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find nothing but such rites of sacrifice as Noah observed, and such a knowledge of the covenant of Elohim as he might have conveyed to his posterity. Nothing, but such a general knowledge of the expected Redeemer, as the primeval promise of the woman's seed' to bruise the

serpent's head,' or as the

prophecies of an Enoch, might

have imparted to the early patriarchial church.

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It seems very evident too, that, in the time of Abraham, the worship of strange gods" was not only known, but had already contaminated his fathers. But when Job would number up every crime that could be committed against God, he can only mention one species of idolatry, the adoration of the sun and moon. This is an argument of considerable weight, for the priority of Job to Abraham; and another is, the length of days to which Job attained, compared with the ages at which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob died. Abraham was promised a good old age; he died at the age of an hundred and seventy-five, Isaac died at an hundred and eighty. Jacob was a hundred and forty-seven when he died. But by every probable calculation, the age of Job must have extended considerably beyond these fathers of the Hebrew race. We are told, that Job survived his restoration from his calamities a hundred and forty years. But when his troubles came upon him, he must have been advanced in life. His ten children were evidently all grown up, and the sons had their separate establishments. He distinguishes his life of pious observances from his youth. His friends who visited him are described as possessing days' and multitude of years'-the probability is, that Job was about their standing.

It is remarkable, however, that there are several observations made, in the discussions of Job and his friends

a Joshua xxiv. 2.

with each other, which indicate that the period of human life was, at this time, much curtailed from what it had been in the days of their ancestors, whose memorable sayings they record. It is from this circumstance that the era of Job may, with great probability, be fixed.

In the genealogies of the patriarchs we find a gradual reduction of the standard of human life at different eras. Noah's was the life of an antediluvian-he attained to nine hundred and fifty years; Shem only to six hundred years, and his son, Arphaxad, only to four hundred and thirtyeight years. This was nearly the age of his son Salah, and of his grandson Heber. But Peleg, the son of Heber, only attained to two hundred and thirty-nine years, which began the third reduction of the standard of human life.

It is not long after this third reduction that we must, in all probability, fix the period of Job. Dr. Hales observes-Bildad, referring Job to their forefathers for instruction in wisdom, says, " Inquire, I pray thee, of the former age; and prepare thyself to search of their fathers." Assigning as a reason, the comparative shortness of life, and consequent ignorance of the present generation-" For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing; because our days upon earth are a shadow"."

Dr. Hales, therefore, embraces the opinion of Abulfaragi, who, on the authority of Arudha, a Canaanitish historian, places the trial of Job in the year B. C. 2337, in the twenty-fifth year of the life of Nahor, the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg. He observes, on the passage quoted above, "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

a Chap. viii. 8,9.

perhaps with Noah himself; whereas in the seventh generation, the standard of human life was reduced to about two hundred years; which was a shadow' compared with the longevity of Noah and his sonsa.

There is also another passage, not noticed by Dr. Hales, which much corroborates this statement. Eliphaz, to gain credit to one of the traditions of the ancients, which he is going to repeat to Job, declares it to be

What wise men have delivered,

And concealed not as coming' from their fathers:
To whom alone the earth was given,

6

And no stranger passed among them.-Chap. xv. 18, 19. The word rendered the earth' may indeed be rendered the land,' but with somewhat less probability. If we render the earth,' the reference will be to that generation of men who had not yet been settled in their respective portions of lands, but were holding in undivided possession all the earth which they could occupy, being the only family of human beings on its surface-"no stranger passed amongst them." If the translation, the land,' be substituted, the reference will be then to the same generation—the fathers of those sages, with whom Eliphaz had conversed as the first settlers in the country. And as we know that it was in the days of Peleg that the earth was divided, it was then that Joktan, his brother, took possession of Arabia, from whom, on account of his local situation, we may suppose Job to have been descended. At

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a The only doubt respecting the accuracy of the deductions from this passage, is that which is rendered former generation,' is rather the first generation'-not the first generation of mankind, certainly, for their fathers are spoken of. The first generation' must mean the first settlers in Arabia-Joktan and his family.' Whether these were the fathers or the grandfathers of the present race may not be quite certain; but the probability is, not more distant than the latter, from the freshness of the traditions which they quote; not earlier, from the reflection on 'the curtailing of days,' which the present generation experienced.

the period, too, when each respective family had recently taken possession of their new settlements, their occupations would for some time prevent much intercourse between the nations- no stranger passed among them.' This state of things in the age of Job two hundred and seventy-seven years after that event was much altered, both for purposes of war and of commerce; excursions had been made into each other's territories, and travellers passed by the way.'

It appears also, from Sir William Jones, that it must have been very nearly at the epocha here assigned to the trial of Job, that Zabianism, or the worshipping of the luminaries of heaven, began to make progress in Arabia: "The people of Yemen," he says, " very soon fell into the common but fatal error of adoring the sun and the firmament; for even the third in descent from Joktan, who was consequently as old as Nahor, took the sirname of Abdu-Shams, or servant of the sun;' and his family, we are assured, paid particular honours to that luminary." It was in these circumstances, that Job protests his innocence of ever having been betrayed into this rising corruption of the times.

If I had looked on the light when it shone forth,
Or the moon increasing in brightness,

And my heart been secretly enticed,

And my hand been kissed to my mouth:

This too, had been' a crime demanding justice,
For I should have denied El from above.

And if it is clear, as many authors suppose, that Chimah and Chesil, in chap. ix. 9, and xxxviii. 31, 32, denote the constellations Taurus and Scorpio, and that they are mentioned as the then cardinal constellations of Spring and Autumn, it is pointed out by Dr. Hales, and others, that

a Asiatic Researches.

by astronomical calculation respecting the precession of the equinoxes, about the same age, must be ascribed to the trial of Job.

Whether the interpretation of these passages, on which this last argument rests, be quite clear or not, there seems abundant evidence to acquiesce in the date assigned by Dr. Hales: "B. C. 2337; or, eight hundred and eighteen years after the deluge; one hundred and eighty-four years before the birth of Abraham; four hundred and seventyfour years before the settlement of Jacob's family in Egypt, and six hundred and eighty-nine years before their exode, or departure from thencea."

Such is the date of the trial: it will be seen, however, as we enter upon this singular piece of antiquity, that considerable portions of the former part of the work are professedly 'sayings,' or parables,' handed down by tradition from the times of their fathers, and their fathers' fathers, which brings us near to the times of Noah and his sons.

We may therefore use the very appropriate language of Mr. Good, even with somewhat more emphasis than himself, on his hypothesis of the date of the Book of Job, that it is "" A DEPOSITORY OF PATRIARCHAL RELIGION, the best and fullest depository in the world,"-" we obtain a clear and decisive answer to the questions which have so often been proposed-What is the ultimate intention of the Book of Job? And for what purpose is it introduced into the Hebrew and Christian canons ?"-" For the purpose of making those canons complete, by uniting as full an account as is necessary of the dispensation of the patriarchs, with the two dispensations by which it was progressively succeeded." "The Book of Job is that very book which gives completion to the Bible, by adding the dispensation of the earliest ages to that of the law, and of

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