24 Chap. 38. an Expoßtion upon the Book of 3 o B. Vers. 2 God reprovedEihoe in this fecondVerfe only, and fpake comfort to fob in the third ; Gird up thy loins like 4 man ; and these inter- pret the ruff words of the Chapter, Thea the Lord anfweredJob out of the kVhirlwind, thus, he anfwered for Job, not to Job, as if the word fob were to be taken in the dative Cafe, fignifying favour and retpea fromGod to him. But, by the favour of thefe learned Authors, who give this In- terpretation, I shall rather adhere to thole whoaffirm ( and they are not a few) that the perfon here concerned and fpoken to was fob himfelf, and I shall give you three or four Reafons of it, and topals to theopening of the words. Firfi, Becaufe the hill Verfe tells us exprefly, that the Lord anfwered fob out of the whirlwind ; and that Interpretationwhich faith, he anfwered for, not to Yob, is a little Brain to the Text. Now the Lord fpeaking foexprefiy to Job in the fitfi Verfe, it is very congruous, that he fhould fpeak to him in the fecond, and not divert his fpeech from him to another perfon in the next words that he fpake. Secondly, fob himfelf took these wordstohimfelf in the forty fecondChapter,at the third Verfe, where he acknowledged that indeed he had fpoken darkly, I have uttered things thatIunder- flood not, things too wonderfulfor me, which I knew not ; he took (I fay) the reproof contained or couched in thofe words to him- fell, which is a clear argument, that they were direled to him. Thirdly, If weconfider the whole frame ofthe Lords dilcourfe afterwards,beyond thispreface , we (hall find that he isnot fpeak- ing for Job agatnfi Elihu, but for eau againfi Job, that is to hum- ble fob ; and therefore the Lord Both joyn in with Elihu, and t;feth the very fame Arguments in the main (as will appear in opening the Chapter) which Elihuhad infified upon, namely from the works of God in the Creation, and his wonderful wif- dom 'sn ordering tholeworks in Providence. So that the dealing of Godwith fob in these Chapters (as to the fubje&matter of it) is very confentaneous or like to the ;natter whichElihuhad handled and infi(ied upon,efpecially in the later part ofhisspeech to job; and therefore it doth not feemprobable that God would reprove him for what he had fpoken. Fourthly, the manner of this rebukeTeems to fit Job very fully,
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