18 All tránquil there are the prisoners; And the sláve is frée from his máster. Life being what it is, was it fair to grant it? 20 Oh why gives He light to the wrétched, And life to the sóul-embittered; 21 Who lóng for death, but it comes not; Though they díg for it more than for tréasure; 22 Who would jóy unto éxultátion, Would rejoice could they find the grave? [The verse which follows seems to have been displaced. 23 To the man whose wáy is hídden, Whom God hath hédged around? To think that this is God's doing makes it so hard to bear! 24 For my food there cómes to me síghing, And my gróanings are poúred forth like wáter. 25 I féar but a féar-it o'ertákes me! And whatever I dréad is upón me! 26 I was not cáreless nor éaseful Nor résted-yet trouble cáme. vv. 20 ff. Compare Omar Khayyam, Quatrain 387, Whinfield's translation: じ "Since all we gain in this abode of woe Is sorrow's pangs to feel and grief to know, Happy are they that never come at all, And they that, having come, the soonest go!" a thy fear (i.e. of God) FIRST CYCLE OF SPEECHES Eliphaz's first Speech. Eliphaz, who now speaks, is full of piety and eloquence. He is sure that the experience of all good men will bear him out. His allusions to the Alphabetical Psalms should be carefully noted. All that he says is eminently correct and orthodox but, like his companions, he does the Adversary's work because he fails to understand Job's case. 4 1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: 2 Wouldst thou fáint if a word were véntured? Yet who can withhóld from speaking? 3 Lo, thou hast instructed mány, And hast strengthened the hands that were weak. 4 Thy words upheld the stumbler, Thou confirmedst the féeble knées. 5 But now it is cóme on thyself—and thou fáintest; This confidence in God which you have preached to others 6 Ís not religion thy cónfidence? And thy úpright wáy thy hope? 7 Bethink thee, what one ever pérished-being innocent? 8 I have always seen plówers of sín vv. 3-5. All who labour for men lay themselves open to this reproach But how cruel it is! "He saved others:-himself he cannot save." v. 7. A long line with a sting at the end. Compare v. 5. v. 8. The thought is exactly that of the Alphabetical Psalm xxxvii. 25 "I have been young and now am old, Yet never saw a righteous man forsaken." Compare also Prov. xxii. 8 for the comparison of sowing and reaping. 9 By the breath of Gód they pérish, And end in the blást of His ánger. 10 The roaring and voice of the lion And the teeth of the young-lions are bróken. 11 The strong-lion may díe lacking préy And the whélps of the lioness be scáttered. In a passage of great poetical beauty Eliphaz relates how the revelation of God's transcendent holiness came home to himself. 12 Now to mé a thing was revealeda, And mine éar caught a whisper thereof, 13 In thoughts from the visions of night, That pút all my bónes in féar. 17 Can mórtal stand right with Gód? 18 Lo, He pútteth no trúst in His sérvants; 19 What thén of dwéllers in cláy, Whose véry foundátion is dúst, Who are crushed as quickly as móths? v. 9. Again compare Ps. xxxvii. 20. vv. 10f. In v. 10 there are two words for lion. The key to the passage is the Alphabetical Psalm xxxiv. 10 "Young lions may need and may hunger." See context. vv. 19-21. Compared with God's eternity, what is human life but as the dance of the may-fly? a Or, a thought veyed was con b Or, in comparison with c Cf. Chap. xv. 15 d Cf. Ps. xxxix. 11 a Is. xxxviii. 12 b Prov. xxvii. 3; Ps. xxxvii. 1, 8 c Vulg. 20 They are bróken from mórning to éveninga: Unregárding they pérish for ever. 21 Ís not their tént-cord removed"? They díe, and that without wisdom! Eliphaz now appeals to the experience of the "wise" and orthodox and quotes the thoughts of the Alphabetical Psalm xxxvii. as to the fate of evil men and the folly of envying their prosperity. 5 1 Cáll now; is there ány will answer? And to which of the saints wilt thou túrn? 2 For impatience b kílleth the foolish", 3 As for me I have seen a fóol-taking root, C 4 His sons are fár from sáfety, Crúshed in the gáte, unhélped, 5 Whose harvest the húngry éateth, And the thirsty swallow their substance. The thought of harvest suggests that what a man sows 6 For nót from the dúst comes affliction, Nor doth sorrow spring úp from the ground, v. 1. The word here translated saints, lit. holy ones, is often applied to the angels, but here it denotes the holy men to whose experience Eliphaz appeals. v. 2. The reference is to such teaching as that of the Alphabetical Psalm xxxvii. 1f., 8f. "Fret not thyself about the evil-doers, Be not jealous about the workers of iniquity."..."Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Fret not thyself—it merely tends to harm, For evil-doers shall be cut off &c." v. 3. Another example of the long line of four beats. v. 3b. Became rotten. I adopt the slight correction of the text suggested in Kittel's edition. Eliphaz is again alluding to Ps. xxxvii. 35 f. “I have seen the wicked tyrannically strong, Outspreading like a verdant native tree. One but passed -and lo, he was gone &c." 7 That man should be born to sorrow As the spárks mount úp in flight. You, Job, as I hinted before (iv. 8), must have been sowing this sorrow; therefore, if I were in your case, I would remember such Scriptures as Ps. cvii., which tell us that when men “cry unto the Lord in their affliction, He delivereth them out of their distress." 8 Now I would séek unto God, Unto God would entrúst my cause; 9 Who doeth great things unséarchable b; 10 Who giveth ráin on the éarth And séndeth forth wáter on fields; 11 So setting the lówly on high d While mourners are tówered in sáfetya. 12 He frústrates the plóts of the crafty, So their hands effect nóthing of worth; 13 He taketh the wise by their cráft', So the counsel of the fróward is made rásh. 14 They encounter dárkness in day-time 15 So He sáves, from that swórd-mouth of theirs, 16 So there cómes to be hópe for the néedy, 17 Lo, happy the mán God corrécteth': Then despise not the chástening of Shaddai, a Emphatic b Ps. cxlv. 3 c Ps. cvii. 35 d Ps. cvii. 41 e Ps. xxxiii. 10 f Ps. ix. 15 8 Deut. xxviii. 29 h Ps. cvii. xciv. 12; v. 7. A very doubtful verse. The usual translation, “But man is born to iii. 12 sorrow," would seem to contradict v. 6. in vv. 10, 11, 16. The allusions to Ps. cvii. are rather in the thought than the language. When Job replies, in Chap. xii., the similarity of thought is still closer. v. 17. The thought is exactly that of Ps. xciv. 12 and it should be noted that whereas, in the Psalm, the context alludes to Deut. xxxii. 36, the context in our present passage alludes to Deut. xxxii. 39. See my Note on Ps. xciv. in Psalms in Three Collections, pp. 399 f. j Prov. iii. 11 |