"That night! let darkness seize upon it!

Let it not be joined unto the days of the year!

Let it not come into the number of the months!" &c.

He concludes his imprecation with another parallelism of the synonymous kind (ver. 10):

"Because it shut not up the doors of the womb against me, Nor hid sorrow from mine eyes."

What is called the antithetic parallelism abounds in the book of Proverbs, each pair of versicles presenting a contrast of opposites, thus:

"A wise son maketh a glad father,

But a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother" (x. 1). "A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, But a just weight is his delight” (xi. 1). Sometimes there is a double antithesis, as,

"Better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith, Than a house full of good cheer with strife" (xvii. 1). In what is called the synthetic parallelism, the second versicle of the pair builds up the sentiment of the first, extends it, defines it, or strengthens it, thus:

"The way of life is above to the wise,

That he may depart from hell beneath" (Prov. xv. 24).

"Egypt was glad when they departed;

For the fear of them fell upon them" (Ps. cv. 38).

"Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me;

For I am poor and needy" (Ps. lxxxvi. 1).

Of course it is not intended to be understood that all Hebrew poems can be resolved throughout into one or other of these kinds of parallelism; but that this sort of structure marks the prevailing genius of Hebrew poetry, while the personal genius of each poet varies the character of his style indefinitely. The prophetical books are, in many places, very unobservant of metrical regu

larity; but the short, sententious style of expression always marks the still recurrent metrical pause, and the parallelism comes in, every now and then, with all the more striking effect after being for a while neglected.

These leading characteristics of Hebrew verse make themselves distinctly felt even in the common English translation, in which the versicles are not even marked to the eye by the mode of printing. In all our more recent versions of the poetical books of the Old Testament, this is done, while a greater approach to the rhythm of blank verse is often gained by the judicious choice and arrangement of the words. It is a pity that the obvious distinction between Hebrew prose and poetry should be disguised, as it is, by the same arbitrary arrangement of both in chapters and verses, in which the latter is uniformly robbed of some of its proper pauses, while the former is often needlessly broken up in defiance of continuity of sense. Yet the ear and taste of the intelligent and devotional reader of the Bible never fail to tell him when he enters upon its poetical parts, even if none but the common version be accessible to him. I shall mention, in connection with each of the poetical books, the principal English versions in which the poetical character of the Hebrew has been reproduced by the translator.

JOB

(A HEBREW DIDACTIC POEM ON PROVIDENCE).

THE book of Job has ever been regarded as one of the most interesting and valuable parts of the Old TestaAnd deservedly so. If we consider the history and character of the Patriarch himself, "a perfect and

ment.

upright man, and one that feared God and eschewed evil," yet on whom an unheard-of weight of suffering was permitted to fall, the story is full of nature and of pathos. If we look at the discussions between him and his three friends, to which his sufferings give rise, and consider them as supplying probably the most ancient record that exists of the ideas of thoughtful and devout men on the standing mysteries of Divine Providence, rich indeed are the materials of religious thought presented to us. If we dwell upon the poetical merits of the book, we find it a poem of first-rate order (with a prose introduction and conclusion), full of vigorous thoughts and imagery, which place its unknown author in the highest rank of Hebrew bards. Or if we consider chiefly the religious and devotional sentiments which breathe forth from the lips of all the speakers (notwithstanding the cruel reasonings of the three friends of Job, and his own consequent irritability and occasional irreverence of expression), and the sublime devotional scene towards the conclusion, in which the Deity himself is introduced as pointing to his own great and beneficent works, and silencing the ignorant presumption which would call His providence in question, it is difficult to speak too highly in admiration of the book of Job. In whatever light we regard it, as biographical, philosophical, poetical, devotional, it is full of matter for profitable thought and feeling.

Properly speaking, the book of Job is a poetical treatise on Providence, that vast and all-interesting subject of human meditation.

Where and when, in what age or part of the world, has not the thoughtful and feeling mind occupied itself again and again with meditations on Providence?-now delighting in the felt presence of a superior Power, whose smile is in the rejoicing heavens and upon the

glad earth, now standing in awe of the resistless agents that spread desolation and ruin around;-now feeling a delicious trust towards the bounteous Hand that supplies every want,-now shrinking before the mysterious Will that sends calamities against which there is no resource! Where and when has not the faith in Providence, whether derived faintly from Nature or more fully from progressive Revelation, whether unaided by the confident expectation of a future world, or even when illustrated by this comprehensive thought,-when and where has not this faith in Providence been perplexed occasionally, if not confounded, by observing the seemingly fortuitous course of human events, in which outward blessings and outward sufferings are made to befal the good and the bad to a great degree alike? If the problem, so often presented to view, of" the just man suffering for his integrity, and the wicked man prospering in his way," be still one of admitted difficulty even to the Christian believer in immortality; if the most and best that we can say respecting many of the painful visitations of Providence is, that we know not their purpose yet, but trust to realize it for our good and to know it hereafter,—that we must be satisfied to bear patiently and do our duty well, in faith that we may reap the spiritual and immortal fruits of righteousness from life's trials; if the Christian believer himself is thus compelled to leave unexplained the mysteries of Providence, and only enabled to trust what is mysterious, instead of actively questioning or doubting its goodness; - how doubly difficult must the question of Providence have been to those whose minds, however earnest and religious, were not possessed of the knowledge of a future life, as a clue to their dark reasonings!

Such was the position of the writer of the book of Job. The speakers in the dialogue never express, in

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all their discussions on the ways of Providence, any clear expectation of a future state. In one place, indeed, or perhaps two,* Job is thought by some critics to allude to it as possible; but the allusions are so far from clear, that they have been taken in precisely the opposite sense; and throughout the book in general it is observable that in those very places in which it would have been the most obvious thing for any of the speakers to have referred pointedly to this hope, if it was really felt, in order to diminish, if not remove, the difficulty under which they labour, none of them ever makes distinct allusion to it. Indeed, that hope formed no part of the Jewish revelation, and does not appear to have been distinctly prevalent among the Jewish people till after the time of the Babylonish captivity. Even in the time of Christ, it was denied by the Sadducees, though held by the Pharisees. The Jews, in short, enjoyed it merely in the same manner as other nations, and to a similar extent, namely, as suggested, but not established, by the light of natural desire in their own bosoms.

But, in proportion as the Jews were more firm believers than others in Divine Providence,-as a leading doctrine both of the Patriarchal and of the Mosaic religions, and

* In chap. xiv. 14, we should find it, if any where, in reply to the pointed question, "If a man die, shall he live again?" But this question is asked convulsively and answered despairingly. Job has already said (verses 7-12), "There is hope that a tree cut down may sprout again," but in sad contrast has added, "But man dieth, and where is he?** Man lieth down and riseth not; till the heavens be no more they shall not awake" (never, he plainly means). And he ends despondingly : "His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them."

The passage beginning, "For I know that my Redeemer (or Avenger) liveth" (xix. 25-27), though obscure and difficult, seems much more appropriately understood as expecting that God would still vindicate him in this life (as in the event He did), than as pointing to a future life. Indeed, Job expressly says, “In my flesh I shall see God." (See Wellbeloved's translation.)