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SECTION XXIII.

Self Abasement of Job.

JOB XL. VER. 3-6.

3 Then Job answered the LORD, and said,

4 Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.

5 Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.

SECTION XXIV.

Address of God to Job concluded.

JOB XL. VER. 6, TO THE END.

6¶ Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirl

wind, and said,

A.C. 2130.

7 Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of a Ch. xxxviii. thee, and declare thou unto me.

3.

Rom. iii. 4.

8 b Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou con- b Ps. li. 4. demn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

9 Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with

a voice like him?

10 Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and c Ps. civ. 1. array thyself with glory and beauty.

11 Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every

one that is proud, and abase him.

12 Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.

13 Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret.

14 Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.

15 ¶ Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; Or, the ele

he eateth grass as an ox.

16 Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly.

phant,as some think.

teth up.

17+ He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his tor, he selstones are wrapped together.

18 His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron.

19 He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.

20 Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play.

21 He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.

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A.C. 2130.

Heb. he op

presseth.

+ Or, will any take him in his sight, or, bore his nose with a gin?

22 The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.

23 Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.

24 + He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through

snares.

+ That is, a whale, or, a whirlpool.

Heb. which thou drown

est.

d Ps. xxiv. 1. & 1. 12. 1 Cor. x. 26. 28.

JOB XLI.

Of God's great power in the leviathan.

1 Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord & which thou lettest down?

2 Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?

3 Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee?

4 Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever?

5 Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?

6 Shall thy companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants?

7 Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears?

8 Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no

more.

9 Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?

10 None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?

11 Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? d whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.

12 I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion.

13 Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can

|| Or, within come to him || with his double bridle?

* Heb. strong pieces of shields.

14 Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about.

15 His * scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal.

16 One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.

17 They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered.

18 By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

19 Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.

20 Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething A.C. 2130. pot or caldron.

21 His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.

22 In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him.

Heb. sorrow

rejoiceth.

23 +The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are + Heb. the firm in themselves; they cannot be moved.

24 His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece

of the nether millstone.

25 When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid by reason of breakings they purify themselves.

26 The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.

27 He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood. 28 The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble.

29 Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear.

fallings.

+ Or, breast

plate.

30 Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp Heb. sharp pointed things upon the mire.

31 He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh

the sea like a pot of ointment.

32 He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary.

pieces of potsherd.

33 Upon earth there is not his like, who is made with- Or, who beout fear.

34 He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.

SECTION XXV.

Entire Submission of Job.

JOB XLII. 1–7.

1 Then Job answered the LORD, and said,

have themselves without fear.

2 I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no or, to thought can be withholden from thee.

thought of thine can be

e Ch. xxxviii.

3 Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? hindered therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too 2. wonderful for me, which I knew not.

4 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.

5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.

6 Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

A. C. 2130.

SECTION XXVI.

Restoration of Job's Prosperity.

JOB XLII. 7, TO THE END.

7¶ And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.

8 Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you : for *him will I accept : lest I deal with you after your folly, in face, or, per- that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.

* Heb. his

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+ Heb the face of Job.

9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the LORD commanded them: the LORD also accepted + Job.

10 And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he ↑ Heb. added prayed for his friends: also the LORD + gave Job twice as much as he had before.

all that had

been to Job

unto the double.

11 Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold.

12 So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.

13 He had also seven sons and three daughters.

14 And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Keren-happuch.

15 And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.

16 After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations. 17 So Job died, being old and full of days.

CHAPTER III.

The Life of Abraham 5.

SECTION I.

From the Birth and Call of Abraham till his Return from

27

Egypt.

GENESIS XI. VER. 27, TO THE END.

Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah A.C. 1996. begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. 28 And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.

• With the Life of Abraham the Mosaic history may be said to commence : all that precedes being introductory to it. Though the knowledge of the One True God was not entirely banished from the world; yet it seems to have been so generally united with idolatrous corruptions, that God selected one family from the rest of mankind, to preserve uninterruptedly, by a course of laws and institutions, purity of religion, and belief in the Messiah. For this purpose the family of Abraham was chosen. His father's house was infected with the prevalent idolatry: but God, the angel Jehovah, (Acts vii. 2, &c.) appeared to Abraham, and commanded him to leave his country, and kindred, to seek another home. Abraham at this time dwelt at Ur, in Chaldæa, and in obedience to the Divine will he proceeded immediately to Haran in Mesopotamia, where his father Terah died. After the death of his father, the angel Jehovah again appeared to him; and assured him in his seed all" the families of the earth should be blessed." He then commanded him to leave Haran, and to wander over the earth as he should be directed by future revelations.

If we consult the map of the countries through which Abraham passed; and consider at the same time the probable amount of the population of the earth at this period; we shall find that Abraham, in complying with the Divine command, preached the true religion to the great majority of mankind. And how impressive must have been the spectacle he presented to the world! A rich and powerful prince, attended with a large retinue of servants and retainers, traverses the earth, not for the purposes of war and conquest, as so many various tribes were then doing; but to preach the recovery of man from the effects of the Fall. So great was the check given to idolatry by this dispensation of Providence, that the effect of his preaching remained in some families till the age of Moses. And so universally was the fame of this great man extended, and so abundant is the evidence for the truth of this part of the narration of Moses, that the ancient Persians, the Hindoos, the Jews, the Lacedemonians, and the Arabians, have at various times united in celebrating his name, and declaring that their religion in its purity was the religion of Abraham.-Hales' Analysis, vol. ii. p. 124.Vide Heidegger, Exerc. 3. vol. ii. De Abrahamo; Bp. Cumberland's Origines Gent. p. 434, &c.; Calmet, art. Abraham; Bayle's Dict.; Witsius Ægyptiacorum, lib. 3. cap. 12. § 6. &c. &c.; Law's Theory of Religion, p. 65; Revelation examined with Candour, vol. ii. p. 216.

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