Chap. 9, An Expofition upon the Book of J O B. here 3o. 567 fore they preferved Snow, and took that water to wafh and cleanfe with. As the cuflom flill is in thofe places where good water is a rare commodity. Or lafily, He may fay, If I wafh in Snow-water, becaufe he would exprcfs the cleanett wafhing, filch as makes the body look like Snow, white and pure. White a Snow is a proverbial (Ifa.t i8.) for the moil refplendent witnefs. And we find in Scri- pture, a thing is Paid to be waffled with that, the likenefs of rotibur ali ud which after wafhing it reprefents : Thus the Church glories in dicirurloNis, Chrill, That his eyes were as the eyes ofa Dove by the Rivers of quatiumreferro water wafhed with milk (Cant. 5.12) that is, his eyes werewhite videtut Jvrcilt° as milk, after wafhmg. So here,Though I wafh myfelf withfnow- iudineta.sana, water, that is, though I wafh my fell, till I become as white and as pure as Snow, &c. We read a like phrafe (Pfal. 51. 9. )Purge me with bjfop and I(hall be clean,in allufion to the Levitical Law, which appointed the Priell to fprinkle both things and perf©ns with abunch of hyfop(Levit. rg,. Numb. 19 ) So the Chaldee paraphrafe expounds the-Pfalm, Cleanfe me, as the Prieffsfprink- ling with hyJip cltanfed the people, Though I walla myLeif with Snow-water. And make my bands never fo clean. The Hebrew text is very emphaticai, Though I wafh my hands in purity 9 which fome exprefs by that which is the inftrument of purifying the hands, Though I wafh my bands with [ape So Mr. Broughron,Though I wafh my handswith wafh-balls,to make my hands clean and Tweet, We Tranflate, though not to the letter of the Hebrew, yet to the fente, Though I math my bands never Jo cfean,yet, &t. As the former expreflion referreth to internal holinefs fo this latter to external. The hands in Scripture note our outward works. Hands arc the executivepart, the int rumentsofadtion. Tour bands are fall ofblood, Ifa.i. that is, your actions are cruel and bloody there is not only blood in your hearts, but inyour hands too (Pfal. 26. 6.) I well wafh my hands in innocency, To will I compafs thine Altar, that is, I will make all my outward con- verfation pureand holy. The Lord hath rewarded me according to thepurity of my bands, (Plat. 18. 2o.) Again (Pfal. 73. 13.)i leave, in vain, waffledmy bands in innocency, that is, I have lived innocently in vain. The Apofile James calls for the holinefsofthe outward
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=