that I knew not I fearched out. So Prov. XXIX. 7. "The righteous "confidereth the Cause of the poor: but the wicked regardeth not to "know it." V. 25. I dwelt as a King in an Army, as one who comforteth Mourners, feems to be taken from Ifa. LXI. 1, 2. " He hath fent "me to proclaim Liberty to the Captives, to comfort all that mourn."

The Words are the fame, and agree better with .לנהם כל אבלים

the Context in Isaiah than in Job. Ch. XXX. 29. I am a Brother to Dragons, and a Companion to Oftriches. So Mic. I. 8. "I will make "a Wailing as the Dragons, and Mourning as the Oftriches." I observe that Job fays, he is a Brother and a Companion to these Animals; but why? It wants to be explained. The Reason is expressed in Micah. It is because of their Mourning. So that probably that Paffage in Micah being well known, the Author of Job thought it enough to fay, He was a Brother and a Companion of them. Ch. XXXIV. 14. If he should withdraw to himself his Spirit and his Breath, all Flesh would expire together, and Man would return to Duft. So Pf. CIV. 29. "Thou takest away their Breath; they die and return to "their Duft." Ch. XXXVIII. 10, 11. And determined my Decree upon it, and fet Bars and Doors; and faid, Hitherto shalt thou go, and no farther, &c. So Prov. VIII. 29. "When he gave to the Sea his "Decree, that the Waters should not pass his Commandment." V.41. Who provideth for the Raven his Food, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for Lack of Meat? So Pf. CXLVII. 9. He feedeth the Ravens that call young upon him." But this Pfalm feems to have been compofed after the Captivity, and therefore the Author of it perhaps borrowed from Job. Ch. XXXIX. 1. Knoweft thou the Time when the wild Goats bring forth &c? alludes to a common Notion that Goats and Deer have a Difficulty in bringing forth their young, and that they are affifted in it by Thunder. This is expreffed Pf. XXIX. 9. "The Voice of the Lord maketh the Hinds to bring "forth young.' That the Book of Job was written after the Time of Hezekiah, appears probable from Ch. XXXIII. where the Cafe of Hezekiah recovering from his Sickness feems plainly to be alluded to from V. 23 to 29. If there be a Messenger, an Interpreter, one of a Thousand, to declare to Man his right Way, this feems to be Ifaiah, fent to Hezekiah with a Meffage from God: Mr. Heath fays it is hardly poffible to apply it otherwise. See Bp. Warburton, Vol. V. P.37. It follows in Job, If any Man fay, I have finned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; he will deliver his Soul from going into the Pit, and his Life fhall fee the Light. Hezekiah fays,

"Thou

"Thou haft in Love to my Soul delivered it from the Pit of Corrup"tion; for thou hast cast all my Sins behind thy Back." There is one Paffage, Pf. CVII. 40. which is certainly borrowed from Job; because the Words being the fame, their Conftruction agrees better with the Context in Job, than they do in the Pfalm; and from hence we have a Proof, that the Book of Job was written before that Pfalm. But that Pfalm feems not to have been compofed till after the Captivity. The Words are thefe, "He poureth Contempt upon Princes, and "causeth them to wander in the Wilderness, where there is no Way." They are taken from the 21st and 24th Verfes of Ch. XII. In the fame Pfalm we have, "Iniquity fhall ftop it's Mouth," taken from Job. V. 16. Another Proof that the Book of Job was written before the Return of the Jews from their Captivity is taken from Ezekiel, Ch. XIV. Though these three Men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own Souls by their Righteousness. It is obfervable that Job is joined with Noah and Daniel: from whence it appears that this Book was esteemed by the Jews at that Time as one of their facred Books. Mr. Pen obferves, I think, very juftly from these Words, Ch. VIII. 6. If thou wert pure and upright, furely now he would awake for thee, and make the Habitation of thy Righteouf ness profperous; that they probably relate to Jerufalem, and the Temple there, which then lay in Ruins. The Words, THE HABITATION OF THY RIGHTEOUSNESS, are very remarkable.

ADDEND A.

Ch. I. V. 20. Then Job arose and rent his Mantle, and shaved his Head.] Thus Homer,

Δακρυα θερμα χεον Δαναοι, κείροντο τε χαιτας·

Ch. II. 8.- and he fat down among the Afbes.] Homer fays of Ulyffes in his low Estate,

V. 12.

Εζετ' επ' εχαρη εν κονίησι

and they rent every one bis Mantle, and sprinkled Duft

upon their Heads toward Heaven.]

Αμφοτέρησι δε χερσιν ελων κονιν αιθαλόεσσαν

Χευατο κακκεφαλης, χαριεν δ' ήσχυνε προσωπον,

Νεκταρεῳδε χιτωνι μελαιν' αμφίζανε τέφρη. - Iliad. XVIII. 22.

Ch.

Ch. III. 3. Let that Day perish &c.] So Statius,

Excidat illa dies avo, ne poftera credent
Sæcula.

Hercules in Seneca. BROUGHT FORTH: for

Converte, Titan clare, anhelantes equos,
Emitte noctem, pereat hic mundo dies.
There is a Man Child conceived.]
is to bring forth as well as to conceive.

V. 9.

the Eyelids of the Morning.] So Sophocles in Antigone, Εφανθης ποτ' ω χρυσέης

Άμερας βλεφαρον

V. 15. Or with Princes that had Gold, &c.] It was usual to bury a great Deal of Wealth with Princes in their Sepulchres. Thus Cyrus and Semiramis are faid to have been buried. See an Account of fuch a Sepulchre of a Woman buried with many Jewels; Pocock's Not. ad Spec. Hift. Arab. P. 156.

V. 19. The fmall and great are there;] are THERE THE SAME. So Pf. CII.

Ch. V. 23. For thou shalt be in League with the Stones of the Field.] Quin votis lapidofa tuis, ceu fædere pacto,

Refpondebit humus, neque lætum differet uber.

Ch. VI. 4. For the Arrows of the Almighty are within me, &c.] See Tully's II. Tufculan.

V.7.

Hæc me irretivit vefte furiali infcium,

Qua lateri adhærens morfu lacerat vifcera,

Urgenfque graviter, pulmonum haurit fpiritus.

-are as my forrowful Meat.] -IS NOW, IN MY DISTRESS, BECOME MY FOOD. I have taken the Liberty to read

of 5. St. Jerom feems to have read it thus.

2, instead

Ch. VII. 12. Am I a Sea.] So Arabsjad calls Tamerlane, a vaft Sea fwallowing up every Thing.

V. 19.

nor let me alone till I fwallow down my Spittle.] It is now a proverbial Expreffion among the Arabs, and fignifies the fame, as Give me Time to breathe, Dr. Hunt's Præl.

Ch. IX. 8.

and treadeth upon the Waves of the Sea.]

præruptus aquæ mons. Virgil.

τινασσόμενης αλος ακραι. Homer.

Atque rotis fummas levibus perlabitur undas. Virgil.

V.9. Which maketh Arcturus &c.] N.B. There is here the fame Quotation from Homer, as I have inferted in the Note on Ch. XXXVIII.31.

Ch.

Ch. XIII. 9.

the Hand of the Lord]. Therefore written by a Jew, after the Time of Moses.

V. 27.

and lookeft narrowly unto all my Paths &c.] So Sophocles, in his Ajax, Line 2.

μετρόμενου

Ιχνη τα καιν8 νεοχαρακθ'.

V. 28. And be] THE MAN; i. e. I myself. So Euripedes,

- 8 γαρ τωδ' ιτ' εις τότο ςεγος.

Go not with this Man, that is, with me. Some think that this Verse fhould follow the 1ft of the next Chapter.

τεθειμένης της

Ch. XV. 10. With us are both the grey-headed, and very aged Men] ww, hence comes the Word Ifis, as Diodorus Sic. says · προσηγορίας απο της αιδία και παλαιας γενέσεως.

Ch. XVI. 16.

on my Eyelids is the Shadow of Death.] Homer, θανατος νεφος ο εκάλυψε.

Ch. XVII. 7.

-

and all my Members are as a Shadow.] Eurip. And. Σκια γαρ αντιςοιχος ως, φωνην εχεις

Αδύνατος δεν αλλο, πλην λεγειν μονον.

Ch. XVIII. 6.

and his Candle fhall be put out.] The Egyptians always have Lamps burning in their Houfes; fo that the Want of Light implies Desolation.

V. 15. Lucretius,

V. 17.

Brimstone fhall be scattered upon his Habitation.] So graves exhalant fulfuris auras.

- and he fhall have no Name in the Street.] Perhaps alluding to the Custom of placing monumental Inscriptions near the Roads. V. 19. He fhall neither have Son nor Nephew.] So Silius Ital.

Ethereo ramos populantur fulfure flammæ,

Donec victa Deo late procumbit, et omnem
Collabens operit fpatiofo ftipite prolem.

Ch. XIX. 24.

with an Iron Pen and Lead.] The Ufe of Lead was to fill up the Letters cut in Stone. So Bochart understands it. Perhaps upon Lead.

V. 25. is thus tranflated, FOR I KNOW THAT THE AVENGER OF MY CAUSE LIVETH, AND THAT HE AT LENGTH SHALL APPEAR UPON EARTH. Or perhaps, he shall rise in Judgment for Man, who is Duft: forp is certainly used in a judicial Senfe, and y may fignify for. Thefe Words are to prepare us for the final Catastrophe of the Drama.

V. 26. AND AFTER THIS MY SKIN IS CONSUMED, THEN FROM MY FLESH SHALL I SEE GOD: (V. 27.) WHOM I SHALL SEE. MY FRIEND, (or MY OWN) AND MINE EYES SHALL BEHOLD, AS NOT AN ALIEN. Job often refers his Caufe to God, and is now confident that he will appear in his Behalf. This agrees with the Defign of the whole; viz. That good Men fometimes fuffer, but that it is only by Way of Trial, and God will deliver them. F. Simon approves of this. See Bibliotheque choifie, Tom. III. P. 461.

Ch. XX. 17.

-the Brooks of Honey and Butter.] So Ovid, Flumina jam lactis, jam flumina nectaris ibant.

Ch. XXII. 11. — and Abundance of Water cover thee.] So Æfch,

Prom.

Οιος σε χειμων και κακων

Τρικυμία επεισ' αφυκτος.

Ch. XXIV. 5. Behold as wild Affes in the Defert, go they forth.] Bochart obferves that a Robber can be compared to a wild Afs in no other respect, than as he lives in the Defert: for a wild Ass is not a rapacious Animal. So Oppian,

Χίλον εδει, φέρβει μιν αδην ποεσίτροφος αια,

Αλλ' αυτος κρατέροις αγαθη βοσις επλετο θηρσι

And Ecclef. XIII. 19. As the Wild Afs is the Lion's Prey, fo the "rich eat up the poor."

V. 25. They are exalted for a little while, but are gone]
Jam non ad culmina rerum

Injuftos creviffe queror, tolluntur in altum

Ut lapfu graviore ruant. [Claud. in Rufin. I. 21.]

Ch. XXVI. 10. He hath compaffed the Waters with Bounds &c.] The Ancients thought the Earth to be furrounded by the Sea. So Herodotus, Ωκεανοντε ρέοντα γραφεσι πεις: and they thought the Southern Hemifphere to be Darkness: So Virgil, [Georg. Lib. I. 247.]

Illic ut perhibent, aut intempefta filet nox

Semper, et obtenta denfantur nocte tenebra,
Aut redit a nobis Aurora.

Ch. XXVII. 1.

his Parable] fignifies any Thing written in a loftier and more concife Style than Hiftory. Hence the Proverbs of Solomon are called Parables. It is ufed in the Pfalms in this Senfe, LXXVIII. 2. XLIX. 4. Numb. XXIII. 7, 18. and XXIV. 19, 20, 21, 23. &c. Balaam took up his Parable, was tranfported with a Prophetic Spirit.