The Sceptics of the Old Testament: Job - Koheleth - Agur Part 28

The Sceptics of the Old Testament: Job - Koheleth - Agur Part 28

When the clarion soundeth he crieth, "Aha!"

And sniffs the dust raised by the hosts from afar; He dasheth into the thick of the fray, Into the captains' shouting and the roar of battle.

CCCII

Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, And spread her pinions towards the south?

She builds her nest on high, dwelling on the rock, And abideth there, seeking prey.

CCCIII

Will the caviller still contend with the Almighty?

He that reproves G.o.d, let him answer!

Wilt thou even disannul my judgment?

Wilt thou condemn me that thou mayst be in the right?

CCCIV

If thou hast an arm like G.o.d, If thou canst thunder with a voice like his, Deck thyself now with majesty and grandeur And array thyself in glory and splendour!

CCCV

Scatter abroad the rage of thy wrath, And hurl down all that is exalted!

The haughty bring low by a glance, And trample down the wicked in their place!

CCCVI

Hide them together in the dust, And bind their faces in secret!

Then will I, too, confess unto thee That thine own right hand can save thee!

CCCVII

JOB:

Behold I am vile, what shall I answer thee?

I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.

Once have I spoken, but I will do so no more, Yea, twice, but I will proceed no further.

CCCVIII

I know that thou canst do everything, And that nothing is beyond thy reach; Hence I say: I have uttered that I understand not, Things too wonderful for me, which I know not.

CCCIX

I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, But now mine eye hath beheld thee; Therefore I resign and console myself, Though in dust and ashes.

EPILOGUE

CHAP. XLII. A.V.]

7-- _And if 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 that ye have not spoken of me_ the thing which is _right, like my servant 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 prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before._

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 a.s.ses_.

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, Kerenhappuch_.

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_.

Footnotes:

[196] _I.e._, the magicians by means of incantations.

[197] Allusion to the Satan's remark in the Prologue, chap. i. to: "Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?"

[198] The strophe which follows in Prof. Bickell's text I consider a later insertion, and have therefore struck it out. It runs thus:

"The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, And the teeth of the young lions are broken; The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, And the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad."

[199] The prophetic vision which Eliphaz now describes is relied upon by him as the sanction for his whole discourse. To his seeming, it is a direct revelation from G.o.d.

[200] The sons of G.o.d, sons of the Elohim. _Cf._ Genesis vi. 4. There is no a.n.a.logy between these sons of G.o.d and the angels or saints of Christianity. _Cf._ also Prof. Cheyne, "Job and Solomon," p. 81: Baudissin, Studien, II.

[201] The human body is likened to a tent of which the tent-pole is the breath of life; this gone, all that remains is the natural prey of the elements.

[202] Calumny.

[203] Allusion to his sufferings at night from elephantiasis. This terrible malady, which was first described by Rhazes, in the ninth century, under the name _da-l-fil_ ("disease of the elephant"), was for a long time erroneously believed to be confined to Arabia. As a matter of fact, it is found in an endemic state in all warm countries, and sporadically even in Europe. In tropical and sub-tropical lands it progresses with alarming rapidity. Every new crisis is preceded by a shivering sensation and violent fever, frequently accompanied with headache, delirium, and nervous and gastric suffering. A violent attack of this kind may last seven or eight days. The seat of the disease is generally the foot or the reproductive organs. In the former case the foot swells to a monstrous size, instep, toes and heel and ankle all merging in one dense ma.s.s that reminds one of the foot of an elephant.

[204] Job feels that death is nigh.

[205] Allusion to an ocean myth. A watch had to be set upon the movements of the monsters of the sea and the firmament.

[206] The irony of these words addressed by Job to Jehovah would be deemed blasphemous in a poet like Byron or Sh.e.l.ley. As a matter of fact, they const.i.tute a parody of Psalm viii. 5. as Prof. Cheyne has already pointed out ("Job and Solomon").

[207] The firmament, being a solid ma.s.s, has paths cut out along which the stars move in their courses, just as there are channels made for the clouds and rain.