share was designed to hook his enemies;" but may it not more naturally denote the constellation of the Great Bear? which strikingly represents the figure of a plough, in its seven bright stars; and was probably so denominated by the earliest astronomers, before the introduction of the Zabian idolatry, as a celestial symbol of agriculture. The "thick cudgel" corresponds to the "brazen mace" of Homer. And it is highly probable, that the Assyrian Nimrod, or Hindu Bala, was also the prototype of the Grecian Hercules, with his club and lion's skin.

:

According to the foregoing scheme, the migrations of the three primitive families, from the central regions of Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria, began about B. C. 2614, or 541 years after the deluge and lasted, as Sir William Jones conjectures, about four centuries*; in the course of which, by successive colonizations, they established far distant communities, and various modes of society and government: the Phoenicians, Arabians, Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Libyans, southwards; the Persians, Ethiopians, Indians, and Chinese, eastwards; the Scythians, Celts, and Tartars, northwards; and the Goths, Greeks, and Latins; even as far as the Peruvians and Mexicans, of South America, and the Indian tribes of North America, westwards. All these various inhabitants of the globe, retain a striking affinity in the leading principles of their language, customs, and religions, however diversified, in process of time, from each other, by local circumstances: such affinity evincing their common descent from one and the same parent stock. See the Articles on the Division of the Earth, and the Varieties of Mankind, Vol. I. p. 350, 359.

And this period of four centuries, corresponds remarkably well with the most authentic documents of profane history, still subsisting, as to the establishment of the primitive nations in their respective settlements.

SERUG

Was the son of Reu. From him, Bochart conjectures, that the town of Sarug was named; which was near Charræ, in Mesopotamia. Suidas and others ascribe to him the introduction of the idolatry of deifying the dead, as benefactors of mankind.

See Asiat. Research. Vol. IV. p. 4; and his valuable discourses, on the three primitive families of Noah's sons, in the first four volumes.

And it is remarkable, that the arch-rebel Nimrod died in his days, about B. C. 2456. Serug lived 230 years.

NAHOR

Was his son. In his time, according to Eutychius, flourished Zorodasht, or the elder Zoroaster, the founder of the Zabian religion and according to Abulfaragi, on the authority of Arudha, a Canaanitish historian, the trial of Job began in the twenty-fifth year of Nahor, or B. C. 2337. He lived only 148

years.

JOB.

Vir fortis cum malâ fortuna compositus *: -Seneca.

This celebrated patriarch, has been represented by some sacred critics, as imaginary, and his book as a fictitious dramatic composition. But he was evidently considered as real, in the prophecy of Ezekiel, wherein Noah, Daniel, and Job are ranked together †, as powerful intercessors with God; the first for his

"A brave man struggling with adversity."

The sceptical Michaelis, of more learning than judgment, considers Job as a fictitious character, and represents his poem as an allegory, composed by Moses during his exile, to raise the spirits of the oppressed and enslaved Israelites in Egypt. In his Supplement to Lowth's admired Prelections on Hebrew Poetry, he thus endeavours to set aside the evidence of Ezekiel, p. 180.

Locus Ezechielis fictionem habet et vero impossibilem; fieri enim omnino nequit, ut viri non coavi, Noachus, Jobus, et Daniel, in eadem simul urbe vivant: nec inauditum aut absurdum, veras personas et fictam, in proponendo exemplo conjungi.

But this is a misrepresentation of the prophet's meaning: the passage neither contains "a fiction nor an impossibility," but a perfectly natural supposition; not that Noah, Daniel, and Job were actually "coeval, and lived together in the same city," which indeed would be a glaring anachronism and absurdity; but only, that if three such eminent personages were therein, their intercessions should avail only to save themselves, but not their countrymen; thus forcibly delineating the total corruption and degeneracy of the latter. And surely, to blend a fictitious character with others avowedly real, would serve only to weaken the effect of the whole, and not only be unusual," but even "absurd," or incongruous. The German professor's illustration of recommending "chastity to a daughter," by the examples of "Lucretia," in Livy, and of "Pamela," in Richardson's novels, could only tend to set them on a par in point of reality, and render the former rather doubtful.

With equal improbability, Michaelis ascribes the difference of the style of Job and of Moses, to the youth of the latter at the time of its composition, when his imagination was more fervid; but surely, the most glowing and brilliant of all his compositions, his last hymn, Deut. xxxii, was written at the age of 120, just before his death. "The poetical vigour of which appeared miraculous," even to the professor himself!

family; the second for the wise men of Babylon; and the third for his friends, Ezek. xiv. 14. And the apostle James celebrates the exemplary "patience of Job," Jam. v. 11. And the book itself, whose early admission into the Sacred Canon is strongly in favour of its veracity, describes the residence of Job and his friends, with all the geographical precision of true history.

or

Job himself, whose name, by the most natural derivation, signifies" enduring enmity," lived" in the land of Uz;" (colonized by Uz, the son of Aram, Gen. x. 23,) of which Edom, Idumæa, was a district, Jer. xxv. 20, Lam. iv. 21. Eliphaz was of Teman, a city of Edom, Jer. xlix. 7-20, Ezek. xxv. 13, Amos i. 12. Bildad was of Shua, a district in "the east country" of Arabia Petræa, where Abraham's sons by Keturah were settled, Gen. xxv. 2-6. Zophar, of Naamah, a city of Edom, Josh. xv. 21-41. And Elihu, is still more particularly described by his parentage also, as "the son of Barachiel, the Buzite;" in the neighbourhood of Dedan and Teman, in Edom, Jer. xxv. 23, xlix. 8, Ezek. xxv. 13, " of the kindred of Ram," or Aram +. "This," says Mercerus, " was done designedly by the author of the book, to shew the certainty of the history, and that it was not a fictitious or imaginary composition."

That Job was not a Hebrew of the Hebrews, or of the chosen line of Peleg, may be inferred from the omission of his name in the list of worthies renowned for their faith, Heb. xi. He was probably of Joktan's race, who first colonized Arabia, Gen. x. 25, Job xv. 19. And that the author was not of Peleg's line, may be most unequivocally collected from the style of the book, which differs considerably from the writings of Moses and the prophets; abounding in Syriasms, Chaldaisms, and Arabisms.

The time of Job, his trials, and his faith, have given rise to

The English professor, Lowth, has well accounted for such reveries of the learned, by the following remark, in his own elegant Latinity:

Nunquam in dubium vocata fuisset historiæ veritas nisi quibusdam allegoriarum conquisitoribus tantum placuissent suæ fictiones, ut nihil amplecti vellent quod non umbratile esset et commentitium. "The truth of the history would never have been called in question, had not some searchers for allegories been over-pleased with their own fictions; so as to admire nothing that was not visionary and fanciful." Prælect. xxxiii. p. 419. Peters, 143.

* 18, (Aiob,) from 28, (Aib,) “ inimicatus est.”

Thus, "Ram, the father of Aminadab," Ruth iv. 19, is called "Aram," Luke iii. 33, and, (Ramim,) “the Syrians,” 2 Chron. xxii. 5, are called N, (Aramim,) 2 Kings viii. 28.

a great variety of opinions; they are next to be determined and explained, according to the most probable.

THE TIME OF JOB.

I. The Bible chronology dates the trial of Job, twenty-nine years before the exode of the Israelites from Egypt. And indeed, 1. That the book was composed before, is evident from its total silence respecting the mighty signs and wonders that accompanied the exode; such as the passage of the Red Sea *, the destruction of the Egyptians, the manna in the desert, &c. all happening in the vicinity of Job, and so apposite in the debate about the ways of Providence.

2. That it was composed before Abraham's migration to Canaan, may also be inferred from its silence respecting the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the other cities of the plain, covered by the Dead Sea; which were still nearer to Idumæa, where the scene is laid.

3. The longevity of Job sufficiently corresponds to the time assigned by Abulfarag. He survived his trial 140 years; xlii. 16, and his age was probably not less at that time; for his seven sons were all grown up, and settled in their own houses a good while, i. 4, 5. He speaks of the " sins of his youth," xiii. 26; of the prosperity of "his youth," xxix. 4. And yet Eliphaz schools him as a novice; "With us are both the gray headed and very aged, much older than thy father," xv. 20.

4. That he did not live at an earlier period, may be collected. from an incidental observation of Bildad, referring Job to their forefathers for instruction in wisdom.

"Enquire, I pray thee, of the former age,

And prepare thyself to the search of their fathers."

Assigning as a reason, the comparative shortness of life, and consequent ignorance of the present generation:

The following passage, "HE divideth the sea with his power," Job xxvi. 12, has been considered as alluding to the passage of the Red Sea: but it probably refers to the separation of the waters at the creation; like the parallel passage, xxxviii. 8-11. In both passages, Rahab, or "proud," is an epithet of the sea. The former passage may

perhaps allude to the deluge, from the preceding xxvi. 10, more correctly rendered, "He hath inscribed a covenant on the face of the waters, until the day and night come to an end." The sign of this covenant with Noah was the rainbow, Gen. ix. 31.

N.B. Many other passages supposed to be imitations of Moses and the prophets, will be found, on examination, either irrelevant, or to have been imitated rather by them.

"For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing ;

Because our days upon earth are a shadow," viii. 8, 9.

But "the fathers of the former age," or grandfathers of the present, were the contemporaries of Peleg and Joktan, in the fifth generation after the deluge: and they might easily have learned wisdom from the fountain head, by conversing with Shem, or perhaps with Noah himself; whereas, in the seventh generation, the standard of human life was reduced to about 200 years; which was " a shadow" compared with the longevity of Noah and his sons *.

5. The manners and customs critically correspond to that early period. Job acted as high priest in his own family, according to primitive usage, Gen. viii. 20. For the institution of an established priesthood does not appear to have taken place any where, until Abraham's days. Melchidezek, king of Salem, was a priest of the primitive order, Gen. xiv. 18; and so was Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, in the vicinity of Idumæa, Exod. xviii. 12. The first regular priesthood probably took place in Egypt: Joseph was married to the daughter of the priest of On, Gen. xli. 45.

6. The slavish homage of prostration to princes and great men, which prevailed in Egypt, Persia, and the east in general, and still subsists there, was unknown in Arabia at that time. Though Job was one of " the greatest of all the men of the east ;" we do not find any such adoration paid to him by his contemporaries, in the zenith of his prosperity, among the marks of respect so minutely described, chap. xxix. "When the young men saw him, they hid themselves," through rustic bashfulness; the aged arose, and stood up, in his presence; the princes refrained from talking, and laid their hand upon their mouth ; the nobles held their peace, and were all attention while he spoke. All this was highly respectful indeed, but still it was manly, and shewed no cringing or servile adulation.

And so Sir William Jones describes the genuine Arabs at the present day, as "a majestic race," who were never conquered, and who have retained their primitive manners, features, and characters, without scarcely any alteration. "Their eyes," says he," are full of vivacity, their speech voluble and articulate, their deportment manly and dignified, their apprehension quick,

* This argument for the antiquity and traditional knowledge of Job and his friends is ably insisted on in the sagacious Mr. Davis' Celtic Researches, p. 11.