Part 306 (1/2)
16:15. But we have found that the Jews, who were by that most wicked man appointed to be slain, are in no fault at all, but contrariwise, use just laws,
16:16. And are the children of the highest and the greatest, and the ever living G.o.d, by whose benefit the kingdom was given both to our fathers and to us, and is kept unto this day.
16:17. Wherefore know ye that those letters which he sent in our name, are void and of no effect.
16:18. For which crime both he himself that devised it, and all his kindred hang on gibbets, before the gates of this city Susan: not we, but G.o.d repaying him as he deserved.
16:19. But this edict, which we now send, shall be published in all cities, that the Jews may freely follow their own laws.
16:20. And you shall aid them that they may kill those who had prepared themselves to kill them, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is called Adar.
16:21. For the almighty G.o.d hath turned this day of sadness and mourning into joy to them.
16:22. Wherefore you shall also count this day among other festival days, and celebrate it with all joy, that it may be known also in times to come,
16:23. That all they who faithfully obey the Persians, receive a worthy reward for their fidelity: but they that are traitors to their kingdom, are destroyed for their wickedness.
16:24. And let every province and city, that will not be partaker of this solemnity, perish by the sword and by fire, and be destroyed in such manner as to be made unpa.s.sable, both to men and beasts, for an example of contempt, and disobedience.
THE BOOK OF JOB
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. 36.33. 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.
Job Chapter 1
1:1. There was a man in the land of Hus, whose name was Job, and that man was simple and upright, and fearing G.o.d, and avoiding evil.
Hus... The land of Hus was a part of Edom; as appears from Lam. 4.21.
Ibid. Simple... That is, innocent, sincere, and without guile.
1:2. And there were born to him seven sons and three daughters.
1:3. And his possession was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she a.s.ses, and a family exceedingly great: and this man was great among all the people of the east.
1:4. And his sons went, and made a feast by houses, every one in his day. And sending, they called their three sisters, to eat and drink with them.
And made a feast by houses... That is, each made a feast in his own house and had his day, inviting the others, and their sisters.
1:5. And when the days of their feasting were gone about, Job sent to them, and sanctified them: and rising up early, offered holocausts for every one of them. For he said: Lest perhaps my sons have sinned, and have blessed G.o.d in their hearts. So did Job all days.
Blessed... For greater horror of the very thought of blasphemy, the scripture both here and ver. 11, and in the following chapter, ver. 5 and 9, uses the word bless to signify its contrary.
1:6. Now on a certain day, when the sons of G.o.d came to stand before the Lord, Satan also was present among them.
The sons of G.o.d... The angels.-Ibid. Satan also, etc.. This pa.s.sage represents to us in a figure, accommodated to the ways and understandings of men, 1. The restless endeavours of Satan against the servants of G.o.d; 2. That he can do nothing without G.o.d's permission; 3.
That G.o.d doth not permit him to tempt them above their strength: but a.s.sists them by his divine grace in such manner, that the vain efforts of the enemy only serve to ill.u.s.trate their virtue and increase their merit.