#from 'human phi' to 'a living thing with wisdom'

[aprilblossomgirl]

What do you do to make humans confess?

23.5 องศาที่โลกเอียง (2024) Ep.06

[meditationadvise]

7 Powerful Books That Will Unleash The Hidden Potential Of Your Mind

" A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to maintain its side."

There it is: your mind -all leashed-up, bored, bookless and chasing its very own tail in the edge. It's time to unleash it. It's time to throw it back into the surprising waters of wonder and admiration. It's time to sidetrack it from the all as well familiar tail (or story, to wit), as well as give it a juicy carrot to chase around rather. Seven juicy carrots, to be exact.

So, shop that leash, open up your mind, snuggle with your ideal close friend, and dive precisely into the complying with mind-unleashing publications. However keep the light on. As Groucho Marx wittily believed, " Beyond a pet dog, a publication is guy's best buddy. Within a pet dog it's too dark to check out."

1.) "The Beginning of Infinity" by David Deutsche

" We never ever recognize any type of information prior to translating it via concepts. All monitorings are, as Popper put it, theory-laden, and thus imperfect, as all our concepts are."

From epistemology and also quantum fungibility to ecological values and societal advancement, David Deutsche takes us on a provocative trip right into addressing a single inquiry: Is there a restriction to exactly what can be comprehended? He comes at a mind-expending solution of “no” by diving deep into the broadening waters of epistemology and also ontology. He profoundly claims that our understanding of anything is constantly at the “beginning of infinity” and also there will certainly constantly be a boundless amount a lot more left for us to recognize. Basically speculating that, with exact and versatile understanding, anything is feasible unless it is restricted by the laws of physics.

Highly sensible as well as integrating, The beginning of Infinity releases us into greater thinking on the path towards much better and also far better descriptions. He takes us from parochial, obsolete methods of believing to the idea of universality and upgraded ways of thinking of the cosmos as a thing to be gradually evolved right into making use of ever-expanding modern technologies. Therefore bridging the void from guy to overman. As he explained, "There is just one method of believing that is qualified of making progress, or of enduring over time, as well as that is the means of seeking great descriptions with creativity and also objection."

2.) ' Circulation: The Psychology of Optimal Experience' by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

" The majority of satisfying activities are not all-natural, they demand an effort that initially one is unwilling to make. Once the communication begins to offer feedback to the person's abilities, it typically begins to be intrinsically rewarding."

Thanks to Csikszentmihalyi, the concept of the “flow state” has come to be an essential aspect of our social awakening. The optimum experience is gained through deep self-control in a particular field/art/sport that gives inherent reward, difficulty, and also comments, therefore integrating self-confidence, focus, control, flexibility, and also connectivity. Time stops or decreases. Instabilities go away. We quit respecting what others consider us. A creative unraveling of something bigger shows up. Every little thing flows easily in interconnected unison with us as its synergistic spearhead. In brief: we stop believing and also simply do.

By just asking the concern, " When are people most pleased?" Csikszentmihalyi, with time checked study, identifies flow states as the response. Professional athletes call it "remaining in the area," mystics have actually defined it as “ecstasy,” and artists term it “rapture.” Releasing ideal experience is concerning doing what we enjoy as a pathway toward better meaning, happiness, and also a self of higher intricacy. By doing just what we love in challenging ways, we take advantage of ideal experience right into our lives. This book powerfully discusses the psychology of this important process.

3.) "Phi: A Trip from the Mind to the Soul' by Giulio Tononi

" Dirty ideas, like dirty waters, can serve 2 objectives only: to hide what lies beneath, which is our ignorance, or to earn the shallow appear deep"

Phi takes the viewers on a mind-altering trip through the nature of consciousness. It interweaves scientific research, art, as well as the imagination with golden proportions, Fibonacci series, as well as fractal cosmology. The visitor has the happiness of viewing the world through such masters as Galileo, Alan Turing, Darwin and Francis Crick, amongst others. From neuroscience to pseudoscience, from deep introspection to mindful meditation, Tononi illuminates on exactly how awareness is a progressing, ever-deepening recognition of ourselves as finite, souls in a limitless universe.

We find out just how awareness is integrated information and just how the power of that combination requires miraculous duty and also credulity. It instructs exactly how the brain is the seat of our understandings, as well as is an innovative force par quality, as well as can also create brand-new forms and also brand-new qualia. It shows just how, by growing awareness, deep space comes increasingly more into being, and synthesizes the one and the many, the ego as well as the eco, the individual and the interdependence of all points into a linked force of Nature.

4.) "The Art of Fear" by Kristen Ulmer

"" Every little thing is great" is really a copout, a stuck area, an obstruction to the exploration of who and just what you are broadening right into higher and even more, as well as the advancement of humankind."

The Art of fear has to do with curiously accepting fear rather compared to conquering or repressing it. It has to do with restoring our understanding of fear from scratch. It has to do with realizing that Anxiety is just one of 10,000 employees at You Integrated, as well as how they all require a voice. Yet Fear many of all, lest all voices become quelched darkness. The key to fear, she discusses, is wondering regarding it, consequently utilizing its power rather compared to overcoming it. In between guts and curiosity is whatever we should be fearless.

Ulmer's individual trip with anxiety at some point led her to examine with Zen masters, where she discovered a mindfulness device called "Shift" which moves our perspective of worry from oblivious repression to aggressive curiosity, thus aligning it authentically with our real nature. The standard tenet being this: As opposed to quelching fear, equip it, by being curious as well as examining instead of judgmental and implicating. Honor it with deep respect so it does not operate secretly in twisted means below the surface.

5.) "Endgame: The Problem of Human being' by Derrick Jensen

" Property One: People is not and could never ever be sustainable. This is specifically real for commercial civilization."

Endgame will certainly take every little thing you think you understand about being a social remaining in an apparently useful society as well as turn it on its head. Absolutely except the regular statist, neither the faithful obedient resident. Endgame has to do with the vital demand to right away take apart the unhealthy human being that surrounds us. Endgame is a scathing, surging review against the harmful, unsustainable, and also ecologically unhealthy man-machine that is our contemporary culture.

Breaking guide down right into a series of easy yet increasingly intriguing facilities, Jensen takes us on a psychedelic as well as convincing flight into the undesirable stubborn belly of the fierce, ecocidal beast that is modern human being. His standard property is straightforward: Industrial people is unsustainable. It's not an inquiry of “if” but a question of “when” it's going to fail.

He suggests that the longer it takes people to fall, the worse the tragedy will be. In that light, there are 2 points we must be doing: Causing the autumn sooner rather than later, and preparing to endure it. His attitude is caustic as well as not so serious, however all the better for the shock worth it offers. This book actually squashes the box we're all so desperately attempting to assume beyond. A free (and maybe less hostile) read is Beyond Human being by Daniel Quinn.

6.) Trickster Makes this Globe: Mischief, Myth, and Art by Lewis Hyde

" Better to run with detachment, then, much better to have a method but instill it with a little humor, best, to have no way at all but to have rather the wit constantly making one's method anew from the materials at hand."

Trickster Makes This World is a mythological cornerstone for Spiritual Clowns and also practicing trickster-gods the world over, digging into the intestines of the prehistoric significance of sacred play and also brawler actions. Hyde checks out just how trickster numbers represent the “disruptive imagination” that inverts, reorganizes, and also overturns standard wisdom. From Raven to Coyote, Ape to Crow, Hermes to Loki, Eshu to Legba, Hyde reveals connections in between mythical tricksters that develop a concealed network that links social divides.

The ideal part regarding this publication is its capability to reveal just how mythology ends up being reality. “Trickster consciousness'” is a crucial component of human imagination. It reveals that we are the gods of renewal as well as rebirth, if we decide to be. We are the designers of mischief and also mayhem. We are the trickster gods in training. Charlatan is us, and also we are Charlatan. We are the supreme boundary-crossers. No manmade policies or legislations could have us, unless we let them. Also planetary regulations and also regulations can barely contain us. Charlatan makes this globe by tearing the old world down through high wit, ethical ambiguity, absurdity, and critical transgression and also then dancings in the ashes of its devastation. It is specifically from the dancing, the kicking up of dirt and also ash, where endure new globes emerge.

7.) 'Ethical Tribes: Feeling, Reason, and also the Void Between Us as well as Them' by Joshua Greene

" We need a kind of believing that allows teams with clashing principles to cohabit and flourish. To puts it simply, we require a metamorality. We need a moral system that settles disagreements amongst groups with different moral ideals, equally as common first-order morality solves differences among individuals with various egocentric rate of interests."

Moral Tribes is hands-on moral psychology and a revitalizing brand-new take on utilitarianism. Greene wraps video game theory, evolutionary biology, as well as neuroscience into a wonderful absorbable package to strengthen his concept of cognition, which builds elegantly into a theory of moral psychology. A sweeping synthesis of neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy, Ethical People opens up a container of psychosocial worms that takes the principle of principles to the next level, exposing exactly how we are incredibly well-adept at fixing the problem in between “Me” and “Us,” through the concept of the “tribe,” yet how we are ridiculously less-adept at solving the meta-dilemma between “Us” and “Them.”

Greene's principle of metamorlity squares this psychosocial circle by counterintuitively applying utilitarianism to our base, pavlovian response to morality (advanced morality) by coming to be aware of our apathy in order to end up being a lot more understanding. By enhancing humankind as opposed to nationalism, and life patriotism rather of patriotic nationalism, we turn the tables on both prejudice as well as lethargy and we come to be a lot more caring as well as empathetic toward others. When we celebrate variety rather than trying to pack the square secure of manifest destiny right into the round hole of social association, we turn the tables on the monkey-mind's one-dimensional moral tribalism and we introduce Joshua Greene's multi-dimensional metamorality.

[tomasorban]

Philosophical Astrology

Philosophical Astrology consists of the links between philosophy and astrology, from the mysticism of ancient religions and cultures based in part on astrology to the mathematics common to both astrology, numerology and Sacred Geometry, and to the curious aspects of astrological Symbolism which have profound philosophical implications.  

The Ha Qabala and Tree of Life, for example, are fundamental to Jewish, Christian, and a host of other ancient, medieval, and modern mystical traditions and/or mystery schools.  Together with Numerology and the Tarot, Astrology describes and identifies the characteristics of the many pathways between the Sephiroth in the Tree of Life.  Everything from the “dark night of the soul” (usually referred to as the 32nd path) to all the varied manifestations of processes contained within the Tree come within the purview of the so-called occult arts.  Astrology provides one tool for identifying the meaning of the multiple transformations and transitions of life, all a part of The Fool’s Journey -- the latter one of the better examples of a philosophy of living.  

Astrology’s connection to the Tree of Life can also be seen in such things as the Tree’s column of severity, which is represented by the astrological planets: Uranus, Saturn and Mars.  Uranus is revolutionary and sudden change, Saturn, limitation and boundaries, and Mars, aggressiveness and war).  Meanwhile the Tree’s column of mercy is composed of Neptune, Jupiter and Venus (illusion and fantasy, benevolence and generosity, love and romance).  In essence, the attributes of the Sephiroth reflect what we know of the astrology of the applicable planet being assigned to the Tree of Life.  Saturn, for example, is about government, citizen responsibilities, societal rules, boundaries and limits; while the Sephiroth corresponding to Saturn -- Geburah -- is about severity and strength, justice, strife, loss in pleasure, and earthly trouble.  Clearly a good definition of earthly trouble can be found in such government troubles as the IRS, FBI, CIA, DOD, ETC!  Other examples include the Sephiroth, Yesod (foundation), which is amply personified by Mercury (communications, analysis, thinking, and so forth).  

Astrology shows up elsewhere in the cultural and philosophical traditions of everything   from ancient Egypt -- where an astrology very similar to modern day astrology is carved into the Temple of Denderra -- to ancient Babylonia -- where Berossus predicted and wielded an astrology sufficient to grab anyone’s attention.  Astrology was also a primary tool of Nostradamus (1503-1566 A.D.), who used astrology as the basis for the timing of his many prophecies (many of which profoundly affected royalty and influential leaders and whose validity could thus be determined).  

On a yet more fundamental level, astrology is based upon Sacred Geometry, which is in turn based on the Golden Mean (represented by the Greek letter, phi).  Philosophy can be written: phi-lo-sophia -- wherein sophia (sophy) is “the study, wisdom, or knowledge”, lo, “the amazing sight” (as in “lo and behold”), and phi... just phi.  Thus philosophy is “the study, wisdom, or knowledge” of “the amazing sight” of... phi!  Sacred Geometry may then be said to connect astrology and philosophy.  The latter can be said to be wholly within the purview of Sacred Mathematics, i.e. the universe is based on numbers.  This is not a definition of philosophy that many philosophers would accept, but this is probably due only to their lack of mathematical acuity.  

A philosophy of astrology, per se, is less obvious, but can be described by alluding to what are known as “Sabian Symbols.”  These symbols, according to Dane Rudhyar, “take events from the realm of the fortuitous, the unprecedented, the unique and the incomprehensible to the realm of ‘universals’.”  “Expressed through symbols, life becomes condensed into a relatively few interrelated units of experience.  Each unit is a concentrate of the experiences of millions of people.”  Symbols use “an imagery that is close to the foundations of the natural life -- and these foundations are still very real and active in the immense majority of human beings.”  The Tree of Life, for example, is replete with symbols, and it is those symbols which constitute its meaning -- even when discussion and mere words prove to be wholly inadequate.  

The history of astrology’s Sabian Symbols is critical to their understanding.  It began in 1925, when Marc Edmund Jones (an astrologer) approached Elsie Wheeler (a clairvoyant medium, who happened to be crippled by arthritis).  Jones had a novel idea.  He provided a deck of 360 cards, each card representing one degree of the Zodiacal circle (and identified, for example, as one degree Aries, ten degrees Scorpio, and so forth).  In Miss Wheeler’s presence, Jones shuffled the deck (and reshuffled many times during the process), and then began pulling one card at random -- without his or her seeing what the card was.  Miss Wheeler responded by describing what she saw.  Apparently, a scene flashed in her inner vision, which she quickly described, and which Jones made a brief pen notation on the card of what she said.  Not only was the procedure entirely aleatory as far as the normal consciousness of the two participants was concerned, but the amazing thing was that the 360 symbols were obtained during a few hours in the morning, and later in a few hours during the afternoon -- at a rate of roughly one symbol every ninety seconds.  

What made the resulting Sabian Symbols so incredible is that while the two individuals had proceeded at fantastic speed and had operated purely at random, the result was a series which, when carefully studied, yielded a definite and complex internal structure.  The entire 360 cards matched with one another in geometrical pattern.  Dane Rudhyar, for example, found that the symbols formed, among other possibilities, a pentagonal five-step process -- much in accord with Sacred Geometry.  Apparently, there was some kind of Consciousness  at work.  For the symbols were not only operating at both an existential and archetypal-structural level, but they could be considered as “phases of a cyclic process rather than as isolated images -- that is, when the possible interpretations are considered in the light of preceding and following phrases in a characteristic five-fold sequence, and in terms of wider relationships -- any ambiguity usually disappears.”  

Possibly of all the Sabian Symbols, which might garner your attention, is the symbol for the North Node (aka the “Dragon’s Head”, and which represents destiny), taken from the chart of 2012 A. D. (i.e. the end of the Mayan Calendar, and potentially the “end of Time as we know it.”)  The symbol for this most incredible of all dates is “An X-Ray Photograph.”  Rudhyar interpreted this to mean, “The capacity to acquire a knowledge of the structural factors in all existence.”  He goes on to say, “The true philosopher is able to grasp and significantly evaluate what underlies all manifestations of life.  His mind’s eye penetrates through the superficialities of existence and perceives the framework that gives an at least relatively permanent ‘form’ to all organized systems.  Thus if the structure is weak, deformed by persistent strain, or unbalanced, the basic causes of outer disturbances and dis-ease can be discovered.  This symbol... provides the conscience of the individual who refuses to obey his society with a depth-understanding of what is wrong in the situation he faces.  Beyond the powerful feeling quality of ‘peak experiences’, the mind can understand the great Principles of which they were the manifestations.  This is STRUCTURAL KNOWLEDGE in contrast to existential knowledge.” 

Interpreted as the end of time as we know it, implies that there may be much to learn in the ultimate “peak experience” of 2012 A.D., a time when Novelty and the TimeWave go to infinity, and the greatest changes of all human experience abruptly manifest!  Similarly, another date -- based on the TimeWave theory -- is November 11, 2011 (just over 384 days prior to the perceived ending date of roughly 12-21-2012).  The Sabian Symbols (and a brief interpretation from Rudhyar) for this critical “beginning of the end” are:

Sun     -     “A Woman Draws Away Two Dark Curtains Closing the Entrance  to a Sacred Pathway -- The revelation to the human consciousness of what lies beyond dualistic knowledge. Plunge ahead into the Unknown”  

Moon     -   “A Peacock Parading on a Terrace of an Old Castle -- The personal  display of inherited gifts. Consumation.”  

Mercury & Venus  “A Flag turns into an Eagle; the Eagle into a Chanticleer Saluting the Dawn -- The spiritualization and promotion of great symbols of a New Age by minds sensitive to its precursory manifestations.  (An Eagle is the first living creature to perceive the rising sun.)  Annunciation”  

Mars     -    “In a Portrait, the Significant Features of a Man’s Head Are  Artistically Emphasized -- The capacity to picture to oneself clearly the salient features and the overall meaning of any life situation.

Jupiter   -   “The Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow -- Riches that come   from linking the celestial and the earthly nature.  Communion”  [Jupiter always was the Santa Claus of the Zodiac!]  

Saturn    -   “A Butterfly with a Third Wing on its Left Side -- The ability to   develop, for inner strengthening, new modes of response to basic life   situations.  Original Mutation”  

Chiron   -    “In a Crowded Marketplace, Farmers and Middlemen Display a   Great Variety of Products -- The process of commingling and interchange which at all levels demonstrates the health of a community.   (...what is stressed is the coming together, in a final experience of community, of all factors previously experienced.)  Commerce”  

Uranus    -  “A Woman Just Risen from the Sea.  A Seal Is Embracing Her --  Emergence of new forms and of the potentiality of consciousness.   Impulse to Be”  

Neptune  -  “A Butterfly Emerging from a Chrysalis -- The capacity to utterly   transform the character of one’s consciousness by radically altering the   structural patterns of everyday living and the types of relationships one   enters upon.  Metamorphosis”  

Pluto      -    “Ten Logs Lie Under an Archway Leading to Darker Woods -- The  need to complete any undertaking before seeking entrance to whatever   is to be found beyond.  Threshold”  

The more complete interpretation for Pluto is perhaps worth noting.  “Number 10 is a symbol of completion; it symbolizes even more the revelation of a new series of activities just ahead.  [i.e. Death and Rebirth]  Yet unless the concluded series is brought to some degree of fulfillment, nothing truly significant is likely to be accomplished by a restless reaching out toward the as-yet-unknown.  Number 10 is a symbol of germination, but the seed (Number 9) must have matured well.  No natural process can be accelerated safely beyond certain limits.  It establishes a foundation for what will follow.”  

It rather as if we’ll each have about three weeks (November 11, 2011 to December 3, 2011) to complete all our stuff, toss off all our baggage, and prime ourselves for the last 384 days of the TimeWave.  Or we can begin to do all that shedding, right about now!  

The Sabian Symbols are just one aspect of the philosophy of astrology.  Determinism and Free Will also play a major role, as does the basics of how anyone interprets the symbolism of astrology.  Pictures -- and astrological charts -- convey a thousand words, and perhaps more than most things, demonstrate the limits of language (or rather, why, perhaps, language is considered a curse during the time of the Kali Yuga).  Symbolism, in fact, conjures understandings and emotions far beyond a written sequence of words. 

According to Dane Rudhyar, an astrological “birth chart is a person-centered symbol.  That is to say, it carries a ‘message’ -- the symbolic formulation of the individual’s dharma [destiny].  It suggests how [the individual] can best actualize the innate potentialities of his or her particular and unique selfhood.  It is a symbol, a mandala, or logos, a word of power.  Astrology, seen from this point of view, is a language of symbols.  It implies a process of unfoldment of an idea of feeling-response.”  “...a process of unfoldment, as Carl Jung might have said, of ‘individuation’.”  

A person’s experiences “basically repeat themselves [Cycles!], even though [the individual] might respond to them differently at each new encounter.”  “There are only a certain number of basic meanings to be gathered by a human being in his or her lifetime, and that these meanings can be seen in terms of structural and cyclic sequence.” “An individual, however, acting as an individual and having succeeded in becoming free from collective patterns, may break through the circle of limitations and tap into a deeper source of life and consciousness; this indeed is what true occultism is about.”

Rudhyar goes on to say, “Man should not seek tensely and self-protectively to avoid or control events.  Events do not happen to an individual person; he or she happens to them.  An individual meets them, and imparts to them his or her own meaning.”  “All truly constructive, creative, or redeeming acts are performed through the individual person by a focalization of the whole universe.  This is the ‘transpersonal way’ of which I have spoken for many years.” Astrology is thus, in many ways, transpersonal.  It is part of the Creating Reality and Intermingled Realities, in which we all have a part.  

Astrology can also be used for the most mundane and trivial purposes.  But then again, so can all really useful tools in the hands of men and women with limited intentions.

[pamphletstoinspire]

BOOK OF JOB - From The Douay-Rheims Bible - Latin Vulgate

Chapter 12

The Book of Job shows how human affairs are ruled by Divine Providence using probable arguments.

"Although you hide these things in your heart, I know that you still remember everything." - (Job speaking to God)  

***

INTRODUCTION.

This Book takes its name from the holy man, of whom it treats; who, according to the more probable opinion, was of the race of Esau, and the same as Jobab, king of Edom, mentioned Gen. xxxvi. 33. It is uncertain who was the writer of it. Some attribute it to Job himself; others to Moses, or some one of the prophets. In the Hebrew it is written in verse, from the beginning of the third chapter to the forty-second chapter. Ch. --- The beginning and conclusion are historical, and in prose. Some have divided this work into a kind of tragedy, the first act extending to C. xv., the second to C. xxii., the third to C. xxxviii., where God appears, and the plot is unfolded. They suppose that the sentiments of the speakers are expressed, though not their own words. This may be very probable: but the opinion of those who look upon the work as a mere allegory, must be rejected with horror. The sacred writers speak of Job as of a personage who had really existed, (C.) and set the most noble pattern of virtue, and particularly of patience. Tob. ii. 12. Ezec. xiv. 14. Jam. v. 11. Philo and Josephus pass over this history, as they do those of Tobias, Judith, &c. H. --- The time when Job lived is not clearly ascertained. Some have supposed (C.) that he was a contemporary with Esther; (D. Thalmud) on which supposition, the work is here placed in its chronological order. But Job more probably live during the period when the Hebrews groaned under the Egyptian bondage, (H.) or sojourned in the wilderness. Num. xiv. 9. The Syrians place the book at the head of the Scriptures. C. --- Its situation has often varied, and is of no great importance. The subject which is here treated, is of far more; as it is intended to shew that the wicked sometimes prosper, while the good are afflicted. H. --- This had seldom been witnessed before the days of Abraham: but as God had now selected his family to be witnesses and guardians of religion, a new order of things was beginning to appear. This greatly perplexed Job himself; who, therefore, confesses that he had not sufficiently understood the ways of God, till he had deigned to explain them in the parable of the two great beasts. C. xlii. 3. We cannot condemn the sentiments expressed by Job, since God has declared that they were right, (ib. v. 8) and reprimands Elihu, (C. xxxviii. 2.) and the other three friends of Job, for maintaining a false opinion, though, from the history of past times, they had judge it to be true. This remark may excupate them from the stain of wilful lying, and vain declamation. Houbigant. --- However, as they assert what was false, their words of themselves are of no authority; and they are even considered as the forerunners of heretics. S. Greg. S. Aug. &c. T. --- Job refutes them by sound logic. S. Jerom. --- We may discover in this book the sum of Christian morality, (W.) for which purpose it has been chiefly explained by S. Gregory. The style is very poetical, (H.) though at the same time simple, like that of Moses. D. --- It is interspersed with many Arabic and Chaldaic idioms; (S. Jer.) whence some have concluded, that it was written originally by Job and his friends (H.) in Arabic, and translated into Heb. by Moses, for the consolation of his brethren. W. --- The Heb. text is in many places incorrect; (Houbig.) and the Sept. seem to have omitted several verses. Orig. --- S. Jerom says almost eight hundred, (C.) each consisting of about six words. H. --- Shultens, in 1747, expressed his dissatisfaction with the labours of all preceding commentators. To explain this book may not therefore be an easy task: but we must be as short as possible. H. --- Those who desire farther information, may consult Pineda, (W.) whose voluminous work, in two folios, will nearly (H.) give all necessary information. C.

The additional Notes in this Edition of the New Testament will be marked with the letter A. Such as are taken from various Interpreters and Commentators, will be marked as in the Old Testament. B. Bristow, C. Calmet, Ch. Challoner, D. Du Hamel, E. Estius, J. Jansenius, M. Menochius, Po. Polus, P. Pastorini, T. Tirinus, V. Bible de Vence, W. Worthington, Wi. Witham. — The names of other authors, who may be occasionally consulted, will be given at full length.

Verses are in English and Latin.

HAYDOCK CATHOLIC BIBLE COMMENTARY

This Catholic commentary on the Old Testament, following the Douay-Rheims Bible text, was originally compiled by Catholic priest and biblical scholar Rev. George Leo Haydock (1774-1849). This transcription is based on Haydock's notes as they appear in the 1859 edition of Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary printed by Edward Dunigan and Brother, New York, New York.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

Changes made to the original text for this transcription include the following:

Greek letters. The original text sometimes includes Greek expressions spelled out in Greek letters. In this transcription, those expressions have been transliterated from Greek letters to English letters, put in italics, and underlined. The following substitution scheme has been used: A for Alpha; B for Beta; G for Gamma; D for Delta; E for Epsilon; Z for Zeta; E for Eta; Th for Theta; I for Iota; K for Kappa; L for Lamda; M for Mu; N for Nu; X for Xi; O for Omicron; P for Pi; R for Rho; S for Sigma; T for Tau; U for Upsilon; Ph for Phi; Ch for Chi; Ps for Psi; O for Omega. For example, where the name, Jesus, is spelled out in the original text in Greek letters, Iota-eta-sigma-omicron-upsilon-sigma, it is transliterated in this transcription as, Iesous. Greek diacritical marks have not been represented in this transcription.

Footnotes. The original text indicates footnotes with special characters, including the astrisk (*) and printers' marks, such as the dagger mark, the double dagger mark, the section mark, the parallels mark, and the paragraph mark. In this transcription all these special characters have been replaced by numbers in square brackets, such as [1], [2], [3], etc.

Accent marks. The original text contains some English letters represented with accent marks. In this transcription, those letters have been rendered in this transcription without their accent marks.

Other special characters.

Solid horizontal lines of various lengths that appear in the original text have been represented as a series of consecutive hyphens of approximately the same length, such as ---.

Ligatures, single characters containing two letters united, in the original text in some Latin expressions have been represented in this transcription as separate letters. The ligature formed by uniting A and E is represented as Ae, that of a and e as ae, that of O and E as Oe, and that of o and e as oe.

Monetary sums in the original text represented with a preceding British pound sterling symbol (a stylized L, transected by a short horizontal line) are represented in this transcription with a following pound symbol, l.

The half symbol (1/2) and three-quarters symbol (3/4) in the original text have been represented in this transcription with their decimal equivalent, (.5) and (.75) respectively.

Unreadable text. Places where the transcriber's copy of the original text is unreadable have been indicated in this transcription by an empty set of square brackets, [].

Chapter 12

Job's reply to Sophar. He extols God's power and wisdom.

[1] When Job answered, and said:

Respondens autem Job, dixit :

[2] Are you then men alone, and shall wisdom die with you?

Ergo vos estis soli homines, et vobiscum morietur sapientia?

[3] I also have a heart as well as you: for who is ignorant of these things, which you know?

Et mihi est cor sicut et vobis, nec inferior vestri sum; quis enim haec quae nostis ignorat?

[4] He that is mocked by his friends as I, shall call upon God and he will hear him: for the simplicity of the just man is laughed to scorn.

Qui deridetur ab amico suo, sicut ego, invocabit Deum, et exaudiet eum; deridetur enim justi simplicitas.

[5] The lamp despised in the thoughts of the rich, is ready for the time appointed.

Lampas contempta apud cogitationes divitum, parata ad tempus statutum.

[6] The tabernacles of robbers abound, and they provoke God boldly; whereas it is he that hath given all into their hands:

Abundant tabernacula praedonum, et audacter provocant Deum, cum ipse dederit omnia in manus eorum.

[7] But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee: and the birds of the air, and they shall tell thee.

Nimirum interroga jumenta, et docebunt te; et volatilia caeli, et indicabunt tibi.

[8] Speak to the earth, and it shall answer thee: and the fishes of the sea shall tell.

Loquere terrae, et respondebit tibi; et narrabunt pisces maris.

[9] Who is ignorant that the hand of the Lord hath made all these things?

Quis ignorat quod omnia haec manus Domini fecerit?

[10] In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the spirit of all flesh of man.

In cujus manu anima omnis viventis, et spiritus universae carnis hominis.

[11] Doth not the ear discern words, and the palate of him that eateth, the taste?

Nonne auris verba dijudicat? Et fauces comedentis, saporem?

[12] In the ancient is wisdom, and in length of days prudence.

In antiquis est sapientia, et in multo tempore prudentia.

[13] With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding.

Apud ipsum est sapientia et fortitudo; ipse habet consilium et intelligentiam.

[14] If he pull down, there is no man that can build up: if he shut up a man, there is none that can open.

Si destruxerit, nemo est qui aedificet; si incluserit hominem, nullus est qui aperiat.

[15] If he withhold the waters, all things shall be dried up: and if he send them out, they shall overturn the earth.

Si continuerit aquas, omnia siccabuntur; et si emiserit eas, subvertent terram.

[16] With him is strength and wisdom: he knoweth both the deceiver, and him that is deceived.

Apud ipsum est fortitudo et sapientia; ipse novit et decipientem, et eum qui decipitur.

[17] He bringeth counsellors to a foolish end, and judges to insensibility.

Adducit consiliarios in stultum finem, et judices in stuporem.

[18] He looseth the belt of kings, and girdeth their loins with a cord.

Balteum regum dissolvit, et praecingit fune renes eorum.

[19] He leadeth away priests without glory, and overthroweth nobles.

Ducit sacerdotes inglorios, et optimates supplantat;

[20] He changeth the speech of the true speakers, and taketh away the doctrine of the aged.

commutans labium veracium, et doctrinam senum auferens.

[21] He poureth contempt upon princes, and relieveth them that were oppressed.

Effundit despectionem super principes, eos qui oppressi fuerant relevans.

[22] He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth up to light the shadow of death.

Qui revelat profunda de tenebris, et producit in lucem umbram mortis.

[23] He multiplieth nations, and destroyeth them, and restoreth them again after they were overthrown.

Qui multiplicat gentes, et perdit eas, et subversas in integrum restituit.

[24] He changeth the heart of the princes of the people of the earth, and deceiveth them that they walk in vain where there is no way.

Qui immutat cor principum populi terrae, et decipit eos ut frustra incedant per invium.

[25] They shall grope as in the dark, and not in the light, and he shall make them stagger like men that are drunk.

Palpabunt quasi in tenebris, et non in luce, et errare eos faciet quasi ebrios.

Commentary:

Ver. 2. You. Heb. "truly you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!" This irony is very sharp. C. --- "Are you alone men? or shall?" &c. Sept. Syr.

Ver. 4. Mocked. He retaliates on Sophar, (C. xi. 3. H.) who had very seriously exhorted Job to call on God, as if he had been ignorant of this duty. C. --- God will one day force the wicked to retract their false notion, in despising his servants. Wisd. v. 3. W.

Ver. 5. The lamp. Such is the just man, who under affliction is (H.) exposed to the ridicule of men who live at their ease. --- For. Heb. "to fall." C. --- Sept. "It was appointed for me to fall under others at the time fixed."

Ver. 6. Abound. Heb. "are at peace." C. --- The prosperity of the wicked is therefore no proof that they are pleasing to him. H. --- All nature testifies that God exercises a sovereign dominion over his works. He may therefore cause the just to suffer, though they be guiltless. This is one of Job's grand maxims. C.

Ver. 11. Taste. For this no master is requisite; so I stood in no need of your information, (C.) of such trite remarks. H.

Ver. 12. Ancient. He rather chides the youth of Sophar for offering to give him lessons. Old age is indeed commonly wiser and more experienced. Yet, what is man's knowledge compared to that of God! v. 3.

Ver. 17. To a. Heb. "to be despoiled" of their wisdom and riches. C. --- Sept. "into captivity." H. --- Crafty plotters at last fall into such misconduct, as to be derided by men of the meanest capacity. W.

Ver. 18. Looseth. Sept. "setteth kings upon the throne," &c. --- Belt. This was usually very magnificent, and a military ornament. See that of Pallas described. Æn. x. Job intimates that God derives kings of their authority, at pleasure. Heb. may also signify that he looseth the bond or prisoner of kings, and reduces themselves to slavery. C. --- Things never remain long in the same state. H. --- Even kings are sometimes obliged to beg. M.

Ver. 19. Without. Heb. "despoiled." Sept. "captives." Cohanim, may comprise both sacred ministers and civil princes. 1 K. viii. 18. All are equally subject to God. C.

Ver. 20. Speakers. Permitting them to speak deceitfully, (C.) or causing their oracles to be contemned. H. --- Heb. "he withdraws speech from men of confidence." C. --- Neemanim, (H.) ambassadors or prime ministers. Num. xii. 7. He disconcerteth the best concerted plans.

Ver. 21. Relieveth. Heb. "ungirdeth (disarms) the strong." C. --- Sept. "but the lowly (humble) he has healed."

Ver. 22. Of death. Tsalmaveth (H.) may perhaps simply denote darkness. C. --- God bringeth to light the most hidden things. H.

Ver. 23. Multiplieth. Heb. Sept. and Syr. "deceiveth," (C.) suffering them to confide too much in their strength, so that they fall an easy prey. H. --- How many nations, once so powerful, are now fallen; while others of no account have risen to eminence!

Ver. 24. Changeth. Heb. "taketh away the heart," or prudence "of princes." Hence they follow the most absurd counsels. Isai. xxix. 19. C. - No way. This was the case of Pharao, when he pursued the Israelites into the sea; (T.) and the like may rationally be feared by those princes, who attempt to make innovations in the true religion, or in the sound laws of a kingdom. M.

[andyjwaldron]

ANDY CARES A LOT ABOUT THE NAMING OF A BUILDING AT HIS ALMA MATER.

This is a full meal of a story. It involves performative allyship, online activism, a bad man who supported gay conversion therapy and white nationalists, a funny scholarship situation, body slamming, IRL activism, diversity and inclusivity, financial conflict of interest, Title IX failure, and the first student demonstration in the history of a small, conservative STEM university.

APRIL 2017: In his final semester at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ, Andy, along with humanities alums Joe Risi and Kyle Gonzalez, petitioned the university president, Nariman Farvardin, about the naming of a future academic complex. The building intended to honor Greg Gianforte, an alumnus and then-congressional candidate for Montana who promised two $10 million gifts to the university. He also was known to support pseudoscience, gay conversion therapy, and white nationalists, businesses that discriminated against LGBTQ folks, and believed that allowing transpeople using bathrooms “[places] young girls' and women's safety at risk,” among other bad things. It was later revealed that not only did Farvardin donate to the Gianforte congressional campaign but that several other members of Stevens’s Board of Trustees did as well in the same month the naming was announced.

The three of them – Andy as a current student and alums Joe and Kyle – received advisement from then-professor of Science and Technology Studies, Lee Vinsel and a group of Montana State University folk who had previously protested naming a building named after Gianforte at MSU. Andy, Joe, and Kyle wrote a petition that asked directly and simply for three things: to explain the reasoning behind naming the new academic center after Gianforte, to condemn the discriminatory rhetoric of the anti-LGBTQ groups who had received donations from Greg Gianforte, and to reaffirm Stevens’ commitment, in actions and not just words, to be an inclusive campus regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation. Seemed like a slam dunk of a much-needed PR opportunity. When Andy brought this up at an open meeting of the Student Government Association (SGA), though, he left not too hopeful that things would change. His fellow Students seemed apathetic as well.

But, despite a ton of exhausting far-right reply guys bemoaning PC culture and asking Andy and company to engage in “thought experiments” to point out logical fallacies, the petition got over 650+ signatures --almost a fourth of the undergraduate population that year -- and loads of great comments.

Stevens’ president, in lieu of the petition’s requests, responded privately to several professors. His response, the private nature of which was dismissive and disrespectful to those who cared enough to sign the petition, brought up more questions than answers. Similarly, the then-SGA president wrote an insulting response. The three petition writers went to a "Conversation with the President” on April 18th, closed but for staff and faculty, asking Farvardin in front of those attending for an explanation of the reasoning behind naming the new academic center after Gianforte, a condemnation of discriminatory rhetoric of the anti-LGBTQ groups who had received donations from Greg Gianforte, and a reaffirmation of Stevens’ commitment, in actions and not just words, to be an inclusive campus regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation. Farvardin’s response was. Farvardin’s public response then was as unsatisfactory as his private response (Here’s some audio).

MAY 2017: During Andy’s final semester at Stevens, he was awarded the Joseph M. Farber Memorial Prize, presented to a graduating humanities senior who “displays a keen interest in and concern for civil liberties and their importance in preserving human rights“ for the Gianforte work. It was a pretty nice consolation prize for being a bit disheartened (and, well, Dead from all the thesis work).

The same day Andy walked across the commencement stage to graduate, Gianforte, uh, forced his way into national news. Assaulting a Guardian reporter on the eve of a special election to fill Montana’s sole seat in the US House of Representatives will do that. This changed some minds on campus.

JUNE 2017: Following the body-slam heard ’round the world – along with a lackluster Alumni Weekend – Farvardin and Virginia Ruesterholz, chairman of the Stevens Board of Trustees, established a Committee to Consider the Naming of the Gianforte Academic Center, picking alumni, faculty, and members of the Board of Trustees (again, several of whom, Ruesterholz and Farvardin included, had donated to the Gianforte political campaign). This committee announced on June 26th that its goal was to "come together, use our collective wisdom, sound judgment, and best reasoning to identify a path forward that is consistent with the mission and values of Stevens."  A handful of concerned Hoboken citizens started their own petition. Stevens literature professor Benjamin H. Ogden got a letter published in the NY Daily News criticizing the naming. Gianforte was found guilty for his assault of the reporter; his mugshot was later released.

AUGUST 2017: Nine more students and alumni joined Joe, Kyle, and Andy to start an informative, persuasive online and IRL campaign, entitled “#iwillnotSITby,” for folks to email members of the aforementioned committee, submit feedback, and share their thoughts on social media. According to bit.ly data, more than 150 folks clicked through the website to the committee’s feedback form. Not that bad.

SEPTEMBER 2017: Stevens organizations -- including Stevens Torch Alliance, the Stevens Faculty Senate, Stevens Poetry Club, Stevens Society of Physics Students, WCPR - Castle Point Radio, and Chi Phi - Mu Chapter -- began to publicly denounce Gianforte’s views and encouraged the renaming of the building. The university’s sketch-and-improv comedy group had some fun with it.

On September 27th, Professor Emeritus James McClellan III presented a talk entitled "What's Wrong with Scientific Creationism?" discussing creationism as a pseudoscience and how it related to Gianforte and Stevens. Despite being a part of Stevens regular humanities forums, it was initially not advertised by the administration and staff, leading students to create and distribute flyers. The College of Arts and Letters later announced the talk -- with the caveat that it did not reflect the full views of the college nor university.

On September 28th, Farvardin made a campus-wide announcement: The committee submitted their findings to the Board of Trustees, the latter of which decided to rename the complex the Gianforte Family Academic Complex, based partly on the idea of “principal legacy,” which was used in Yale’s consideration behind the renaming of Calhoun College, originally named after a slavery advocate, to honor graduate Grace Murray Hopper, a computer scientist, mathematician, teacher, and dedicated public servant. 

Included in any dictionary published after August 2017, next to the definition of “a bad idea,” was the initial naming of the Gianforte Academic Center. Following the committee’s decision, a referral was added, referencing the definition of “a really bad idea,” and included the renaming of the Gianforte Family Academic Complex with the reasoning below:

The new naming recalls the Gianforte Family Foundation, which names both Greg Gianforte and Susan Gianforte as trustees. As both Mr. and Mrs. Gianforte are active voices in deciding who benefits from the foundations’ various donations, any building that references the Gianforte Family name invokes the hateful rhetoric given a platform through their monetary contributions

The Yale decision to rename a college because of Calhoun’s principal legacy of white supremacy was made a full seven months before the Stevens committee made theirs

The Gianforte Family Foundation donated to white supremacists Taylor Rose in 2015 and Robert Saunders in 2016

Stevens’ actions to decide the “principal legacy” of a living alumnus is at odds with Yale’s definition of “principal legacy,” which was strictly applied to deceased alumni

More reasoning can be found via Kyle Gonzalez’s detailed rebuttal, sent to the president and Board of Trustees following the committee’s recommendations. Again, because the naming was ultimately decided by Gianforte campaign contributors, their peers, and an SGA president who did not think a change can be made, concerned community members were not entirely surprised by this outcome.

A GoFundMe campaign was launched a month after the decision by a group of then-students and alumni, titled “Stevens Name Your Price.” The campaign had a fundraising goal of $20,000,001, an amount $1 more than the combined donations made by Gregory Gianforte to fund the new academic center, so that “the administration may entertain [their] request to change the name.” Memes were had. It eventually raised $1,500, which was donated to the Hudson Pride Connections Center,  a “home and voice for the diverse LGBTQ community and our allies that advocates for our physical, mental, social and political well-being” for Hudson County. It was even picked up (or, in improv-speak, yes anded) by Colin Mochrie from “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”

MAY 2019: It was quietly announced that Greg Gianforte had rescinded the second $10 million gift, and that the new building, now dubbed the “Gateway Academic Complex,” will consist of the Gateway South Hall and the Gianforte Family Hall. Andy and company called that a small victory, because why not.

DECEMBER 2019: Following the announcement of the invite-only Gianforte Family Hall ribbon cutting, current students planned a protest for that evening, under the name “wewillnotSITby.” Hell yeah.

Three student leaders, Eli Trakhtenberg, Nasir Montalvo, and Adrian Castellanos (Torch VP, Diversity and Inclusivity Committee Chair, and SGA VP, respectively), took this as an opportunity to push for mass reform. Eli asked Andy for some help with their proposal, which focused on (a) the kind of ideas that Gianforte actively disagrees with and (b) a variety of administrative failures in students’ pursuit of making the campus better for all kinds of identities over the past four years.

This document, given to Board of Trustees members, pointed out these failures and demanded meaningful change and reform under Student Wellness, Administrative Transparency, and Campus Climate. Everything from broken promises to establish an Intercultural Center to a Title IX failure during the “red zone“ of sexual assault on campus to weak efforts of mental-health advocacy are mentioned in the doc. Dear reader, it’s bad.

On December 10th, the first student protest in the history of Stevens took place, with over 50 students, alumni, staff, faculty, and Hoboken community members demonstrating outside the ribbon-cutting ceremony. It was covered by a handful of outlets and supported by at least one business -- the local independent bookstore, Little City Books. There’s [poorly narrated] video too. Seeing this effort start with a group of three concerned humanities majors in 2017 to this many people IRL in December 2019… folks, it’s a thing of beauty.

As of January 5th, 2020, there has been no public response from the administration other than a nice press release about the totally peaceful opening of the hall.

***

You can go back home by clicking here.

[dedeeus-blog]

This book is about the Mazzaroth. You can download a copy here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/49018 You may want to read about OPHIUCHUS!!! _________________ 1 and 2. SERPENS and OPHIUCHUS.                      _The Struggle with the Enemy._ Here, _Serpens_, the serpent, is seen struggling vainly in the powerful grasp of the man who is named _O‐phi‐u‐chus_. In Latin he is called Serpentarius. He is at one and the same moment shown to be seizing the serpent with his two hands, and treading on the very heart of the scorpion, marked by the deep red star _Antares_ (wounding). Just as we read the first constellation of the woman and child _Coma_, as expounding the first sign VIRGO, so we have to read this first constellation as expounding the second sign LIBRA. Hence, we have here a further picture, showing the object of this conflict on the part of the scorpion. In Scorpio we see merely the effort to wound _Ophiuchus_ in the heel; but here we see the effort of the serpent to seize THE CROWN, which is situated immediately over the serpent’s head, and to which he is looking up and reaching forth. The contest is for Dominion! It was the Devil, in the form of a serpent, that robbed the first man of his crown; but in vain he struggled to wrest it from the sure possession of the Second Man. Not only does he fail in the attempt, but is himself utterly defeated and trodden under foot.                              [Illustration]    Plate 10: SERPENS (the Serpent) and OPHIUCHUS (the Serpent Holder) There are no less than 134 stars in these two constellations. Two are of the 2nd magnitude, fourteen of the 3rd, thirteen of the 4th, etc. The brightest star in the Serpent, α (in the neck), is named _Unuk_, which means _encompassing_. Another Hebrew name is _Alyah_, _the accursed_. From this is _Al Hay_ (Arabic), _the reptile_. The next brightest star is β (in the jaw), named, in Arabic, _Cheleb_, or _Chelbalrai, the serpent enfolding_. The Greek name, _Ophiuchus_, is itself from the Hebrew and Arabic name _Afeichus_, which means _the serpent held_. The brightest star in _Ophiuchus_, α (in the head), is called _Ras al Hagus_ (Arabic), _the head of him who holds_. Other Hebrew names of stars, not identified, are _Triophas_, _treading under foot_; _Saiph_ (in the foot(42) of Ophiuchus), _bruised_; _Carnebus_, _the wounding_; _Megeros_, _contending_.(43) In the Zodiac of Denderah we have a throned human figure, called _Api‐bau_, _the chief who cometh_. He has a hawk’s head to show that he is the enemy of the serpent, which is called _Khu_, and means _ruled_ or _enemy_. All these combine to set before us in detail the nature of the conflict and its final issue. That final issue is, however, exhibited by the last of the three constellations of this chapter. The Victor Himself requires a whole picture to fully set forth the glorious victory. This brings us to— 3. HERCULES (The Mighty Man).                         _The Mighty Vanquisher._ Here the mighty one, who occupies a large portion of the heavens, is seen bending on one knee, with his right heel lifted up as if it had been wounded, while his left foot is set directly over the head of the great dragon. In his right hand he wields a great club, and in his left hand he grasps a triple‐headed monster (_Cerberus_). And he has the skin of a lion, which he has slain, thrown around him.(44) In the Zodiac of Denderah we have a human figure, likewise with a club. His name is _Bau_, which means _who cometh_, and is evidently intended for Him who cometh to crush the serpent’s head, and “destroy the works of the devil.” In Arabic he is called _Al Giscale, the strong one_.                              [Illustration]                   Plate 11: HERCULES (the Mighty One) There are 113 stars in this constellation. Seven are of the 3rd magnitude, seventeen of the 4th, etc. The brightest star, α (in his head), is named _Ras al Gethi_, and means _the head of him who bruises_. The next, β (in the right arm‐pit), is named _Kornephorus_, and means _the branch, kneeling_. The star κ (in the right elbow) is called _Marsic_, _the wounding_. The star λ (in the upper part of the left arm) is named _Ma’asyn_, _the sin‐offering_. While ω (in the lower part of the right arm) is _Caiam_, or _Guiam_, _punishing_; and in Arabic, _treading under foot_. Thus does everything in the picture combine to set forth the mighty works of this stronger than the strong man armed! We can easily see how the perversion of the truth by the Greeks came about, and how, when the true foreshadowings of this Mighty One had been lost, the many fables were invented to supply their place. The wiser sort of Greeks knew this perfectly well. ARISTOTLE (in his _Metaphysics_, x. 8) admits, with regard to Greek mythology, that religion and philosophy had been lost, and that much had been “added after the mythical style,” while much had come down, and “may have been preserved to our times as the remains of ancient wisdom.” Religion, such as it was (POLYBIUS confesses), was recognised as a “necessary means to political ends.” NEANDER says that it was “the fragments of a tradition, which transmitted the knowledge of divine things possessed in the earliest times.” ARATUS shews the same uncertainty as to the meaning of this Constellation of _Hercules_. He says:    “Near this, and like a toiling man, revolves    A form. Of it can no one clearly speak,    Nor what he labours at. They call him simply    ‘The man upon his knees’: In desperate struggle    Like one who sinks, he seems. From both his shoulders    His arms are high‐uplifted and out‐stretched    As far as he can reach; and his right foot    Is planted on the coiléd Dragon’s head.” Ancient authorities differ as to the personality of Hercules, and they disagree as to the number, nature, and order of what are sometimes called “the twelve labours of Hercules.” But there is no doubt as to the mighty foretold works which the woman’s Seed should perform. From first to last Hercules is seen engaged in destroying some malignant foe: now it is the Nemean lion; then it is the slaying of the boar of Erymanthus; again, it is the conquest of the bull of Crete; then the killing of the three‐headed hydra, by whose venom Hercules afterwards died. In the belly of the sea monster he is said to have remained “three days and three nights.” This was, doubtless, a perversion of the type of Jonah, introduced by LYCOPHRON, who (living at the court of PTOLEMY PHILADELPHUS, under whose auspices the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek) would have known of that Divine miracle, and of its application to the Coming One. Bishop Horsley believed that the fables of the Greek mythology could be traced back to the prophecies of the Messiah, of which they were a perversion from ignorance or design. This is specially true of Hercules. In his apparently impossible tasks of overthrowing gigantic enemies and delivering captives, we can see through the shadow, and discern the pure light of the truth. We can understand how the original star‐picture must have been a prophetic representation of Him who shall destroy the Old Serpent and open the way again, not to fabled “apples of gold,” but to the “tree of life” itself. He it is who though suffering in the mighty conflict, and brought to His knee, going down even to “the dust of death,” shall yet, in resurrection and advent glory, wield His victorious club, subdue all His enemies, and plant His foot on the Dragon’s head. For of Him it is written:—    “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder;    The young lion and the dragon shalt Thou trample under foot.”    (Ps. xci. 13.)    “Come, Lord, and burst the captives’ chains,      And set the prisoners free;    Come, cleanse this earth from all its stains,      And make it meet for Thee!    Oh, come and end Creation’s groans—      Its sighs, its tears, its blood,    And make this blighted world again      The dwelling‐place of God.”

[misskaysway]

I spent human rights day cooking our traditional food and spending quality time with my daughter because my son decided to abandon ship and go to camp instead.

I treated my family to pap with chicken feet, pork trotters, finished off with gemere (ginger beer) and scones and a promise of umqomboti to be delivered 3 days later.

I have never made umqomboti nor gemere before however, I was determined to share a piece of my childhood with my daughter. As we went hunting for ingredients, this suburban daughter of mine tried to imagine what this drink umqomboti could be? During this brewing process that took 3 days, we spoke about my childhood, whilst my mum insisted on us singing and dancing to Yvonne Chaka Chaka’s song, We MaDlamini, wu phi mqombothi! My maternal grandmother introduced me to umqomboti - “the food for men” as described by my male friends who risked their stomachs to taste my very first brew. They are all still alive which is a good sign of a successful umqomboti tasting session.

During some of my school holidays, my maternal grandmother would take me along to a shop called Ga-Mureko, where she would gather with her friends, one of them being the lady who owned the shop. They would drink mageu and umqomboti all afternoon, speaking a language so foreign to me at that time, yet beautiful to listen to. I remember those walks down to the shop because people would randomly call out to my grandmother and ask: “is that Reshoketswe’s child, wa le Tsonga?” Such emphasis on Tsonga. For years I didn’t understand this distinction but as I grew up, I realized, being the darkest of my parents kids, I stood out in that community. Also apartheid didn’t seek to separate white from black, however it also separated black on black and created a class system amongst the black Africans similar to the caste system in India. In that classification, the Tsongas were the least hence I had to be identified since my mum chose to “shame” her people by accepting marriage from the least of the South African tribes (this is a discussion for another day).

At the shop my grandmother would make me dance xibelana to the wonderful claps of her friends who will later give me money. I guess I was too cute for anyone to notice that I was a terrible xibelana dancer or the umqomboti clouded everyone’s judgement. The important thing for me, was that I made money. I would move from dancing to reciting English poems whilst sitting on my grandma’s lap sipping my share of mageu from a jug that would be passed from one woman to the next.

My grandma taught me how to make mageu and til today I love it’s somehow bitter sweet taste.

Living in the “burbs” as my daughter refers to our neighborhood , we no longer have those cultural gatherings which afforded us the opportunity to cook our traditional foods, learn our songs and dances. The good things about who we are as Africans is also slowly dying. We no longer sit and tell stories or share poetry to pass on wisdom and history. My first showcase of talent as a child was always at a family gathering. Every child would be encouraged to demonstrate whatever they have learned from school or church and the elders would tell you, how good you are even when you were terrible at it. This contributed to the level of confidence some of us have today.

Not all is lost, we can all build on our past by taking time to share with our kids the best of who we are, whatever that is. Our songs, story telling, dance, food, is our heritage and we should be proud of it. I don’t know a lot about my heritage, however, it’s not too late to learn. I don’t know what our next holiday holds, however we are looking forward to it. Maybe we will cook guxe or xiendla hi vomu, kumbe xigugu? The list is endless and I’m definitely sure this will afford us the opportunity to create great memories and pass down a great heritage that is slowly dying unless we do something about it.

[raddinosaurzombie]

Aleister Crowley (& the Aeon of Horus)

by Michael Tsarion

I have been accused of being a ‘black magician.’ No more foolish statement was ever made about me. I despise the thing to such an extent that I can hardly believe in the existence of people so debased and idiotic as to practice it - Aleister Crowley (The Sunday Dispatch, 1933)

The twentieth card of the Tarot’s Major Arcana - Judgment or The Aeon - corresponds with Aries, the sign which opens the solar zodiac. Astrologically, Aries is associated with new birth and masculine creative energy. The planet-archetypes assigned to The Aeon are the Sun and Pluto. In astrological parlance the card’s meaning is analogous to Pluto in Aries or a conjunction between Mars, Sun and Pluto. Conventionally, Pluto is associated with the sign of Scorpio. However, psychologically it connotes the "Shadow" and corresponds with gods such as Thanatos, Hades and Shiva. It is associated with the so-called underworld journey and spiritual resurrection.

Historically, the discovery of the planet Pluto coincided with major upheavals and new paradigms of thought and communication. After its discovery, in 1930, the atom was split, the Great Depression occurred in America, Adolf Hitler rose to power in Europe, and World War II broke out. The planet-archetype certainly represents painful catharsis and difficult psychological transformation; new life emerging from the ashes of the old and outworn.

In the Rider-Waite deck we see three naked figures rising from graves with arms outstretched in the shape of Latin word Lux, meaning “light.” Above them is Archangel Gabriel with his trumpet.

The Rider-Waite version

The design intentionally represents the supernal triangle on the Kabalistic Tree of Life, that is, the three highest Sephiroth known as Kether, Chokmah and Binah.

The youth in the center represents the sphere of Tiphareth, esoterically associated with Horus. Although Horus is traditionally considered a solar deity, he is - in his aspect of avenger - closely associated with Pluto. He was the rival and conqueror of Set, his father's evil brother and arch-enemy. He is the prototype for mythological avengers Hercules, St. George, St. Michael, and so on.

The Aeon’s imagery also relates to the precessional movement of the sun, moon and planets through the zodiac. This cycle of 25,920 years is referred to as the Great or Platonic Year. The Aeon pictorializes an important mythographic event in the celestial revolution - the resurrection of sun god Ra-Hoor-Khuit, Harpocrates or Horus the Younger.

In the Gnostic tradition Horus is Io (pronounced Aho). In the Thoth deck we see him with forefinger pressed to his lips. This pose indicates the Hermetic mysteries of which he is keeper. The letters I and O connote the Phi ratio or geometric harmony of the universe.

Crowley's Thoth Tarot version

The esoteric letter of The Aeon is shin (pronounced shayeen), closely related to the English word shine. Although the previous card depicts the physical sun, The Aeon connotes the heart or spirit of the phenomenal sun which, though not visible to the senses, is discerned once subtle modes of insight and understanding awaken. The Aeon represents the unseen light or power behind the world of matter. It represents the energy behind perceivable, quantifiable bioenergy; the numinous Implicate or enfolded power emanating from the center of every atom, cell, corpuscle, emotion and idea.

Dr. George W. Crile, of the Cleveland Laboratories...announced that he had discovered at the heart of every living organism a tiny nucleus of energy, all aglow, with temperatures ranging from 3000 to 6000 degrees of heat, which he called "radiogens" or "hot points" precisely akin to the radiant energy of solar matter. He affirmed that a tiny particle of the sun's power and radiance was lodged within the heart of every organic unit! - Alvin Boyd Kuhn (The Great Myth of the Sun Gods)

...our individual consciousnesses could be derived from a higher...consciousness through an interface created in the brain by endogenous light. It is hypothesized that photons emitted from cells in the brain are guided to the surfaces of the brain's fluid-filled ventricular spaces, where they interact with cilia lining those ventricles and are guided by the timed beating of the cilia so that the photons form interference patterns within the ventricular spaces, creating an interface through which a tiny portion of the "light of God" is able to animate the corpus. Some of the necessary mechanisms such as light emissions from cells are known; others are hypothetical - Karl Simanonok PhD (The Divine Light of Consciousness)

The "light" seen emanating from the card represents the spiritual intelligence or Universal Order which is negentropic in nature and not created by human beings. Indeed, humans are themselves emanations and embodiments of this Order or Logos. Coming into conscious attunement with the Logos constitutes a truly holy act, and is the goal of the Magnum Opus or Great Work. Arriving at this state of attunement requires mental, emotional and physical purification. It entails a quietening of the chatter of the Left Brain (ego-consciousness).

To emphasize the idiosyncratic qualities of Arcanum 20, occultist Aleister Crowley, of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Ordo Templi Orientis, decided to change its imagery and title. To comprehend why his changes are significant and why he wanted the Arcanum to stand out, we have to know something about his life, times, circle and occult ideas.

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No matter to what depth I plumb, I always end with my wings beating steadily toward the sun - AC

Edward Alexander Aleister Crowley was born under the sign of Libra on October 12 1875, the year the Theosophical Society was founded. Born to a family of fundamentalist Plymouth Brethren, he attended Cambridge University and read his first "occult" tract The Cloud Upon the Sanctuary by Karl von Eckharthausen at age twenty two. On November 18 1898, he was initiated into Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an occult fraternity founded in England by Dr. Wynn Westcott, William Robert Woodman and Samuel Liddell (also known as MacGregor Mathers). The Order’s members included A. E. Waite, Dion Fortune, Arthur Conan Doyle and W. B. Yeats. Crowley studied Tarot and Hermeticism assiduously under Mathers and mystic Alan Bennett. After studying Book T  by Mathers, he realized he had a destiny with the Tarot or Grimoire of Thoth.

Both Mathers and Crowley knew that prior to the advent of their Hermetic Order, Tarot interpretation and usage were exoteric and mundane. Mathers was perplexed that he was chosen to restore the esoteric secrets of the seventy eight Arcana. With characteristic hubris he wrote of the matter:

Do you imagine that where such men as Court de Gebelin, Etteila, Christian and Levi failed in their endeavor to discover the Tarot attributions that I would be able of my own power and intelligence alone to lift the veil which has baffled them?

Crowley clearly knew the time had come for a restoration of Tarot, the authentic “Emerald Tablets of Hermes” or “Book of Life.” He wrote that he had:

...deplored the absence of any authentic Text on Tarot. The medieval packs are hopelessly corrupt or otherwise far from presenting the Ancient Truth of the Book in a coherent system or shape of lucid beauty - (Preface: The Book of Thoth)

The result of his education during his time with the Golden Dawn was his Thoth Deck. The cards were painted by Golden Dawn member and Freemason Lady Frieda Harris. She worked with Crowley to formulate their deck’s appearance and occult properties. Through her persuasion, Crowley invested five years of concentrated work honing his esoteric knowledge of magic, divination and symbolism.

She devoted her genius to the Work...with inexhaustible patience...often painting the same card as many as eight times...May the passionate "love under will" which she has stored in this Treasury of Truth and Beauty flow forth from the Splendour and Strength of her work to enlighten the world; may this Tarot serve as a chart for the bold seamen of the New Aeon, to guide them across the Great Sea of Understanding to the City of the Pyramids - Aleister Crowley (on Lady Harris)

Crowley with Lady Frieda Harris, the artist

who painted the enigmatic Thoth Deck.

Their vision finally came into being, and competent critics and adepts agree that along with the Rider-Waite deck, Crowley's Thoth Tarot is one of the most precious endowments to humanity.

Each card is, in a sense, a living being and its relation with its neighbors are what one might call diplomatic. It is for the student to build these living stones into his living temple - A. C. (The Book of Thoth)

Although he was born in the late Victorian Age, there was little that was "Old World" about the bohemian gentleman perpetually slandered as "mad, bad and dangerous to know." As his unofficial biographers are only too keen to remind us, Victorian society considered Crowley something of an enfant terrible. However, it is reprehensible that they should have ridiculed him as much as they did and for as long. After all, was he not a child of the same histrionic age that produced Swinburne, Shelley, Rimbaud and Baudelaire? And through previous centuries had he no equivalents? From the Classical Period through the Medieval, to the Renaissance and beyond, we find iconoclasts, transgressives, libertines and heretics now remembered as paragons of wisdom. As Crowley knew, he was secure in the tradition of savants such as Socrates, Plotinus, Erasmus, Bohme, Bruno, Apollonius, Valentinus, Christian Rosencrantz, Blavatsky and Steiner, etc. He is also in the tradition of academic philosophers such as Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Heidegger, with his work being distinctly more accessible.

Alas, due to disinformation disseminated by gutter journalists, we find Crowley’s name indexed not with the enlighteners and geniuses but with scoundrels and sociopaths. To read the many vitriolic diatribes against him and labels he was given - Anti-Christ, King of Depravity, Cannibal at Large, Wickedest Man in the World, Man We'd Like to Hang, Great Beast, etc - one may be excused for thinking him related to Vlad the Impaler or Jack the Ripper. He has been labeled everything from England's most perfidious seducer, to the Devil's own high priest. Fortunately his detractors are mostly forgotten and today his admirers provide more enlightening commentary on his reputation and significance:

All the little mystics have reason to be terrified of him and his "exposures" of their camouflages. These groups, quite numerous and socially powerful...are mainly responsible...for the legend that he is a devil-worshiper and a practitioner of "black magic" - Israel Regardie (secretary to Crowley)

It is our opinion that to defend Crowley within the Christian-Judaic system not only does him a disservice but makes us weak slaves of the past. We believe that those who judge and defend Crowley within this system are attempting to remove his influence or demonstrate that he had no influence at all - Christopher Hyatt (Head of the New Thelemic Order of the Golden Dawn)

Crowley is most emphatically a part of the spiritual history of this century, and as such it behooves us to reckon with him both sensibly and sensitively - Lawrence Sutin (Do What Thou Wilt)

Crowley emphasized that in any age man’s most pressing need is total freedom of thought, action and belief. The term he employed to describe total emancipation was "Will" (from the Greek Thelema). He noted that in esoteric numerology the Greek words for "Love" and "Will" have the same sum. For occultists this means the words express the same principle. In a similar vein as his predecessor William Blake, Crowley proclaimed that freedom, on all levels, was attainable once we dispense with external authority. For Blake and Crowley, man’s will is subverted early in life by authoritarian parents and peers. Minds and hearts are dominated by the will of mothers, fathers, relatives, school teachers, friends, priests and politicians.

The spirit within is also violated when we prostitute ourselves by overly relying on external guidance, asking each and every stranger for answers, direction and support. For Crowley, Blake, and other true mystics, on our spiritual journey the advice and experiences of other people are relatively meaningless.

In other words, men do not think with their own minds or feel with their own hearts. On the contrary, their consciousness is colonized. The process of consciousness-control occurs gradually over generations and less gradually during the years of a single lifetime. The conditioned, acculturated man, more often than not becomes an oppressor of those who fall under his power. Indeed, most humans accept the “mind-forged manacles” imposed on them, and many quickly move to impose them on others. What is often referred to as "community" and "family," amounts to little more than enslavement to the will of others.

Crowley believed that during the twentieth century men would finally get a real chance to cast off their chains and overthrow the corrupt institutions that imposed their will on humanity. Like a caring father he dedicated his time and energy to the creation of the manifestos of freedom to guide the New Aeon's unchained but unguided children. Of these works the Thoth Tarot is his supreme accomplishment. This is especially so given that it employs images rather than words.

Although Crowley was certainly anti-Christian, he was not anti-Christ. Jesus as rebel and hero appealed to his own heroic character. Like many scholars Crowley simply recognized that religious organizations and paradigms do not prevail forever in pristine form, particularly if they fail to evolve and morph as man himself does. Through the ages the institutions of Christianity had become impossibly dogmatic, paternal and antihuman. Therefore they need to be replaced by sane modern ideologies for modern times. Those who see in Crowley nothing but a blustering iconoclast do well to remember that his penchant for deconstruction was balanced with a ability to conceive brilliant solutions to the problems bred by fundamentalist doctrines:

Crowley desired nothing less than the creation of a full-fledged successor religion - complete with a guiding Logos that would endure for millennia, as had the teachings of Jesus - Lawrence Sutin

The turning point in Crowley's life occurred in 1904, while he was in his twenties. He received, by way of his wife, channeled instructions concerning his role on the planet. After an initial series of visions, the Crowleys returned to their home in Bolskine, Scotland, where he entered into direct communion with a praetor-human intelligence. This incorporeal agency transmitted prophetic visions about the coming age in which humans struggled to free themselves from the psychological and spiritual chains imposed by religious and political institutions of previous ages. As a result of his strange mystical experience, and while in trance, Crowley penned the strange and infamous tome Liber Al vel Legis or Book of the Law. Although it has been denounced and ridiculed, many regard the book as a sacred testament of the coming age.

The imagery of Arcanum 20 (in the Thoth Tarot) is based on the essence of what Crowley received from his guide. Following in the footsteps of Christian mystic Joachim of Fiore, he wrote of how history had a trinitarian structure. Specifically, there are three great epochs corresponding to three periods of the so-called "Platonic Cycle" of 25,920 years. (This cycle is traditionally divided into twelve divisions making the famous signs of the zodiac.) The first epoch, which Crowley named the Aeon of Isis, was a period of Matriarchies which allegedly terminated around 255 BC. During this age societies were predominately eccentric, egalitarian and pantheistic. The superseding period was the Aeon of Osiris; an age of Patriarchal communities which maintained dominion until approximately 1900 AD. The present Aeon of Horus is, therefore, the period of the sovereign individual, the Son or Child of Creation; and as with any period of birth, the age has seen several traumatic events. Like Blake, Tennyson and Nietzsche before him, Crowley predicted the world wars and tribulations he believed were unfortunately necessary for the true Spirit of Freedom to rise from the ashes of corrupt, outworn old world systems. As Christopher Hyatt puts it, the Aeon of Osiris was “an age of terrible darkness, of deplorable ignorance, and of abominable superstition.”

In each age, say Theosophists and Thelemites, the spirit of Horus the Liberator returns. Once every 2,160 years the archetype manifests to destroy the "dark Satanic mills." In other words, the spirit of Horus is the Spirit of Rebellion that takes birth in certain iconoclastic men and women, who as society’s artists, poets, musicians, writers, and activists, actively push for reform and justice. The Spirit of Rebellion shakes traditional paradigms and brings radical change to individuals and countries. It also brings change to religious ideas and beliefs. According to occultist Frater Achad (Charles Stansfeld Jones), the archetype of Horus ”is within each of us as the true urge of our Being.”

In Horus, Isis and Osiris in the Q. B. L., Frater Achad wrote on the purpose of the New Aeon and coming of Horus:

Thus at his Coming in 1904, he found the Race in a state of definite retrogression. "Civilization" met him as he advanced in triumph, and millions fell, without understanding what was happening. He still drives ahead in His Chariot, and millions more will feel his force and fire, until the Race recognizes that it must about-face, and cheer the Conquering Hero on. Then we shall have peace and rejoicing, and the Stern Warrior will seem as the Gentlest Child.

In Magick in Theory and Practice, Crowley wrote of the turbulent birth of the coming Aeon:

There is a Magical Operation of maximum importance: the initiation of a New Aeon. When it becomes necessary to utter a Word, the whole planet will be drenched in blood. Before man is ready to accept the Law of Thelema, the Great War must be fought. This Bloody Sacrifice is the critical point of the World-Ceremony of the Proclamation of Horus, the Crowned and Conquering Child, the Lord of the Aeon.

When men attune with the Plutonic power of Horus the Liberator, and inherit the freedom dreamt of, they do not become debauched and immoral. On the contrary, as Crowley emphasized, they require greater discipline and order. It is not an easy task to both obey and command one's Will. This attunement with one's True Will, this communion, is true Holy Work, requiring no churches or chapels, no oppressive hierarchies and moral codes. The standards of a malignant oppressive society inevitably condition human beings to become self-evasive and repressive. This form of cruelty against oneself was central to Crowley's insights into the human psyche and condition, and his revisioning of humanity. The unrepressed man alone is truly free. Only he has the ability and the right to free others.

When a person represses certain of his thoughts, feelings, or memories, he does so because he regards them as threatening to him in some way. When, specifically, a person represses certain of his emotions or desires, he does so because he regards them as wrong, as unworthy of him, or inappropriate, or immoral, or unrealistic, or indicative of some irrationality on his part—and as dangerous, because of the actions to which they might impel him - Nathaniel Branden (The Psychology of Self-Esteem)

The Willful man avoids repression and dissociation because he is strong enough not to censor his thoughts and emotions, especially those which might cause him emotional pain or moral unease. He refuses to censor himself, and allows his thoughts and feelings to express themselves completely. This is the true definition of freedom as Crowley, Blake, and other sages meant it.

The trouble comes from society which often shapes one's personality in aberrant ways The unrepressed Willful individual doesn't allow this to continue. He avoids being negatively influenced and won't follow society's lead. He is, therefore, bound to be cast as a rebel by his fellows and his society. Nevertheless, his existence is not overcast by the inner shame and anxiety that plagues those who contravene natural and human law to get ahead in the malignant society made in their image. The spiritual man’s goals are not achieved by way of other humans. Others are not used and abused on the Siddhartha Road. What others think, say and do doesn't have a lot of impact for a man on the mystical path. The mystic isn't interested in being accompanied on his journey by sickly repressed types living their lives in denial, denial of denial and perpetual anxiety, relying on brief, sordid, ultimately brief unsatisfactory escapes from it.

Furthermore, Crowley understood that the greatest violence that exists is committed by a man toward his own being. External manifestations of violence and injustice are merely symptoms of self-sadism. To end the cycle of dysfunction, the adept become hygienic emotionally, mentally and morally. Although he may not conform to rules and regulations imposed by states, governments or peers, he is not without ethics and conscience. The adept is not a drop-out, malingerer, anarchist or felon. On the contrary, he has the courage to make his own rules and live by them without the promise of rewards from an infantile society. He wants nothing from his fellows, not their approval or their disapproval. He is, as Ayn Rand advised, a man free from men.

In the magickal tradition, Horus is the Magus presiding over the process of psychic sanitization. He presides over the marriage of Heaven and Hell, the nucleation of psychic and physical energy. He is what the adept becomes when his personal will is attuned to the cosmic Will, Animus or Logos.

Every man and woman is a star...that is to say, every human being is intrinsically an independent individual with his own proper character and proper motion - A. C. (Magick in Theory and Practice)

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Crowley's polemics reached their peak when he penned the slogan of the New Aeon - “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.” This misunderstood and flagrantly misrepresented adage - bandied by hippies, anarchists, neo-pagans and pop icons - has nothing to do with political revolt and sexual license. It was not meant as a slogan for reactionaries bent on secular revolution, but for Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve dedicated to cleansing the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual doors of perception.

Crowley appropriated the term from the great fifteenth century monk and humanist Francois Rabelais. But, crucially, Rabelais coined the term because in his estimation man does not need to submit to imposed rules and regulations for the simple reason that he is born good. All he requires is the freedom to act according to his true nature, without impositions and restrictions. Crowley was in accord with this doctrine, and did not believe that man was little more than a civilized beast. Like William Blake, Rabelais and Crowley both understood that man is repressed and warped by imposed draconian rules and prohibitions. Of course, we see from this how spurious and scurrilous are the critiques levied against Crowley in this regard. How they fall dead when we see that his view of man's underlying nature was wholesome, noble and heroic.

"Do What Thou Wilt" does not mean "do what you please" though this degree of emancipation is implied...we can no longer say a priori that any course of action is "wrong." Every man and woman has an absolute right to do his or her own true will - A. C. (Secret Conference)

"Do What Thou Wilt"...is the apotheosis of Freedom; but it is also the strictest possible bond - A. C.

Francois Rabelais (1483-1553) was one of Crowley's foremost influences. He coined the controversial term "Do What Thou Wilt," which means nothing more than "Obey Thyself," the edict of ancient Stoics and latter day sages such as Nietzsche, Kierkegaard and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Following the will of any other person or agency is irrational and foolish, and will never lead to enlightenment.

Yes, attunement with the Guardian Angel or Higher Self does indeed involve the strongest possible bond. Detractors rightly understand that Crowley was critical of impositions upon the Self from external tyrannies - government, school teachers, priests, parents, and so on. However, he was aware that punitive instruction from authorities is obsessively relied upon by the majority of the world’s men and women who go from one day to the next devoid of inner strength and fortitude. The hedonic, episodic person constantly seeks for someone’s feet to kiss and someone to give him enlightenment. He is constantly searching for someone or something to enslave him, and lives in a state of perpetual neurotic anxiety when his sado-masochistic desires go unfulfilled. Unlike the adept, the morally inferior man waits for the stimuli of the world to turn him on. He is simply incapable of bringing meaning from within himself. He neither commands nor obeys his True Will.

Whoever cannot find a temple in his heart, the same can never find his heart in any temple - Mikhail Naimy

The motto “Do What Thou Wilt” implies attunement between the Microprosopus and Macroprosopus, or in plain language the ego and Imperial Self; which cannot be achieved until the pseudo-self undergoes deconstruction. This deconstruction cannot occur until man separates himself from collective factors responsible for creating and perpetuating the pseudo-self. This separation cannot occur until man has developed sufficient psychic strength - or Will - to break free and devise his own path, one he must walk alone.

Aloneness is usually wanting until a man's character is deepened by suffering, which is less likely in a conformist society that suppresses legitimate expressions of emotion and dissuades individuals from addressing the darker sides of life. Therefore, instead of attunement with the Imperial Self we have immersion in the Collective. As Crowley knew, the so-called “I” is not necessarily identical with the Imperial Self. The “self” or “I” of a spiritually inferior man is merely a pastiche of everyone’s attitudes and beliefs, the product of a pathogenic society. To such a creature the ideas of independence, aloneness and psychic sovereignty are contemplated with dread, and men who embody these states are despised and ridiculed on sight.

Whatever your sexual predilections may be, you are free, by the Law of Thelema, to be the star you are, to go your own way rejoicing. It is not indicated here in this text, though it is elsewhere implied, that only one symptom warns that you have mistaken your True Will, and that is, if you should imagine that in pursuing your way you interfere with that of another star. It may, therefore, be considered improper, as a general rule, for your sexual gratification to destroy, deform, or displease any other star. Mutual consent to the act is the condition thereof - A. C. (The Law Is For All)

“Do What Thou Wilt” sounds reprehensible only to those conditioned by the dogma of the bygone patriarchal Aeon of Osiris, and those who wish to enslave the hearts and minds of humans by externally imposed, socially-endorsed standards and values. For such as these, Crowley will always be a veritable “Anti-Christ.” Certainly he was mischievous, irreverent, audacious and self-absorbed. Certainly he was capable of ridicule and hyperbole. Nevertheless, he was certainly of superior character, insight and intention to recent think-tank-funded "people's champions" and media celebs who encourage psychic regression and enslavement with chic pop-culture platitudes such as "turn on, tune in, drop out!" His message is an anathema to the hippy and "New-Ager" as much as it is to the buttoned-down Evangelist and Wall Street slicker.

...Crowley was a prophet of the New Aeon of Horus which in essence reverses all the old systems and ways of Christian-Judaic thinking - Christopher Hyatt

Aleister Crowley was an eminent Magician of many talents, dedicated to establishing on earth the Law of Thelema, so that all men and women might be free to do their own true wills in accordance with their own true natures. He was not...the most evil man in the world, devoted to the vile practices of Black Magic. He was, on the contrary, a devotee of love and will who sought to enlighten humanity - ibid

We see then, that we can never affect anything outside ourselves save only as it is also within us. Whatever I do to another, I also do to myself. If I kill a man, I destroy my own life at the same time...Every vibration awakens all others of its particular pitch - A. C. (Magick in Theory and Practice)

Pamela Coleman Smith, the designer and painter of the

Rider-Waite deck. She died in poverty and obscurity.

As Frater Achad emphasized, during the Aeon of Horus men learn the principles for the "right rulership" the themselves. What most bandwagon apostles of "Crowleyanity" forget is that true freedom ultimately involves considerable personal responsibility. No masters above, certainly, but no slaves below. This is why Crowley was not advocating a dionysian "Hippydom." That is not what his Aeon was about.

To attune with the Natural Order and bring one’s being to harmony requires discipline and rectitude. Crowley himself was certainly capable of immense self-control and mental concentration. Among his many accomplishments, he was an expert mathematician and yogi. He was a master of Patanjali, Pranayama and other yogas which he studied in the Orient for many years.

The state of attunement - referred to as arete, meaning Virtue or Justice, by ancient Athenian philosophers, and Thelema or Will by later occultists - is actualized when no single capacity of consciousness - intellect, emotion, sensation or intuition - develops while others remain arrested or repressed. When one psychic hemisphere inflates and dominates consciousness, it automatically occludes and represses the tendencies of other hemispheres, causing mental and moral disequilibrium. The imbalanced individual is bound to imbalance the world in which he lives and acts. As far as Crowley was concerned, religious fundamentalists and practitioners of conventional science are, for the most part, chronically imbalanced and toxic. Long before the time of R. D. Laing, Erich Fromm, Arno Gruen, and other social critics, Crowley warned about the insanity of normality and taught that psychically deranged people are products of a deranged society bent on preventing them from attaining psychological hygiene and harmony.

The end of all is the power to live according to your own nature, without danger that one part may develop to the detriment of the whole - A. C. (The Equinox Vol III, Nu 10)

In simple language, this means that attunement with the True Will allows us to attain a state of being in which we are able to objectively and dispassionately grasp and argue the opposite point of view to that which we hold and favor. We do not need a Devil's Advocate, because we are profoundly aware of every counter-argument and counter-position to those we cherish and adhere to, an ability only a handful of people on earth possess or desire to inculcate. In this state we are embodiments of the Magickal Will, and are attitudinally androgynous. We are Philosopher Kings.

Justice or Adjustment is the eleventh card of the Major Arcana. It represents the Magical Will, or in simple terms the cultivation of the ability to embody the opposing view to one's own favored beliefs, opinions and arguments. It represents the Aperion of pre-Socratic philosopher Anaximander, as well as the Taoist sage who "fulfills his will without action, and utters his word without speech." (

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The adept who attunes with the Magickal Will (Higher Self) becomes the Eudaimon of the Athenian philosophers. He becomes the supremely happy man. He is his own servant and master, needing no gods or religions, panaceas or bromides, rewards or salvation. He has lived fully and completely in the now and not restricted or repressed his vital energy by excessive masochism, altruism and guilt, or the complexes and syndromes which his repressed, dissociated, conformist fellows fall prey to.

To deny the Law of Thelema is a restriction in oneself, affirming conflict in the Universe as necessary. It is a blasphemy against the Self, assuming that its Will is not a necessary (and therefore noble) part of the Whole - A. C.

Anyone who is forced from his own course, either through not understanding himself, or through external imposition, comes into conflict with the order of the Universe, and suffers accordingly - A. C. (Magick in Theory and Practice)

The attuned man needs no gods of religion because as Virgil was to Dante, his Imperial Self (True Will) is a constant guardian and instructor.

...The True Will must be consciously grasped by the Mind, and this Work is akin to that called the attainment of the knowledge and conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel - A. C. (Heart of the Master)

In the knowledge and conversation of his Holy Guardian Angel, the adept is possessed of all he can possibly need. To consult any other is to insult one's Angel - A. C. (Magick in Theory and Practice)

The single supreme ritual is the attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. It is the raising of the complete mass in a vertical straight line. Any deviation from this line tends to become black magic. Any other operation is black magic - ibid

Mystical Alchemy is a personal science, a sublime and effective system of Self-Initiation. Only you, as a single individual, can calculate and follow your way up the Great Mountain of Hermetic Attainment...All essential guidance is within you, in the inmost centre of your heart where your own Holy Guardian Angel, or Inner Self, resides. To depend upon any other thing than your own Holy Guardian Angel to accomplish the Great Work is to insult your Angel who is with you to instruct and guide you. All essential wisdom by which to achieve the Great Work is to be ascertained only within you; nowhere else will you find the Truth - David Cherubim (The Order of the Thelemic Golden Dawn)

Another of Crowley's antinomian phrases was “Love Under Will.” This motto has also caused consternation among the orthodox who believe it exalts bestial proclivities. However, they forget that whatever stands beneath a thing holds it up. Crowley's Love is not a subservient quality. Rather, it undergirds and supports an adept's Will. To be attuned to one’s Will first entails the development of Self-Love.

To Crowley, and Blake before him, it was obvious that the doctrines of Judeo-Christianity breed guilt, shame and self-hate, and must therefore be utterly rejected. Both men understood that Western and Eastern religious doctrines foster and depend on masochism. The average Christian is paranoid, intolerant, forbidding and oppressive toward those around him because he is suspicious, anxious and repressive toward himself. Indeed, he is expertly taught to be so. Although he superficially believes he loves Jesus and God, he is completely unaware of the psychic violence he commits to himself on an hourly basis.

The God that holds you over the pit of Hell, much as we hold a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked. His wrath toward you burns like fire - John Edwards (New England Preacher)

As innocent as children seem to us, if they are out of Christ, they are not so in God’s sight, but are young vipers and are infinitely more hateful than vipers and are in a most miserable condition - ibid

When my heart is cold and I cannot pray as I should I scourge myself with the thought of the impiety and ingratitude of my enemies, the Pope and his accomplices and vermin…so that my heart swells with righteousness and hatred and I can say with warmth and vehemence: “Holy be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done!” And the hotter I grow the more ardent do my prayers become - Martin Luther

Meanwhile my sins were being multiplied, and my concubine being torn from my side as a hindrance to my marriage, my heart which clave unto her was torn and wounded and bleeding…To Thee be praise, glory to Thee, Fountain of Mercies. I was becoming more miserable and Thou nearer - St. Augustine

Self-Love - which must not be confused with narcissism - cannot be awakened until its opposite is vanquished. However, self-hate cannot be overcome until it is first correctly observed, which is impossible while we remain distracted by the nonsense of the world. It is impossible to see oneself truly while seeking guidance from the misguided and approval from those as empty and toxic as oneself.

A man likes to believe that he is the master of his soul. But as long as he is unable to control his moods and emotions, or to be conscious of the myriad secret ways in which unconscious factors insinuate themselves into his arrangements and decisions, he is certainly not his own master - Carl Jung (Approaching the Unconscious)

Furthermore, Self-Love is impossible to experience while we crave "love" from people spiritually and emotionally paralyzed by their own subconscious self-hate. It will never blossom within the man who lowers his self-value in order to be approved of and admired. To place a single human being above oneself is to commit an act of violence toward the Imperial Self. As Crowley stated, it is a slap in the face of one's Guardian Angel, a crime that arrests the healthy development of individuals and civilizations.

.

Aleister Crowley may or may not have been the high priest of a New Aeon. In any case we cannot doubt that our world would be the poorer without his contributions to the magickal canon. His Thoth Tarot stands out as one of the most marvelous creations of any master at any time in history. In fact, it may take decades before its geometrical, numerical, symbolic, sabean and theosophical secrets are fathomed.

According to Crowley the divination arts are:

A language fitted to describe certain classes of phenomena and to express certain classes of ideas which escape regular phraseology - A. C. (Liber 777)

On the connections between the Tarot and Kabala, he wrote:

It is beyond doubt a deliberate attempt to represent, in pictorial form, the doctrines of the Qabalah - (Book of Thoth)

Crowley was a man of science who chose to work with magicians and magic. But he was also a magician who knew more about physical and abstract science than the reprobates genuflecting before the altar of Positivism. His findings anticipated those of later Quantum Theorists who still struggle to accept what he considered obvious:

We use instruments of science to inform us of the nature of the various objects which we wish to study but our observations never reveal the thing as it is in itself. They only enable us to compare unfamiliar with familiar expressions - A. C. (Liber 777)

The question of Magick is a question of discovering and employing hitherto unknown forces in nature - A. C. (Magick in Theory and Practice)

The universe is a projection of ourselves, an image as unreal as that of our faces in a mirror, yet, like that face, the necessary form of expression thereof, not to be altered save as we alter ourselves - ibid

Just as his commitment to the physical and psychic freedom of man anticipated Freud, Jung, Gruen, Laing and Reich, and others, so, along with Godel, Schrodinger, Bohr, Rutherford and Heisenberg, Crowley knew mathematical certainty was nonexistent. He knew reason was incapable of cracking the secrets of existence.

It will soon be admitted on all hands that the study of the nature of things in themselves is a work for which the human reason is incompetent - A. C. (Liber 777)

Men will then be lead to the development of a faculty, superior to reason, whose apprehension is independent of the hieroglyphic representations of which reason so vainly makes use - ibid

The cultivation of this higher or deeper, purer sensibility requires the direction of the Magical Will. It requires great sensitivity so the counsel of one's Guardian Angel (or Daemon) is heard and obeyed correctly.

.

Magick is the Science of understanding oneself and one's condition. It is the Art of applying that understanding in action - A. C. (Magick in Theory and Practice)

The message of Arcanum 20 is the message of Horus - the Imperial Self. He asks “Will you bid me enter? Will you embrace me beneath the ancient stars and lie with me in the secret place? Will you hearken to my Voice when I declare myself to be the Sword to sever your bonds, the Sphinx to dissolve your questions, the Lion to defend against the adversary? Know that I am your Self-Love returned...here at last...to lay my lips upon yours, for your fear has been loved by me, your loneliness and sorrow also. Let us go forth together and bury them gently in the heart of Hathor the Earth, for they serve us no longer. Together we slay the evil Set, and likewise slay the Father who, through his folly, gave his rival birth. For when the mirror of understanding is still you will see that, age after age, one has begotten the other in the dark womb of their separateness. So my Will declares that those who cannot live together must perish together. My Sword vanquishes both and frees the kingdom...

...Egypt is united, the Scales at rest. I silence the storms which deafened you to my Holy Word and Will. In that Silence is our beginning and end. And when the time of the Sword is past, we shall bring forth the Cup of healing and rejoicing. For behold, we are Horus! We are Pan!...Let us drink, dance and play!”

Thou who art I, beyond all I am

Who hast no nature, and no name

Who art, when all but thou are gone

Thou, centre and secret of the Sun

Thou, hidden spring of all things known

And unknown, Thou aloof, alone,

Thou, the true fire within the reed

Brooding and breeding, source and seed

Of life, love, liberty, and light

Thou beyond speech and beyond sight

Thee I invoke, my faint fresh fire

Kindling as mine intents aspire

Thee I invoke, abiding one,

Thee, centre, and secret of the Sun

And that most holy mystery

Of which the vehicle am I

Appear, most awful and most mild

As it is lawful, in thy child

[pamphletstoinspire]

BOOK OF JOB - From The Douay-Rheims Bible - Latin Vulgate

Chapter 11

The Book of Job shows how human affairs are ruled by Divine Providence using probable arguments.

"Although you hide these things in your heart, I know that you still remember everything." - (Job speaking to God)  

***

INTRODUCTION.

This Book takes its name from the holy man, of whom it treats; who, according to the more probable opinion, was of the race of Esau, and the same as Jobab, king of Edom, mentioned Gen. xxxvi. 33. It is uncertain who was the writer of it. Some attribute it to Job himself; others to Moses, or some one of the prophets. In the Hebrew it is written in verse, from the beginning of the third chapter to the forty-second chapter. Ch. --- The beginning and conclusion are historical, and in prose. Some have divided this work into a kind of tragedy, the first act extending to C. xv., the second to C. xxii., the third to C. xxxviii., where God appears, and the plot is unfolded. They suppose that the sentiments of the speakers are expressed, though not their own words. This may be very probable: but the opinion of those who look upon the work as a mere allegory, must be rejected with horror. The sacred writers speak of Job as of a personage who had really existed, (C.) and set the most noble pattern of virtue, and particularly of patience. Tob. ii. 12. Ezec. xiv. 14. Jam. v. 11. Philo and Josephus pass over this history, as they do those of Tobias, Judith, &c. H. --- The time when Job lived is not clearly ascertained. Some have supposed (C.) that he was a contemporary with Esther; (D. Thalmud) on which supposition, the work is here placed in its chronological order. But Job more probably live during the period when the Hebrews groaned under the Egyptian bondage, (H.) or sojourned in the wilderness. Num. xiv. 9. The Syrians place the book at the head of the Scriptures. C. --- Its situation has often varied, and is of no great importance. The subject which is here treated, is of far more; as it is intended to shew that the wicked sometimes prosper, while the good are afflicted. H. --- This had seldom been witnessed before the days of Abraham: but as God had now selected his family to be witnesses and guardians of religion, a new order of things was beginning to appear. This greatly perplexed Job himself; who, therefore, confesses that he had not sufficiently understood the ways of God, till he had deigned to explain them in the parable of the two great beasts. C. xlii. 3. We cannot condemn the sentiments expressed by Job, since God has declared that they were right, (ib. v. 8) and reprimands Elihu, (C. xxxviii. 2.) and the other three friends of Job, for maintaining a false opinion, though, from the history of past times, they had judge it to be true. This remark may excupate them from the stain of wilful lying, and vain declamation. Houbigant. --- However, as they assert what was false, their words of themselves are of no authority; and they are even considered as the forerunners of heretics. S. Greg. S. Aug. &c. T. --- Job refutes them by sound logic. S. Jerom. --- We may discover in this book the sum of Christian morality, (W.) for which purpose it has been chiefly explained by S. Gregory. The style is very poetical, (H.) though at the same time simple, like that of Moses. D. --- It is interspersed with many Arabic and Chaldaic idioms; (S. Jer.) whence some have concluded, that it was written originally by Job and his friends (H.) in Arabic, and translated into Heb. by Moses, for the consolation of his brethren. W. --- The Heb. text is in many places incorrect; (Houbig.) and the Sept. seem to have omitted several verses. Orig. --- S. Jerom says almost eight hundred, (C.) each consisting of about six words. H. --- Shultens, in 1747, expressed his dissatisfaction with the labours of all preceding commentators. To explain this book may not therefore be an easy task: but we must be as short as possible. H. --- Those who desire farther information, may consult Pineda, (W.) whose voluminous work, in two folios, will nearly (H.) give all necessary information. C.

The additional Notes in this Edition of the New Testament will be marked with the letter A. Such as are taken from various Interpreters and Commentators, will be marked as in the Old Testament. B. Bristow, C. Calmet, Ch. Challoner, D. Du Hamel, E. Estius, J. Jansenius, M. Menochius, Po. Polus, P. Pastorini, T. Tirinus, V. Bible de Vence, W. Worthington, Wi. Witham. — The names of other authors, who may be occasionally consulted, will be given at full length.

Verses are in English and Latin.

HAYDOCK CATHOLIC BIBLE COMMENTARY

This Catholic commentary on the Old Testament, following the Douay-Rheims Bible text, was originally compiled by Catholic priest and biblical scholar Rev. George Leo Haydock (1774-1849). This transcription is based on Haydock's notes as they appear in the 1859 edition of Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary printed by Edward Dunigan and Brother, New York, New York.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

Changes made to the original text for this transcription include the following:

Greek letters. The original text sometimes includes Greek expressions spelled out in Greek letters. In this transcription, those expressions have been transliterated from Greek letters to English letters, put in italics, and underlined. The following substitution scheme has been used: A for Alpha; B for Beta; G for Gamma; D for Delta; E for Epsilon; Z for Zeta; E for Eta; Th for Theta; I for Iota; K for Kappa; L for Lamda; M for Mu; N for Nu; X for Xi; O for Omicron; P for Pi; R for Rho; S for Sigma; T for Tau; U for Upsilon; Ph for Phi; Ch for Chi; Ps for Psi; O for Omega. For example, where the name, Jesus, is spelled out in the original text in Greek letters, Iota-eta-sigma-omicron-upsilon-sigma, it is transliterated in this transcription as, Iesous. Greek diacritical marks have not been represented in this transcription.

Footnotes. The original text indicates footnotes with special characters, including the astrisk (*) and printers' marks, such as the dagger mark, the double dagger mark, the section mark, the parallels mark, and the paragraph mark. In this transcription all these special characters have been replaced by numbers in square brackets, such as [1], [2], [3], etc.

Accent marks. The original text contains some English letters represented with accent marks. In this transcription, those letters have been rendered in this transcription without their accent marks.

Other special characters.

Solid horizontal lines of various lengths that appear in the original text have been represented as a series of consecutive hyphens of approximately the same length, such as ---.

Ligatures, single characters containing two letters united, in the original text in some Latin expressions have been represented in this transcription as separate letters. The ligature formed by uniting A and E is represented as Ae, that of a and e as ae, that of O and E as Oe, and that of o and e as oe.

Monetary sums in the original text represented with a preceding British pound sterling symbol (a stylized L, transected by a short horizontal line) are represented in this transcription with a following pound symbol, l.

The half symbol (1/2) and three-quarters symbol (3/4) in the original text have been represented in this transcription with their decimal equivalent, (.5) and (.75) respectively.

Unreadable text. Places where the transcriber's copy of the original text is unreadable have been indicated in this transcription by an empty set of square brackets, [].

Chapter 11

Sophar reproves Job, for justifying himself, and invites him to repentance.

[1] Then Sophar the Naamathite answered, and said:

Respondens autem Sophar Naamathites, dixit :

[2] Shall not he that speaketh much, hear also? or shall a man full of talk be justified?

Numquid qui multa loquitur, non et audiet? aut vir verbosus justificabitur?

[3] Shall men hold their peace to thee only? and when thou hast mocked others, shall no man confute thee?

Tibi soli tacebunt homines? et cum ceteros irriseris, a nullo confutaberis?

[4] For thou hast said: My word is pure, and I am clean in thy sight.

Dixisti enim : Purus est sermo meus, et mundus sum in conspectu tuo.

[5] And I wish that God would speak with thee, and would open his lips to thee,

Atque utinam Deus loqueretur tecum, et aperiret labia sua tibi,

[6] That he might shew thee the secrets of wisdom, and that his law is manifold, and thou mightest understand that he exacteth much less of thee, than thy iniquity deserveth.

ut ostenderet tibi secreta sapientiae, et quod multiplex esset lex ejus, et intelligeres quod multo minora exigaris ab eo quam meretur iniquitas tua!

[7] Peradventure thou wilt comprehend the steps of God, and wilt find out the Almighty perfectly?

Forsitan vestigia Dei comprehendes, et usque ad perfectum Omnipotentem reperies?

[8] He is higher than heaven, and what wilt thou do? he is deeper than hell, and how wilt thou know?

Excelsior caelo est, et quid facies? profundior inferno, et unde cognosces?

[9] The measure of him is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.

Longior terra mensura ejus et latior mari.

[10] If he shall overturn all things, or shall press them together, who shall contradict him?

Si subverterit omnia, vel in unum coarctaverit, quis contradicet ei?

[11] For he knoweth the vanity of men, and when he seeth iniquity, doth he not consider it?

Ipse enim novit hominum vanitatem; et videns iniquitatem, nonne considerat?

[12] A vain man is lifted up into pride, and thinketh himself born free like a wild ass's colt.

Vir vanus in superbiam erigitur, et tamquam pullum onagri se liberum natum putat.

[13] But thou hast hardened thy heart, and hast spread thy hands to him.

Tu autem firmasti cor tuum, et expandisti ad eum manus tuas.

[14] If thou wilt put away from thee the iniquity that is in thy hand, and let not injustice remain in thy tabernacle:

Si iniquitatem quae est in manu tua abstuleris a te, et non manserit in tabernaculo tuo injustitia,

[15] Then mayst thou lift up thy face without spot, and thou shalt be steadfast, and shalt not fear.

tunc levare poteris faciem tuam absque macula; et eris stabilis, et non timebis.

[16] Thou shalt also forget misery, and remember it only as waters that are passed away.

Miseriae quoque oblivisceris et quasi aquarum quae praeterierunt recordaberis.

[17] And brightness like that of the noonday, shall arise to thee at evening: and when thou shalt think thyself consumed, thou shalt rise as the day star.

Et quasi meridianus fulgor consurget tibi ad vesperam; et cum te consumptum putaveris, orieris ut lucifer.

[18] And thou shalt have confidence, hope being set before thee, and being buried thou shalt sleep secure.

Et habebis fiduciam, proposita tibi spe, et defossus securus dormies.

[19] Thou shalt rest, and there shall be none to make thee afraid: and many shall entreat thy face.

Requiesces, et non erit qui te exterreat; et deprecabuntur faciem tuam plurimi.

[20] But the eyes of the wicked shall decay, and the way to escape shall fail them, and their hope the abomination of the soul.

Oculi autem impiorum deficient, et effugium peribit ab eis, et spes illorum abominatio animae.

Commentary:

Ver. 1. Naamathite. Sept. "the Minean," in Arabia Felix, or rather of the Meonim, not far from the Themanites. Judg. x. 11. Sophar was probably a descendant of Sepho, styled by Sept. Sophar, (Gen. xxxvi. 11. and 1 Par. i. 36.) brother of Thaman, and grandson of Eliphaz, the son of Esau. C. --- He speaks with greater insolence than the two others, (Pineda) and inveighs against Job, insisting that he can be punished thus only for his crimes. C.

Ver. 2. Much. The speeches of Job seemed tedious to him, because he was not of his opinion. M. --- He might have applied to himself and his friends the fault of talking too much, as they all spoke many things to no purpose, whereas Job went straight to the point. W.

Ver. 3. Men. Heb. "shall thy lies make men keep silence?" Sept. "Blessed be the short-lived son of a woman. Speak not much, for there is no one to give sentence against thee." H. --- Mocked, by not acquiescing to their solid arguments, (M.) and speaking with much animation. Pineda.

Ver. 4. Sight. Job had just said the reverse. C. ix. 2. S. Chrys.

Ver. 6. Law. Heb. Thushiya, (H.) "the essence" of any thing. Hence it is explained, "law, strength, comfort," &c. We might translate, "and that the reality of thy crimes deserved double punishment," &c. The obligations of the natural, and also of the written law of Moses, with which Job was (C.) perhaps (H.) acquainted, (C. xxii. 22.) are very numerous and difficult. The ways of Providence are not easily understood, though some are obvious enough. He rewards and punishes. C. --- Sept. "for it is double of what has come against thee, and then thou wouldst know that thy sins are justly requited." Prot. "that they are double to that which is: Know, therefore, that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth." 1 Esd. ix. 13. H.

Ver. 7. Perfectly? If not, it is rash to find fault. M.

Ver. 11. It? to inflict punishment. Sept. "he will not overlook." H.

Ver. 12. Is. Heb. "is he heart? or wise, (C.) he who is born like a," &c. Shall he assert his independence, or pretend to be wise? H. --- The Hebrews place wisdom in the heart, as we do courage. C. xii. 3. Prov. ii. 2. &c. C.

Ver. 13. But. Heb. "If thou direct thy heart, &c. Thou mayst lift up thy face," (v. 15. H.) without fear. 2 K. ii. 22. C.

Ver. 14. Iniquity. Of this Job was not conscious, and therefore could not confess it. W.

Ver. 15. Without. Sept. "as clean water, thou shalt pass away corruption, and shalt not fear."

Ver. 17. Brightness. Sept. "But thy prayer, like the day-star and life, shall arise to thee from the south, or as at noon-day." Heb. "Thy age (H.) shall appear clearer than the noon-day, and darkness like the morning." Prosperity shall succeed, (C.) when thou shalt think all lost. M.

Ver. 18. Secure, dying full of hope. Chal. Heb. "thou shalt dig," (for water, which was there a great treasure. Gen. xxi. 25. and xxvi. 15.) or to fasten down thy tent, (C.) "and rest secure." H.

Ver. 19. Face. Luther translates "shall flatter thee." The Dutch version, which is taken from Luther's, has mistaken a letter, and rendered "shall flee before thee," which shews the danger of translating without recurring to the originals. Amama.

Ver. 20. Soul, because hope deferred causeth pain to the soul. Prov. xiii. 12. M. --- Heb. "their hope shall be the sorrow, or the breathing out of the soul." C. - Prot. "the giving up of the ghost." Margin, "a puff of breath." C. xviii. 14. H.

[pamphletstoinspire]

BOOK OF JOB - From The Douay-Rheims Bible - Latin Vulgate

Chapter 28

The Book of Job shows how human affairs are ruled by Divine Providence using probable arguments.

"Although you hide these things in your heart, I know that you still remember everything." - (Job speaking to God)  

***

INTRODUCTION.

This Book takes its name from the holy man, of whom it treats; who, according to the more probable opinion, was of the race of Esau, and the same as Jobab, king of Edom, mentioned Gen. xxxvi. 33. It is uncertain who was the writer of it. Some attribute it to Job himself; others to Moses, or some one of the prophets. In the Hebrew it is written in verse, from the beginning of the third chapter to the forty-second chapter. Ch. --- The beginning and conclusion are historical, and in prose. Some have divided this work into a kind of tragedy, the first act extending to C. xv., the second to C. xxii., the third to C. xxxviii., where God appears, and the plot is unfolded. They suppose that the sentiments of the speakers are expressed, though not their own words. This may be very probable: but the opinion of those who look upon the work as a mere allegory, must be rejected with horror. The sacred writers speak of Job as of a personage who had really existed, (C.) and set the most noble pattern of virtue, and particularly of patience. Tob. ii. 12. Ezec. xiv. 14. Jam. v. 11. Philo and Josephus pass over this history, as they do those of Tobias, Judith, &c. H. --- The time when Job lived is not clearly ascertained. Some have supposed (C.) that he was a contemporary with Esther; (D. Thalmud) on which supposition, the work is here placed in its chronological order. But Job more probably live during the period when the Hebrews groaned under the Egyptian bondage, (H.) or sojourned in the wilderness. Num. xiv. 9. The Syrians place the book at the head of the Scriptures. C. --- Its situation has often varied, and is of no great importance. The subject which is here treated, is of far more; as it is intended to shew that the wicked sometimes prosper, while the good are afflicted. H. --- This had seldom been witnessed before the days of Abraham: but as God had now selected his family to be witnesses and guardians of religion, a new order of things was beginning to appear. This greatly perplexed Job himself; who, therefore, confesses that he had not sufficiently understood the ways of God, till he had deigned to explain them in the parable of the two great beasts. C. xlii. 3. We cannot condemn the sentiments expressed by Job, since God has declared that they were right, (ib. v. 8) and reprimands Elihu, (C. xxxviii. 2.) and the other three friends of Job, for maintaining a false opinion, though, from the history of past times, they had judge it to be true. This remark may excupate them from the stain of wilful lying, and vain declamation. Houbigant. --- However, as they assert what was false, their words of themselves are of no authority; and they are even considered as the forerunners of heretics. S. Greg. S. Aug. &c. T. --- Job refutes them by sound logic. S. Jerom. --- We may discover in this book the sum of Christian morality, (W.) for which purpose it has been chiefly explained by S. Gregory. The style is very poetical, (H.) though at the same time simple, like that of Moses. D. --- It is interspersed with many Arabic and Chaldaic idioms; (S. Jer.) whence some have concluded, that it was written originally by Job and his friends (H.) in Arabic, and translated into Heb. by Moses, for the consolation of his brethren. W. --- The Heb. text is in many places incorrect; (Houbig.) and the Sept. seem to have omitted several verses. Orig. --- S. Jerom says almost eight hundred, (C.) each consisting of about six words. H. --- Shultens, in 1747, expressed his dissatisfaction with the labours of all preceding commentators. To explain this book may not therefore be an easy task: but we must be as short as possible. H. --- Those who desire farther information, may consult Pineda, (W.) whose voluminous work, in two folios, will nearly (H.) give all necessary information. C.

The additional Notes in this Edition of the New Testament will be marked with the letter A. Such as are taken from various Interpreters and Commentators, will be marked as in the Old Testament. B. Bristow, C. Calmet, Ch. Challoner, D. Du Hamel, E. Estius, J. Jansenius, M. Menochius, Po. Polus, P. Pastorini, T. Tirinus, V. Bible de Vence, W. Worthington, Wi. Witham. — The names of other authors, who may be occasionally consulted, will be given at full length.

Verses are in English and Latin.

HAYDOCK CATHOLIC BIBLE COMMENTARY

This Catholic commentary on the Old Testament, following the Douay-Rheims Bible text, was originally compiled by Catholic priest and biblical scholar Rev. George Leo Haydock (1774-1849). This transcription is based on Haydock's notes as they appear in the 1859 edition of Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary printed by Edward Dunigan and Brother, New York, New York.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

Changes made to the original text for this transcription include the following:

Greek letters. The original text sometimes includes Greek expressions spelled out in Greek letters. In this transcription, those expressions have been transliterated from Greek letters to English letters, put in italics, and underlined. The following substitution scheme has been used: A for Alpha; B for Beta; G for Gamma; D for Delta; E for Epsilon; Z for Zeta; E for Eta; Th for Theta; I for Iota; K for Kappa; L for Lamda; M for Mu; N for Nu; X for Xi; O for Omicron; P for Pi; R for Rho; S for Sigma; T for Tau; U for Upsilon; Ph for Phi; Ch for Chi; Ps for Psi; O for Omega. For example, where the name, Jesus, is spelled out in the original text in Greek letters, Iota-eta-sigma-omicron-upsilon-sigma, it is transliterated in this transcription as, Iesous. Greek diacritical marks have not been represented in this transcription.

Footnotes. The original text indicates footnotes with special characters, including the astrisk (*) and printers' marks, such as the dagger mark, the double dagger mark, the section mark, the parallels mark, and the paragraph mark. In this transcription all these special characters have been replaced by numbers in square brackets, such as [1], [2], [3], etc.

Accent marks. The original text contains some English letters represented with accent marks. In this transcription, those letters have been rendered in this transcription without their accent marks.

Other special characters.

Solid horizontal lines of various lengths that appear in the original text have been represented as a series of consecutive hyphens of approximately the same length, such as ---.

Ligatures, single characters containing two letters united, in the original text in some Latin expressions have been represented in this transcription as separate letters. The ligature formed by uniting A and E is represented as Ae, that of a and e as ae, that of O and E as Oe, and that of o and e as oe.

Monetary sums in the original text represented with a preceding British pound sterling symbol (a stylized L, transected by a short horizontal line) are represented in this transcription with a following pound symbol, l.

The half symbol (1/2) and three-quarters symbol (3/4) in the original text have been represented in this transcription with their decimal equivalent, (.5) and (.75) respectively.

Unreadable text. Places where the transcriber's copy of the original text is unreadable have been indicated in this transcription by an empty set of square brackets, [].

Chapter 28

Man's industry searcheth out many things: true wisdom is taught by God alone.

[1] Silver hath beginnings of its veins, and gold hath a place wherein it is melted. Habet argentum venarum suarum principia, et auro locus est in quo conflatur.

[2] Iron is taken out of the earth, and stone melted with heat is turned into brass. Ferrum de terra tollitur, et lapis solutus calore in aes vertitur.

[3] He hath set a time for darkness, and the end of all things he considereth, the stone also that is in the dark and the shadow of death. Tempus posuit tenebris, et universorum finem ipse considerat, lapidem quoque caliginis et umbram mortis.

[4] The flood divideth from the people that are on their journey, those whom the food of the needy man hath forgotten, and who cannot be come at. Dividit torrens a populo peregrinante, eos quos oblitus est pes egentis hominis, et invios.

[5] The land, out of which bread grew in its place, hath been overturned with fire. Terra, de qua oriebatur panis, in loco suo igni subversa est.

[6] The stones of it are the place of sapphires, and the clods of it are gold. Locus sapphiri lapides ejus, et glebae illius aurum.

[7] The bird hath not known the path, neither hath the eye of the vulture beheld it. Semitam ignoravit avis, nec intuitus est eam oculus vulturis.

[8] The children of the merchants have not trodden it, neither hath the lioness passed by it. Non calcaverunt eam filii institorum, nec pertransivit per eam leaena.

[9] He hath stretched forth his hand to the flint, he hath overturned mountains from the roots. Ad silicem extendit manum suam, subvertit a radicibus montes.

[10] In the rocks he hath cut out rivers, and his eye hath seen every precious thing. In petris rivos excidit, et omne pretiosum vidit oculus ejus.

[11] The depths also of rivers he hath searched, and hidden things he hath brought forth to light. Profunda quoque fluviorum scrutatus est, et abscondita in lucem produxit.

[12] But where is wisdom to be found, and where is the place of understanding? Sapientia vero ubi invenitur? et quis est locus intelligentiae?

[13] Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of them that live in delights. Nescit homo pretium ejus, nec invenitur in terra suaviter viventium.

[14] The depth saith: It is not in me: and the sea saith: It is not with me. Abyssus dicit : Non est in me, et mare loquitur : Non est mecum.

[15] The finest gold shall not purchase it, neither shall silver be weighed in exchange for it. Non dabitur aurum obrizum pro ea, nec appendetur argentum in commutatione ejus.

[16] It shall not be compared with the dyed colours of India, or with the most precious stone sardonyx, or the sapphire. Non conferetur tinctis Indiae coloribus, nec lapidi sardonycho pretiosissimo, vel sapphiro.

[17] Gold or crystal cannot equal it, neither shall any vessels of gold be changed for it. Non adaequabitur ei aurum vel vitrum, nec commutabuntur pro ea vasa auri.

[18] High and eminent things shall not be mentioned in comparison of it: but wisdom is drawn out of secret places. Excelsa et eminentia non memorabuntur comparatione ejus : trahitur autem sapientia de occultis.

[19] The topaz of Ethiopia shall not be equal to it, neither shall it be compared to the cleanest dyeing. Non adaequabitur ei topazius de Aethiopia, nec tincturae mundissimae componetur.

[20] Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding? Unde ergo sapientia venit? et quis est locus intelligentiae?

[21] It is hid from the eyes of all living. and the fowls of the air know it not. Abscondita est ab oculis omnium viventium : volucres quoque caeli latet.

[22] Destruction and death have said: With our ears we have heard the fame thereof. Perditio et mors dixerunt : Auribus nostris audivimus famam ejus.

[23] God understandeth the way of it, and he knoweth the place thereof. Deus intelligit viam ejus, et ipse novit locum illius.

[24] For he beholdeth the ends of the world: and looketh on all things that are under heaven. Ipse enim fines mundi intuetur, et omnia quae sub caelo sunt respicit.

[25] Who made a weight for the winds and weighed the waters by measure. Qui fecit ventis pondus, et aquas appendit in mensura.

[26] When he gave a law for the rain, and a way for the sounding storms. Quando ponebat pluviis legem, et viam procellis sonantibus :

[27] Then he saw it, and declared, and prepared, and searched it. tunc vidit illam et enarravit, et praeparavit, et investigavit.

[28] And he said to man: Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom: and to depart from evil, is understanding. Et dixit homini : Ecce timor Domini, ipsa est sapientia, et recedere a malo, intelligentia.

Commentary:

Ver. 1. Silver. Heb. "Surely there is a vein, or mine, for silver." H. --- The sagacity of man has discovered all these things. Wonderful also is the instinct of animals, v. 7. Yet wisdom comes from God alone; and those act rashly, who pretend to dive into his counsels in punishing his creatures and ruling the world. C.

Ver. 2. Stone. Prot. "and brass is molten out of the stone." H. --- "When brass comes out of the mine it resembles stone, and being mixed with earth is refined in the fire." Pliny xxxvi. 27. M. --- All this process would require much ingenuity and time. Tubalcain was a great artist before the deluge; (Gen. iv. 22.) but we cannot tell who were the inventors of these things, though (C.) the Greeks have specified the names of some who introduced these metals into their respective countries. Pliny vii. 56. H.

Ver. 3. He (God) hath, &c. H. --- Darkness, before which these inventions could not be made; (M.) or, man has been able to measure the hours of day and night by the shadow of the sun, and by other means. He always strives to perfect his works, and examines with care the mines which lay concealed in the most profound obscurity. C. --- Precious stones and metals lie the deepest. M. --- From the consideration of these beautiful works, men ought to raise their minds to the Creator, and wisely rest in him alone. W.

Ver. 4. At. Nations are separated by waters from each other. C. --- Some, like the Chinese, keep all strangers at a distance. H. --- But the industry of man breaketh through all barriers. Heb. "a river separates a foreign nation forgotten by travellers; but these waters cannot stop man: they flow away." C. --- "The flood breaketh out from the inhabitants, even the waters; forgotten of the foot, they are dried up; they are gone away from men." Prot. "Sand cuts off a torrent: but those who forget the way of justice, have become infirm, and have been instable among mortals." Sept. H. --- Travellers are sometimes parted by a swelling torrent; (Sa) and waters, bursting forth suddenly, change the roads of man. W.

Ver. 5. In its, &c. Heb. and Sept. "and under it is turned up as it were fire," which lies in it. H. --- Fire, like Sodom; to which event Job alludes, C. xxii. 20. C. --- The furnaces to melt various metals have taken the place of corn, and occupy the land. M. --- Men have extracted bitumen, &c. even from the lake of Sodom. Pliny vii. 15. --- Nothing escapes them. C.

Ver. 6. Sapphires. The best are found in Media, in the country of the Taphyri, (Ptol.) or Raspires. Herod. iii. 94. --- Gold. This precious metal, like all others, is found in the bowels of the earth, (H.) and in the bed of rivers, in Ophir, Peru, &c. C.

Ver. 7. Path of these metals, (M.) or a path in general. H. --- They fly, as beasts roam about, without keeping the high road; yet never miss their way, or fail to return to their own place, though they may have crossed the sea or woods, and been absent many months. This instinct is one of the wonders of nature. C.

Ver. 8. Merchants, who go the shortest road. H. --- Heb. "of lions," which find their deans without asking for the path. C.

Ver. 9. Roots, in quest of precious metals. M. --- "Imus in viscera terræ et in sede Marium opes quærimus." Pliny xxxiii. pref. Effodiuntur opes, irritamenta malorum. Ovid, Met. i.

Ver. 10. Rivers. Or, the waters lodged in the mines. M. --- He hath even cut canals through the hardest rocks, (H.) and sunk wells. C.

Ver. 11. Searched, by diving; (C.) or, Heb. "he bindeth the rivers from flowing;" diverting their course by dams, &c. This is another proof of the power of man. C. ---Labor omnia vincit. Hor.

Ver. 12. Understanding, of supernatural things, which teaches us to love God, and to comprehend his counsels. This is very different from the human sagacity of which he has been speaking; and this is the gift of God alone. C.

Ver. 13. Price. It has none, like other precious things. Bar. iii. 15. --- In delights is not expressed in Heb. or Sept. C. --- But to live in misery is hardly to be accounted living, (H.) and the addition restrains the proposition, as some men possess this treasure, though not those who take no pains (C.) to mortify corrupt nature. H. --- Chal. "it is not found in the land of the proud, whose life is spent in sin." C. --- True wisdom is found, not in natural, but in supernatural, things. W.

Ver. 15. Finest, obrizum, which has the colour of fire. Pliny xxiii. 3. The old Vulg. and Sept. read "locked-up gold," aurum conclusum, (C.) and the Heb. Segor, (H.) "that which is shut up," like things of value: gold is sometimes specified, 3 K. vi. 20.

Ver. 16. Dyed, &c. Heb. cethem ophir, (H.) "the shut up" (gold, though the Vulg. Sept. &c. vary in the interpretation) "of Ophir." This country was famous for its gold. C. --- Its situation is not clearly ascertained. S. Jerom seems to have placed it in India, which Josephus, "in the golden country," now Malacca. --- Stone. Prot. onyx. Heb. shoham (H.) means, probably, the emerald. Gen. ii. 12. C. --- But these names are very indeterminate. Theodotion, from whom grater part of this chapter is inserted in the Sept. has "the gold of Ophir, and the precious onyx and sapphire." H.

Ver. 17. Gold. This is the third time it has been mentioned, according to its different degrees of excellence. Hence it is called by the most common name, (C.) zahab. H. --- Crystal was formerly more "transparent" than we have it at present. C. --- Zecucith (H.) denotes something of this kind. C.

Ver. 18. Things. Heb. Ramoth and Gabish (H.) are terms much controverted. The first may denote the unicorns, (Deut. xxxiii. 17.) and the latter the thunderbolt, or ceraunia, which were in high request. Pliny xxxvii. 9. Ezechiel (xiii. 11. and xxvii. 16.) mentions the former as carried by merchants to Tyre. These stones, which fell from the sky, were used by the Parthian magi, &c. for secret purposes. They have given rise to many fabulous accounts. Those which are to be seen, are by no means beautiful. C. --- Yet if the people esteemed them, Job might well include them among other things of most value. Prot. "No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls, for the price of wisdom is above rubies." H. --- The latter part of the verse would be rather, "the fishing for wisdom would be more difficult than that for pearls;" (C.) or, "the extraction of wisdom is above the drawing for of peninim." H. --- The pinna is a kind of fish which is fastened to the bottom of the sea, by roots, of which the byssus was made. 1 Par. xv. 27. Pearls were commonly found in the Persian Gulf, near Idumea. The art of diving for them, and extracting them from the fish, was very difficult, but nothing in comparison with the labour requisite to discover wisdom. The ancients describe some pearls of a reddish gold colour. Athen. iii. 13. Jer. Lam. iv. 7. --- Adam, which is interpreted red, in Jeremias, means also any thing very shining; in which sense the word purpureus is used. Hor. vi. Ode 1. Bochart, Anim. p. 2, b. v. vi. (C.) and t. iii. 681. 91. The opinion of this author seems preferable to that of Hutchinson and Cooke, who would translate peninim (H.) by "loadstones or magnets," which the former says are like "reddish clay," though they are really of a dusky iron grey, sometimes tinged with brown or red. This complexion would not be very beautiful. Yet the Nazarites are compared to peninim, (Lam. iv.) and to snow, (Parkhurst) as they were of a most fair red and white, like pearls. H. --- Though the ancients seem to have been acquainted with the loadstone or magnetic needle, particularly the Phenicians (Odys. viii. 556.) and Chinese, for many ages, yet it was never so common as to form a popular comparison. Aquila renders the word in question, periblepta, "conspicuous things;" and pearls were certainly highly valued by the Jews, &c. Parkhurst, in pone. --- Theodotion, in the Sept. "draw forth wisdom before the inmost things." --- Both these versions agree with the Vulg. as the most precious goods are kept out of sight. H. --- Yet the deepest mines of gold do not require so much diligence and sagacity for us to discover and possess them, as wisdom does; but, in return, it will abundantly recompense the man who finds such a treasure. Eccli. vi. 19. and 24. Pineda.

Ver. 19. Ethiopia, on the east of the Red Sea. Pliny (vi. 29.) mentions the isle of Chuthis, which was also famous for the topaz. --- Dying. Heb. cethem, (H.) which we have observed relates to gold, v. 16.

Ver. 22. Destruction. Heb. abaddon, which is before (C. xxvi. 6.) used to signify the bottomless abyss. There, too late! the dead become acquainted with the value and nature of wisdom. H. --- But their knowledge is imperfect, and of no use to us. C.

Ver. 25. Measure. He regulates the winds, and know the drops of water, (H.) which to man is impossible. Prov. xvi. 2.

Ver. 26. Storms; or Heb. "for the lightning, which attends thunder." C.

Ver. 27. It. All the works of God proclaim his wisdom. H. --- He never made an acquisition of it, but possessed it from all eternity. Prov. viii. 23.

Ver. 28. Understanding. This is the duty of man, and a thing of the utmost importance. This teaches us to adore God's judgments (C.) in silence. H. - It is the most important instruction of the whole book. Pineda. - Man must consider God's works to fear Him; and by avoiding evil, and doing good, (W.) to shew true wisdom. H.

[pamphletstoinspire]

BOOK OF JOB - From The Douay-Rheims Bible - Latin Vulgate

Chapter 26

The Book of Job shows how human affairs are ruled by Divine Providence using probable arguments.

"Although you hide these things in your heart, I know that you still remember everything." - (Job speaking to God)  

***

INTRODUCTION.

This Book takes its name from the holy man, of whom it treats; who, according to the more probable opinion, was of the race of Esau, and the same as Jobab, king of Edom, mentioned Gen. xxxvi. 33. It is uncertain who was the writer of it. Some attribute it to Job himself; others to Moses, or some one of the prophets. In the Hebrew it is written in verse, from the beginning of the third chapter to the forty-second chapter. Ch. --- The beginning and conclusion are historical, and in prose. Some have divided this work into a kind of tragedy, the first act extending to C. xv., the second to C. xxii., the third to C. xxxviii., where God appears, and the plot is unfolded. They suppose that the sentiments of the speakers are expressed, though not their own words. This may be very probable: but the opinion of those who look upon the work as a mere allegory, must be rejected with horror. The sacred writers speak of Job as of a personage who had really existed, (C.) and set the most noble pattern of virtue, and particularly of patience. Tob. ii. 12. Ezec. xiv. 14. Jam. v. 11. Philo and Josephus pass over this history, as they do those of Tobias, Judith, &c. H. --- The time when Job lived is not clearly ascertained. Some have supposed (C.) that he was a contemporary with Esther; (D. Thalmud) on which supposition, the work is here placed in its chronological order. But Job more probably live during the period when the Hebrews groaned under the Egyptian bondage, (H.) or sojourned in the wilderness. Num. xiv. 9. The Syrians place the book at the head of the Scriptures. C. --- Its situation has often varied, and is of no great importance. The subject which is here treated, is of far more; as it is intended to shew that the wicked sometimes prosper, while the good are afflicted. H. --- This had seldom been witnessed before the days of Abraham: but as God had now selected his family to be witnesses and guardians of religion, a new order of things was beginning to appear. This greatly perplexed Job himself; who, therefore, confesses that he had not sufficiently understood the ways of God, till he had deigned to explain them in the parable of the two great beasts. C. xlii. 3. We cannot condemn the sentiments expressed by Job, since God has declared that they were right, (ib. v. 8) and reprimands Elihu, (C. xxxviii. 2.) and the other three friends of Job, for maintaining a false opinion, though, from the history of past times, they had judge it to be true. This remark may excupate them from the stain of wilful lying, and vain declamation. Houbigant. --- However, as they assert what was false, their words of themselves are of no authority; and they are even considered as the forerunners of heretics. S. Greg. S. Aug. &c. T. --- Job refutes them by sound logic. S. Jerom. --- We may discover in this book the sum of Christian morality, (W.) for which purpose it has been chiefly explained by S. Gregory. The style is very poetical, (H.) though at the same time simple, like that of Moses. D. --- It is interspersed with many Arabic and Chaldaic idioms; (S. Jer.) whence some have concluded, that it was written originally by Job and his friends (H.) in Arabic, and translated into Heb. by Moses, for the consolation of his brethren. W. --- The Heb. text is in many places incorrect; (Houbig.) and the Sept. seem to have omitted several verses. Orig. --- S. Jerom says almost eight hundred, (C.) each consisting of about six words. H. --- Shultens, in 1747, expressed his dissatisfaction with the labours of all preceding commentators. To explain this book may not therefore be an easy task: but we must be as short as possible. H. --- Those who desire farther information, may consult Pineda, (W.) whose voluminous work, in two folios, will nearly (H.) give all necessary information. C.

The additional Notes in this Edition of the New Testament will be marked with the letter A. Such as are taken from various Interpreters and Commentators, will be marked as in the Old Testament. B. Bristow, C. Calmet, Ch. Challoner, D. Du Hamel, E. Estius, J. Jansenius, M. Menochius, Po. Polus, P. Pastorini, T. Tirinus, V. Bible de Vence, W. Worthington, Wi. Witham. — The names of other authors, who may be occasionally consulted, will be given at full length.

Verses are in English and Latin.

HAYDOCK CATHOLIC BIBLE COMMENTARY

This Catholic commentary on the Old Testament, following the Douay-Rheims Bible text, was originally compiled by Catholic priest and biblical scholar Rev. George Leo Haydock (1774-1849). This transcription is based on Haydock's notes as they appear in the 1859 edition of Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary printed by Edward Dunigan and Brother, New York, New York.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

Changes made to the original text for this transcription include the following:

Greek letters. The original text sometimes includes Greek expressions spelled out in Greek letters. In this transcription, those expressions have been transliterated from Greek letters to English letters, put in italics, and underlined. The following substitution scheme has been used: A for Alpha; B for Beta; G for Gamma; D for Delta; E for Epsilon; Z for Zeta; E for Eta; Th for Theta; I for Iota; K for Kappa; L for Lamda; M for Mu; N for Nu; X for Xi; O for Omicron; P for Pi; R for Rho; S for Sigma; T for Tau; U for Upsilon; Ph for Phi; Ch for Chi; Ps for Psi; O for Omega. For example, where the name, Jesus, is spelled out in the original text in Greek letters, Iota-eta-sigma-omicron-upsilon-sigma, it is transliterated in this transcription as, Iesous. Greek diacritical marks have not been represented in this transcription.

Footnotes. The original text indicates footnotes with special characters, including the astrisk (*) and printers' marks, such as the dagger mark, the double dagger mark, the section mark, the parallels mark, and the paragraph mark. In this transcription all these special characters have been replaced by numbers in square brackets, such as [1], [2], [3], etc.

Accent marks. The original text contains some English letters represented with accent marks. In this transcription, those letters have been rendered in this transcription without their accent marks.

Other special characters.

Solid horizontal lines of various lengths that appear in the original text have been represented as a series of consecutive hyphens of approximately the same length, such as ---.

Ligatures, single characters containing two letters united, in the original text in some Latin expressions have been represented in this transcription as separate letters. The ligature formed by uniting A and E is represented as Ae, that of a and e as ae, that of O and E as Oe, and that of o and e as oe.

Monetary sums in the original text represented with a preceding British pound sterling symbol (a stylized L, transected by a short horizontal line) are represented in this transcription with a following pound symbol, l.

The half symbol (1/2) and three-quarters symbol (3/4) in the original text have been represented in this transcription with their decimal equivalent, (.5) and (.75) respectively.

Unreadable text. Places where the transcriber's copy of the original text is unreadable have been indicated in this transcription by an empty set of square brackets, [].

Chapter 26

Job declares his sentiments of the wisdom and power of God.

[1] Then Job answered, and said:

Respondens autem Job dixit :

[2] Whose helper art thou? is it of him that is weak? and dost thou hold up the arm of him that has no strength?

Cujus adjutor es? numquid imbecillis? et sustentas brachium ejus qui non est fortis?

[3] To whom hast thou given counsel? perhaps to him that hath no wisdom, and thou hast shewn thy very great prudence.

Cui dedisti consilium? forsitan illi qui non habet sapientiam, et prudentiam tuam ostendisti plurimam.

[4] Whom hast thou desired to teach? was it not him that made life?

Quem docere voluisti? nonne eum qui fecit spiramentum?

[5] Behold the giants groan under the waters, and they that dwell with them.

Ecce gigantes gemunt sub aquis, et qui habitant cum eis.

[6] Hell is naked before him, and there is no covering for destruction.

Nudus est infernus coram illo, et nullum est operimentum perditioni.

[7] He stretched out the north over the empty space, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.

Qui extendit aquilonem super vacuum, et appendit terram super nihilum.

[8] He bindeth up the waters in his clouds, so that they break not out and fall down together.

Qui ligat aquas in nubibus suis, ut non erumpant pariter deorsum.

[9] He withholdeth the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud over it.

Qui tenet vultum solii sui, et expandit super illud nebulam suam.

[10] He hath set bounds about the waters, till light and darkness come to an end.

Terminum circumdedit aquis, usque dum finiantur lux et tenebrae.

[11] The pillars of heaven tremble, and dread at his beck.

Columnae caeli contremiscunt, et pavent ad nutum ejus.

[12] By his power the seas are suddenly gathered together, and his wisdom has struck the proud one.

In fortitudine illius repente maria congregata sunt, et prudentia ejus percussit superbum.

[13] His spirit hath adorned the heavens, and his obstetric hand brought forth the winding serpent.

Spiritus ejus ornavit caelos, et obstetricante manu ejus, eductus est coluber tortuosus.

[14] Lo, these things are said in part of his ways: and seeing we have heard scarce a little drop of his word, who shall be able to behold the thunder of his greatness?

Ecce haec ex parte dicta sunt viarum ejus : et cum vix parvam stillam sermonis ejus audierimus, quis poterit tonitruum magnitudinis illius intueri?

Commentary:

Ver. 4. Life. Sept. also seem to understand this of God. C. --- Job does not blame his friends for undertaking to approve the ways of Providence, but for condemning himself (S. Chrys.) rashly, (H.) and, with an air of haughtiness, endeavouring to restrain him from pleading his cause before the divine tribunal. M. --- Heb. "Whose spirit came from thee?" Prot. (H.) Did I receive my life, or do I seek advice from thee? C. --- God stood in no need of Baldad's wisdom (W.) no more than Job. H.

Ver. 5. With them. The less and greater fishes, (M.) or rather the giants and others who were buried in the waters of the deluge, and are confined in the dungeons of hell. The poets speak in the same manner.

             "Hic genus antiquum terræ, Titania pubes,

             Fulmine dejecti fundo voluntur in imo.

             Aliis sub gurgite vasto,

             Infectum eluitur scelus aut exuritur igni." Æn. vi.

--- Homer (Iliad viii.) and Hesiod (Theog.) place the giants at the extremity of the earth, in the utmost darkness. See also Prov. ix. 18. Isai. xiv. 9. C.

Ver. 6. Hell. The grave. --- Destruction. Heb. abaddon. H. --- S. John (Apoc. ix. 11.) styles the bottomless abyss; (C.) or its angel, (H.) Abaddon, or Apollyon. It may here be called destruction, (C.) as all its victims are lost for ever to every thing that is good. The obscurity of the grave, and even that of hell, can hide nothing from God.

Ver. 7. North pole, which alone was visible in Idumea, and continued unmoved, while all the stars performed their revolutions. C. --- Nothing. Terra, pilæ similis, nullo fulcimine nixa. Ovid, Fast. vi. C. --- All tends to the centre, (M.) by the laws of attraction. Newton, &c. H.

Ver. 8. Clouds, as in a vessel or garment. Prov. xxx. 4.

Ver. 9. Over it. The firmament, with all its beauty, is but like a cloud, to conceal from our feeble eyes the splendor of God's throne.

Ver. 10. End. Till the end of the world, the ocean will respect these limits. H. --- The ancients looked upon it as a continual miracle that the world was not deluged, as the waters are higher than the earth. Jer. v. 22. Amos v. 8. S. Bas. and S. Amb. Hexem. Cicero, Nat. ii. --- Philosophers have explained this phenomenon. But it is still certain that the power and wisdom of God preserve the equilibrium, without which all would return to the ancient chaos. C.

Ver. 11. Heaven. The mountains are so styled by Pindar; and the poets represent them supporting the heavens. Totum ferre potest humeris minitantibus orbem. Petron. --- Yet others understand that power which keeps all things together, (C.) or the angels, to whose rule the ancients attributed the celestial bodies. S. Greg. Ven. Bede, &c.

Ver. 12. Together, at the beginning. Gen. i. 9. Heb. "By his strength he has divided the sea; and by his wisdom he has pierced the proud, or Egypt." Rahab, (H.) or Rachab, is often put for Egypt; (Ps. lxxxviii. 11.) and all would naturally have concluded that the fall of Pharao was pointed at, if it had not been supposed that Job lived before that event. That is, however, dubious. Isaias (li. 9.) uses the same terms in describing the fall of this tyrant. C. --- Yet the Sept. translate, "the whale," (H.) or some sea monster, which God holds in subjection, (Pineda) like the weakest creature. H. --- The foaming billows (M.) are likewise subject to his control. H.

Ver. 13. Heavens, with stars, &c. Ps. xxxii. 6. Wisd. i. 7. God also sends winds to disperse the clouds, that the heavens may appear. C. --- Artful, (obstetricante) "being the midwife." The least things are ruled by Providence. W. --- Serpent; a constellation, lightning, the devil, or rather the leviathan. Isai. xxvii. 1. Drusius. C. --- Sept. "by his decree, he killed the apostate dragon." H. - But there is no need of having recourse to allegory. C.

Ver. 14. Drop. This comparison is often applied to speech. Deut. xxxii. 2. Isai. lv. 10. If the little that we know of God's works give us such an exalted idea of his greatness, what should we think if we could fully comprehend his mysteries? C.

[pamphletstoinspire]

BOOK OF JOB - From The Douay-Rheims Bible - Latin Vulgate

Chapter 15

The Book of Job shows how human affairs are ruled by Divine Providence using probable arguments.

"Although you hide these things in your heart, I know that you still remember everything." - (Job speaking to God)  

***

INTRODUCTION.

This Book takes its name from the holy man, of whom it treats; who, according to the more probable opinion, was of the race of Esau, and the same as Jobab, king of Edom, mentioned Gen. xxxvi. 33. It is uncertain who was the writer of it. Some attribute it to Job himself; others to Moses, or some one of the prophets. In the Hebrew it is written in verse, from the beginning of the third chapter to the forty-second chapter. Ch. --- The beginning and conclusion are historical, and in prose. Some have divided this work into a kind of tragedy, the first act extending to C. xv., the second to C. xxii., the third to C. xxxviii., where God appears, and the plot is unfolded. They suppose that the sentiments of the speakers are expressed, though not their own words. This may be very probable: but the opinion of those who look upon the work as a mere allegory, must be rejected with horror. The sacred writers speak of Job as of a personage who had really existed, (C.) and set the most noble pattern of virtue, and particularly of patience. Tob. ii. 12. Ezec. xiv. 14. Jam. v. 11. Philo and Josephus pass over this history, as they do those of Tobias, Judith, &c. H. --- The time when Job lived is not clearly ascertained. Some have supposed (C.) that he was a contemporary with Esther; (D. Thalmud) on which supposition, the work is here placed in its chronological order. But Job more probably live during the period when the Hebrews groaned under the Egyptian bondage, (H.) or sojourned in the wilderness. Num. xiv. 9. The Syrians place the book at the head of the Scriptures. C. --- Its situation has often varied, and is of no great importance. The subject which is here treated, is of far more; as it is intended to shew that the wicked sometimes prosper, while the good are afflicted. H. --- This had seldom been witnessed before the days of Abraham: but as God had now selected his family to be witnesses and guardians of religion, a new order of things was beginning to appear. This greatly perplexed Job himself; who, therefore, confesses that he had not sufficiently understood the ways of God, till he had deigned to explain them in the parable of the two great beasts. C. xlii. 3. We cannot condemn the sentiments expressed by Job, since God has declared that they were right, (ib. v. 8) and reprimands Elihu, (C. xxxviii. 2.) and the other three friends of Job, for maintaining a false opinion, though, from the history of past times, they had judge it to be true. This remark may excupate them from the stain of wilful lying, and vain declamation. Houbigant. --- However, as they assert what was false, their words of themselves are of no authority; and they are even considered as the forerunners of heretics. S. Greg. S. Aug. &c. T. --- Job refutes them by sound logic. S. Jerom. --- We may discover in this book the sum of Christian morality, (W.) for which purpose it has been chiefly explained by S. Gregory. The style is very poetical, (H.) though at the same time simple, like that of Moses. D. --- It is interspersed with many Arabic and Chaldaic idioms; (S. Jer.) whence some have concluded, that it was written originally by Job and his friends (H.) in Arabic, and translated into Heb. by Moses, for the consolation of his brethren. W. --- The Heb. text is in many places incorrect; (Houbig.) and the Sept. seem to have omitted several verses. Orig. --- S. Jerom says almost eight hundred, (C.) each consisting of about six words. H. --- Shultens, in 1747, expressed his dissatisfaction with the labours of all preceding commentators. To explain this book may not therefore be an easy task: but we must be as short as possible. H. --- Those who desire farther information, may consult Pineda, (W.) whose voluminous work, in two folios, will nearly (H.) give all necessary information. C.

The additional Notes in this Edition of the New Testament will be marked with the letter A. Such as are taken from various Interpreters and Commentators, will be marked as in the Old Testament. B. Bristow, C. Calmet, Ch. Challoner, D. Du Hamel, E. Estius, J. Jansenius, M. Menochius, Po. Polus, P. Pastorini, T. Tirinus, V. Bible de Vence, W. Worthington, Wi. Witham. — The names of other authors, who may be occasionally consulted, will be given at full length.

Verses are in English and Latin.

HAYDOCK CATHOLIC BIBLE COMMENTARY

This Catholic commentary on the Old Testament, following the Douay-Rheims Bible text, was originally compiled by Catholic priest and biblical scholar Rev. George Leo Haydock (1774-1849). This transcription is based on Haydock's notes as they appear in the 1859 edition of Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary printed by Edward Dunigan and Brother, New York, New York.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

Changes made to the original text for this transcription include the following:

Greek letters. The original text sometimes includes Greek expressions spelled out in Greek letters. In this transcription, those expressions have been transliterated from Greek letters to English letters, put in italics, and underlined. The following substitution scheme has been used: A for Alpha; B for Beta; G for Gamma; D for Delta; E for Epsilon; Z for Zeta; E for Eta; Th for Theta; I for Iota; K for Kappa; L for Lamda; M for Mu; N for Nu; X for Xi; O for Omicron; P for Pi; R for Rho; S for Sigma; T for Tau; U for Upsilon; Ph for Phi; Ch for Chi; Ps for Psi; O for Omega. For example, where the name, Jesus, is spelled out in the original text in Greek letters, Iota-eta-sigma-omicron-upsilon-sigma, it is transliterated in this transcription as, Iesous. Greek diacritical marks have not been represented in this transcription.

Footnotes. The original text indicates footnotes with special characters, including the astrisk (*) and printers' marks, such as the dagger mark, the double dagger mark, the section mark, the parallels mark, and the paragraph mark. In this transcription all these special characters have been replaced by numbers in square brackets, such as [1], [2], [3], etc.

Accent marks. The original text contains some English letters represented with accent marks. In this transcription, those letters have been rendered in this transcription without their accent marks.

Other special characters.

Solid horizontal lines of various lengths that appear in the original text have been represented as a series of consecutive hyphens of approximately the same length, such as ---.

Ligatures, single characters containing two letters united, in the original text in some Latin expressions have been represented in this transcription as separate letters. The ligature formed by uniting A and E is represented as Ae, that of a and e as ae, that of O and E as Oe, and that of o and e as oe.

Monetary sums in the original text represented with a preceding British pound sterling symbol (a stylized L, transected by a short horizontal line) are represented in this transcription with a following pound symbol, l.

The half symbol (1/2) and three-quarters symbol (3/4) in the original text have been represented in this transcription with their decimal equivalent, (.5) and (.75) respectively.

Unreadable text. Places where the transcriber's copy of the original text is unreadable have been indicated in this transcription by an empty set of square brackets, [].

Chapter 15

Eliphaz returns to the charge against Job, and describes the wretched state of the wicked.

[1] And Eliphaz the Themanite, answered, and said:

Respondens autem Eliphaz Themanites, dixit :

[2] Will a wise man answer as if he were speaking in the wind, and fill his stomach with burning heat?

Numquid sapiens respondebit quasi ventum loquens, et implebit ardore stomachum suum?

[3] Thou reprovest him by words, who is not equal to thee, and thou speakest that which is not good for thee.

Arguis verbis eum qui non est aequalis tibi, et loqueris quod tibi non expedit.

[4] As much as is in thee, thou hast made void fear, and hast taken away prayers from before God.

Quantum in te est evacuasti timorem, et tulisti preces coram Deo.

[5] For thy iniquity hath taught thy mouth, and thou imitatest the tongue of blasphemers.

Docuit enim iniquitas tua os tuum, et imitaris linguam blasphemantium.

[6] Thy own mouth shall condemn thee, and not I: and thy own lips shall answer thee.

Condemnabit te os tuum, et non ego, et labia tua respondebunt tibi.

[7] Art thou the first man that was born, or wast thou made before the hills?

Numquid primus homo tu natus es, et ante colles formatus?

[8] Hast thou heard God's counsel, and shall his wisdom be inferior to thee?

numquid consilium Dei audisti, et inferior te erit ejus sapientia?

[9] What knowest thou that we are ignorant of? what dost thou understand that we know not?

Quid nosti quod ignoremus? quid intelligis quod nesciamus?

[10] There are with us also aged and ancient men, much elder than thy fathers.

Et senes et antiqui sunt in nobis, multo vetustiores quam patres tui.

[11] Is it a great matter that God should comfort thee? but thy wicked words hinder this.

Numquid grande est ut consoletur te Deus? sed verba tua prava hoc prohibent.

[12] Why doth thy heart elevate thee, and why dost thou stare with thy eyes, as if they were thinking great things?

Quid te elevat cor tuum, et quasi magna cogitans attonitos habes oculos?

[13] Why doth thy spirit swell against God, to utter such words out of thy mouth?

Quid tumet contra Deum spiritus tuus, ut proferas de ore tuo hujuscemodi sermones?

[14] What is man that he should be without spot, and he that is born of a woman that he should appear just?

Quid est homo ut immaculatus sit, et ut justus appareat natus de muliere?

[15] Behold among his saints none is unchangeable, and the heavens are not pure in his sight.

Ecce inter sanctos ejus nemo immutabilis, et caeli non sunt mundi in conspectu ejus.

[16] How much more is man abominable, and unprofitable, who drinketh iniquity like water?

Quanto magis abominabilis et inutilis homo, qui bibit quasi aquam iniquitatem?

[17] I will shew thee, hear me: and I will tell thee what I have seen.

Ostendam tibi, audi me : quod vidi, narrabo tibi.

[18] Wise men confess and hide not their fathers.

Sapientes confitentur, et non abscondunt patres suos :

[19] To whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger hath passed among them.

quibus solis data est terra, et non transivit alienus per eos.

[20] The wicked man is proud all his days, and the number of the years of his tyranny is uncertain.

Cunctis diebus suis impius superbit, et numerus annorum incertus est tyrannidis ejus.

[21] The sound of dread is always in his ears: and when there is peace, he always suspecteth treason.

Sonitus terroris semper in auribus illius : et cum pax sit, ille semper insidias suspicatur.

[22] He believeth not that he may return from darkness to light, looking round about for the sword on every side.

Non credit quod reverti possit de tenebris ad lucem, circumspectans undique gladium.

[23] When he moveth himself to seek bread, he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

Cum se moverit ad quaerendum panem, novit quod paratus sit in manu ejus tenebrarum dies.

[24] Tribulation shall terrify him, and distress shall surround him, as a king that is prepared for the battle.

Terrebit eum tribulatio, et angustia vallabit eum, sicut regem qui praeparatur ad praelium.

[25] For he hath stretched out his hand against God, and hath strengthened himself against the Almighty.

Tetendit enim adversus Deum manum suam, et contra Omnipotentem roboratus est.

[26] He hath run against him with his neck raised up, and is armed with a fat neck.

Cucurrit adversus eum erecto collo, et pingui cervice armatus est.

[27] Fatness hath covered his face, and the fat hangeth down on his sides.

Operuit faciem ejus crassitudo, et de lateribus ejus arvina dependet.

[28] He hath dwelt in desolate cities, and in desert houses that are reduced into heaps.

Habitavit in civitatibus desolatis, et in domibus desertis, quae in tumulos sunt redactae.

[29] He shall not be enriched, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he push his root in the earth.

Non ditabitur, nec perseverabit substantia ejus, nec mittet in terra radicem suam.

[30] He shall not depart out of darkness: the flame shall dry up his branches, and he shall be taken away by the breath of his own mouth.

Non recedet de tenebris : ramos ejus arefaciet flamma, et auferetur spiritu oris sui.

[31] He shall not believe, being vainly deceived by error, that he may be redeemed with any price.

Non credet frustra errore deceptus, quod aliquo pretio redimendus sit.

[32] Before his days be full he shall perish: and his hands shall wither away.

Antequam dies ejus impleantur peribit, et manus ejus arescent.

[33] He shall be blasted as a vine when its grapes are in the first flower, and as an olive tree that casteth its flower.

Laedetur quasi vinea in primo flore botrus ejus, et quasi oliva projiciens florem suum.

[34] For the congregation of the hypocrite is barren, and fire shall devour their tabernacles, who love to take bribes.

Congregatio enim hypocritae sterilis, et ignis devorabit tabernacula eorum qui munera libenter accipiunt.

[35] He hath conceived sorrow, and hath brought forth iniquity, and his womb prepareth deceits.

Concepit dolorem et peperit iniquitatem, et uterus ejus praeparat dolos.

Commentary:

Ver. 2. Heat. Heb. "east wind," (H.) or give vent to passion. H. --- Eliphaz now rebukes Job without any reserve. C. --- He was perhaps displeased at the comparison used by the latter. C. xiii. 4. Baldad had also hinted that Job's discourse was nothing but wind. C. viii. 2. H. --- Being unable to answer his arguments, he reviles him as an enemy of God. W.

Ver. 3. Equal. God, who is far above thee. Heb. "Will he (the wise) argue with less words, or with speeches which are nothing to the purpose?" C.

Ver. 4. God. Another, after thy example, will assert his own innocence under affliction, and will not fear, nor have recourse to God by humble prayer. Behold the dangerous consequences of thy principle. C.

Ver. 5. Blasphemers. Heb. "of the crafty," which is sometimes taken in a good sense. Sept. "thou hast not distinguished the speeches of the princes." Thou hast not shewn respect to our admonitions, (C.) or understood our meaning. H. --- Thou rather choosest to imitate those false sages, who strive to deceive the world. Abuse could hardly be carried to greater lengths than it is by this man; who before spoke with some moderation. C. iv. C.

Ver. 7. First. Is thy experience so great, (M.) or art thou the most excellent of men? To hear thee we are but novices. C. xiii. 5. C.

Ver. 8. His. Heb. "dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? Sept. "or has wisdom come to thee?" H.

Ver. 10. Fathers. Heb. and Sept. "father." H. --- Eliphaz always speaks first, and hints that he was as old, perhaps older, than Job; who had rather found fault with the youth of Sophar. C. xii. 12. He also boasts that they, or their country, furnished master of great wisdom and experience than even Job's father. C.

Ver. 11. Thee. This would not be difficult, (T.) if thy presumption did not prove an obstacle. Thou makest small account of those comforts or of our advice, trusting in thy own justice. C. --- Sept. "Thou hast been chastised little, considering thy sins. Thou hast spoken with excessive insolence."

Ver. 12. Why. Sept. "What has thy heart dared, or what have thine eyes brought thee?" Heb. "what do thy eyes wink at?" (H.) through pride and disdain. Ps. xxxiv. 19. Prov. vi. 13. C. --- We need not wonder that Eliphaz should misunderstand the looks of Job, (H.) since he gives such a false notion of his speeches. C.

Ver. 14. Just. Few are free from all spot; but venial sins do not hinder a man from being styled truly virtuous. W.

Ver. 15. Unchangeable, of his own nature, and during this life. C. --- Heb. and Sept. "is not trusted by him," till they have been tried, (H. C. iv. 17. None is good but God alone. Mar. x. 18.) in comparison. T.

Ver. 16. Water, with the utmost avidity and unconcern. Prov. x. 23. and xxvi. 6.

Ver. 17. Seen. He had before given himself out for a prophet. Perhaps he may only mean to deliver what he had been taught, or had learned by experience, v. 18. His observations are in themselves just; but the application to Job is no less insulting. C.

Ver. 18. Wise. Prot. "which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it." C. viii. 8. The authority of tradition was then very great; and why should it now be despised? H.

Ver. 19. Them. Their antiquity, courage, and purity of morals must consequently be greater, as they have preserved themselves from the inroads of strangers. C.

Ver. 20. Proud; uncertain. Heb. "in pain." H. --- Sept. "numbered," or few. Gen. xxxiv. 30. These are the maxims which Eliphaz had received in a vision, or from the ancients, v. 17. The description of a tyrant's life was admirably verified in Dionysius, of Syracuse, (C.) and in our Cromwell, (H.)---

             "-----pale and trembling in the dead of night." Pope.

---who rarely lodged two night in one chamber. Clarendon. --- Such live in dread, (H.) and seldom die a natural death.

             Ad generum Cereris sine cæde et vulnere pauci

             Descendunt reges et siccâ morte Tyranni. Juv. x. 113.

             Nocte dieque suum gestare in pectore testem. Juv. xiii.

They bear always about the witness, "conscience." H. --- They distrust every one, and are hated by all.

             Districtus ensis cui super impia

             Cervice pendet, &c. Hor. iii. Ode 1.

--- These miseries are incident to the wicked, but are improperly addressed to Job. W.

Ver. 26. And is. Heb. "even upon the thick bosses of his buckler." H. --- God thus seizes his antagonist, who, like Pharao, swells with pride. C. Deut. xxxii. 15.

Ver. 28. Heaps, by his ambition and fury, (C.) and exactions, (Cajet. M.) till the king chooses to rebuild the cities. Vatab.

Ver. 31. That he. Heb. and Sept. "for vanity shall be his reward." H. --- If he would repent, he might still be safe. M.

Ver. 32. Hands; strength and prosperity. C. --- Sept. "his branch shall not grow thick." H.

Ver. 33. First. Heb. "unripe." H. --- He shall derive no aid or comfort from his young family.

Ver. 34. Congregation, or family. --- Bribes. Lit. "presents," which H. frequently were not given freely, but extorted as a real tribute. C. - Sept. "for the death of the wicked is a martyrdom," or proof of his impiety. "But fire shall consume the houses of the present (or bribe) receivers."

Ver. 35. Sorrow. Heb. "mischief." H. See Ps. vii. 15. Isai. xlix. 4. - The tree is known by its fruit. Eliphaz sufficiently insinuates, that he is speaking of Job. C. - His, or "its," the congregation's womb, v. 34. Prot. "their belly." H.