettp*=rnp cannot be justified by ch. 
xi. 17. Therefore we interpret with Ew. and Hlgst. thus : 
whom does not His light surpass, or, literally, over whom 
(i.e. which of these beings of light) does it not rise, leaving 
it behind and exceeding it in brightness (D^pJ as synon. of 
DVV) ? How then could a mortal be just with God, i.e. at 
His side or standing up before Him ; and how could one of 
woman born be spotless ! How could he (which is hereby 
indirectly said) enter into a controversy with God, who is 
infinitely exalted above him, and maintain before Him a 
moral character faultless, and therefore absolutely free from 
condemnation ! In the heights of heaven God's decision is 
revered ; and should man, the feeble one, and born flesh of 
flesh (yid. ch. xiv. 1), dare to contend with God ? Behold, 
fX"^ Oft as usually when preceded by a negation, adeo, ne 
. . . quidenij e.g. Ex. xiv. 28, comp. Nah. i. 10, where J. H. 
Michaelis correctly renders : adeo ut spinas perplexitate cequentj 
and ^ used in the same way, ch. v. 5, Ew. 219, c), even 
as to the moon, it does not (&&1 with Waw apod., Ges. 145, 
2, although there is a reading fc6 without 1) shine bright, 
W = 5>n* from iriK = fei. 1 Thus LXX., Tars. Jer., and 

~ j~ "T/ "" T / C2 * 

Gecatilia translate; whereas Saadia translates: it turns not in 
( J^ Jj ^l), or properly, it does not pitch its tent, fix its habita- 
tion. But to pitch one's tent is 7HN or ?n^, whence ?rP_ 9 Isa. 
xiii. 20, = ?n&$l ; and what is still more decisive, one would 
naturally expect Dt? ?*nif in connection with this thought. 
We therefore render tax as a form for once boldly used in 
the scriptural language for 7?n, as in Isa. xxviii. 28 tsnjj once 
occurs for vhft. Even the moon is only a feeble light before 

1 It is worthy of observation, that hildl signifies in Arabic the new 
moon (comp. Genesis, S. 307) ; and the Hiphil ahalla, like the Kal halla, 
is used of the appearing and shining of the new moon. 



48 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

God, and the stars are not clean in His eyes ; there is a vast 
distance between Him and His highest and most glorious 
creatures how much more between Him and man, the worm 
of the dust ! 

The friends, as was to be expected, are unable to furnish 
any solution of the mystery, why the ungodly often live and 
die happily ; and yet they ought to be able to give this solu- 
tion, if the language which they employ against Job were 
authorized. Bildad alone speaks in the above speech, Zophar 
is silent. But Bildad does not utter a word that affects the 
question. This designed omission shows the inability of the 
friends to solve it, as much as the tenacity with which they 
firmly maintain their dogma ; and the breach that has been 
made in it, either they will not perceive or yet not acknow- 
ledge, because they think that thereby they are approaching 
too near to the honour of God. Moreover, it must be ob- 
served with what delicate tact, and how directly to the pur- 
pose in the structure of the whole, this short speech of Bildad' s 
closes the opposition of the friends. Two things are manifest 
from this last speech of the friends : First, that they know 
nothing new to bring forward against Job, and nothing just to 
Job's advantage; that all their darts bound back from Job; and 
that, though not according to their judgment, yet in reality, 
they are beaten. This is evident from the fact that Bildad 
is unable to give any answer to Job's questions, but can only 
take up the one idea in Job's speech, that he confidently and 
boldly thinks of being able to approach God's throne of judg- 
ment ; he repeats with slight variation what Eliphaz has said 
twice already, concerning the infinite distance between man 
and God, ch. iv. 17-21, xv. 14-16, and is not even denied by 
Job himself, ch. ix. 2, xiv. 4. But, secondly, the poet cannot 
allow us to part from the friends with too great repugnance ; 
for they are Job's friends notwithstanding, and at the close 
we see them willingly obedient to God's instruction, to go to 



CHAP. XXVI. 2-4. 49 

Job that he may pray for them and make sacrifice on their 
behalf. For this reason he does not make Bildad at last repeat 
those unjust incriminations which were put prominently for- 
ward in the speech of Eliphaz, ch. xxii. 5-11. Bildad only 
reminds Job of the universal sinfulness of the human race 
once again, without direct accusation, in order that Job may 
himself derive from it the admonition to humble himself ; and 
this admonition Job really needs, for his speeches are in many / 
ways contrary to that humility which is still the duty of sinful 
man, even in connection with the best justified consciousness 
of right thoughts and actions towards the holy God. 

Job's Second Answer. Chap. xxvi. 
Schema: 6. 6. 6. 6. 3. 

[Then Job began, and said:] 

2 How hast tliou helped him that is without power, 
Raised the arm that hath no strength ! 

3 How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom, 
And fully declared the essence of the matter ! 

4 To whom hast thou uttered words, 
And whose breath proceeded from thee? 

Bildad is the person addressed, and the exclamations in 
vers. 2, 3 are ironical : how thy speech contains nothing 
whatever that might help me, the supposedly feeble one, in 
conquering my affliction and my temptation ; me, the sup- 
posedly ignorant one, in comprehending man's mysterious 
lot, and mine ! nb'Kpp, according to the idea, is only equiva- 
lent to A ro (p) &6 iBfci>, and tinft> yi"ir equivalent to ftrifajnni 
(l!> TV N^ 5 ) ; the former is the abstr. pro concrete, the latter the 
genitival connection the arm of the no-power, i.e. powerless 
(Ges. 152, 1). The powerless one is Job himself, not God 
(Merc., Schlottm.), as even the choice of the verbs, vers. 

VOL. II. D 



50 THE BOOK OF JOB. 



26, 3a, shows. Respecting nyfaft, which we have translated 
essentiality, duration, completion, we said, on ch. v. 12, that 
it is formed from ^ (vid. Prov. viii. 21), not directly indeed, 
but by means of a verb ^ (n^J), in the signification sub- 
sistere (comp. A, and Syriac Dip 1 ) ; it is a Top7iaZ-formation 
(like n^n), and signifies, so to speak, durability, subsistentia, 
substantia^ virocTacn^ so that the comparison of ^'l with 



(JM\ (whence B^K, Arab, asis, asds, etc., fundamentum) is 

forced upon one, and the relationship to the Sanskrit as 
(asmi = elfjii) can remain undecided. The observation of 
J. D. Michaelis 2 to the contrary, Supplem. p. 1167 : non 
placent in linguis ejusmodi etyma metaphysica nimis a vulgari 
sensu remota ; philosophi in scJwlis ejusmodi vocabida condunt, 
non plebs, is removed by the consideration that rp^'in, which 
out of Prov. and Job occurs only in Isa. xxviii. 29, Mic. vi. 9, 
is a Chokma-word : it signifies here, as frequently, vera et 
realis sapientia (J. H. Michaelis). The speech of Bildad is 
a proof of poverty of thought, of which he himself gives the 
evidence. His words such is the thought of ver. 4 are 
altogether inappropriate, inasmuch as they have no reference 
whatever to the chief point of Job's speech ; and they are, 
moreover, not his own, but the suggestion of another, and 
,that not God, but Eliphaz, from whom Bildad has borrowed 
the substance of his brief declamation. Since this is the 
meaning of ver. 46, it might seem as though *B"fl8 were 

1 Comp. also Spiegel, Grammatik der Huzvaresch-Sprache, S. 103. 

2 Against the comparison of the Arab. i<*> solari, by Michaelis, Ges., 



and others (who assume the primary significations solatium, auxilium), 
Lagarde (AnmerJcungen zur griech. Uelersetzung der Proverlien, 1863, 

S. 57 f.) correctly remarks that ,<<->\j is only a change of letters of the 
common language for .**\\ ; but ,<^j, to finish painting (whence 

AX&J, decoration), or nch as a transposition from m55>", to be level, 
simple (Hitzig on Prov. iii. 21), leads to no suitable sense. 



CHAP. XXVI. 5-7. 51 

intended to signify by whose assistance (Arnh., Hahn) ; but 
as the poet also, in ch. xxxi. 37, comp. Ezek. xliii. 10, uses 
"i^n seq. ace., in the sense of explaining anything to any 
one, to instruct him concerning anything, it is to be inter- 
preted : to whom hast thou divulged the words (LXX., TIVL 
avr)>y<y6i\a<; prf/jLara), i.e. thinking and designing thereby to 
affect him ? 

In what follows, Job now continues the description of 
God's exalted rule, which Bildad had attempted, by tracing 
it through every department of creation ; and thus proves 
by fact, that he is wanting neither in a recognition nor reve- 
rence of God the almighty Ruler. 

5 TJie shades are put to pain 

Deep under the waters and their inhabitants. 

6 Sheol is naked before him, 
And the abyss hath no covering, 

1 He stretched the northern sky over the emptiness ; 
He hung the earth upon nothing. 

Bildad has extolled God's majestic, awe-inspiring rule in 
the heights of heaven, His immediate surrounding ; Job con- 
tinues the strain, and celebrates the extension of this rule, 
even to the depths of the lower world. The operation of the 
majesty of the heavenly Ruler extends even to the realm of 
shades ; the sea with the multitude of its inhabitants forms 
no barrier between God and the realm of shades ; the mar- 
rowless, bloodless phantoms or shades below writhe like a 
woman in travail as often as this majesty is felt by them, 
as, perhaps, by the raging of the sea or the quaking of the 
earth. On E'^sn, which also occurs in Phoenician inscrip- 
tions, vid. Psychol. S. 409 ; the book of Job corresponds with 
Ps. Ixxxviii. 11 in the use of this appellation. The sing, is 
not ^B"l (whence D^Dl, as the name of a people), but NH 
(na*i), which signifies both giants or heroes of colossal stature 



52 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

/ / 

(from nsn = ^J>j, to be high), and the relaxed (from nB*i, to 

be loose, like \ij, to soften, to soothe), i.e. those who are bodi- 
less in the state after death (comp. n?n ? Isa. xiv. 10, to be 
weakened, i.e. placed in the condition of a rapha). It is a 
question whether WW? be Pilel (Ges.) or Pulal (Olsh.) ; the 
Pul.y indeed, signifies elsewhere to be brought forth with 
writhing (ch. xv. 7) ; it can, however, just as well signify to 
be put in pain. On account of the reference implied in it to 
a higher causation here at the commencement of the speech, 
the Pul. is more appropriate than the Pil. ; and the pausal a, 
which is often found elsewhere with Hitlipael (HitJipal.\ ver. 
14, ch. xxxiii. 5, but never with Piel (PH.), proves that the 
form is intended to be regarded as passive. 

Ver. 6a. TtiW is seemingly used as fern., as in Isa. xiv. 9>; 
but in reality the adj. precedes in the primitive form, without 
being changed by the gender of Titftp. fl^K alternates with 
^)X>, like T3j3 in Ps. Ixxxviii. 12. As Ps. cxxxix. 8 tes- 
tifies to the presence of God in Sheol, so here Job (comp. 
ch. xxxviii. 17, and especially Prov. xv. 11) that Sheol is 
present to God, that He possesses a knowledge which extends 
into the depths of the realm of the dead, before whom all 
things are <yv]mva real Terpa^r{\icr^eva (Heb, iv. 13). The 
following partt.j ver. 7, depending logically upon the chief 
subject which precedes, are to be determined according to ch. 
xxv. 2 ; they are conceived as present, and indeed of God's 
primeval act of creation, but intended of the acts which con- 
tinue by virtue of His creative power. 

Ver. 7. By }tey many modern expositors understand the 
northern part of the earth, where the highest mountains and 
rocks rise aloft (accordingly, in Isa. xiv. 13, pBV TOT 1 are men- 
tioned parallel with the starry heights), and consequently the 
earth is the heaviest (Hirz., Ew., Hlgst., Welte, Schlottm., and 
others). But (1) it is not probable that the poet would first 



CHAP. XXVI. 5-7. 53 

have mentioned the northern part of the earth, and then in 
ver. Ib the earth itself first the part, and then the whole ; 
(2) ntM is never said of the earth, always of the heavens, 
for the expansion of which it is the stereotype word (HE:, 
ch. ix. 8, Isa. xl. 22, xliv. 24, li. 13, Zech. xiv. 1, Ps. civ. 2 ; 
Drpou, Isa. xlii. 5; niM, Jer. x. 12, li. 15; 1^ 'T, Isa. 
xlv. 12) ; (3) one expects some mention of the sky in con- 
nection with the mention of the earth ; and thus is JIS^, 1 with 
Rosenm., Ges., Umbr., Vain., Hahn, and Olsh., to be under- 
stood of the northern sky, which is prominently mentioned, 
because there is the pole of the vault of heaven, which is 
marked by the Pole-star, there the constellation of the Greater 
Bear (wy, ch. ix. 9) formed by the seven bright stars, there 
(in the back of the bull, one of the northern constellations 
of the ecliptic) the group of the Pleiades (i" 1 ? 1 "?), there also, 
below the bull and the twins, Orion (<^?|). On the deriva- 
tion, notion, and synonyms of 'infr, vid. Genesis, S. 93 ; here 
(where it may be compared with the Arab, tehij-un, empty, 
and tihj desert) it signifies nothing more than the unmeasur- 
able vacuum of space, parall. "H? :?? not anything = nothing 
(comp. modern Arabic lash, or even mash, compounded of }J 



or t< an( i ^,5"*" a thing, e.g. bilds, for nothing, ragul mash, 

useless men). The sky which vaults the earth from the 
arctic pole, and the earth itself, hang free without support in 
space. That which is elsewhere (e.g. ch. ix. 6) said of the 
pillars and foundations of the earth, is intended of the in- 
ternal support of the body of the earth, which is, as it were, 
fastened together by the mountains, with their roots extend- 



1 The name f| signifies the northern sky as it appears by day, from 
its beclouded side in contrast with the brighter and more rainless south ; 
comp. old Persian apdkhtara, if this name of the north really denotes the 
"starless" region, Greek o'<po?, the north-west, from the root skap, 
axsKoiy, ox.t-7rat.<j6g (Curtius, Griech. Etymologie, ii. 274), aquilo, the north 
wind, as that which brings black clouds with it. 



54 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

ing into the innermost part of the earth ; for the idea that 
the earth rests upon the bases of the mountains would be, 
indeed, as Lowenthal correctly observes, an absurd inversion. 
On the other side, we are also not justified in inferring from 
Job's expression the laws of the mechanism of the heavens, 
which were unknown to the ancients, especially the law of 
attraction or gravitation. The knowledge of nature on the 
part of the Israelitish Chokma, expressed in ver. 7, however, 
remains still worthy of respect. On the ground of similar 
passages of the book of Job, Keppler says of the yet un- 
solved problems of astronomy : Hcec et cetera hujusmodi 
latent in Pandectis cevi sequentis, non antea discenda, quam 
librum hunc Deus arbiter seculorum recluserit mortalibm. 
From the starry heavens and the earth Job turns to the 
celestial and sub-celestial waters. 

8 He bindeth up the waters in His clouds. 
Without the clouds being rent under their burden. 

9 He enshroudeth the face of His throne, 
Spreading His clouds upon it. 

10 He compasseth the face of the ivaters iviili bounds, 
To the boundary between light and darkness. 

. The clouds consist of masses of water rolled together, 
which, if they were suddenly set free, would deluge the 
ground ; but the omnipotence of God holds the waters to- 
gether in the hollow of the clouds (T>>*, Mild, according to a 
recognised law, although it is also found in Codd. accented 
as Milra, but contrary to the Masora), so that they do not 
burst asunder under the burden of the waters (&nnn) by 
which nothing more nor less is meant, than that 'the physical 
and meteorological laws of rain are of God's appointment. 
Ver. 9 describes the dark and thickly-clouded sky that showers 
down the rain in the appointed rainy season. THN signifies to 
take hold of, in architecture to hold together by means of 



CHAP. XXVI. 8-10. 55 

beams, or to fasten together (vid. Thenius on 1 Kings vi. 10, 
comp. 2 Chron. ix. 18, Q< 7!E, coagmentata), then also, as 
usually in Chald. and Syr., to shut (by means of cross-bars, 
Neh. vii. 3), here to shut off by surrounding with clouds : 
He shuts off nD3"OBj the front of God's throne, which is 
turned towards the earth, so that it is hidden by storm-clouds 
as by a H3p ? ch. xxxvi. 29, Ps. xviii. 12. God's throne, 
which is here, as in 1 Kings x. 19, written HD3 instead of 
ND3 (comp. Arab, cursi, of the throne of God the Judge, in 



distinction from (A^i the throne of God who rules over 



the world 1 ), is indeed in other respects invisible, but the 
cloudless blue of heaven is His reflected splendour (Ex. 
xxiv. 10) which is cast over the earth. God veils this His 
radiance which shines forth towards the earth, fojy. Ivy TKHQ, 
by spreading over it the clouds which are led forth by Him. 
TBHB is commonly regarded as a Chaldaism for TKHB (Ges. 
56, Olsh. 276), but without any similar instance in favour 
of this vocalization of the 3 pr. Piel (PH.). Although JJJH and 
$WP, ch. xv. 32, iii. 18, have given up the i of the Pil. 9 it 
has been under the influence of the following guttural ; and 
although, moreover, i before Resh sometimes passes into a, 
e.g. N"!!5, it is more reliable to regard TBHB as inf. absol. (Ew. 
141, c) : expandendo. Ges. and others regard this TBna as 
a mixed form, composed from tfha and pa ; but the verb Bha 
(with Shw) has not the signification to expand, which is 
assumed in connection with this derivation ; it signifies to 
separate (also Ezek. xxxiv. 12, vid. Hitzig on that passage), 

1 According to the more recent interpretation, under Aristotelian in- 
fluence, (j~j*SI is the outermost sphere, which God as irpurov xtvovy 
having set in motion, communicates light, heat, life, and motion to the 
other revolving spheres ; for the causse mediae gradually descend from God 
the Author of being (muJiejji) from the highest heaven into the sub- 
lunary world. 



56 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

whereas fens certainly signifies to expand (ch. xxxvi. 29, 30) ; 
wherefore the reading Tfena (with Sin), which some Codd. 
give, is preferred by Bar, and in agreement with him by 
Luzzatto (vid. Bar's Leket zebi, p. 244), and it seems to 
underlie the interpretation where vi?y TH2 is translated by 
Ivy (fen?) ^ s , He spreadeth over it (e.g. by Aben-Ezra, 
Kimchi, Kalbag). But the Talmud, b. Sabbath, 88 b (trra 
viy UJjn wap TO "HP, the Almighty separated part of the 
splendour of His Shechina and His cloud, and laid it upon 
him, i.e. Moses, as the passage is applied in the Haggada), 
follows the reading TBna (with Shin), which is to be retained 
on account of the want of naturalness in the consonantal 
combination tt?; but the word is not to be regarded as a 
mixed formation (although we do not deny the possibility of 
such forms in themselves, vid. supra, i. 411), but as an inten- 
sive form of fcna formed by Prosthesis and an Arabic change 

of Sin into Shin, like ^A-^-J, Jc J, k,j, which, beincj formed 

C -^ -^ y 

from j:_j = fena (fe^B), to expand, signifies to spread out 

(the legs). 

Ver. 10 passes from the waters above to the lower waters. 
fVjR signifies, as in ch. xi. 7, xxviii. 3, Neh. iii. 21, the 
extremity, the extreme boundary; and the connection of 
"tt&5 flvan is genitival, as the Tarcha by the first word correctly 
indicates, whereas Titf with Munacli, the substitute for Rebia 
mugrasch in this instance (according to Psalter, ii. 503, 2), 
is a mistake. God has marked out (jn, LXX. eyvpcocrev) a 
law, i.e. here according to the sense : a fixed bound (comp. 
Prov. viii. 29 with Ps. civ. 9), over the surface of the waters 
(i.e. describing a circle over them which defines their circuit) 
unto the extreme point of light by darkness, i.e. where the 
light is touched by the darkness. Most expositors (Rosenm., 
Hirz., Hahn, Schlottm., and others) take nvlirny adverbially: 
most accurately, and refer HH to ">1K as a second object, which 
is contrary to the usage of the language, and doubtful and 



CHAP. XXVI. 11-13. 57 

unnecessary. Pareau has correctly interpreted : ad lucis 
usque tenebrarumque confinia; EJJ in the local sense, not ceque 
ac } although it might also have this meaning, as e.g. EccL 
ii. 16. The idea is, that God has appointed a fixed limit to 
the waters, as far as to the point at which they wash the 
terra firma of the extreme horizon, and where the boundary 
line of the realms of light and darkness is ; and the basis of 
the expression, as Bouillier, by reference to Virgil's Georg. i. 
240 sq., has shown, is the conception of the ancients, that the 
earth is surrounded by the ocean, on the other side of which 
the region of darkness begins. 

11 The pillars of heaven tremble 

And are astonished at His threatening. 

12 By His power He rouseth up the sea, 

And by His understanding He breaketh Rahab in pieces. 

13 By His breath the heavens become cheerful; 
His hand hath formed the fugitive dragon. 

The mountains towering up to the sky, which seem to sup- 
port the vault of the sky, are called poetically "the pillars 
of heaven." 'iSSiT 1 is Pulal, like v^T, ver. 5 ; the significa- 
tion of violent and quick motion backwards and forwards is 
secured to the verb *jn by the Targ. ^nnx = n!&$ 9 ch. ix. 6, 
and the Talm. ^"i of churned milk, blinking eyes (comp. 

1$ ^n^j tne twinkling of the eye, and uJ;, fut. i. o. nictare\ 

flapping wings (comp. < J^ and <_ Sjij, movere, motitare alas\ 
of wavering thinking. rnjJii is the divine command which 
looses or binds the powers of nature ; the astonishment of 
the supports of heaven is, according to the radical significa- 
tion of npn (cogn. E^), to be conceived of as a torpidity 
which follows the divine impulse, without offering any resist- 
ance whatever. That Jttn, ver. 12, is to be understood tran- 
sitively, not like ch. vii. 5, intransitively, is proved by the 



58 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

dependent (borrowed) passages, Isa. li. 15, Jer. xxxi. 35, 
from which it is also evident that $n cannot with the LXX. 
be translated tcaTeTravcrev. The verb combines in itself the 
opposite significations of starting up, i.e. entering into an 
excited state, and of being startled, from which the significa- 
tions of stilling (Niph.j Hiph.), and of standing back or 
retreat (*_^-,), branch off. The conjecture "WJ after the 
Syriac version (which translates, goar b e jamo) is superfluous. 
3ni ? which here also is translated by the LXX. TO KTJTOS, has 
been discussed already on ch. ix. 13. It is not meant of the 
turbulence of the sea, to which yftft is not appropriate, but of 
a sea monster, which, like the crocodile and the dragon, are 
become an emblem of Pharaoh and his power, as Isa. li. 9 sq. 
has applied this primary passage : the writer of the book of 
Job purposely abstains from such references to the history of 
Israel. Without doubt, Dm denotes a demoniacal monster, 
like the demons that shall be destroyed at the end of the 
world, one of which is called by the Persians akomano, evil 
thought, another taromaiti, pride. This view is supported by 
ver. 13, where one is not at liberty to determine the meaning 
by Isa. li. 9, and to understand fro KTU ? like H 3 ! 1 in that pas- 
sage, of Egypt. But this dependent passage is an important 
indication for the correct rendering of npph. One thing is 
certain at the outset, that fl"}S^ is not perf. Piel fnBB^ and 
for this reason, that the Dagesh which characterizes Piel 
cannot be omitted from any of the six muttv ; the translation 
of Jerome, spiritus ejus ornavit coelos, and all similar ones, 
are therefore false. But it is possible to translate : l( by His 
spirit (creative spirit) the heavens are beauty, His hand has 
formed the flying dragon." Thus, in the signification to 
bring forth (as Prov. xxv.- 23, viii. 24 sq.), rttn is rendered 
by Rosenm., Arnh., Vaih., Welte, Renan, and others, of 
whom Vaih. and Renan, however, do not understand ver. 13a 
of the creation of the heavens, but of their illumination. By 



CHAP. XXVI. 11-13. 59 

this rendering vers. 13a and 13 b are severed, as being without 
connection ; in general, however, the course of thought in 
the description does not favour the reference of the whole or 
half of ver. 13 to the creation. Accordingly, nppn is not to 
be taken as Pilel from Tin (TTi), but after Isa. Ivii. 9, as Poel 
from !^n, according to which the idea of ver. 13a is deter- 
mined, since both lines of the verse are most closely connected. 
(n s "i2) ma wn) is, to wit. the constellation of the Dragon, 1 

\- 'T/ ~ -T TT 7 7 O * 

one of the most straggling constellations, which winds itself 
between the Greater and Lesser Bears almost half through 
the polar circle. 

" Maximus hie plexu sinuoso elabitur Anguis 
Circum perque duas in morem fluminis Arctos." 

VIRGIL, Georg. i. 244 sq. 

Aratus in Cicero, de nat. Deorum, ii. 42, describes it more 
graphically, both in general, and in regard to the many stars 
of different magnitudes which form its body from head to 
tail. Among the Arabs it is called el-hajje, the serpent, 
e.g. in Firuzabadi : the laajje is a constellation between the 
Lesser Bear (farqaddn, the two calves) and the Greater Bear 
(bendt en-nasch, the daughters of the bier), "or et-tariin, the 
dragon, e.g. in one of the authors quoted by Hyde on Ulugh 
Beigh's Tables of the Stars, p. 18 : the tanin lies round about 
the north pole in the form of a long serpent, with many 
bends and windings." Thus far the testimony of the old 
expositors is found in Rosenmuller. The Hebrew name vn 
(the quiver) is perhaps to be distinguished from yip and y^j, 
the Zodiac constellations Aries and Aquarius. 2 It is ques- 
tionable how rna is to be understood. The LXX. translates 
Spdfcovra aTToardr'rjv in this passage, which is certainly in- 

1 Ralbag, without any ground for it, understands it of the milky way 
Ol&nn TlJyn), which, according to Rapoport, Pref. to Slonimski's Tole- 
doth ha-schamajim (1838), was already known to the Talmud b. Berachoth, 
58&, under the name of 1131 inj. 

2 Vid. Wissenschaft, Kunst, Judenilmm (1838), S. 220 f. 



60 THE BOOK OF JOB. 



correct, since rp"Q beside pro may naturally be assumed 
to be an attributive word referring to the motion or form 
of the serpent. Accordingly, Isa. xxvii. 1, ofyiv (^ev^ovra is 
more correct, where the Syr. version is WB"in fcOin the fierce 

7 / T T ; ~ T; v ' 

serpent, which is devoid of support in the language ; in the 
passage before us the Syr. also has p^JH fr^n, the fleeing 
serpent, but this translation does not satisfy the more neuter 
signification of the adjective. Aquila in Isaiah translates 
o(f)iv yito^Xoz>, as Jerome translates the same passage serpentem 
vectem (whereas he translates coluber tortuosus in our passage), 
as though it were H" 1 "]?; Symm. is better, and without doubt a 
substantially similar thought, o^w criry/cAetWra, the serpent 
that joins by a bolt, which agrees with the traditional Jewish 
explanation, for the dragon in Aben-Ezra and Kimchi (in 
Lex.) after the example of the learned Babylonian teacher of 
astronomy, Mar-Samuel (died 257), who says of himself that 
the paths of the heavens are as familiar to him as the places 
of Nehardea 1 is called pr6py B>'nj, because it is as though 
it were wounded, and ima, because it forms a bar (rp"OtD) 
from one end of the sky to the other ; or as Sabbatai Donolo 
(about 940), the Italian astronomer, 2 expresses it: "When God 
created the two lights (the sun and moon) and the five stars 
-(planets) and the twelve Dl^TO (the constellations of the Zodiac), 
He also created the ^n (dragon), to unite these heavenly 
bodies as by a weaver's beam (DVH1K "uo), and made it 
stretch itself on the firmament from one end to another as a 
bar (rp"Q3), like a wounded serpent furnished with head and 
tail." By this explanation rpna is either taken directly as 
n* 1 ")?, vectisj in which signification it does not, however, occur 
elsewhere, or the signification transversus (transversarius) is 

1 Vid. Gratz, Geschiclite der Juden, iv. 324. On Isa. xxvii. 1 Kimchi 
interprets the rP"QD differently : he scares (pushes away). 

2 Vid. extracts from his rv6fEn 1D in Joseph Kara's Comm. on Job, 
contributed by S. D. Luzzatto in Kerem Chemed, 7th year, S. 57 ff. 



CHAP. XXVI. 11-13. 61 

i 

assigned to the H^a (= barridh) with an unchangeable Kametz, 
a signification which it might have, for ITO _^j signifies 
properly to go through, to go slanting across, of which the 
meanings to unite slanting and to slip away are only varia- 
tions, rvna, notwithstanding, has in the language, so far as 
it is preserved to us, everywhere the signification fugitivus, 
and we will also keep to this : the dragon in the heavens is 
so called, as having the appearance of fleeing and hastening 
away. But in what sense is it said of God, that He pierces 
or slays it ? In Isa. li. 9, where the pn is the emblem of 
Egypt (Pharaoh), and xxvii. 1, where nnn ^H3 is the emblem 
of Assyria, the empire of the Tigris, the idea of destruction 
by the sword of Jehovah is clear. The present passage is to 
be explained according to ch. iii. 8, where |JVv is only another 
name for mi TIJ (comp. Isa. xxvii. 1). It is the dragon in 
the heavens which produces the eclipse of the sun, by wind- 
ing itself round about the sun; and God must continually 
wound it anew, and thus weaken it, if the sun is to be set 
free again. That it is God who disperses the clouds of 
heaven by the breath of His spirit, the representative of 
which in the elements is the wind, so that the azure becomes 
visible again ; and that it is He who causes the darkening of 
the sun to cease, so that the earth can again rejoice in the 
full brightness of that great light, these two contemplations 
of the almighty working of God in nature are so expressed 
by the poet, that he clothes the second in the mythological 
garb of the popular conception. 

In the closing words which now follow, Job concludes his 
illustrative description : it must indeed, notwithstanding, 
come infinitely short of the reality. 

14 Behold, these are the edges of His ways, 

And how do we hear only a whisper thereof ! 

But the thunder of His might who comprehendeth it? 



62 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

These (n!?K retrospective, as in ch. xviii. 21) are only 
the extremest end-points or outlines of the ways of God, 
which Job has depicted ; the wondrous fulness of His might, 
which extends through the whole creation, transcends human 
comprehension ; it is only "lyj. V therefrom that becomes 
audible to us men. Kp^ (H??*) is translated by Symm. here 



) cn - ' 1V ' 12, ifriQvpicrfjLo? ; the Arab. u&AJ* (to speak 



very quickly, mutter) confirms this idea of the word ; Jerome's 
translation, mx parvam stillam sermonis ejus (comp. ch. iv. 12, 
venas, tropical for parts), is doubly erroneous : the rendering 
of the pD$ has the antithesis of Din against it, and "i-jn is not 
to be understood here otherwise than in "iS'n Jmy Deut. xxiii. 

7 T - : / ' 

15, xxiv. 1 : shame of something = something that excites a 
feeling of shame, a whisper of something = some whisper. 
The notion " somewhat," which the old expositors attribute to 
PDB>, lies therefore in "DX no is exclamatory in a similar 
manner as in Ps. Ixxxix. 48 : how we hear (VE^, not JMpKO) 
only some whisper thereof (is partitive, as e.g. Isa. x. 22), 
i.e. how little therefrom is audible to us, only as the murmur 
of a word, not loud and distinct, which reaches us ! 

As in the speech of Bildad the poet makes the opposition 
of the friends to fade away and cease altogether, as incapable 
of any further counsel, and hence as conquered, so in Job's 
closing speech, which consists of three parts, ch. xxvi., xxvii.- 
xxviii., xxix.-xxxi., he shows how Job in every respect, as 
victor, maintains the field against the friends. The friends 
have neither been able to loose the knot of Job's lot of suf- 
fering, nor the universal distribution of prosperity and mis- 
fortune. Instead of loosing the knot of Job's lot of suffering, 
they have cut it, by adding to Job's heavy affliction the in- 
vention of heinous guilt as its ground of explanation ; and 
the knot of the contradictions of human life in general with 
divine justice they have ignored, in order that they may not 



CHAP. XXVI. 14. 63 

be compelled to abandon their dogma, that suffering every- 
where necessarily presupposes sin, and sin is everywhere 
necessarily followed by suffering. Even Job, indeed, is not 
at present able to solve either one or other of the mysteries ; 
but while the friends' treatment of these mysteries is untrue, 
he honours the truth, and keenly perceives that which is 
mysterious. Then he proves by testimony and an appeal to 
facts, that the mystery may be acknowledged without there- 
fore being compelled to abandon the fear of God. Job 
firmly holds to the objective reality and the testimony of his 
consciousness ; in the fear of God he places himself above 
all those contradictions which are unsolvable by and perplex- 
ing to human reason ; his faith triumphs over the rational- 
ism of the friends, which is devoid of truth, of justice, and 
of love. 

Job first answers Bildad, ch. xxvi. He characterizes his 
poor reply as what it is : as useless, and not pertinent in 
regard to the questions before them : it is of no service to 
him, it does not affect him, and is, moreover, a borrowed 
weapon. For he also is conscious of and can praise God's 
exalted and awe-inspiring majesty. He has already shown 
this twice, ch. ix. 4-10, xii. 13-25, and shows here for the 
third time : its operation is not confined merely to those 
creatures that immediately surround God in the heavens ; 
it extends, without being restrained by the sea, even down 
to the lower world; and as it makes the angels above to 
tremble, so there it sets the shades in consternation. From 
the lower world, Job's contemplation rises to the earth, as a 
body suspended in space without support ; to the clouds above, 
which contain the upper waters without bursting, and veil the 
divine throne, of which the sapphire blue of heaven is the re- 
flection ; and then he speaks of the sea lying between Sheol 
and heaven, which is confined within fixed bounds, at the 
extreme boundaries of which light passes over into darkness ; 



64 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

he celebrates all this as proof of the creative might of 
God. Then he describes the sovereign power of God in the 
realm of His creation, how He shakes the pillars of heaven, 
rouses the sea, breaks the monster in pieces, lights up the 
heavens by chasing away the clouds and piercing the ser- 
pent, and thus setting free the sun. But all these thus he 
closes are only meagre outlines of the divine rule, only a 
faint whisper, which is heard by us as coming from the far 
distance. Who has the comprehension necessary to take in 
and speak exhaustively of all the wonders of His infinite 
nature, which extends throughout the whole creation 1 From 
such a profound recognition and so glorious a description of 
the exaltation of God, the infinite distance between God and 
man is most clearly proved. Job has adequately shown that 
his whole soul is full of that which Bildad is anxious to 
teach him; a soul that only requires a slight impulse to 
make it overflow with such praise of God, as is not wanting 
in an universal perception of God, nor is it full of wicked 
devices. When therefore Bildad maintains against Job that 
no man is righteous before such an exalted God, Job ought 
indeed to take it as a warning against such unbecoming 
utterances concerning God as those which have escaped him ; 
but the universal sinfulness of man is no ground of explana- 
tion for his sufferings, for there is a righteousness which 
avails before God ; and of this, Job, the suffering servant of 
God, has a consciousness that cannot be shaken. 



CHAP. XXVII. 2-7. 65 

THIRD PART. THE TRANSITION TO THE UNRAVELMENT. 
CHAP, xxvu.-xxxi. 

Job's Final Speech to the Friends. Chap, xxvii. xxviii. 
Schema: 12. 10. 12. 10. | 10. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 10. 

[Then Job continued to take up his proverb, and said :] 

2 As God liveth, who hath deprived me of my right, 
And the Almighty, who hath sorely saddened my soul 

3 For still all my breath is in me, 

And the breath of Eloah in my nostrils 

4 My lips do not speak ivhat is false, 
And my tongue utter eth not deceit! 

5 Far be it from me, to grant that you are in the right : 
Till I die I will not remove my innocence from me. 

6 My righteousness I hold fast, and let it not go : 
My heart reproacheth not any of my days. 

7 Mine enemy must appear as an evil-doer, 

And he who riseth up against me as unrighteous. 

The friends are silent, Job remains master of the dis- 
course, and his continued speech is introduced as a continued 
\?ufo r\KW (after the analogy of the phrase blp Nbo), as in 
Num. xxiii. 7 and further on, the oracles of Balaam, /t^p is 
speech of a more elevated tone and more figurative cha- 
racter; here, as frequently, the unaffected outgrowth of an 
elevated solemn mood. The introduction of the ultimatum, 
as TWO, reminds one of " the proverb (el-methel) seals it " in 
the moutli of the Arab, since in common life it is customary 
to use a pithy saying as the final proof at the conclusion of a 
speech. 

Job begins with an asseveration of his truthfulness (i.e. 

VOL. II. E 



66 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

the agreement of his confession with his consciousness) by 
the life of God. From this oath, which in the form bi-lmjdt 
alldli has become later on a common formula of assurance, 
R. Josua, in his tractate So ta } infers that Job served God 
from love to Him, for we only swear by the life of that which 
we honour and love ; it is more natural to conclude that the 
God by whom, on the one hand, he believes himself to be so 
unjustly treated, still appears to him, on the other hand, to 
be the highest manifestation of truth. The interjectional 
clause: living is God! is equivalent to, as true as God liveth. 
That which is affirmed is not what immediately follows : He 
has set aside my right, and the Almighty .has sorely grieved 
my soul (Raschi) ; but 'BSBto Ton and ^33 1DH are attributive 
clauses, by which what is denied in the form of an oath intro- 
duced by BS (as Gen. xlii. 15, 1 Sam. xiv. 45, 2 Sam. xi. 11, 
Ges. 155, 2, /) is contained in ver. 4; his special reference 
to the false semblance of an evil-doer shows that semblance 
which suffering casts upon him, but which he constantly 
repudiates as surely not lying, as that God liveth. Among 
moderns, Schlottm. (comp. Ges. 150, 3), like most of the 
old expositors, translates : so long as my breath is in me, . . . 
my lips shall speak no wrong, so that vers. 3 and 4 together 
contain what is affirmed. But (1) ""3 indeed sometimes intro- 
duces that which shall happen as affirmed by oath, Jer. xxii. 5, 
xlix. 13 ; but here that which shall not take place is affirmed, 
which would be introduced first in a general form by ^ 
explic. s. recitativum, then according to its special negative 
contents by DK, a construction which is perhaps possible 
according to syntax, but it is nevertheless perplexing ; (2) it 
may perhaps be thought that " the whole continuance of my 
breath in me" is conceived as accusative and adverbial, and is 
equivalent to, so long as my breath may remain in me (TIJJ , 
as long as ever, like the Arab. cullama 9 as often as ever) ; but 
the usage of the language does not favour this explanation, 



CHAP. XXVII. 2-7. 67 



for 2 Sam. i. 9, ^ *B>B3 Tljrjj signifies my whole soul (my full 
life) is still in me; and we have a third instance of this pro- 
minently placed to per hypallagen in Hos. xiv. 3, }1V NKTrpID, 
omnem an/eras iniquitatem, Ew. 289, a (comp. Ges. 114, 
rem. 1). Accordingly, with Ew., Hirz., Hahn, and most 
modern expositors, we take ver. 3 as a parenthetical confir- 
matory clause, by w r hich Job gives the ground of his solemn 
affirmation that he is still in possession of his full conscious- 
ness, and cannot help feeling and expressing the contradiction 
between his lot of suffering, which brands him as an evil-doer, 
and his moral integrity. The ^fKO which precedes the nn 
signifies, according to the prevailing usage of the language, 
the intellectual, and therefore self-conscious, soul of man 
(PsychoL S. 76f ). This is in man and in his nostrils, inas- 
much as the breath which passes in and out by these is the 
outward and visible form of its being, which is in every re- 
spect the condition of life (ib. S. 82f.). The suff. of Vtotw 
is unaccented; on account of the word which follows being 
a monosyllable, the tone has retreated ("Vinx 31DJ, to use a 
technical grammatical expression), as e.g. also in ch. xix. 25, 
xx. 2, Ps. xxii. 20. Because he lives, and, living, cannot 
deny his own existence, he swears that his own testimony, 
which is suspected by the friends, and on account of which 
they charge him with falsehood, is perfect truth. 

Ver. 4 is not to be translated : " my lips shall never speak 
what is false ;" for it is not a resolve which Job thus strongly 
makes, after the manner of a vow, but the agreement of his 
confession, which he has now so frequently made, and which 
remains unalterable, with the abiding fact. Far be from me 
he continues in ver. 5 to admit that you are right (7 nWn 
with unaccented ah, not of the fern., cornp. ch. xxxiv. 10, but 
of direction : for a profanation to me, i.e. let it be profane to 
me, Ew. 329, a, Arab, \\dslid li, in a like sense) ; until I 
expire (prop. : sink together), I will not put my innocence 



68 THE BOOK OF JOB. 



( n ?fl, perfection, in the sense of purity of character) away 
from me, i.e. I will not cease from asserting it. I will hold 
fast (as ever) my righteousness, and leave it not, i.e. let it 
not go or fall away ; my heart does not reproach even one of 
my days, ^pj? is virtually an obj. in a partitive sense: mon 
coeur ne me reproche pas un seul de mes jours (Renan). The 
heart is used here as the seat of the conscience, which is the 
knowledge possessed by the heart, by which it excuses or ac- 
cuses a man (Psycliol. S. 134) ; *nn (whence sp/n, the season 
in which the fruits are gathered) signifies carper e, to pluck = 
to pinch, lash, inveigh against. Jos. Kimchi and Ralbag 
explain : my heart draws not back (from the confession of 
my innocence) my whole life long (as Maimonides explains 
nsnna, Lev. xix. 20, of the female slave who is inclined to, 
i.e. stands near to, the position of a free woman), by compari- 

/ I I C, 

son with the Arabic uJ-^lj de fleeter e ; it is not, however, 



< _ ?.;>-, but t_J->~> decerpere, that is to be compared in the 
tropical sense of the prevailing usage of the Hebrew speci- 
fied. The old expositors were all misled by the misunder- 
stood partitive Wft, which they translated ex (= inde a) diebus 
tneis. There is in ver. 7 no ground for taking s ni, with 
Hahn, as a strong affirmative, as supposed in ch. xviii. 12, 
and not as expressive of desire ; but the meaning is not : let 
my opponents be evil-doers, I at least am not one (Hirz.). 
The voluntative expresses far more emotion : the relation 
must be reversed ; he who will brand me as an evil-doer, 
must by that very act brand himself as such, inasmuch as 
the VBhD of a p* 1 !^ really shows himself to be a jJBh, and by 
recklessly judging the righteous, is bringing down upon him- 
self a like well-merited judgment. The 3 is the so-called 
Caph veritatis, since 3, instar, signifies not only similarity, but 
also equality. Instead of ^i?, the less manageable, primitive 
form, which the poet used in ch. xxii. 20 (comp. vol. i. 440), 



CHAP. XXVII. 8-12. 69 

and beside which DjJ (Dip, 2 Kings xvi. 7) does not occur in 
the book, we here find the more usual form *Olp1pntD (comp. 
ch. xx. 27). 1 

The description of the misfortune of the ungodly which 
now follows, beginning with ^, requires no connecting thought, 
as for instance : My enemy must be accounted as ungodly, on 
account of his hostility ; I abhor ungodliness, for, etc. ; but 
that he who regards him as a yen is himself a jJBh, Job shows 
from the fact of the jftjh having no hope in death, whilst, 
when dying, he can give no confident hope of a divine vindi- 
cation of his innocence. 

8 For ivhat is the hope of the godless, when He cutteth off, 
When Eloah taketli away his soul? 

9 Will God hear his cry 

When distress cometh upon him ? 

10 Or can he delight himself in the Almighty, 
Can lie call upon Eloah at all times ? 

11 I will teach you concerning the hand of God, 

I will not conceal the dealings of the Almighty. 

12 Behold, ye have all seen it, 

Why then do ye cherish foolish notions ? 

In comparing himself with the JJKh, Job is conscious that 
he has a God who does not leave him unheard, in whom he 
delights himself, and to whom he can at all times draw near ; 

o / 

as, in fact, Job's fellowship with God rests upon the freedom 
of the most intimate confidence. He is not one of the god- 
less ; for what is the hope of one who is estranged from God, 
when he comes to die ? He has no God on whom his hope 

1 In Beduin the enemy is called qotndni (vid. supra, on ch. xxiv. 12, 

c / 

p. 26), a denominative from qom *js, war, feud; but qom has also the 

signification of a collective of qomdni, and one can also say: entum wa- 
ijdnd qom, you and we are enemies, and bendtna qom, there is war between 
us. WETZST. 



70 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

might establish itself, to whom it could cling. The old 
expositors err in many ways respecting ver. 8, by taking ysi, 
abscindere (root pi), in the sense of (opes) corradere (thus 
also more recently Kosenm. after the Targ., Syr., and Jer.), 
and referring W to ?W in the signification tranquillum esse 
(thus even Blumenfeld after Ralbag and others). ^B3 is 
the object to both verbs, and p'a: JJS1, abscindere animam, to 
cut off the thread of life, is to be explained according to ch. 
vi. 9, Isa. xxxviii. 12. WZ) rhw, extraliere animam (from 



!W, whence n^ L>, the after-birth, cogn. v U L, ^J JJ, 
J.O, J-JuJ)) is of similar signification, according to another 



figure, since the body is conceived of as the sheath 

-> ' 

V 

Dan. vii. 15) of the soul 1 (comp. J~> in the universal signi- 
fication evaginare ensem). The fut. apoc. Kal ?& (= 7B^) is 



therefore in meaning equivalent to the intrans. ^, Deut. 
xxviii. 40 (according to Ew. 235, c, obtained from this by 
change of vowel), decidere; and Schnurrer's supposition that 
fe\ like the Arab. u Lj, is equivalent to btftt" (when God 
demands it), or such a violent correction as De Lagarde's 2 
(when he is in distress pV, when one demands his soul with a 
curse n7N2 T^ffy, is unnecessary. 

The ungodly man, Job goes on to say, has no God to hear 
his cry when distress comes upon him; he cannot delight 
himself (J3SW, pausal form of J?OT, the primary form of 
in the Almighty; he cannot call upon Eloah at any 



1 On the similar idea of the body, as the kasha (sheath) of the soui, 
among the Hindus, vid. Psychol. S. 227. 

2 Anm. zur griech. Uelers. der Proverlnen (1863), S. VI. f., where the 
first reason given for this improvement of the text is this, that the usual 
explanation, according to which pfcjji and W2* have the same subj. and 
obj. standing after the verb, is altogether contrary to Semitic usage. 
But this assertion is groundless, as might be supposed from the very be- 
ginning. Thus, e.g. the same obj. is found after two verbs in ch. xx. 19, 
and the same subj. and obj. in Neh. iii. 20. 



CHAP. XXVII. 8-12. 71 

time (i.e. in the manifold circumstances of life under which 
we are called to feel the dependence of our nature). Torn 
away from God, he cannot be heard, he cannot indeed pray 
and find any consolation in God. It is most clearly manifest 
here, since Job compares his condition of suffering with that 
of a ?pn, what comfort, what power of endurance, yea, what 
spiritual joy in the midst of suffering (Mynn, as ch. xxii. 26, 
Ps. xxxvii. 4, 11, Isa. Iv. 2, Iviii. 13 sq.), which must all 
remain unknown to the ungodly, he can draw from his 
fellowship with God ; and seizing the very root of the dis- 
tinction between the man who fears God and one who is 
utterly godless, his view of the outward appearance of the 
misfortune of both becomes changed; and after having 
allowed himself hitherto to be driven from one extreme to 
another by the friends, as the heat of the controversy gradu- 
ally cools down, and as, regaining his independence, he stands 
before them as their teacher, he now experiences the truth of 
docendo discimus in rich abundance. I will instruct you, 
says he, in the hand, i.e. the mode of action, of God (3 just 
as in Ps. xxv. 8, 12, xxxii. 8, Prov. iv. 11, of the province 
and subject of instruction) ; I will not conceal ^KTDJJ "IGM*, 
i.e. according to the sense of the passage : what are the prin- 
ciples upon which He acts ; for that which is with (Qy) any 
one is the matter of his consciousness and volition (vid. on 
ch. xxiii. 10, p. 10). 

Ver. 12 is of the greatest importance in the right inter- 
pretation of what follows from ver. 13 onwards. The in- 
struction which Job desires to impart to the friends has 
reference to the lot of the evil-doer ; and when he says : 
Behold, ye yourselves have beheld (learnt) it all, in con- 
nection with which it is to be observed that Mf? D ^ does 
not signify merely vos omnes, but vosmet ipsi omnes, he 
grants to them what he appeared hitherto to deny, that the 
lot of the evil-doer, certainly in the rule, although not with- 



72 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

out exceptions, is such as they have said. The application, 
however, which they have made of this abiding fact of ex- 
perience, is and remains all the more false : Wherefore then 
(nt makes the question sharper) are ye vain (blinded) in 
vanity (self-delusion), viz. in reference to me, who do not so 
completely bear about the characteristic marks of a yt2h 
The verb w signifies to think and act vainly (without 
ground or connection), 2 Kings xvii. 15 (comp. e/jLara^Or^crav, 
Rom. i. 21) ; the combination ??n 7?n is not to be judged of 
according to Ges. 138, rem. 1, as it is also by Ew. 281, a, 
but ??n may also be taken as the representative of the gerund, 
as e.g. nny ? Hab. iii. 9. 

In the following strophe Job now begins as Zophar (ch. 
xx. 29) concluded. He gives back to the friends the doctrine 
they have fully imparted to him. They have held the lot of 
the evil-doer before him as a mirror, that he may behold him- 
self in it and be astounded; he holds it before them, that 
they may perceive how not only his bearing under suffering, 
but also the form of his affliction, is of a totally different 
kind. 

13 This is the lot of the wicked man with God, 

, And the heritage of the violent which they receive from the 
Almighty : 

14 If his children multiply, it is for the sword, 
And his offspring have, not bread enough. 

1 5 His survivors shall be buried by the pestilence, 
And his widows shall not weep. 

16 If he heapeth silver together as dust. 

And prepareth garments for himself as mire: 

17 He prepareth it, and the righteous clothe themselves, 
And the innocent divide the silver among themselves. 

18 He hath built as a moth his house, 

And as a hut that a 'watchman setteth up. 



CHAP. XXVII. 13-18. 73 



We have already had the combination Jflsn D l? for 
JJJTJ in ch. xx. 29 ; it is a favourite expression in Proverbs, 
and reminds one of avOpwiros oBlrT)^ in Homer, and avOpwrros 
crTrelpcov, e^Opo?, e/uiTropos, in the parables Matt. xiii. Psik 
(Pasek) stands under yen, to separate the wicked man and 
God, as in Prov. xv. 29 (Norzi). top, exclusively peculiar to 
the book of Job in the Old Testament (here and ch. xxix. 21, 
xxxviii. 40, xl. 4), is ? rendered capable of an independent 
position by means of ID = n, U. The sword, famine, and 
pestilence are the three punishing powers by which the evil- 
doer's posterity, however numerous it may be, is blotted out; 
these three, l^.n, 3{n, and JTiD, appear also side by side in 
Jer. xv. 2 ; fi.1E>, instead of ^^P, diris mortibus, is (as also 
Jer. xviii. 21) equivalent to "IST in the same trio, Jer. xiv. 12 ; 
the plague is personified (as when it is called by an Arabian 
poet umm el-farit, the mother of death), and Yavassor cor- 
rectly observes : Mors illos sua sepeliet, nihil prceterea honoris 
supremi consecuturos. Bottcher (de inferis, 72) asserts that 
JTID2 can only signify pestilential tempore, or better, ipso mortis 
momenta ; but since 3 occurs by the passive elsewhere in the 
sense of ab or per, e.g. Num. xxxvi. 2, Hos. xiv. 4, it can also 
by "Op3 denote the efficient cause. Olshausen's correction 
TOp" 1 N^> ni3, they will not be buried when dead (Jer. xvi. 4), 
is still less required ; " to be buried by the pestilence" is equi- 
valent to, not to be interred with the usual solemnities, but 
to be buried as hastily as possible. Ver. 156 (common to 
our poet and the psalm of Asaph, Ixxviii. 64, which likewise 
belongs to the Salomonic age) is also to be correspondingly 
interpreted : the women that he leaves behind do not cele- 
brate the usual mourning rites (comp. Gen. xxiii. 2), because 
the decreed punishment which, stroke after stroke, deprives 
them of husbands and children, prevents all observance of the 
customs of mourning, and because the shock stifles the feeling 
of pity. The treasure in gold which his avarice has heaped 



74 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

up, and in garments which his love of display has gathered 
together, come into the possession of the righteous and the 
innocent, who are spared when these three powers of judgment 
sweep away the evil-doer and his family. Dust and dirt (i.e. 
of the streets, JYiVin) are, as in Zech. ix. 3, the emblem of a 
great abundance that depreciates even that which is valuable. 
The house of the ungodly man, though a palace, is, as the 
fate of the fabric shows, as brittle and perishable a thing, 
and can be as easily destroyed, as the fine spinning of a 
moth, W$ (according to the Jewish proverb, the brother of the 
Dp) ? or even the small case which it makes from remnants of 
gnawed articles, and drags about with it; it is like a light 
hut, perhaps for the watchman of a vineyard (Isa. i. 8), 
which is put together only for the season during which the 
grapes are ripening. 1 

19 He lieth down rich, and doeth it not again, 
He openeth his eyes and is no more. 

20 Terrors take hold of him as a flood; 
By night a tempest stealeth him away. 

1 The watchman's hut, for the protection of the vineyards and melon 
and maize fields against thieves, herds, or wild beasts, is now called 
either 'arishe and mantara (mDJD) if it is only slightly put together 
from branches of trees, or cheme (flB*h) if it is built up high in order that 
the watcher may see a great distance. The cheme is the more frequent ; 
at harvest it stands in the midst of the threshing-floors (bejadir) of a 
district, and it is constructed in the following manner : Four poles 
(" 'aw i amid) are set up so as to form the corners of a square, the sides of 
which are about eight feet in length. Eight feet above the ground, four 
cross pieces of wood ('awdrid) are tightly bound to these with cords, on 
which planks, if they are to be had, are laid. Here is the watcher's bed, 
which consists of a litter. Six or seven feet above this, cross-beams are 
again bound to the four poles, on which boughs, or reeds (qasab), or a 
mat (haszra, m^n) forms a roof (sath, ntDbOj from which the cheme 

T ; - v 

has its name ; for the P*W -forms EHJJ, D*n, and ni3^ signify, " to be 
stretched over anything after the manner of a roof." Between the roof 
and the bed, three sides of the cheme are hung round with a mat, or with 



CHAP. XXVII. 13-23. 75 

21 The east wind lifteth Mm up, that he departeth, 
A nd hurleth him forth from his place. 

22 God casteth upon him ivithout sparing, 
Before His hand he fleeth utterly away. 

23 They clap their hands at him, 
And hiss him away from his place. 

The pointing of the text *|Dfc^ &6l is explained by Schnurr., 
Umbr., and Stick. : He goes rich to bed and nothing is taken 
as jet, he opens his eyes and nothing more is there; but 
if this were the thought intended, it ought at least to have 
been *)Dfc p&O. since NP signifies wow, not nihil ; and Stickel's 

T v:iv :' O J 

translation, " while nothing is carried away," makes the fat. 
instead of the prcst., which was to be expected, none the 
more tolerable ; also tjDK can indeed signify to gather hastily 
together, to take away (e.g. Isa. xxxiii. 4), when the connec- 
tion favours it, but not here, where the first impression is 
that yen is the subj. both to ^0^ t6l and to UJW. Bottcher's 
translation, " He lieth down rich and cannot be displaced," 
gives the words a meaning that is ridiculed by the usage of the 
language. On the other hand, *)Dao fc6l can signify : and he 



reeds or straw (qashsli, >p) bound together, in order both to keep off the 
cold night-winds, and also to keep the thieves in ignorance as to the num- 
ber of the watchers. A small ladder, sullem (D;5D), frequently leads to 
the bed-chamber. The space between the ground, and this chamber is 
closed only on the west side to keep off the hot afternoon sun, for through 
the day the watcher sits below with his dog, upon the ground. Here is 
also his place of reception, if any passers-by visit him ; for, like the vil- 
lage shepherd, the field-watcher has the right of showing a humble hos- 
pitality to any acquaintances. When the fruits have been gathered in, 

the clieme is removed. The field-watchman is now called naiur ( jb\jj, 
and the verb is natar, ^3, "to keep watch," instead of which the quadri- 



literal ?zotar, TOii (from the plur. J^>!*3 , "the watchers "), has also been 
formed. In one part of Syria all these forms are written with V (d) 
instead of D, and pronounced accordingly. The "itf!) in this passage is 
similarly related to the -): in Cant. i. 6, viii. 11, 12. WETZST. 



76 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

is not conveyed away (comp. e.g. Jer. viii. 2, Ezek. xxix. 5 ; 
but not Isa. Ivii. 1, where it signifies to be swept away, and 
also not Num. xx. 26, where it signifies to be gathered to the 
fathers), and is probably intended to be explained after the 
pointing that we have, as Rosenm. and even Ealbag explain 
it : " he is not conveyed away ; one opens his eyes, and he is 
not;" or even as Schlottm. : "he is not conveyed away; in 
one moment he still looks about him, in the next he is no 
more;" but the relation of the two parts of the verse in this 
interpretation is unsatisfactory, and the preceding strophe 
has already referred to his not being buried. Since, there- 
fore, only an unsuitable, and what is more, a badly-expressed 
thought, is gained by this reading, it may be that the expres- 
sion should be regarded with Halm as interrogative : is he 
not swept a\vay? This, however, is only a makeshift, and 
therefore we must see whether it may not perhaps be sus- 
ceptible of another pointing. Jerome transl. : dives cum dor- 
mierit, nihil secum auferet; the thought is not bad, but nniKp 
is wanting, and rip alone does not signify nihil. Better 
LXX. (Ital., Syr.) : TrXoucrto? KOL^Oi^aerai KOI ov irpocr- 
This translation follows the form of reading 5 lpN <l = 
i ?^> gives a suitable sense, places both parts of the verse in 
the right relation, and accords with the style of the poet 
(vid. ch. xx. 9, xl. 5) ; and accordingly, with Ew., Hirz., and 
Hlgst., we decide in favour of this reading : he lieth down to 
sleep rich, and he doeth it no more, since in the night he is 
removed from life and also from riches by sudden death ; or 
also : in the morning he openeth his eyes without imagining 
it is the last time, for, overwhelmed by sudden death, he 
closes them for ever. Vers. 20a and 20& are attached cross- 
wise (chiastiscli) to this picture of sudden destruction, be it 
by night or by day : the terrors of death seize him (sing. fern. 
with a plur. subj. following it, according to Ges. 146, 3) 
like a flood (comp. the floods of Belial, Ps. xviii. 5), by night 



CHAP. XXVII. 19-23. 77 

a whirlwind (HSID VO33, as ch. xxi. 18) carrieth him away. 
The Syriac and Arabic versions add, as a sort of interpola- 
tion : as a fluttering (large white) night-moth, an addition 
which no one can consider beautiful. 

Ver. 21 extends the figure of the whirlwind. In Hebrew, 
even when the narrative has reference to Egyptian matters 
(Gen. xli. 23), the B' 1 '}? which comes from the Arabian desert 
is the destructive, devastating, and parching wind /car 
%X$ V ' 1 ^--- sigflifi 68 peribit (ut pereat\ as ch. xiv. 20, 
xix. 10. ^yw (comp. TOb, O storm-chased one) is connected 
with the accus. of the person pursued, as in Ps. Iviii. 10. 
The subj. of ^I?.^"!, ver. 22, is God, and the verb stands with- 
out an obj. : to cast at any one (shoot), as Num. xxxv. 22 (for 
the figure, comp. ch. xvi. 13) ; LXX. correctly : einpptyei 
(whereas eh. xviii. 7, afyaXcu = inT'Bbni). The gerundive 
with rnrr; lays stress upon the idea of the exertion of flight : 
whithersoever he may flee before the hand of God, every 
attempt is in vain. The suff. mo, ver. 23a, both according 
to the syntax and the matter, may be taken as the plural 
suff. ; but the fact that to'33 can be equivalent to VB3 (comp. 

1 In Syria and Arabia the east wind is no longer called qadim, but exclu- 
sively sliarqija, i.e. the wind that blows from the rising of the sun (sliarq). 
This wind rarely prevails in summer, occurring then only two or three 
days a month on an average ; it is more frequent in the winter and early 
spring, when, if it continues long, the tender vegetation is parched up, 
and a year of famine follows, whence in the Lebanon it is called semum 
(D11320? which in the present day denotes the "poisonous wind" (= nesme 
musimme), but originally, by alliance with the Hebr. Dftfc^, denoted the 
u devastating wind." The east wind is dry ; it excites the blood, con- 
tracts the chest, causes restlessness and anxiety, and sleepless nights or 
evil dreams. Both man and beast feel weak and sickly while it prevails. 
Hence that which is unpleasant and revolting in life is compared to the 
east wind. Thus a maid in Hauran, at the sight of one of my Damascus 
travelling companions, whose excessive ugliness struck her, cried: billdh, 

naJidr el-jom aqsliar ( JLs\ J, tvagahetni ^ ( -u^>j) sliarqija, "by God, 

it is an unhealthy day to-day : an east wind blew upon me." And in a 
festive dance song of the Merg district, these words occur : wa rudd 



78 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

Ps. xi. 7), to^V to vfey (comp. ch. xx. 23, xxii. 2), as 1 is 
equivalent to i^ (yid. Isa. xliv. 15, liii. 8), is established, and 
there is no reason why the same may not be the case here. 
The accumulation of the terminations mo and omo gives a 
tone of thunder and a gloomy impress to this conclusion of 
the description of judgment, as these terminations frequently 
occur in the book of Psalms, where moral depravity is 
mourned and divine judgment threatened (e.g. in Ps. xvii. 
xlix. Iviii. lix. Ixxiii.). The clapping of hands (^.33 PBB> = 
PSD, Lam. ii. 15, comp. Vfi, Nah. iii. 19) is a token of 
malignant joy, and hissing (P!^, Zeph. ii. 15, Jer. xlix. 17) 
a token of scorn. The expression in ver. 23& is a pregnant 
one. Clapping of hands and hissing accompany the evil- 
doer when merited punishment overtakes him, and chases 
him forth from the place which he hitherto occupied (comp. 
ch. viii. 18). 

Earlier expositors have thought it exceedingly remarkable 
that Job, in ch. xxvii. 13-23, should agree with the assertions 
of the three friends concerning the destiny of the ungodly 
and his descendants, while he has previously opposed them 

Ii nomet hodenik \ seb' lejall bi-olija \ wa herd wa slier d wa sliarqija . . . 
u And grant me again to slumber on thy bosom, 

Seven nights in an upper chamber, 

And (I \vill then endure) cold, drifting snow, and east wind." 
During the harvest, so long as the east wind lasts, the corn that is al- 
ready threshed and lying on the threshing-floors cannot be winnowed ; 
a gentle, moderate draught is required for this process, such as is only 
obtained by a west or south wind. The north wind is much too strong, 
and the east wind is characterized by constant gusts, which, as the Hau- 
ranites say, "jockotu tibn wa-habb, carries away chaff and corn." When 
the wind shifts from the west to the east, a whirlwind (zobaa, njnif) 

T T 

not ^infrequently arises, which often in summer does much harm to the 
threshing-floors and to the cut corn that is lying in swaths (unless it is 
weighted with stones). Storms are rare during an east wind ; they 
come mostly with a west wind (never with a south or north wind). 
But if an east wind does bring a storm, it is generally very destructive, 
on account of its strong gusts ; and it will even uproot the largest 
trees. "WETZST. 



CHAP. XXVII. 19-23. 79 

on this point, cli. xii. 6, xxi. xxiv. Kennicott thinks the con- 
fusion is cleared away by regarding ch. xxvi. 2-xxvii. 12 as 
Job's answer to the third speech of Bildad, xxvii. 13 sqq. as 
the third speech of Zophar, and xxviii. (to which the super- 
scription xxvii. 1 belongs) as Job's reply thereto ; but this 
reply begins with S 3, and is specially appropriate as a striking 
repartee to the speech of Zophar. Stuhlmann (1804) makes 
this third speech of Zophar begin with xxvii. 11, and imagines 
a gap between xxvii. 10 and xxvii. 11 ; but who then are 
the persons whom Zophar addresses by "you"? The three 
everywhere address themselves to Job, while here Zophar, 
contrary to custom, would address himself not to him, but, 
according to Stuhlmann's exposition, to the others with refer- 
ence to Job. Ch. xxviii. Stuhlmann removes and places 
after ch. xxv. as a continuation of Bildad's speech ; Zophar's 
speech therefore remains unanswered, and Zophar may thank 
this critic not only for allowing him another opportunity of 
speaking, but also for allowing him the last word. Bernstein 
(Keil-Tzschirner's Analekten, Bd. i. St. 3) removes the contra- 
diction into which Job seems to fall respecting himself in a 
more thorough manner, by rejecting the division ch. xxvii. 7- 
xxviii. 28, which is certainly indissolubly connected as a 
whole, as a later interpolation ; but there is no difference of 
language and poetic spirit here betraying an interpolator; 
and had there been one, even he ought indeed to have pro- 
ceeded on the assumption that such an insertion should be 
appropriate to Job's mouth, so that the task of proving its 
relative fitness, from his standpoint at least, remains. Hosse 
(1849) goes still further : he puts ch. xxvii. 10, xxxi. 35-37, 
xxxviii. 1, etc., together, and leaves out all that comes between 
these passages. There is then no transition whatever from 
the entanglement to the unravelment. Job's final reply, ch. 
xxvii. xxviii., with the monologue ch. xxix.-xxxi., in which 
even a feeble perception must recognise one of the most 



80 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

essential and most beautiful portions of the dramatic whole, 
forms this transition. 

Eichhorn (in his translation of Job, 1824), who formerly 
(Allgem. Bibliotliek der bibl. Lit. Bd. 2) inclined to Kenni- 
cott's view, and Bockel (2d edition, 1804) seek another ex- 
planation of the difficulty, by supposing that in ch. xxvii. 13-23 
Job reproduces the view of the friends. But in ver. 11 Job 
announces the setting forth of his own view ; and the suppo- 
sition that with JJBh D1S P^n HT he does not begin the enun- 
ciation of his own view, but that of his opponents, is refuted 
by the consideration that there is nothing by which he 
indicates this, and that he would not enter so earnestly into 
the description if it were not the feeling of his heart. Feel- 
ing the worthlessness of these attempted solutions, De Wette 
(Einleitung, 288), with his customary spirit of criticism 
with which he depreciates the sacred writers, turns against 
the poet himself. Certainly, says he, the division ch. 
xxvii. 11-xxviii. 28 is inappropriate and self-contradictory 
in the mouth of Job ; but this want of clearness, not to say 
inconsistency, must be brought against the poet, who, despite 
his utmost endeavour, has not been able to liberate himself 
altogether from the influence of the common doctrine of 
retribution. 

This judgment is erroneous and unjust. Umbreit (2d 
edition, S. 261 [Clark's edition, 1836, ii. 122]) correctly 
remarks, that " without this apparent contradiction in Job's 
speeches, the interchange of words would have been endless ;" 
in other words : had Job's standpoint been absolutely im- 
moveable, the controversy could not possibly have come to a 
well-adjusted decision, which the poet must have planned, 
and which he also really brings about, by causing his hero 
still to retain an imperturbable consciousness of his innocence, 
but also allowing his irritation to subside, and his extreme 
harshness to become moderated. The latter, in reference to 



CHAP. XXVII. 19-23. 81 

the final destiny of the godless, is already indicated in ch. 
xxiv., but is still more apparent here in ch. xxvii., and indeed 
in the following line of thought: "As truly as God lives, 
who afflicts me, the innocent one, I will not incur the guilt of 
lying, by allowing myself to be persuaded against my con- 
science to regard myself as an evil-doer. I am not an evil- 
doer, but my enemy who regards me and treats me as such 
must be accounted wicked ; for how unlike the hopelessness 
and estrangement from God, in which the evil-doer dies, is 
my hope and entreaty in the midst of the heaviest affliction ! 
Yea, indeed, the fate of the -evil-doer is a different one from 
mine. I will teach it you ; ye have all, indeed, observed it 
for yourselves, and nevertheless ye cherish such vain thoughts 
concerning me." What is peculiar in the description that 
then follows a description agreeing in its substance with 
that of the three, and similar in its form is therefore this, 
that Job holds up the end of the evil-doer before the friends, 
that from it they may infer that he is not an evil-doer, whereas 
the friends held it up before Job that he might infer from it 
that lie is an evil-doer, and only by a penitent acknowledg- 
ment of this can he escape the extreme of the punishment he 
has merited. Thus in ch. xxvii. Job turns their own weapon 
against the friends. 

But does he not, by doing so, fall into contradiction with 
himself? Yes; and yet not so. The Job who has become 
calmer here comes into contradiction with the impassioned 
Job who had, without modification, placed the exceptional 
cases in opposition to the exclusive assertion that the evil- 
doer comes to a fearful end, which the friends advance, as if 
it were the rule that the prosperity of the evil-doer continues 
uninterrupted to the very end of his days. But Job does 
not come into collision with his true view. For how could 
he deny that in the rule the retributive justice of God is 
manifest in the case of the evil-doer! We can only perceive 

VOL. II. p 



82 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

his true opinion when we compare the views he here expresses 
with his earlier extreme antitheses : hitherto, in the heat of 
the controversy, he has opposed that which the friends one- 
sidedly maintained by the direct opposite; now he has got 
upon the right track of thought, in which the fate of the 
evil-doer presents itself to him from another and hitherto 
mistaken side, a phase which is also but imperfectly appre- 
ciated in ch. xxiv. ; so that now at last he involuntarily does 
justice to what truth there is in the assertion of his opponent. 
Nevertheless, it is not Job's intention to correct himself here, 
and to make an admission to the friends which has hitherto 
been refused. Hirzel's explanation of this part inclines too 
much to this erroneous standpoint. On the contrary, our 
rendering accords with that of Ewalcl, who observes (S. 252 f. 
2d edition, 1854) that Job here maintains in Ids own favour, 
and against them, what the friends directed against him, since 
the hope of not experiencing such an evil-doer's fate becomes 
strong in him : " Job is here on the right track for more 

o o 

confidently anticipating his own rescue, or, what is the same 
thing, the impossibility of his perishing just as if he were an 
evil-doer." Moreover, how well designed is it that the descrip- 
tion vers. 13 sqq. is put into Job's mouth ! While the poet 
allows the friends designedly to interweave lines taken from 
Job's misfortunes into their descriptions of the evil-doer's 
fate, in Job's description not one single line is found which 
coincides with his own lot, whether with that which he has 
already experienced, or even with that which his faith pre- 
sents to him as in prospect. And although the heavy lot 
which has befallen him looks like the punitive suffering of 
the evil-doer, he cannot acknowledge it as such, and even 
denies its bearing the marks of such a character, since even 
in the midst of affliction he clings to God, and confidently 
hopes for His vindication. With this rendering of ch. 
xxvii. 13 sqq. all doubts of its genuineness, which is indeed 



CHAP. XXVII. 19-23. 83 

admitted by all modern expositors, vanish ; and, far from 
charging the poet with inconsistency, one is led to admire 
the un diminished skill with which he brings the idea of the 
drama by concealed ways to its goal. 

But the question still comes up, whether ch. xxviii. 1, open- 
ing with ^, does not militate against this genuineness. Hirzel 
and others observe, that this "O introduces the confirmation of 
ch. xxvii. 12> : " But wherefore then do ye cherish such vain 
imaginations concerning me ? For human sagacity and perse- 
verance can accomplish much, but the depths of divine wisdom 
are impenetrable to man." But how is it possible that the 'O, 
ch. xxviii. 1, should introduce the confirmation of ch. xxvii. 12&, 
passing over ch. xxvii. 13-23? If it cannot be explained in 
any other way, it appears that ch. xxvii. 13-23 must be re- 
jected. There is the same difficulty in comprehending it by 
supplying some suppressed thought, as e.g. Ewald explains it: 
For, as there may also be much in the divine dealings that is 
dark, etc. ; and Hahn : Because evil-doers perish according 
to their desert, it does not necessarily follow that every one 
who perishes is an evil-doer, and that every prosperous per- 
son is godly, for the wisdom of God is unsearchable. This 
mode of explanation, which supposes, between the close of 
ch. xxvii. and the beginning of ch. xxviii., what is not found 
there, is manifestly forced; and in comparison with it, it 
would be preferable, with Stickel, to translate 'O " because," 
and take ch. xxviii. 1, 2 as the antecedent to ver. 3. Then 
after ch. xxvii. a dash might be made ; but this dash would in- 
dicate an ugly blank, which would be no honour to the poet. 
Schlottmann explains it more satisfactorily. He takes ch. 
xxvii. 13 sqq. as a warning addressed to the friends, lest they 
bring down upon themselves, by their unjust judgment, the evil- 
doer's punishment which they have so often proclaimed. If 
this rendering of ch. xxvii. 13 sqq. were correct, the description 
of the fate of the evil-doer would be influenced by an under- 



84 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

lying thought, to which the following statement of the exalted 
nature of the divine wisdom would be suitably connected as 
a confirmation. We cannot, however, consider this rendering 
as correct. The picture ought to have been differently drawn, 
if it had been designed to serve as a warning to the friends. 

It has a different design. Job depicts the revelation of the 
divine justice which is exhibited in the issue of the life of the 
evil-doer, to teach the friends that they judge him and his lot 
falsely. To this description of punishment, which is intended 
thus and not otherwise, ch. xxviii. with its confirmatory *3 
must be rightly connected. If this were not feasible, one would 
be disposed, with Pareau, to alter the position of ch. xxviii., 
as if it were removed from its right place, and put it after 
ch. xxvi. But we are cautioned against such a violent mea- 
sure, by the consideration that it is not evident from ch. xxvi. 
why the course of thought in ch. xxviii., which begins with 
O, should assume the exact form in which we find it; whereas, 
on the other hand, it was said in ch. xxvii. that the ungodly 
heaps up silver, tjDD, like dust, but that the innocent who live 
to see his fall divide this silver, *|DD, among themselves ; so 
that when in ch. xxviii. 1 it continues : NV1D *)D3^ ^ ^ there 
is a connection of thought for which the way has been pre- 
viously prepared. 

If we further take into consideration the fact of ch. xxviii. 
being only an amplification of the one closing thought to 
which everything tends, viz. that the fear of God is man's 
true wisdom, then ch. xxviii., also in reference to this its 
special point, is suitably attached to the description of the 
evil-doer's fate, ch. xxvii. 13 sqq. The miserable end of the 
ungodly is confirmed by this, that the wisdom of man, which 
he has despised, consists in the fear of God ; and Job there- 
by at the same time attains the special aim of his teaching, 
which is announced at ch. xxvii. 11 by ^KT3 D^ntf miN: 
viz. he has at the same time proved that he who retains the 



CHAP. XXVII. 19-23. 85 

fear of God hi the midst of his sufferings, though those suffer- 
ings are an insoluble mystery, cannot be a yvh. This design 
of the confirmation, and that connection of thought, which 
should be well noted, prove that ch. xxviii. stands in its original 
position. And if we ponder the fact, that Job has depicted 
the ungodly as a covetous rich man who is snatched away by 
sudden death from his immense possession of silver and other 
costly treasures, we see that ch. xxviii. confirms the preceding 
picture of punitive judgment in the following manner: silver 
and other precious metals come out of the earth, but wisdom, 
whose value exceeds all these earthly treasures, is to be found 
nowhere within the province of the creature ; God alone pos- 
sesses it, and from God alone it comes ; and so as man can 
and is to attain to it, it consists in the fear of the LOUD, and 
the forsaking of evil. This is the close connection of ch. 
xxviii. with what immediately precedes, which most expositors 
since Schultens have missed, by transferring the central point 
to the unsearchableness of the divine wisdom which rules in 
the world ; whereas Bouiller correctly observes that the whole 
of ch. xxviii. treats not so much of the wisdom of God as of 
the wisdom of man, which God, the sole possessor of wisdom, 
imparts to him : omnibus divitiis, fluxis et evanidis illis possessio 
prceponderat sapientice, quce in pio Dei cultu et fuga mail est 
posita. The view of von Hofmann (Schriftbeweis, i. 96, 2d 
edit.) accords with this: "If ch. xxviii. 1, where a confirmatory 
or explanatory 'O forms the transition, is taken together with 
xxviii. 12, where another part of the speech is introduced with 
a Waw, and finally with ch. xxviii. 28, where this is rounded 
off, as forming the unity of one thought : it thus proves that 
the final destruction of the godless, who is happy and prosper- 
ous in worldly things, is explained by the fact that man can 
obtain every kind of hidden riches by his own exertion and 
courage, but not the wisdom which is not indigenous to this 
outward world, but is known to God alone, and is to be learned 



86 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

from Him only ; and the teaching concerning it is : behold, 
the fear of God, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is 
understanding." 

Before we now pass on to the detailed exposition of ch. 
xxviii., we may perhaps here, without anticipating, put the 
question, Whence has the poet obtained the knowledge of 
the different modes of mining operations which is displayed 
in ch. xxviii. 1 sqq., and which has every appearance of being 
the result of personal observation ? Since, as we have often 
remarked already, he is well acquainted with Egypt, it is most 
natural that he derived this his knowledge from Egypt and 
the Sinaitic peninsula. The ruins of mines found there show 
that the Sinaitic peninsula has been worked as a mining 
district from the earliest times. The first of these mining 

o 

districts is the Wadi Nasb, where Lepsius (j&riefe, S. 338) 
found traces of old smelting-places, and where also Graul 
and his companions, having their attention drawn to it by 
Wilkinson's work, searched for the remains of a mine, and 
found at least traces of copper slag, but could see nothing 
more (Reise, ii. 202). E. Ruppell explored the spot at the 
desire of the Viceroy Mehemed Ali, and Russegger with less 
successful result (vid. the particulars in Sitter's Erdhinde, 
xiv. 784-78S). 1 A second mining district is denoted by the 
ruins of a temple of Hathor, on the steep terrace of the rising 

1 The valley is not called Wadi nalias (Copper valley), which is only 
a supposition of Kiippell, but Wadi as&, u-^a), which, according to 
Eeinaud, signifies valley of statues or columns. Thirty hours' journey 
from Suez, says a connoisseur in the Historisch-politische Blatter, 1863, 
S. 802 f., lies the Wadi nesb [a pronunciation which assumes the form 
of writing c ^wJ ] ; it is rare that the ore is so easy to get, and found 
in such abundance, for the blocks containing the copper are in many 
places 200 feet in diameter, and the ore is almost in a pure state. The 
mineral (the black earth containing the copper) abounds in the metal. 
.... Besides this, iron-ore, manganese, carbonate of lead, and also the 
exceeding precious cinnabar, have been discovered on Sinai. 



CHAP. XXVIII. 87 

ground Sarbut (Serdbit) el-chadim, which stretches out into 
a spacious valley. This field of ruins, with its many lofty 
columns within the still recognisable area of a temple, and 
round about it, gives the impression of a large burying-ground, 
and it is described and represented as such by Carsten Niebuhr 
(Reise, 235, Tafel xliv.). In February 1854, Graul (Eeise, 
ii. 203) and Tischendorf spent a short time upon this eminence 
of the desert, which is hard to climb, and abounds in monu- 
ments. It produced a strong impression upon us says the 
latter (Aus dem heiligen Lande, S. 35) as we tarried in the 
midst of the grotesque forms of these monuments, while the 
setting sun cast its deep red gleam over the wild terrific- 
looking copper rocks that lay around in their varied shades, 
now light, now dark. That these copper rocks were worked 
in ancient days, is proved by the large black heaps of slag 
which Lepsius (Briefe, S. 338) discovered to the east and 
west of the temple. Moreover, in the inscriptions Hatlior 
bears the by-name "Queen of Mafkat" i.e. the copper country 
(mafka, copper, with the feminine post-positive article t). It 
even bears this name on the monuments in the Wadi maghdra, 
one of the side-gorges of the Wadi mucatteb (i.e. the Written 
Valley, valley full of inscriptions). These signs of another 
ancient mining colony belong almost entirely to the earliest 
Egyptian antiquity, while those on Sarbut el-cJiddim extend 
back only to Amenemlia in., consequently to the last dynasty 
of the old kingdom. Even the second king of the fifth 
dynasty, Snefru, and indeed his predecessor (according to 
Lepsius, his successor) Chufu that Xeoi|r who built the 
largest pyramid appear here as conquerors of foreign peoples, 
and the mountainous district dedicated to HatJior is also 
called Ma/ka't. The remains of a mine, discovered by J. 
Wilson, at the eastern end of the north side of the Wadi 
mucatteb, also belongs to this copper country : they lie near 
the road, but in back gorges ; there is a very high wall of 



88 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

rock of granite or porphyry, which is penetrated by dark 
seams of metal, which have been worked out from above 
downwards, thus forming artificial caverns, pits, and shafts ; 
and it may be inferred that the yield of ore was very abun- 
dant, and, from the simplicity of the manner of working, that 
it is of very great antiquity. This art of mining thus laid 
open, as Hitter says, 1 furnishes the most important explana- 
tion of Job's remarkable description of mining operations. 

As to Egypt itself, it has but few places where iron-ore 
was obtained, and it was not very plentiful, as iron occurs 
much more rarely than bronze on the tombs, although Wil- 
kinson has observed important copper mines almost as exten- 
sive as the copper country of Sinai: we only, however, possess 
more exact information concerning the gold mines on the 
borders of Upper Egypt. Agatharchides mentions them in 
his Periplus ; and Diodorus (iii. 11 sqq.) gives a minute 
description of them, from which it is evident that mining in 
those days was much the same as it was with us about a 
hundred years ago : we recognise in it the day 'and night 
relays, the structure of shafts, the crushing and washing 
apparatus, and the smelting-place. 2 There are the gold mines 
of Nubia, the name of which signifies the gold country, for 
NOYB is the old Egyptian name for gold. From the time 
of Sethoshi I., the father of Sesostris, we still possess the plan 
of a gold mine, which Birch (Upon a historical tablet of 
Rameses n. of the xix. dynasty, relating to the gold mines 
of ^Ethiopia) has first of all correctly determined. More- 
over, on monuments of all ages frequent mention is made of 
other metals (silver, iron, lead), as of precious stones, with 
which e.g. harps were ornamented ; the diamond can also be 

1 In the essay on the Sinaitic peninsula in Piper's Ev. Jahrluch, 1852. 
The mining district that J. Wilson saw (1843-44) is not one that was 
unknown up to that time, but one of the places of the Wadi magliara 
recognised as favouring the ancient Egyptian system of excavation. 

2 Thus Klemm, Allyem. Cultur-Geschichte, v. 304. 



CHAP. XXVIII. 89 

traced. In the Papyrus Prisse, which Chabas has worked 
up under the title Le plus ancien livre die monde, Phtlia-liotep, 
the author of this moral tractate, iv. 14, says : " Esteem my 
good word more highly than the (green) emerald, which is 
found by slaves under the pebbles." l The emerald-hills 
near Berenice produced the emerald. 

But if the scene of the book of Job is to be sought in 

o 

Idtimsea proper ('Gebal) or in Hauran, there were certainly 
mines that were nearer than the Egyptian. In Phunon 
(P/iinon), between Petra and Zoar, there were pits from 
which copper (^O\KOU yu-eraXXa, ceris metalla) w r as obtained 
even to the time of Moses, as may be inferred from the fact 
of Moses having erected the brazen serpent there (Num. 
xxi. 9 sq., comp. xxxiii. 42 sq.), and whither, during the per- 
secutions of the Christians in the time of the emperors, many 
witnesses for the faith were banished, that they might fall 
victims to the destructive labour of pit life (Athanasius ex- 
travagantly says : ev6a ical (povevs Kara^LKa^ofjbevo^ oXtya? 
rj/jiepas fjuoyt,? SvvaraL ?}crat). 2 But Edrisi also knew of gold 
and silver mines in the mountains of Edom, the ' Gel) el esh- 
Sherd (x\J^\\ i.e. *>W in. According to the Onomasticon, 
nnj ^ Deut. i. 1 (LXX. Kara^pva-ea\ indicates such gold 
mines in Arabia Petrtea ; and Jerome (under Cata ta 
chrysea 3 ) observes on that passage : sed et metallo ceris 
Phcvno, quod nostro tempore corruit, monies venarum auri 
plenos olim fuisse vicinos existimant. Eupolemus' account 
(in Euseb. prcup. ix. 30) of an island Ovpcpri, rich in gold, in 

1 According to a contribution from Prof. Lauth of Munich. 

2 Vid. Genesis, S. 512 ; Ritter, Erdkunde, xiv. 125-127 ; as also my 
Kircliliclies ChroniJcon des petraisclien Arabiens in the Luth. ZeitscJir. 
1840, S. 133. 

3 Opp. ed. Vallarsi, iii. 183. The text of Eusebius is to be amended 
according to that of Jerome ; vid. Ugolini, Thes. vol. v. col. cxix. sq. 
What Ritter says, Erdkunde, xiv. 127, is disfigured by mischievous mis- 
takes. 



90 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

the Red Sea, does not belong here ; for by the red sea, epv9pa 
6d\a<jcra^ it is not the Arabian Gulf that is meant ; and the 
reference of the name of the rans;e of hills Telul ed-dhahab 

o 

in ancient Gilead to gold mines rests only on hearsay up to 
the present time. But it is all the more worthy of mention 
that traces of former copper mines are still found on the 
Lebanon (vid. Knobel on Deut. viii. 9); that Edrisi (Syria, 
ed. Rosenm. p. 12) was acquainted with the existence of a 
rich iron mine near Beirut; and that, even in the present 
day, the Jews who dwell in Deir el-kamar, on the Lebanon, 
work the iron on leases, and especially forge horse-shoes from 
it, which are sent all over Palestine. 2 

The poet of the book of Job might therefore have learned 
mining in its diversified modes of operation from his own 
observation, both in the kingdom of Egypt, which he had 
doubtless visited, and also in Arabia Petrasa and in the 
Lebanon districts, so as to be able to put a description of 
them into the mouth of his hero. It is unnecessary, with 
Stickel, to give the preference to the mining of Arabia proper, 
where iron and lead are still obtained, and where, according 
to ancient testimony, even gold is said to have been worked 
at one time. " Since he places his hero in the country east of 
Jordan, the poet may in ver. 2 have thought chiefly of the mines 
of the Iron mountain (TO cn^povv KaXovpevov 0/209, Jos. Bell. 
iv. 8, 2), which is also called the 'cross mountain,' el-mi* rdd, 
because it runs from west to east, while the 'Gebel 'Aglun 
stretches from north to south. It lies between the gorges of 
the Wddi Zerkd and Wddi 'Arabun, begins at the mouths of 
the two Wddis in the GJwr, and ends in the east with a pre- 
cipitous descent towards the town of Gerash } which from its 

1 On the meaning of this appellation, vid. Genesis, S. 630. 

2 Schwarz, Das h. Land (1852), S. 323. The Egyptian monuments 
mention a district by the name of Asj, which paid native iron as tribute ; 
vid. Brugsch, Geogr. der Naclibarlandvr ^Egyptens, S. 52. 



CHAP. XXVIII. 91 



height, and being seen from afar, is called the Negde 
The ancient worked-out iron mines lie on the south declivity 
of the mountain south-west of the village of Burma, and 
about six miles from the level bed of the Wddi Zerkd. The 
material is a brittle, red, brown, and violet sandstone, which 
has a strong addition of iron. It also contains here and there 
a large number of small shells, where it is then considerably 
harder. Of these ancient mines, some which were known in 
Syria under the name of the 'rose mines,' maddin el-ward, 
were worked by Ibrahim Pasha from 1835 till 1839; but 
when, in 1840, Syria reverted to Turkey, this mining, which 
had been carried on with great success, because there was an 
abundance of wood for the smelting furnaces, ceased. A 
large forest, without a proprietor, covers the back and the 
whole north side of this mountain down to the bed of the 
Wddi 'Arabun; and as no tree has been cut down in it for 
centuries, the thicket, with the fallen and decaying stems, 
gives one an idea of a primeval forest. We passed through 
the forest from Kefrengi to Burma in June 1860. Except 
North Gilead, in which the Iron mountain is situated, no 
other province of Basan admits of a mine ; they are exclu- 
sively volcanic, their mountains are slag, lava, and basalt; 
and probably the last-mentioned kind of stone owes its name 

A. t/ 

to the word Baaakrw, the secondary form of BaardvTis 
(= Basan). 99 WETZST. 

Ch. xxviii. 1 For there is a mine for the silver, 

And a place for gold ivhich they fine. 

2 Iron is taken out of the dust, 

And he poureth forth stone as copper. 

3 He hath made an end of darkness, 
And he searcheth all extremities 

For tJie stone of darkness and of the shadow of 
death. 



92 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

4 lie breaketh away a shaft from those who tarry above : 
There j forgotten by every foot, 
They hang and swing far from men. 1 

According to the most natural connection demonstrated by 
us, Job desires to show that the final lot of the rich man is 
well merited, because the treasures which he made the object 
of his avarice and pride, though ever so costly, are still 
earthy i-n their nature and origin. Therefore he begins with 
the most precious metals, with silver, which has the preced- 
ence in reference to ch. xxvii. 16 sq., and with gold, treio 
without any secondary notion of fulness (Schultens) signifies 
the issuing place, i.e. the place from which anything naturally 
comes forth (ch. xxxviii. 27), or whence it is obtained (1 Kings 
x. 28) ; here in the latter sense of the place where a mineral 
is found, or the mine, as the parall. ^P, the place where the 
gold comes forth, therefore a gold mine. According to the 
accentuation (Rebia mugrasch, Mercha, Silluk)^ it is not to be 
translated : and a place for the gold where they refine it ; but: 
a place for the gold which they refine. Pi?J, to strain, filter, 
is the technical expression for purifying the precious metals 
from the rock that is mingled with them (Mai. iii. 3) by 
washing. The pure gold or silver thus obtained is called 
PJ5TJD (Ps. xii. 7 ; 1 Chron. xxviii. 18, xxix. 4). Diodorus, in 
his description of mining in Upper Egypt (iii. 11 sqq.), after 
having described the operation of crushing the stone to small 



1 Among the expositors of this and the two following strophes, are two 
acquainted with mining : The director of mines, von Veltheim, whose 
observations J. D. Michaelis has contributed in the Orient, u. exeg. 
Bibliothek, xxiii. 7-17 ; and the inspector of mines, Rudolf Nasse, in 
Studien und Erit. 1863, 105-111. Umbreit's Commentary contains some 
observations by von Leonhard ; he understands ver. 4c as referring to 
the descent upon a cross bar attached to a rope, ver. 5& of the lighting 
up by burning poles, ver. 6 of the lapis lazuli, and ver. 10a of the earliest 
mode of " letting off the water." 



CHAP. XXVIII. 1-4. 93 

fragments, 1 proceeds : "Then artificers take the crushed stone 
and lay it on a broad table, which is slightly inclined, and 
pour water over it ; this washes away the earthy parts, and 
the gold remains on the slab. This operation is repeated 
several times, the mass being at first gently rubbed with the 
hand ; then they press it lightly with thin sponges, and thus 
draw off all that is earthy and light, so that the gold dust is 
left quite clean. And, finally, other artificers take it up in 
a mass, shake it in an earthen crucible, and add a proportion- 
ate quantity of lead, grains of salt, and a little tin and barley 
bran; they then place a close-fitting cover over the crucible, 
and cement it with clay, and leave it five days and nights to 
seethe constantly in the furnace. After this they allow it to 
cool, and then finding nothing of the flux in the crucible, 
they take the pure gold out with only slight diminution." 
The expression for the first of these operations, the separa- 
tion of the gold from the quartz by washing, or indeed sift- 
ing (straining, SeiJien), is Pi?T ; and for the other, the separation 
by exposure to heat, or smelting, is *HV. 

Yer. 2. From the mention of silver and gold, the descrip- 
tion passes on to iron and ore (copper, cuprum = ces Cyprium). 
Iron is called <T")3, not with the noun-ending el like fens (thus 
Ges., Olsh., and others), but probably expanded from btt 
(Fiirst), like &?}& from &2V = B3B>, VSSD from TBD, a '\. 
aapov from E^3, since, as Pliny testifies, the name of basalt 
(iron-marble) and iron are related, 2 and copper is called 



Vid. the whole account skilfully translated in Kleram's Allgem. 
Cultur-GescMchte, v. 503 f. 

2 Hist. nat. xxxvi. 7, 11 : Invenit eadem AZgyptus in ^Ethiopia quern 
vacant lasalten (basaniten) ferrei colons atque duritias, wide et nomen ei 
dedit (vid. von Raumer, Palastina, S. 96, 4th edition). Neither Seetzen 
nor "\Vetzstein has found proper iron-ore in Basan. Basalt is all the more 

prevalent there, from which Basan may have its name. For there is no 

. 

special Semitic word for basalt ; Bocthor calls in the aid of +\~j +> 
fc-sl, " a kind of black marble ;" but, as "Wetzstein informs me, this is 



94 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

for which the book of Job (ch. xx. 24, xxviii. 2, xl. 18, xli. 19; 
comp. even Lev. xxvi. 19) always has nipiro (ccreum = CBS, 
Arab. nu\\ds). Of the iron it is said that it is procured from 
the "isy, by which the bowels of the earth are meant here, as 
the surface of the earth in ch. xli. 25; and of copper it is 
said that they pour out the stone into copper (vid. Ges. 
139, 2), i.e. smelt copper from it: P^P as ch. xxix. 6,fundit 9 
here with a subj. of the most general kind : one pours ; on 
the contrary, ch. xli. 15 sq. partic. of P^\ Ver. 3 distinctly 
shows that it is the bowels of the earth from which these 
metals are obtained : he (man) has made an end of the dark- 
ness, since he turns out and lights up the lightless interior 
of the earth; and rraPTOT, to every extremity, i.e. to the 
remotest depths, he searches out the stone of deep darkness 
and of the shadow of death, i.e. hidden in the deepest dark- 
ness, far beneath the surface of the earth (vid. on ch. x. 22 ; 

only a translation of the phrase of a French dictionary which he had, for 
the general name of basalt, at least in Syria, is Tiayar aswad (black stone). 
Iron is called hadid in Arabic (literally a pointed instrument, with the 
not infrequent transference of the name of the tool to the material from 
which it is made). ^"Q (xDSD) is known in Arabic only in the form 
jirzil, as the name for iron chains and great smith's shears for cutting 
iron ; but it is remarkable that in Berber, which is related to Egyptian, 
iron is called even in the present day wazzal; vid. Lex. geoyrapJiicnm ed. 
Juynboll, torn. iv. (adnot.) p. 64, 1. 16, and Marcel, Vocalulaire Frangais- 

arabe de dialectes vulyaires africains, p. 249: " Per Jo Jo-, liadyd (en 

berbere (J\), ouczzal', J|jj^, oouzzdl)" The Coptic name of iron is 
benipi (dialect, penipe), according to Prof. Lauth perhaps, as also barot, 
ore, connected with &a, the hieroglyph name of a very hard mineral ; the 
black basalt of an obelisk in the British Museum is called becltenen in the 
inscription. If it really be so, that iron and basalt are homonymous in 
Semitic, the reason could only be sought for in the dark iron-black colour 
of basalt, in its hardness, and perhaps also its weight (which, however, 
is only about half the specific gravity of pure iron), not in the magnetic 
iron, which has only in more modern times been discovered to be a sub- 
stantial component part of basalt, the grains of which cannot be seen by 
the naked eye, and are only detected with the magnetic needle, or by 
chemical analysis. 



CHAP. XXVIII 1-4. 95 

and comp. Pliny, h. n. xxxiii. procem. of mining: imus in 
viscera ejus [terrai] et in sede Manium opes qucerimus). Most 
expositors (Hirz., Ew., Hahn, Schlottm., and others) take 
ttbsr*xb adverbially, " to the utmost " or " most closely," but 
vid. on ch. xxvi. 10; r&srh might be used thus adverbially, 
but fpfetfrW is to be explained according to nw^, Ezek. 
v. 10 (to all the winds). 

Yer. 4. Job now describes the operation of mining more 
minutely ; and it is worthy of observation that the last-men- 
tioned metal, with which the description is closely connected, 

is copper. 7HJ, which signifies elsewhere a valley, the bed of 

/ 

a river, and the river itself, like the Arab, jlj (not from ?nj 

^ 

PHJ, to flow on, as Ges. Thes. and Fiirst, but from /nj ? root 
5>n to hollow, whence iWH = >vPJ, a flute, as being a hollowed 
musical instrument), signifies here the excavation made in 
the earth, and in fact, as what follows shows, in a perpen- 
dicular direction, therefore the shaft. Nasse contends for 
the signification " valley," by which one might very well con- 
ceive of "the working of a surface vein :" u By this mode of 
working, a small shaft is made in the vein (consequently in 
a perpendicular direction), and the ore is worked from both 
sides at once. At a short distance from the first shaft a 
second is formed, and worked in the same way. Since thus 
the work progresses lengthwise, a cutting becomes formed in 
the mountain which may well be compared to a deep valley, 
if, as is generally the case where the stone is firm and the 
ways are almost perpendicular, the space that is hewn out 
remains open (that is, not broken in or filled in)." But if 
7fU everywhere else denotes a valley with its watercourse, it 
has not necessarily a like signification in mining technology. 
It signifies, perhaps not without reference to its usual signi- 
fication, the shafts open above and surrounded by walls of 
rock (in distinction from the more or less horizontal galleries 



96 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

or pit-ways, as they were cut through the excavated rocks in 
the gold mines of Upper Egypt, often so crooked that, as 
Diodorus relates, the miners, provided with lights on their 
forehead, were always obliged to vary the posture of the body 
according to the windings of the galleries) ; and "i|~Dy ? away 
from him who remains above, shows that one is to imagine these 
shafts as being of considerable depth ; but what follows even 
more clearly indicates this : there forgotten (DNnatwn with the 
demonstrative art. as ch. xxvi. 5, Ps. xviii. 31, xix. 11, Ges. 
109 ad init.) of (every) foot (that walks above), they hang 
(comp. Rabb. ^"JJi pendulus 1 ) far from men, hang and 
swing or are suspended; comp. Pliny, li. n. xxxiii. 4, 21, ac- 
cording to Sillig's text: is qui ccedit funilus pendet, ut procul 
intuenti species ne ferarum quidem sed alitum fiat. Pendentes 
majori ex parte librant et linias itineri prceducunt. ivl has 

here the primary signification proper also to the Arab. J j, 

deorsum pendere; and P^ is related to ^PiJ, as nuere, veveiv, to 
nutare. The 'OD of Sp^SD, taken strictly, does not correspond 
to the Greek VTTO, neither does it form an adverbial secondary 
definition standing by itself: far away from the foot; but it 
is to be understood, as p is also used elsewhere after roBO, 
Deut. xxxi. 21, Ps. xxxi. 13: forgotten out of the mouth, 
out of the heart ; here : forgotten away from the foot, so that 
this advances without knowing that there is a man beneath ; 
therefore : totally vanished from the remembrance of those 
who pass by above. K^Kj? is not to be connected with WJ 
(Hahn, Schlottm.), but with ^, for Munach is the represen- 
tative of Rebia mugrasch, according to Psalter., ii. 503, 2 ; 
and 171 is regularly Milel, whereas Isa. xxxviii. 14 is Milra 

1 Vid. Luzzatto on Isa. xviii. 5, where DvT^Ti f the trembling and 
quivering twigs, is correctly traced to ^>f = ^n ; on the other hand, Isa. 
xiv. 19, TQ"o;}N is wrongly translated fundo delta fossa, by comparison 
with Job xxviii. 3. ptf does not signify a shaft, still less the lowest 
shaft, but stone (rock). 



CHAP. XXVIII. 5-8. 97 

without any evident reason. The accentuation here follows 
no fixed law with equally regulated exceptions (vid. Olsh. 
233, c). 

Moreover, the perception that ver. 4 speaks of the shaft of 
the mine, and the descent of the miners by a rope, is due to 
modern exegesis; even Schultens, who here exclaims: Cim- 
merios tenebrce, quas me ex super aturum mx sperare ausim, 
perceived the right thing, but only imperfectly as yet. By 
!>nj he understands the course or vein of the metal, where it 
is embedded; and, since he understands 13 after the Arab. 
'garr, foot of the mountain, he translates : rumpit (liomo) 
alveum de pede montis. Rosenm., on the other hand, cor- 
rectly translates : canalem deorsum actum ex loco quo versatur 
homo. Schlottm. understands by "iJ the miner himself dwell- 
ing as a stranger in his loneliness ; and if we imagine to 
ourselves the mining districts of the peninsula of Sinai, we 
might certainly at once conceive the miners' dwellings them- 
selves which are found in the neighbourhood of the shaft in 
connection with "ti'DJJB. But in and for itself 1i signifies 
only those settled (above), without the secondary idea of 
strangers. 

5 The earth from it cometh forth bread, 
And beneath it is turned up like fire. 

6 The place of the sapphire are its stones. 
And it containeth gold ore. 

7 The ivay, that no bird of prey knoweth, 
And the eye of the hawk hath not gazed at, 

8 Which the proud beast of prey hath not trodden, 
Over which the lion hath not walked. 

Yer. 5 is not to be construed as Rosenm. : ad terrain quod 
attinet, ex qua egreditur panis, quod subtus est subvertitur quasi 
igne ; nor wifti Schlottm. : (they swing) in the earth, out of 
which comes bread, which beneath one turns about with fire ; 

VOL. II. G 



98 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

for ver. oa is not formed so that the Waw of ^nrrt could be 
Waw apod.) and p.K cannot signify " in the interior of the 
earth" as locativus ; on the contrary, it stands in opposition to 
rrnnn, that which is beneath the earth, as denoting the surface 
of the earth (the proper name of which is n 9*% from the root 
Dl, with the primary notion of a flat covering). They are 
two grammatically independent predicates, the first of which 
is only the foil of the other : the earth, out of it cometh forth 
bread (On? as Ps. civ. 14), and beneath it (the surface of the 
earth) = that which lies beneath it (rvnnrv) only virtually a 
subj. in the sense of JWrtWBJ^ since wri occurs only as a 
preposition), is turned about (comp. the construction of the 
sing, of the verb with the plur. subj., ch. xxx. 15) as (by) fire 
(instar ignis, sell, subvertentis) ; i.e. the earth above furnishes 
nourishment to man, but that not satisfying him, he also digs 
out its inward parts (comp. Pliny, /*. n. xxxiii. proojni.: in sede 
Manium opes qucerimm, tanquam parum benigna fertilique 
quaqua calcatur), since this is turned or tossed about (comp. 
rO2!iD, the special word for the overthrow of Sodom by fire) 
by mining work, as when fire breaks out in a house, or even 
as when a volcanic fire rumbles within a mountain (Castalio : 
agunt per magna spatia cuniculos et terram subeunt non secus 
ac ignis facet ut in ^Etna et Vesuvio). The reading 1D3 
(Schlottm.) instead of ICO is natural, since fire is really used 
to blast the rock, and to separate the ore from the stone ; but, 
with the exception of Jerome, who has arbitrarily altered the 
text (terra, de qua oriebatur panis in loco suo, igni subversa 
est), all the old translations reproduce 1D3, which even Nasse, 
in opposition to von Yeltheim, thinks suitable : Man's rest- 
less search, which rummages everything through, is compared 
to the unrestrainable ravaging fire. 

Ver. 6 also consists of two grammatically independent 
assertions : the place (bed) of the sapphire is its Tock. Must 
we refer ii> to "> S SD, and translate : " and it contains fine dust 



CHAP. XXVIII. 5-8. 99 

of gold" (Hirz., Umbr., Stick., Nasse)? It is possible, for 
Theophrastus (p. 692, ed. Schneider) says of the sapphire it 
is wa-Trep ^pvo-oTraa-rosj as it were covered with gold dust or 
grains of gold ; and Pliny, h. n. xxxvii. 9, 38 sq. : Inest ei 
(cyano) aliquando et aureus pulvis qualis in sapphiris, in Us 
enim aurum punctis conlucet, which nevertheless does not hold 
good of the proper sapphire, but of the azure stone (lapis 
lazuli) which is confounded with it, a variegated species of 
which, with gold, or rather with iron pyrites glittering like 
gold, is specially valued. 1 But Schultens rightly observes : 
vix crediderim } ilium auratilem pulvisculum sapphiri peculiari 
mentione dignum ; and Schlottm. : such a collateral definition 
to VDD, expressed in a special clause (not a relative one), has 
something awkward about it. On the other hand, nnj niDJJ 
is a perfectly suitable appellation of gold ore. " The earth, 
which is in itself black," says Diodorus in the passage quoted 
before, " is interspersed with veins of marble, which is of such 
pre-eminent whiteness, that its brilliance surpasses everything 
that glitters, and from it the overseers of the mine prepare 
gold with a large number of workmen." And further on, of 
the heating of this gold ore he says : "the hardest auriferous 
earth they burn thoroughly in a large fire ; thus they make it 
soft, so that it can be worked by the hand." 3nt may is a 
still more suitable expression for such auriferous earth and 
ore than for the nuggets of aTrvpos ^pucro? (i.e. unsmelted) 
of the size of a chestnut, which, according to Diodorus, ii. 50, 
are obtained in mines in Arabia (/leraXXet/erat). But it is 
inadmissible to refer li> to man, for the clause would then 
require to be translated : and gold ore is to him = he has, 
while it is the rather intended to be said that the interior of 
the earth has gold ore. ii? is therefore, with Hahn and 
Schlottm., to be referred to Dlpp : and this place of the 



1 Coinp. Quenstedt, Handbuch der Mineraloyie (1863), S. 355 and 
302. 



100 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

sapphire, it contains gold. The poet might have written ^, 
but "6 implies that where the sapphire is found, gold is also 
found. The following ^nj (with DecJii), together with the 
following relative clause, is connected with ^J^, or even 
with D1pE>, which through ver. Gb is become the chief subj. : 
the place of the sapphire and of the gold is the rock of the 
bowels of the earth, a way, which, etc., i.e. such a place is 
the interior of the earth, accessible to no living being of the 
earth's surface except to man alone. The sight of the bird 
of prey, the M, aero?, and of the njtf, i.e. the hawk or 
kite, reaches from above far and wide beneath; 1 the sons of 

pride, pnK> (also Talmud, arrogance, ferocia, from f*nt? = 



to raise one's self, not : fatness, as Meier, after ^jzs^, to be 
fat, thick), i.e. the beasts of prey, especially the lion, ?n$ (vid. 
on ch. iv. 10, from ?nj?, J^^, to roar, Arab, of the ass, comp. 
the Lat. rudere used both of the lion and of the ass), seek 
the most secret retreat, and shun no danger ; but the way by 
which man presses forward to the treasures of the earth is 
imperceptible and inaccessible to them. 

9 He layeth his hand upon the pebbles ; 

He turneth up the mountains from the root. 

10 He cutteth canals through the rocks; 

And his eye seeth all kinds of precious things. 

11 That they may not leaky he dammeth up rivers; 
And that which is hidden he bring eth to light. 

12 But ivisdom, ivhence is it obtained ? 
And where is the place of understanding ? 

Beneath, whither no other being of the upper world pene- 
trates, man puts his hand upon the quartz or rock. E^D?n 
(perhaps from D7H, to be strong, firm ; Arabic, with the re- 

1 The |TN says the Talmud &. Clmllin, 63Z> is in Babylon, and seeth 
a carcase in the land of Israel. 



CHAP. XXVIII. 9-12, 101 



duplication resolved, clialnubus, like B^SJJ, Arab, 'ancabuth, 
vid. Jesurun, p. 229) signifies here the quartz, and in general 
the hard stone ; 3 *\\ row something like our "to take in hand" 
of an undertaking requiring strong determination and courage, 
which here consists in blasting and clearing away the rock 
that contains no ore, as Pliny, h. n. xxxiii. 4, 21, describes it: 
Occur sant . . . silices; hos igne et aceto rumpunt, scepius vero^ 
quoniam id cuniculos vapore et fumo strangulat, ccedunt frac- 
tariis CL libras ferri liabentibus egeruntque umeris noctibus ac 
diebus per tenebras proxumis tradentes; lucem novissimi cernunt. 
Further: he (man, devoted to mining) overturns (subvertit 
according to the primary signification of *pn, ciXst* L^JU to 
turn, twist) mountains from the roots. The accentuation "jan 
with Rebia mugrascli, Chti'E with MercUa, is false ; it is, ac- 
cording to Codd. and old editions, to be accented *]Sn with 
Tarclia, Kh^to with Munacli, and to be translated accordingly: 
subvertit a radice monies (for Munacli is the transformation of 
a JRebia mugrascli\ not a radice montium. Blasting in mining 
which lays bare the roots (the lowest parts) of the mountains 
is intended, the conclusion of which the signal for the flight 
of the workmen, and the effective crash is so graphically 
described by Pliny in the passage cited above : Peracto opere 
cervices fornicum ab ultumo cadunt ; dat signum ruina eamqite 
solus intellegit in cacumine ejus montis vigil. Ilic voce, nutu 
evocari julet operas pariterque ipse devolat. Mons fractus cadit 
ab sese longe fragore qui concipi hmnana mente non possit eque 
efflatu incredibili spectant victores ruinam natures. 

The meaning of ver. 10 depends upon the signification of 
the &*?P. It is certainly the most natural that it should 
signify canals. The word is Egyptian ; aur in the language 
of the hieroglyphs signifies a river, and especially the Nile ; 
wherefore at the close of the Laterculus of Eratosthenes the 
name of the king, $povopw ($ovopa)), is explained by r\Tci 
If water-canals are intended, they may be either 



102 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

such as go in or come away. In the first case it may mean 
water let in like a cataract over the ruins of the blasted auri- 
ferous rock, the corrugi of Pliny: AUus par labor ac vel 
majoris impendi: flumina ad lavandam Jianc ruinam jugis 
montium obiter duxere a centesimo plerumque lapide ; corrugos 
vocanty a corrivatione credo ; milk et hie labores. But VJ521 is 
not a suitable word for such an extensive and powerful flood- 
ing with water for the purpose of washing the gold. It suits 
far better to understand the expression of galleries or ways 
cut horizontally in the rock to carry the water away. Thus 
von Veltheim explains it : " The miner makes ways through 
the hard rock into his section [in which the perpendicular 
shaft terminates], guides the water which is found in abun- 
dance at that depth through it [i.e. the water at the bottom 
of the pit that hinders the progress of the work], and is able 
[thus ver. 105 naturally is connected with what precedes] to 
judge of the ore and fragments that are at the bottom, and 
bring them to the light. This mode of mining by constantly 
forming one gallery under the other [so that a new gallery is 
made under the pit that is worked out by extending the shaft, 
and also freeing this from water by making another outlet 
below the previous one] is the oldest of all, of which anything 
certain is known in the history of mining, and the most 
natural in the days when they had no notion of hydraulics." 
This explanation is far more satisfactory than that of Herm. 
Sam. Reimarus, of the " Wolfenbiitteler Fragmente" (in his 
edition of the Neue EM. des B. Hiob, by John Ad. Hoff- 
mann, 1734, iv. S. 772) : " He breaks open watercourses in the 
rocks. What the miners call coming upon water, is when 
they break into a fissure from which strong streams of water 
gush forth. The miner not only knows how to turn such 
water to good account, but it is also a sign that there are rich 
veins of ore near at hand, as there is the most water by these 
courses and fissures. Hence follows : and then his eye sees 



CHAP. XXVIII. 9-12. 103 

all kinds of precious things" But there is no ground for say- 
ing that water indicates rich veins of ore, and Vp2 is much 
more appropriate to describe the designed formation of courses 
to carry off the water than an accidental discovery of water 
in course of the work ; moreover, D'HK' 1 is as appropriate to the 
former as it is inappropriate to the latter explanation, for it 
signifies elsewhere the arms of the Nile, into which the Nile 
is artificially divided ; and therefore it may easily be trans- 
ferred to the horizontal canals of the mine cut through the 
hard rock (or through the upper earth). Nevertheless, 
although the water plays an important part in mining opera- 
tions, by giving rise to the greatest difficulties, as it frequently 
happens that a pit is deluged with water, and must be aban- 
doned because no one can get down to it : it is improbable 
that ver. 10 as well as ver. 11 refers to this; we therefore 
prefer to understand D" 1 "^ as meaning the (horizontal) courses 
(galleries or drifts) in which the ore is dug, a rendering 
which is all the more possible, since, on the one hand, in Coptic 
jaro (Sahidic jero) signifies the Nile of Egypt (phiaro ente 
chemi) ; on the other, ior (eioor) signifies a ditch, Lwpv% 
(comp. Isa. xxxiii. 21, D'HSO, LXX. Stcwpi/^es), vid. Ges. 
Thes. Thus also ver. 105 is consistently connected with 
what precedes, since by cutting these cuniculi the courses 
of the ore (veins), and any precious stones that may also be 
embedded there, are laid bare. 

Ver. 11 a. Contrary to the correct indication of the accen- 
tuation, Hahn translates : he stops up the droppings of the 
watercourses ; ^Sp has Dechi, and is therefore not to .be 
connected with what follows as a genitive. But Reimarus' 
translation : from the drops he connects the streams, is inad- 
missible. "The trickling water," he observes, "is carefully 
caught in channels by the miners for use, and is thus brought 
together from several parts to the reservoir and the water- 
wheel. What Pliny calls corrugus, corrivatio" On the 



104 THE BOOK OF JOB. 



contrary, Schlottm. remarks that Bton cannot signify such a 
connection, i.e. gathering together of watercourses ; it occurs 
elsewhere only of uniting, i.e. binding up wounds. Never- 
theless, although ttbn cannot directly signify " to collect," the 
signification coercere (ch. xxxiv. 17), which is not far from 



c / 



this idea, as is evident from the Arab. {j^>- (^A>-), a dam 



or sluice for collecting water, and *UJ1 ^^^^ a reservoir, 

cistern, is easily transferable to water, in the sense of bind- 
ing = catching up and accumulating. But it is contrary to 
the form of the expression that 'ODD, with this use of BQn, 
should denote the materia ex qua, and that rtTTU should be 
referred to the miry ditches in which "the crushed ore is 
washed, for the purpose of separating the good from the 
worthless." On the contrary, from the form of the expression, 
it is to be translated : a fletu (not e fleiu) flumina obligat^ 
whether it be that a fletu is equivalent to ne flent s. stillent 
(Simeon Duran: 17P fcwB^), or obligat equivalent to cohibet 
(Ralbag : irang). Thus von Yeltheim explains the passage, 
since he here, as in ver. 10, understands the channels for 
carrying off the water. " The miner covers the bottom with 
mire, and fills up the crevices so exactly [i.e. he besmears it, 
where the channel is broken through, with some water-tight 
substance, e.g. clay], that it may entirely carry off the water 
that is caught by it out of the pit [in which the shaft termi- 
nates], and not let it fall through the fissures [crevices] to 
the company of miners below [to the vein that lies farther 
down] ; then the miner can descend still deeper [since the 
water runs outwards and does not soak through], and bring 
forth the ore that lies below the channel." This explanation 
overlooks the fact that D'HiO is used in ver. 10, whereas ver. 11 
has nnro. It is not probable that these are only interchange- 
able expressions for the channels that carry off the water. 



CHAP. XXVIII. 9-12. 105 



D'HfcO is an appropriate expression for it, but not nnro, which 
as appropriately describes the conflux of water in the mine 
itself. 

The meaning of ver. Ha is, that he (the miner) binds or 
stops the watercourses which his working out of the pit has 
interfered with and injured, so that they may not leak, i.e. 
that they may not in the least ooze through, whether by build- 
ing up a wall or by collecting the water that streams forth in 
reservoirs (Arab, malibas) or in the channels which carry it 
outwards, all these modes of draining off the water may be 
included in ver. 11 a, only the channel itself is not, with von 
Veltheim, to be understood by JYnnj, but the concourse of the 
water which, in one way or the other, is rendered harmless to 
the pit-work, so that he (the miner), as ver. 116 says, can 
bring to light ("tttf ~^>) whatever precious things the bowels 
of the earth conceals (HOTJJR according to Kimchi and others, 

\ T v:i~/ 

with euphonic Mappik, as according to the Masora rTTDM 
Isa. xxviii. 4, niJBfo Ezek. xxii. 24, and also njtt Zech. iv. 2, 
only *&>: &6l ntfnpn rfltt&r&, i.e. they have Mappik only for 
euphony, not as the expression of the suff.). 

With the question in ver. 12 the description of mining 
attains the end designed : man can search after and find out 
silver, gold, and other metals and precious stones, by making 
the foundations of the earth accessible to him ; but wisdom, 
whence shall he obtain it, and which (nPXI according to 

' \ v :/ o 

another reading nfXI) is the place of understanding? nEOnn 

O v :/ & T : T - 

has the art. to give prominence to its transcendency over the 
other attainable things. riEOn is the principal name, and ru 11 ? 
interchanges with it, as njian, Prov. viii. 1, and other syno- 
nyms in which the Chokma literature abounds elsewhere in 
Prov. i.-ix. n^l is properly the faculty of seeing through 
that which is distinguishable, consisting of the possession 
of the right criteria; iiEon, however, is the perception, in 
general, of things in their true nature and their final causes. 



106 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

13 A mortal knoweth not its price, 

And it is not found in the land of the living. 

14 The abyss saith : It is not in me, 
And the sea saith : It is not with me. 

15 Pure gold cannot be given for it, 

And silver cannot be weighed as its price ; 

16 And it is not outweighed with the fine gold of Ophir, 
With the precious onyx and the sapphire. 

It is self-evident that wisdom is found nowhere directly 
present and within a limited space, as at the bottom of the 
sea, and cannot be obtained by a direct exchange by means 
of earthly treasures. It is, moreover, not this self-evident 
fact that is denied here; but the meaning is, that even if a man 
should search in every direction through the land of the living, 
i.e. (as e.g. Ps. lii. 7) the world if he should search through 
the Dinri ? i.e. the subterranean waters that feed the visible 
waters (vid. Gen. xlix. 25) if he should search through the 
sea, the largest bounded expanse of this water that wells up 
from beneath yea, even if he would offer all riches and 
precious things to put himself in possession of the means and 
instruments for the acquirement of wisdom, wisdom, i.e. the 
profoundest perception of the nature of things, would still be 
beyond him, and unattainable, spy, ver. lo, an equivalent 
(from Spy, to range beside, to place at the side of), inter- 
changes with T"np (from in, cogn. "inB, "D ? mercari). "ifap 
is "VUD 2HJ, 1 Kings vi. 20 and freq., which hardly signifies 
gold shut up carefully preserved, rather : closed = com- 

pressed, unmixed ; Targ. fop 3rn, aurum colatum (purgatum). 

11 i 
Ewald compares js&s, to seethe, heat ; therefore : heated, 

gained by smelting. On the other hand, QH3 from 



occulere, seems originally to denote that which is precious, 
then precious gold in particular, LXX. xpvaiy fl(f>elp, Cod. 



CHAP. XXVIII. 13-16. 107 

Vat. and Cod. Sinaiticus, %a)(pip (Egyptized by prefixing the 
Egyptian sa, part, district, side, whence e.g. sa-res, the upper 
country, and sa-het, the lower country, therefore = sa-ofir, 
land of Ophir). Dnb? is translated here by the LXX. ovv% 
(elsewhere o-apSovvi; or o-apSto?), of which Pliny, h. n. xxxvii. 
6, 24, appealing to Sudines, says, in gemma esse candorem 
ungitis humani similitudinem ; wherefore Knobel, Rodiger, 



and others, compare the Arab. *&L>, which, however, does not 

i / 

signify pale, but lean, and parched by the heat, with which, 
in hot countries at least, not pallor, but, on the contrary, a 

Ci / * 

dark brown-black colour, is identified (FL). /$"**> striped 

(Mich.), would be more appropriate, since the onyx is marked 
through by white veins ; but this is a denom. from sahm, a 
dart, prop, darted, and is therefore wide of the mark. On 
the etvmology of TBP, vid. Jesurun, p. 61. Nevertheless 
both Dn&> and "VBp are perhaps foreign names, as the name 
of the emerald (vid. ib. p. 108), which is Indian (Sanskr. 
marakata, or even marakta) ; and, on the other hand, it 
is called in hieroglyph (determined by the stone) uot, 
the green stone (in Coptic p. auannese, the green colour) 
(Lauth). 

The transcendent excellence of wisdom above the most 
precious earthly treasures, which the author of the introduc- 
tion to the book of Proverbs briefly describes, ch. iii. 14 sq., 
is now drawn out in detail. 

17 Gold and glass are not equal to it, 
Nor is it exchanged for jewels of gold. 

18 Pearls and crystal are not to be mentioned, 
And the acquisition of wisdom is beyond corals. 

19 The topaz of Ethiopia is not equal to it, 
It is not outweighed by pure fine gold. 



108 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

20 Whence, then, cometh wisdom, 

And which is the place of understanding ? 



Among the separate D^an, Prov. iii. 15, which are here 
detailed, apart from 3DT, glass has the transparent name 
JV3tt|, or, as it is pointed in Codd., in old editions, and by 
Kimchi, n^toT with Cholem (in the dialects with j instead of 
3). Symm. indeed translates crystal, and in fact the ancient 
languages have common names for glass and crystal ; but the 
crystal is here called 8*33, which signifies prop., like the Arab. 
'gibs, ice ; Kpva-ra\\os also signifies prop, ice, and this only in 
Homer, then crystal, exactly as the cognate rnp unites both 
significations in itself. The reason of this homonymy lies 
deeper than in the outward similarity, the ancients really 
thought the crystal was a product of the cold ; Pliny, xxxvii. 
2, 9, says : non alibi certe reperitur quam ubi maxume Mberncv 
nives rigent, glaciemque esse cerium est, wide nomen Greed 
dedere. The Targ. translates ^33 by fWfta, certainly in the 
sense of the Arabico-Persic bulliir (bulur), which signifies 
crystal, or even glass, and moreover is the primary word for 
/rfy'puXXo?, although the identical Sanskrit word, according to 
the laws of sound, vaidurja (Pali, velurija), is, according to 
the lexicons, a name of the lapis lazuli (Persic, lagurd). 
Of the two words fltoan and B 1 ^?, the one appears to mean 
pearls and the other corals ; the ancient appellations of these 
precious things which belong to the sea are also blended ; the 
Persic mergdn (Sanskr. mangara) unites the signification 
pearl and coral in itself. The root }D, ^, which has the 

primary notion of pushing, especially of vegetation (whence ^ 

a branch, shoot, prop, motion; French,^), and Lam. iv. 7, 
where snow and milk, as figures of whiteness (purity), are 
placed in contrast with D'O'OB as a figure of redness, favour 
the signification corals for D^D. The Coptic b e noni, which 



CHAP. XXVIII. 17-20. 

signifies gemma, favours (so far as it may be compared) corals 
rather than pearls. And the fact that JYilDJn, Ezek. xxvii. 16, 
appear as an Aramaean article of commerce in the market of 
Tyre, is more favourable to the signification pearls than 
corals ; for the Babylonians sailed far into the Indian Ocean, 
and brought pearls from the fisheries of Bahrein, perhaps 
even from Ceylon, into the home markets (vid. Layard, New 
Discoveries) 536). The name is perhaps, from the Western 
Asiatic name of the pearl, 1 mutilated and Hebraized. 2 

The name of the H'ntps of Ethiopia appears to be derived 
from roTraf by transposition ; Pliny says of the topaz, xxxvii. 
8, 32, among other passages : Juba Topazum insulam in rubro 
mari a continenti stadiis CCC abesse dicit, nebulosam et idea 
qucesitam scepius navigantibus ; ex ea causa nomen accepisse: 

1 Vid. Zeitsclir. fur d. Kunde des Morgenlandes, iv. 40f. The recently 
attempted explanation of xopa.K'hiov from ^3 (to which xhqpos the rather 

belongs), in the primary signification lapillus (Arab, 'garal), is without 
support. 

2 Two reasons for D'O'OSJ = pearls (in favour of which Bochart com- 
pares the name of the pearl-oyster, irivvct) and JTilo&O = corals, which 
are maintained by Carey, are worthy of remark. (1.) That D'O'OD does 
not signify corals, he infers from Lain. iv. 7, for the redness of corals 
cannot be a mark of bodily beauty ; " but when I find that there are some 
pearls of a slightly reddish tinge, then I can understand and appreciate 
the comparison." (2.) That niE&o signifies corals, is shown by the origin 
of the word, which properly signifies reem- (wild oxen) horns, which is 
favoured by a mention of Pliny, Ti. n. xiii. 51 : (Tradidere) juncos quoque 
lapideos perquam similes veris per litora, et in alto qua s dam arbusculas 
colore bubuli cornus ramosas et cacuminibus rubentes. Although 
Pliny there speaks of marine petrified plants of the Indian Ocean (not, 
at least in his sense, of corals), this hint of a possible derivation of 
JTlDfrO is certainly surprising. But as to Lam. iv. 7, this passage is to 
be understood according to Cant. v. 10 (my friend is QflfcO fltf). The 
white and red are intended to be conceived of as mixed and overlapping 
one another, as our [Germ.] popular poetry speaks of cheeks which 
"shine with milk and purple;" and as in Homer, II. iv. 141-146, the 
colour of the beautifully formed limbs of Menelaus is represented by the 
figure (which appears hideous to us) : a; $ OTS TI$ T shetpotvroi yvvq 

(ebony stained with purple). 



110 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

topaz in enim Troglodytarum lingua significationem habere quce- 
rendi. This topaz, however, which is said to be named after 
an island of the same name, the Isle of Serpents in Agathar- 
chides and Diodorus, is, according to Pliny, yellowish green, 
and therefore distinct from the otherwise so-called topaz. 
To make a candid confession, we grope about everywhere in 
the dark here, and the ancient versions are not able to help 
us out of our difficulty. 1 The poet lays everything under 
contribution to illustrate the thought, that the worth of wis- 
dom exceeds the worth of the most valuable earthly thing; 
beside which, in D'0'0210 neon TJBfo, " the acquisition or posses- 
sion (from ^p, cXuu^c, to draw to one's self, to take hold of) 
of wisdom is above corals," there is an indication that, 
although not by the precious things of the earth, still in some 
way or other, wisdom can be possessed, so that consequently 
the question repeated at the end of the strophe will not remain 
unanswered. This is its meaning : now if wisdom is not to 
be found in any of the places named, and is not to be attained 
by any of the means mentioned, whence can man hope to 
attain it, and whither must he turn to find it ? for its exist- 
ence is certain, and it is an indisputable need of man that he 
should partake of it. 

21 It is veiled from the eyes of all living, 
And concealed from the fowls of heaven. 

22 Destruction and death say : 

With our ears we heard a report of it. 

23 Eloldm under standeth the way to it, 

1 The Targ. translates Dn^ by t^rVa, /SsjotA^oc; T2D by WW (j^> 
vid. Pott in the Zeitschr. f. K. d. M. iv. 275) ; TQ by pnniK, 'ofipvo ; 
JYlDfcO by psin^D, ffctv^xpax,-'!, red gold-pigment (vid. Rbdiger-Pott, as 
just quoted, S. 267) ; t^na again by f&WS in the sense of the Arabico- 
Persic bullur, Kurd, bellur, crystal ; D'O'OD by fvJ'IDi potpyotpirai ; 
by K|J"P fc6nO (the green pearl); QrO by p^D (perhaps ji^tp 
in the sense of lamina auri). 



CHAP. XXVIII. 21-28. Ill 

And lie lie knoweth its place, 
24 For He looketli to the ends of the eart/t, 
Under the whole heaven He seeth. 

No living created being ( s l?"?3, as ch. xii. 10, xxx. 23) is 
able to answer the question ; even the birds that fly aloft, 
that have keener and farther-seeing eyes than man, can give 
us no information concerning wisdom ; and the world at least 
proclaims its existence in a rich variety of its operations, but 
in the realm of Abaddon and of death below (comp. the com- 
bination JVDN1 TlSt^, Prov. xv. 11, abov KOI TOV Oavdrov, Apoc. 
i. 18) it is known only by an indistinct hearsay, and from 
confused impressions. Therefore: no creature, whether in 
the realm of the living or the dead, can help us to get wis- 
dom. There is but One who possesses a perfect knowledge 
concerning wisdom, namely Elohim, whose gaze extends to 
the ends of the earth, and who sees under the whole heaven, 
i.e. is everywhere present (nnri, definition of place, not equi- 
valent to flnn ")B>K ; comp. on ch. xxiv. 96), who therefore, 
after the removal of everything earthly (sub-celestial), alone 
remains. And why should He with His knowledge, which 
embraces everything, not also know the way and place of 
wisdom? Wisdom is indeed the ideal, according to which 

He has created the world. 



25 When He appointed to the wind its weighty 
And weighed the water according to a measure, 

26 When He appointed to the rain its laiv, 

And the course to the lightning of the thunder : 

27 Then He saw it and declared it, 
Took it as a pattern and tested it also, 

28 And said to man : Behold, the fear of the Lord is wisdom, 
And to depart from evil is understanding. 

It is impracticable to attach the inf. nVBW? to ver. 24 as the 



112 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

purpose, because it is contrary to the meaning; but it is 
impossible, according to the syntax, to refer it to ver. 27 as 
the purpose placed in advance, or to take it in the sense of 
perfecturus, because in both instances it ought to have been 
]3ft\ instead of fan, or at least |3rn with the verb placed first 
(vid. ch. xxxvii. 15). But even the temporal use of h in 
rri:B? at the turn (of morning, of evening, e.g. Gen. xxiv. 63) 
cannot be compared, but nibty? signifies perficiendo = quum 
perficeret (as e.g. 2 Sam. xviii. 29, mittendo = quum mitteret), 
it is a gerundival inf. (Nagelsb. S. 197f, 2d edition) ; and 
because it is the past that is spoken of, the modal inf. can be 
continued in theperf., Ges. 132, rem. 2. The thought that 
God, when He created the world, appointed fixed laws of 
equable and salutary duration, he particularizes by examples : 
He appointed to the wind its weight, i.e. the measure of its 
force or feebleness ; distributed the masses of water by mea- 
sure ; appointed to the rain its law, i.e. the conditions of its 
development and of its beginning; appointed the way, i.e. origin 

M 

and course, to the lightning (Ptn from Ttn, j^., secare). When 

He thus created the world, and regulated what was created 
by laws, then He perceived (^^n with He Mappic. according 
to the testimony of the Masora) it, wisdom, viz. as the ideal 
of all things ; then He declared it, enarravit, viz. by creating 
the world, which is the development and realization of its sub- 
stance ; then He gave it a place ^J^n (for which Doderl. and 
Ewald unnecessarily read ^J" 1 ?;!)? - to create the world after 
its pattern, and to commit the arrangement of the world as a 
whole to its supreme protection and guidance ; then He also 
searched it out or tested it, viz. its demiurgic powers, by 
setting them in motion to realize itself. 

If we compare Prov. viii. 22-31 with this passage, we may 
say: the flEOn is the divine ideal-world, the divine imagination 
of all things before their creation, the complex unity of all 



CHAP. XXVIII. 25-28. 113 

the ideas, which are the essence of created things and the 
end of their development. " Wisdom," says one of the old 
theologians, 1 " is a divine imagination, in which the ideas of 
the angels and souls and all things were seen from eternity, 
not as already actual creatures, but as a man beholds himself 
in a mirror." It is not directly one with the Logos, but the 
Logos is the demiurg by which God has called the world 
into existence according to that ideal which was in the divine 
mind. Wisdom is the impersonal model, the Logos the per- 
sonal master-builder according to that model. Nevertheless 
the notions, here or in the later cognate portion of Scripture, 
Prov. viii. 22-31, are not as yet so distinct as the New Testa- 
ment revelation of God has first of all rendered possible. In 
those days, when God realized the substance of the neon, this 
eternal mirror of the world, in the creation of the world, He 
also gave man the law, corresponding to which he corre- 
sponds to His idea and participates in wisdom. Fearing the 
supreme Lord ("JTO only here in the book of Job, one of the 
134 PKTI, i.e. passages, where "OIK is not merely to be read 
instead of !W, but is actually written 2 ), and renouncing evil 
(jno "ftD ? according to another less authorized mode of writing 
JH), this is man's share of wisdom, this is his relative 
wisdom, by which he remains in connection with the absolute. 
This is true human <iXoo-o<i<z, in contrast to all high-flown 
and profound speculations ; comp. Prov. iii. 7, where, in like 
manner, "fear Jehovah" is placed side by side with " depart 
from evil," and Prov. xvi. 6, according to which it is rendered 
possible jn 11D, to escape the evil of sin and its punishment 
by fearing God. " The fear of God is the beginning of wis- 
dom" (Prov. i. 7; comp. Ps. cxi. 10) is the symbolum, the 
motto and uppermost principle, of that Israelitish Chokma, 
whose greatest achievement is the book of Job. The whole 

1 Vid. Jul. Hamberger, Lehre Jak. Bohme's, S. 55. 

2 Yid. Buxtorf's Tiberias, p. 245 ; comp. Bar's Psalterium, p. 133. 

VOL. II. H 



114: THE BOOK OF JOB. 

of ch. xxviii. is a minute panegyric of this principle, the 
materials of which are taken from the far-distant past ; and 
it is very characteristic, that, in the structure of the book, 
this twenty-eighth chapter is the clasp which unites the half 
of the Seat,? with the half of the Xv<rt?, and that the poet has 
inscribed upon this clasp that sentence, "The fear of God 
is the beginning of wisdom." But, moreover, Job's closing 
speech, which ends in this celebration of the praise of the 
HDDii, also occupies an important position, which must now 
be determined, in the structure of the whole. 

After Job has refuted Bilclad, and, continuing his descrip- 
tion, has celebrated in such lofty strains the majesty of God, 
it can hardly be expected that the poet will allow Zophar 
to speak for the third time. Bildad is unable to advance 
anything new, and Zophar has already tried his utmost to 
terrify Job for the second time; besides, Job's speech fur- 
nishes no material for a reply (a motive which is generally 
overlooked), unless the controversy were designed to ramble 
on into mere personalities. Accordingly the poet allows Job 
to address the friends once more, but no longer in the extreme 
and excited tone of the previous dialogue, but, since the silence 
of the friends must produce a soothing impression on Job, 
tempering him to gentleness and forbearance, in a tone of 
confession conscious of victory, yet altogether devoid of 
haughty triumph, a confession in which only one single 
word of reproach (ch. xxvii. 12&) escapes him. Ch. xxvii. 
xxviii. contain this confession Job's final address to his 
friends. 

Job once again most solemnly asserts his innocence before 
the friends ; all attempts on the part of the friends to entice 
or to extort from him a confession which is against his con- 
science, have therefore been in vain : joyous and victorious 
he raises his head, invincible, even to death, in the conviction 
of that which is a fact of his consciousness that cannot be 



CHAP. XXVIII. 25-28. 115 

got rid of by denial. He is not an evil-doer ; accordingly he 
must stand convicted as an evil-doer who treats him as such. 
For although he is not far from- death, and is in sore vexation, 
he has not manifested the hopelessness and defection from 
God in which the evil-doer passes away. Job has indeed 
even expressed himself despondingly, and complained of 
God's wrath ; but the true essence of his relation to God 
came to light in such words as ch. xvi. 19-21, xvii. 9, xix. 
25-27. If the friends had not been blind to such brilliant 
aspirations of his life in God, how could they regard him as 
a godless man, and his affliction as the punishment of such 
an one ! His affliction has, indeed, no connection with the 
terrible end of the evil-doer. Job here comes before the 
friends with the very doctrine they have so frequently ad- 
vanced, but infatuated with the foolish notion that it is suited 
to his case. Pie here gives it back to them, to show them 
that it is not suited to him. He also does not deny, that in 
the rule the evil-doer meets a terrible end, although he has 
hitherto disputed the assertion of the friends, because of the 
exclusiveness with which it was maintained by them. His 
counter-assertion respecting the prosperity of the evil-doer, 
which from the beginning was not meant by him so exclu- 
sively as the friends meant theirs respecting the misfortune 
of the evil-doer, is here indirectly freed from the extreme ap- 
pearance of exclusiveness by Job himself, and receives the 
necessary modification. Job does not deny, yea, he here 
brings it under the notice of the friends, that the sword, 
famine, and pestilence carry off the descendants of the evil- 
doer, and even himself; that his possessions at length fall 
into the hands of the righteous, and contain within themselves 
the germ of destruction from the very first ; that God's curse 
pursues, and suddenly destroys, the godless rich man himself. 
Thus it comes to pass ; for while silver and other precious 
things come from the depths of the earth, wisdom, whose 



116 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

worth far transcends all earthly treasures, is to be found with 
no created being, but is with God alone; and the fear of God, 
to avoid evil, is the share of wisdom to which man is directed 
according to God's primeval decree. 

The object of the section, ch. xxviii., is primarily to confirm 
the assertion concerning the judgment that befalls the evil- 
doer, ch. xxvii. 13-23 ; the confirmation is, however, at the 
same time, according to the delicately laid plan of the poet, 
a glorious general confession, in which Job's dialogue with the 
friends comes to a close. This panegyric of wisdom (similar 
to Paul's panegyric of charity, 1 Cor. xiii.) is the presentation 
of Job's predominant principle, and as such, is like a song 
of triumph, with which, without vain-glory, he closes the 
dialogue in the most appropriate manner. If Job's life has 
such a basis, it is not possible that his affliction should be the 
punishment of an ungodly man. And if the fear of God is 
the wisdom appointed to man, he also teaches himself that, 
though unable to see through the mystery of his affliction, 
he must still hold on to the fear of God, and teaches the 
friends that they must do the same, and not lay themselves 
open to the charge of injustice and uncharitableness towards 
him, the suffering one, in order to solve the mystery. Job's 
conclusion, which is first intended to show that he who does 
not fear God is overtaken by the merited fate of a fool who, 
rebels against God's moral government, shows at the same 
time that the afflictive lot of those who fear God must be 
judged of in an essentially different manner from that of the 
ungodly. 

We may imagine what impression these last words of Job 
to the friends must have made upon them. Since they were 
obliged to be silent, they will not have admitted that they 
are vanquished, although the drying up of their thoughts, and 
their involuntary silence, is an actual proof of it. But does 
Job make them feel this oppressively ? Now that they are 



CHAP. XXIX. 2-6. 117 

become so insignificant, does he read them a severe lecture ? 
does he in general act towards them as vanquished? No 
indeed, but solemnly, and without vaunting himself over his 
accusers, he affirms his innocence; earnestly, but in a winning 
manner, he admonishes them, by tempering and modifying 
what was vehement and extreme in his previous replies. He 
humbly submits himself to the divine wisdom, by setting the 
fear of God, as man's true wisdom, before himself and the 
friends as their common aim. Thus he utters " the loftiest 
words, which must surprise the opponents as they exhibit 
him as the not merely mighty, but also wonderfully calm 
and modest conqueror, who here for the first time wears the 
crown of true victory, when, in outward victory conquering 
himself, he struggles on towards a more exalted clearness of 
perception." 

Job's Monologue. Chap, xxix.-xxxi. 

FIRST PART. CHAP. xxix. 
Schema: 10.8.8.6.6. 11. 

[Then Job continued to take up his proverb, and said :] 

2 that I had months like the times of yore ', 
Like the days when Eloah protected me, 

3 When He, when His lamp, shone above my head, 
By His light I went about in the darkness ; 

4 As I was in the days of my vintage, 
When the secret of Eloah was over my tent, 

5 When the Almighty was still with me, 
My children round about me ; 

6 When my steps were bathed in cream, 

And the rock beside me poured forth streams of oil. 

Since the optative ffipip (comp. on ch. xxiii. 3) is connected 
with the ace. of the object desired, ch. xiv. 4, xxxi. 31, or of 



118 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

that respecting which anything is desired, ch. xi. 5, it is in 
itself possible to explain: who gives (makes) me like the 
months of yore ; but since, when ^^"'D occurs elsewhere, 
Isa. xxvii. 4, Jer. ix. 1, the suff. is meant as the dative 
(= ^ in" 1 "^, ch. xxxi. 35), it is also here to be explained : 
who gives me (= O that one would give me, O that I had) 
like (instar) the months of yore, i.e. months like those of the 
past, and indeed those that lie far back in the past; for 
D li?"^1!! means more than VQJJ ("i^S) D^lTV. Job begins to 
describe the olden times, that he wishes back, with the virtu- 
ally genitive relative clause: "when Eloah protected me" 
(Ges. 116, 3). It is impossible to take \$y* as Iliph.: 
when He caused to shine (Tar. nwinjsa) ; either fetna 

\ O T : - : / ' ' ~'.i~ 

(Olsh.) or even ftna (Ew. in his Comm.) ought to be read 
then. On the other hand, ^?n can be justified as the form 
for inf. Kal of ??n (to shine, vid. ch. xxv. 5) with a weaken- 
ing of the a to i (Ew. 255, a), and the suff. may, according 
to the syntax, be taken as an anticipatory statement of the 
object : when it, viz. His light, shone above my head ; comp. 
Ex. ii. 6 (him, the boy), Isa. xvii. 6 (its, the fruit-tree's, 
branches), also xxix. 23 (he, his children); and Ew. 309, c, 
also decides in its favour. Nevertheless it commends itself 
still more to refer the suff. of WT3 to fivK (comp. Isa. Ix. 2 7 
Ps. 1. 2), and to take 1"iJ as a corrective, explanatory per- 
mutative : when He, His lamp, shone above my head, as we 
have translated. One is at any rate reminded of Isa. Ix. in 
connection with ver. 3 ; ' for as Wtt corresponds to mp there, 
so Hl&A corresponds to T^K? in the 3d ver. of the same : by 
His light I walked in darkness ("H^n locative ^'nn), i.e. 
rejoicing in His light, which preserved me from its dangers 
(straying and falling). 

In ver. 4 ">^?3 is not a particle of time, but of comparison, 
which was obliged here to stand in the place of the 3, which 
is used only as a preposition. And H snn (to be written thus, 



CHAP. XXIX. 2-6. 119 

not *snn with an aspirated a) may not be translated " (in the 
days) of my spring," as Symm. ev fjjAepais veorrjTos /-tou, Jer. 
diebus adolescentice mece, and Targ. 'fi^'in ^a, whether it be 
that DID^n here signifies the point, wcptf (from fpn, 
acuere\ or the early time (spring time, from *pn, 
carper -e). For in reference to agriculture ^pn can certainly 
signify the early half of the year (on this, vid. Genesis, 
S. 270), inasmuch as sowing and ploughing time in Pales- 
tine and Syria is in November and December; wherefore 
c_cjp- signifies the early rain or autumn rain ; and in Tal- 
mudic, *p.n, premature (ripe too early), is the opposite of 
?SK, late, but the derivatives of spn only obtain this signifi- 
cation connotative, for, according to its proper signification, 
Tjh (v_p r^ with other forms) is the gathering time, i.e. the 
time of the fruit harvest (syn. ^PD?)? while the Hebr. 3'3K 
(2K) corresponds to the spring in our sense. If Job meant 
his youth, he would have said ^N W2, or something similar ; 
but as ver. 56 shows, he meant his manhood, and this he calls 
his autumn as the season of maturity, or rather of the abun- 
dance of fruits (Schult. : cetatem virilem suis fructibus fcetum 
et exuberantwn)^ which, according to Olympiodorus, also with 
ore ijfjLTjv eTri/BpiOcov 6$ov$ (perhaps /capTrovs) of the LXX., is 
what is intended. Then the blessed fellowship of Eloah (lio, 
familiarity, confiding, unreserved intercourse, Ps. Iv. 15, Prov. 
iii. 32, comp. Ps. xxv. 14) ruled over his tent ; the Almighty 

1 The fresh vegetation, indeed, in hotter districts (e.g. in the valley of 
the Jordan and Euphrates) begins with the arrival of the autumnal rains, 
but the real spring (comp. Cant. ii. 11-13) only begins about the vernal 
equinox, and still later on the mountains. On the contrary, the late 
summer, pjp, which passes over into the autumn, Pph, is the season for 
gathering the fruit. The produce of the fields, garden fruit, and grapes 
ripen before the commencement of the proper autumn ; some (when 
the land can be irrigated) summer fruits, e.g. Dlmra (maize) and 
melons, in like manner olives and dates, ripen in autumn. Therefore the 
translation, in the days of my autumn ("of my harvest"), is the only 



120 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

was still with him (protecting and blessing him), His 
were round about him. It certainly does not mean servants 
(Raschi : TD^'D), but children (as ch. i. 19, xxiv. 5) ; for one 
expects the mention of the blessing of children first of all 
(Ps. cxxvii. 3 sqq., cxxviii. 3). His steps (TrT!? an \ey.) bathed 
then nana = nxona ch. xx. 17 (as nta" = rbxv 1 Sam. i. 17, 

T *" T 5 V I ' ^* T J / 

and possibly nja = njsa), and the rocks poured forth, close by 
him, streams of oil (a figure which reminds one of Deut. 
xxxii. 13). A rich blessing surrounded him wherever he 
tarried or went, and flowed to him wonderfully beyond 
desire and comprehension. 

7 When I ivent forth to the gate of the city. 
Prepared my seat in the market, 

8 Then the young men hid themselves as soon as they saw me. 
And the aged rose up, remained standing. 

9 Princes refrained from speaking. 
And laid their hand on their mouth. 

10 The voice of the nobles was hidden, 
And their tongue clave to their palate, 

When he left the bounds of his domain, and came into the 
city, he was everywhere received with the profoundest re- 
spect. From the facts of the case, it is inadmissible to trans- 
late quum egrederer portam after Gen. xxxiv. 24, comp. 
infra, ch. xxxi. 34, for the district where Job dwelt is to be 

correct one. If ''Sin were intended here in a sense not used elsewhere, 

; T 

it might signify, according to the Arabic with ^, " (in the days) of my 

prosperity," or " my power," or even with , "(in the days) of my youth- 
ful vigour ; " for charafdt are rash words and deeds, charfan one who 
says or does anything rash from lightness, the feebleness of old age^etc- 
(according to Wetzst., very common words in Syria) ; Fph or fpn, there- 

o / 

fore, the thoughtlessness of youth, J^> i.e. the rash desire of doing 
something great, which DID!? B>Bjn ^H (Judg. v. 18). But it is most 
secure to go back to f]"in, < V>- carpere, viz. fructus. 



CHAP. XXIX. 7-10. 121 

thought of as being without a gate. True, he did not dwell 
with his family in tents, i.e. pavilions of hair, but in houses ; 
he was not a nomad (a wandering herdsman), or what is the 
same thing, a Beduin, otherwise his children would not have 
been slain in a stone house, ch. i. 19. " The daughter of the 
duck," says an- Arabian proverb, " is a swimmer," and the son 
of a Beduin never dwells in a stone house. He was, how- 
ever, also, not a citizen, but a ln.ad.ari (^'D), i>e> a permanent 
resident, a large landowner and husbandman. Thus there- 
fore "W (for which Ew. after the LXX. reads nnp : when 
I went up early in the morning to the city") is locative, for 
n "W (comp. iTifrn N>', go out into the field, Gen. xxvii. 3) : 
when he went forth to the gate above the city ; or even, since 
it is natural to imagine the city as situated on an eminence : 
up to the city (so that nN includes in itself by implication 
the notion of nty) ; not, however : to the gate near the city 
(Stick., Hahn), since the gate of a city is riot situated near 
the city, but is part of the city itself. The gates of cities 
and large houses in Western Asia are vaulted entrances, 
with large recesses on either side, where people congregate 
for business and negotiations. 1 The open space at the gate, 
which here, as in Neh. viii. 1, 3, 16, is called 3irn, i.e. the 
open space within the gate and by the gate, was the forum 
(ch. v. 4). 

Yer. 8. When Job came hither to the meeting of the 
tribunal, or the council of the elders of the city, within 
which he had a seat and a voice, the young men hid them- 
selves, conscious of his presence (which elpopevrj Xe^et, or, is 
expressed paratactically instead of as a period), i.e. they 
retired into the background, since they feared his look of 
salutation ; 2 and old men (hoary heads) stood up, remained 

1 Vid. Layard, New Discoveries, p. 57. 

2 Comp. jer. Schekalim ii. 5 (in Pinner's Compendium des Thalmud, 
S. 58) : " R. Jochanan was walking and leaning upon R. Chija bar- Abba, 



122 THE BOOK OF JOB. 



standing (atrvpSero^ as ch. xx. 19, xxviii. 4). Dip signifies 
to stand up, *OT to advance towards any one and remain 
standing (comp. vol. i. 357, note 1). They rose in order not 
to seat themselves until he was seated. D* 1 "!^ are magnates 
(proceres) of the city. These &??! vrajj, cohibebant verba (ivy 
with Beth of the obj., as ch. iv. 2, xii. 15), and keeping a 
respectful silence, they laid their hand on their mouth (comp. 
xxi. 5). All stepped back and desisted from speaking before 
him: The speech of illustrious men (t^T- 1 ? from ^, JsO, to 
be visible, pleasant to the sight, comp. supra, p. 91) hid itself 
(not daring to be heard), and the tongue of the same clave 
(motionless) to their palate. We do not translate : as to the 
voice illustrious men hid themselves, for it is only the appear- 
ance produced by the attractional construction [Ges. 148, 1] 
that has led to the rendering of D*WW|> as an ace. of closer 
definition (Schult., Hahn : quod ad vocem eminentium, com- 
primebantur). The verb is construed with the second member 
of the genitival expression instead of with the first, as with 
*12DD, ch. xv. 20, xxi. 21, xxxviii. 21, and with pan, ch. 
xxii. 12 ; a construction which occurs with Tip not merely in 
such exclamatory sentences as Gen. iv. 10, Isa. Hi. 8, but 
also under other conditions, 1 Kings i. 41, comp. xiv. 6. 
This may be best called an attraction of the predicate by the 
second member of the compound subject, like the reverse in- 
stance, Isa. ii. 11 ; and it is sometimes found even where this 
second member is not logically the more important. Thus 
Ew. transl. : " the voice of the nobles hides itself ; " whereas 
Olsh., wrongly denying that the partt. in passages like Gen. 
iv. 10, 1 Kings i. 41, are to be taken as predicative, wishes to 

R. Eliezer perceived him and hid himself from him (*opB i"6 "1DBB1)- 
Then said R. Jochanan: This Babylonian insulted him (R. Chija) by 
two things ; first that he did not salute him, and then that he hid him- 
self. But R. Jakob bar-Idi answered him, it is the custom with them 
for the less not to salute the greater, a custom which confirms Job's 
words : Young men saw me and hid themselves. 1 ' 



CHAP. XXIX. 11-1-1. 123 

read fccru, which is the more inadmissible, as even the choice 
of the verb is determined by the attractional construction. 

The strophe which follows tells how it came to pass that 
those in authority among the citizens submitted to him, and 
that on all sides the people were zealous to show him tokens 
of respect. 

11 For an ear heard, and called me happy ; 
And an eye saw, and bear witness to me : 

12 For T rescued the sufferer ivho cried for help, 
And the orphan, and him that had no helper. 

13 The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, 
And I made the widoufs heart rejoice. 

14 I put on justice, and it put me on ; 

As a robe and turban was my integrity. 

Thus imposing was the impression of his personal appear- 
ance wherever he appeared; for (^ explic.) the fulness of 
the blessing of the possession of power and of prosperity which 
he enjoyed was so extraordinary, that one had only to hear of 
it to call him happy, and that, especially if any one saw it 
with his own eyes, he was obliged to bear laudatory testimony 
to him. The futt. consec. affirm what was the inevitable con- 
sequence of hearing and seeing ; ^V(], seq. ace., is used like 
"T ! 2Tn in the signification of laudatory recognition. The ex- 
pression is not brachylogical for v IJjrn (vid. on ch. xxxi. 18) ; 
for from 1 Kings xxi. 10, 13, we perceive that Tyn with the 
ace. of the person signifies to make any one the subject of asser- 
tion, whether he be lower or higher in rank (comp. the New 
Testament word, especially in Luke, fjuaprvpeladaL). It was, 
however, not merely the outward manifestation of his unusual 
prosperity which called forth such admiration, but his active 
benevolence united with the abundant resources at his com- 
mand. For where there was a sufferer who cried for help, 
he relieved him, especially orphans and those who had no 



124 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

helper, ft "if'STfrOI is either a new third object, or a closer 
definition of what precedes : the orphan and (in this state of 
orphanhood) helpless one. The latter is more probable both 
here and in the Salomonic primary passage, Ps. Ixxii. 12 ; in 
the other case ft "iTJTpK "IBM might be expected. 

Ver. 13. The blessing (n?!? with closely closed penult?) of 
those who stood on the brink of destruction (^N, interiturus, 
as ch. xxxi. 19, Prov. xxxi. 6), and owed their rescue to him, 
came upon him ; and the heart of the widow to whom he gave 
assistance, compensating for the assistance of her lost husband, 
he filled with gladness (p3"in causative, as Ps. Ixv. 9). For the 
primary attribute, the fundamental character of his way of 
thinking and acting, was p?.-?, a holding fast to the will of God, 
which before everything else calls for sympathizing love 
(root p1, jjJu*, to be hard, firm, stiff, e.g. rumh-un sadq-un, 
according to the Kamus : a hard, firm, straight spear), and 
B|^b, judgment and decision in favour of right and equity 
against wrong and injustice. Righteousness is here called 
the garment which he put on (as Ps. cxxxii. 9, comp. Isa. 
xi. 5, lix. 17), and right is the robe and turban with which 
he adorns himself (comp. Isa. Ixi. 10) ; as by Arabian poets 
noble attributes are also called garments, which God puts on 
any one, or which any one puts on himself (albasa). 1 Right- 
eousness is compared to the Btei (corresponding to the thob, 
i.e. garment, indusium, of the nomads) which is worn on the 
naked body, justice to the *ps, a magnificent turban (corre- 
sponding to the kefije, consisting of a thick cotton cloth, and 
fastened with a cord made of camel's hair), and the magnificent 
robe (corresponding to the second principal article of clothing, 
the 'aba). The LXX., Jer., Syr., and Arab, wrongly refer 

1 In Beidhawi, if I remember rightly, this expression occurs once, 



Ul) c iAJ^j i.e. "clothing one's self in the armour of the 
fear of God." 



CHAP. XXIX. 15-17. 125 

W'3?*1 to "DS^b of the second half of the verse, while, on the 
contrary, it is said of p*l, per antanaclasin, that Job put this 
on, and this in turn put Job on, induit; for 'OBbT'l, as the 
usage of the language, as we have it, elsewhere shows, does 
not signify: it (righteousness) clothed me well (Umbr.), 
or : adorned me (Ew., Vaih.), also not : it dressed me out 
(Schlottm.), but only: it put me on as a garment, i.e. it made 
me so its own, that my whole appearance was the representa- 
tion of itself, as in Judg. vi. 34 and twice in the Chronicles, of 
the Spirit of Jehovah it is said that He puts on any one, induit, 
when He makes any one the organ of His own manifestation. 

15 I was eyes to the blind, 
And feet was I to the lame. 

16 I was a father to the needy, 

And the cause of the unknown I found out, 

17 And broke the teeth of the wicked, 

And I cast the spoil forth out of his teeth. 

The less it is Job's purpose here to vindicate himself before 
the friends, the more forcible is the refutation which the 
accusations of the most hard-hearted uncharitableness raised 
against him by them, especially by Eliphaz, ch. xxii., find 
everywhere here. His charity relieved the bodily and spiri- 
tual wants of others eyes to the blind (^y? with Pathach), 
feet to the lame. A father was he to the needy, which is 
expressed by a beautiful play of words, as if it were : the 
carer for the care-full ones ; or what perhaps corresponds to 
the primary significations of 38 and li^K : l the protector of 

o / 
1 There is an old Arabic defective verb, ,^, which signifies " to seek 

an asylum for one's self," e.g. and baj\ I come as one seeking protection, 

/ / / 

a suppliant, in the usual language synon. of ,Jj>-t>, and thereby indicat- 
ing its relationship to the Hebr. 813, perhaps the root of jva (D^fiS), the 
n of which would then not be a radical letter, but, as according to Ges. 



126 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

those needing (seeking) protection. The unknown he did not 
regard as those who were nothing to him, but went unselfishly 
and impartially into the ground of their cause. *J?P!pft> is an 
attributive clause, as ch. xviii. 21, Isa. Iv. 5, xli. 3, and freq., 
with a personal obj. (eorurri) quos non noveram, for the trans- 
lation causam quam nesciebam (Jer.) gives a tame, almost 
meaningless, thought. With reference to the suff. in l"" 1 "}]??^, 
on the form eliu used seldom by Waw consec. (ch. xii. 4), and 

Thes. in JVf, used only in the forming of the word, and the original 
meaning would be " a refuge." Traced to a secondary verb, rUK (pro- 
perly to take up the fugitive, qabila-l-lija) springing from this primitive 
verb, 2itf would originally signify a guardian, protector ; and from the 
fact of this name denoting, according to the form pya, properly in general 

T T 

the protecting power, the ideal femin. in ntotf (Arab, abawaf) and the 

T 

Arabic dual abawain (properly both guardians), which embraces father 
and mother, would be explained and justified. Thus the rare phenomenon 
that the same pQK signifies in Hebr. "to be willing," and in Arab. " to 
refuse," would be solved. The notion of taking up the fugitive would 
have passed over in the Hebrew, taken according to its positive side, into 
the notion of being willing, i.e. of receiving and accepting (?2p, qabila, 

e.g. 1 Kings xx. 8, ro^n K? = lo> taqbal) ; in the Arabic, however, 
taken according to its negative side, as refusing the fugitive to his pur- 
suer, into that of not being willing ; and the usage of the language favours 

this: dbahu 'aleihi, he protected him against .J^) the other (refused 



him to the other) ; >\ = .^'Us, protected, inaccessible to him who 



longs for it ; <XM, the protection, i.e. the retention of the milk in the 

' ' 



udder. Hence fYQN, from the Hebrew signif. of the verb, signifies one 
who desires anything, or a needy person, but originally (inasmuch as 

is connected with j) one who needs protection ; from the Arabic 



signif. of i<fj one who restrains himself because he is obliged, one to 
whom what he wants is denied. To the Arab, ibja (defence, being 
hindered) corresponds in form the Hebr. niN according to which 
POK nVJX) ch. ix. 26, may be understood of ships, which, with all sails 
set and in all haste, seek the sheltering harbour before the approaching 
storm. "We leave this suggestion for further research to sift and prove. 
More on ch. xxxiv. 36. WETZST. 



CHAP. XXIX. 18-20. 127 

by the imper. (ch. xl. 11 sq.), chiefly with a solemn calm tone 
of speech, vid. Ew. 250, c. Further : He spared not to 
render wrong-doers harmless, and snatched from them what 
they had taken from others. The cohortative form of the 
fut. consec.y nr^lB^T, has been discussed already on ch. i. 15, 
xix. 20. The form niy^riD is a transposition of BfoB, to 
render it more convenient for pronunciation, for the Arab. 
Ji>, efferre se, whence a secondary form, Jj, although used 
of the appearing of the teeth, furnishes no such appropriate 
primary signification as the Arab, cjj, pungere, mordere, 
whence a secondary form, i_U ; the ^Ethiopic maltdht, jaw- 
bone (maxilla), also favours nyrAD as the primary form. He 
shattered the grinders of th'e roguish, and by moral indigna- 
tion against the robber he cast out of his teeth what he had 

o 

stolen. 

18 Then I thought: With my nest 1 shall expire, 
And like the phoenix , have a long life. u**t. *^m^s 

19 My root will be open for water, 

And the dew will lodge in my branches. 

20 Mine honour will remain ever fresh to me, 
And my bow ivi.ll become young in my hand. 

In itself, ver. 186 might be translated: "and like to the 
sand I shall live many days" (Targ., Syr., Arab., Saad., 
Gecat., Luther, and, among moderns, Umbr., Stick., Vaih., 
Halm, and others), so that the abundance of days is compared 
to the multitude of the grains of sand. The calculation of 
the immense total of grains of sand (atoms) in the world was, 
as is known, a favourite problem of antiquity ; and in the 
Old Testament Scriptures, the comprehensive knowledge of 
Solomon is compared to " the sand upon the sea-shore," 
1 Kings v. 9, how much more readily a long life reduced to 
days! comp. Ovid, Metam. xiv. 136138: quot haberet corpora 
iSj tot mihi natales contingere vana rogavi. We would 



128 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

willingly decide in favour of this rendering, which is admis- 
sible in itself, although a closer definition like Djn is wanting 
by ^IPD, if an extensive Jewish tradition did not secure the sig- 
nification of an immortal bird, or rather one rising ever anew 
from the dead. The testimony is as follows: (1) b. Sanhedrin 
1085, according to which ^n is only another name for the 
bird fcWBhlK, 1 of which the fable is there recorded, that when 
Noah fed the beasts in the ark, it sat quite still in its com- 
partment, that it might not give more trouble to the patriarch, 
who had otherwise plenty to do, and that Noah wished it on 
this account the reward of immortality (nion &6n Nljn Kir). 

(2) That this bird ^in is none other than the phoenix, is put 
beyond all doubt by the Midrashim (collected in the Jalkut on 
Job, 517). There it is said that Eve gave all the beasts to 
eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree, and that only one bird, 
the i>in by name, avoided this death-food: "it lives a thousand 
years, at the expiration of which time fire springs up in its 
nest, and burns it up to about the size of an egg ; " or even : 
that of itself it diminishes to that size, from which it then 
grows up again and continues to live (rrrn D^N ^IJHDI "inni). 

(3) The Masora observes, that Tins occurs in two different 

1 The name is a puzzle, and does not accord with any of the mythical 
birds mentioned in the Zendavesta (vid. Windischmann, Zoroastrische 
Studien, 1863, S. 93). What Lewysohn, Zoologie des Talmuds, S. 353, 
brings forward from the Greek by way of explanation is untenable. The 
name of the bird, Varesha, in an obscure passage of the Bundehesch 
in TVindischmann, ib. S. 80, is similar in sound. Probably, however, 
W^niX is one and the same word as Simurg, winch is composed of si 
(=sin) and murg, a bird (Pehlvi and Parsi mru). This si (sin) corre- 
sponds to the Vedic gjena, a falcon, and in the Zend form, qaena (qina), 
is the name of a miraculous bird ; so that consequently Simurg Sinmurg, 
Parsi Cinamru, signifies the Si- or Ciwa-bird (comp. Kuhn, Herabkunft 
des Feuers, 1859, S. 125). In WBniS the two parts of the composition 
seem to be reversed, and 11X to be corrupted from TIJQ. Moreover, the 
Simurg is like the phoenix only in the length of its life ; another mytho- 
logical bird, Kuknus, on the other hand (vid. the art. Phtinix in Ersch u. 
Gruber), resembles it also in rising out of its own ashes. 



CHAP. xxix. 18-20. 129 



significations (*)&*? ^ra), since in the present passage it does 
not, as elsewhere, signify sand. (4) Kknchi, in his Lex., says: 
" in a correct Jerusalem MS. I found the observation : pTitta 
taiy^ D^rai Tnn^, i.e. ^rni according to the Nehardean 
(Babylonian) reading, ?inD1 according to the western (Palestine) 
reading;" according to which, therefore, the Babylonian Maso- 
retic school distinguished Tirol in the present passage from 
Siroi, Gen. xxii. 17, even in the pronunciation. A conclusion 
respecting the great antiquity of this lexical tradition may be 
drawn (5) from the LXX., which translates cbo-irep crreXe- 
p^o? (f>olviKoSj whence the Italic sicut arbor palmce, Jerome 
sicut palma. 

If we did not know from the testimonies quoted that Tin is 
the name of the phoenix, one might suppose that the LXX. 
has explained ^in31 according to the Arab, naclil^ the palm, 
as Schultens does ; but by a comparison of those testimonies, 
it is more probable that the translation was wcnrep <f>oivij; 
originally, and that wwrrep areXe^o? faiviKos is an interpola- 
tion, for (frolvij; signifies both the immortal miraculous bird 
and the inexhaustibly youthful palm. 1 We have the reverse 
case in Tertullian, de resurrectione carnis, c. xiii., which 
explains the passage in Psalms, xcii. 13, St/caio? &>? fowil; 
avOrjcrei) according to the translation Justus vekit phoenix 
florelit, of the ales orientis or avis Arabice, which symbolizes 

1 According to Ovid, Metam. xv. 396, the phcenix makes its nest in 
the palm, and according to Pliny, Ji. n. xiii. 42, it has its name from the 
palm : Phoenix putatur ex hujus palmse, argumento nomen accepisse, iterum 
mori ac renasci ex se ipsa ; vid. A. Hahmann, Die Dattdpalme, ihre Namen 
und ihre Verelirung in der alten Welt, in the periodical Bonplandia, 
1859, Nr. 15, 16. Masius, in his studies of nature, has very beauti- 
fully described on what ground " the intelligent Greek gave a like name 
to the fabulous immortal bird that rises again out of its own ashes, 
and the palm which ever renews its youth." Also comp. (Heimsdorfer's) 
Ckristliche Kunstsymbolik, S. 26, and Augusti, Beitrage zur christl 
Kunst-GescUcJite und Liturgik, Bd. i. S. 106-108, but especially Piper, 
Mytliologie der christl. Kunst (1847), i. 446f. 

VOL. II. I 



130 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

man's Immortality. 1 Both figures, that of the phoenix and 
that of the palm, are equally appropriate and pleasing in the 
mouth of Job ; but apart from the fact that the palm every- 
where, where it otherwise occurs, is called "lipfi, this would be 
the only passage where it occurs in the book of Job, which, in 
spite of its richness in figures taken from plants, nowhere men- 
tions the palm, a fact which is perhaps not accidental. 2 On 
the contrary, we must immediately welcome a reference to the 
Arabico-Egyptian myth of the phoenix, that can be proved, in 
a book which also otherwise thoroughly blends things Egyptian 
with Arabian, and the more so since (6) even the Egyptian 
language itself supports ^>in or Swi as a name of the phoenix ; 
for AAAflHj AAAOH is explained in the Coptico- Arabic 
glossaries by es-semendel (the Arab, name of the phoenix, or 
at least a phoenix-like bird, that, like the salamander, semendar, 
cannot be burned), and in Kircher by avis Indica, species 
Phoenicia. 3 Tin is Hebraized from this Egyptian name of the 

1 Not without reference to Clemens Romanus, in his /. Ep. ad Corinth. 
c. xxv., according to which the phoenix is an Arabian bird, which lives' 
five hundred years, then dies in a nest which it builds of incense, myrrh, 
and spices, and leaves behind it the larva of a young bird, which, when 
grown up, brings the nest with the bones of its father and places it upon 
the altar of the sun at the Egyptian Heliopolis. The source of this is 
Herodotus ii. 73 (who, however, has an egg of myrrh instead of a nest 
of myrrh) ; and Tacitus, Ann. vi. 28, gives a similar narrative. Lactan- 
tius gives a different version in his poem on the phoenix, according to 
which this, the only one of its race, " built its nest in a country that 
remained untouched by the deluge." The Jewish tragedy writer, Eze- 
kielos, agrees more nearly with the statement of Arabia being the home 
of the phoenix. In his drama 'Efayay/?, a spy sent forward before the 
pilgrim band of Israel, he states that among other things the phoenix 
was also seen ; vid. my Gesch. derjiid. Poesie, S. 219. 

2 Without attempting thereby to explain the phenomenon observed 
above, we nevertheless regard it as worthy of remark, that in general the 
palm is not a common tree either in Syria or in Palestine. " At present 
there are not in all Syria five hundred palm-trees ; and even in olden 
times there was no quantity of palms, except in the valley of the Jordan, 
and on the sea-coast." WETZST. 

3 Vid. G. Seyffarth, Die Phoenix-Periode, Deutsclie Morgenldnd. Zeitschr. 



CHAP. XXIX. 18-20. 131 

phoenix ; the word signifies rotation (comp, Arab, haul, the 
year; liaula, round about), and is a suitable designation of 
the bird that renews its youth periodically after many centu- 
ries of life : quce reparat seque ipsa reseminat ales (Ovid), not 
merely beginning a new life, but also bringing in a new great 
year : conversionem anni magni (Pliny) ; in the hieroglyphic 
representations it has the circle of the sun as a crown. In 
the full enjoyment of the divine favour and blessing, and in 
the consciousness of having made a right use of his prosperity, 
Job hoped $OIVLKOS erij jSiovv (Lucian, Hermot. 53), to use a 
Greek expression, and to expire or die ^ip"Dy ? as the first half 
of the verse, now brought into the right light, says. Looking 
to the form of the myth, according to which Ovid sings : 

Quassa cum fulvd substravit cinnama myrrlia, 
Se super imponit jfinitque in odoribus sevum, 

it might be translated : together with my nest (Umbr., Hirz., 
Hlgst.) ; but with the wish that he may not see any of his 
dear ones die before himself, there is at the same time con- 
nected the wish, that none of them should survive him, which 
is in itself unnatural, and diametrically opposed to the cha- 
racter of an Arab, who in the presence of death cherishes the 
twofold wish, that he may continue to live in his children (a 
proverb says : men chalaf el-weled el-fdlili ma mat, he who 
leaves a noble child behind him is not dead), and that he 
may die in the midst of his family. Expressing this latter 
wish, 'Op'Dy signifies : with = in my nest, i.e. in the bosom 
of my family, not without reference to the phoenix, which, 
according to the form of the myth in Herodotus, Pliny, 
Clemens, and others, brings the remains of its father in a 



iii. (1849) 63 ff., according to which alloe (Hierogl. Icoli) is the name of 
the false phoenix without head-feathers ; lene or beni (Hierogl. bnno) is 
the name of the true phoenix with head-feathers, and the name of the 
palm also. Alloe, which accords with ^n, is quite secured as a name of 
the phoenix. 



132 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

nest or egg of myrrh to Heliopolis, into the sacred precincts 
of the temple of the sun, and thus pays him the last and 
highest tribute of respect. A different but similar version is 
given in Horapollo ii. 57, according to which the young bird 
came forth from the blood of its sire, crvv TOJ Trarpl iropeverat, 
et9 T7)V f H\iov TTQ\LV rrjv ez/ Al<yviTTU>, 09 KOI 7rapa<yev6fjLvo$ 
e/cel a/ma rfj f}\iov avaro\f) re\vra. The father, therefore, 
in death receives the highest tribute of filial respect ; and it is 
this to which the hope of being able to die with (in) his nest, 
expressed by Job, refers. 

The following substantival clause, ver. 19a, is to be under- 
stood as future, like the similar clause, ver. 16a, as perfect : 
my root so I hoped will remain open (unclosed) towards 
the water, i.e. it will never be deficient of water in its vicinity, 
that it may plentifully supply the stem and branches with 
nourishment, and dew will lodge on my branches, i.e. will 
descend nightly, and remain upon them to nourish them, 
vtf (corresponding to the Arab. ila } originally ilai) occurs 
only in the book of Job, and here for the fourth and last 
time (comp. ch. iii. 22, v. 26, xv. 22). T'Vi? does not signify 
harvest here, as the ancient expositors render it, but, like ch. 
xiv. 9, xviii. 16, a branch, or the intertwined branches. The 
figure of the root and branch, the flow of vitality downwards 
and upwards, is the counterpart of ch. xviii. 16. In ver. 20 
a substantival clause also comes first, as in vers. 19, 16 (for 
the established reading is unn, not Bhri), and a verbal clause 
follows : his honour so he hoped should continue fresh by 
him, i.e. should abide with him in undiminished value and 
splendour. It is his honour before God and men that is 
intended, not his soul (Halm) ; ^23, 8o<z, certainly is an 
appellation of the P2J (Psyclwl. S. 98), but Vhn is not appro- 
priate to it as predicate. By the side of honour stands man- 
liness, or the capability of self-defence, whose symbol is the 
bow : and my bow should become young again in my hand, 



CHAP. XXIX. 21-25. 133 

i 

i.e. gain ever new strength and elasticity. It is unnecessary 
to supply na (Hirz., Schlottm., and others). The verb *n, 
cJlrL, signifies, as the Arab, shows, properly to turn the 
back, then to go forth, exchange ; the Hipli. to make pro- 
gress, to cause something new to come into the place of the 
old, to grow young again. These hopes introduced with 
"1ON1 were themselves an element of his former happiness. 
Its description can therefore be continued in connection with 
the "1DS1 without any fresh indication. 

21 They hearkened to me and waited) 
And remained silent at my decision. 

22 After my utterance they spake not again, 
And my speech distilled upon them. 

23 And they waited for me as for the rain, 

And they opened their mouth -wide for the latter rain. 

24 / smiled to them in their hopelessness, 

And the light of my countenance they cast not down. 

25 I chose the way for them, and sat as chief, 
And dwelt as a king in the army, 

As one that comforteth the mourners. 

Attentive, patient, and ready to be instructed, they 
hearkened to him (this is the force of p #&'), and waited, 
without interrupting, for what he should say. *?(!, the 
pausal pronunciation with a reduplication of the last radical, 
as Judg. v. 7, OTJ (according to correct texts), Ges. 20, 2, c ; 
the reading of Kimchi, ^H*!, is the reading of Ben-Naphtali, 
the former the reading of Ben-Ascher (vid. Norzi). If he 
gave counsel, they waited in strictest silence : this is the 
meaning of ^\ (fut. Kal of DO" 5 !) ; top, poetic for p, refers 
the silence to its outward cause (vid. on Hab. iii. 16). After 
his words non iterabant, i.e. as Jerome explanatorily translates: 
addere nihil audebant, and his speech came down upon them 
relieving, rejoicing, and enlivening them. The figure indi- 



134 THE BOOK OF JOB. 



cated in *|tofl is expanded in ver. 23 after Deut. xxxii. 2: they 
waited on his word, which penetrated deeply, even to the 
heart, as for rain, "i^?? by which, as ver. 236, the so-called 
(autumnal) early rain which moistens the seed is prominently 
thought of. They open their mouth for the late rain, l^ppp 
(vid. on ch. xxiv. 6), i.e. they thirsted after his words, which 
were like the March or April rain, which helps to bring to 
maturity the corn that is soon to be reaped ; this rain fre- 
quently fails, and is therefore the more longed for. na -iys 
is to be understood according to Ps. cxix. 131, comp. Ixxxi. 11; 
and one must consider, in connection with it, what raptures 
the beginning of the periodical rains produces everywhere, 
where, as e.g. in Jerusalem, the people have been obliged 
for some time to content themselves with cisterns that are 
almost dried to a marsh, and how the old and young dance 
for joy at their arrival ! 

In ver. 24a a thought as suited to the syntax as to the fact 
is gained if we translate : " I smiled to them they believed 
it not," i.e. they considered such condescension as scarcely 
possible (Saad., Raschi, Eosenm., De Wette, Schlottm., and 
others) ; pHf ^ is then fat. Jiypotheticum, as ch. x. 1 6, xx. 24, 
xxii. 27 sq., Ew. 357, b. But it does not succeed in putting 
ver. 245 in a consistent relation to this thought; for, with Aben- 
Ezra, to explain : they did not esteem my favour the less on that 
account, my respect suffered thereby no loss among them, is 
not possible in connection with the biblical idea of " the light 
of the countenance;" and with Schlottm. to explain : they let 
not the light of my countenance, i.e. token of my favour, fall 
away, i.e. be in vain, is contrary to the usage of the language, 
according to which D^a T'sn signifies : to cause the counte- 

O T O 

nance to sink (gloomily, Gen. iv. 5), whether one's own, Jer. 
iii. 12, or that of another. Instead of S J3 we have a more 
pictorial and poetical expression here, ^S "liK : light of my 
countenance, i.e. my cheerfulness (as Prov. xvi. 15). More- 



CHAP. XXIX. 21-25. 135 

over, the DTI^M pnb'tf, therefore, furnishes the thought that he 
laughed, and did not allow anything to dispossess him of his 
easy and contented disposition. Thus, therefore, those to 
whom Job laughed are to be thought of as in a condition 
and mood which his cheerfulness might easily sadden, but 
still did not sadden ; and this their condition is described by 
^B&T fc6 (a various reading in Codd. and editions is NT)) a 

;| \ O ' ' 

phrase which occurred before (ch. xxiv. 22) in the significa- 
tion of being without faith or hope, despairing (comp. P&Nn, 
to gain faith, Ps. cxvi. 10), a clause which is not to be taken 
as attributive (Umbr., Yaih.: who had not confidence), but as 
a neutral or circumstantial subordinate clause (Ew. 341, a). 
Therefore translate : I smiled to them, if they believed not, 
i.e. despaired; and however despondent their position appeared, 
the cheerfulness of my countenance they could not cause to 
pass away. However gloomy they were, they could not make 
me gloomy and off my guard. Thus also ver. 25a is now 
suitably attached to the preceding : I chose their \vay, i.e. I 
made the way plain, which they should take in order to get 
out of their hopeless and miserable state, and sat as chief, as 
a king who is surrounded by an armed host as a defence and 
as a guard of honour, attentive to the motion of his eye ; not, 
however, as a sovereign ruler, but as one who condescended to 
the mourners, and comforted them (QHJ Piel, properly to cause 
to breathe freely). This peaceful figure of a king brings 
to mind the warlike one, ch. xv. 24. "^3 is not a conj. 
here, but equivalent to "1B>K E^iO, ut (quis) qui; consequently 
not : as one comforts, but: as he who comforts; LXX. cor- 
rectly : ov TpoTrov TraOeivov? TrapaKdXwv. The accentuation 
(lEto Tarcha, &^3K MunacJi, Dnr Silluk) is erroneous ; l^'tO 
should be marked with Rebia mugrasch, and p^3K with Mer- 
cha-Zinnorith. 

From the prosperous and happy past, absolutely passed, Job 
now turns to the present, which contrasts so harshly with it. 



136 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

THE SECOND PART OF THE MONOLOGUE. CHAP. xxx. 
Schema: 10. 8. 9. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 

1 And now they who are younger than I have me in derision, 
Those whose fathers I disdained 

To set with the dogs of my flock. 

2 Yea, the strength of their hands, what should it profit me ? 
They have lost vigour and strength. 

3 They are benumbed from want and hunger, 
They ivho gnaw the steppe, 

The darkness of the wilderness and waste ; 

4 They who pluck mallows in the thicket, 
And the root of the broom is their bread. 



With nrijn, which also elsewhere expresses the turning- 
point from the premises to the conclusion, from accusation to 
the threat of punishment, and such like, Job here begins to 
bewail the sad turn which his former prosperity has taken. 
The first line of the verse, which is marked off by Mercha- 
Mahpach, is intentionally so disproportionately long, to form 
a deep and long breathed beginning to the lamentation which 
is now begun. Formerly, as he has related in the first part 
of the monologue, an object of reverential fear to the respect- 
able youth of the city (ch. xxix. 8), he is now an object of 
derision (?V pnt? ? to laugh at, distinct from ;$ plT^, ch. xxix. 24, 
to laugh to, smile upon) to the young good-for-nothing vaga- 
bonds of a miserable class of men. They are just the same 
r?. ?.% whose sorrowful lot he reckons among the mysteries 
of divine providence, so difficult of solution (ch. xxiv. 46-S). 
The less he belongs to the merciless ones, who take advan- 
tage of the calamities of the poor for their own selfish ends, 
instead of relieving their distress as far as is in their power, 



CIIAP. XXX. 1-4. 137 

the more unjustifiable is the rude treatment which he now 
experiences from them, when they who meanly hated him 
before because he was rich, now rejoice at the destruction of 
his prosperity. Younger than he in days (B^v as ch. xxxii. 4, 
with *> of closer definition, instead of which the simple ace. 
was inadmissible here, comp. on ch. xi. 9) laugh at him, sons 
of those fathers who were so useless and abandoned that he 
scorned (? DND, comp. | DND ? 1 Sam. xv. 26) to entrust to 
them even a service so menial as that of the shepherd dogs. 
Schult., Kosenm., and Schlottm. take Dy rVB> for ^ n^, prce- 
ficere, but that ought to be just simply ?y JW* ; DJJ TPW signi- 
fies to range beside, i.e. to place alike, to associate ; moreover, 
the oversight of the shepherd dogs is no such menial post, 
while Job intends to say that he did not once consider them 
fit to render such a subordinate service as is that of the doss 

o 

which help the shepherds. And even the strength of their 
(these youths') hands (&3 is referable to the suff. of Qn^. : 
even ; not : now entirely, completely, as Hahn translates), of 
what use should it be to him? (HE? not cur, but ad quid, 
quorsum, as Gen. xxv. 32, xxvii. 46.) They are enervated, 
good-for-nothing fellows : npa is lost to them (to vtf trebly 
emphatic : it is placed in a prominent position, has a pathetic 
suf.j and is ?$ for >, 1 Sam. ix. 3). The signif. senectus, which 
suits ch. v. 26, is here inapplicable, since it is not the aged 
that are spoken of, but the young ; for that " old age is lost to 
them" would be a forced expression for the thought which, 

moreover, does not accord with the connection that thev die 

/ 

off early. One does not here expect the idea of senectus or 
senectus vegeta, but vigor, as the Syriac (fushino) and Arabic 
also translate it. May not Hp3 perhaps be related to H3, as 
fj^ to tJKfc?, the latter being a mixed form from J3^ and 
1^, the former from na and rp, fresh juicy vigour, or as we 
say : pith and marrow (Soft and Kraft) ? At all events, if 
this is somewhat the idea of the word, it may be derived from 



138 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

np3 = rp3 (LXX. o-vvreXeia), or some other way (vid. on ch. 
v. 26) : it signifies full strength or maturity. 1 

With ver. Za begins a new clause. It is W?3, not B^&plj 
because the book of Job does not inflect this Hebrseo-Arabic 
word, which is peculiar to it (besides only Isa. xlix. 21, n*11Dp|). 
It is also in Arab, more a substantive (stone, a mass) than 
an adj. (hard as stone, massive, e.g. Hist. Tamerlani in 
Schultens : j^Lsjl! ~=ss^ ? the hardest rock); and, similar to 
the Greek ^epcro^ (vid. Passow), it denotes the condition or 
attribute of rigidity, i.e. sterility, ch. iii. 7 ; or stiff as death, 
ch. xv. 34 ; or, as here, extreme weakness and incapability of 

1 From the root ^p (on its primary notion, vid. my review of Bern- 
stein's edition of Kirsch's Syr. Chrestomathie, Erganzungsblatt der A.L.Z. 

s. 

1813, Nr. 16 and 17) other derivatives, as &> c^-J^ (JU-J& cj^l, 
Jui> ijj etc., develop in general the significations to bring, take, 



or hold together, enclose, and the like ; but in particular the signi- 

fication to draw together, distort violently, viz. the muscles of the face 
in grinning and showing the teeth, or even sardonic laughing, and draw- 



ing the lips apart. The general signification of drawing together, 
resolves itself, however, from that special reference to the muscles of the 



face, and is manifest in the IV. form ^i, to show one's self strict and 

firm (against any one) ; also more sensuously : to remain firm in one's 

place ; of the moon, which remains as though motionless in one of its 

s / jo / 

twenty-eight halting-places. Hence ^Jli J&<3, a hard season, /oUj 
<? i * / / ^-/ 

JUtA-ij and -^ll> -.lli (the latter as a kind of n. propr. invariably 

/ 

ending in z, and always without the article), a hard year, i.e. a year of 
failure of the crops, and of scarcity and want. If it is possible to apply 
this to H73 without the hazardous comparison of jJJJ> *os)j, etc. [so 

supra, i. 103], the primary signification might perhaps be that of hard- 
ness, unbroken strength ; ch. v. 26, " Thou wilt go to the grave with 
unbroken strength," i.e. full of days indeed, but without having thyself 
experienced the infirmities and burdens of the setas decrepita, as also a 
shock brought in "in its season" is at the highest point of ripeness; 
xxx. 2 : " What (should) the strength of their hands profit me ? as for 
them, their vigour is departed." FL. 



CHAP. XXX. 1-4. 139 

working. The subj. : such are tliey, is wanting ; it is ranged 
line upon line in the manner of a mere sketch, participles 
with the demonstrative article follow the elliptical substantival 

clause. The part. D^ip^yn is explained by LXX., Targ., 
~ / / / 

Saad. ((j^j^), and most' of the old expositors, after PfJJ, 



fut. Ja/V.? f u 9 ere i abire, which, however, gives a tame and 
since the desert is to be thought of as the proper habitation 
of these people, be they the Seir remnant of the displaced 
Horites, or the Hauran " races of the clefts" even an inap- 
propriate sense. On the contrary, jj .. in Arab, (also Pad 
'arreq in Syriac) signifies to gnaw ; and this Arabic significa- 
tion of a word exclusively peculiar to the book of Job (here 
and ch. xxx. 17) is perfectly suitable. We do not, however, 
with Jerome, translate : qui rodebant in solitudine (which is 
doubly false), but qui rodunt solitudinem, they gnaw the sun- 
burnt parched ground of the steppe, stretched out there more 
like beasts than men (what Gecatilia also means by his 
adhcerent\ and derive from it their scanty food. HNVi^' 
ntfcfoi is added as an explanatory, or rather further descriptive, 
permutative to nX. The same alliterative union of substan- 
tives of the same root occurs in ch. xxxviii. 27, Zeph. i. 15, 
and a similar one in Nab. ii. 11 (npUDI npn), Ezek. vi. 14, 
xxxiii. 29 (nDBfol nio$) ; on this expression of the superlative 
by heaping up similar words, comp. Ew. 313, c. The verb 
nKP has the primary notion of wild confused din (e.g. Isa. 
xvii. 12 sq.), which does not pass over to the idea of desola- 
tion and destruction by means of the intermediate notion of 
ruins that come together with a crash, but by the transfer of 
what is confusing to the ear to confusing impressions and 
conditions of all kinds ; the desert is accordingly called also 
inn, Deut. xxxii. 10, from nnn = r&v (yid. Genesis, S. 93). 
The noun BfoK signifies elsewhere adverbially, in the past 
night, to grow night-like, and in general yesterday, according 



140 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

to which it is translated : the yesterday of waste and desola- 
tion ; or, retaining the adverbial form : waste and desolation 
are of yesterday = long since. It is undeniable that ^ontjttt 
and T^fltf, Isa. xxx. 33, Mic. ii. 8, are used in the sense 
pridem (not only to-day, but even yesterday) ; but our poet 
uses MtSFJj ch. viii. 9, in the opposite sense, non pridem (not 
long since, but only of yesterday) ; and it is more natural to 
ask whether BtoK then has not here the substantival sifmifica- 

o 

tion from which it has become an adverb, in the signification 

' O 

nightly or yesterday. Since it originally signifies yesterday 
evening or night, then yesterday, it must have the primary 

signification darkness, as the Arab. (j.<*\ is also traceable 



to the primary notion of the sinking of the sun towards the 
horizon ; so that, consequently, although the usage of Arabic 
does not allow this sense, 1 it can be translated (comp. ft)E | c'Vj 
Jer. ii. 6), " the evening darkness (gloominess) of the waste 
and wilderness" (BW as regensy Ew. 286, a). The Targ. 



is manifestly connected with u^, ( f^*^j first by means of the 
IV. form juu^cl ; it has, however, like this, nothing to do with "darkness." 



is, according to the original sources of information, properly the 
whole afternoon until sunset ; and this time is so called, because in 



o C / 



it the sun y**3 or .^gu^J, touches, i.e. sinks towards the horizon 
(from, the root (jju~c with the primary notion stringere, terere, tergere, 

* O / -J 

trahere, prehendere, capere). Just so they say CJJ<X> ^juw^Al^, properly 

/ w / 

the sun rubs ; i ix^iJ', connects itself ; ,-ft^J, goes to the brink 



, all in the same signification. Used as a substantive, 

followed by the genitive is la veille de . . . , the evening before . . . , 

j / 

and then generally, the day before . . . , the opposite of Jcc with the 
same construction, le lendemain de . It is absolutely impossible that it 



CHAP. XXX. 1-4. 141 



also translates similarly, but takes Efotf as a special attri- 
bute : NKtori Tpn Nji^'n, "darkness like the late evening." 
Olshausen's conjecture of p.S makes it easier, but puts a 
word that affirms nothing in the place of an expressive one. 

Ver. 4 tells what the scanty nourishment is which the 
chill, desolate, and gloomy desert, with its steppes and gorges, 
furnishes them. rife (also Talmudic, Syriac, and Arabic) is 
the orach, and indeed the tall shrubby orach, the so-called 
sea-purslain, the buds and young leaves of which are gathered 
and eaten by the poor. That it is not merely a coast plant, 
but grows also in the desert, is manifest from the narrative 
b. Kidduschin, 66a : " King Jannai approached JV7JTD in the 
desert, and conquered sixty towns there [Ges. translates 
wrongly, captis LX talentis] ; and on his return with great 
joy, he called all the orphans of Israel to him, and said : Our 
fathers ate b % TO"D in their time when they were engaged with 
the building of the temple (according to Raschi : the second 
temple ; according to Aruch : the tabernacle in the wilder- 

should refer to a far distant past. On the contrary, it is always used like 

our " yesterday," in a general sense, for a comparatively near past, or 

/ 

a past time thought of as near, as <\i is used of a comparatively near 
future, or a future time thought of as near. Zamachschari in the Kes- 
scliaf on Sur. xvii. 25 : It is a duty of children to take care of their aged 
parents, " because they are so aged, and to-day (el-jauma) require those 
who even yesterday (bi-l-emsi) were the most dependent on them of all 
God's creatures." It never means absolutely evening or night. "What 
Gesenius, Tlies., cites as a proof for it from Vita Timuri, ii. 428 a sup- 

~ <^.~s- 

posed j<*M^c1, vespertinus is falsely read and explained (as in general 
Manger's translation of those verses abounds in mistakes) ; both line 1 
and line 9, ^ju^, IY. form of Lu^s, is rhetorically and poetically (as 

" sister of ^li ") of like signification with the general ^li or jLs. An 
Arab would not be able to understand that HNKW nxi&J> >>tf other- 



wise than : " on the eve of destruction and ruin," i.e. at the breaking in 
of destruction and ruin which is just at hand or has actually followed 
rapidly upon something else. FL. 



142 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

ness) ; we will also eat DTTPD in remembrance of our fathers ! 
And DTife were served up on golden tables, and they ate." 
The LXX. translates, a\i,^a (not : akijjia) ; as in Athengeus, 
poor Pythagoreans are once called aXt/m rpwyovTe? KOI tca/ca 
roiavra av\\eyovT<i. 1 The place where they seek for and 
find this kind of edible plant is indicated by DVy^. rvb> is 
a shrub in general, but certainly pre-eminently the ,-^xi, 
that perennial, branchy, woody plant of uncultivated ground, 
about two-thirds of a yard high, and the same in diameter, 
which is one of the greatest blessings of Syria and of the 
steppe, since, with the exception of cow and camel's dung, it 
is often the only fuel of the peasants and nomads, the prin- 
cipal, and often in a day's journey the only, vegetation of the 
steppe, in the shade of which, when everything else is parched, 
a scanty vegetation is still preserved. 2 The poor in search of 
the purslain surround this ^-^ (s/wh), and as ver. 4& con- 
tinues : the broom-root is their bread. Ges. understands 



according to Isa. xlvii. 14, where it is certainly the pausal 
form for Q^n? (" there is not a coal to warm one's self"), and 
that because the broom-root is not eatable. But why should 
broom-root and not broom brushwood be mentioned as fuel? 
The root of the steppe that serves as fuel, together with the 
shihy is called gizl (from i>M, to tear out), not retem, which is 
the broom (and is extraordinarily frequent in the Belka). 
The Arabs, however, not only call Genista monosperma so, 
but also Chamcerops humilis, a degenerate kind of which pro- 
duces a kind of arrow-root which the Indians in Florida use. 3 

1 Huldrich Zwingli, in the Greek Aldine of 1518 (edited by Andrea of 
Asola), which he has annotated throughout in the margin, one of the 
choicest treasures of the Zurich town library, explains x.'hipa, by ##Ae<7ova., 
which was natural by the side of the preceding veptxvxhovvTss. We shall 
mention these marginal notes of Zwingli now and again. 

2 Thus Wetzstein in his Reise in den leiden TracJwnen und urn das 
Haurangebirge. 

3 The description of these eaters of the steppe plants corresponds exactly 



CHAP. XXX. 1-4. 143 

Epn!? in the signification cibus eorum is consequently not 
incomprehensible. LXX. (which throws vers. 4-6 into sad 
confusion) : ol KOI pl^as %v\wv e/jLacra-uvTo. 1 All the ancient 
versions translate similarly. One is here reminded of what 
Agatharchides says in Strabo concerning the Egyptio-Ethiopian 
eaters of the rush root and herb. 2 

to the reality, especially if that race, bodily so inferior, is contrasted with 
the agricultural peasant, and some allowance is made for the figure of 

// i - 

speech &j\Xc (i.e. a description in colours, strongly brought out), with- 
out which poetic diction would be flat and devoid of vividness in the eye 
of an Oriental. The peasant is large and strong, with a magnificent 
beard and an expressive countenance, while e.g. the Trachonites of the 
present day (i.e. the race of the TF'ar, ny" 1 ), both men and women, are a 

small, unpleasant-looking, weakly race. It is certain that bodily perfec- 
tion is a plant that only thrives in a comfortable house, and needs good 
nourishment, viz. bread, which the Trachonite of the present day very 
rarely obtains, although he levies heavy contributions on the harvest of 
the villagers. Therefore the roots of plants often serve as food. Two 
such plants, the </ahh (ftt) and the ruble halile (nW>n nil), are described 
in my Reiselericht. A Beduin once told me that it should be properly 
called ruWn. lele (nW nin), " the gain of a supper," inasmuch as it often 

T :~ " 

takes the place of this, the chief meal of the day. To the genus nible 
belongs also the holewd (tfl^n) ; in like manner they eat the bulbous 
plant, qoten (j^P) ; of another, the meslid (jJEfo), they eat leaves, stem, 
and root. I often saw the poor villagers (never Beduins) eat the broad 
thick fleshy leaves of a kind of thistle (the thistle is called CJj-i, sholc), 
the name of which is 'aqqub (MpJ?) ; these leaves are a handbreadth and 

a half in length, and half a handbreadth in width. They gather them 
before the thorns on the innumerable points of the serrated leaves become 
strong and woody ; they boil them in salt and water, and serve them up 
with a little butter. "Whole tribes of the people of the Ruwala live upon 
the small brown seed (resembling mustard-seed) of the semh (nftbO- The 

seeds are boiled to a pulp. WETZST. 

1 Zwingli observes here : Sigma only once. Codd. Alex, and Sinait. 
have the reading spcwus/To, which he prefers. 

2 Vid. Meyer, Butanische Erlauterungen zu Strabons Geoyrapliie, S. 
108 ff. 



144 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

5 They are driven forth from society, 
They cry after them as after a thief. 

6 In the most dismal valleys they must dwell) 
In holes of the earth and in rocks. 

1 Among the bushes they croak, 

Under nettles are they poured forth, 
8 Sons of fools, yea sons of base men : 

They are driven forth out of the land ! 

If, coming forth from their lurking-places, they allow 
themselves to be seen in the villages of the plain or in the 
towns, they are driven forth from among men, e medio pellun- 
tur (to use a Ciceronian phrase). 13 (Syr. gau, Arab, gaww, 
guww) is that which is internal, here the circle of social 
life, the organized human community. This expression also 

is Hebraso- Arabic ; for if one contrasts a house or district 

j;// jj 
with what is outside, he says in Arabic, \^j Ij^, guwwd 

wa-berrd, within and without, or ^^r^j i^V?J^> el-guwwdni 
wrfl-berrdni, the inside and the outside. In ver. 5b, 2333, 
like the thief, is equivalent to, as after the thief, or since this 
generic Art. is not usual with us [Germ, and Engl.] : after 
a thief ; French, on crie apres eux comme apres le voleur. In 
ver. 6a, few? is, according to Ges. 132, rem. 1 (comp. on 
Hab. i. 17), equivalent to I*3B& VH, "they are to dwell" = 
they must dwell ; it might also signify, according to the still 
more frequent usage of the language, habitaturi sunt ; it here, 
however, signifies habitandum est eis, as ^^P, Ps. xxxii. 9, 
obturanda sunt. Instead of H"iJ|3 with Shurek, the reading 
fr\yz with Cholein (after the form ifapj Hos. xiii. 8) is also 
found, but it is without support, p"^ is either a substantive 
after the form ^33 (Ges., as Kimchi), or the construct of 
)T)JJ = py3, feared = fearful, so that the connection of the 
words, which we prefer, is a superlative one : in horridissima 



CHAP. XXX. 5-8. 145 

valUum, in the most terrible valleys, as cli. xli. 22, acutissimce 
testarum (Ew., according to 313, c). The further description 
of the habitation of this race of men : in holes ("nil = ^ns) 
of the earth p3V, earth with respect to its constituent parts) 
and rocks (LXX. rpwyXai, Trerpow), may seem to indicate 
the aborigines of the mountains of the district of Seir, who 
are called D^yi?, rp(Dy\o^vrai (vid. Genesis, S. 507) ; but 
why not, which is equally natural, f^n, Ezek. xlvii. 16, 18, 
the "district of caverns," the broad country about J3osra, 
with the two Trachones (rpa^twe?), of which the smaller 
western, the Legd, is the ancient Trachonitis, and with 
Itursea (the mountains of the Druses) ? * 

As ch. vi. 5 shows, there underlies ver. la a comparison of 
this people with the wild ass. The N"}3, ferd, goes about in 
herds under the guidance of a so-called leader (vid. on ch. 
xxxix. 5), with which the poet in ch. xxiv. 5 compares the 
bands that go forth for forage ; here the point of comparison, 
according to ch. vi. 5, is their bitter want, which urges from 
them the cry of pain ; for ^PIJJI, although not too strong, would 
nevertheless be an inadequate expression for their sermo 

1 TVetzstein also inclines to refer the description to the Iturseans, who, 
according to Apuleius, were frugum pauperes, and according to others, 
freebooters, and are perhaps distinguished from the Arabes Traclionitze 
(if they were not these themselves), as the troglodytes are from the 
Arabs who dwell in tents (on the troglodytes in Eastern Hauran, vid. 
Reisebericht, S. 44, 126). " The troglodyte was very often able to go 
without nourishment and the necessaries of life. Their habitations are 
not ^infrequently found where no cultivation of the land was possible, 
e.g. in Sofa. They were therefore either rearers of cattle or marauders. 
The cattle-rearing troglodyte, because he cannot wander about from one 
pasture to another like the nomads who dwell in tents, often loses his 
herds by a failure of pasture, heavy falls of snow (which often produce 
great devastation, e.g. in Hauran), epidemics, etc. Losses may also arise 
from marauding attacks from the nomads. Still less is this marauding, 
which is at enmity with all the world, likely to make a race prosperous, 
which, like the troglodyte, being bound to a fixed habitation, cannot 
escape the revenge of those whom it has injured." WETZST. 
VOL. II. K 



146 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

barbarus (Pineda), in favour of which Schlottmann calls to 
mind Herodotus' (iv. 183) comparison of the language of 
the Troglodyte Ethiopians with the screech of the night-owl 
(rerplyaa-L Kardirep at WKTepiSes). Among bushes (especially 
the bushes of the shih, which affords them some nourishment 
and shade, and a green resting-place) one hears them, and 
hears from their words, although he cannot understand them 
more closely, discontent and lamentation over their desperate 



condition : there, under nettles (7**lJ, root "in, j>-) as urtica 

from urere), i.e. useless weeds of the desert, they are poured 
forth, i.e. spread about in disorder. Thus most moderns 
take nSD = TJBE^ ^JLs, comp. HY1D, profusus, Amos vi. 4, 7, 
although one might also abide by the usual Hebrew mean- 

O C* / 

ing of the verb n2D (hardened from HDD), adjungere, associare 
(vid. Habak. S. 88), and with Hahn explain : under nettles 
they are united together, i.e. they huddle together. But 
neither the fut. nor the Ptial (instead of which one would 
expect the Niph. or Hithpa.) is favourable to the latter inter- 
pretation ; wherefore we decide in favour of the former, and 
find sufficient support for a Hebr.-Arabic ilSD in the signi- 
fication effundere from a comparison of ch. xiv. 19 and the 
present passage. Ver. 8, by dividing the hitherto latent sub- 
ject, tells what sort of people they are : sons of fools, profane, 
insane persons (vid. on Ps. xiv. 1) ; moreover, or of the like 
kind (D3, not *1N), sons of the nameless, ignobilium or in- 
famium, since 6$"v3 is here an adj. which stands in depend- 
ence, not filii inf amice = infames (Hirz. and others), by which 
the second 'Ol is rendered unlike the first. The assertion 
ver. Sb may be taken as an attributive clause : who are 
driven forth . . . ; but the shortness of the line and the 
prominence of the verb are in favour of the independence 
of the clause like an exclamation in its abrupt and halting 
form. 1K3J is Niph. of N2J = njj (^j), root T, to hew, pierce, 



CHAP. XXX. 9-12. 147 

strike. 1 On P.??? of arable land in opposition to the steppe, 
vid. on ch. xviii. 17. 

9 And now I am become their song, 

And a by-word to them. 
10 They avoid me, they flee far from me, 

And spare not my face with spitting. 
1 1 For my cord of life He hath loosed, and afflicted me, 

Therefore they let loose the bridle recklessly. 
12 The rabble presses upon my right hand, 

They thrust my feet away, 

And cast up against me their destructive ways. 

The men of whom Job complains in this strophe are none 
other than those in the preceding strophe, described from the 
side of their coarse and degenerate behaviour, as ch. xxiv. 4-8 
described them from the side of the wrong which was prac- 
tised against them. This rabble, constitutionally as well as 
morally degraded, when it comes upon Job's domain in its 
marauding expeditions, makes sport of the sufferer, whose 
former earnest admonitions, given from sympathizing anxiety 
for them, seemed to them as insults for which they revenge 
themselves. He is become their song of derision (E^J' 1 ^ to 
be understood according to the dependent passage, Lam. 
iii. 14, and Ps. Ixix. 13), and is n?pp to them, their 



1 The root CJo is developed in Hebr. nD3, H3n, in Arab. \j and 





J , first to the idea of outward injury by striking, hewing, etc. ; but 

it is then also transferred to other modes of inflicting injury, and in 
/ / 

(jjy , to being injured in mind. The root shows itself in its most sen- 



suous development in the reduplicated form (jjw\j , to strike one with 
repeated blows, fig. for : to press any one hard with claims. According 



to another phase, the obscene cl) fat. i, and the decent ^, signify 
properly to pierce. FL. 



148 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

(LXX.), the subject of their foolish talk (n?B = Arab, mille, 
not = melle, according to which Schultens inteprets it, sum 
Us fastidio). Avoiding him, and standing at a distance from 
him, they make their remarks upon him ; and if they come 
up to him, it is only for the sake of showing him still deeper 
scorn : a facie ejus non cohibent sputam. The expositors who 
explain that, contrary to all decent bearing, they spit in his 
presence (Eichh., Justi, Hirz., Vaih., Hlgst.), or with Fie ! 
spit out before him (Umbr., Hahn, Schlottm.), overlook the 
fact of its being "^SQ, not ''JSp. The expression as it stands 
can only affirm that they do not spare his face with spitting 
(Jer. correctly : conspuere non veruntur), so that consequently 
he is become, as he has complained in ch. xvii. 6, a nan ? an 
object of spitting (comp. also the declaration of the servant 
of Jehovah, Isa. 1. 6, which stands in close connection with 
this declaration of Job, according to previous explanations). 

It now becomes a question, Who is the subj. in ver. lla? 
The Chethib ViTV demands an attempt to retain the previous 
subj. Accordingly, most moderns explain : solvit unusquis- 
que eorum funem suum, i.e. frenum suum, quo continebatur 
antea a me (Eosenm., Umbr., Stick., Vaih., Hlgst., and 
others), but it is to be doubted whether "in 11 can mean frenum ; 
it signifies a cord, the string of a bow, and of a harp. The 
reconciliation of the signification redundantia, ch. xxii. 20, 
and fnnis, is, in the idea of the root, to be stretched tight 
and long. 1 Hirz. therefore imagines the loosing of the cord 



1 The verb Jj shows its sensuous primary signification in Jj, "IJT>, 
cord, bow-string, harp-string (Engl. string) : to stretch tight, to extend, 

S<~> S<-> 

so that the thing continues in one line. Hence then Jiy Jly separate, 



unequal, singulus, impar, opp. *-&-, bini, par, just as /arc?, single, sepa- 
rate, unequal (opp. zaug, a pair, equal number), is derived from farada, 
properly, so to strain or stretch out, that the thing has no bends or folds; 
Greek lwXovj (as in the Shepherd of Hermas : SKXUU hsvn'ov 



CHAP. XXX. 9-12. 149 

round the body, which served them as a girdle, in order to 
strike Job with it. But whether one decides in favour of 
the Chethib Tin 11 or of the Keri njv, the persons who insult 
Job cannot in any case be intended. The isolated sing, form 
of the assertion, while the rabble is everywhere spoken of in 
the plur.j is against it ; and also the 'E, which introduces it, 
and after which Job here allows the reason to come in, why 
he is abandoned without any means of defence to such brutal 
misconduct. The subj. of ver. lla is God. If Tin 11 is read, 
it may not be interpreted : He hath opened = taken off the 
covering of His string (= bow) (Ew., Hahn, and similarly 
even LXX., Jer.), for W does not signify the bow, but the 
string (Arab, muwattar, stretched, of a bow) ; and while nna, 
Ezek. xxi. 33 (usually *\?w or P" 1 "}?), can certainly be said of 
drawing a sword from its sheath, rny is the appropriate and 
usual word (vid. Hab. S. 164) for making bare the bow and 
shield. Used of the bow-string, nri^ signifies to loose what is 



"hivov xap7iruffivoy),&n original transitive signification still retained in 

ii > 

low Arabic (vid. Bocthor under Etendre and Deployer). Then from Jij 

iii ii 

spring the secondary roots Ju and ^Jj , which proceed from the VIII. 

i?0 / 

form (ittatara). The former (tatard) appears only in the adverb 



and $.-\j, sigillatim, alii post alios, singly one after another, so that 
several persons or things form a row interrupted by intervals of space or 
time ; the latter (tara) and its IV. form (atrci} are equivalent to watara, 
to be active at intervals, with pauses between, as the Arabs explain: 



/<- 



say ^jji\ f a man when he so performs several acts which do not 



directly follow one another, that there is always a iyo, intcrmissio, be- 
tween two acts." Hence also pn, prnri, duals of an assumed sing, "tfi, 
singulus (wm), rnn singula, therefore prop, duo singuli (a), dux singulas, 

altogether parallel to the like meaning thindni (ithnani), ihinaini (ith- 
nai?ii), D* 1 ^; fern, tliintdni (ithnatdni), thintaini (ithtiataini), D^ri^' 

instead of DTl^', from an assumed sing, thin-un (iihn-uii), fhint-un 



150 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

strained, by sending the arrow swiftly forth from it, according 
to which, e.g. Elizabeth Smith translates : Because He hath 
let go His bow-string and afflicted me. One cannot, how- 
ever, avoid feeling that ^33W is not a right description of the 
effect of shooting with arrows, whereas an idea is easily gained 
from the Keri nn 11 , to which the description of the effect cor- 
responds. It has been interpreted : He has loosed my rein 
or bridle, by means of which I hitherto bound them and held 
them in check ; but "in 11 in the signification rein or bridle is, 
as already observed, not practicable. Better Capellus : meta- 
phor a ducta est ab exarmato milite, cujus areas solvitur nervus 
sicque inermis redditur ; but it is more secure, and still more 
appropriate to the W1 which follows, when it is interpreted 
according to ch. iv. 21 : He has untied (loosened) my cord 
of life, i.e. the cord which stretched out and held up my tent 
(the body) (Targ. similarly : my chain and the threads of my 
cord, i.e. surely : my outward and inward stay of life), and 



(ithnat-uri). from ,-X ; , na$, lite bin (ibii), bint (ibnaf), 

\*^ JT 



hence "na) from ..A 

W*- T T 

The significations of ivatara which Freytag arranges under 1, 2, 3, 4, 
proceed from the transitive application of "inN as the Italian soperchiare, 

soverchiare, from supra, to offend, insult; oltraggiare, outrager, from 
ultra; vfipifyw from vvrtp. Similarly, <OLc Jj^ 2 -*' an ^ ^^ jjusuL*1 

(form VI. and X. from ^JIL), to act haughtily towards any one, to make 
him feel one's superiority, properly to stretch one's self out over or 
against any one. 

But in another direction the signif . to be stretched out goes into : 
overhanging, surpassing, projecting, to be superfluous, and to be left over, 
KepiTTov slvat, to exceed a number or bulk, super are (comp. Italian soper- 
chiare as intrans.), Kspiswat, vrnpziuoti ; to prove, as result, gain, etc., 



, etc. Similar is the development of the meaning of ^J^'i and 

S- t 

of jjj 11?, gain, use, from (Ju?, to be stretched out. In like mariner, the 

German reich, reichlich [rich, abundant], comes from the root reichen, 
recken [to stretch, extend]. FL. 



CHAP. XXX. 9-12. 151 

bowed me down, i.e. deprived me of strength (comp. Ps. 
cii. 24) ; or also : humbled me. Even in this his feebleness 
he is the butt of unbridled arrogance : and they let go the 
bridle before me (not ^a?, in my presence, but ^Bp ? before 
me, before whom previously they had respect ; 'ODD the same 
as Lev. xix. 32), they cast or shake it off (fW as ch. xxxix. 3, 
synon. of T^f?; comp. 1 Kings ix. 7 with 2 Chron. vii. 20). 
Is it now possible that in this connection nrnsa can denote 
any else but the rabble of these good-for-nothing fellows? 
Evvald nevertheless understands by it Job's sufferings, which 
as a rank evil swarm rise up out of the ground to seize upon 
him ; Hahn follows Ew., and makes these sufferings the subj., 
as even in ver. 115. But if we consider how Ew. translates: 
" they hung a bridle from my head ;" and Hahn : " they have 
cast a bit before my face." this might make us tired of all 

* / fj 

taste for this allegorical mode of interpretation. The stump 
over which they must stumble is ver. 13c, where all climax 
must be abandoned in order to make the words ic6 "in/ $b 
intelligible in this allegorical connection. No indeed ; nrns 
(instead of which nma might be expected, as supra, ch. iii. 5, 
^"IJM for '"ViB?) is the offspring or rabble of those fathers 
devoid of morals and honour, those D 11 ")^ of ver. 1, whose 
laughing-stock Job is now, as the children of priests are 



called in Talmudic njra ^rnSj and in Arabic j denotes not 

only the young of animals, but also a rascal or vagabond, 
This young rabble rises PPr^?; on Jb's right hand, which is 
the place of an accuser (Ps. cix. 6), and generally one who 
follows him up closely and oppresses him ; and they press him 
continually further and further, contending one foot's-breadth 

after another with him : *1W wl, my feet thrust them forth. 

L " : . . . 

protrudunt (fnHP the same as ch. xiv. 20). By this pressing 

from one place to another, a way is prepared for the descrip- 
tion of their hostile conduct, which begins in ver. 12c under 



152 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

the figure of a siege. The fut. consec. *?b*1, ver. 12c, is not 
meant retrospectively like W1, but places present with pre- 
sent in the connection of cause and effect (comp. E\v. 343, a). 
We must not be misled by the fact that fel, ch. xix. 12 
(which see), was said of the host of sufferings which come 
against Job ; here it is those young people who cast up the 
ramparts of misfortune or burdensome suffering (^K) against 
Job, which they wish to make him feel. The tradition, sup- 
ported by the LXX., that Job had his seat outside his 
domain eVl rfjs KOTrplas, i.e. upon the mezlele, is excellently 
suited to this and the following figures. Before each village 
in Hauran there is a place where the households heap up the 
sweepings of their stalls, and it gradually reaches a great 
circumference, and a height which rises above the highest 
buildings of the village. 1 Notwithstanding, everything is in- 
telligible without this thoroughly Hauranitish conception of 
the scene of the history. Bereft of the protection of his chil- 
dren and servants, become an object of disgust to his wife, 
and an abhorrence to his brethren, forsaken by every atten- 
tion of true affection, ch. xix. 13-19, Job lies out of doors ; 
and in this condition, shelterless and defenceless, he is aban- 

1 One ought to have a correct idea of a Hauranitish mezbele. The 
dung which is heaped up there is not mixed with straw, because in warm, 
dry countries no litter is required for the cattle, and comes mostly from 
single-hoofed animals, since small cattle and oxen often pass the nights 
on the pastures. It is brought in a dry state in baskets to the place 
before the village, and is generally burnt once every month. Moreover, 
they choose days on which the wind is favourable, i.e. does not cast the 
smoke over the village. The ashes remain. The fertile volcanic ground 
does not need manure, for it would make the seed in rainy years too luxu- 
riant at the expense of the grain, and when rain fails, burn it up. If 
a village has been inhabited for a century, the mezbele reaches a height 
which far surpasses it. The winter rains make the ash-heaps into a 
compact mass, and gradually change the mezbele into a firm mound of 
earth, in the interior of which those remarkable granaries, bidr cl-ghalle, 
are laid out, in which the wheat can be completely preserved against 
heat and mice, garnered up for years. The mezbele serves the inhabitants 



CHAP. XXX. 13-15. 153 

doned to the hideous malignant joy of those gipsy hordes 
which wander hither and thither. 

13 They tear down my path. 
They minister to my overthrow, 
They ivho themselves are helpless. 

14 As through a wide breach they approach. 
Under the crash they roll onwards. 

15 Terrors are turned against me, 

They pursue my nobility like the wind, 

And like a cloud my prosperity passed away. 

They make all freedom of motion and any escape impossible 
to him, by pulling down, diruunt, the way which he might go. 
Thus is tona (cogn. form of fTO, yna, fcTtf) to be translated, 
not : they tear open (proscindunt), which is contrary to the 
primary signification and the usage of the language. They, 
who have no helper, who themselves are so miserable and 
despised, and yet so feelingless and overbearing, contribute to 
his ruin. W n , to be useful, to do any good, to furnish any- 
thing effective (e.g. Isa. xlvii. 12), is here united with p of 
the purpose; comp. ? ">iy, to help towards anything, Zech. i. 15. 

of the district as a watch-tower, and on close oppressive evenings as a 
place of assembly, because there is a current of air on the height. There 
the children play about the whole day long ; there the forsaken one lies, 
who, having been seized by some horrible malady, is not allowed to enter 
the dwellings of men, by day asking alms of the passers-by, and at night 
hiding himself among the ashes which the sun has warmed. There the 
dogs of the village lie, perhaps gnawing at a decaying carcase that is 
frequently thrown there. Many a village of Hauran has lost its original 
name, and is called umm el-mezabil from the greatness and number of 
these mounds, which always indicate a primitive and extensive cultiva- 
tion for the villages. And many a more modern village is built upon an 
ancient mezbele, because there is then a stronger current of air, which 
renders the position more healthy. The Arabic signification of the root 
$QT seems to be similarly related to the Hebrew as that of the old Beduin 
seken (pp), "ashes, 1 ' to the Hebrew and Arabic pB>D, "a dwelling." 
WETZST. 



154 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

njn (for which the Ken substitutes the primary form njn), as 
was already said on ch, vi. 2, is prop, hiatus, and then bara- 
thrum, pernicieS) like njn in the signification cupiditas, prop. 
inhiatio. The verb nin ? ^k, also signifies delabi, whence it 
may be extended (vid. on ch. xxxvii. 6) in like manner to the 
signification abyss (rapid downfall) ; but a suitable medium 
for the two significations, strong passion (Arab. Kawa) and 
abyss (Arab, hdwije, huwwe, mahwa), is offered only by the 
signification of the root flare (whence liawd, air), te "i$ *? 
is a genuine Arabic description of these Idumsean or Hauran- 
ite pariahs. Schultens compares a passage of the Hamdsa : 
" We behold you ignoble, poor, laisa lakum min sdir-in-ndsi 
nasirun, i.e. without a helper among the rest of men." The 
interpretations of those who take to for v, and this again 
for v (Eichh., Justi), condemn themselves. It might more 
readily be explained, with Stick. : without any one helping 
them, i.e. with their own strong hand ; but the thought thus 
obtained is not only aimless and tame, but also halting and 
even untrue (vid. ch. xix. 13 sqq.). 

Ver. 14. The figure of a siege, which is begun with ver. 
12c and continued in ver. 13, leaves us in no doubt concern- 
ing irn pa and nx*B>. The Targ. translates : like the force 
of the far-extending waves of the sea. not as though pa could 

O / O v v 

in itself signify a stream of water, but taking it as = D?o p3, 
2 Sam. v. 20 (synon. diffusio aquarum). Hitzig's translation : l 
"like a broad forest stream they come, like a rapid brook 
they roll on," gives unheard-of significations to the doubtful 
words. In ch. xvi. 14 we heard Job complain : He (Eloah) 
brake through me psr^B'TSJ pa, breach upon breach, by 
the divine decrees of sufferings, which are completed in this 
ill-treatment which he receives from good-for-nothing fellows, 
he is become as a wall with a wide-gaping breach, through 

1 Vid. Deutsche MoryenlancL ZeitscJir. ix. (1855), S. 741, and Proverbs, 
S. 11. 



CHAP. XXX 13-15. 155 

which they rush in upon him (instar rupturce, a concise mode 
of comparison instead of tanquam per rupt.), in order to get 
him entirely into their power as a plaything for their coarse 
passions, nxfe? is the crash of the wall with the wide breaches, 
and HKb> nnn signifies sub fragore in a local sense : through 
the wall which is broken through and crashes above the 
assailants. There is no ground in ver. I5a for dividing, with 
Umbreit, thus : He hath turned against me ! Terrors drove 
away, etc., although this would not be impossible according 
to the syntax (comp. Gen. xlix. 22, rnjre J?). It is trans- 
lated : terrors are turned against me ; so that the predicate 
stands first in the most natural, but still indefinite, personal 
form, Ges. 147, a, although nirfe might also be taken as 
the accus. of the object after a passive, Ges. 143, 1. The 
subj. of ver. 156 remains the same : they (these terrors) drive 
away my dignity like the wind; the construction is like ch. 
xxvit. 20, xiv. 19 ; on the matter, comp. ch. xviii. 11. Hirz. 
makes n^ns the subj. : quasi ventus aufert nobilitatem meam, 
in which case the subj. would be not so much ventus as simill- 
tudo venti, as when one says in Arabic, 'gdani kazeidirij there 
came to me one of Zeid's equals, for in the Semitic languages 
3 has the manner of an indeclinable noun in the signification 
instar. But the reference to Dirte is more natural ; and 
Hahn's objection, that calamity does not first, if it is there, 
drive away prosperity, but takes the place of that which is 
driven away, is sophisticated and inadequate, since the object 
of the driving away here is not Job's prosperity, but Job's 
nyi3, appearance and dignity, by which he hitherto com- 
manded the respect of others (Targ. l| riW2i'i). The storms of 
suffering which pass over him take this nobility away to the 
last fragment, and his salvation or rather, since this word 

in the mouth of an extra-Israelitish hero has not the meaning 

/ / 
it usually otherwise has, his prosperous condition (from ^, 



156 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

amplum esse) is as a cloud, so rapidly and without trace 
(ch. vii. 9 ; Isa. xliv. 22), passed away and vanished. Observe 
the music of the expression rnrijj 3JJ3, which cannot be repro- 
duced in translation. 

16 And now my soul is poured out within me, 
Days of suffering hold me fast. 

17 The night rendeth my bones from me. 
And my gnawers sleep not. 

18 By great force my garment is distorted, 

As the collar of my shirt it encompasseth me. 

19 He hath cast me into the mire, 

And I am in appearance as dust and ashes. 

With this third nnyi (vers. 1, 9) the elegiac lament over 
the harsh contrast between the present and the past begins 
for the third time. The dash after our translation of the 
second and fourth strophes will indicate that a division of the 
elegy ends there, after which it begins as it were anew. The 
soul is poured out within a man (vV as ch. x. 1, Psychol. 
S. 152), when, " yielding itself without resistance to sadness, 
it is dejected to the very bottom, and all its organization flows 
together, and it is dissolved in the one condition of sorrow " 
a figure which is not, however, come about by water being 
regarded as the symbol of the soul (thus Hitzig on Ps. xlii. 5), 
but rather by the intimate resemblance of the representation 
of a flood of tears (Lam. ii. 19) : the life of the soul flows in 
the blood, and the anguish of the soul in tears and lamenta- 
tions ; and since the outward man is as it were dissolved in 
the gently flowing tears (Isa. xv. 3), his soul flows away as it 
were in itself, for the outward incident is but the manifesta- 
tion and result of an inward action. ^T^\ we have translated 
days of suffering, for ^ with its verb and the rest of its 
derivatives, is the proper word for suffering, and especially 
the passion of the Servant of Jehovah. Days of suffering 



CHAP. XXX. 16-19. 157 

Job complains hold him fast ; THS unites in itself, like 
P'tnn, the significations preliendere and prehensum tenere. In 
ver. Via we must not, with Arnh. and others, translate : by 
night it (affliction) pierces . . . , for "oy does not stand suf- 
ficiently in the foreground to be the subject of what follows; 
it might sooner be rendered : by night it is pierced through 
(Targ., Eosenm., Hahn) ; but why is not fW to be the sub- 
ject, and "ijM consequently Piel (not Niph.)l The night has 
been personified already, ch. iii. 2; and in general, as Herder 
once said, Job is the brother of Ossian for personifications : 
Night (the restless night, ch. vii. 3 sq., in which every malady, 
or at least the painful feeling of it, increases) pierces his bones 
from him, i.e. roots out his limbs (synon. D^si, ch. xviii. 13) 
so inwardly and completely. The lepra Arabica (^0,^1 
el-baras) terminates, like syphilis, with an eating away of the 



limbs, and the disease has its name /*^s- from /* 3cj-, trun- 

care, mutilare : it feeds on the bones, and destroys the body 
in such a manner that single limbs are completely detached. 
In ver. 176, LXX. (yevpa\ Parchon, Kimchi, and others 

translate ^"1'V according to the Targum. ri?"W (= t^T?)* and 

^* 
the Arab, jfj^e, veins, after which Blumenf. : my veins are 

in constant motion. But ^"ty in the sense of ch. xxx. 3 : my 
gnawers (Jer. qui me comedunt, Targ. W Hpypl, qui me con- 
culcant, conterunt), is far more in accordance with the predi- 
cate and the parallelism, whether it be gnawing pains that 
are thought of pains are unnatural to man, they come upon 
him against his will, he separates them from himself as wild 
beasts or, which we prefer, those worms (""!?"!, ch. vii. 5) 
which were formed in Job's ulcers (comp. Aruch, KjJiJP, a leech, 
plur. NJJiJ"]^, worms, e.g. in the liver), and which in the extra- 
biblical tradition of Job's decease are such a standing feature, 
that the pilgrims to Job's monastery even now-a-days take 



158 THE BOOK OF JOB. 



away with them thence these supposedly petrified worms of 
Job. 1 

Yer. 18a would be closely and naturally connected with 
what precedes if ^ll/ could be understood of the skin and 
explained : By omnipotence (viz. divine, as ch. xxiii. 6, Ew. 
270a) the covering of my body is distorted, as even Raschi: 
^ "1PIK *6j rwnsjfo, it is changed, by one skin or crust being 
formed after another. But even Schultens rightly thinks it 
remarkable that BW, ver. 18a, is not meant to signify the 
proper upper garment but the covering of the skin, but n.3FQ, 
ver. 18, the under garment in a proper sense. The astonish- 
ment is increased by the fact that ^snnn signifies to disguise 
one's self, and thereby render one's self unrecognisable, which 
leads to the proper idea of t?w, to a clothing which looks 
like a disguise. It cannot be cited in favour of this unusual 
meaning that vhJ? is used in ch. xli. 5 of the scaly skin of the 
crocodile : an animal has no other una^ but its skin. There- 
fore, with Ew., Hirz., and Hlgst., we take Efa;) strictly : "by 
(divine) omnipotence my garment is distorted (becomes unlike 
itself), like the collar of my shirt it fits close to me." It is 
unnecessary to take ^ as a compound prcep. : according to 

1 In Mugir ed-din's large history of Jerusalem and Hebron (Jdtab 
el-ins el-geliT), in an article on Job, we read: God had so visited him in 
his body, that he got the disease that devours the limbs (tegedhdhem), 
and worms were produced (dawwad) in the wounds, while he lay on a 
dunghill (mezbele), and except his wife, who tended him, no one ventured 
to come too near him. In a beautiful Kurdic ballad "on the basket 
dealer" (zembttfrosli), which I have obtained from the Kurds in Sa/ihye, 
are these words : Veki Gergis beshara beri \ Jusufveki cibdan keri \ bikesr' 
Ejub kurman deri \ toh anin ser sultaneti \ to men chalaski y zahmeti. 
" When they divided Gergis with a saw 
And sold Joseph like a slave, 
When worms fed themselves in Job's body, 
Then Thou didst guide them by a sure way : 
Thou wilt also deliver me from need." 

More concerning these worms of Job in the description of the monastery 
of Job. WETZST. 



CHAP. XXX. 10-19. 159 

(comp. Zech. ii. 4, Mai. ii. 9 : " according as"), in the sense of 
i3, as ch. xxxiii. 6, since J"uri3 *& is, according to the nature of 
the thing mentioned, a designation of the upper opening, by 
means of which the shirt, otherwise only provided with arm- 
holes (distinct from the Beduin shirt thob, which has wide and 
long sleeves), is put on. Also, Ps. cxxxiii. 2, VTlVHJp ^ signifies 
not the lower edge, but the opening at the head (fc^in ^ Ex. 
xxviii. 32) or the collar of the high priest's vestment (vid. the 
passage cited). Thus, even LXX. &cnrep TO TrepLcrTo^iov 
TOV ^LTCOVOS //,ov, and Jer. : velut capitio tunicce mece. True, 
Schlottm. observes against this rendering of ver. 18, that it is 
unnatural according to substance, since on a wasted body it is 
not the outer garment that assumes the appearance of a narrow 
under one, but on the contrary the under garment assumes the 
appearance of a wide outer one. But this objection is not to 
the point. If the body is wasted away to a skeleton, there is 
an end to the rich appearance and beautiful flow which the 
outer garment gains by the full and rounded forms of the 
limbs : it falls down straight and in perpendicular folds upon 
the wasted body, and contributes in no small degree to make 
him whom one formerly saw in all the fulness of health still 
less recognisable than he otherwise is. ^.t^!, cingit me, is not 
merely the falling together of the outer garment which was 
formerly filled out by the members of the body, but its 
appearance when the sick man wraps himself in it : then it 
girds him, fits close to him like his shirt-collar, lying round 
about the shrivelled figure like the other about a thin neck. 

o 

On the terrible wasting away which is combined with hyper- 
trophical formations in elephantiasis, vid. ch. vii. 15, and 
especially xix. 20. The subject of ver. 19 is God, whom 
ver. 18 also describes as efficient cause : He has cast me into, 
or daubed 1 me with, mud, and I am become as (3 instead of 
the dat., Ew. 221, a) dust and ashes. This is also intended 
1 The reading wavers between ^in and ij-tfi, for the latter form of 



160 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

pathologically : the skin of the sufferer with elephantiasis 
becomes first an intense red, then assumes a black colour ; 
scales like fishes' scales are formed upon it, and the brittle, 
dark-coloured surface of the body is like a lump of earth. 

20 / cry to Thee for help, and Thou answerest not; 
I stand there, and Thou lookest fixedly at me. 

21 Thou changest Thyself to a cruel being towards me, 

With the strength of Thy hand Thou makest war upon me. 

22 Thou raisest me upon the stormy wind, Thou causest me 

to drive along 
And vanish in the roaring of the storm. 

23 For I know : Thou wilt bring me back to death, 
Into the house of assembly for all living. 

If he cries for help, his cry remains unanswered; if he 
stands there looking up reverentially to God (perhaps lE>y, 
with WE to be supplied, has the sense of desisting or re- 
straining, as Gen. xxix. 35, xxx. 9), the troubling, fixed look 
of God, who looks fixedly and hostilely upon him, anything 
but ready to help (comp. ch. vii. 20, xvi. 9), meets his up- 
turned eye. $2rin, to look consideringly upon anything, is 
elsewhere joined with />K, /V, "W, or even with the ace. ; here, 
where a motionless fixed look is intended, with 2 (=: jj). It 
is impossible to draw the tib, ver. 20a, over to I.^nrn (Jer., 
Saad., Umbr., Welte, and others), both on account of the 
Waw consec. (Ew. 35 la), and on account of the separation 
by the new antecedent ^^. On the reading of two Codd. 
prjnni ("Thou settest Thyself against me"), which Houbigant 
and Ew. prefer, Rosenm. has correctly pronounced judg- 
ment : est potius pro mendo habenda. Instead of consolingly 
answering his prayer, and instead of showing Himself willing 
to help, God, who was formerly so kind towards him, changes 

writing is sometimes found even out of pause by conjunctive accents, 
e.g. 1 Sam. xxviii. 15, Ps. cxviii. 5. 



CHAP. XXX. 20-23. Id 



towards him, His creature, into a cruel being, scevum (">J^ in 
the book of Job only here and ch. xli. 2, where it signifies 
"foolhardy;" comp. 3$K? in the dependent passage, Isa. 
Ixiii. 10), and makes war upon him (DDiP as ch. xvi. 9) by 
causing him to feel the strength of His omnipotent hand 
(T DV'y as Deut. viii. 17, synon. Pjh). 

It is not necessary in ver. 22a to forsake the accentuation, 
and to translate : Thou raisest me up, Thou causest me go in 
the wind (Ew., Hirz., and others) ; the accentuation of nil is 
indeed not a disjunctive Dechij but a conjunctive Tarcha, but 
preceded by Munach, which, according to the rule, Psalter 
ii. 500, 5, here, where two conjunctives come together, has 
a smaller conjunctive value. Therefore : elevas me in ventum, 
equitare fads me, viz. super ventum (Dachselt), for one does 
not only say /JJ ^?"in, 1 Chron. xiii. 7, or p, Ps. Ixvi. 12, but 
also *?$, 2 Sam. vi. 3 ; and accordingly nrrta ^K&fi is also not 
to be translated : Thou snatchest me into the wind or storm 
(Hahn, Schlottm.), but : Thou raisest me up to the wind or 
storm, as upon an animal for riding (Umbr., Olsh.). Ac- 
cording to Oriental tradition, Solomon rode upon the east 
wind, and in Arabic they say of one who hurries rapidly 
by, racab al-gendliai er-rih } he rides upon the wings of the 
wind ; in the present passage, the point of comparison is the 
being absolutely passively hurried forth from the enjoyment 
of a healthy and happy life to a dizzy height, whence a sudden 
overthrow threatens him who is unwillingly removed (comp. 
Ps. cii. 11, Thou hast lifted me up and hurled me forth). 

The lot which threatens him from this painful suspense 
Job expresses (ver. 22 b) in the puzzling words : WJ$H ^Jibrw. 
Thus the Keii, after which LXX. transl. (if it has not read 
ny^E), /col aTreppityds /-te CLTTO o-corrjpla^. The modern ex- 
positors who follow the Keri, by taking "O^Dni for *h iJDm 
(according to Ges. 121, 4), translate: Thou causest counsel 
and understanding (Welte), happiness (Blumenf.), and the 

VOL. II. L 



162 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

like, to vanish from me; continuance, existence, duration would 
be better (yid. ch. vi. 13, and especially on ch. xxvi. 3). The 
thought is appropriate, but the expression is halting. Jerome, 
who translates valide, points to the correct thing, and Buxtorf 
(Lex. col. 2342 sq.) by interpreting the not less puzzling 
Targum translation in fundamento =funditus or in essentia = 
essentialiter, has, without intending it, hit upon the idea of the 
Hebr. Keri; nwi is intended as a closer defining, or adverbial, 
accusative : Thou causest me to vanish as to existence, ita 
ut tola essentia pereat h.e. totaliter et omnino. Perhaps this 

was really the meaning of the poet : most completely, most 

<? 

thoroughly, altogether, like the Arab. U>.. But it is un- 
favourable to this Keri, that ITOin (from the verb *B>J), as 
might be expected, is always written plene elsewhere; the 
correction of the niBtfi is violent, and moreover this form, cor- 
rectly read, gives a sense far more consistent with the figure, 
ver. 22a. Ges., Umbr., and Carey falsely read njB'n, terres 
me; this verb is unknown in Hebr., and even in Chaldee is 
only used in Ithpeal, \W^ (= Hebr. Tin) ; for a similar 
reason Bottcher's njefri (which is intended to mean : in de- 
spair) is also not to be used. Even Stuhlmann perceived 
that ni$n is equivalent to nKitpn ; it is, with Ew. and Olsh., 
to be read njtWji (not with Pareau and Hirz. njEto without the 
Dag.\ and this form signifies, as ntfl^n, ch. xxxvi. 29, from 
NiK> = n^ ? from which it is derived by change of consonants, 
the crash of thunder, or even the rumbling or roar as of a 
storm or a falling in (procellce sive ruinci). The meaning is 
hardly, that he who rides away upon the stormy wind melts 
and trickles down like drops of rain among the pealing of 
the thunder, when the thunder-storm, whose harbinger is the 
stormy wind, gathers; but that in the storm itself, which 
increases in fury to the howling of a tempest, he dissolves 
away, rwri for njETD, comp. Ps. cvii. 26 : their soul melted 



CHAP. XXX. 24-27. 163 

away (dissolved) nfj?. The compulsory journey in the air, 
therefore, passes into nothing or nearly nothing, as Job is 
well aware, ver. 23 : "for I know: (without Vp, as ch. xix. 25, 
Ps. ix. 21) Thou wilt bring me back to death" (ace. of the 
goal, or locative without any sign). If ^l^fl is taken in its 
most natural signification reduces, death is represented as 
essentially one with the dust of death (comp. ch. i. 21 with 
Gen. iii. 19), or even with non-existence, out of which man 
is come into being ; nevertheless l^n can also, by obliterating 
the notion of return, like redigere, have only the signification 
of the turn of destiny and change of condition that is effected. 
The assertion that my always includes an " again," and retains 
it inexorably (vid. Kohler on Zech. xiii. 7, S. 239), is un- 
tenable. In post-biblical Hebrew, at least, it is certain that 
3W signifies not only "to become again," but also "to 
become," as jU is used as synon. of *l>-j devenir. 1 With 
ni, the designation of the condition, is coupled the designa- 
tion of the place: Hades (under the notion of which that of 
the grave is included) is the great involuntary rendezvous of 
all who live in this world. 

24 Doth one not, however, stretch out the hand in falling, 
Doth he not raise a cry for help on that account in his ruin ? 

25 Or have I not wept for him that was in trouble, 
Hath not my soul grieved for the needy ? 

26 For I hoped for good, then evil came ; 
I waited for light, and darkness came. 

27 My boivels boiled without ceasing, 
Days of misery met me. 

Most of the ancient versions indulge themselves in strange 
fancies respecting ver. 24 to make a translatable text, or find 
their fancies in the text before them. The translation of the 

1 Vid. my Anekdota der mittelalterlichen Sclwlastik unter Juden und 
Moslemen, S. 317. 



164 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

Targum follows the fancies of the Midrash, and places itself 
beyond the range of criticism. The LXX. reads ^ instead 
of tya, and finds in ver. 24 a longing for suicide, or death by 
the hand of another. The Syriac likewise reads "a, although 
it avoids this absurdity. Jerome makes an address of the 
assertion, and, moreover, also moulds the text under the influ- 
ence of the Midrash. Aq., Symm., and Theod. strive after a 
better rendering than the LXX., but (to judge from the 
fragments in the Hexapla) without success. Saadia and 
Gecatilia wring a sense out of ver. 24a, but at the expense of 
the syntax, and by dragging ver. 246 after it, contrary to the 
tenor of the words. The old expositors also advance nothing 
available. They mostly interpret it as though it were not 
\rhj but Dili? (a reading which has been forced into the Mid- 
rash texts and some Cocld. instead of the reading of the text 
that is handed down to us). Even Rosenm. thinks jn? might, 
like the Aram. |in?, be equivalent to Drp ; and Carey explains 
the enallage generis from the perhaps existing secondary idea 
of womanly fear, as 2 Sam. iv. 6, nsn instead of HDH is used 
of the two assassins to describe them as cowards. But the 
Hebr. fnj is fern. ; and often as the enallage masc. pro fern. 
occurs, the enallage fern, pro masc. is unknown ; H3n ? 2 Sam. 
iv. 6, is an adv. of place (vid., moreover, Thenius in loc.). 
It is just as absolutely inadmissible when the old expositors 
combine ]W with V& (JJPJ), or as e.g. Easchi with $&$&, and 
translate, "welfare" or "exhilaration" (refreshing). The 
signif. "wealth" would be more readily admissible, so that 
tyW, as Aben-Ezra observes, would be the subst. to W, ch. 
xxxiv. 19 ; but in ch. xxxvi. 19 (which see), JNP (as WW Isa. 
xxii. 5) signifies a cry of distress (= #1^), and an attempt 
must be made here with this meaning before every other. 

On the other hand comes the question whether ^ is not 
perhaps to be referred to the verb n^3, whether it be as 
subst. after the form ^ (Ralbag after the Targ.) or as part. 



CHAP. XXX. 24-27. 165 

w 

pass. (Saad. *."j^l! ^d *i\ j* 9 "only that it is not de- 
sired"). The verb does not, indeed, occur elsewhere in the 
book of Job, but is very consistent with its style, which so 
abounds in Aramaisms, and is at the same time so coloured 
with Arabic that we should almost say, its Hauranitish style. 1 
Thus taking 'JO as one word, Ealbag transl. : prayer stretches 
not forth the hand, which is intended to mean : is not able to 
do anything, cannot cause the will of God to miscarry. This 
meaning is only obtained by great -violence; but when Renan 
(together with Bockel and Carey, after Rosenm.) translates : 
Values prieres ! . . . II etend sa main ; a quol bon protester 
contre ses coups ? the one may be measured with the other. 
If 'jo is to be derived from njo, it must be translated either : 
shall He, however, without prayer (sine Imploratione), or: 
shall He, however, unimplored (non Imploratus), stretch out 
His hand ? The thought remains the same by both render- 
ings of 'JO, and suits as a vindication of the cry for help in 
the context. But njo, in the specific signification implorare, 
deprecarij is indeed the usage of the Targum, although strange 
to the Hebr., which is here so rich in synonyms ; then, in the 
former case, fc6 for &6l is harsh, and in the other, 'JO as part. 
pass, is too strong an Aramaism. We must therefore con- 
sider whether ''JO as W with the prcep. 1 gives a suitable 
sense. Since 3 T npc> ? e.g. ch. xxviii. 9 and elsewhere, most 
commonly means " to lay the hand on anything, stretch out 
the hand to anything," it is most natural to take 'JO in de- 

1 The verb \k) is still extensively used in Syria, and that in two forms : 
.jXXJ Uj and Ixw \ytj. In Damascus the fut. i is alone used ; where- 
as in Hauran and the steppe I have only found fut. a. Thus e.g. the 
Hauranite poet Kdsim el-Chinn says : "The gracious God encompass thee 
with His favour and whatever thy soul desires (wa-l-nefsu ma tebgJia), it 
must obtain its desire" (tanulu munaha, in connection with which it is to 
be observed that jju fut. u is used here in the signification adipisci, 
comp. Fleischer on ch. xv. 29 [supra i. 270, note]). WETZST. 



166 THE BOOK OF JOB. 



pendence upon IT Hp^ and we really gain an impressive 
thought, if we translate : Only may He not stretch out His 
hand (to continue His work of destruction) to a heap of 
rubbish (which I am already become) ; but by this translation 
of ver. 24a, ver. 246 remains a glaring puzzle, insoluble in 
itself and in respect of the further course of the thought, for 
Schlottmann's interpretation, "Only one does not touch ruins, 
or the ruin of one is the salvation of another," which is itself 
puzzling, is no solution. The reproach against the friends 
which is said to lie in ver. 24a is contrary to the character of 
this monologue, which is turned away from his human oppo- 
nents; then W does not signify salvation, and there is no "one" 
and " another" to be found in the text. We must therefore, 
against our inclination, give up this dependent relation of 'JO, 
so that *JD signifies either, upon a heap of rubbish, or, since this 
ought to be \|T2P : by the falling in ; ^ (from njy r iwj) can 
mean both : a falling in or overthrow (bouleversement) as an 
event, and ruins or rubbish as its result. Accordingly Hirz. 
translates : Only upon the ruins (more correctly at least : upon 
ruins) one will not stretch out his hand, and Ew. : Only 
does not one stretch out one's hand by one's overthrow? But 
this "only" is awkward. Hahn is of opinion that K? T]tf may 
be taken in the signification not once, and translates : may 
one not for once raise one's hand by one's downfall ; but even 
this is lame, because then all connection with what precedes 
is wanting ; besides, N? Tjtf does not signify ne guidem. The 
originally affirmative TJN has certainly for the most part a 
restrictive signification, which, as we observed on ch. xviii. 21, 
is blended with the affirmative in Hebr., but it is also, as 
more frequently J?N, used adversatively, e.g. ch. xvi. 7, and 
in the combination K? 7]N this adversative signification coin- 
cides with the restrictive, for this double particle signifies 
everywhere else : only not, however not, Gen. xx. 12, 1 Kings 
xi. 39, 2 Kings xii. 14, xiii. 6, xxiii. 9, 26. It would be more 



CHAP. XXX. 24-27. 167 

natural to translate, as we have stated above : only may he 
not, etc., but ver. 246 puts in its veto against this. If, as 
Hirz., Ew., and Halm also suppose, &6, ver. 24a, is equivalent 
to N^n, so that the sentence is to be spoken with an interro- 
gative accent, we must translate ^ as Jer. has done, by 
verumtamen. He knows that he is being hurried forth to meet 
death; he knows it, and has also already made himself so 
familiar with this thought, that the sooner he sees an end put 
to this his sorrowful life the better nevertheless does one not 
stretch out one's hand when one is falling? This involuntary 
reaction against destruction is the inevitable result of man's 
instinct of self-preservation. It needs no proof that T nfe 
can signify "to stretch out one's hand for help;" rbw is 
used with a general subj. : one stretches out, as ch. xvii. 5, 
xxi. 22. With this determination of the idea of ver. 24a, 
246 is now also naturally connected with what precedes. It 
is not, however, to be translated, as Ew. and Hirz. : if one is 
in distress, is not a cry for help heard on account of it? If 
DN were intended hypothetically, a continuation of the power 
of the interrogative NP from ver. 24a would be altogether 
impossible. Hahn and Loch-Reischl rightly take EX in the 
sense of an. It introduces another turn of the question : 
Does one, however, not stretch out one's hand to hasten the 
fall, or in his downfall (raise) a cry for help, or a wail, on 
that account? Doderlein's conjecture, |n? for }n? (praying 
"for favour"), deserves respectful mention, but it is not 
needed: \n? signifies neutrally: in (under) such circum- 
stances (comp. DH3, ch. xxii. 21, Isa. Ixiv. 5), or is directly 
equivalent to fn?, which (Ruth i. 13) signifies propterea, and 
even in biblical Chaldee, beside the Chaldee signif. sed, nisi } 
retains this Hebrew signif. (Dan. ii. 6, 9, iv. 24). "PS, which 
signifies dying and destruction (Talmud, in the peculiar 
signif. : that which is hewn or pecked open), synon. of 
has been already discussed on ch. xii. 5. 



168 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

Ver. 25. The further progress of the thoughts seems to be 
well carried out only by our rendering of ver. 24. The mani- 
festation of feeling Job means to say which he himself 
felt at the misfortune of others, will be still permitted to him 
in his own misfortune, the seeking of compassion from the 
sympathising : or have I not wept for the hard of day ? i.e. 



him whose lot in life is hard (comp. ^^-^ dur us, miser}', did 



not my soul grieve for the needy? Here, also, tib from 
ver. 25a continues its effect (comp. ch. iii. 10, xxviii. 17); 
W is aTr. 767/9., of like signification with DJN % , whence BJN 
Isa. xix. 10, npJN (sadness) b. Moed katan 146, Arab, agima, 
to feel disgust. If the relation of ver. 25 to ver. 24 is con- 
firmatory, ver. 26 and what follows refers directly to ver. 24 : 
he who felt sympathy with the sufferings of others will never- 
theless dare in his own affliction to stretch out his hand for 
help in the face of certain ruin, and pour forth his pain in 
lamentation ; for his affliction is in reality inexpressibly great : 
he hoped for good (for the future from his prosperous condition, 
in which he rejoiced), 1 "then came evil; and if I waited for 
light, deep darkness came. Ewald ( 232, h) regards njTOi_ 
as contracted from HXPNI, but this shortening of the vowel is 
a pure impossibility. The former signifies rather teal rp^ird&v 
or e/3ov\6fjir]v e\7rieiv, the latter /cal ^A/Trtcra, and that cohor- 
tative fut. logically forms a hypothetical antecedent, exactly 
like ch. xix. 18, if I desire to rise (flBlptf), they speak against 
me (vid. Ew. 357, b). In feverish heat and anxiety his 
bowels were set boiling (nrn as ch. xli. 23, comp. Talmud. 
fnrn, a hot-headed fellow), and rested not (from this boiling). 
The accentuation Tarcha, Mercha, and Athnach is here in- 
correct ; instead of Athnach, liebia mugrasch is required. 
Days of affliction came upon him (CHj? as Ps. xviii. 6), viz. 

1 LXX. Aldina : lya Is d^i-^av dyc*.6ois, which Zwingli rightly corrects 
(Codd. Vat., Alex., and Sinait.). 



CHAP. XXX. 28-31. 169 

as a hostile power cutting off the previous way of his pro- 
sperity. 

28 I wandered about in mourning without tlie sun ; 

2 rose in the assembly, I gave free course to my complaint. 

29 I am become a brother of the jackals 
And a companion of ostriches. 

30 My skin having become black, peels of from me, 
And my bones are parched with dry ness. 

31 My harp was turned to mourning, 
And my pipe to tones of sorrow. 

Several expositors (Umbr., Vaih., Hlgst.) understand "tt'P 
of the dirty-black skin of the leper, but contrary to the usage 
of the language, according to which, in similar utterances (Ps. 
xxxv. 14, xxxviii. 7, xlii. 10, xliii. 2, comp. supra, ch. v. 11), 

** 

it rather denotes the dirty-black dress of mourners (comp. jjj, 

conspurcare vestem) ; to understand it of the dirty-black skin 
as quasi sordida veste (Welte) is inadmissible, since this dis- 
tortion of the skin which Job bewails in ver. 30 would hardly 
be spoken of thus tautologically. Tip therefore means in the 
black of the P^, or mourning-linen, ch. xvi. 15, by which, how- 
ever, also the interpretation of nran N?3, " without sunburn" 
(Ew., Hirz.), which has gained ground since Kaschi's day ($b 
Eto'n onsets'), is disposed of ; for "one can perhaps say of the 
blackness of the skin that it does not proceed from the sun, 
but not of the blackness of mourning attire" (Hahn). Tip 
also refutes the reading HDH &6l in LXX. Complut. (avev 
dvfjiov), 1 Syr., Jer. (sine furore), which ought to be understood 
of the deposition of the gall-pigment on the skin, and therefore 
of jaundice, which turns it (especially in tropical regions) not 
merely yellow, but a dark-brown. Hahn and a few others 

1 Whereas Codd. Alex., Vat., and Sinait., oivsv Qt/xovj which is cor- 
rectly explained by xnpov in Zwingli's Aldine r but gives no sense. 



170 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

render n>n &6l correctly in the sense of "JETQ, " without the sun 
having shone on him." Bereft of all his possessions, and finally 
also of his children, he wanders about in mourning (^n as ch. 
xxiv. 10, Ps. xxxviii. 7), and even the sun had clothed itself 
in black to him (which is what Bfotfn TTjJ means, Joel ii. 10 
and freq.); the celestial light, which otherwise brightened his 
path, ch. xxix. 3, was become invisible. We must not forget 
that Job here reviews the whole chain of afflictions which have 
come upon him, so that by ver. 2Sa we have not to think 
exclusively, and also not prominently, of the leprosy, since 
TG?n indeed represents him as still able to move about freely. 
In ver. 286 the accentuation wavers between Dechi, Munach, 
Silluh according to which Jftt^tf ?np3 belong together, which 

/ ^j "" *~; T T " C^ ^J * 

is favoured by the Dagesli in the Bethj and Tarcha, MunacJi, 
Sillukf according to which (because Munach, according to 
Psalter ii. 503, 2, is a transformation of Rebia mugrasch) 
7nj33 iriDp belong together. The latter mode of accentuation, 
according to which ?np3 must be written without the Dag. 
instead of /npa (vid. Norzi), is the only correct one (because 
Dechi cannot come in the last member of the sentence before 
SiUuK)) and is also more pleasing as to matter : I rose (and 
stood) in the assembly, crying for help, or more generally : 
wailing. The assembly is not to be thought of as an assembly 
of the people, or even tribunal (Ew. : " before the tribunal 
seeking a judge, with lamentations"), but as the public; for 
the thought that Job sought help against his unmerited suf- 
ferings before a human tribunal is absurd; and, moreover, 
the thought that he cried for help before an assembly of the 
people called together to take counsel and pronounce decisions 
is equally absurd. Welte, however, who interprets : I was as 
one who, before an assembled tribunal, etc., introduces a 
quasi of which there is no trace in the text. ?nj33 must 
therefore, without pressing it further, be taken in the sense 
of publice, before all the world (Hirz. : comp. 'JiJS, ev 



CHAP. XXX. 28-31. 171 



Prov. xxvi. 26); V^, however, is a circumstantial 
clause declaring the purpose (Ew. 337, b ; comp. De Sacy, 
Gramm. Arabe ii. 357), as is frequently the case after Dip, 
ch. xvi. 8, Ps. Ixxxviii. 11, cii. 14 : surrexi in publico ut 
lamentarer, or lamentaturus, or lamentando. In this lament, 
extorted by the most intense pain, which he cannot hold back, 
however many may surround him, he is become a brother of 
those B^n, jackals (canes aurei), whose dolorous howling pro- 
duces dejection and shuddering in all who hear it, and a com- 
panion of fW_ J"to ? whose shrill cry is varied by wailing tones 
of deep melancholy. 1 The point of comparison is not the 
insensibility of the hearers (Sfomd), but the fellowship of 
wailing and howling together with the accompanying idea of 
the desert in which it is heard, which is connected with the 
idea itself (comp. Mic. i. 8). 

Yer. 30. Now for the first time he speaks of his disfigure- 
ment by leprosy in particular : my skin (Tfo7, masc., as it is 
also used in ch. xix. 26, only apparently as fern.) is become 
black (nigruit) from me, i.e. being become black, has peeled 
from me, and my bones C'D^j construed as fern, like ch. 
xix. 20, Ps. cii. 6) are consumed, or put in a glow ( n ^, Milel, 



1 It is worth while to cite a passage from Shaw's Travels in Barbary, 
ii. 348 (transl.), here: "When the ostriches are running and fighting, they 
sometimes make a wild, hideous, hissing noise with their throats distended 
and beaks open ; at another time, if they meet with a slight opposition, 
they have a glucking or cackling voice like our domestic fowls : they seem 
to rejoice and laugh at the terror of their adversary. During the loneli- 
ness of the night however, as if their voice had a totally different tone, 
they often set up a dolorous, hideous moan, which at one time resembles 
the roar of the lion, and at another is more like the hoarser voice of other 
quadrupeds, especially the bull and cow. I have often heard them groan 
as if they were in the greatest agonies." In General Doumas' book on the 
Horse of the Sahara, I have read that the male ostrich (delini), when it 
is killed, especially if its young ones are near, sends forth a dolorous 
note, while the female (remda), on the other hand, does not utter a 
sound; and so, when the ostrich digs out its nest, one hears a languishing 
and dolorous tone all day long, and when it has laid its egg, its usual 
cry is again heard, only about three o'clock in the afternoon. 



172 THE BOOK OF JOB. 



from "HH, as Ezek. xxiv. 11) by a parching heat. Thus, then, 
his harp became mournful, and his pipe (^JVl with j raphatum) 
the cry of the weepers ; the cheerful music (comp. ch. xxi. 12) 
has been turned into gloomy weeping and sobbing (comp. 
Lam. v. 15). Thus the second part of the monologue closes. 
It is somewhat lengthened and tedious; it is Job's last sorrow- 
ful lament before the catastrophe. What a delicate touch of 
the poet is it that he makes this lament, ver. 31, die away so 
melodiously ! One hears the prolonged vibration of its elegiac 
strains. The festive and joyous music is hushed ; the only 
tones are tones of sadness and lament, mesto, flebile. 

THE THIRD PART OF THE MONOLOGUE. CHAP. xxxr. 
Schema: 8. 9. 8. 6. 6. 10. 10. 4. 4. 5. 7. 6. 

1 I have made a covenant with mine eyes, 

And how should I fix my gaze upon a maiden ! 

2 What then would be the dispensation of Eloah from above, 
And the inheritance of the Almighty from the heights 

3 Doth not calamity overtake the wicked, 
And misfortune the workers of evil? 

4 Doth He not see my ways 
A nd count all my steps ? 

After Job has described and bewailed the harsh contrast 
between the former days and the present, he gives us a 
picture of his moral life and endeavour, in connection with 
the character of which the explanation of his present affliction 
as a divinely decreed punishment becomes impossible, and the 
sudden overthrow of his prosperity into this abyss of suffer- 
ing becomes to him, for the same reason, the most painful 
mystery. Job is not an Israelite, he is without the pale of 
the positive, Sinaitic revelation ; his religion is the old patri- 
archal religion, which even in the present day is called din 
Ibrahim (the religion of Abraham), or din elbedu (the 



CHAP. XXXI. 1-4. 173 

religion of the steppe) as the religion of those Arabs who are 
not Moslem, or at least influenced by the penetrating Islamism, 
and is called by Mejanishi el-hanifije (vid. supra, i. p. 216, 
note) as the patriarchally orthodox religion. 1 As little as 
this religion, even in the present day, is acquainted with the 
specific Mohammedan commandments, so little knew Job of 
the specifically Israelitish. On the contrary, his confession, 
which he lays down in this third monologue, coincides re- 
markably with the ten commandments of piety (el-feldh) 
peculiar to the dm Ibrahim, although it differs in this respect, 
that it does not give the prominence to submission to the 
dispensations of God, that teslim which, as the whole of this 
didactic poem teaches by its issue, is the duty of the per- 
fectly pious; also bravery in defence of holy property and 
rights is wanting, which among the wandering tribes is 
accounted as an essential part of the helbet er-rih (inspiration 
of the Divine Being), i.e. active piety, and to which it is 
similarly related, as to the binding notion of "honour" which 
was coined by the western chivalry of the middle ages. 

Job begins with the duty of chastity. Consistently with the 
prologue, which the drama itself nowhere belies, he is living in 
monogamy, as at the present day the orthodox Arabs, averse to 
Islamism, are not addicted to Moslem polygamy. With the 

1 Also in the Merg district east of Damascus, which is peopled by 
an ancient unmixed race, because the fever which prevails there kills 
strangers, remnants of the din Ibrahim have been preserved despite the 
penetrating Islamism. There the mulaqqin (Souffleur), who says the 
creed into the grave as a farewell to the buried one, adds the following 
words : " The muslim is my brother, the muslima my sister, Abraham is 
my father (a&i), his religion (dinuli) is mine, and his confession (medh- 
JiebuJi) mine." It is indisputable that the words muslim (one who is sub- 
missive to God) and islam (submission to God) have originally belonged 
to the din Ibrahim. It is also remarkable that the Moslem salutation 
selam occurs only as a sign in war among the wandering tribes, and that 
the guest parts from his host with the words: ddimd besdt el-Chalil, Id 
maqtu' wald memnu\ i.e. mayest thou always have Abraham's table, and 
plenty of provisions and guests. WETZST. 



174 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

confession of having maintained this marriage (although, to 
infer from the prologue, it was not an over-happy, deeply 
sympathetic one) sacred, and restrained himself not only from 
every adulterous act, but also from adulterous desires, his 
confessions begin. Here, in the middle of the Old Testa- 
ment, without the pale of the Old Testament ^0/1.09, we meet 
just that moral strictness and depth with which the Preacher 
on the mount, Matt. v. 27 sq., opposes the spirit to the letter 
of the seventh commandment. It is W#? 9 not TJTDJJ (comp. 
ch. xl. 28), designedly ; WJ JV"tt m3 or HS is the usual phrase 
where two equals are concerned ; on the contrary, ? JTna ma 
where the superior Jehovah, or a king, or conqueror binds 
himself to another under prescribed conditions, or the cove- 
nant is made not so much by a mutual advance as by the one 
taking the initiative. In this latter case, the secondary notions 
of a promise given (e.g. Isa. Iv. 3), or even, as here, of a law 
prescribed, are combined with JVQ ma : " as lord of my 
senses I prescribed this law for my eyes " (Ew.). The eyes, 
says a Talmudic proverb, are the procuresses of sin (niDiD 
WJ ntfBm) ; " to close his eyes, that they may not feast on. 
evil," is, in Isa. xxxiii. 15, a clearly defined line in the picture 
of him on whom the everlasting burnings can have no hold. 
The exclamation, ver. 16, is spoken with self-conscious indig- 
nation : Why should I ... (comp. Joseph's exclamation, 
Gen. xxxix. 9) ; Schultens correctly : est indignatio repellens 
vehementissime et negans tale quicquam committi par esse ; the 
transition of the HD, U, to the expression of negation, which 
is complete in Arabic, is here in its incipient state, Ew. 
325, b. ?y IP.^'? is intended to express a fixed and inspect- 
ing (comp. ^N, 1 Kings iii. 21) gaze upon an object, combined 
with a lascivious imagination (comp. Sir. ix. 5, irapOevov fjirj 
KarajjidvOave^ and ix. 8, aTTOG-rpe^rov ofyOdKfjLov CLTTO <yvvcu/cbs 
evfji6p(j)ov KOI fJLrj Kara/jidvOave /caXXo? aXXorptoz/), a {B\eTrew 
which issues in eVttfu/^crafc avrrjVy Matt. v. 28. Adulteriiuii 



CHAP. XXXI. 1-4. 175 

reale, and in fact two-sided, is first spoken of in the third 
strophe, here it is adulterium mentale and one-sided ; the object 
named is not any maiden whatever, but any "Y^, because 
virginity is ever to be revered, a most sacred thing, the holy 
purity of which Job acknowledges himself to have guarded 
against profanation from any lascivious gaze by keeping a 
strict watch over his eyes. The Waw of npi is, as in ver. 14, 
copulative : and if I had done it, what punishment might I 
have looked for 1 

The question, ver. 2, is proposed in order that it may be 
answered in ver. 3 again in the form of a question : in con- 
sideration of the just punishment which the injurer of female 
innocence meets, Job disavows every unchaste look. On p?n 
and rpnj. used of allotted, adjudged punishment, comp. ch. 
xx. 29, xxvii. 13 ; on 133., which alternates with TK (burden of 
suffering, misfortune), comp. Obad. ver. 12, where in its stead 
"i?.3 occurs, as Arab, nukr, properly id quod patienti paradoxum, 
insuetum, intolerable videtur, omne ingratum (Eeiske). Con- 
scious of the just punishment of the unchaste, and, as he adds 
in ver. 4, of the omniscience of the heavenly Judge, Job has 
made dominion over sin, even in its first beginnings and 
motions, his principle. 

The Nin, which gives prominence to the subject, means 
Him who punishes the unchaste. By Him who observes his 
walk on every side, and counts ("^D*, plene, according to 
Ew. 138, a, on account of the pause, but vid. the similar 
form of writing, ch. xxxix. 2, xviii. 15) all his steps, Job has 
been kept back from sin, and to Him Job can appeal as a 
witness. 

5 If I had intercourse with falsehood. 
And my foot hastened after deceit : 

6 Let Him weigh me in the balances of justice, 
And let Eloah know my innocence. 



176 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

7 If my steps turned aside from the way. 
And my heart followed mine eyes. 
And any spot hath cleaved to my hands : 

8 May I sow and another eat, 
And let my shoots be rooted out. 

We have translated NIB* (on the form vid. on ch. xv. 31, 

: IT \ / 

and the idea on ch. xi. 11) falsehood, for it signifies desolate- 
ness and hollowness under a concealing mask, therefore the 
contradiction between what is without and within, lying and 
deceit, parall. n ?"}p, deceit, delusion, imposition. The phrase 
fcflB^Dy Tjpn is based on the personification of deceit, or on 
thinking of it in connection with the Nlt^'TlD (ch. xi. 11). 
The form t?nJjfl cannot be derived from K^n, from which it 
ought to be P'nrn, like lp;i Judg. iv. 18 and freq., *v^l 
(serravit) 1 Chron. xx. 3, B#J5 (increpavit) 1 Sam. xxv. 14. 
Many grammarians (Ges. 72, rem. 9 ; Olsh. 257, g) ex- 
plain the Pathach instead of Kametz as arising from the 
virtual doubling of the guttural (Dagesh forte implicitum\ 
for which, however, no ground exists here; Ewald ( 232, b) 
explains it by u the hastening of the tone towards the begin- 
ning," which explains nothing, since the retreat of the tone 
has not this effect anywhere else. We must content ourselves 
with the supposition that tPHHt is formed from a n^'n having 
a similar meaning to ^n (^n), as also BJW, 1 Sam. xv. 19, 
comp. xiv. 32, is from a ntpy of similar signification with &V. 
The hypothetical antecedent, ver. 5, is followed by the con- 
clusion, ver. 6 : If he have done this, may God not spare 
him. He has, however, not done it ; and if God puts him to 
an impartial trial, He will learn his nfcfl, integritas, purity of 
character. The " balance of justice " is the balance of the 
final judgment, which the Arabs call JU^I &]}**y "^ ie 
balance of actions (works)." 1 

1 The manual of ethics by Ghazzali is entitled mizdn el-dmul in the 



CHAP. XXXI. 5-8. 177 



Ver. 7 also begins hypotlietically : if my steps ("H^K from 
K, which is used alternately with "WtW without distinction, 
contrary to Ew. 260, b) swerve (nisri, the predicate to the 
plur. which follows, designating a thing, according to Ges. 
146, 3) from the way (i.e. the one right way), and my heart 
went after my eyes, i.e. if it followed the drawing of the lust 
of the eye, viz. to obtain by deceit or extortion the property 
of another, and if a spot (D1ND, macula, as Dan. i. 4, = DID, 
ch. xi. 15 ; according to Ew., equivalent to Dinp, what is 
blackened and blackens, then a blemish, and according to 

L . 

Olsh., in HDWD . . . KP, like the French ne . . . point) clave 
to my hands : I will sow, and let another eat, and let my 
shoots be rooted out. The poet uses DWKtf elsewhere of off- 

1 TV: iv 

spring of the body or posterity, ch. v. 25, xxi. 8, xxvii. 14 ; 
here, however, as in Isaiah, with whom he has this word in 
common, ch. xxxiv. 2, xlii. 5, the produce of the ground is 
meant. Ver. Sa is, according to John iv. 37, a Xo^yo?, proverb. 
In so far as he may have acted thus, Job calls down upon 
himself the curse of Deut. xxviii. 30 sq. : what he sows, let 
strangers reap and eat ; and even when that which is sown 
does not fall into the hands of strangers, let it be uprooted. 

9 If my heart has been befooled about a woman, 
And if I lay in wait at my neighbour s door : 

10 Let my wife grind unto another, 
And let others bow down over her. 

11 For this is an infamous act, 

And this is a crime [to be brought before"] judges ; 

12 Yea, it is a fire that consumeth to the abyss, 
And should root out all my increase. 

As he has guarded himself against defiling virgin innocence 



original, p1 ^TKD in Bar-Chisdai's translation, vid. Gosche on Ghazzali's 
life and works, S. 261 of the volume of the Berliner Akademie d. Wis- 
sensch. for 1858. 

VOL. II. M 



178 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

'by lascivious glances, so is he also conscious of having made 
no attempt to trespass upon the marriage relationship of his 
neighbour (jn as in the Decalogue, Ex. xx. 17) : his heart 
was not persuaded, or he did not allow his heart to be per- 
suaded (nriDJ like ireiOecrOai), i.e. misled, on account of a 
woman (^WK as B^N nt?K, in post-bibl. usage, of another's 
wife), and he lay not in wait (according to the manner of 
adulterous lovers described at ch. xxiv. 15, which see) at his 
neighbour's door. We may here, with Wetzstein, compare the 

like-minded confession in a poem of Muhadi ibn-Muhammel : 

/ / / 

lx< ili c-J/ < ^3 U i.e. "The neihbour's do 



never barked (33, Beduin equivalent to H23 in the Syrian 
towns and villages) on our account (because we had gone by 
night with an evil design to his tent), and it never howled 
(being beaten by us, to make it cease its barking lest it should 
betray us)." In ver. 10 follows the punishment which he 
wishes might overtake him in case he had acted thus : " may 
my wife grind to another," i.e. may she become his " maid 
behind the mill," Ex. xi. 5, comp. Isa. xlvii. 2, who must 
allow herself to be used for everything ; aXer/n? and a 
common low woman (comp. Plutarch, non posse suav. viv. 
c. 21, KOI Traxyo-KeXys aXerpls 777305 fAv\r)v KLVOV/JLCVIJ) are 
almost one and the same. On the other hand, the Targ. 
(coeat cum alio\ LXX. (euphemistically apetrai, erepq), not, 
as the Syr. Hexapl. shows, aXecrat), and Jer. (scortum sit 
alterius), and in like manner Saad., Gecat., understand fnpJl 
directly of carnal surrender ; and, in fact, according to the 
traditional opinion, b. Sota lOa : m*3y pt$ *6tf nrnD ptf, i.e. 
" }ntD everywhere in Scripture is intended of (carnal) trespass." 
With reference to Judg. xvi. 21 and Lam. v. 13 (where flntp, 



like uj-^k, signifies the upper mill-stone, or in gen. the mill), 
this is certainly incorrect; the parallel, as well as Deut. 



CHAP. XXXI. 9-12. 179 

xxviii. 30, favours this rendering of the word in the obscene 
sense of jAvXhew, molere, in this passage, which also is seen 



under the Arab, synon. of grinding, cJ>&J (trudere); accord- 

ing to which it would have to be interpreted : let her grind 
to another, i.e. serve him as it were as a nether mill-stone. 
The verb jntp, used elsewhere (in Talmud.) of the man, would 
here be transferred to the woman, like as it is used of the mill 
itself as that which grinds. This rendering is therefore not 
refuted by its being intpn and not |ntjn. Moreover, the word 
thus understood is not unworthy of the poet, since he de- 
signedly makes Job seize the strongest expressions. Among 
moderns, jrtDn is thus tropically explained by Ew., Umbr., 
Hahn, and a few others, but most expositors prefer the proper 
sense, in connection with which molat certainly, especially 
with respect to ver. 96, is also equivalent to fiat pellex. It is 
hard to decide; nevertheless the preponderance of reasons 
seems to us to be on the side of the traditional tropical render- 
ing, by the side of which ver. 106 is not attached in progressive, 
but in synonymous parallelism: et super ea incurvent se alii, JH3 
of the man, as in the phrase tJs-jH ,J! ifU*H liS-vcp (curvat 
se mulier ad virum) of the acquiescence of the woman ; p.ns 
is a poetical Aramaism, Ew. 177, a. The sin of adultery, 
in case he had committed it, ought to be punished by another 
taking possession of his own wife, for that (fettn a neutral masc., 
Keri feOn in accordance with the fern, of the following pre- 
dicate, comp. Lev. xviii. 17) is an infamous act, and that (K^n 
referring back to riDT, Keri fcttPi in accordance with the masc. 
of the following predicate) is a crime for the judges. On 
this wavering between Kin and KTI vid. Gesenius, Uandworter- 
buch, 1863, 8. v. wn, S. 225. n?jT is the usual Thora-word 
for the shameless subtle encroachments of sensual desires 
(vid. Saalschutz, Mosaisches Recht, S. 791 f.), and D*W| fiy 
(not fiy.), according to the usual view equivalent to crimen et 



180 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

crimen quidem judicum (however, on the form of connection 
intentionally avoided here, where the genitival relation might 
easily give an erroneous sense, vid. Ges. 116, rem.), signifies 
a crime which falls within the province of the penal code, for 
which in ver. 28 it is less harshly vv3 py : a judicial, i.e. 
criminal offence. EyvB is, moreover, not the plur. of yv3 
(Kimchi), but of ?v), an arbitrator (root ?a, findere, dirimere). 
The confirmatory clause, ver. 12, is co-ordinate with the 
preceding: for it (this criminal, adulterous enterprise) is a 
fire, a fire consuming him who allows the sparks of sinful 
desire to rise up within him (Prov. vi. 27 sq. ; Sir. ix. 8), 
which devours even to the bottom of the abyss, not resting 
before it has dragged him whom it has seized down with it 
into the deepest depth of ruin, and as it were melted him 
away, and which ought to root out all my produce (all the 
fruit of my labour). 1 The function of 3 is questionable. 
Ew. ( 217, /) explains it as local: in my whole revenue, i.e. 
throughout my whole domain. But it can also be Beth objecti, 
whether it be that the obj. is conceived as the means of the 
action (vid. on ch. xvi. 4, 5, 10, xx. 20), or that, " correspond- 
ing to the Greek genitive, it does not express an entire full 
coincidence, but an action about and upon the object" (Ew. 
217, S. 557). We take it as Beth obj. in the latter sense, 
after the analogy of the so-called pleonastic Arab. L-J (e.g. 
qaraa bi-suwari, he has practised the act of reading upon the 
Suras of the Koran) : and which ought to undertake the act 
of outrooting upon my whole produce. 2 

1 It is something characteristically Semitic to express the notion of 
destruction by the figure of burning up with fire [vid. supra, i. 377, note], 
and it is so much used in the present day as a natural inalienable form of 
thought, that in curses and imprecations everything, without distinction 
of the object, is to be burned; e.g. jvhrik, may (God) burn up, or juhrak, 
ought to burn, biladuh, his native country, bedenuh, his body, 'enuh, his 
eye, sTiawaribuh, his moustache (i.e. his honour), nefesuli, his breath, 
'omruh, his life, etc. WETZST. 

2 On this pleonastic Beth oty. (el-Bd el-mezide) vid. Samachschari's 



CHAP. XXXI. 13-15. 181 

13 If I despised the cause of my servant and my maid, 
When they contended with me : 

14 What should I do, if God should rise up, 

And if He should make search, what should I answer Him ? 

15 Hath not He who formed me in the womb formed him also, 
And hath not One fashioned us in the belly? 

It might happen, as ver. 13 assumes, that his servant or 

S'-S. 

his maid (""!% ^, denotes a maid who is not necessarily a 
slave, 'abde, as ch. xix. 15, whereas nna^ does not occur in 



the book) contended with him, and in fact so that they on 
their part began the dispute (for, as the Talmud correctly 
points out, it is not D?y ^na, but nay D ? n .?) 7 but he did not 
then treat them as a despot ; they were not accounted as res 
but personce by him, he allowed them to maintain their per- 
sonal right in opposition to him. Christopher Scultetus ob- 
serves here : Gentiles quidem non concedebant jus servo contra 
dominum, GUI etiam vitce necisque potestas in ipsum erat; sed 
lob amore justitice libere se demisit, ut vel per alios judices aut 
arbilros litem talem curaret decidi vel sibi ipsi sit moderates, 
ut juste pronuntiaret. If he were one who despised (DNEX, 
not VIDND) his servants' cause: what should he do if God 

: - T / 

arose and entered into judgment; and if He should appoint 
an examination (thus Hahn correctly, for the conclusion 
shows that 1p2 is here a synon. of jra Ps. xvii. 3, and npn Ps. 
xliv. 22, jJL ; , V., VIII., accurate inspicere), what should he 
answer ? 



Z, ed. Broch, pp. 125, 132 (according to which it serves " to give 
intensity and speciality"), and Beidhawi's observation on Sur. ii. 191. 
The most usual example for it is alqa bi-jedeihi ila et-tahlike, he has 
plunged his hands, i.e. himself, into ruin. The Bd el-megdz (the meta- 
phorical Belli obj.} is similar ; it is used where the verb has not its most 
natural signification but a metaphorical one, e.g. ashada bidhikrihi, he 
has strengthened his memory: comp. De Sacy, Chreslomathie Arabe, i. 397. 



182 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

Ver. 15. The same manner of birth, by the same divine 
creative power and the same human agency, makes both 
master and servant substantially brethren with equal claims : 
Has not He who brought me forth in my mother's womb 
(also) brought forth him (this my servant or my maid), and 
has not One fashioned us in our mother's belly? ins, unus, 
viz. God, is the subj., as Mai. ii. 10, "1HK (3K) 5>N (for the 
thought comp. Eph. vi. 9), as it is also translated by the 
Targ., Jer., Saad., and Gecat. ; whereas the LXX. (ev rfj 
avry ot?ua), Syr., Symm. (as it appears from his translation 
ev oyu-otft) T/DOTTW), construe *inK as the adj. to EH"!?? which is 
also the idea of the accentuation (Rebia mugrasch, Merclia, 
Silluk). On the other hand, it has been observed (also 
Norzi) that it ought to be "in^ri according to this meaning ; 
but it was not absolutely necessary, vid. Ges. 111, 2, b. ^nx 
also would not be unsuitable in this combination ; it would, as 
e.g. in ins Dl^n, not affirm identity of number, but of character. 
But nntf is far more significant, and as the final word of the 

o / 

strophe more expressive, when referred to God. The form 
}3J^1 is to be judged of just like HttDrn, Isa. Ixiv. 6 ; either 
they are forms of an exceptionally transitive (as D^, Ps. 
Ixxxv. 5, and in IYQ&? 21^) use of the Kal of these verbs (vid. 
e.g. Parchon and Kimchi), or they are syncopated forms of 
the Pilel for to33h*j, EJJbWI, syncopated on account of the same 
letters coming together, especially in 1JJ33 11 ! (Ew. 81, a, and 
most others) ; but this coincidence is sought elsewhere (e.g. 
Ps. 1. 23, Prov. i. 28), and not avoided in this manner (e.g. Ps. 
cxix. 73). Beside this syncope ^3313^ might also be expected, 
while according to express testimony the first Nun is rapliatum : 
we therefore prefer to derive these forms from Kal, without 
regarding them, with Olsh., as errors in writing. The suff. 
is rightly taken by LXX., Targ., Abulwalid, and almost all 
expositors, 1 not as singular (ennu = eliu\ but as plural (ennu 
1 Also in the Jerusalem Talmud, where R. Johanan, eating nothing 



CHAP. XXXI. 16-18. 183 



= enu) \ the Babylonian school pointed ^p/D^ like 13OO where 
it signifies a nobis, U13B (Psalter ii. 459, and further informa- 
tion in Pinsker's works, Zur Geschichte des Karaismus, and 
Ueber das sogen. assyrisclie Punktations system). Therefore : 
One, i.e. one and the same God, has fashioned us in the 
womb without our co-operation, in an equally animal way, 
which smites down all pride, in like absolute conditionedness. 

16 If I held back the poor from wliat they desired, 
And caused the eyes of the widow to languish, 

17 And ate my morsel alone 

Without letting the fatherless eat thereof: 

18 No indeed, from my youth he grew up to me as to a father, 
And from my mothers ivomb I guided her 

The whole strophe is the hypothetical antecedent of the 
imprecative conclusion, ver. 22 sq., which closes the following 
strophe. Since l^p "9^ JttlJ, cohilere aliquid ab aliquo (ch. 
xxii. 7), is said as much in accordance with the usage of the 
language as "^P tyj&, cohibere aliquem ab aliquo (Num. 
xxiv. 11, Eccl. ii. 10), in the sense of denegare alicui aliquid, 
there is no reason for taking D?f* Yr}r\D together as a geni- 
tival clause (a voto tenuiwn), as the accentuation requires it. 
On r??0? vid. on ch. xxi. 21 ; it signifies solicitude (what is 
ardently desired) and business, here the former : what is 
ever the interest and want of the poor (the reduced or those 
without means). From such like things he does not keep the 
poor back, i.e. does not refuse them; and the eyes of the widow 

which he did not also share with his slave, refers to these words of Job. 
Comp. also the story from the Midrash in Guiseppe Levi's Parabeln 
Legenden und Ged. aus Thalmud und Midrascli, S. 141 (Germ, transl. 
1863) : The wife of R. Jose began a dispute with her maid. Her husband 
came up and asked the cause, and when he saw that his wife was in the 
wrong, told her so in the presence of the maid. The wife said in a rage: 
Thou sayest I am wrong in the presence of my maid? The Rabbi 
answered : I do as Job did. 



184 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

he did not cause or allow to languish ( n ??, to bring to an end, 
i.e. cause to languish, of the eyes, as Lev. xxvi. 16, 1 Sam. 
ii. 33) ; he let not their longing for assistance be consumed 
of itself, let not the fountain of their tears become dry 
without effect. If he had done the opposite, if he had eaten 
his bread (HQ = Dr6 T13) alone, and not allowed the orphan 
to eat of it with him but no, he had not acted thus ; on 
the contrary (^ as Ps. cxxx. 4 and frequently), he (the 
parentless one) grew up to him (^?13 = v 713, Ges. 121, 4, 
according to Ew. 315, &, " by the interweaving of the 
dialects of the people into the ancient form of the declining 
language;" perhaps it is more correct to say it is by virtue 
of a poetic, forced, and rare brevity of expression) as to a 
father (= 2Np ^3), and from his mother's womb he guided 
her, the helpless and defenceless widow, like a faithful child 
leading its sick or aged mother. The hyperbolical expression 
EK (Daft dates this sympathizing and active charity back to 
the very beginning of Job's life. He means to say that it 
is in-born to him, and he has exercised it ever since he was 
first able to do so. The brevity of the form WTI, brief to in- 
correctness, might be removed by the pointing "OTna (Olsh.) : 
from my youth up he (the fatherless one) honoured me as 
a father; and *OT3 instead of ^l?? would be explained by the 
consideration, that a veneration is meant that attributed a 
dignity which exceeds his age to the "IJJ3 who was not yet 
old enough to be a father. But 7?3 signifies " to cause to 
grow " in such a connection elsewhere (parall. Dpn, to raise), 
wherefore LXX. translates e^erpefyov (w 1 *!) > anc ^ '?/!*, nas 
similar examples of the construction of intransitives with the 
ace. instead of the dat. (especially Zech. vii. 5) in its favour : 
they became me great, i.e. became great in respect of me. 
Other ways of getting over the difficulty are hardly worth 
mentioning : the Syriac version reads 2N3 (pain) and ftlnjK ; 
Raschi makes ver. 18, the idea of benevolence, the subj., 



CHAP. XXXI. 19-23. 185 



and ver. 186 (as rnp, attribute) the obj. The suff. of 
Schlottm. refers to the female orphan ; but Job refers again 
to the orphan in the following strophe, and the reference to 
the widow, more natural here on account of the gender, has 
nothing against it. The choice of the verb (comp. ch. 
xxxviii. 32) also corresponds to such a reference, since the 
IJiph. has an intensified Kal- signification here. 1 From 
earliest youth, so far back as he can remember, he was wont 
to behave like a father to the orphan, and like a child to the 
widow. 

19 If I saw one perishing without clothing, 
And that the needy had no covering ; 

20 If his loins blessed me not, 

And he did not warm himself from the hide of my lambs ; 

21 If I have lifted up my hand over the orphan, 
Because I saw my help in the gate : 

22 Let my shoulder fall oat of its shoulder-Hade, 
And mine arm be broken from its bone ; 

23 For terror would come upon me, the destruction of God, 
And before His majesty I should not be able to stand. 

On "J^iK comp. on ch. iv. 11, xxix. 13 ; he who is come 
down from his right place and is perishing (root 13, to sepa- 
rate, still perfectly visible through the Arab, bdda, baida, to 
perish), or also he who is already perished, periens and perdi- 
tus. The clause, ver. 195, forms the second obj. to nN*iK DK, 
which otherwise signifies si video, but here, in accordance 



1 IDf and T3tn, to remember ; jnf and JJi-ifn, to sow, to cover with 
seed ; vhn and E>Hnn, both in the signification silere and fdbricari ; jy? 
and J^il, to mock, ch. xxi. 3 ; ^>b and ^fcfon, dominari, ch. xxv. 2 ; 
and nan, to extend, to bow, njp and ropH (to obtain by purchase); 
and "VVpH, to reap, ch. xxiv. 6, are all similar. In Arab, the Kal 
nahaituhu signifies I put him aside by going on one side (nahw or nah?)'e), 
the Hiph. anhaituhu, I put him aside by bringing him to the side (comp. 
", ch. xii. 23). 



186 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

with the connection, signifies si videbam. The blessing of the 
thankful (ch. xxix. 13) is transferred from the person to the 
limbs in ver. 20a, which need and are benefited by the warmth 
imparted. fcO'DK here is not an expression of an affirmative 
asseveration, but a negative turn to the continuation of the 
hypothetical antecedents. The shaking, ^n, of the hand, 
ver. 2 la, is intended, like Isa. xi. 15, xix. 16 (comp. the Pilel, 
ch. x. 32), Zech. ii. 13, as a preparation for a crushing stroke. 
Job refrained himself from such designs upon the defenceless 
orphan, even when he saw his help in the gate, i.e. before the 
tribunal (ch. xxix. 7), i.e. even when he had a certain prospect 
of powerful assistance there. If he has acted otherwise, his 
^HS, i.e. his upper arm together with the shoulder, must fall 
out from its D3K>, i.e. the back which bears it together with 
the shoulder-blades, and his JT 1 .^, upper and lower arm, which 
is considered here according to its outward flesh, must be 
broken out of its njj^ tube, i.e. the reed-like hollow bone which 
gives support to it, i.e. be broken asunder from its basis (Syr. a 
radice sua\ this sinning arm, which did not compassionate the 
naked, and mercilessly threatened the defenceless and helpless. 
The n raphatum which follows in both cases, and the express 
testimony of the Masora, show that HljZJl^p and n^p have no 
Mappik. The He quiescens, however, is in both instances 
softened from the He mappic. of the stiff., Ew. 2 1,/. 1HQ in 
ver. 23 is taken by most expositors as predicate : for terror is 
(was) to me evil as God, the righteous judge, decrees it. But 
vX is not favourable to this. It establishes the particular thing 
which he imprecates upon himself, and that consequently 
which, according to his own conviction and perception, ought 
justly to overtake him out of the general mass, viz. that terror 
ought to come upon him, a divinely decreed weight of afflic- 
tion. *?$ TK is a permutative of ins = tfrbx nna, and '!> with 
Dechi equivalent to vK (K3J) HVV, comp. Jer. ii. 19 (where it 
is to be interpreted : and that thou lettest no fear before me 



CHAP. XXXI. 21-28. 187 

come over thee). Tims also ver. 23fr is suitably connected 
with the preceding : and I should not overcome His majesty, 
i.e. I should succumb to it. The |O corresponds to the prcs 
in prcevalerem; nxfc> (LXX. falsely, \f)/jLua, judgment, de- 
cision = NbD, Jer. pondus) is not intended otherwise than ch. 
xiiL 11 (parall. iri3 as here). 



24 If I made gold my confidence, 

And said to the fine gold : my trust; 

25 If I rejoiced that my wealth was great, 
And that my hand had gained much ; 

26 If I saw the sunlight when it shone, 
And the moon walking in splendour, 

27 And my heart was secretly enticed, 
And I threw them a kiss by my hand : 

28 This also would be a punishable crime, 

For I should have played the hypocrite to God above. 

Not only from covetous extortion of another's goods was he 
conscious of being clear, but also from an excessive delight in 
earthly possessions. He has not made gold his /D3, confidence 
(vid. on I^JpS, ch. iv. 6) ; he has not said to DHS, fine gold 
(pure, ch. xxviii. 19, of Ophir, xxviii. 16), ''nttolp (with Dag. 
forte implicitum as ch. viii. 14, xviii. 14) : object (ground) of 
my trust ! He has not rejoiced that his wealth is great (2"i_, 
adj.), and that his hand has attained "VM, something great 
(neutral masc. Ew. 172, b}. His joy was the fear of God, 
which ennobles man, not earthly things, which are not worthy 
to be accounted as man's highest good. He indeed avoided 
7r\ove%la as 6l\a)\6\arpela (Col. iii. 5), how much more 
the heathenish deification of the stars! lix is here, as ch. 
xxxvii. 21 and <ao? in Homer, the sun as the great light of 
the earth. HT is the moon as a wanderer (from m = mx), 
i.e. night-wanderer (noctivaga), as the Arab, idrik in a like 
sense is the name of the morning-star. The two words 

o 



188 THE BOOK OF JOB. 



^i describe with exceeding beauty the solemn majestic 
wandering of the moon ; "ip 1 " is ace. of closer definition, like 
t^DDj Ps. xv. 2, and this "brilliantly rolling on " is the ace. of 
the predicate to nsnx ? corresponding to the ?nj *3 y " that (or 
how) it shoots forth rays " (Hiph. of ??n, distinct from ?n* 
Isa. xiii. 20), or even : that it shot forth rays (fut. in signif. 
of an imperf. as Gen. xlviii. 17). 

Ver. 27 proceeds with futt. consec. in order to express the 
effect which this imposing spectacle of the luminaries of the 
day and of the night might have produced on him, but has 
not. The Kal fi s l is to be understood as in Deut. xi. 16 
(comp. ib. iv. 19, rna) : it was enticed, gave way to the 
seducing influence. Kissing is called P?'i as being a joining 
of lip to lip. Accordingly the kiss by hand can be described 
bv n ^ ta|<l n P^ ; the kiss which the mouth gives the hand is 

7 V : T T I |T * 

to a certain extent also a kiss which the hand gives the mouth, 
since the hand joins itself to the mouth. Thus to kiss the 
hand in the direction of the object of veneration, or also to 
turn to it the kissed hand and at the same time the kiss which 
fastens on it (as compensation for the direct kiss, 1 Kings 
xix. 18, Hos. xiii. 2), is the proper gesture of the 7rpocrKvv7)cris 
and adoratio mentioned ; comp. Pliny, h. n. xxviii. 2, 5 : Inter 
adorandum dexteram ad osculum referimus et totum corpus 
circumagimus. Tacitus, Hist. iii. 24, says that in Syria they 
salute the rising sun ; and that this was done by kissing the 
hand (rrjv %etpa Kvaavres) in Western Asia as in Greece, is 
to be inferred from Lucian's Hepl op^o-eas, c. xvii. 1 In the 
passage before us Ew. finds an indication of the spread of the 
Zoroaster doctrine in the beginning of the seventh century 
B.C., at which period he is of opinion the book of Job was 
composed, but without any ground. The ancient Persian 

1 Vid. Freund's Lat. Worterbuch s. v. adqrare, and K. Fr. Hermann's 
Gottesdienstliche Alterth. der Grieclien, c. xxi. 16, but especially Excursus 
123 in Doutseus' Analecta. 



CHAP. XXXI. 24-28. 189 

worship lias no knowledge of the act of adoration by throw- 
ing a kiss: and the Avesta recognises in the sun and moon 

n ' o 

exalted genii, but created by Ahuramazda, and consequently 
not such as are to be worshipped as gods. On the other 
hand, star-worship is everywhere the oldest and also com- 
paratively the purest form of heathenism. That the ancient 
Arabs, especially the Himjarites, adored the sun, tyB>, and the 
moon, f& (po, whence ^p, the mountain dedicated to the 
moon), as divine, we know from the ancient testimonies, 1 and 
many inscriptions 2 which confirm and supplement them; and 
the general result of Chwolsohn's 3 researches is unimpeachable, 
that the so-called Sabiaris (^ T oL? with or without Hamza of 
the Je), of whom a section bore the name of worshippers 
of the sun, sliemsije, were the remnant of the ancient 
heathenism of Western Asia, which lasted into the middle 
ages. This heathenism, which consisted, according to its 
basis, in the worship of the stars, was also spread over Syria, 
and its name, usually combined with CJ^O^n aoy (Deut. iv. 19), 
perhaps is not wholly devoid of connection with the name of 
a district of Syria, HliX b")K ; certainly our poet found it 
already there, where he< heard the tradition about Job, and 
in his hero presents to us a true adherent of the patriarchal 
religion, who had kept himself free from the influence of the 
worship of the stars, which was even in his time forcing its 
way among the tribes. 

It is questionable whether ver. 28 is to be regarded as a con- 
clusion, with Umbr. and others, or as a parenthesis, with Ew., 
Hahn, Schlottm., and others. We take it as a conclusion, 
against which there is no objection according to the syntax, 



1 Vid. the collection in Lud. Krehl's Religion der vorislamisclien Araber, 
1863. 

2 Vid. Osiander in the Deutsche Morgenl. ZeitscJir. xvii. (1863) 795. 

3 In his great work, Ueber die Ssalier und den Ssalismus, 2 Bdd. 
Petersburg, 1856. 



190 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

although strictly it is only a confirmation (vid. vers. 11, 23) 
of an implied imprecatory conclusion : therefore it is (would 
be) also a judicial misdeed, i.e. one to be severely punished, 
for I should have played the hypocrite to God above fitib 
7JN3!?, recalling the universal Arabic expression allah tddla, 
God, the Exalted One) by making gold and silver, the sun 
and moon my idols. By y v3 both the sins belonging to the 
judgment-seat of God, as in eVo^o? TU> o-vveSpiip, Matt. v. 22, 
are not referred to a human tribunal, but only described /car 
avOpwjrov as punishable transgressions of the highest grade. 
p syns signifies to play the hypocrite to any one, whereas to 
disown any one is expressed by 3 ^HD. His worship of God 
would have been hypocrisy, if he had disowned in secret the 
God whom he acknowledged openly and outwardly. 

Now follow strophes to which the conclusion is wanting. 
The single imprecatory conclusion which yet follows (ver. 40), 
is not so worded that it might avail for all the preceding 
hypothetical antecedents. There are therefore in these 
strophes no conclusions that correspond to the other clauses. 
The inward emotion of the confessor, which constantly in- 
creases in fervour the more he feels himself superior to his 
accusers in the exemplariness of his life hitherto, struggles 
against this rounding off of the periods. A "yea then !" 
is easily supplied in thought to these strophes which per 
aposiopesin are devoid of conclusions. 

29 If I rejoiced over the destruction of him wlio hated me, 
And became excited ivhen evil came upon him 

30 Yet I did not allow my palate to sin 
By calling down a curse upon his life. 

The aposiopesis is here manifest, for ver. 29 is evidently 
equal to a solemn denial, to which ver. 30 is then attached as 
a simple negative. He did not rejoice at the destruction 



CHAP. XXXI. 29, 30. 191 

c, / 

(T3, Arab. JuJ, /^d, 1 as ch. xii. 5, xxx. 24) of his enemy who 

was full of hatred towards him ('Wfenp, elsewhere also t| ^) ? 
and was not excited with delight ("P.ynn, to excite one's self, 
a description of emotion, whether it be pleasure, or as ch. 
xvii. 8, displeasure, as a not merely passive but moral incident) 
if calamity came upon him, and he did not allow his palate 
(^n as the instrument of speech, like ch. vi. 30) to sin by 
asking God that he might die as a curse. Love towards an 
enemy is enjoined by the Thora, Ex. xxiii. 4, but it is more 
or less with a national limitation, Lev. xix. 18, because the 
Thora is the law of a people shut out from the rest of the 
world, and in a state of war against it (according to which 
Matt. v. 43 is to be understood) ; the books of the Chokma, 
however (comp. Prov. xxiv. 17, xxv. 21), remove every limit 
from the love of enemies, and recognise no difference, but 
enjoin love towards man as man. With ver. 30 this strophe 
closes. Among modern expositors, only Arnh. takes in ver. 
31 as belonging to it : " Would not the people of my tent 
then have said : Would that we had of his flesh ? ! we have 
not had enough of it," i.e. we would eat him up both skin 
and hair. Of course it does not mean after the manner of 
cannibals, but figuratively, as ch. xix. 22 ; but in a figurative 
sense "to eat any one's flesh" in Semitic is equivalent to 
lacerare, vellicare, obtrectare (vid. on ch. xix. 22, and comp. 
also Sur. xlix. 12 of the Koran, and Schultens' Erpenius, 
pp. 592 sq.), which is not suitable here, as in general this 
drawing of ver. 31 to ver. 29 sq. is in every respect, and 

1 Gesenius derives the noun TD from the verb T3, but the Arabic, 
which is the test here, has not only the verb fdda as med. u and as med. i 
in the signification to die, but also in connection with el-feid (fed) the 
substantival form el-fid (= el-mot), which (= fiwd, comp. p. 26, note) is 
referable to fdda, med. u. Thus Neshwun, who in his Lexicon (vol. ii. 
fol. 119) even only knows /ac/a, med. M, in the signif. to die (comp. infra 
on ch. xxxix. 18, note). 



192 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

especially that of the syntax, inadmissible. It is the duty of 
beneficence, which Job acknowledges having practised, in 
ver. 31 sq. 

31 If the people of my tent were not obliged to say : 

Where would there be one who has not been satisfied with 
his flesh ? ! 

32 The stranger did not lodge out of doors, 
I opened my door towards the street. 

Instead of ^P^, it might also be ViEX* 1 (dicebant) ; the perf., 
however, better denotes not merely what happens in a general 
way, but what must come to pass. The " people of the tent" 
are all who belong to it, like the Arab, did (tent, metonyrn. 
dwellers in the tent), here pre-eminently the servants, but 
without the expression in itself excluding wife, children, and 
relations. The optative |np*?? so often spoken of already, is 
here, as in ver. 35, ch. xiv. 4, xxix. 2, followed by the ace. 
objecti, for #3?^ is part, with the long accented a, (quis ex- 
hibebit or exhibeat non saturation), and f*wafi is not meant of 
the flesh of the person (as even the LXX. in bad taste 
renders : that his maids would have willingly eaten him, their 
kind master, up from love to him), but of the flesh of the cattle 
of the host. Our translation follows the accentuation, which, 
however, perhaps proceeds from an interpretation like that of 
Arnheim given above. His constant and ready hospitality is 
connected with the mention of his abundant care and pro- 
vision for his own household. It is unnecessary to take rnx ? 
with the ancient versions, for rnfc, or so to read it ; nnN? sig- 
nifies towards the street, where travellers are to be expected, 
comp. Pirke aboth i. 5 : " May thy house be open into the 
broad place (""iny"]?), and may the poor be thy guests." The 
Arabs pride themselves on the exercise of hospitality. " To 
open a guest-chamber" is the same as to establish one's own 
household in Arabic. Stories of judgments by which the 



CHAP. XXXI. 33, 34. 193 

want of hospitality has been visited, form an important ele- 
ment of the popular traditions of the Arabs. 1 

33 If I have hidden my wickedness like Adam, 
Concealing my guilt in my bosom, 

34 Because I feared the great multitude 

And the contempt of families affrighted me, 

So that I acted secretly, went not out of the door. 

Most expositors translate &"]? : after the manner of men ; 
but appropriate as this meaning of the expression is in Ps. 
Ixxxii. 7, in accordance with the antithesis and the parallelism 
(which see), it would be as tame here, and altogether expres- 
sionless in the parallel passage Hos. vi. 7 2 the passage which 
comes mainly under consideration here since the force of 
the prophetic utterance : " they have D1&O transgressed the 
covenant," consists in this, " that Israel is accused of a trans- 

1 In the spring of 1860 relates Wetzstein as I came out of the 
forest of Golan, I saw the water of Ram lying before us, that beautiful 
round crater in which a brook that runs both summer and winter forms 
a clear but fishless lake, the outflow of which underground is recognised 
as the fountain of the Jordan, which breaks forth below in the valley 
out of the crater Tell el-Kadi; and I remarked to my companion, the 
physician Ttegeb, the unusual form of the crater, when my Beduins, full 
of astonishment, turned upon me with the question, " What have you 
Franks heard of the origin of this lake ? " On being asked what they 
knew about it, they related how that many centuries ago a flourishing 
village once stood here, the fields of which were the plain lying between 
the water and the village of Megdel Shems. One evening a poor traveller 
came while the men were sitting together in the open place in the middle 
of the village, and begged for a supper and a resting-place for the night, 
which they refused him. "When he assured them that he had eaten nothing 
since the day before, an old woman amidst general laughter reached out 
a gelle (a cake of dried cow-dung, which is used for fuel), and drove him 
out of the village. Thereupon the man went to the village of Nimra 
(still standing, south of the lake), where he related his misfortune, and 
was taken in by them. The next morning, when the inhabitants of Nimra 
woke, they found a lake where the neighbouring village had stood. 

2 Pusey also (The Minor Prophets with Commentary, P. i. 1861) im- 
proves " like men" by translating " like Adam." 

VOL. II. N 



194 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

gression which is only to be compared to that of the first 
man created : here, as there, a like transgression of the ex- 
pressed will of God" (von Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, i. 412f.); 
as also, according to E-om. v. 14, Israel's transgression is that 
fact in the historical development of redemption which stands 
by the side of Adam's transgression. And the mention of 
Adam in Hosea cannot surprise one, since he also shows him- 
self in other respects to be familiar with the contents of 
Genesis, and to refer back to it (yid. Genesis, S. 11-13). 
Still much less surprising is such a reference to primeval 
history in a book that belongs to the literature of the Chokma 
(vid. Introduction, 2). The descent of the human race from 
a single pair, and the fall of those first created, are, moreover, 
elements in all the ancient traditions ; and it is questionable 
whether the designation of men by beni Adama (children of 
Adam), among the Moslems, first sprang from the contact of 
Judaism and Christianity, or whether it was not rather an 
old Arabic expression. Therefore we translate with Targ., 
Schult., Bouillier, Rosenm., Hitz., Kurtz, and von Hofm. : 
if I have hidden (disowned) like Adam my transgression. 
The point of comparison is only the sinner's dread of the 
light, which became prominent as the prototype for every 
succeeding age in Adam's hiding himself. The pEtpp which 
follows is meant not so much as indicating the aim, as gerun- 
dive (abscondendo) ; on this use of the inf. constr. with <>, vid. 
Ew. 280, d. 3h, bosom, is air. yejp. ; Ges. connects it with 
the Arab, habba, to love ; it is, however, to be derived from 
the 3n, occulere, whence chabibe, that which is deep within, 
a deep valley (comp. N3H, cliabaa, with their derivatives) ; in 
Aramaic it is the common word for the Hebr. P^n. 

Ver. 34a. With S 3 follows the motive which Job might 
have had for hiding himself with his sin : he has been neither 
an open sinner, nor from fear of men and a feeling of honour 
a secret sinner. He cherished within him no secret accursed 



CHAP. XXXI. 35-37. 195 

thing, and had no need for playing the hypocrite, because he 
dreaded (py only here with the ace. of the obj. feared) the 
great multitude of the people (nni not adv. but adj. ; pEH with 
Mercha-Zinnorith, consequently fern., as DV sometimes, Ew. 
174, b), and consequently the moral judgment of the 
people; and because he feared the stigma of the families, 
and therefore the loss of honour in the higher circles of 
society, so that as a consequence he should have kept himself 
quiet and retired, without going out of the door. One might 
think of that abhorrence of voluptuousness, with which, in 
the consciousness of its condemnatory nature, a man shuts 
himself up in deep darkness ; but according to ver. 33 it is 
in general deeds that are intended, which Job would have 
ground for studiously concealing, because if they had become 
known he would have appeared a person to be scouted and 
despised : he could frankly and freely meet any person's gaze, 
and had no occasion to fear the judgment of men, because he 
feared sin. He did nothing which he should have cause for 
carefully keeping from the light of publicity. And yet his 
affliction is to be accounted as the punishment of hidden sin ! 
as proof that he has committed punishable sin, which, how- 
ever, he will not confess ! 

35 that I had one who would hear me I 

Behold my signature the Almighty will answer me 
And the writing which my opponent hath written I 

36 Truly I will carry it upon my shoulder, 
I will wind it about me as a crown. 

37 The number of my steps I will recount to Him, 
As a prince will I draw near to Him. 

The wish that he might find a ready willing hearer is put 
forth in a general way, but, as is clear in itself, and as it 
becomes manifest from what follows, refers to Him who, 
because it treats of a contradiction between the outward 



196 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

appearance and the true but veiled fact, as searcher of the 
heart, is the only competent judge. It may not be trans- 
lated : et libellum (the indictment, or even : the reply to Job's 
self-defence) scribat meus adversarius (Dachselt, Rosenm., 
Welte) the accentuation seems to proceed from this render- 
ing, but it ought to be "ISO 2T131 ; if DHS governed by ^3JP were 
intended to be equivalent to 3&Pj and referred to God, the 
longing would be, as it runs, an unworthy and foolish one 
nor : (O that I had one who would hear me . . . ) and had 
the indictment, which my adversary has written (Ew., Hirz., 
Schlottm.) for "1SD1 is too much separated from Jfi? *n by 
what intervenes in addition to which comes the considera- 
tion that the wish, as it is expressed, cannot be referred to 
God, but only to the human opponent, whose accusations 
Job has no occasion to wish to hear, since he has already 
heard amply sufficient even in detail. Therefore jn (instead 
of |n with a conjunctive accent, as otherwise with MakkepK) 
will point not merely to ^fl, but also to liber quern scripsit 
adversarius meus as now lying before them, and the paren- 
thetical 'jyjP. *y& will express a desire for the divine decision 
in the cause now formally prepared for trial, ripe for discus- 
sion. By 'W, my sign, i.e. my signature (comp. Ezek. ix. 4, 
and. Arab, tiwa, a branded sign in the form of a cross), Job 
intends the last word to his defence which he has just spoken, 
ch. xxxi. ; it is related to all his former confessions as a con- 
firmatory mark set below them; it is his ultimatum, as it were, 
the letter and seal to all that he has hitherto said about his 
innocence in opposition to the friends and God. Moreover, 
he also has the indictment of the triumvirate which has come 
forward as his opponent in his hands. Their so frequently 
repeated verbal accusations are fixed as if written; both their 
accusation and his defence lie before him, as it were, in the 
documentary form of legal writings. Thus, then, he wishes 
an observant impartial hearer for this his defence ; or more 



CHAP. XXXI. 38-40. 197 

exactly : he wishes that the Almighty may answer, i.e. decide. 
Halm interprets just as much according to the syntax, but 
understanding by S 1D the witness which Job carries in his 
breast, and by "tfl ISO the testimony to his innocence written 
by God in his own consciousness ; which is inadmissible, be- 
cause, as we have often remarked already, *in t^K (comp. ch. 
xvi. 21) cannot be God himself. 

In ver. 36 Job now says how he will appear before Him 
with this indictment of his opponent, if God will only con- 
descend to speak the decisive word. He will wear it upon 
his shoulder as a mark of his dignity (comp. Isa. xxii. 22, 
ix. 5), and wind it about him as a magnificent crown of 
diadems intertwined and heaped up one above another (Apoc. 
xix. 12, comp. Kohler on Zech. vi. 11) confident of his 
victory at the outset; for he will give Him, the heart-searcher, 
an account of all his steps, and in the exalted consciousness 
of his innocence, he will approach Him as a prince (3} in- 
tensive of Kal). How totally different from Adam, who was 
obliged to be drawn out of his hiding-place, and tremblingly, 
because conscious of guilt, underwent the examination of the 
omniscient God ! Job is not conscious of cowardly and slyly 
hidden sins; no secret accursed thing is cherished in the 
inmost recesses of his heart and home. 

38 If my field cry out against me, 
And all together its furrows weep ; 

39 If I have devoured its strength without payment, 
And caused the soul of its possessor to expire : 

40 May thistles spring up instead of wheat, 
And darnel instead of barley. 

The field which he tills has no reason to cry out on account 
of violent treatment, nor its furrows to weep over wrong done 
to them by their lord. 1 nnK, according to its radical signifi- 

1 In a similar figure a Rabbinic proverb says (with reference to Mai. 



198 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

cation, is the covering of earth which fits close upon the body 
of the earth as its skin, and is drawn flat over it, and there- 
fore especially the arable land ; Epn (Arab, telem, not how- 
ever directly referable to an Arab, root, but as also other 
words used in agriculture, probably borrowed from the North 
Semitic, first of all the Aramaic or Nabataic), according to 
the explanation of the Turkish Kamus, the " ditch-like crack 
which the iron of the ploughman tears in the field," not the 
ridge thrown up between every two furrows (vid. on Ps. 
Ixv. 11). He has not unlawfully used (which would be the 
reason of the crying and weeping) the usufruct of the field 
(nb meton., as Gen. iv. 12, of the produce, proportioned to 
its capability of production) without having paid its value, by 
causing the life to expire from the rightful owner, whether 
slowly or all at once (Jer. xv. 9). The wish in ver. 40 is 
still stronger than in vers. 8, 12 : there the loss and rooting 
out of the produce of the field is desired, here the change of 
the nature of the land itself ; the curse shall and must come 
upon it, if its present possessor has been guilty of the sin of 
unmerciful covetousness, which Eliphaz lays to his charge in 
ch. xxii. 6-9. 

According to the view of the Capuchin Bolducius (1637), 
this last strophe, vers. 38-40, stood originally after ver. 8, 
according to Kennicott and Eichhorn after ver. 25, according 
to Stuhlmann after ver. 34. The modern expositors retain it 
in its present position. Hirzel maintains the counter argu- 
ments : (1) that none of the texts preserved to us favour the 
change of position ; (2) that it lay in the plan of the poet not 
to allow the speeches of Job to be rounded off, as would be 
the case by vers. 35-37 being the concluding strophe, but to 
break off suddenly without a rhetorical conclusion. If now 
we imagine the speeches of Elihu as removed, God interrupts 

ii. 13), that the altar of God weeps over him who separates himself from 
the wife of his youth. 



CHAP. XXXr. 38-40. 199 

Job, and he must cease without having come to an end with 
what he had to say. But these counter arguments are an 
insufficient defence : for (1) there is a number of admitted 
misplacements in the Old Testament which exceed the Masora 
(e.g. 1 Sam. xiii. 1, Jer. xxvii. 1), and also the LXX. (e.g. 
I Sam. xvii. 12, W3N2, LXX. eV dv&pdo-w, instead of D"JBQ); 
(2) Job's speech would gain a rhetorical conclusion by vers. 
38-40, if, as Hirzel in contradiction of himself supposes, vers. 
35-37 ought to be considered as a parenthesis, and ver. 40 
as a grammatical conclusion to the hypothetical clauses from 
ver. 24 onwards. But if this strange view is abandoned, it 
must be supposed that with ver. 38 Job intends to begin the 
assertion of his innocence anew, and is interrupted in this course 
of thought now begun, by Jehovah. But it is improbable that 
one has to imagine this in the mind of such a careful poet. 
Also the first word of Jehovah, " Who is this that darkeneth 
counsel with words without knowledge?" ch. xxxviii. 2, is 
much more appropriate to follow directly on ch. xxxi. 37 than 
ch. xxxi. 40 ; for a new course of thought, which Jehovah's 
appearing interrupts, begins with ver. 35; and the rash utter- 
ance, ver. 37, is really a " darkening of the divine decree." 
For by declaring he will give an account to God, his judge, 
concerning each of his steps, and approach Him like a prince, 
Job does not merely express the injustice of the accusations 
raised by his human opponents, but he casts a reflection of 
injustice upon the divine decree itself, inasmuch as it appears 
to him to be a de facto accusation of God. 

Nevertheless, whether Elihu's speeches are to be put aside 
as not forming an original portion of the book, or not, the 
impression that vers. 38-40 follow as stragglers, and that 
vers. 35-37 would form a more appropriate close, and a more 
appropriate connection for the remonstrance that follows, 
whether it be Jehovah's or Elihu's, remains. For the assertion 
in vers. 38-40 cannot in itself be considered to be a justifiable 



200 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

boldness; but in vers. 35-37 the whole condition of Job's 
inner nature is once more mirrored forth : his longing after 
God, by which Satan's prediction is destroyed ; and his over- 
stepping the bounds of humility, on account of which his 
affliction, so far as it is of a tentative character, cannot end 
before it is also become a refining fire to him. Therefore we 
cannot refrain from the supposition that it is with vers. 38-40 
just as with Isa. xxxviii. 21 sq. The LXX. also found these 
two verses in this position ; they belong, however, after Isa. 
xxxviii. 6, as is clear in itself, and as is evident from 2 Kings 
xx. 7 sq. There they are accidentally omitted, and are now 
added at the close of the narration as a supplement. If the 
change of position, which is there an oversight, is considered as 
too hazardous here, vers. 35-37 must be put in the special and 
close relation to the preceding strophe indicated by us in the 
exposition, and vers. 38-40 must be regarded as a final round- 
ing off (not as the beginning of a fresh course of thought) ; 
for instead of the previous aposiopeses, this concluding strophe 
dies away, and with it the whole confession, in a particularly 
vigorous, imprecative conclusion. , 

Let us once more take a review of the contents of the three 
sharply-defined monologues. After Job, in ch. xxvii. xxviii., 
has closed the controversy with the friends, in the first part 
of this trilogy, ch. xxix., he wishes himself back in the months 
of the past, and describes the prosperity, the activity, for the 
good of his fellow-men, and the respect in which he at that 
time rejoiced, when God was with him. It is to be observed 
here, how, among all the good things of the past which he 
longs to have back, Job gives the pre-eminence to the fellow- 
ship and blessing of God as the highest good, the spring and 
fountain of every other. Five times at the beginning of ch. 
xxix. in diversified expressions he describes the former days as 
a time when God was with him. Look still further from the 
beginning of the monologue to its close, to the likewise very 



CHAP. XXXI. 38-40. 201 



expressive onr D^3K v^'&o. The activity which won every 
heart to Job, and toward which he now looks back so long- 
ingly, consisted of works of that charity which weeps with 
them that weep, and rejoices not in injustice, ch. xxix. 12-17. 
The righteousness of life with which Job was enamoured, and 
which manifested itself in him, was therefore charity arising 
from faith (Liebe aus Glauben). He knew and felt himself 
to be in fellowship with God ; and from the fulness of this 
state of being apprehended of God, he practised charity. 
He, however, is blessed who knows himself to be in favour 
with God, and in return loves his fellow-men, especially the 
poor and needy, with the love with which he himself is loved 
of God. Therefore does Job wish himself back in that past, 
for now God has withdrawn from him ; and the prosperity, 
the power, and the important position which were to him the 
means for the exercise of his charity, are taken from him. 

This contrast of the past and present is described in 
ch. xxx., which begins with nnjfl. Men who have become 
completely animalized, rough hordes driven into the moun- 
tains, with whom he sympathized, but without being able to 
help them as he had wished, on account of their degeneracy, 
these mock at him by their words and acts. Now scorn 
and persecution for the sake of God is the greatest honour of 
which a man can be accounted worthy ; but, apart from the 
consideration that this idea could not yet attain its rightful 
expression in connection with the present, temporal character 
of the Old Testament, it was not further from any one than 
from him who in the midst of his sufferings for God's sake 
regards himself, as Job does now, as rejected of God. That 
scorn and his painful and loathsome disease are to him a decree 
of divine wrath ; God has, according to his idea, changed to 
a tyrant; He will not hear his cry for help. Accordingly, 
Job can say that his welfare as a cloud is passed away. He 
is conscious of having had pity on those who needed help, and 



202 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

yet he himself finds no pity now, when he implores pity 
like one who, seated upon a heap of rubbish, involuntarily 
stretches forth his hand for deliverance. In this gloomy 
picture of the present there is not even a single gleam of 
light; for the mysterious darkness of his affliction has not 
been in the slightest degree lighted up for Job by the treat- 
ment the friends have adopted. Also he is as little able as the 
friends to think of suffering and sin as unconnected, for which 
very reason his affliction appears to him as the effect of divine 
wrath ; and the sting of his affliction is, that he cannot con- 
sider this wrath just. From the demand made by his faith, 
which here and there breaks through his conflict, that God 
cannot allow him to die the death of a sinner without testify- 
ing to his innocence, Job nowhere attains the conscious con- 
clusion that the motive of his affliction is love, and not wrath. 
In the third part of the speech (ch. xxxi.), which begins 
with the words, " I had made a covenant," etc., without every- 
where going into the detail of the visible conjunction of the 
thought, Job asserts his earnest struggle after sanctification, 
by delivering himself up to just divine punishment in case 
his conduct had been the opposite. The poet allows us to 
gain a clear insight into that state of his hero's heart, and 
also of his house, which was well-pleasing to God. Not 
merely outward adultery, even the adulterous look; not 
merely the unjust acquisition of property and goods, but 
even the confidence of the heart in such things ; not merely 
the share in an open adoration of idols, but even the side- 
glance of the heart after them, is accounted by him as con- 
demnatory. He has not merely guarded himself from using 
sinful curses against his enemies, but he has also not rejoiced 
when misfortune overtook them. As to his servants, even 
when he has had a dispute with any of them, he has not for- 
gotten that master and servant, without distinction of birth, 
are creatures of one God. Towards orphans, from early 



CHAP. XXXI. 38-40. 203 

youth onwards, lie has practised such tender love as if ho 
were their father ; towards widows, as if he were their son. 
With the hungry he has shared his bread, with the naked 
his clothes; his subordinates had no reason to complain of 
niggardly sustenance ; his house always stood open hospitably 
to the stranger ; and, as the two final strophes affirm : he 
has not hedged in any secret sin, anxious only not to ap- 
pear as a sinner openly, and has not drawn forth wailings 
and tears from the ground which he cultivated by avarice 
and oppressive injustice. Who does not here recognise a 
righteousness of life and endeavour, the final aim of which is 
purity of heart, and which, in its relation to man, flows forth 
in that love which is the fulfilling of the law ? The right- 
eousness of which Job (ch. xxix. 14) says, he has put it on 
like a garment, and it has put him on, is essentially the same 
as that which the New Testament Preacher on the mount 
enjoins. As the work of an Israelitish poet, ch. xxxi. is a 
most important evidence in favour of the assertion, that a life 
well-pleasing to God is not, even in the Old Testament, 
absolutely limited to the Israelitish nation, and that it enjoins 
a love which includes man as man within itself, and knows 
of no distinction. 

If, now, Job can lay down the triumphant testimony of 
such a genuine righteousness of life concerning himself, in 
opposition to men's misconstruction, the contrast of his past 
and present becomes for the first time mysterious ; but we 
are also standing upon the extreme boundary where the knot 
that has been tied must be untied. The injustice done to 
Job in the accusations which the friends bring against him 
must be laid bare by the appearance of accusation on the 
part of God, which his affliction casts upon him, being de-\ 
stroyed. With the highest confidence in a triumphant issue, 
even before the trial of his cause, Job longs, in the conclud- 
ing words, vers. 35-37, for the judicial decision of God. As 



204 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

a prince he will go before the Judge, and bind his indictment 
like a costly diadem upon his brow. For he is certain that 
he has not merited his affliction, that neither human nor 
divine accusation can do anything against him, and that he 
will remain conqueror as over men, so over God Himself. 

Thus has the poet, in this threefold monologue of Job, 
prepared the way for the catastrophe, the unravelment of the 
knot of the drama. But will God enter into a controversy 
respecting His cause with Job? This is contrary to the 
honour of God ; and that Job desires it, is contrary to the low- 
liness which becomes him towards God. On this very account 
God will not at once acknowledge Job as His servant : Job 
will require first of all to be freed from the sinful presumption 
concerning God with which he has handled the problem of 
his sufferings. But he has proved himself to be a servant of 
God, in spite of the folly into which he has fallen ; the design 
of Satan to tear him away from God is completely frustrated. 
Thus, therefore, after he has purified himself from his sin 
into which, both in word and thought, he has allowed himself 
to be drawn by the conflict of temptation, Job must be proved 
to be the servant of God in opposition to the friends. 

But before God Himself appears in order to bring about 
the unravelment, there follow still four speeches, ch. xxxii.- 
xxxvii., of a speaker, for whose appearance the former part 
of the drama has in no way prepared us. It is also remark- 
able that they are marked off from the book of Job, as far as 
we have hitherto read, by the formula 2i s K "nn-n MM^ are ended 
the words of Job. Carey is of the opinion that these three 
words may possibly be Job's own closing dixi. According to 
Hahn, the poet means to imply by them that Job has now 
said all that he intended to say, so that it would now have 
been the friends' turn to speak. These views involve a per- 
plexity like that of those who think that Ps. Ixxii. 20 must be 
regarded as a constituent part of the Psalm. As in that posi- 



CHAP. XXXI. 38-40. 205 

tion the words, " The prayers of David the son of Jesse are 
finished," are as a memorial-stone between the original collec- 
tion and its later extensions, so this 1VK mi ion, which is 
transferred by the LXX. (real eiravcraro 'Icb/3 ptffjLCKnv) to 
the historical introduction of the Elihu section, seems to be 
an important hint in reference to the origin of the book of 
Job in its present form. Since Job has come to an end with 
his speeches, and is silent at the four speeches of a new 
speaker, although they strongly enough provoke him to reply ; 
according to the idea of the poet, Elihu's appearance is to be 
regarded as belonging to the catastrophe itself. And since a 
hasty glance at the speeches of Jehovah shows that they do 
not say anything concerning the motive and object of Job's 
affliction, these speeches of Elihu, in so far as they seem to be 
an integral part of the whole, as they cast light upon this dark 
point, will therefore prove in the midst of the action of the 
drama, what we know already from the prologue, that Job's 
affliction has not the wrath of God as its motive power, nor 
the punishment of Job as ungodly for its object. If the four 
speeches really furnish this, it is still not absolutely decisive in 
favour of their forming originally a part of the book. For it 
would be even possible that a second poet might have added a 
part, in harmony with its idea, to the work of the first. What 
we expect, moreover, is the mark of the same high poetic 
genius which we have hitherto regarded with amazement. But 
since we are now passing on to the exposition of these speeches, 
it must be with the assumption that they have a like origin 
with the whole, and that they also really belong to this whole 
with which they are embodied, in the place where they now 
stand. We shall only be able to form a conclusive judgment 
concerning the character of their form, the solution of their 
problem, and the manner of their composition, after the ex- 
position is completed, by then taking a comprehensive and cri- 
tical review of the impressions produced, and our observations. 



206 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

FOURTH PART. THE UNRAVELMENT. 
CHAP. XXXII.-XLII. 

THE SPEECHES OF ELIHU WHICH PREPARE THE WAY FOR 
THE UNRAVELMENT. CHAP. XXXII.-XXXVII. 

Historical Introduction to the Section. Chap, xxxii. l-6a. 

A short introduction in historical prose, which introduces 
the speaker and justifies his appearance, opens the section. 
It is not, like the prologue and epilogue, accented as prose ; 
but, like the introductions to the speeches and the clause, ch. 
xxxi. 40 extra, is taken up in the network of the poetical 
mode of accentuation, because a change of the mode of 
accentuation in the middle of the book, and especially in a 
piece of such small compass, appeared awkward. The oppo- 
sition of the three has exhausted itself, so that in that respect 
Job seems to have come forth out of the controversy as 
conqueror. 

Yers. 1-3. So these three men ceased to answer Job, because 
he was righteous in his own eyes. And the wrath of 
Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of 
Ham, was kindled: against Job was his wrath kindled, 
because he justified himself at the expense of God. And 
against his three friends was his wrath kindled, because 
they found no answer, and condemned Job. 

The name of the speaker is WTOS (with Mahpach), son of 
^rna (with Munach) the TO (with Zarka). The name Elihu 
signifies " my God is He," and occurs also as an Israelitish 
name, although it is not specifically Israelitish, like Elijah 
(my God is Jehovah). Bdracliel (for which the mode of 
writing fo?!? with Dag. implic. is also found) signifies " may 



CHAP. XXXII. 1-3. 207 

God bless !" (Olsh. 277, S. 618) ; for proper names, as the 
Arabian grammarians observe, can be formed both into the 
form of assertory clauses (ichbdr), and also into the form of 
modal (inslia) ; the name '^"D is in this respect distinguished 
from the specifically Israelitish name TO'ja ( Jehovah blesseth). 
The accompanying national name defines the scene; for on 
the one side Tte and p$, according to Gen. xxii. 21, are the 
sons of Nahor, Abraham's brother, who removed with him 
(though not at the same time) from Ur Casdim to Haran, 
therefore by family Aramaeans ; on the other side, ft2, Jer. 
xxv. 23, appears as an Arab race, belonging to the na ''tfttp 
(comp. Jer. ix. 25, xlix. 32), i.e. to the Arabs proper, who cut 
the hair of their heads short all round (irepiT paprika, Hero- 
dotus iii. 8), because wearing it long was accounted as dis- 
graceful (vid. Tebrizi on the Hamdsa, p. Pc% 1. 10 sqq.). 
Within the Buzite race, Elihu sprang from the family of D"). 
Since 21 is the name of the family, not the race, it cannot be 
equivalent to D^N (like D^l, 2 Chron. xxii. 5, = D^BIN), and 
it is therefore useless to derive the Aramaic colouring of 
Elihu's speeches from design on the part of the poet. But 
by making him a Buzite, he certainly appears to make him 
an Aramaean Arab, as Aristeas in Euseb. prcep. ix. 25 calls 
him 'E\t,ovv TOV Bapa%i,r)\ TOP Zo^/Blr'rjv (from fOIX D"ltf). It 
is remarkable that Elihu's origin is given so exactly, while the 
three are described only according to their country, without 
any statement of father or family. It would indeed be pos- 
sible, as Lightfoot and Eosenm. suppose, for the poet to 
conceal his own name in that of Elihu, or to make allusion 
to it ; but an instance of this later custom of Oriental poets 
is found nowhere else in Old Testament literature. 

The three friends are silenced, because all their attempts 
to move Job to a penitent confession that his affliction is the 
punishment of his sins, have rebounded against this fact, that 
he was righteous in his own eyes, i.e. that he imagined him- 



208 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

self righteous; and because they now (fl?^ of persons, in 
distinction from Pin, has the secondary notion of involuntari- 
ness) know of nothing more to say. Then Elihu's indigna- 
tion breaks forth in two directions. First, concerning Job, 
that he justified himself DNTiPK, i.e. not a Deo (so that He 
would be obliged to account him righteous, as ch. iv. 17), 
but prce Deo. Elihu rightly does not find it censurable in 
Job, that as a more commonly self-righteous man he in 
general does not consider himself a sinner, which the three 
insinuate of him (ch. xv. 14, xxv. 4), but that, declaring him- 
self to be righteous, he brings upon God the appearance of 
injustice, or, as Jehovah also says further on, ch. xl. 8, that 
he condemns God in order that he mav be able to maintain 

tf 

his own righteousness. Secondly, concerning the three, that 
they have found no answer by which they might have been 
able to disarm Job in his maintenance of his own righteous- 

o 

ness at the expense of the divine justice, and that in con- 
sequence of this they have condemned Job. Hahn translates : 
so that they should have represented Job as guilty ; but that 
they have not succeeded in stamping the servant of God as a 
JJBh, would wrongly excite Elihu's displeasure. And Ewald 
translates : and that they had nevertheless condemned him 
(, 345, a) ; but even this was not the real main defect of 
their opposition. The fut. consec. describes the condemnation 
as the result of their inability to hit upon the right answer ; 
it was a miserable expedient to which they had recourse. 
According to the Jewish view, H^fcTHK Wh s 1 is one of the 

o 7 :-- 

eighteen D'HBID ^1pn (correctiones scribarum), since it should 
be DVlfarrnM IJT^TI. But it is not the friends who have been 
guilty of this sin of 2*?nn against God, but Job, ch. xl. 8, to 
whom Elihu opposes the sentence JPBh*"&6 ta, ch. xxxiv. 12. 
Our judgment of another such tiqqun, ch. vii. 20, was more 
favourable. That Elihu, notwithstanding the inward con- 
viction to the contrary by which he is followed during the 



CHAP. XXXII 4-7. 209 

course of the controversial dialogue, now speaks for the first 
time, is explained by what follows. 

Vers. 4-6. And Elihu had waited for Job with words, for 
they were older than he in days. And Elihu saw that 
there was no answer in the mouth of the three men, then 
his wratli was kindled. And Elihu the son of Barachel 
the Buzite began, and said. 

He had waited (perf. in the sense of the plusquamperf., 
Ew. 135, a) for Job with words (D'nina as elsewhere D'pEpSl, 
P?oa), i.e. until Job should have spoken his last word in the 
controversial dialogue. Thus he considered it becoming on 
his part, for they ("""jri^ illi, whereas n?x according to the 
usage of the language is hi) were older (seniores) than he in 
days (&*?v as ver. 6, less harsh here, instead of the ace. of 
closer definition, ch. xv. 10, comp. xi. 9). As it now became 
manifest that the friends made no reply to Job's last speeches 
for want of the right solution of problem, and therefore also 
Job had nothing further to say, he believes that he may 
venture, without any seeming want of courtesy, to give utter- 
ance to his long-restrained indignation ; and Elihu (with 
Mahpacli) the son of Barach'el (Mercha) the Buzite (with 
Rebia parvum) began and spoke ("1BK 5 1 not with Silluk, but 
Mercha mahpach., and in fact with Mercha on the accented 
penult., as ch. iiL 2, and further). 

Elihu s First Speech. Chap, xxxii. 65-xxxiii. 
Schema: 5. 6. 10. 6. 10. | 6. 8. 10. 13. 8. 6. 10. 10. 

Ch. xxxii. 66 / am young in days, and ye are hoary, 
Therefore I stood back and was afraid 
To show you my knowledge. 
1 I thought : Let age speak, 

And the multitude of years teach wisdom. 
VOL. II. O 



210 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

It becomes manifest even here that the Elihu section has 
in part a peculiar usage of the language. ?nj in the signi- 
fication of Jj>J, cogn. with J^-i>, 'H^, to frighten back; 1 and 
jn for fljn (here and vers. 10, 17, ch. xxxvi. 3, xxxvii. 16) 
occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament ; |3"/S? (comp. 15^, 
ch. xlii. 3) is used only by Elihu within the book of Job. 
D^J, days = fulness of days, is equivalent to advanced age, 
old age with its rich experience, an with its plural genitive 
is followed (as ^a usually is) by the predicate in the plur. ; it 
is the attraction already described by "I2DD, ch. xv. 10, xxi. 21, 
Ges. 148, 1. 

8 Still the spirit, it is in mortal man, 

And the breath of the Almighty, that giveth them under- 
standing. 

9 Not the great in years are wise, 

And the aged do not understand what is rigid. 
10 Therefore I say : hearken to me, 
I ivill declare my knowledge, even I. 

The originally affirmative and then (like DJ1N) adversative 
|3K also does not occur elsewhere in the book of Job. In 
contradiction to biblical psychology, Rosenm. and others take 
ver. 8 as antithetical: Certainly there is spirit in man, but . . . 



1 The lexicographers explain the Arab, jj^-j by zdla (pit), to stand 
away from, back, to retreat, or tanalaha, to step aside ; Piel, Hipli., to 
push any one aside, place anything back ; Hiihpa., to keep one's self on 
one side ; adj. ?fifi i>Tlf, ^iflT, etc., standing back. Thus the town of 

"T T T 

Zahla in the plain of the Lebanon takes its name from the fact that it 
does not stand out in the plain, but is built close at the foot of the 
mountain in a corner, and consequently retreats. And zuliale (according 
to the Kamus) is an animal that creeps backwards into its hole, e.g. the 
scorpion ; and hence, improperly, a man who, as we say with a similar 
figure, never comes out of his hole, always keeps in his hole, i.e. never 
leaves his dwelling, as ziihal in general signifies a man who retires or 
keeps far from active life ; in connection with which also the planet 
Saturn is called Ziihal, the retreating one, on account of its great distance 



CHAP. XXXII. 8-10. 211 

The two halves of the verse are, on the contrary, a synonymous 
("the spirit, it is in man, viz. that is and acts") or progressive 
parallelism (thus according to the accents: "the spirit, even 
that which is in man, and . . ."). It is the Spirit of God to 
which man owes his life as a living being, according to ch. 
xxxiii. 4 ; the spirit of man is the principle of life creatively 
wrought, and indeed breathed into him, by the Spirit of God ; 
so that with regard to the author it can be just as much God's 
rni or n! J^, ch. xxxiv. 14, as in respect of the possessor: 
man's rm or riD0. All man's life, his thinking as well as 
his bodily life, is effected by this inwrought principle of life 
which he bears within him, and all true understanding, with- 
out being confined to any special age of life, comes solely 
from this divinely originated and divinely living spirit, so far 
as he acts according to his divine origin and basis of life. 

o o 

D^sn are here (as the opposite of D^TJftf, Gen. xxv. 23) grandes 
grandcevi (LXX. 7ro\v%p6vioi,). ^b governs both members 
of the verse, as ch. iii. 10, xxviii. 17, xxx. 24 sq. Under- 
standing or ability to form a judgment is not limited to old 
age, but only by our allowing the Trvevpa to rule in us in its 
connection with the divine. Elihu begs a favourable hearing 
for that of which he is conscious, jn, and the Hebr.-Aramaic 
rrcn which likewise belong to his favourite words, recur here. 

T 7 O / 



from the rest. Slippery (of ground) is Tipnt, because it draws the foot 
backwards (muzhil) by its smoothness, and thus causes the walker to fall. 
A further formation is p?DT, to be slippery, and to slip in a slippery place ; 
beside which, p^f, a word of similar meaning, is no longer used in Syria. 

According to this Arabic primary notion of <Jj*- i, it appears p&S ^nt, 
Mic. vii. 17, is intended to describe the serpents not as creeping upon the 
earth, but as creeping into the earth (comp. the name of the serpent, 
acliW at eZ-rtrd, those that hide themselves in the earth) ; but in Talmud. 
and Aram. priT used of animals has the general signification to creep, 
and of water, to glide (flow gently down). The primary notion, to glide 
(to slip, creep, flow gently, Idbi}, is combined both in the derivatives of 
the root PIT and in those of the root ^ with the notion of a departing and 
retreating motion. WETZST. and FL. 



212 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

11 Behold, I waited upon your words, 
Hearkened to your perceptions. 
While ye searched out replies. 

12 And I attended closely to you, 

Yet behold: there was no one wlio refuted Job, 
Who answered his sentences, from you. 

13 Lest ye should say : u We found ivisdom, 
God is able to smite him, not man /" 

14 Now he hath not arranged his words against me, 
And ivith your sentences I will not reply to him. 

He has waited for their words, viz. that they might give 
utterance to such words as should tend to refute and silence 
Job. In what follows, *W still more emphatically than ? 
refers this aim to that to which Elihu had paid great atten- 
tion : I hearkened to your understandings, i.e. explanations 
of the matter, that, or whether, they came forth, (I hearkened) 
to see if you searched or found out words, i.e. appropriate 
words. Such abbreviated forms as pTK = ftXK (comp. fTtt = 
}W for HND, Prov. xvii. 4, Ges. 68, rem. 1, if it does not 
signify nutriens, from pit) we shall frequently meet with in 
this Elihu section. In ver. 12, 12a evidently is related as an 
antecedent to what follows : and I paid attention to you 
(D5" 1 !? contrary to the analogy of the cognate prasp. instead of 
B^iy, moreover for CO S -?K, with the accompanying notion : 
intently, or, according to Aben-Duran : thoroughly, without 
allowing a word to escape me), and behold, intently as I paid 
attention : no one came forward to refute Job ; there was no 
one from or among you who answered (met successfully) his 
assertions. Every unbiassed reader will have an impression 
of the remarkable expressions and constructions here, similar 
to that which one has in passing from the book of the Kings 
to the characteristic sections of the Chronicles. The three, 
Elihu goes on to say, shall not indeed think that in Job a 



CHAP. XXXII. 15-17. 213 

wisdom has opposed them a false wisdom, indeed which 
only God and not any man can drive out of the field (*nj, 

< ?w\j, discutere, dispellere, as the wind drives away chaff or 

dry leaves) ; while he has not, however (&\ followed directly 
by a v. Jin. forming a subordinate clause, as ch. xlii. 3, Ps. 
xliv. 18, and freq., Ew. 341, a), arrayed (^ in a military 
sense, ch. xxxiii. 5 ; or forensic, xxiii. 4 ; or even as ch. 
xxxvii. 19, in the general sense of proponere) words against 
him (Elihu), i.e. utterances before which he would be com- 
pelled to confess himself affected and overcome. He will not 
then also answer him with such opinions as those so fre- 
quently repeated by them, i.e. he will take a totally different 
course from theirs in order to refute him. 

15 They are amazed, they answer no more. 
Words have fled from them. 

16 And I waited, for they spake not, 

For they stand still, they answer no more. 

17 Therefore I also will answer for my part, 
I will declare my knowledge, even I. 

In order to give a more rapid movement and an emotional 
force to the speech, the figure asyndeton is introduced in 
ver. 15, as perhaps in Jer. xv. 7, Ew. 349, a. Most ex- 
positors render ^P^H passively, according to the sense : they 
have removed from them, i.e. are removed from them ; but 
why may pTiyn not signify, like Gen. xii. 8, xxvi. 22, to 
move away, viz. the tent = to wander on (Schlottm.) ? The 
figure : words are moved away (as it were according to an 
encampment broken up) from them, i.e. as we say : they 
have left them, is quite in accordance with the figurative 
style of this section. It is unnecessary to take ^P^, 
ver. IGa, with Ew. ( 342, c) and Hirz. as perf. consec. and 
interrogative : and should I wait, because they speak no 
more ? Certainly the interrog. part, sometimes disappears 



214 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

after the Waw of consequence, e.g. Ezek. xviii. 13, 24 (and 
will he live 1) ; but by what would TOfflm be distinguished as 
perf. consec. here 1 Halm's interpretation : I have waited, 
until they do not speak, for they stand . . ., also does not 
commend itself; the poet would have expressed this by ly 
TQT tih, while the two *2, especially with the poet's predilec- 
tion for repetition, appear to be co-ordinate. Elihu means to 
say that he has waited a long time, surprised that the three 
did not speak further, and that they stand still without speak- 
ing again. Therefore he thinks the time is come for him 



also to answer Job, TOX cannot be fut. Kal. since where 

v~:r J 

the 1 fut. Kal and Hiph. cannot be distinguished by the 
vowel within the word (as in the Ay in Waw and double Ay in 
verbs), the former has an inalienable Segol; it is therefore 
\ fut. Hipli., but not as in Eccl. v. 19 in the signification to 
employ labour upon anything (LXX. irepMnrav), but in an 
intensive Kal signification (as P^tn for PPJ, ch. xxxv. 9, comp. 
on ch. xxxi. 18) : to answer, to give any one an answer when 
called upon. Ewald's supposedly proverbial : I also plough 
my field ! ( 192, c, Anm. 2) does unnecessary violence to 
the usage of the language, which is unacquainted with this 
TOH, to plough. It is perfectly consistent with Elihu's 
diction, that ?i?p$ beside *3N as permutative signifies, " I, my 
part," although it might also be an ace. of closer definition 
(as pro parte mea, for my part), or even which is ; however, 
less probable ace. of the obj. (my part). Elihu speaks more 
in the scholastic tone of controversy than the three. 

18 For I am full of words, 

The spirit of my inner nature constraineth me. 

19 Belwld, my interior is Wee wine which is not opened, 
Like new bottles it is ready to burst. 

20 I will speak, that I may gain air, 
I will open my lips and reply. 



CHAP. XXXII. 18-22. 215 

21 No, indeed, I will accept no mans person. 
And I ivill flatter no man. 

22 For 1 understand not how to flatter ; 
My Maker would easily snatch me away. 

The young speaker continues still further his declaration, 
promising so much. He has a rich store of B^B, words, i.e. 
for replying, ^ta defective for TI&&D, like W for TiKS\ 

i/O " T T 7 T T T T? 

ch. i. 21 ; whereas v, Ezek. xxviii. 6, is not only written 
defectively, but is also conjugated after the manner of a 
Lamed He verb, Ges. 23, 3, 74, rem. 4, 75, 21, c. The 
spirit of his inner nature constrains him, since, on account of 
its intensity and the fulness of this interior, it struggles to 
break through as through a space that is too narrow for it. 
|t?3, as ch. xv. 2, 35, not from the curved appearance of the 
belly, but from the interior of the body with its organs, which 
serve the spirit life as the strings of a harp ; comp. Arab, bain, 
the middle or interior; bdtin, inwardly (opposite of zdhir, out- 
wardly). . His interior is like wine nna^ ao, which, or (as an 
adverbial dependent clause) when it is not opened, i.e. is kept 
closed, so that the accumulated gas has no vent, LXX. 
SeSe/-tez>o? (bound up), Jer. absque spiraculo ; it will burst like 
new bottles. Vi^l is not a relative clause referring distribu- 
tively to each single one of these bottles (Hirz. and others), 
and not an adverbial subordinate clause (Halm : when it will 
explode), but predicate to ^LDl : his interior is near bursting 
like new bottles (Dink masc. like nftfcO, Josh. ix. 13), i.e. not 
such as are themselves new (acrKol KCLIVOI, Matt. ix. 17, for 
these do not burst so easily), but like bottles of new wine, 
which has to undergo the action of fermentation, LXX. 
wcnrep ffrvo-rjTrjp (Cod. Sinait. 1 (^I/CT^TT;?) ^a\:ea>9, i.e. DJKhH 
(whence it is evident that a bottle and also a pair of bellows 
were called Sitf). Since he will now yield to his irresistible 
impulse, in order that he may obtain air or free space, i.e. 



216 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

disburdening and ease (v nn^1) ? he intends to accept no 
man's person, i.e. to show partiality to no one (vid. on ch. 
xiii. 8), and he will flatter no one. H33 signifies in all three 
dialects to call any one by an honourable name, to give a 
surname, here with ?$ 9 to speak fine words to any one, to 
flatter him. This Elihu is determined he will not do; for &6 
H33N W"]), I know not how to flatter (French, je ne sais point 
flatter), for HiHD or HfiS? ; comp. the similar constructions, ch. 
xxiii. 3 (as Esth. viii. 6), x. 1G, 1 Sam. ii. 3, Isa. xlii. 21, 
Hi. 1, Ges. 142, 3, c; also in Arabic similar verbs, as "to be 
able" and "to prepare one's self," are thus connected with the 
fut. without a particle between (e.g. anshaa jefalu, he began 
to act). Without partiality he will speak, flattery is not his 
forte. If by flattery he should deny the truth, his Maker 
would quickly carry him off. BJ)E>3 followed by subjunct. 
fut.: for a little (with disjunctive accent, because equivalent 
to haud midtum abest quiii), i.e. very soon indeed, or easily 
would or might . . . ; ^^ (as ch. xxvii. 21) seems designedly 
to harmonize with 



Ch. xxxiii. 1 But nevertheless, Job, hear my speeches, 
And hearken to all my words. 

2 Behold now, I have opened my mouth, 
My tongue speaketh in my palate. 

3 Sincere as my heart are my utterances, 
And knowledge that is pure my lips declare. 

The issue of the impartial discussion which Elihu designs 
to effect, is subject to this one condition, that Job listens to 
it, and observes not merely this or that, but the whole of its 
connected contents; and in this sense Dhfetl, which is used just 
as in ch. i. 11, xi. 5, xii. 7, xiii. 4, xiv. 18, xvii. 10, in the 
signification verumtamen, stands at the head of this new turn 
in his speech. Elihu addresses Job, as none of the previous 
speakers have done, by name. With N}"'" 1 ?.? (as ch. xiii. 18), 



CHAP. XXXIII. 4-7. 217 

he directs Job's observation to that which he is about to say : 
he has already opened his mouth, his tongue is already in 
motion, circumstantial statements, which solemnly inaugu- 
rate what follows with a consciousness of its importance. 
Job has felt the absence of "^"nipx, ch. vi. 25, in the speeches 
of the three ; but Elihu can at the outset ensure his word 
being " the sincerity of his heart," i.e. altogether heartily 
well meant : and thus it would be to be translated according 

o 
to the accentuation the knowledge of my lips, they (my lips) 

utter purely. But " the knowledge of the lips " is a notion 
that seems strange with this translation, and IVia is hardly 
intended thus adverbially, Hjn, contrary to the accentuation, 
is either taken as the accusative of the obj., and "IV13 as the 
ace. of the predicate (masc. as Prov. ii. 10, xiv. 6) : knowledge 
my lips utter pure ; or interpreted, if one is not willing to 
depart from the accentuation, with Seb. Schmid : scientiam 
labiorum meorum quod attinet (the knowledge proceeding from 
my lips), puram loquentur sc. labia mea. The notions of 
purity and choice coincide in "IVQ (comp. Arab, iltarra, to 
separate one's self ; as/a, to prove one's self pure, and to 
select). The pcrff., vers. 2 sq., describe what is begun, and 
so, as relatively past, extending into the present. 

4 The Spirit of God hath made me, 

And the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. 

5 If thou canst, answer me, 

Prepare in my presence, take thy stand ! 

6 Behold, I am like thyself, of God, 
Formed out of clay am I also. 

7 Behold, my terror shall not affright thee, 
And my pressure shall not be heavy upon thee. 

He has both in common with Job : the spirituality as well 
as the earthliness of man's nature; but by virtue of the 
former he does not, indeed, feel himself exalted above Job's 



218 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

person, but above the present standpoint taken up by Job ; 
and in consideration of this, Job need not fear any unequal 
contest, nor as before God, ch. ix. 34, xiii. 21, in order that 
he may be able to defend himself against Him, make it a 
stipulation that His majesty may not terrify him. It is man's 
twofold origin which Elihu, vers. 4, 6, gives utterance to in 
harmony with Gen. ii. 7 : the mode of man's origin, which is 
exalted above that of all other earthly beings that have life ; 
for the life of the animal is only the individualizing of the 
breath of the Divine Spirit already existing in matter. The 
spirit of man, on the contrary (for which the language has 
reserved the name n *?-^), is an inspiration directly coming 
forth from God the personal being, transferred into the bodily 
frame, and therefore forming a person. 1 In the exalted con- 
sciousness of having been originated by the Spirit of God, 
and being endowed with life from the inbreathed breath of 
the Almighty, Elihu stands invincible before Job : if thou 
canst, refute me (3"W with ace. of the person, as ch. xxxiii. 32) ; 
array thyself ( n ?1^ for H?"!?, according to Ges. 63, rem. 1) 
before me (here with the additional thought of nDITTp, as 

V & T T : 7 

ch. xxiii. 4, in a forensic sense with &?^?) ? place thyself in 
position, or take thy post (imper. Hithpa. with the ah less 
frequent by longer forms, E\v. 228, a). 

On the other side, he also, like Job, belongs to God, i.e. is 
dependent and conditioned, ^K'fn is to be written with Segol 
(not Ssere) ; ?K? is intended like i^>, ch. xii. 16 ; and I" 1 ?? signi- 
fies properly, according to thine utterance, i.e. standard, in 
accordance with, i.e. like thee, and is used even in the Pen- 
tateuch (e.g. Ex. xvi. 21) in this sense pro ratione ; 'M, ch. 
xxx. 18, we took differently. He, Elihu, is also nipped from 
the clay, i.e. taken from the earth, as when the potter nips off 

1 God took a small piece of His own life says the tradition among the 
Karens, a scattered tribe of Eastern India blew into the nostrils of His 
son and daughter, and they became living beings, and were really human. 



CHAP. XXXIII. 8-12. 219 



a piece of his clay (comp. Aram. J*^!?, a piece, Arab, qurs, a 
bread-cake, or a dung-cake, vid. supra, vol. i. p. 377, from 
qarasa, to pinch off, take off, cogn. qarada, to gnaw off, cut 
off, ii. p. 40). Thus, therefore, no terribleness in his appear- 
ing will disconcert Job, and his pressure will not be a burden 
upon him. By a comparison of ch. xiii. 21a, it might seem 
that '33K is equivalent to 'S3 (LXX. f) %6ip /JLOV), but 133 is 
everywhere connected only with T, never with *13 ; and the 
aTr. fyeyp. is explained according to Prov. xvi. 26, where *l?tf 
signifies to oppress, drive (Jer. compulif), and from the dialects 
differently, for in Syr. ecaf signifies to be anxious about anv- 
thing (ecaf li, it causes me anxiety, curce mihi est), and in 
Arab, accafa, to saddle, ucdf, Talmud. ^K, a saddle, so that 
consequently the Targ. translation of 'B3N by ^B, my burden, 
and the Syr. by ''JSDIK, my pressing forward (Arabic version 
iqbdli, my touch), are supported, since *]?N signifies pressure, 
heavy weight, load, and burden ; according to which it 
is also translated by Saad. (my constraint), Gecat. (my 
might). It is therefore not an opponent who is not on an 
equality with him by nature, with whom Job has to do. If 
he is not able to answer him, he will have to be considered as 
beaten. 

8 Verily thou hast said in mine ears, 
And 1 heard the sound of thy words : 

9 " 1 am pure, without transgression ; 
" Spotless am I, and I have no guilt. 

10 " Behold, Hefindetli malicious things against me, 
" He regardeth me as His enemy ; 

11 " lie putteth my feet in the stocks, 
" He observeth all my paths." 

12 Behold, therein thou art not right, I will answer thee, 
For Eloah is too exalted for man. 

With rn TjN Elihu establishes the undeniable fact, 



220 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

whether it be that ^ is intended as restrictive (only thou hast 
said, it is not otherwise than that thou . . .), or as we have 
translated, according to its primary meaning, affirmative 
(forsooth, it is undeniable). To say anything "OTNa of another 
is in Hebrew equivalent to not saying it secretly, and so as 
to be liable to misconstruction, but aloud and distinctly. In 
ver. 9, Elihu falls back on Job's own utterances, as ch. ix. 21, 
OK DD; xvi. 17, ri^t WET); xii. 4, where he calls himself 
D^DH p^TC, comp. x. 7, xiii. 18, 23, xxiii. 10 sqq., xxvii. 5 sq., 
ch. xxix. xxxi. The expression *\n 9 tersus, did not occur in 
the mouth of Job ; Geiger connects tjn with the Arab, \\anlf 
(vid. on ch. xiii. 16) ; it is, however, the adj. of the Semitic 

Wf 

verb >]n ? u_&>-, to rub off, scrape off; Arab, to make smooth by 



scraping off the hair; Targ., Talm., Syr., to make smooth by 
washing and rubbing (after which Targ. NE^ lotus). 1 ^3S 
has here, as an exception, retained its accentuation of the 
final syllable in pause. In ver. 10 Elihu also makes use of a 
word that does not occur in Job's mouth, viz. rriN^n, which, 
according to Num. xiv. 34, signifies " alienation," from &HJ 
(K^Fpj to hinder, restrain, turn aside, abalienare } Num. xxxii. 7 ; 



and according to the Arab. *lj (to rise heavily), 2 III. to lean 

one's self upon, to oppose any one; it might also signify directly, 
"hostile risings;" but according to the Hebr. it signifies 
grounds and occasions for hostile aversion. Moreover, Elihu 
here recapitulates what Job has in reality often in meaning 

1 Vid. Noldecke in Benfey's Zeitschrift, 1863, S. 383. 

2 Nevertheless Zamachschari does not derive ^l), to treat with 

s- 

enmity, from *3, but from ,_<y, so that ndiva fulanan signifies "to have 
evil designs against any one, to meditate evil against one." The phrases 
Huh 'aleji nijat, he has evil intentions (wicked designs) against me, ntjetuh 
zerije aleik, he has evil intentions against thee, and similar, are very 
common. WETZST. 



CHAP. XXXIII. 8-12. 221 

said, e.g. ch. x. 13-17 ; and ver. Wb are his own words, cli. 
xiii. 24, m*6 ^3^'nni; xix. 11, VIM 1$> 'jnBTM; xxx. 21, 
*? "iDlA isnn. In like manner, ver. 11 is a verbatim quota- 
tion from ch. xiii. 27 ; Bj^ is a poetic contracted fut. for 
E* 1 ^. It is a principal trait of Job's speeches which Elihu 
here makes prominent : his maintenance of his own righteous- 
ness at the expense of the divine justice. In ver. 12 he first 
of all refutes this D-nbs to pT* in general. The verb PI* 
does not here signify to be righteous, but to be in the right 
(as ch. xi. 2, xiii. 18) the prevailing signification in Arabic 
(sadaqa, to speak the truth, be truthful). Daft (with Munach, 
not Dechi) is ace. adv. : herein, in this case, comp. on ch. 
xix. 26. IP n:n is like Deut. xiv. 24 (of the length of the 
way exceeding any one's strength), but used, as nowhere else, 
of God's superhuman greatness ; the Arabic version has the 

o / 

preposition ^c. in this instance for f. God is too exalted to 

enter into a defence of Himself against such vainglorying 
interwoven with accusations against Him. And for this 
reason Elihu will enter the lists for God. 

13 Why hast thou contended against Him, 

That He answer eth not concerning all His doings ? 

14 Yet no in one way God speaketh, 
And in two, only one perceiveth it not. 

15 In the dream, in a vision of the night, 
When deep sleep falleth upon men, 
In slumberings upon the bed : 

1 6 Then He openeth the ear of men, 
And sealeth admonition for them, 

17 That He may withdraw man from mischief y 
A 1 nd hide pride from man ; 

18 That He may keep back his soul from the pit, 
And his life from the overthrow of the sivord. 



222 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

Knowing himself to be righteous, and still considering; 

c? O * O 

himself treated as an enemy by God, Job has frequently 
inquired of God, Why then does He treat him thus with 
enmity, ch. vii. 20, and why has He brought him into being 
to be the mark of His attack? ch. x. 18. He has longed for 

o 

God's answer to these questions ; and because God has veiled 
Himself in silence, he has fallen into complaint against Him, 
as a ruler who governs according to His own sovereign 
arbitrary will. This is what Elihu has before his mind in 
ver. 13. yi (elsewhere in the book of Job with D# or the 
ace. of the person with whom one contends) is here, as Jer. 
xii. 1 and freq., joined with ?$ and conjugated as a contracted 
Hiph. (ntan instead of ran, Ges. 73, 1) ; and TO with the ace. 
signifies here : to answer anything (comp. ch. xxxii. 12, xl. 2, 
and especially ix. 3) ; the suff. does not refer back to t?foK of 
the preceding strophe (Hirz., Hahn), but to God. VJIR are 
the things, i.e. facts and circumstances of His rule ; all those 
things which are mysterious in it He answers not, i.e. He 
answers concerning nothing in this respect (comp. xh fe>, ch. 
xxxiv. 27), He gives no kind of account of them (Schnurr., 
Ges., and others). ""3, ver. 14a, in the sense of imo, is 
attached to this negative thought, which has become a ground 
of contention for Job : yet no, God does really speak with 
men, although not as Job desires when challenged and in His 
own defence. Many expositors take nn&p and B^iKO after 
LXX., Syr., and Jer., in the signification semel, secundo 
(thus also Hahn, Schlottm.) ; but semel is rin^, whereas nn&G 
is nowhere equivalent to Jinx DV22, for in Num. x. 4 it signi- 
fies with one, viz. trumpet; Prov. xxviii. 18, on one, viz. of 
the many ways ; Jer. x. 8, in one, i.e. in like folly (not : 
altogether, at once, which 1^3, Syr. bachdo, signifies) ; then 
further on it is not twice, but two different modes or means 
of divine attestation, viz. dreams and sicknesses, that are 
spoken of; wherefore it is rightly translated by the Targ. 



CHAP, xxxin. 13-is. 223 

una loqmla, by Pagn. uno modo, by Vatabl., Merc., una via. 
The form of the declaration : by one by two, is that of the 
so-called number-proverbs, like ch. v. 19. In diverse ways 
or by different means God speaks to mortal man he does 
not believe it, it is his own fault if he does perceive it. tib 
naw), which is correctly denoted as a separate clause by 
Kebia mugrascli, is neither with Schlottm. to be regarded as a 
circumstantial clause (without one's . . .), nor with Vatablus 
and Hahn as a conditional clause (if one does not attend to 
it), nor with Montanus and Piscator as a relative clause (to 
him who does not observe it), but with Tremellius as a co- 
ordinate second predicative clause without a particle (one 
might expect ^N) : he (mortal man) or one observes it not 
(T)> with neut. suff. exactly like ch. xxxv. 13). 

Vers. 15 sqq. Elihu now describes the first mode in which 
God speaks to man : He Himself comes forward as a witness 
in man's sleep, He makes use of dreams or dream-like visions, 
which come upon one suddenly within the realm of nocturnal 
thought (vid. Psyclwl. S. 282 sq.), as a medium of revelation 
a usual form of divine revelation, especially in the heathen 
world, to which positive revelation is wanting. The reading 
p^rm (Codcl., LXX., Syr., Symrn., Jer.), as also the accentu- 
ation of the D17ni with Melmpacli Legarme, proceeds from the 
correct assumption, that vision of the night and dream are 
not coincident notions; moreover, the detailing ver. 15, is 
formed according to ch. iv. 13. In this condition of deep or 
half sleep, revelat aurem liominum^ a phrase used of the pre- 
paration of the ear for the purpose of hearing by the removal 
of hindrances, and, in general, of confidential communication, 
therefore : He opens the ear of men, and seals their admoni- 
tion, i.e. the admonition that is wholesome and necessary for 
them. Elihu uses 2 ttfin here and ch. xxxvii. 7 as *W2 DJnn 
is used in ch. ix. 7 : to seal anything (to seal up), comp. JU-, 
acj)pay%ei,v, in the sense of infallible attestation and confirma- 



224 THE BOOK OF JOB. 



tion (John vi. 27), especially (with <_>) of divine revelation or 
inspiration, distinct in meaning from *Ir>-> <r<j>parfl%et,Vj in the 
proper sense. Elihu means that by such dreams and visions, 
as rare overpowering facts not to be forgotten, God puts the 
seal upon the warning directed to them which, sent forth in 
any other way, would make no such impression. Most ancient 
versions (also Luther) translate as though it were Enn^ (LXX. 
e^efyofBiiaev avrovs). IDb is a secondary form to ^B, ch. 
xxxvi. 10, which occurs only here. Next comes the fuller 
statement of the object of the admonition or warning delivered 
in such an impressive manner. According to the text before 
us, it is to be explained : in order that man may remove (put 
from himself) mischief from himself (Ges. 133, 3) ; but 
this inconvenient change of subject is avoided, if we supply 
a D to the second, and read n^VEE D1X, as LXX. aTroo-rpe^at, 
avOpwjrov CLTTO a$iKia<i avrou (which does not necessarily pre- 
suppose the reading infe>JJDD), Targ. ab opere malo ; Jer. not so 
good : ab his qucc fecit. HKWD signifies facinus, an evil deed, as 
1 Sam. xx. 19, and 7^b, ch. xxxvi. 9, evil-doing. The iiifin. 
constr. now 7 passes into the v.fin., which would be very liable 
to misconstruction with different subjects : and in order that 
He (God) may conceal arrogance from man, i.e. altogether 
remove from him, unaccustom him to, render him weary of, 
the sin of pride (ma from nia HN3 as ch. xxii. 29, according 

L \ T" TT T T/ / CD 

to Ges., Ew., Olsh., for niN*3 = niN'-i). Here everything in 

/ / * T ; T~;,~/ t/ O 

thought and expression is peculiar. Also njn, ver. 186 (as 
vers. 22, 28), for D^n (ver. 30) does not occur elsewhere in the 
book of Job, and the phrase npsfa 13V here and ch. xxxvi. 12 
(comp. nn$2 13V, ver. 28) nowhere else in the Old Testament. 
fW (Arab, silah, a weapon of offence, opp. metd* 9 a weapon 
of defence) is the engine for shooting, from np^ ? emittere,- to 
shoot; and nfea 13V is equivalent to rfel 1V3 i>ai, Joel ii. 8, 

* X f f 

to pass away by (precipitate one's self into) the weapon 
for shooting. To deliver man from sin, viz. sins of carnal 

o / 



CHAP. XXXIII. 19-22. 225 

security and imaginary self-importance, and at die same time 
from an early death, whether natural or violent, this is the dis- 
ciplinary design which God has in view in connection with this 
first mode of speaking to him ; but there is also a second mode. 

19 He is chastened also with pain upon Ids led, 
And with the unceasing conflict of his limbs ; 

20 And his life causeth him to loathe bread, 
And his soul dainty meat. 

21 His Jlesh consumeth away to uncomeliness, 
And his deranged limbs are scarcely to be seen. 

22 Then his soul draiueth near to the grave, 
And his life to the destroyers. 

Another and severer lesson which God teaches man is by 
painful sickness : he is chastened with pain (3 of the means) 
on his bed, he and the vigorous number of his limbs, i.e. he 
with this hitherto vigorous (Raschi), or : while the multitude 
of his limbs is still vigorous (Ew.). Thus is the Keri I 1 ! 1 ) to 
be understood, for the interpretation : and the multitude of 
his limbs with unceasing pain (Arnh. after Aben-Ezra), is 
unnatural. But the Chethib is far more commendable : and 
with a constant tumult of his limbs (Hirz. and others). Yer. 
19& might also be taken as a substantival clause : and the 
tumult of his limbs is unceasing (Umbr., Welte) ; but that 
taking over of 1 from 21X203 is simpler and more pleasing. 1*1 
(opposite of CriPB^ e.g. Ps. xxxviii. 4) is an excellent description 
of disease which consists in a disturbance of the equilibrium of 
the powers, in the dissolution of their harmony, in the excite- 
ment of one against another (Psychol. S. 287). JHtf for IJVK 
belongs to the many defective forms of writing of this section. 
In ver. 20 we again meet a Hebraeo-Arabic hapaxlegomenon, 
DHT from OHJ. In Arab, zahuma signifies to stink, like the 
Aram. Q?T (whence Dn^T, dirt and stench), zahama to thrust 
back, restrain, after which Abu Suleiman Daud Alfasi, in his 

VOL. II. P 



226 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

Arabic Lexicon of the Hebrew, interprets : " kis soul thrusts 
back (noa: Dntn) food and every means of life," 1 beside which 
the suff. of VPLLTI is taken as an anticipation of the following 
object (vid. on ch. xxix. 3) : his life feels disgust at it, at bread, 
and his soul at dainty meat. The Piel has then only the 
intensive signification of Kal (synon. Stffi, Ps. cvii. 18), ac- 
cording to which it is translated by Halm with many before 
him. But if the poet had wished to be so understood, he 
would have made use of a less ambiguous arrangement of the 
words, irvn Dr6 inontl. We take DHT with Ew. 122, b, as 
causative of Kal, in which signification the Piel, it is true, 
occurs but rarely, yet it does sometimes, instead of Iliph. ; 
but without translating, with Hirz., iTn by hunger and $aj by 
appetite, which gives a confused thought. Schlottm. appro- 
priately remarks : " It is very clearly expressed, as the proper 
vital power, the proper ^w^j, when it is inwardly consumed 
by disease, gives one a loathing for that which it otherwise 
likes as being a necessary condition of its own existence." 
Thus it is : health produces an appetite, sickness causes 
nausea ; the soul that is in an uninjured normal state longs 
for food, that which is severely weakened by sickness turns 
the desire for dainties into loathing and aversion. 

-Ver. 2 la. The contracted future form ?, again, like DK^ 
ver. Ha, is poetic instead of the full form : his flesh vanishes 
"fcpB, from sight, i.e. so that it is seen no longer; or from 
comeliness, i.e. so that it becomes unsightly ; the latter (comp. 
1 Sam. xvi. 12 with Isa. liii. 2, nano-fc^) might be preferred. 
In ver. 215 the Keri corrects the text to &W\, et contrita sunt, 
whereas the Chethib is to be read *&% et contritio. The 
verb Hfi^j which has been explained by Saadia from the Tal- 
mudic, 2 signifies eonterere, comminuere ; Abulwalid (in Ges. 



1 Vid. Pinsker's Likknte Kadmoniot, p. 

2 He refers to f>. Aboda zara 42a : If a heathen have broken an idol to 
pieces (nS2^) to derive advantage from the pieces, both the (shattered) 



CHAP. XXXIII. 19-22. 227 

Thes.) interprets it here by suliifet wa-laradet, they are con- 
sumed and wasted away, and explains it by VIFO. The radical 
notion is that of scraping, scratching, rubbing away (not to 
be interchanged with \jL, nSD, which, starting from the radical 
notion of sweeping away, vanishing, comes to have that of 
wasting away; cognate, however, with the above u-i^U*:> 
whence swha/, consumption, prop, a rasure of the plumpness 
of the body). According to the Ken, ver. 216 runs : and his 
bones (limbs) are shattered (fallen away), they are not seen, 
i.e. in their wasting a\vay and shrivelling up they have lost 
their former pleasing form. Others, taking the bones in their 
strict sense, and nat? in the signification to scrape away = lay 
bare, take 1&O vh as a relative clause, as Jer. has done : ossa 
quce tecta fuerant nudabuntur (rather nudata sunt), but this 



ought with a change of mood to be 1N"i & IBBh. To the 
former interpretation corresponds the unexceptionable Ckethib: 
and the falling away of his limbs are not seen, i.e. (per 
attractionem) his wasting limbs are diminished until they are 
become invisible. INI is one of the four Old Testament words 
(Gen. xliii. 26, Ezra yiii." 18, Lev. xxiii. 17) which have a 
Dagesh in the Alepli; in all four the Aleph stands between 
two vowels, and the dageshing (probably the remains of a 
custom in the system of pointing which has become the pre- 
vailing one, which, with these few exceptions, has been suf- 
fered to fall away) is intended to indicate that the Aleph is 
here to be carefully pronounced as a guttural (to use an 
Arabic expression, as Hamza), therefore in this passage ru-u. 1 
Thus, then, the soul (the bearer of the life of the body) of the 

idol and the fragments (f^S^O are permitted (since "both are deprived of 
their heathenish character). 

1 Vid. Luzzatto's Grammatica della Lingua Ebraica (1853), 54. 
Ewald's ( 21) view, that in these instances the pointed Aleph is to be 
read as j (therefore ruju\ is unfounded ; moreover, the point over the 
Aleph is certainly only improperly called Dagesh, it might at least just as 
suitably be called Mappik. 



228 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

sick man, at last succumbing to this process of decay, comes 
near to the pit, and his life to the E 11 ^*?, destroying angels 
(comp. Ps, Ixxviii. 49, 2 Sam. xxiv. 16), i.e. the angels who 
are commissioned by God to slay the man, if he does not 
anticipate the decree of death by penitence. To understand 
the powers of death in general, with Rosenm., or the pains of 
death, with Schlottm. and others, does not commend itself, 
because the Elihu section has a strong angelological colouring 
in common with the book of Job. The following strophe, 
indeed, in contrast to the DTPDD, speaks of an angel that 
effects deliverance from death. 

23 If there is an angel as mediator for him, 
One of a thousand, 

To declare to man ivhat is for his profit : 

24 He is gracious to him, and saith : 

Deliver him, that he go not down to the pit 
/ have found a ransom. 

The former case, vers. 15-18, was the easier; there a 
strengthening of the testimony of man's conscience by a 
divine warning, given under remarkable circumstances, suf- 
fices. This second case, which the LXX. correctly dis- 
tinguishes from the former (it translates ver. 19, iraKw Se 
fjKe^ev avrov v fj.a\arcla eVl #om?9), is the more difficult : 
it treats not merely of a warning against sin and its wages of 
death, but of a deliverance from the death itself, to which the 
man is almost abandoned in consequence of sin. This de- 
liverance, as Elihu says, requires a mediator. This course of 
thought does not admit of our understanding the ^NpD of a 
human messenger of God, such as Job has before him in 
Elihu (Schult., Schnurr., Boullier, Eichh., Rosenm., Welte), 
an " interpreter of the divine will, such as one finds one man 
among a thousand to be, a God-commissioned speaker, in one 
word: a prophet" (von Hofmann in Schriftbew. i. 336f.). The 



CHAP. XXXIII. 23, 24. 229 

ixta appears not merely as a declarer of the conditions of 
the deliverance, but as a mediator of this deliverance itself. 
And if the B^pp, ver. 22 b, are angels by whom the man is 
threatened with the execution of death, the 1&OD who comes 
forward here for him who is upon the brink of the abyss 
cannot be a man. We must therefore understand "Jtfta not 
as in ch. i. 14, but as in ch. iv. 18 ; and the more surely so, 
since we are within the extra-Israelitish circle of a patriarchal 
history. In the extra-Israelitish world a far more developed 
doctrine of angels and demons is everywhere found than in 
Israel, which is to be understood not only subjectively, but 
also objectively; and within the patriarchal history after 
Gen. xvi., that (DT6s) rw fsta appears, who is instru- 
mental in effecting the progress of the history of redemption, 
and has so much the appearance of the God of revelation, 
that He even calls himself God, and is called God. He it is 
whom Jacob means, when (Gen. xlviii. 15 sq.), blessing Joseph, 
he distinguishes God the Invisible, God the Shepherd, i.e. 
Leader and Ruler, and " the Angel who delivered (^n) me 
from all evil;" it is the Angel who, according to Ps. xxxiv. 8, 
encampeth round about them that fear God, and delivereth 
them ; " the Angel of the presence " whom Isaiah in the 
Thephilla, ch. Ixiii. 7 sqq., places beside Jehovah and His 
Holy Spirit as a third liypostasis. Taking up this perception, 
Elihu demands for the deliverance of man from the death 
which he has incurred by his sins, a superhuman angelic 
mediator. The " Angel of Jehovah " of primeval history is 
the oldest prefigurement in the history of redemption of the 
future incarnation, without which the Old Testament history 
would be a confused quodlibet of premises and radii, without 
a conclusion and a centre; and the angelic form is accordingly 
the oldest form which gives the hope of a deliverer, and to 
which it recurs, in conformity to the law of the circular con- 
nection between the beginning and end, in Mai. iii. 1. 



230 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

The strophe begins without any indication of connection 
with the preceding: one would expect QN1 or D&> Ttf, as we felt 
the absence of ^K in ver. 14, and f5J in ch. xxxii. 17. We might 
take r?p "H^? together as substantive and epitlieton; the ac- 
centuation, however, which marks both "J^D and pfo with 
Rebia magnum (in which case, according to Bar's Psalterium, 
p. xiv., the second distinctive has somewhat less value than 
the first), takes "J^bo as subj., and pfo as predicate : If there 
is then for him (v6y, pro eo, Ew. 217, i) an angel as ppE, 
i.e. mediator; for fvD signifies elsewhere an interpreter, Gen. 
xlii. 23; a negotiator, 2 Chron. xxxii. 31 ; a God-commissioned 

7 O ' 

speaker, i.e. prophet, Isa. xliii. 27 ; everywhere (if it is not 
used as in ch. xvi. 20, in malam parte) the shades of the 
notion of this word are summarized under the general notion 
of internuncius, and therefore of mediator (as the Jewish 
name of the mediating angel jnBBD, probably equivalent to 
mediator, not fJierdOpovo?, which is no usable Greek word). 
The Targ. translates by lttP9pnB, irapd/cXriTos (opp. "lU'Dp, 
KaTrwopos, Karrjy&p). Therefore : if an angel undertakes the 
mediatorial office for the man, and indeed one of a thousand, 
i.e. not any one whatever of the thousands of the angels 
(Deut. xxxiii. 2, Ps. Ixviii. 18, Dan. vii. 10, comp. Tobit 
xii. 15, et<? etc TWV evrra), but one who soars above the thou- 
sands, and has not his equal among them (as Eccl. vii. 28). 
Hirz. and Halm altogether falsely combine : one of the thou- 
sands, whose business it is to announce . . . The accentua- 
tion is correct, and that forced mode of connection is without 
reason or occasion. It is the function of the *]VP& itself as 
ptaj which the clause which expresses the purpose affirms : 
if an angel appears for the good of the man as a mediator, to 
declare to him W^J, his uprightness, i.e. the right, straight 
way (comp. Prov. xiv. 2), in one word : the way of salvation, 
which he has to take to get free of sin and death, viz. the 
way of repentance and of faith (trust in God) : God takes 



CHAP. XXXIII. 23, 24. 231 

pity on the man . . . Here the conclusion begins ; Rosenm. 
and others erroneously continue the antecedent here, so that 
what follows is the intercession of the angel ; the angel, how- 
ever, is just as a mediator who brings about the favour of 
God, and therefore not the fJh himself. He renders pardon 
possible, and brings the man into the state for receiving it. 

Therefore : then God pardons, and says to His angel : De- 
liver him from the descent to the pit, I have found a ransom, 'y 
Instead of ^^3, it would be admissible to read ^SH?, let him 
free (from jns, c, J), if the angel to whom the command is 
given were the angel of death. SHE is a cognate form, per- 
haps dialectic, with i"nsi 7 root *!> (as y&, PIS' 1 , _j, j., from 
the common root Pp, ffi). 1 The verb KE> (StS) signifies to 
come at, ch. xi. 7, to attain something, and has its first signi- 
fication here, starting from which it signifies the finding on 

/ o o o 

the part of the seeker, and then when weakened finding 
without seeking. One is here reminded of Heb. ix. 12, 
alwviav ^vrpcacrLv vpdfJVO$. "1M (on this word, vid. ffebrder- 
briefy S. 385, 740), according to its primary notion, is not a 
covering = making good, more readily a covering = cancel- 
ling (from "123, Talmud, to wipe out, away), but, as the usual 
combination with ?% shows, a covering of sin and guilt before 
wrath, punishment, or execution on account of guilt, and in 
this sense \vrpov, a means of getting free, ransom-money. 
The connection is satisfied if the repentance of the chastened 
one (thus e.g. also von Hofm.) is understood by this ransom, 
or better, his affliction, inasmuch as it has brought him to re- 
pentance. But wherefore should the mediatorship of the angel 
be excluded from the notion of the "123 1 Just this mediator- 
ship is meant, inasmuch as it puts to right him who by his 



1 "Wetzstein is inclined to regard jna as a metathesis of JJS1, f-J^ : 
thrust (tear, hold) him back from the grave. A proper name, fed' an, 
which, often occurs among the Becluins, is of uncertain signification ; 
perhaps it would serve as an explanation of injTJD 



232 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

sins had worked death, i.e. places him in a condition in which 
no further hindrance stands in the way of the divine pardon. 
If we connect the mediating angel, like the angel of Jehovah 

O O ' O 

of the primeval history, with God Himself, as then the logos 
of this mediating angel to man can be God's own logos com- 
municated by him, and he therefore as p!>D, God's speaker 
(if we consider Elihu's disclosure in the light of the New 
Testament), can be the divine Logos himself, we shall here 
readily recognise a presage of the mystery which is unveiled 
in the New Testament : " God was in Christ, and recon- 
ciled the world unto Himself." A presage of this mystery, 
flashing through the darkness, we have already read in ch. 
xvii. 3 (comp. ch. xvi. 21 ; and, on the other hand, in order 
to see how this anticipation is kindled by the thought of the 
opposite, ch. ix. 33). The presage which meets us here is 
like another in Ps. cvii. a psalm which has many points of 
coincidence with the book of Job where in ver. 20 we find, 
" Pie sent His word, and healed them." At any rate, Elihu 
expresses it as a postulate, that the deliverance of man can 
only be effected by a superhuman being, as it is in reality 
accomplished by the man who is at the same time God, and 
from all eternity the Lord of the angels of light. 

The following strophe now describes the results of the 
favour wrought out for man by the f'vD 



25 His flesh swelleth with the freshness of youth , 
He returneth to the days of his youth. 

26 If he prayeth to Eloali, lie showeth him favour, 
So that he seeth His face with joy, 

And thus He recompenseth to man his uprightness. 

1 In his introduction, p. 76, Schlottmann says : " The conceptions of 
"Wisdom and of the Revealing Angel were already united in that of the 
Eternal Word in the ante- Christian, Jewish theology. Therein the fact 
of the divine revelation in Christ found the forms in which it could 
accommodate itself to the understanding, and stimulate succeeding ages 



CHAP. XXXIII. 25-28. 233 

27 lie singe th to men and saith: 

u I had sinned and perverted wliat was straight, 
" And it was not recompensed to me. 

28 " lie hath delivered my soul from going down into the pit, 
" And my life rejoiceth in the light." 

Misled by the change of the perf. and fut. in ver. 25, Jer. 
translates 25a: consumta est caro ejus a suppliciis ; Targ. : His 
flesh had been weakened (^nnK), or made thin (^^K), 
more than the flesh of a child ; Raschi : it had become burst 
(French KB>lpB>K, in connection with which only W2 appears 
to have been in his mind, in the sense of springing up, 
prendre son escousse) from the shaking (of disease). All 
these interpretations are worthless ; "WJ, peculiar to the Elihu 
section in the book of Job (here and ch. xxxvi. 14), does not 
signify shaking, but is equivalent to B" 1 "!^ (ch. xiii. 26, 
xxxi. 18) ; and ^OT is in the perf. only because the passive 
quadriliteral would not so easily accommodate itself to in- 
flexion (by which all those asserted significations, which suit 
only the perf. sense, fall to the ground). The Chateph 
instead of the simple Shevd is only in order to give greater 
importance to the passive u. But as to the origin of the 
quadriliteral (on the four modes of the origin of roots of 
more than three radicals, vid. Jesurun, pp. 160-166), there is 
no reason for regarding it as a mixed form derived from two 
different verbs : it is formed just like TBHS (from KHB, by 
Arabizing = ^HQ) with a sibilant termination from ^EH = 
2LJ1, and therefore signifies to be (to have been made) over 
moist or juicy. However, there is yet another almost more 
commendable explanation possible. In Arab. \JsJ0 signifies 

to further thought and penetration." Thus it is : between the Chokma 
of the canonical books arid the post-biblical development of the philosophy 
of religion (dogmatism) which culminates in Philo, there is an historical 
connection, and, indeed, one that has to do with the development of re- 
demption. Vid. Luth. Zeitsclirift, 1863, S. 219 ff. 



234 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

to recover, prop, to grow green, become fresh (perhaps from 
tarufa, as in the signification to blink, from tarafa). From 
this Arab, tarfasha, or even from a Hebr. ^S")^, 1 pinguefacere 
(which may with Fiirst be regarded as springing from Bto, 
to be fleshy, like /-HS, Q ?1 3 ), ^'?^'? might have sprung by 
transposition. In a remarkable manner one and the same 
idea is attained by all these ways : whether we regard C>2"i 
as a mixed form from 2B"i and '2B, or as an extended root- 
form from one or other of these verbs, it is always according 
to the idea : a superabundance of fresh healthf ulness. The 
|B of ")$)D is chiefly regarded as comparative : more than 
youth, i.e. leaving this behind, or exceeding it, Ew. 221, a; 
but ver. 256, according to which he who was hitherto sick 
unto death actually renews his youth, makes it more natural 
to take the | as causal : it swells from youth or youthf ulness. 
In this description of the renovation which the man ex- 
periences, it is everywhere assumed that he has taken the 
right way announced to him by the mediating angel. Ac- 
cordingly, ver. 26a is not intended of prayer that is heard, 
which resulted in pardon, but of prayer that may be heard 
continually, which results from the pardon : if he prays to 
Eloah (fut. liypotlieticum as ch. xxii. 27, vid. on xxix. 24), 



He receives him favourably ( n -f^ 7 i*&jj with 3, c ?, to have 



pleasure in any one, with the ace. enr.i gratum vel acceptum 
habere\ and he (whose state of favour is now established 
anew) sees God's countenance (which has been hitherto veiled 

1 The Talmud. JO S ^H NK>B"itD (Cliullin, 49&) signifies, according to the 
customary rendering, the pericardium, and fcTDDI N ; D"1D (#> 46a) the 
diaphragm, or rather the little net (omentum minus). Originally, how- 
ever, the former signified the cushion of fat under the pericardium on 
which the heart rests, especially in the crossing of the furrows ; the latter 
the accumulation of fat on the porta (o-yAjj) and between the laminse of 
the little net. For ^>TlD is correctly explained by pl&JJ, fat. It has 
nothing to do with Tpx^tfa ( an ^ name for a part of the liver), with 
which Ges. after Buxtorf connects it. 



CHAP. XXXIII. 25-28. 235 

from him, ch. xxxiv. 29) with rejoicing (as Ps. xxxiii. 3 and 
freq.), and He (God) recompenses to the man his upright- 
ness (in his prolonged course of life), or prop., since it is not 
$&^, but 3C/2, He restores on His part his relation in accord- 
ance with the order of redemption, for that is the idea of 
npis ; the word has either a legal or a so-to-speak evangeli- 
cal meaning, in which latter, used of God (as so frequently 
in Isaiah II.), it describes His rule in accordance with His 
counsel and order of redemption ; the primary notion is strict 
observance of a given rule. 

In ver. 27a the favoured one is again the subj. This 
change of person, without any indication of the same, belongs 
to the peculiarities of the Hebrew, and, in general, of the 
Oriental style, described in the Geschichte der jud. Poesie, 
S. 189 \_PIistory of Jewish Poetry] ; the reference of K"}5, as 
ffiph.y to God, which is preferred by most expositors, is con- 
sequently unnecessary. Moreover, the interpretation : He 
causes his (the favoured one's) countenance to behold joy 
(Umbr., Ew.), is improbable as regards the phrase (n&m) n&n 
71 ^2, and also syntactically lame ; and the interpretation : 
He causes (him, the favoured one) to behold His (the divine) 
countenance with joy (Hirz., Hahn, Schlottm., and others), 
halts in like manner, since this would be expressed by ^&p.?l 
(^N-W). By the reference to psalmody which follows in 
ver. 27 (cornp. ch. xxxvi. 24), it becomes natural that we 
should understand ver. 26& according to such passages in the 
Psalms as xcv. 2, Ixvii. 2, xvii. 15. "^ is a poetically con- 
tracted fut. after the manner of a jussive, for "U"^ ; and per- 
haps it is a dialectic form, for the Kal ">^ = VC> occurs only 
besides in 1 Sam. xviii. 6 as Chethib. With ^ (comp. Prov. 
xxv. 20) it signifies to address a song to any one, to sing to 
him. Now follows the psalm of the favoured one in outline ; 
ver. 28 also belongs to it, where the Keri (Targ. Jer.), without 
any evident reason whatever, gets rid of the 1 pers. (LXX., 



236 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

Syr.). I liad sinned lie says, as he looks back ashamed and 
thankful and perverted what was straight (comp. the con- 
fession of the penitent, Ps. cvi. 6), v nyy K?\ 9 et non cequale 
factum s. non cequatum est mihij 1 i.e. it has not been recom- 
pensed to me according to my deserts, favour instead of right 



is come upon me. nj> (u/j~0 is intended neutrally, not so that 

God would be the subj. (LXX. KOL OVK a%ia -ijracre /ze &v 
rffjiapTov). Now follows, ver. 28, the positive expression of the 
favour experienced. The phrase nnsa 133?, after the analogy 
of r6ea "ay above, and also njn for B^n, are characteristic of 
the Elihu section. Beautiful is the close of this psalm in 
nuce: "and my life refreshes itself (3 n&n as ch. xx. 17 and 
freq.) in the light," viz. in the light of the divine counte- 
nance, which has again risen upon me, i.e. in the gracious 
presence of God, which I am again become fully conscious of. 

29 Behold, God doeth all 
Tivice, thrice with man, 

30 To bring back his soul from the pit, 

That it may become light in the light of life. 

31 Listen, Job, hearken to me; 
Be silent and let me speak on. 

32 Yet if thou hast words, answer me ; 
Speak, for I desire thy justification. 

33 If not, hearken thou to me; 

Be silent and I will teach thee wisdom. 

After having described two prominent modes of divine in- 

1 In Arabic ufj (saiva) is the most general expression for "to be 
worth, to cost," usually with the ace. of price, but also with Zi, e.g. in the 
proverb lial kcike ma tisice li-lial da'ke, this (wretched) bite of bread (of 
subsistence) is not worth this (excessive) pressure after it. Accordingly 
*6 nit7 N^l would signify : it (what I suffered) came not equal to me 
(did not balance me), which at any rate is equivalent to " it did not cost 
iny life" (Wetzst.), but would be indistinctly expressed. 



CHAP. XXXIII. 20-33. 237 

terposition for the moral restoration and welfare of man, lie 
adds, vers. 29 sq., that God undertakes (observe the want of 
parallelism in the distich, ver. 29) everything with a man 
twice or thrice (asyndeton, as e.g. Isa. xvii. 6, in the sense of bis 
terve) in order to bring back his soul from the pit (nn^, here 
for the fifth time in this speech, without being anywhere inter- 
changed with ?iN> or another synonym, which is remarkable), 
that it, having hitherto been encompassed by the darkness of 
death, may be, or become, light ("N&V, inf. Niph., syncopated 
from "tftfnpj Ew. 244, b) in the light of life (as it were bask 
in the new and restored light of life) it does not always 
happen, for these are experiences of no ordinary kind, which 
interrupt the daily course of life ; and it is not even repeatect 
again and again constantly, for if it is without effect the first 
time, it is repeated a second or third time, but it has an end 
if the man trifles constantly with the disciplinary work of 
grace which designs his good. Finally, Elihu calls upon 
Job quietly to ponder this, that he may proceed ; neverthe- 
less, if he has words, i.e. if he thinks he is able to advance 
any appropriate objections, he is continually to answer him 
(1^'n with ace. of the person, as ver. 5), for he (Elihu) would 
willingly justify him, i.e. he would gladly be in the position 
to be able to acknowledge Job to be riMit. and to have the 

O O ' 

accusation dispensed with. Hirz. and others render falsely : 
I wish thy justification, i.e. thou shouldst justify thyself ; in 
this case *|$M ought to be supplied, which is unnecessary : 
}*sn, without a change of subject, has the inf. constr. here 
without p, as it has the inf. absol. in ch. xiii. 3, and P^V signi- 
fies to vindicate (as ch. xxxii. 2), or acknowledge to be in the 
right (as the Piel of jTO, ver. 12), both of which are blended 
here. The LXX., which translates 6e\co yap SitcaicoOfjvai 
ere, has probably read ^jTO (P s . xxxv. 27). If it is not so 
(j^'DN* as Gen. xxx. 1), viz. that he does not intend to defend 
himself with reference to his expostulation with God on 



238 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

account of the affliction decreed for him, he shall on his part 
(Hrix) listen, shall be silent and be further taught wisdom. 

Quasi hac ratione Heliu sanctum lob convicerit! exclaims 
Beda, after a complete exposition of this speech. He regards 
Elihu as the type of the false wisdom of the heathen, which 
fails to recognise and persecutes the servant of God : Sunt 
alii extra ecclesiam, qui Christo ejusque ecclesice similiter 
adversantnr, quorum imaginem prcetulit Balaam ille ariolus, 
qui et Elieu sicut patrum traditio habet (Balaam and Elihu, 
one person a worthless conceit repeated in the Talmud and 
Midrash), qui contra ipsum sanctum lob multa improbe et 
injicriose locutus est, in tantum ut etiam displiceret in una ejus 
'et indisciplinata loquacitas. 1 Gregory the Great, in his 
Moralia, expresses himself no less unfavourably at the con- 
clusion of this speech: 2 Magna Eliu ac valde fortia protulit, 
sed hoc unusquisque arrogans liabere proprium solet, quod dum 
vera ac mystica loquitur subito per tumorem cordis quondam 
inania et siqierba permiscet. He also regards Elihu as an 
emblem of confident arrogance, yet not as a type of a heathen 
philosopher, but of a believing yet vain and arrogant teacher. 
This tone in judging of Elihu, first started by Jerome, has 
spread somewhat extensively in the Western Church. In the 
age of the Reformation, e.g., Yictorin Strigel takes this side : 
Elihu is regarded by him as exempliun ambitiosi oratoris qui 
plenus sit ostentatione et audacia inusitata sine mente. Also 
in the Greek Eastern Church such views are not wanting. 
Elihu says much that is good, and excels the friends in this, 
that he does not condemn Job ; Olympiodorus adds, ifK^v 
OVK evorjO-e TOV St/caiou TTJV Siavoiav, but he has not under- 
stood the true idea of the servant of God! 3 

1 Jjedas Opp. ed. Basil, iii. col. 602 sq. 786. The commentary also bears 
the false name of Jerome [Hierouymus], and as a \vriting attributed to 
him is contained in torn. v. Opp. ed. Vallarsi. 

2 Opp. ed. Paris, i. col. 777. 

8 Catena in Jolt. Londin. p. 4.84. where it is further said, "O&v 



CHAP, xxxui. 29-sa. 239 

In modern times, Herder entertains tlie same judgment. 
Elihu's speech, in comparison with the short, majestic, solemn 
language of the Creator, he calls " the weak rambling speech 
of a boy." "Elihu, a young prophet" he says further on 
in his Geist der Ebr. Poesie, where he expounds the book of 
Job as a composition "arrogant, bold, alone wise, draws fine 
pictures without end or aim ; hence no one answers him, and 
he stands there merely as a shadow." 1 Among the latest 
expositors, Umbreit (Edition 2, 1832) considers Elihu's ap- 
pearance as " an uncalled-for stumbling in of a, conceited 
young philosopher into the conflict that is already properly 
ended; the silent contempt with which. one allows him to 
speak is the merited reward of a babbler." In later years 
Umbreit gave up this depreciation of Elihu. 2 Nevertheless 
Ilahn, in his Comm. zu lob (1850), has sought anew to prove 
that Elihu's speeches are meant indeed to furnish a solution, 
but do not really do so : on the contrary, the poet intentionally 
represents the character of Elihu as that " of a most conceited 
and arrogant young man, boastful and officious in his un- 
deniable knowingness." The unfavourable judgments have 
been carried still further, inasmuch as an attempt has even 
been made to regard Elihu as a disguise for Satan in the 
organism of the drama ; 3 but it may be more suitable to break 
off this unpleasant subject than to continue it. 

In fact this dogmatic criticism of Elihu's character and 
speeches produces a painful impression. For, granted that 
it might be otherwise, and the poet really had designed to 
bring forward in these speeches of Elihu respecting God's 



KOII Toy d-ov [tyre STraiyiaxi rov ETuoy?, I^i/Bij p r /i vsvorix; roij' Iaj3 rav/; 
[tyre p'/iv x.otTu3>inix.(jot.i, STTH^YI py daefoias XVTOV xotrizpivs. 

1 Edition 1805, S. 101, 142. 

2 Vid. Eiehm, Blatter der Eiinnerung an F. W. C. Umbreit (1862), 
S. 58. 

3 Thus the writer of a treatise in the 3d vol. of Bernstein's Analekten, 
entitled : Der Satan als Irrgeist und Enyel des Liclds. 



240 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

own appearing an incontrovertible apology for His holy 
love, as a love which is at work even in such dispensations 
of affliction as that of Job : what offence against the deep 
earnestness of this portion of Holy Scripture would there be 
in this degradation of Elihu to an absurd character, in that 
depreciation of him to a babbler promising much and per- 
forming little ! But that the poet is really in earnest in 
everything he puts into Elihu' s mouth, is at once shown by 
the description, ch. xxxiii. 13-30, which forms the kernel of 
the contents of the first speech. This description of the 
manifold ways of the divine communication to man, upon a 
contrite attention to which his rescue from destruction depends, 
belongs to the most comprehensive passages of the Old Testa- 
ment ; and I know instances of the powerful effect which it 
can produce in arousing from the sleep of security and 
awakening penitence. If one, further, casts a glance at the 
historical introduction of Elihu, ch. xxxii. 1-5, the poet 
there gives no indication that he intends in Elihu to bring 
the odd character of a young poltroon before us. The 
motive and aim of his coming forward, as they are there given, 
are fully authorized. If one considers, further, that the poet 
makes Job keep silence at the speeches of Elihu, it may also 
be inferred therefrom that he believes he has put answers 
into Elihu' s mouth by which he must feel himself most 
deeply smitten ; such truths as ch. xxxii. 13-30, drawn 
from the depths of moral experience, could not have been 
put forth if Job's silence were intended to be the punishment 
of contempt. 

These counter-considerations also really affect another pos- 
sible and milder apprehension of the young speaker, inasmuch 
as, with von Hof mann, the gravitating point of the book of Job 
is transferred to the fact of the Theophany as the only satis- 
factory practical solution of the mystery of affliction : it is 
solved by God Himself coming down and acknowledging Job 



CHAP. XXXIII. 29-G3. 241 

as His servant. Elilm thus one can say from this point of 
view is not one of Job's friends, whose duty it was to com- 
fort him; but the moral judgment of man's perception of 
God is made known by this teacher, but without any other 
effect than that Job is silent. There is one duty towards 
Job which he has not violated, for he has not to fulfil the 
duty of friendship : The only art of correct theorizing is to 
put an opponent to silence, and to have spoken to the wind is 
the one punishment appropriate to it. This milder rendering 
also does not satisfy ; for, in the idea of the poet, Elihu's 
speeches are not only a thus negative, but the positive pre- 
paration for Jehovah's appearing. In the idea of the poet, 
Job is silent because he does not know how to answer Elihu, 
and therefore feels himself overcome. 1 And, in fact, what 
answer should he give to this first speech ? Elihu wishes to 
dispute Job's self- justification, which places God's justice in 
the shade, but not indeed in the friends' judging, condemna- 
tory manner: he wishes to dispute Job's notion that his 
affliction proceeds from a hostile purpose on the part of God, 
and sets himself here, as there, a perfectly correct task, which 
he seeks to accomplish by directing Job to regard his afflic- 
tion, not indeed as a punishment from the angry God, but as 
a chastisement of the God who desires his highest good, as 
disciplinary affliction which is intended to secure him against 
hurtful temptation to sin, especially to pride, by salutary 
humiliation, and will have a glorious issue, as soon as it has 
in itself accomplished that at which it aims. 

It is true one must listen very closely to discover the dif- 
ference between the tone which Elihu takes and the tone in 

1 The preparation is negative only so far as Elihu causes Job .to bs 
silent and to cease to murmur ; but Jehovah draws from him a confession 
of penitence on account of his murmuring. This positive relation of the 
appearing of Jehovah to that for which Elihu negatively prepares the way, 
is rightly emphasized by Schlottm., Rabiger (De I. loU sententia primaria, 
I860, 4), and others, as favourable to the authenticity. 

VOL. II. Q 



242 THE BOOK OF JOB. 

which Eliphaz began his first speech. But there is a dif- 
ference notwithstanding : both designate Job's affliction as a 
chastisement ("(DID), which will end gloriously, if he receives 
it without murmuring ; but Eliphaz at once demands of him 
humiliation under the mighty hand of God; Elihu, on the 
contrary, makes this humiliation lighter to him, by setting 
over against his longing for God to answer him, the pleasing 
teaching that his affliction in itself is already the speech of 
God to him, a speech designed to educate him, and to bring 
about his spiritual well-being. What objection could Job, 
who has hitherto maintained his own righteousness in oppo- 
sition to affliction as a hostile decree, now raise, when it is 
represented to him as a wholesome medicine reached forth to 
him by the holy God of love ? What objection could Job 
now raise, without, in common, offensive self-righteousness, 
falling into contradiction with his own confession that he is 
a sinful man, ch. xiv. 4, comp. xiii. 26? Therefore Elihu 
has not s