36 I would béar it alóft on my shoulder; As a crown would I bind it around me. The words of Job should end here. But the text has the three verses which would come much more naturally after v. 12 where I have placed them. THE WORDS OF JOB ARE ENDED. [The speech of Elihu (Chaps. xxxii-xxxvii) is, undoubtedly, a later addition to the Book. I have therefore placed these Chapters in an Appendix so that the reader may be able to follow the thought of the Poem in its original form.] 38 1 And Jahveh answered Job out of the whirlwind and 2 Who is this that dárkeneth counsel I will ask thee; infórm Me, I pray. is unable to reconcile the facts of life with the teaching of Deuteronomy. No doubt they were "words without knowledge" (xxxviii. 2) but they were honest, and, as such, were more pleasing to God than the shallow orthodoxy of the "friends" (xlii. 7). v. 1. Out of the whirlwind (or storm). Job was not yet ready for the still small voice. But though the words come from the storm they are charged with compassion. This is wonderfully brought out in Blake's Vision of the Book of Job (Illustration xiii. Wicksteed's Edition) where the outstretched hands of God seem to be lifting Job into the beatific Vision. v. 2. God does not accuse Job of sin but warns him that he is confusing the issues of life by not regarding Creation as a whole. This is not inconsistent with the praise bestowed upon Job in chap. xlii. 7. a Lit. the count of my steps a Gloss and no further Earth implies a purpose. 4 When I founded the earth, where wert thou? 5 Who appointed her méasures? Dost knów ? 6 Her foundations? On whát were they settled? 7 While the morning-stars sáng in chórus, And the sóns-of-God shouted for jóy. The curbing of the Sea implies not merely the power of the 8 Or whó shut the Séa up with doors, When it burst and came fórth from a wómb? 11 And said, "Thus fár shalt thou cómea, And hére shall thy proud waves be stayed"? And the well-balanced world on hinges hung; And cast the dark foundations deep, And bid the weltering waves their oozy channel keep." vv. 8-11. In the Babylonian story the beginning of Creation was the hard-won victory of Marduk over the Sea-monster, Tiamat, the personification of Chaos: but here the Sea is God's little infant; He clothes it with clouds, wraps it in a swaddling-band and makes it obedient to His will. a l.e. earth A magnificent picture of the triumph of Light, and of the victory of all good that is therein implied. 12 Didst thou éver give charge to the Mórn, Or téach the Dáwn its pláce; 13 How to grasp the córners of earth, Till the wicked be shaken thereoút? 14 Shea is changed like cláy of a séal; Things stand as though clothed with a gárment; 15 While their light is withheld from the wicked, The Under-world, a storehouse for good ends 16 Hast thou éntered the mázes of Séa ? b Or wálked the recésses of the Deep? 19 Where is the way to light's dwelling? 20 That thou shouldst condúct it to boúnds, Is the number of thy dáys so vást? vv. 12-15. It would be difficult to find a more beautiful picture in the poetry of any language. The sudden sunrise filling the four corners of the Earth with light; bringing every hidden detail of beauty into the clear-cut outline of its own expression, thus becoming a daily parable of Revelation. But, more than this, the sunrise "shakes out" all wicked things that love not the light (v. 13); from these the benefit of light is withholden (v. 15); and thus we have a parable of the final extinction of evil (see the present writer's notes on Ps. civ. 22, 31-35). b Sept. a Gen. viii. 22 b Cf. Ps. lxv. 9 c Cf. Ps. lxv. 12 God's treasure-house of snow and hail (see Pss. cxlvii. 16, cxlviii. 8). 22 Hast thou éntered the stórehouse of snów ? For the day of battle and wár. The mystery of the rain in its manifold forms 28 Háth the ráin a fáther? Or whó hath begotten the déw-drops ? 29 The ice? from whose womb came it fórth? 30 The waters are hidden like stóne, And the face of the déep is congéaled. v. 24. Instead of Ôr, light, I suggest Qôr, cold, as in Gen. viii. 22. The Septuagint read hoar-frost.. vv. 26, 27. If God's mercies fall on the uninhabited wilderness He must If so, have purposes that reach beyond the world of man. Job should wait. v. 30. The waters are here pictured as "hiding themselves" because, under the action of frost, they become still as stone. The whole passage is closely parallel with Ps. cxlvii. 17, especially if we there adopt the emendation proposed by Duhm, By reason of His frost the waters stand still. The mystery of the stars. 31 Dost thou fásten the bánds of the Pleiades ? 32 Dost thou bring Mazzaróth in his séason? Dost thou guide the Béar with its sóns? 33 Dost thou knów the státutes of heaven? Didst thou fix their domínion in earth? Who is it that ordereth the clouds and lightnings 34 Dost thou ráise thy voice to the cloud, So that wáters abúndant obéya them? 35 Dost thou spéed on their érrand the lightnings, 36 Who hath put wisdom within them (?) Or impárted a míndlike intélligence ? vv. 31-33. The four constellations here named point to the four seasons of the year. The Covenant of Creation implies the fixed order of the Seasons, "cold and heat, summer and winter" (Gen. ix. 22). This Covenant is ordained by God and has meanings full of promise, beyond man's thought. "The stars still write their golden purposes On heaven's high palimpsest, and no man sees.' (Francis Thompson.) v. 36. The translation of this difficult verse is merely provisional. The wisdom and intelligence refer, I think, not to the mind of man but to the storms and clouds and lightnings, which God has made thus to respond to His thought and to hearken to the voice of His words. v. 37. The word counteth seems here out of place: but by changing one letter we might read garnisheth as in chap. xxvi. 13. See Kittel's text. a See Sept. |