The meaning of this reply to Eliphaz, I understand to be-The most senseless animals cease from their complaints and calls of hunger when their wants are supplied. Had the suggestions of his friend been such as were calculated to afford him relief or instruction, he would have ruminated upon them in silent gratitude. But what Eliphaz had said administered to him no refreshment or consolation. Much as he needed that support which the advice of a friend could give, what had been now offered he thought 'mere commonplace,' without point or interest in application to his case, nay unwholesome, as well as unpalatable; and things had been suggested at which his mind revolted. particular, I think it appears from what follows, that Job refers to Eliphaz's suggestion, that the probable result of his repentance and humble supplication to God would be his restoration to life and its enjoyments. But the wretched sufferer is disgusted with life; his soul nauseates the proposal, nor was it reasonable in his case, he thought all must see, for him to cherish such a hope; he can expect in death alone to end his miseries, and for this he earnestly prays. 8. Oh that I might have my request, And that Eloah would grant my earnest desire! "Doth insipid food, without a mixture of salt, A thing loathful to the taste of my soul, This alas is My sorrowful meat. In He compares himself to a man transfixed by poisoned arrows, which cannot be extracted, and he feels, without hope of relief, the venom beginning to affect the channels of life. He seems to intimate, that it is not alone the reflection upon his losses, or the sense of agonizing pain from his disease, that makes up the total of his sufferings; but a "wounded spirit" within him, alarmed and terrified by impressions of the Divine displeasure, which he cannot withstand:-such as the tempted Christian may feel in the hour of the power of darkness, but cannot describe! Job's answer to Eliphaz, uttered in the bitterness of his spirit, is certainly couched in language expressive of great scorn and disdain: and such affections of mind certainly bespeak not the meekness of a truly-humbled heart. 5. Would the wild ass bray upon grass, Or the ox low over his fodder? 6. Can what is fetid for want of salt be eaten? Or relish be found for the refuse of milk'? 7. My soul refuseth to touch, My food is itself as corruption. 5, from a comparison of the Arabic fœtuit, seems to mean something more than insipid.' b. Serum lactis' lac coagulatum,' as in Arabic. But according to some, the refuse of decayed eggs, not simply the white of the egg. "My food." The food you have brought me.' 'The support and refreshment you have offered for my grief:' more literally" these," like corruption, are' my bread. Mr. Good renders these lines: "Doth The meaning of this reply to Eliphaz, I understand to be-The most senseless animals cease from their complaints and calls of hunger when their wants are supplied. Had the suggestions of his friend been such as were calculated to afford him relief or instruction, he would have ruminated upon them in silent gratitude. But what Eliphaz had said administered to him no refreshment or consolation. Much as he needed that support which the advice of a friend could give, what had been now offered he thought mere commonplace,' without point or interest in application to his case, nay unwholesome, as well as unpalatable; and things had been suggested at which his mind revolted. In particular, I think it appears from what follows, that Job refers to Eliphaz's suggestion, that the probable result of his repentance and humble supplication to God would be his restoration to life and its enjoyments. But the wretched sufferer is disgusted with life; his soul nauseates the proposal, nor was it reasonable in his case, he thought all must see, for him to cherish such a hope; he can expect in death alone to end his miseries, and for this he earnestly prays. 8. Oh that I might have my request, And that Eloah would grant my earnest desire! "Doth insipid food, without a mixture of salt, This alas is my sorrowful meat. So I understand these lines; not as a charge of impiety upon Eliphaz, but as a complaint of his want of compassion to his friend, reduced to such extreme distress as he now beheld him; instead of consoling him in his grief, Eliphaz had peremptorily, and without hesitation, pronounced him to have forsaken the fear of God: that he must have been a hypocrite or an apostate, and that on this account these extraordinary judgments had come upon him. He had said to Job, when he saw him fainting under his burden, and had heard his despairing language, Is thy fear then nothing? thy trust, thy hope, and the integrity of thy ways?' &c., &c. This Job felt as unfriendly, and proceeds to bewail, in most beautiful language, the disappointment which he felt from the failure of his friends in distress. 15. My brethren have been deceitful like a torrent, As a stream of the torrents have they passed away a. 16. They are turbid after the frost, The snow hath hid itself in them". is properly the hollowed place, or ravine, in which toe stream from the mountain runs; or the narrow level it overflows. See SIMON and PARKHURST. b p. Schultens observes, that the first idea of this root is 'to defile with mud and filth,' as the Arabic ̧ï. "They roll turbid from an ice-hill." Ice accumulated in the mountains. Mr. GOOD. "The snow foams above them," or "has heaped itself above them." Idem. The snow sports, is "tossed" about, upon them. PARkhurst, Judging from the present state of his emaciated body, he thought it unreasonable in his friend to hold forth the prospect of his still lengthening his days upon earth. It was plain, he thought, from what they saw before their eyes, that he could not continue long; that he was past all hope of recovery, and that such an expectation in his case were unreasonable. pro And it must be confessed, that, to a dying man, such a manifestation of the divine acceptance of the afflicted penitent, as Eliphaz had exclusively held out, would seem totally inapplicable. And he ceeds to express his sense of the unkindness of his friends, considering Eliphaz as their spokesman, particularly in the harsh judgment they had passed upon him. 14. For the afflicted" there should be' pity from his friend, But" He must have forsaken the fear of Shaddai !" help?" But see Mr. Good, "Alas! there is no help to me in myself." a , dissolutus, i.e. viribus enervatus: compare xxx, 22, and see SIM. LEX. b Schultens thus renders this line, "Is et timorem Omnipotentis deserit." "This man truly has deserted the fear of the Almighty." Mr. Good renders Shame to the man who despiseth his friend, He indeed has departed from the fear of the Almighty. understanding it as a retort on Eliphaz. But I rather think Job means to refer to the cruel opinion which Eliphaz had pronounced upon him. |