[200] The sons of God, sons of the Elohim. Cf. Genesis vi. 4. There is no analogy between these sons of God and the angels or saints of Christianity. Cf. also Prof. Cheyne, "Job and Solomon," p. 81: Baudissin, Studien, II.
[201] The human body is likened to a tent of which the tent-pole is the breath of life; this gone, all that remains is the natural prey of the elements.
[202] Calumny.
[203] Allusion to his sufferings at night from elephantiasis. This terrible malady, which was first described by Rhazes, in the ninth century, under the name dâ-l-fîl ("disease of the elephant"), was for a long time erroneously believed to be confined to Arabia. As a matter of fact, it is found in an endemic state in all warm countries, and sporadically even in Europe. In tropical and sub-tropical lands it progresses with alarming rapidity. Every new crisis is preceded by a shivering sensation and violent fever, frequently accompanied with headache, delirium, and nervous and gastric suffering. A violent attack of this kind may last seven or eight days. The seat of the disease is generally the foot or the reproductive organs. In the former case the foot swells to a monstrous size, instep, toes and heel and ankle all merging in one dense mass that reminds one of the foot of an elephant.
[204] Job feels that death is nigh.
[205] Allusion to an ocean myth. A watch had to be set upon the movements of the monsters of the sea and the firmament.
[206] The irony of these words addressed by Job to Jehovah would be deemed blasphemous in a poet like Byron or Shelley. As a matter of fact, they constitute a parody of Psalm viii. 5. as Prof. Cheyne has already pointed out ("Job and Solomon").
[207] The firmament, being a solid mass, has paths cut out along which the stars move in their courses, just as there are channels made for the clouds and rain.
[208] This entire speech is ironical.
[209] Allusion to a myth.