[80]. Nothing can be built upon the occurrence of the name Ayyûb in pre-Islamic times, for Jews and Arabs were in frequent intercourse before Mohammed.
[81]. Davenant.
[82]. Hottinger, referred to by Delitzsch, Iob, p. 7. In the Peshitto, Heb. xii. 3-11 has for a sub-title, ‘In commemoration of Job the righteous.’ The choice of the section shows in what sense Job’s ‘righteousness’ is affirmed—not the Talmudic.
[83]. See especially Job vi. 2, 3, vii. 1-3, xiv. 1-3.
[84]. This view goes back to the last century (Warburton, Michaelis, &c.) It has been remodelled by Seinecke and Hoekstra, who regard Job, not as the people of Israel in general, but the idealised Israel or ‘Servant of Jehovah.’ See especially Hoekstra’s essay, Theologisch Tijdschrift, 1871, p. 1 &c., and Kuenen’s reply, Th. Ti., 1873, p. 492 &c.
[85]. Quoted from Essay ix. in vol. ii. of The Prophecies of Isaiah.
[86]. Blake’s 16th design is devoted to the defeat of Satan. Beneath the enthroned Jehovah and his angels, ‘the Evil One falls with tremendous plummet-force. Hell naked before his face, and Destruction without a covering.’ Another point in which Blake corrects his author is the introduction of Job’s wife into the illustrations of the Colloquies.
[87]. Art. ‘Ecclesiastes,’ Ency. Brit., 9th ed.
[88]. The absence of such a protest is characteristic of the Wisdom-literature in general. The reference to star-worship in Job xxxi. 26 suggests a date subsequent to the origination of the title ‘Jehovah (God) of Hosts.’ See appendix to Isa. i. in my commentary.
[89]. Mr. Tomkins compares Job’s mode of life with that of Abram before his departure from Kharran (Studies on the Times of Abraham, 1878, p. 61).