For inquire, I pray thee, &c.— Bildad had exhorted Job to apply himself to God by prayer, upon the assurance, that if he were innocent, as he pretended, or shewed any marks of a sincere repentance, there was no doubt but he would be restored, through the divine mercy, to his former state of prosperity; but, if he should forget God in his calamity, or play the hypocrite with him, there were then no hopes for him; and for this he quotes a saying of their ancestors in these remarkable words. There are three things in this passage well worthy of our observation: First, his referring Job to their ancestors of former times, as the best instructors in wisdom; then urging the comparative ignorance of the generation which then was, and the reason of it, viz. the shortness of men's lives; We are but of yesterday, &c. human life being at this time in a swift decline, and reduced, in a few generations, from eight or nine hundred years, to one hundred and fifty, or thereabouts: but what is most to our purpose is, in the next place, his representing these long-lived ancestors of theirs, from whom they derived their wisdom, as living but an age or two before them: they were the men of the former age, or perhaps the fathers and grandfathers of these. And it appears from the Scripture history, that Shem, the son of Noah, who lived five hundred years after the flood, might well have been a cotemporary with the grand-fathers or great-grand-fathers of Job and his friends: with what authority, therefore, would such a one teach them! and with what attention would his instructions be received! Indeed, the same of these restorers of the human race was so great for many ages after, that when mankind fell into the superstition of worshipping men-deities, there is little doubt to be made, but that these were the first mortals who were deified; and that Saturn and his three famous sons (who are said by old Homer, Iliad xvi. ver. 187. to have "divided the world between them by a fair lot,") were, in reality, no other than Noah and his sons. See Bochart, Phaleg. c. 1.. The last thing that I shall observe from the passage is, the style or manner in which the precepts of their ancestors were transmitted to them; and that is, by some apt simile, or comparison, drawn from nature, and, like a picture, fitted to engage the attention; and, by agreeably entertaining the imagination, to leave a strong impression on the memory. Such is that natural and beautiful comparison which we have here; and which, by the way of introducing it, appears plainly to have been a proverbial saying, delivered down from their forefathers, and perhaps taught them from their cradles: Enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers. Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart: out of the heart, the seat of wisdom always with the ancients. Have not they then, says he, transmitted to thee this wise lesson? That as the rush cannot grow up without mire, nor the flag without water, so neither can any thing flourish or prosper long without the blessing of Almighty God? and how should the ungodly or the hypocrite expect his blessing! One scarcely knows which to admire most, the piety of the sentiment, or the elegance and justness of the comparison. The Redeemer of mankind, who came into the world, among other great designs, to revive, by his teaching, that simplicity of manners which was so observable in those ancient times, I mean that piety, and love, and humility, and purity, and probity, and truth, and those other ornaments of the mind of man, which we see so admirably delineated throughout this book,—was pleased to choose the same method of conveying his doctrines and precepts, under the delightful style of an easy parable or similitude: but enough has been said, I hope, to vindicate the interpretation given of this passage: and I have dwelt the longer on this point, as judging it a thing of some importance in itself, as well as necessary to a right understanding of the following part of the chapter.
And prepare thyself to the search of their fathers— Search diligently of the fathers for their memorial. Houbigant. The Syriac has it, and understand the histories of the fathers of them.