And they could not trouble the light of

my countenance.

sank and whose confidence failed.

אֵל with שָׂחַק

means to laugh at, and with, to out-laugh; vide ch. xxx. 1. NT stands absolutely for, "to trust on God that he will send deliverance," Is. vii. 9. The sense is rather strained according to the usual translation of the words, "When I relax from my accustomed gravity, and smile on the people, they believe not that it is possible, and notwithstanding this condescension, their reverence for me is not diminished." E. g. De Wette, "If I laughed to them they believed it not." But the explanation which I have adopted is more sanctioned by the parallel.

Literally, "They could not destroy the light of my countenance. Concerning the expression Dvide Gen. iv. 5, 6. Jer. iii. 12, where the verb is in Kal. "The countenance falls," "for the eyes sink to the earth, the mein becomes gloomy." The light of the countenance for cheerfulness, as Prov. xvi. 15. The sense is, those who were void of courage could not abate my cheerfulness, flowing from trust in God. By the figurative expression gravitas is not implied, as Rosenmüller supposes.

25. If their ways pleased me, I sat there as chief,

And seated myself as a king amidst their bands, as a comforter among the mourn

h The meaning is, when Job left his country residence for the city, and took part in the opposite assemblies of its inhabitants, the greatest honour and attention was shewn him. This verse shews plainly that Job dwelt out of the city, and confirms our explanation of verse 7. It also proves that he was not in reality king of the land of Uz, as some commentators suppose him to have been; because, in that case, the comparison, "like a king among the bands of the people," which is meant to convey a notion of his dignity, would have been unsuitable, and the description of the general respect paid him would have been superfluous.

CHAPTER XXX.

1. And now they that are younger than I laugh me to scorn, i

Whose fathers I did not honour by holding equal to the dogs of my flocks. *

i What a change in Job's condition! Formerly even the old men shewed him respect. Now even they who are his juniors mock him! We must not understand these words to apply to the friends. pr with y, to out-laugh, to laugh to scorn, as in 2 Chron. xxx. 10, and in Arab.

. علي with ضحك

ki.e. Those who are descended from a base and ignoble race. Job speaks like an Arab proud of the nobility of his descent. The curse expressed on the ancestors of his mockers comes appropriately from the mouth of a rich Arabian emir, and will be fully understood, when we remember that the dog is regarded in the east, and especially by the Hebrews, as an unclean animal. Vide 1 Sam. xvii. 43. 2 Sam. xvi. 9. Prov. xxvi. 11. 2 Pet. ii. 22. A dog may not enter a mussulman's dwelling,

2. The strength of their hands, how could that avail me?1

and is killed when it touches his garments; they therefore live in the open air, and owe their support to chance, or to the alms and bequests of the humane. Vide Hasselquist, Journey to Palestine, 109, and Jahn, Bibl. Archaeol. Part I. b. 1, p. 326.

An Arabic satyrical poet says, co

كلب النباح

وانت اذل

"Thou art more ignoble than a barking cur." Vide Jones, Poes. Asiat. Comment. ed. Eichhorn, 325. Mahomet says, Angels will enter no house where are dogs and pictures. Vide Hammer's Extracts from the Sunna or Oral Traditions of Mahomet, in M. S. Fundgruben des Orients, Part I. 187. Dy corresponds with

our compare. Schultens, and after him Rosenmüller and De Wette, take Dy for y, and translate, "Whose fathers I did not esteem worthy to set over the dogs of my flocks." But our translation is better suited to the language, and has a stronger meaning, and Jerome is of this opinion: "Quorum non dignabar patres ponere cum canibus gregis mei."

1 Such persons could be of no use to him, particularly in his helpless condition. Even if they

With them, even old age must perish! 3. Wasted by want and famine,"

possessed bodily strength, (which, from verse 3d and following ones, does not appear to be the case), their physical energy could not avail the sufferer, who has need only of sympathy and compassion. But these persons are so inhuman, that even needy aged men, whose sufferings are peculiarly calculated to excite pity, are permitted to perish near them, without obtaining a helping hand.

is

great age, as in ch. v. 26, and is used the abstract for the concrete. The sense integritas is unsuitable, which is used by Rosenmüller, from an erroneous comparison of the Syriacoby Castell. Schultens says of this passage, that it is salebrosissimus locus, and he gives nineteen different explanations. The word, and the somewhat dark connection of

this verse with the preceding one, occasion this variety of possible meanings.

m Job here enters on a detailed description of the rudest and most contemptible race of Bedowins, natives of the desert. J. D. Michaelis, Muntinghe and Eichhorn suggest the Troglodytes. Job first depicts them as wasted by want.

Prov. xxviii. 22. The reading

want, as

which is