H .n.lh, LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PRINCETON, N. J. PEOBLEMATA MUNDI. Of unknown date and unkno'wn authorship, the language impregnated with strange idioms and strange allusions, unje\vish in form, and in fiercest hostility with Judaism, it [the Rook of Job] hovers like a meteor over the old Hebrew literature, in it, but not of it ; compelling the acknowledgment of itself by its own internal majesty, yet exerting no influence over the minds of the people ; never alluded to, and scarcely ever quoted, till at last the light which it had hci-alded rose up full over the world in Christianity." J. A. FROUDE, M.A. I call that [the Book of Job], apart from all theories about it, one of the grandest things ever written with pen. There is nothing written, I think, either in the Bible or out of it, equal to it." THOMAS CAHLYLE. PROBLEIATA MUNDL-^ ' APR Iv 192- THE BOOK OF JOB €xcgcticaUa mib |JviuticaUj) (Eonsiti^i-cii. CONTAINING NINETY-ONE IIOJIILETIC SKETCHES. DAVID THOMAS, D.D, 'the practical philosopher, commentaries on "MATTHEW AND "ACTS OF THE apostles;" "philosophy of happiness." editok of "the homilist;" COMPILER of "biblical LITUROY;" ETC. ETC. CRITICALLY REVISED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION, SAMUEL DAVIDSON, D.D., LL.D., AUTHOR of "introductions TO the OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS," "THE CANON OF THE BIBLE," ETC. ETC. FIRST EDITION. LOJN'DON": SMITH, ELDEE, & CO., 15, WATERLOO PLACE. 1878. lAU Riyhts reserved.] ^1 u n g a n : CLAY AND TAYLOR, rillNTEI SISSIE AND ANGELENE, MY LOVED AND LOVING DAUGHTERS, WHO JOINTLY WROTE THIS AND NEARLY THE WHOLE OF MY OTHER WORKS, E lleitcate this "^alumf, WITH DEVOUT ASPIRATIONS FOR YOUR WELL-BEING HERE AND YONDER, NOW AND FOR EVER. ALSO TO THE Pemarg of ^our ircpartcb glotljiT, MY FAITHFUL COMPANION AND LOVING HELPMEET DURING THE GREATER PORTION OF MY LIFE, I Inscribe \i, WITH TENDEREST RECOLLECTIONS OF HER MANY VIRTUES, AND IN TRUSTFUL ANTICIPATION OF A REUNION WITH HER AND OUR CHILDREN, IN THAT STATE WHICH IS UNCLOUDED BY IGNORANCE, UNTAINTED BY WRONG, AND UNDISTURBED BY ANY REGRETS OP THE PAST, OR FOREBODINGS OF THE FUTURE. DAVID THOMAS. PROLOGUE. In this volume I have not sought to determine the question as to whether Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and Elihu are historical characters, or are the mere creations of dramatic genius, nor have I endeavoured to settle either the author- ship or the date of the book. Many have been and are engaged in these attempts, and no satisfactory results have been or are likely to be reached. Nor have 1 sought to furnish a new translation. Eender- ings of this book abound, and are increasing. And in comparing them I find that they differ amongst themselves as much as many of them differ from our common version. A new translation was offered to me by a distinguished professor of Hebrew in one of our Colleges, which I did not accept, because I deemed it superfluous. Nor have I concerned myself much with philological criticism. I find many of those who have written critically on this book have engaged themselves more in strictures on the opinions of each other, than in the endeavour to throw light on the text. I count myself fortunate, however, in having obtained, for the purpose of philological accuracy, the supervision of Dr. Samuel Davidson, who is acknow- ledged throughout Europe as one of our most accomplished Biblical scholars. viii PROLOGUE. Nor, again, have I set myself to determine whether the book has any special Divine inspiration in it or not. That it reveals genius of the highest order, and teems with lofty sentiments, both ethical and religious, all uttered in the grandest forms of speech, is manifest to the most cursory reader. I have been concerned in getting at, evolving, and systematizing the thoughts which the marvellous utterances contained or suggested. If there be '' sermons in stones," there must be sermons in human thoughts, whether inspired or uninspired. A human thought is of all the phenomena on this earth the most wonderful, and significant, and the most deserving of scientific and devout investigation. My aim, in one word, has been to develop those ideas which are vital to man as man in all lands and ages, and to frame them in an order as philosophic and as suggestive as I could ; and this for the purpose of making this ancient book a living power to all classes of thoughtful men. The theology that may be found in my pages I have not brought to the text, \>\x\ from it. The propriety of the title, ''' Prohlemata Mundi;' will scarcely be questioned by those who have read thought- fully all the verses and chapters of this remarkable pro- duction. Such readers will have found it teeming with such transcendent problems as, Can man serve God disin- terestedly ? "How shall man be just with God?" "Y/here shall wisdom be found ? " " If a man die, shall he live again?" "Man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?" •' Where is God, my Maker ? " &c. Tliough I profess not to have solved its problems, I have can-fully examined them, and that with a view to public usefulness. The work is in some respects sui generis. It PROLOGUE. ix stands alone, has an unoccupied place, and proffers services — such as they are — hitherto unrendered. I have consulted many writers on the book, such as Wemyss, Mason Goode, Noyes, Lee, Delitzsch, Bernard, Professor Davidson, Froude, Cox, Robinson, Canons Cook, Barry, Plumptre, and many others. If I have used the thoughts of any without a due acknowledgment of their authorship, it has been an oversight, for which I crave consideration. It may be necessary to say that the several portions of this work have been written at various times, extending over many years, under various circumstances, and in various moods of mind and conditions of body. Hence they are not of equal length, vivacity, or completeness. In sending the volume forth I scarcely dread criticism, for no candid writer will discover imperfections of which I am not already too conscious. I launch it as a humble craft on the great sea of human thought. I know there is some living seed in it, which, if sown, will grow, multiply, and produce fruit to nourish and strengthen human souls. May Heaven guide its rudder and fill its sails, that it may visit many climes, scatter its grain upon many shores, and thus render service to the men that are, and to the men that are to be! D. T. Erewyn, Upper Tulse Hill, London, July, 1878. ANALYTICAL CONTENTS. Prologue Introduction ..... A Glance at the Moral Purpose of the Book xm PAGE 1 6 CHAPTER I. A Good Man in Great Prosperity A Picture of the Foe of Foes . A Picture of the Foe of Foes (Continued) CHAPTER II. A Picture op the Foe of Foes (Concluded) Geni;ine Friendship VKRSE3 1— 5 G— 12 13—22 1—10 11—13 CHAPTER III. job's first speech. The Maddening Force of Suffering 43 THE FIRST COLLOQUY ; CHAPTER IV. THE FIRST SPEECH OP ELIPHAZ TO JOB. Wrong Criteria of Character , Man's Fellowship with the Unseen World CHAPTER V. THE first speech OF ELIPHAZ TO JOB. (Continued.) A View of Moral Evil ..... 1 — 7 A View of the Great God .... 8 — IG His Judgment op Human Afflictions . . . 17 — 27 CONTENTS. VERSES PAGE 1—13 ... 80 . 14—30 ... 86 (Continued.) . 1— 6 ... 92 . 7—10 ... 95 . 11—16 ... 98 . 17—21 ... 102 CHAPTER VI. job's reply to the first speech of eliphaz. Great Sufferings ..... Mistaken Friendship .... CHAPTER VII. job's reply to the first speech of eliphaz. Life Burdensome and Brief A Cry to Heaven. (1) Invocation A Cry to Heaven. (2) Expostulation . A Cry to Heaven. (3) Interrogation . CHAPTER VIII. Bilbao's first address to job. Its Excellenctes and Defects .... 1 — 10 Its Excellencies and Defects (Continued) . . 11 — 19 Its Excellencies and Defects (Concluded) . . 20 — 22 CHAPTER IX. job's first reply to bildad. His Language about the Eternal. (1) What He is IN Himself ...... His Language about the Eternal. (2) What God does in Nature ..... His Language about the Eternal. (3) God's Appear- ance to Man ...... His Language to the Eternal. (1) Concerning the. Fleetness of Life ..... His Language to the Eternal. (2) Concerning his Sufferings ...... CHAPTER X. job's first reply to bildad. (Continued.) His Language to the Eternal. (2) Concerning his Sufferings (Continued) His Language to the Eternal. Sufferings (Concluded) (2) Concerning his 1—17 18—22 104 111 115 1— 4 . . 117 5— 9 . . 121 10—24 . . 125 25—26 . . 131 27—35 . . 135 139 146 CHAPTER XL zophar's first speech to job. Questionable Reproving and Necessary Teaching . 1 — 6 ... 150 The Greatness op God and the Worthlessness OP Man . 7 — 12 ... 155 The Life op the Godly and the Doom op the Wicked . 13 — 20 ... 159 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XII. job's argument with his three friends. Independency of Thought in Eeligion . God does not tkeat Men here according to Character God does not treat Men here according to Cha- racter (Continued) .... VERSES PAGE 1— 5 . .. 163 G— 12 . .. 166 13—25 170 . 1—19 .. 174 . 20-28 .. 181 (Continued.) . 1—13 .. 186 . 14—22 .. 193 CHxVPTER XIII. job's argument with his threb friends. (Continued.) God does not treat Men here according to Cha- racter (Concluded) .... His Appeal to Heaven .... CHAPTER XIV. job's argument with his three friends. His Appeal to Heaven (Continued) His Appeal to Heaven (Concluded) CHAPTER XV. the second colloquy. The Second Speech of Eliphaz .... 1 — 35 ... 199 CHAPTER XVI. job's second reply to eliphaz. His Censure and Complaint .... 1 — 22 ... 213 CHAPTER XVII. job's second reply to eliphaz. (Continued.) His Threefold Address ..... 1 — 16 ... 222 CHAPTER XVIII. bildad's second discourse. The Reprehensible in Conduct and the Retributive IN Destiny ...... 1 — 21 ... 230 CHAPTER XIX. job's second reply to bildad. Bitterly Complaining and firmly Trusting . . 1 — 29 ... 236 CHAPTER XX. zophar's second speech. Aspects of a Polemical, a Natural, and a Dogmatical Religion ...... 1 — 29 ... 244 XIV CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXI. job's second reply to zophar. That Cheat Sufferings in Man always imply Great Wickedness, a Great Fallacy 1—34 CHAPTER XXII. THE THIRD colloquy: THE THIRD SPEECH OF ELIPHAZ. The Theological Section . , . . . 1 — 4 The Recriminatory Section • . . . . 5 — 14 The Historic Section ..... 15 — 20 The Admonitory Section ..... 21 — 30 CHAPTER XXIII. job's third reply TO ELIPHAZ. The Struggles of a Suffering Soul after God . 1 — 10 A Blessed Consciousness, a Sublime Reflection, and A Moral Sadness ..... 11—17 CHAPTER XXIV. job's third reply to ELIPHAZ. (Continued.) Great Crimes not always followed by Great Pun- ishment IN this Life . .... 1 — 25 CHAPTER XXV. bildad's third speech. Exalted Ideas of God and Humbling Ideas op Man . 1 — 6 CHAPTER XXVI, job's third answer to bildad. Righteous Sarcasm and the Transcendent Great- ness of God ...... 1—14 CHAPTER XXVII. job's third answer to bildad. (Continued.) A Solemn As.severation, a Noble Determination, and A Weighty Reflection .... 1 10 .lou'8 Lecture on God's Treatment of Wicked Men '. 11 23 CHAPTER XXVIIL job's third answer to bildad. (Continued.) Man's Power and Weakness .... 1—28 . CHAPTER XXIX. job's answer to his friends in general. Sad Memories of Years that are gone . 1—25 252 264 267 272 276 281 286 304 310 CONTENTS. •CHAPTER XXX. job's answer to his friends in general. (Continued.) VERSES PAGE Job's Sufferings. (1) Social .... 1 — 15 ... 330 Job's Sufferings. (2) Physical .... 16 — 19 ... 336 Job's Sufferings. (3) Mental .... 20 — 31 ... 339 CHAPTER XXXI. job's concluding discourse. His Self- Vindication 1—40 CHAPTER XXXII. THE FIRST speech OP ELIHU. Controversy, Indignation, and Age A Young Preacher Justifying his Mission 559 CHAPTER XXXIII. THE FIRST SPEECH OF ELiHU. (Continued.) Grounds for claiming a Religious Hearing from our Fellow-men . , . . . . 1 — 7 The Common in Controversy, Sin, and Theology . 8 — 18 The Successful Discipline of Life . . . 19 — 33 367 371 374 CHAPTER XXXIV. THE SECOND SPEECH OF ELIHU. A Threefold Subject of Thought His Remonstrance and its Reasons A Good Counsel and a Bad Example . 1—15 . . 383 16—30 . . 389 31—37 . . 395 CHAPTER XXXV. the third speech op elihu. Man's Character ..... Five Prevalent Evils amongst Men 400 403 CHAPTER XXXVI. the fourth speech of elihu. The Portrait op a True Preacher God Absolutely and Relatively A Sound Doctrine, a False Charge, a Solemn Warn- ing, AND AN Important Admonition . The Being and Agency of God . . . . 1— 4 . . 408 5—15 . . 411 16-21 . . 414 22—33 . . 418 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXXVII. THE FOURTH SPEECH OP ELiHU. (Continued.) VERSES PAGE 1—13 . .. 423 14—18 . .. 426 TiiE Phenomena of Nature The Religious Use of Nature Suggestions concerning Man, and Declarations con- cerning God 19-24 ... 429 CHAPTER XXXVIII. Jehovah's address. A Challenge to Job's Intelligence in Relation to the when and the how of the Earth's Origin . 1 — 7 ... 434 A Challenge to Job's Knowledge in Relation to the World of Waters, and the Interchange of Day and Night ...... 8 — 15 ... 437 A Challenge to Job's Knowledge in Relation to the Hidden Abysses of the World , . . 16 — 21 ... 441 A Challenge to Job's Knowledge in Relation to the Meteorological and Astronomical Phenomena . 22 — 38 ... 444 ,A Challenge .to Job's Intelligence in Relation to Animal Life ...... 39—41 ... 450 CHAPTER XXXIX. • Jehovah's address. (Continued.) The Study of Zoology a Religious Duty . . 1 — 30 ... 452 CHAPTERS XL. and XLI. Jehovah's address. (Continued.) It silences Controversy and generates Repentance 1 — 14 ... 460 The Huge Animals op the World intended by the Almighty to make Moral Impressions on Human- ITY . . . . . 15— 24 and 1—34 ... 463 CHAPTER XLII. Job's Answer to the Almighty. Direct and Indirect Revelations of God to the Human Soul . . i 6 ... 466 Job's Kkiends Condemned and he Acquitted . 7 9 ... 459 The Frailty of Human Friendships, and the ultimate TiuuMi'u OF Righteousness .... 10—17 473 EPILOGUE 477 A HOMILETIC COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF JOB. INTRODUCTION. BY SAMUEL DAVIDSON, D.D., LL.D. The Book of Job is a dramatic poem. A prose prologue stands at the commencement, which is followed by the action itself. A controversy with the friends of the hero is contained in three acts or series of the dialogue. Each act consists of three attacks by the opponents, and as many defences. The conclusion is formed by a monologue of Job. Finally, God Himself appears as Judge of the combat, and pronounces His decision ; after which comes an epilogue in prose. The internal or dialectic development corresponds to the outward structure. The theatre of Job's trials was the land of Uz, which lay on the borders of Idumea and Arabia, in the north-eastern part of Arabia Deserta. He belonged to the j)atriarchal period ; and the few facts embodied in tradition respecting him were taken as the ground- work of a poem, disposed, enlarged, and moulded according to the object in view. The historical, the legendary, and the fictitious are insepar- ably blended together. The author was an Israelite, not a foreigner, since Hebrew culture shines forth from his bold philosophy ; but the scene is in Arabia. Whether the poet lived in Egypt is uncertain. If he did not, he travelled into that and other lands, where he saw their products and wonders. Traces of his acquaintance with Egypt are 2 INTRODUCTION. imineroiis, such as the descriptions of the hippopotamus and crocodile, figures taken from the Nile, the pyramids of the E.syptian kings (iii. 14, 15), and the Egyptian myth of the phoenix (xxix. 18). These and similar details point to a personal knowledge of the country. But the name of the minstrel is lost in the oblivion of antiquity. His work, however, will live for ever, reflecting a light amid the dark- ness of the okl economy. Like a star of the first magnitude, his brilliant genius attracts the admiration of men, as it points to the Almighty Ruler chastening yet loving His people. Of one whose sublime conceptions (mounting the height where Jehovah is enthroned in light inaccessible to mortal eye) lift him far above his time and people — who climbs the ladder of the Eternal as if to open heaven — of this giant philosopher and poet we long to know something, his habitation, name, appearance. The very spot where his ashes rest, we desire to gaze upon. But in vain. Prolmbly his contemporaries were not alive to the unique excellence of his work, towering as it did above all the efi'usions of the Hebrew muse, and overleaping the slow growth of Plebrew ideas. The great poem itself is all we can have. And it is enough. In the emanation of this gifted spirit, — shrouded as he now is in miraculous concealment, in the imperishable monument of bis genius, — he still speaks to men of the Divine Justice, Omnipotence, and Wisdom, wdth a daring merging into the modest humility befitting the creature. The age of the book, which must not be confounded with that of the hero, is the beginning of the seventh century before Clu'ist. Jeremiah, whose prophecies are characterized by much imitation, pre-supposcs the existence of the poem ; and tlie general character of the language agrees best w4th this time. It bears some marks of decay, like that of the later, not the exile, books. The integrity of the book has been impugned in diff'erent ways and places. But criticism has failed to remove any portions except the discourses of Elihu contained in chapters xxxii.-xxxvii. These are unquestionably of later origin than tlie rest. They remove the connection between Job's last discourse and that of the Almighty in the 38th chapter, whose c(jnimencement necessarily implies that Job had just INTRODUCTION. 3 spoken. Tliey weaken the speech of Jehovah by anticipat- ing, in xxxvi., xxxvii., the appeal to the Divine Power and Wisdom. They even make it superfluous, because they give the solution of the problem in the way of knowledge ; while Jehovah demands unconditional subjection to His Almighty Power and hidden Wisdom. Eliliu misunder- stands or perverts the language of Job (xxxiv. 9 ; xxxv. 2, 3). The style and language are also peculiar, difl'ering remarkably from the rest. The diction is more strongly Aramaean — rough, heavy, prolix, difficult. It is impossible to tell how long after the older poet, the author of Elihu's discourses wrote. A century at least must be assumed. • The problem discussed by the author is, how the suffer- ings of the righteous are connected with the providence of a just God. The Jewish mind must have had great diffi- culty in resolving a problem of this nature, because the religion of Moses presented nothing else than temporal rewards and punishments. The beginnings of speculation respecting it are seen in the Psalms ; especially in the 37th, 49th, and 73rd. But in Job the question takes a more comprehensive range, rising to the consideration of the moral government of the world ; or how fiir the wisdom and justice of God appear to pervade the present system. The design of the writer was to demonstrate the insufficiency of the current doctrine of compensation. As a man lives, so he fares in the world — that was the genius of Mosaism. Experience, however, is often at variance with this doctrine. We see the godly suffering the blight of adversity, while the wicked flourish and prosper. The mind of the poet- philosopher, powerfully affected by the sufferings of the pious, could find no comfort in the popular Hebrew faith. He tried therefore to get beyond it into a region where all might not be dark. 'J'here must be a deeper and more comprehensive view of the ways of Providence towards men. How far then is Job the representative of a better doctrine ? Though struggling to free himself from the trammels of national belief, he attains to nothing more than the doctrine of unlimited acquiescence in the Divine coun- sels and will. Man's duty is to acquiesce in the arrange- ments of Infinite Power and Wisdom. The prologue, 4 INTRODUCTION. iiiJeed, indicates a glimpse of sufferings being sometHng else than retributive, viz., permitted for the trial and strenothenino- of faith. And there are two passages in the speeches of Job, which carry the problem a little farther, by intmaf'uiff a state of conscious existence beyond the trrave. The germ of the doctrine of immortality lies in them. In them there is the dawning of a future existence in which the spirit should not be separate from God. But such moments of high inspiration did not continue ; and the epilogue reverts to the doctrine of strict retribution in this life. See xix. 25-27 ; xiv. 13-15. The view given of Satan is peculiar. He is different from the being so called in later times. As yet there is no im- [)assable gulf between good and bad spirits. The kingdom of Satan is not separated from the kingdom of light by an infinite chasm. The great evil spirit is not at the head of an innumerable host of spirits malevolent like himself, whom he employs as instruments of evil. He is admitted alone into the Divine assembly in heaven. The conception of Satan was in progress of formation. The view given of angels is also peculiar in some respects. They are supposed to be a kind of mediators, who intercede with God that He should listen to man's prayers. They also interpret the Divine will, observing the conduct of men, and pointing out the right path from which they had strayed (v. 1 ; xxxiii. 23, 24). For a copious discussion of all questions connected with the Book of Job, the reader is referred to the second volume of Davidson's Introduction to the Old Testament. Our space here allows nothing but an outline of the chief results arrived at there. It is unfortunate that good comments on Jol) are not to be found in English. The language is diffi- (iult ; and many have undertaken to expound it with a very imperfect knowledge of the original. Hence Barnes, Wemyss, Mason Good, Lee, and such-like cannot be relied ui»on. The English translation of Umbreit is also inade- (piate ; l)ut that of Delitzsch is much better. The latter is l)robably the best in our language ; though it is not the best conmientary. Thoroughly to understand the book, recourse must be had to Schlottmann, Ewald, Hitzig, Hirzel, and INTRODUCTION. 5 Merx, in conjunction with Delitzscli. Where these differ, as they do not unfrequently, the reader must judge for himself. The author of the work before us has adapted the old poem to homiletic purposes, making it speak to Christians as well as Jews ; ay, to humanity. Divesting it of the temporary, he finds in it suggestive lessons for all times. With the great talent he possesses for such peculiar exposi- tion,* he breathes into the grand poetry of the past tlie spirit of a catholic religion which survives perishable forms. lie makes it profitable for humanity. He docs not offer an exegetical book properly so called, one occupied with ques- tions of criticism or varying expositions, though these are not neglected ; but a series of instructive lessons clothed in terse and vigorous language. The strength of the writer lies in the direct inculcation of weighty truths involved in the book. We believe, therefore, that it will prove useful both to preachers and general readers — to that large class who wish to know at once whether Job and his friends have aught to say to them, whether these ancient worthies may not intimate things that promote spiritual life and widen the apprehension of God, whether they may not enlarge the understanding in its survey of Nature and Providence. Dr. Thomas is happy in seizing the point and pith of the sayings which the poet puts into the mouths of his disput- ants. We cannot doubt that the volume will be welcomed by many, especially by such as have long availed themselves of the valualjle aid which his fertile pen has yielded for years, giving them a new interest in the Hebrew Scriptures, and quickening their religious susceptibilities. * In proof of his abilities in this department we have only to refer to the nyiraerous volumes of The Homilist — a periodical which continues with unwearied activity amid so many imitations that ended in failure. Nothing of the same kind has succeeded, because it lacked inlaereut vitality. The great resources of the author have carried him onward amid all the vicissitudes of taste and the varieties of ephemeral pubhcations. A GLANCE AT THE MORAL PURPOSE OF THE BOOK. HOMILY No. L THE GREAT PROBLEM : IS RELIGION DISINTERESTED OR UTILITARIAN ? " Doth J oh fear God for nour/ht ?" — Job i. 9. By universal consent the Book of Job stands in matcti- less splendour among the great books of the world. Thomas Carlyle, — than whom we have no better judge of true genius, far-reaching thought, elevated moral sentiment, and magnificent composition, — thus speaks of this marvellous production : "I call that, apart from all theories about it, one of the grandest things ever written with pen. One feels, indeed, as if it were not Hebrew ; such a noble uni- versality, different from noble patriotism or noble sectarian- ism, reigns in it. A noble book ; all men's book. It is our first, oldest statement of the never-ending problem — man's destiny and God's ways with him here in this earth. And all in such free flowing outlines ; grand in its sincerity and in its simplicity, in its epic melody and repose of reconcile- ment. There is the seeing eye, the mildly understanding heart. So true every way ; true eyesight and vision for all things, material things no less than spiritual. . . . Such living likenesses were never since drawn. Sublime sorrow, sublime reconciliation; oldest choral m'elody, as of the heart of mankind ; so soft and great; as the summer midnight, as the world with its sea and stars ! There is nothing written, 1 think, in the Bible or out of it, of equal merit." The book is full of God and humanity. It has no Church or formulated creed. It is as universal as nature. No Jews, priests, scribes, or Pharisees figure on its pages. The scenes JOB /. 9. 7 of its narration are somewhere outside the boundaries of Palestine. There is no good reason for believing that all the charac- ters here are not historic. Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, Elihu, come before you, not as the creations of fi(;tion, but as veritable personalities, mea with like passions as ourselves. Job, who is mentioned in Ezekiel and James, in all proba- bility lived after the Deluge, between Abraham and Moses ; for whilst there is no reference to Israel's great lawgiver, there is an undoubted allusion to the flood.* Who wrote the book ? Was it Job himself ? Is it auto- biographic ? The wonderful thoughts and sublime utter- ances that fell from his lips show that he was equal to such a task, equal to the developing of his life in this grand poetic drama. But probably some man of stupendous genius in later times came into possession, either by record or tradi- tion, of the strange and startling facts of Job's life, and worked them into this unique drama — worked them as our own Shakspeare has w^orked the lives of old celebrities into his imperishable compositions. Who can determine, and what matters it ? The chief point worthy of consideration is, What is the grand purpose of this poetic drama ? — for drama it is, full of action and progress, deep passions and grand issues. Carlyle says, " It is our first, oldest statement of the never-ending problem — man's destiny and God's ways with him here in this earth." It seems to me that this magnificent poem helps to solve (I say not that it was intended to do so) at least five great problems — problems which have agitated the hearts of men in all ages and lands. — I. Is it possible for man in his religious services to be actuated by pure, disinterested love for his Maker? — II. Is there any being in the universe but God to whom the terrible evils that afflict humanity can with philosophical satisfaction be ascribed ? — III. Are man's * " Ewald," says Canon Cook, " whose judgment in this case will not be questioned, asserts positively that in all the descriptions of manners and customs, domestic, social, and political, even in the indirect allusions and illustrations, the genuine culomlng of the age of Job, that is, of the period between Abraham and Moses, is veiy faithfully observed ; that all historical examples and allusions are taken exclusively from patri- archal times, and that there is a complete and successful avoidance of direc;t reference to later occurrences, wliich in liis opinion may have been known to the writer." 8 JOB J. 9. external circumstances to be taken as a test of his moral character?— IV. Is it possible for men, by their unaided in- vestigations, rightly to interpret the Providence of God ?— V. Considering the enormous afflictions to which the right- eous are subject in this world because of their righteousness, will a righteous life prove of any advantage to them in the long run ? The passage at the head of this sketch bids me confine my attention at present to the first. The other problems will receive attention as I proceed in my homiletic remarks on this book. Is if possible for man to be actuated hy disinterested love for his Maker ? Can he "fear God for nought ? " This is the point on which I now wish to fasten attention. And before I notice the severe tests by which this world proljlera was to be tried once for ever, it may be well to glance for a moment at the man on whom the experiment was made. He is summarily described (chap. i. 1-5).* And we learn that he was great in wealth and position, great in intellect and genius, above all, great in moral character. On this distin- guished man the experiment is made. He is tried, in order to settle the question once for all, as to whether man is capable of serving God free from all selfish and utilitarian motives. " Doth Job fear God for nought? " said the evil spirit. As if he had said, — He is religious because Thou hast pros- pered him, because he finds it to answer his purpose. " Hast not Thou made an hedge about him ? . . . Thou hast blessed the work of his hands." It is all selfishness, there is no disinterestedness at the root. Now for the tests to ivhich he was subjected. They were threefold : the one extending to his circumstances ; the other to his health ; the other to his creed. I. He was tried circumstantially. The Almighty is ])oetically represented as holding a council with His minis- ters of state. " The sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord." Into this august council-chamber the arch-enemy of God and His happy universe with impious hardihood intrudes. Summoned by the Eternal to give an account of himself, he declares that he is one who is ''going * For an exposition of this passage, see pages 14, 15. JOB I. 9. 9 to and fro in the earth, and loalkinf/ up and down in itT His attention is then called by the Almighty to Job : " Had thoit considered My servant Job, that there is ?wne like him in the earth ? " To this, this hideous Mephistopheles replies, as with a sneer on his ghastly lips, " Both Job fear God for nought? " Whereupon he receives Divine permission to try the patriarch by ruining him in his circumstances. " 2he Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power : only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord." With this licence the giant fiend begins at once. He loses no time — he spreads his black pinions, and like a hungry vulture in a carrioned atmosphere pounces down upon his victim and inflicts the most tremendous trials ; and that at a time which would add considerably to their severity. It was on one of the bright- est days of Job's life as a father : " There was a day lohen his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking tvine in their eldest brother s house.'' Perhaps each of his children had a set day in the year for domestic festivity. This was the festive day of the eldest son, which would, for many reasons, be regarded as the most important. What a jubilant day for the father ! how delighted he would be to see all his children bright and happy under one roof. Such a day Satan selected for his work. On no day does a trial fall so heavily as on the day when we are full of joy and hope. " The darkest shade falls on the sunniest spot." He sends trial after trial, and that in rapid succession, in order so to confound him as to bring from his lips a curse on God. He begins by sending a messenger to the joyous house with the intelligence that " I'he oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them: and the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them aivay ; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword ; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee." What a terrible stroke ! Five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred she-asses, and numerous faithful servants slain. How does the patriarch bear this stroke ? Does he curse God ? No ; he stands well this terrible shock. Hence another messen- ger is despatched in haste to the house with tidings of more calamities : " While he was yet speaking, there came also an- other, and said, The f re of God is fallen from heaven, and hath 10 JOB I. 9. burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them : and 1 only am escaped atone to tetl thee.'' Has Job yielded ? Is his trust in his Maker shaken ? Is the curse rising to his lips? Not so, but still firm: hence another stroke. " While he icasyet speakiny, there came also another, and said, The Chal- deans made oat three hands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them aivay, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee." How now ? Still firm — firm as a rock. Hence another and a more terrible blow is given. While the third messenger is yet speaking there came another, and said, " Thy sons and thy daughters were eatiny and drinkiny tvine in their eldest brother s house : and, behold, there came a yreat wind from the icilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee!' How stands he this ? Surely his faith has given way — his love for the Almighty is changed into a WTath that goes out in the wdd curses of rebellion ? Not so. Though bereft of everything, he does not throw off his allegiance to Heaven, nor sliriek blasphemies into the ears of the Infinite. Here is the result : " Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and ivorshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother s womb, and naked shall I return thither : the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.'' II. He was tried physically. The period comes round, — perhaps twelve months after the first trial, — for an- other Cabinet Council in heaven. Satan intrudes again into that august assembly. He had tried Job to the full extent of the licence granted to him, and he was foiled. The Almighty calls his attention again to Job, repeats His testi- mony to his high moral excellence, and says : ''lie holdeth fast his inteyriiy, altlwuyh thou movedst Me against him, to destroy him without cause." As if He had said. Thou hast done thine utmost, and yet in loving loyalty he stands unmoved. To this Satan replies : " Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he yivefor his life. But pui forth Thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse Thee to Thy JOB I. 9. 11 faceT As if lie had said, Thou hast only allowed me to try him in his circumstances ; I have not touched his j^erson- alify ; he is a strong man with a full flow of health in his veins; he enjoys life, and this makes him so steadfast. Permit me to touch his vitals ; let me act on him. This power is granted. ^' Belio/d, he is in ihine hand ; hut save his life." With an infernal promptitude, he sets to work once more. " Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown." He is smitten with a disease which is, of all dis- eases that flesh is heir to, the most painful and loathsome. He writhes in agony. His existence is intolerable ; his appearance is so abhorrent, even to his own wife, that she says, " Dost thou still retain thine integrity ? Curse God, and die!' How stands he this ? Does he hold on to his integrity ? or does he give way ? Surely he now turns in flaming indignation against his Maker? Nay. Hear him. ''What? shall we receive good at the Jtand of God, and shall we not receive evil ? In all this did not Job sin loith Ids mouth!' Can you conceive of greater trials ? When all his property and servants were swept away, he might have said, " I have my sons and my daughters wdio will comfort me, help me to bear my losses, and perhaps to repair my fortune ; " and when they were removed, he might have said, " J have still my health and strength, and may be able by my own efl'orts to obtain the means of subsistence." Still more, when his health w^as gone, he might have said, " My wife is left, who will attend on me in my anguish and minister to my necessities." But she turned against him. All this tre- mendous force of trial is brought to bear upon this lonely man, in order, if possible, to show that his religion was nothing but a form of selfishness, that he did not '\fear God for nought." And yet all this failed — gloriously failed ; firm as granite he stood, amid the dashing billows and furious hurricanes. in. He was tried theologically. " His creed," says Dr. H. B. Davidson, in his excellent Commentary on Job (which I regret is incomplete), " contained tw^o elements, or at least 12 JOB I. 9. one, whidi ran tlie risk of mining liim. The article was : Affliction comes immediately from tlie hand of God. Whom God is angry with He afflicts. When God afflicts, it is proof that He regards him whom He afflicts as a grievous sinner." A most natural doctrine was this, an instinctive a priori faith. But Job's consciousness now rebelled against it ; he knew that he was not a great sinner. His so-called friends, in their discussion with him, as well as Elihu, enforced on him this theology, and consequently regarded and denounced him as a great sinner. Against their arguments, — although they accorded with his own theology, — his whole nature rebelled ; he, felt he was not a heinous sinner. Though Satan does not personally appear in all this long contention, no doubt he inspired it and gloated in it. Thus, for many a long day Job is tortured in his deepest convictions, the tenderest nerves of the soul. His religious consciousness is under the iron harrow of fierce religious controversy. How does he stand this, perhaps t\\Q, f/reatest oi all his trials ? Does his loyalty to Heaven give way ; does his trust in the Almiglity die out ? True, he often uses language that it would be difficult if not impossible to justify. Suffering often maddens the soul, and the mad soul will ever speak extravagantly — speak in the wild poetry of passion. Still he holds on, and we hear him uttering such words as these : " TliOU(/]i He day me, yet loill I trust in Him!' And lifting his head above the burning weaves of agony, he exclaims : " I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth : and tliough after my skin worms destroy tim body, yet in my flesh shall I see God : ivhom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold, and not another ; thouyh my reins be cons/imed ivithin me!' _ Here then, in this Job, is the question settled for all time ; that the human soul is not essentially selfish ; that it can ''fear God for nought," that genuine religion is to its possessor infinitely dearer than all things — dearer than wealth, children, reputation, health, theological convictions, life itself. In sooth, this is the only true religion, the religion which our Lord inculcated. Genuine religion is compara- tively indiff"erent to futurities, concerns itself but little with gains and losses, heavens and hells. JOB I. 1-5. 13 " My God, I love Thee, not because 1 hope for heaven thereby ; Nor yet because who love Thee not Must burn eternally. " Not with the hope of gaining aught, Nor seeking a reward ; But as Thyself hast loved me, 0 ever loving Lord." — Xavier. HOMILY No. 11. A GOOD MAN IN GREAT PROSPERITY. " There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job ; and that man was perfect and iqwlght, and one that feared God, and escheioed evil. And there were horn unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also ivas seven thousand sheep, and three thousand ca,mels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household ; so that this man loas the greatest of all the men of the east. And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day ; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And it ivas so, tvhen the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified, tliem, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all : for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God- in their hearts. Thus did Job continually." — Chap. i. 1-5. ExEGETicAL Remarks. Ver.l. — " There -was a man in the land of Uz." Uz, north of Arabia Deserta, lying towards the Euphrates. It was in this neighbourhood, and not in that of Idumea, that the Chal- deans and Sabeans, who plundered Job, dwelt. A "man," not a Jew: in the land of Uz, not Judea, but some vast desert. Truth is inde- pendent of tribes and lands. " Wliose name was Job." Some say the name is derived from an Arabic word, signifying, to return or repent; others from a Hebrew word, signify- ing, " one greatly tried." Among the Ancients, names were often given to persons to indicate something special in their lives. The Emir of Uz received, perhaps, his name for this reason. Canon Cook supposes that the name is " derived from a word, signifying jubilant exulta- tion, and expressing the joy of a noble family at the birth of an heir." " A nd that man wasijerfect and up- right, and one that feared God and escheioed evil.'" This clause has been rendered thus : — " And that mail was pious and upright, a fearer of God, and a turner away from evil." The meaning is, that he was a rigliteous man, worshipping the one God and abstaining from all evil. The language implies that he was an ideally perfect man. Ver. 2. — " And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters." In the east, and in primitive times, it was considered a great privilege to have children, and a great curse to be without them j also, a greater blessing to have many sons than many daughters. u JOB I. 1-5. Ver. 3. — " His suhstancc also teas seven thousand sheep" &c. No houses or land are mentioned as be- longing to liim, for this great Emir led a nomadic life, according to the customs of his age and times. He dwelt in moveable tents. With the oxen he tilled the soil, and with the camels he prosecuted his journeys. His stock of cattle was truly very large. " And a very great house- hold" In the margin, " husbandry." The productions which he reaped from the soil he cultivated were very abundant. " So that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east." By the east is meant, those living east of Palestine. He was the magnate of the ri^gion in which he dwelt ; a man of great authority, both on account of his high moral character and great pos- sessions. Ver. 4. — "And his sons toent and feasted in tJieir houses, every one his day." From chap. iii. ver. 1, it may be that reference is here made to their birthdays. Some, however, think that the reference is to the Sabbath, the day on which God rested from His works. In ancient times, as at present, the custom pre- vailed of celebrating the birthday by feasting, — see Gen. xl. 20, where we tind that Pharaoh made a feast to his household on the occasion of his liirlhday. These periodical do- mestic gatherings indicate the great harmony that prevailed in the Emir's family. "And sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them." It was the custom in the east for the daughters to live in their mother's home (Gen. xxiv. 27), whilst the sons went out to follow their agri- cultural and other pursuits. The fact that the sisters were invited attests that the feast was not one of intemperate revelries, but one of affectionate family intercourse. Ver. 5. — "And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about." This means, most probably, " gone round in a circle ; " when the whole circle of their birthdays had been kept, and they commenced anew. It was the first banquet of another social circuit. " That Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all." The father acted as the priest of the family; he sanctified them by cleansing ab- lutions (Gen. XXXV. 2 ; Exod. xix. 10-14 ; 1 Sam. xvi. 5). After this he offered burnt offerings according to the number of his sons. This was done in the morning. It is well to begin the day with worship. " For Job said, It may be thai my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." This is the special reason why Job officiated : fear, lest in their conviviality his children had dismissed God from their hearts and descended into the profane. " Thiis did Job continually." At all their feasts he acted like this. IIoMiLETics. — Here we have the picture of a good mcui in (/real prosperifg. I. Here is a good man. He was "perfect" By this is meant, not that he was sinless and perfectly holy, but that he was single-liearted and complete in all the parts of his moial and religious character ; he did not attend to one chiss JOB I. 1-5. 15 of duties to the exclusion of others, cultivate one attribute of virtue regardless of the rest. He was comjilete. All the parts of the plant of goodness within him grew simul- taneously and symmetrically. First : In relation to his general conduct he was upri(/ht. He pursued the road of rectitude, turning neither to the right nor left hand ; he did what his conscience dictated, and marched onward with a fearless, joyous soul, regardless of all issues. He who " walks uprightly " beats out music at every step. Secondly : In relation to his God he was devout. He ''feared God;'' not with a slavish dread, but with a loving reverence. Reverential love expels all slavish sentiment. It smiles defiantly at all hells. It fills the horizon of the soul with God, and lights up the whole sphere of life with Divine love. This is piety: and piety is the well-spring of all philanthropy, and the root of all ethical excellence. Thirdly : In relation to ivroHf/ he was antagonistic. He " eschewed evil ; " he departed from it; he hurried from it as from the presence of a monster. However fashionable, gorgeously attired, institu- tionally and socially powerful, he loathed it, and Hed from it as Lot from Sodom. " Depart from evil, and do good," &c. Fourthly : In relation to his family he was a priest. " He offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all." Burnt offerings are as old as the race, and were ever- more a practical and solemn expression of man's obligation to God for all the blessings of his existence. What is worship but this ? He interposed with God on their be- half ; he was a mediator between his own children and the Great Father of spirits. Like a good father he sought the moral cleansing of his children and their reconciliation to the Eternal. We may observe that in his worship (1) He recognized his religious responsibilities as a father. His offerings w^ere " according to the number of them all!' It is the duty of parents to concern themselves profoundly and chiefly with the spiritual interests of each child ; they should " train them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." (2) He discharged his religious responsibilities as a fiither with earnestness and constancy. He " rose up earhj in the morning f Early, because no work is so great and urgent. Morning worship, if genuine, gives a sacredness and a soul- 16 JOB L 1-5. inspiring significance and elevation to tlie day. Early devotion is a key-note that turns the day into sacred music. But his worship was constant as well as earnest. " Thus did Job contmuallf/." His family worship was not an occa- sional service, but a prevailing spirit; not a performance, but a presiding life. Constancy enters into the very essence of genuine worship. " They rest not day nor night." The whole language sets him forth as an ideally perfect man. II. Here is a good man very prospeeous. First : He was prosperous as a Father. (1) His children were numerous. " There were horn tmto him seven sons and three daughters'' In ancient times, to be destitute of children was esteemed a great calamity : the larger the family the greater the parental blessing. Things have changed now : here in England a large family is regarded as a terrible infliction. Children are called "impedimenta." But what greater blessing in this world can a man have than a large numljer of loving loyal hearts to call him father? (2) His children were harmonious. " His sons ivent and feasted,^' &c. They seem to have had houses of their own, were pros- perous and socially united. They had their fixed days for domestic festivity. The happiness of their children pours sunshine into tlie hearts of loving parents. Secondly ; He was prosperous as a Farmer. " His substance urns seven ihoumnd sheep,'' &c. Men of old counted their wealth not by their acres but by their cattle. The stock here described has been estimated to amount in our money to the sum of £30,000. Here, and now, this is a good fortune, but yonder, and then, it stood for at least fifty times the amount. Piety disciplines man to that industry, adroitness, temperance, economy, power of a})plica-tion, that are often favourable to the accumulation of wealth. " Seek first the kingdom of heaven," &c. Thirdly: He was prosperous as a Citizen. ''For this man was the greatest of all the men in the east!' There were many great men in the east in those days, no doubt, men whose names would strike awe in the soul of the populace, but Job was the greatest of them all. Elsewhere he describes the power which he wielded over men. " When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared JOB L 1-5. 17 my seat in the street ; the young men saw me, and hid themselves," &c. He was truly a great man, great not only in w^ealth and social influence, hut in intellectual power and moral excellence. Conclusion : We offer two remarks on this subject. First : That a good man in great prosperity is lohat ante- cedently we might have expected to find everywhere in the world. Under the government of a righteous God, one would naturally exjDect that the best man would everywhere be the most prosperous, and that goodness and poverty would never be found in association. This, peradventure, would have been the case had man not sinned ; and, in all probability, is the ease in all worlds but this. Will not kind Heaven explain the anomaly to our satisfaction ere long ? Secondly : That a good man in great prosperity is not a common object in hmnan life. Generally, up to this hour, in the world's history the best men have been the poorest, and the worst men amongst those who hold the prizes of the world in their hand, and determine the material destinies of their age. This has been the trying problem of all times ; this was that which now grievously afflicted the soul of Job. " Providence," says Froude, " will not interfere to punish a man. Let him obey the laws under which prosperity is obtainable, and he will obtain it, let him never fear. He will obtain it, be he base or noble. Nature is indifferent : the famine and the earthquake, the blight or the accident, will not discriminate to strike him. He may insure himself against those in these days of ours with the money which perhaps a better man would have given away, and he will have his reward. He need not doubt it." 18 JOB I. 6-12. HOMILY No. III. A PICTURE OF THE FOE OF FOES. ''Now there was a day when, the sons of God came to present themselves h'.fore the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said v'nfo Satan, Whence comest thou ? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said. From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lm-d said unto Satan, Hast tlwu considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an tipright man, one thanfeareth God and escheweth evil ? TJien Satan answered the Lord, and said. Doth Joh fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side 1 thou hast blexsed the xoork of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, a7id he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy poiuer ; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord." — Chap. i. 6 — 12. ExEGETiCAL Eemarks. — Vcr. 6. — " Now there ivas a day." " Now M-hen it was the day" — Bernard; " And it came to pass as it might be to-day" — Lee ; "And the day came" — Goode ; — " Wlien the sons of God came to p7'esent themselvss before the Lord." Before Jehovah. The " sons of God " here evidently denote celes- tial intelligences, angels-Z)r. Samuel Davidson. " And Satan came also among them." The word " Satan" means "adversary." Some translate it the " accusing angel," and suppose that the being represented here is not that great arch-enemy of souls, the prince of the power of the air, so often spoken of in the New Test- ament ; but some high officer in Ood's spiritual kingdom, whose mission it is to inspect and tost the moral characters of God's children in this world, and to report the same to his Groat Master — a record- ing angel. This is the view of Herder, Eichhorn, Wemyss, and others. There are many reasons against this ojjinion. Ver. 7.—"A7ul the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou .? TJien Satan answered the Lord and said. From going to and fro in the earth, and from icalklng up and down ifi it." Some render this, "from roaming round the earth and walk- ing about it." " The language means not so much the going backwards and forwards as making a circuit and circumference, going round about. The language means constant action in a wide sphere of activity, "-(roofie. Ver. 8. — " And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my sei'vant Job ? " In the margin, the last clause is, " set thine heart on," and this is the literal transla- tion. The meaning may be, Hast thou in thy vast peregrinations specially marked my servant Job 1 " That there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and es- cheioeth evil ? " The character which was given to Job in the first verse is here repeated by the Almighty Himself, and therefore Divinely endorsed. Ver. 9. — " Then Satan answered JOB I. 6-12. 19 the Lord, and said, Doth Job fexir God for nought ? " Is his worship disinterested 1 Is he not serving Thee for the sake of Thy kindness to him, and for the advantages he still expects 1 " Here he charges Job Avith an interested piety. The accusing angel means to say, Strip Job of his splendour, and see if he will care for God then ; humble him to poverty and wretchedness, so only shall we know what is in his heart." — Froude. Ver. 10. — *' Hast Thou not made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side ? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his sub- stance is increased in the landy The last clause has been thus trans- lated : — " The work of his hands Thou hast blessed, and Thou hast spread abroad his substance in the earth." The idea is — " Hast Thou not so wondrously protected himself, family, and property, from plun- derers, and so blessed the labour of his hands, that he therefore serves Thee V^ He serves Thee, not because of what Thou art in Thyself, but because of what Thou art to him ! Ver. U.—'' But put forth Thine hand noio, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse Thee to Thy face." The last clause of this verse hasbeen differently rendered. "WiU he bless Thee to Thy face]" — Goode. " In Thy presence will he bless Thee % "—Lee. " Will he not blas- pheme Thee because of Thine anger?" — Bernard. The received version is right.-/);'. Samuel David- son. The idea in all cases is the same, viz., that if Jehovah ceased to bless him, Job would not only cease to serve Him, but oppose Him. Ver. 12. — ''And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy 2'>oiver." Margin, " in thy hand." '* Only upon himself put not forth thine hand." The licence the adversary here received to afflict Job extended to his sons, daughters, and property, but no farther. He was not at present to touch Job, " aS'o Satan icent forth from the presence of the Lord." He left the Council Chamber of the Eternal. HoMiLETics. — We have two things here to notice as introductory to that subject, which we shall make the dominant theme of these verses. First : A higUy figurative representation, of the Eternal and His spiritual kingdom. The language cannot be taken as a literal history of what actually occurred : it is a poetic representation ; such a representation as Christ Himself often made in His parables of spiritual and eternal things. Indeed, all representations of God must be figurative, must be in accommodation to our modes of conception ; for how else could any creature get an idea of the Infinite Spirit, a Being without limits in time, capacity, or space ? " The language here," says a modern expositor, " is taken from the proceedings of a monarch who had sent forth messengers or ambassadors on important errands through the difterent c2 20 JOB I. 6-12. provinces of his empire, and who now returned to give an account of what they had observed, and of the general state of the kingdom. Such a return would, of course, be on a fixed day, when their report would be 'returnable,' and they required to give in an account of the state of the kingdom." Secondly : A remarkable meeting of the Great God and some of His intelligent creatures. Here is an insight into the Privy Council of the Eternal ; the veil which separates the visible from the invisible is drawn aside, and we see the assembly of God's ministers, and He amongst them. Is there anything improbal)le in the Almighty periodically bringing certain orders of His intelligent creatures into a special proximity to Himself for special purposes ? I trow not. The Bible in many places favours the idea. What seems remarkable is, that the arch-fiend should gain admission to those councils, get a hearing, and receive power. I should not be astonished to find Michael and his angels, Gabriel, the " elect angels," and the " spirits of just men made perfect," in that wonderful assembly; but I am astonished to find that the Evil One should find an entrance there. One of the great problems that has pressed upon the heart of men in all ages is this, — Is God the author of Evil : or is there some other personality in the universe to whom its origin may he ascribed'^ Now in these verses there is a ghastly and gigantic personality presented to whom we may philosophically attribute all the moral evil in the world.* It is to this being — this/o(? of foes— that I shall now direct special attention. I. He has a personal existence. Throughout the paragraph he is spoken to as a person, and he represents himself as acting as ^person ''going to and fro in the earth',' &c. His personality is by some denied. In the school of Kant, Satan is the Idea of what is absolutely displeasing in the sight of God. It is merely the principle of Ev3 t*^^-^\ ^.^"'1 ''^"^ masterly disquisition on the existence, nature, history, and power of this hein.!^, I \v.,uld refer the reader to an article, by Rev. A. Barry, B.D., in ouxiths Bible Dtctwnuri/. j' •> JOB I. 6-12. 21 derived from the system of dualism prevalent in the East. For my own part, I am utterly unable to form an idea of an evil principle apart from an evil personality, originating, working, and directing it. First : The personality of his existence is suggested hy reason. (1) As there are existences gradually sinking beneath man down to nothing, so there may be intelligent beings existing above man, up to the highest point of creatureship. (2) As men have fallen and become rebels against God, there is nothing imj^robable in the supposition that there are beings above man who have done the same. (3) As the fallen amongst men become the tempters of others, and this in proportion to their depravity and power, it is very probable that amongst the fallen ones above us there are leaders in wickedness. Because of this natural probability, almost all peoples in all lands have believed in an arch-fiend, a malignant "god of this world." Secondly : The personality of his existence is confirmed hy human history. It is almost impossible to account for the absurdities which men entertain, and the enormities which they perpetrate, without going up to some foul spirit who blinds the eyes and inflames the passions of men. The soul of the world is under the spell of some mighty enchanter. Thirdly : The personality of his existence is declared in the Bible* He is called by diff'erent names, Satan, Devil, Old Serpent, Prince of the Power of the Air, Beelzebub, Dragon, &c., &c. Such a being then exists. When he commenced his career of wickedness is not known. He prowled peradventure about the universe when this world was in its youthhood and Adam in his prime. n. He is AN INTRUDER INTO THE SACRED. '' NolO there was a day when the sons of God came to prese?it themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them..'' I have said it was remarkable that the devil should be thus permitted to intrude into the sacred, but we find him doing so elsewhere. A scene similar to this is described in the * Matt. iv. 3; John viii. 44; Acts xxvi. 18; Eph. vi. 12 ; 1 Thess. iii. 5; 2 Peter ii. 4; Jude 6 ; Rev. xii. 10, &c. 22 JOB I. 6-12. Old Testament,* where Jehovah is represented " as sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left." He inquires who would go and persuade Ahab that he might go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead ? " And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him." This he promised to do by being a " lying spirit in the mouth of all the prophets." We find also f that he intruded into the very presence, ay, into the very thoughts, of the Holy Son of God; and,:{: in the synagogue at Capernaum, where Christ preached, we find the devil intruding; he entered the congregation and heard the sermon. " Satan came also among tliem,!'' Ay, and so he ever does. Wherever the sons of the Almighty assemble, whether it be to inquire into the laws of nature, or to study the doctrines of inspira- tion, to project schemes of usefulness, or to worship, Satan is amongst them ; he is there, there to bias the intellect, and to pollute the feelings. Tell me where there is an assembly of good men, and you will tell me not only where God is in a special manner, but where the devil is also. Satan is amongst them. He attends prayer-meetings, goes to church, and listens to sermons ; whoever is absent, he is present wherever " the sons of God " are congregated. HI. He is AMENABLE TO THE Eteknal. Two qucstions Jehovah addresses to him. One as to his movements. " Whence comest thou ? " In what part of My universe hast thou been wandering ? The other as to his o/jinion. " Hast thou considered my servant Job ? " The Eternal claims an authority over Satan's activities and thoughts. He does not interrogate the Evil One for the sake of information, for He knows his most secret steps, and sounds the depths of all his thoughts. The prince of darkness stands ever unveiled to the eye of Omniscience. The interrogatory is designed to strike conviction into the heart of the Evil One and to startle him with the sense of his amenableness. First : However great a creature is, he is still accountable to his Maker. Satan, perhaps, is one of the greatest of God's creatures ; he has power enough to " lead the world * 1 Kiugs xxii. 19-2.3. f Matt. iv. 3. + Luke iv. 33. JOB I. 6-12. 23 captive at his will," yet he is not an irresponsible despot. No creature spirit in the universe can outgrow his respons- ibility. Secondly : However leicked a creature is, he is still accountable to his Maker. This arch-fiend, with all his gigantic power, with all his daring rebellions, with all his profound machinations, and powerful confederates, has not been able through all these ages to snap one link of the chain of responsibility that binds him to the throne of God. Whilst you can never sin away your responsibility, you may sin your guilt up to crushing mountains, and into adamantine chains. IV. He is A VAGRANT IN THE UNIVERSE. '' Ffom going to and fro in the earth, and from walking ujj and down in it.'' The language implies two things -. — First: Hornelessne^s. ''Going to and fro in the earth'' He is the " unclean spirit," that is everlastingly walking through barren places, " seeking rest and finding none." He is roamiDg the earth. There is no repose in sin. " The wicked are like the troubled sea." There is no spot in all space on which a depraved spirit can settle down, and be at rest. Satan and all his children are homeless wanderers in the universe ; they have no shelter from the stormy blast or the scorching ray ; they are gyrating for ever on furious and nn abating tempests. The language implies : — Secondly : Zealoiisness. The expression, ''going to and fro,'' has in the original the idea of heat or haste. He is in a hurry ; he moves with swift step, or perhaps on rapid wing. He does not saunter in his movements ; he is no laggard ; he is in earnest ; malevolence burns within him, and as a " roaring lion he goeth about seeking whom he may devour." All evil passions are zealous. Greed, am- bition, jealousy, envy, revenge, these never slumber or sleep. They are as active as the flame shooting out in all directions. V. He is A SLANDERER OF THE GOOD. " Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, ' Doth Job fear the Lord for nought ? ' Sj'c. " Hast Thou not made an hedge about him, and 24 JOB I. 6-12, about Us house, and about all that he hath on every side?" &c. First : — He slanders God to man. To our great progenitor he said, " Thou shalt not surely die, for God doth know the day on which thine eye is opened, thou shalt know both good and evil." He is constantly at this work ; shaking men's faith in the Eternal by injecting suspicious thoughts. " Yea, hath God said," &c. Secondly : — He slanders man to God. This he does here. He insinuates that what appeared religious and good in Job was simply a manifestation of selfishness. In this department of slander he acts the fool, for the Omniscient One knows the heart; in the other department, viz., slandering God to man, he is more saga- cious and more successful. He is Diabolus, breaking the harmony of God's moral universe by slander. Trust in God is the only foundation of moral order. Destroy it, and anarchy runs riot. VI. He is A SLAVE OF THE INFINITE. " And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy jpoioer ; only upon himself put not forth thi?ie hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord." He acts only hi/ permission. Licence is now given him to deal with Job's externalities, but as yet he is not to touch his personality. He is to deal only with his property and relations. Great as Satan is, mighty as is his influence in the world, he is not an inde- pendent existence, he is in the hands of the Everlasting Father, Who sustains him every hour, and Who uses him as His instrument. Infinite Goodness makes this foul fiend an engine for good in His government. He links him to His triumphant chariot. No rider has such command over his steed as God has over him. He may bound and prance, fired with all the passions of hell, but he can never break away. If he tempts us, he tempts us by Divine permission ; and " God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able ; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." JOB I. 13-22. 25 HOMILY No. IV. A PICTURE OF THE FOE OF FOES. {Continued.) " And tliere was a day wlien his sons and his doMghters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house : and there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen xoere plowing, and the asses feeding beside them: and the Sabeans fell upon tliem, and took them away: yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword ; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While lie was yet speaking, there came also another, and said. The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Wliile he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have canned them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said. Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinkitig wine in their eldest brother's house : and, behold, there came a great xvind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead ; and I only am escaped ^done to tell thee. Then Job arose arid rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mothers womb, and naked shcdl I return thither : the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken atvay ; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." — Chap. i. 13-22. ExEGETiCAL Eemarks. Ver. 13. tlirough the whole book, as Canon — " And there was a day." — " And Cook observes, to winter weather, it came to pass as it might be to- snow, ice, swollen streams, &c. day." "Andit came to pass one day." Ver.l5. — " A7id the Sabeans fell — DelitzscJi. This was probably the %ipon them, and took them away." — regular day for their domestic ban- " When the Sabeans fell upon them quet. It was a convivial family and carried them away." — Delitzsch. party. The idea is that these nomadic Ver. 1 4. — "Th e oxen were plowing, plunderers rushed violently on them. and the asses feeding." Probably These Sabeans were evidently a female asses. Female asses were predatory tribe prowling through then and there much more vahiable the districts of Arabia for purposes than male ones on account of their of outrages and plunder. " Yea, milk. On the journey they carried they have slain the servants with the support for the traveller, as well as edge of the sword" Not only were the traveller himself and his bag- the oxen and the asses taken, but gage. It is important to observe the servants who were at work with that the ploughing determines very them in the field they slaughtered precisely the season of the transac- with the sword. " And I only am tion. This takes place in January, escaped alone to tell thee" " I," and hence the various references who was the messenger 1 The word 26 JOB I. 13-22. translated messenger here is usually translated angel, but its meaning here is, one who is sent. Who was the hearer of the terrible errand? Was he in Job's employ, or was he a stranger who had happened to witness the outrage % Ver. 16. — " While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said. The fire of God. is fallen from heaven, and hath burned uj) the sheep, and the servants, and con- sumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee." " The fire of God " here refers in all probability to lightning. In the margin it is called " a great fire." A terrible electric flash came and burnt up the sheep and the servants. Ver. 17. — " While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said. The Chaldeans made out three hands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants loith the edge of the sioo rd ; and I only a m escaped alone to tell thee.'" " The Chaldeans were a fierce and warlike people ; and when they were subdued by the Assyrians, a portion of them appear to have been placed in Babylon to ward off the incursions of the neigh- bouring Arabians. In time they gained the ascendancy over their Assyrian masters, and grew into the mighty empire of Chaldea and Babylonia." A very striking de- scription of these Chaldeans we have in Habakkuk i. 6-11. This mes- senger who followed so swiftly in the steps of the first declares that he only escaped alone to tell him. Ver. 18.—" Whilst he was yet speaking, there come also another." What sad tidings did this third messenger bring % He says, " Be- hold, there came a great ivind from tlie wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men (young peo^de — Dilitzsch) and tJiey are dead ; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee." Though the word here rendered " young men " is the same as that rendered " servants " in verse 17, it is generally believed that here it represents Job's sons and daughters, the young people. The great wind from the wilderness was one of those tornadoes more common in Oriental countries than others more distant from the equator. This fearful hurricane from the wilderness came in all its force upon the house where Job's sons and daughters were en- joying their convivial banquet. Ver. 20. — " Then Job arose, and rent his mantle." " Job arose" not necessarily from sitting, but from the wonted calmness of his soul he was mentally roused. He seems to have heard with calmness the other messages, but when tidings of the destruction of his children met him, he was moved to the depths of his nature. The rending of the mantle was the conventional mark of deep grief (Gen. xxvii. 34). Orientals wore a flowing mantle over their shirt and loose pantaloons. " Shaved his head." This also Avas an old symbol of grief (Jer. xli. 5 ; Micah i. 16). "Mother's womb." By this he poetically means the earth. The earth is the universal mother of mankind. Out of it, as to our bodies, we came ; into it we re- turn, as destitute as when we first appeared. Ver. 21.—" The Lord (Jehovah) gave, and the Lord (Jehovah) hath taken away ; blessed be the name of the Lord." Job here realizes God's assertion (verse 8) against Satan's (verse 11). Instead of cursing, he blesses the Lord Jehovah, that is, Jehovah himself. Ver. 22. — "/« all this Job' sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." " In all this," that is, in all his ex- JOB I. 13-22. 27 pressions and feelings on this occa- is, lie vented no murmuring remarks sion Job did no wrong, nor did he against God. attribute folly to his Maker; that HoMiLETics. — The great subject here is a continuation of the former homiletic sketch, namely — the Foe of foes. In the former passage he appeared before us as a being who had a personal existence, who intruded into the holy, who was amenable to his Maker, a vagrant in the universe, and a servant of the Injiiiite. It is in the latter aspect that he still appears before us in these w^ords. He has received from the Almighty permission to deal with Job ; and here we have him malevolently dealing with the patriarch's circumstances. In the next paragraph we shall have to study him as ma- levolently dealing with Job's personality. In dealing with Job's circumstances as here recorded, we are struck with four things concerning him — the enthusiasm of his malio;- nity, the variety of his agents, the celerity of his movements, and the folly of his calculations. I. The enthusiasm of his malignity. No sooner does he receive permission than he begins in terrible earnestness. He does not seem to have lost a moment. Like a hungry vulture in a carrioned atmosphere, he pounces down upon his victim. Now he strikes at the cattle that were plough- ing the field, and the " 67^6' asses " that were beside them. Then he slays the servants, then with a shaft of fire from heaven he burns up the ''sheep and servants,'' and then he breathes a hurricane through the wilderness, and levels to the dust the house in which Job's children are revelling in the festive pleasures of family love, and destroys them all. He chooses an hour when his stroke would be most terrible, the hour of hilarity and joy. The more unexpected the calamity the heavier it falls. Thus he goes to the utmost point of the liberty which his great Master granted him. He could do no more with Job's circumstances. He deprived him as in a moment of all his property and his children. In one short hour, it would seem, he reduced this, the great- est of all the men in the East, to a pauper ; and, perhaps, one of the happiest of fathers to the desolation of childless- ness. He had no authority to go beyond this point at 28 JOB I. is-22. present. He had to wait for another Divine communication before be could touch the dodf/ of Job. He did his utmost, and did it with an infernal delight. Notice : — H. The variety of his agents. He employed — First : JFicked men. He breathed his malign spirib into the men of Sheba, and they rushed to the work of violence and destruction. He inflamed the Chaldeans with the same murderous passions, and then, " three bands fell upon the camehl' carried them away, and slew the servants, &c. Alas ! this arch-fiend has access to human souls. " He worketh in the children of disobedience." He leadeth them captive at his will. He employed — Secondly : Material nature. The great God gave him power over the elements. He kindled the lightning, and made it consume the sheep and the servants. He raised the atmosphere into a tempest, levelled its fury against the house and brought it down to the destruction of all within. With Heaven's permission this mighty spirit of evil can cause earthquakes to engulf cities, breathe pestilences to depopulate countries, create storms that will spread devast- ation over sea and land. "He is the prince of the power of the air." " As he is prince of the power of the air (taking the air for the elementary world), how easily could he at one blast sweep all the surface of the earth into the sea, or drive the weighty immense surges of the ocean over the whole plane of the earth, and deluge the globe at once with a storm ; or how easily could he, who from the situation of his empire might be supposed able to manage the clouds, draw them up in such a position as should naturally produce thunders and lightnings, cause those lightnings to blast the earth, dash in pieces all the fine buildings, burn all the populous towns and cities, and lay waste the world ; and at the same time command sufficient quantities of sublimated air to burst out of the bowels of the earth, and overwhelm and swallow up in the opening chasm all the inhabitants of the" globe ! In a word, Satan, left to himself as a devil, and to the power which, l)y the virtue of his seraphic origin, he must be vested with, was able to have made devilish work JOB L 13-22. 29 in the world if by a superior power he was not restrained." —Be Foe. Notice : — III. The celerity of his movements. How rapidly his fell strokes followed each other. Before the first messenger of evil had told the patriarch his terrible tale, another appeared. Whilst the first was ^' yet speaking" another came; and whilst the second was ''''yet speakiM/," came the third. The bearers of misery trod on the heels of each other. Why this hurry ? Was it because this work of violence was agreeable to the passions of this foul fiend ? Or was it because the rapidity would be likely so to shock Job's moral nature as to produce a religious revulsion, and cause him to do what he desired him — curse the Almighty to his flice ? Perhaps both. Perhaps the celerity was both his pleasure and his policy. Trials seldom come alone. The first is generally the harbinger of the second, and so on. It is true what our great dramatist has said : " When sorrows come They come not single spies, But in battalions." . Notice : IV. The folly of his calculations. What was the result of all this on Job ? The very reverse of what Satan had calculated. He had told the Almighty that such visit- ations would rouse Job to curse Him to His face. Instead of which Job falls down and blesses his Maker : — " Then Job arose and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground^ and worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mothers vjomb, and naked shall I return thither : the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name of the Lord" He " ivorshipped." He did not curse. In his worship we discover three things : — First: His profound sensibility. ''He rent his mantle and shaved his head." He was no Stoic. He deeply felt his trial, and falling prostrate under its heavy load, he wor- shipped. Great was his grief. There would be no virtue in his not feeling. He would have been less than a man not to have done so. Genuine religion, instead of deadening 30 JOB I. 13-22. the human sensibilities, gives them dej^th and refinement. Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus. In his worship we discover — Secondly : His exalted philosophy. He traced all to the Great First Cause, God. All that he had lost he felt God had given him. When he came from the " icomh " of the great mother of all — the earth — he had nothing, and when he returned back into his chambers of everlasting forgetful- ness, he would go " naked" as he came. He felt that all that he had possessed came to him as a gift from Jehovah. He did not trace it to luck, to fortime, or to his own industrij. " The Lord gave'' he says. "The Lord gave me my sheep and oxen ; the Lord gave me my children. All are His gifts." And what he had lost the Lord had also taken away. He does not trace his loss to chance, necessity, misfortune ; nor does he trace it to the plundering Sabeans or ruthless Canaanites ; nor to the lightnings or the winds ; nor even to the great arch-enemy of humanity ; but up directly to Jehovah. He knew that the forces of nature, the passions of wicked men, and the plots and workings of infernal spirits, were all under the master control of Jehovah. This was his philosophy ; and is it not true ? The philosophy that traces the events of our history up to some secondary causes, or the laws of nature, is but a philosophy " falsely so called." All is under the Absolute One. He originates all good, He controls all evil. " All good proceedeth from Thee, As sunbeams from the sun ; All evils fcall before Thee, Thy will through all is done. " name Li liis worship we discover — Thirdly : His religious magnanimity. " Blessed he the ..^...^ of the Lord!' Wicked men would have vented their rage in curses on the Sabeans and Chaldeans, on the lightning and on the wind; or would have risen up in rebellious hostility against Heaven. This is what Satan expected. But instead of this, Job says, " Blessed be the name of the Lord!' I praise Him, I adore Him in all. This is something more than submission to the Divine will under suffering ; some- thing even more than acquiescence in the Divine will in JOB II. i-io. 31 suffering. It is exultation in tlie manifestation of the Divine will in all the events of life. It amounts to the experience of St. Paul, who said, " I glory in tribulation," &c. How disappointed this Mephistopheles must have been with the result. The result was the very opposite to what he had expected — to what he had wrought for. Thus it has ever been, and thus it will ever be. God may permit Satan to blast our worldly prospects, to wreck our fortunes, and destroy our friendships. But if we trust in Him He will not allow him to touch our souls to their injury. He only uses the fiend to try His servants. An old Welsh minister, in preaching on this text, is reported to have said that God permitted Satan to try Job as the tradesman tries the coin that his customer has tendered in payment for the purchased wares. He strikes it on the counter and hears it ring as rings the true metal, before he accepts it, and places it in his drawer. The Heavenly Merchant employed Satan to ring Job on the counter of trial. He did so — did so with all the force of his mighty arm, and in the Divine ear the moral heart of the patriarch vibrated as the music of Divine metal, fit for the treasury in the heavens. HOMILY No. y. A PICTURE OF THE FOE OF FOES. {Co)itiniied.) "Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present Itimself before the Lord. And the Lord said unto Satan, From ivhence comest thou ? And Satan ansivered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the eaHh, and from tvall huj up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou cnn.sh, and he will curse Thee to Thy face" " Eenounce Thee." — Delifzsch. " Bone and flesh " repre- sent his corporeal life. The hand of destruction had bereft Job of all his property — his "skins" — as well as of his children, and thus far his piety had stood the test. But life is dearer than property ; let that be touched and the piety will give place to blasphemy. This was Satan's idea. Ver. 6. — "And the Lord (Je- hovah) said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand ; but save his life." Here permission is granted Satan again to afflict Job, but that permis- sion has its limitation — " but save his life," Torture him to the ut- most ; let every nerve quiver in burning anguish, but spare his life. Take everything from him but sheer existence, Ver. 7.—" So ivent Satan forth from the pn-esence of the Lord (Je- hovah), and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown." " Sore boils." As it is in the singular, in the Hebrew, a " burning sore " would perhaps be a better rendering. " Job was covered with one universal inflammation." "With burning ulcerations." — Goode. "The disease of Job," says a modern expositor, " seems to have been an universal ulcer, pro- ducing an eruption over his entire person, and attended with violent pain and constant restlessness. A universal boil, or group of boils, over the body would accord with the account of the disease in the various parts of the book. In the Elephantiasis the skin is covered with incrustations like those of an JOB 11. i-io. 33 elephant. It is a chronic and con- tagious disease, marked by a thick- ening of the legs, with a loss of hair and feeling, a swelling of the face, and a hoarse, nasal voice. It affects the whole body : the bones as well as the skin are covered Avith spots, and tumours, at first red, but after- wards black." * Fer. 8. — ^' And he took him a 2^otsherd to scrape himself ivithal ; and he sat dotcm cdnong the ashes." *' Potsherd, not a piece of a broken earthen vessel, but an instrument made for scratching (the root of the Hebrew word is scratch). The sore was too disgusting to touch. To sit in the ashes marks the deepest mourning (Jon. iii. 6) ; also humility, as if the mourner were nothing but dust and ashes, so Abraham (Gen. xviii. 27)." Vey. 9. — " Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die." The expression, " Curse God and die," is translated by Lee, " bless the gods and die ; " by Wemyss, " bless God and die ; " by Bernard, "blaspheme God and die;" by Delitzsch and others, "renounce God and die." If it means " bless," she is probably ironic, and means to say, " You have been blessing God, go on blessing Him, and all you will get for it is dying." But " curse God " is most probably the correct rendering, and accepted by most expositors. " There is perhaps nothing too sharp for an angry woman's tongue." — Professor Davidson. Ver. 10. — " But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh." The word " fool- ish" is here used in the sense of wicked ; and the idea is that the sentiments she uttered were impious, and such as were on the lips of the wicked. ^'What? shall loe receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil ? In all this did not Joh sin with his lips." " In all this " — in all his physical tortures, in his wife's taunts, and all his grievous calamities. Job "sinned not with his lips." So far Satan was still unsuccessful. HoMiLETics. — I have had under consideration the dealing of Satan with Job's circinmtances, depriving him of all his property, bereaving him of his children, and leaving him destitute and disconsolate ; here I find him dealing with \l\'& personality, afflicting him with sufferings of inexpressible anguish. From the words we learn Satan's low estimate of human nature, his great power over human nature, and his grand purpose with human nature. Notice : — I. Satan's low estimate of human nature. His lan- guage here clearly implies that even a good man's love of goodness is not supreme and invincible. He states — First : That goodness is not so dear to him as life. " Shin * See also Professor Davidson on Job, p. 27. 34 JOB II. I- 10. for sJcin, yea, all that a man hath, will he give for his life" Self-preservation is a strong instinct in human nature, and therefore a Divine principle ; but it is not true that it is ever the strongest feeling in the human heart. A man who has come under the dominion of love for the true, the beautiful, and the good, holds his life as subordinate to the high principles of genuine religion and godly morality. This is a fact which the liistory of martyrdom places beyond debate. From the Hebrew youths in Babylon, and the martyrdom of Stephen, down to the present period, unnum- bered instances have occurred in demonstration of this. Thousands of men in Christendom to-day can say with Paul, " I count not my life dear unto me." It is true that to unregenerate men life is everything, and they will give " skin for sJdn," yea, all that they have, for it ; but it is a libel on human nature, both in its normal and redeemed condition, to say that love of life is its supreme law. He states — Secondly : That great personal si/ffering will turn even a good man against God. " Put forth thine hand noiv and touch his bone," &c. Such is the connection of the body with the the soul, that great bodily suffering has undoubtedly a tendency to generate a faithless, murmuring, and rebellious spirit. Affliction is not the soil in which the principles of virtue naturally spring up and grow. Will purgatorial fires discipline souls into virtue and holiness ? I have no such conviction. Albeit genuine godliness can not only stand against the severest bodily sufferings, but often gets strength and development from them. There have been good men in all ages who could say, "We glory in tribulation, knowing that tribulation worketh patience," &c. Satan therefore, in intimating that goodness is not so dear to man as life, and that personal sufferings would turn good men against God, utters a foul libel on human nature ; a libel, however, which the unregenerate world has ever endorsed. Notice : — n. Satan's great power over human nature. " Jnd the Lord mid unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life." I infer from the words — First : That his great power moves within fixed limits. JOB IT. i-io. 35 " Behold, he is m thine hand; hut save his life." Independently be has no power, lie derives his energy from the Almighty, he is in the hands of Omnipotence. In God he " lives and moves and has his being." His power to move a faculty or to think a thought is derived from the Creator of his being. " Save his life." This means, do not kill him. Here is the limitation. " So far shalt thou go, and nD farther." I infer from the words — Secondly : That his great power is used to torture lite body and corrupt the soul. See how he afflicts Job's hodij. " So went Satan forth from the presence of t/ie Lord, and smote Job tcith sore boils." The ancients ascribed many physical diseases direct to the devil. Perhaps they were not far wrong in their philosophy. Do not physical evils spring from moral, and is not the devil the instigator of the morally bad ? What a merciless torturer he is ; how soon he makes poor Job writhe in agony. He covered him with ulcers from " tJte sole of his foot to his crown," so that " Jte took him a potslierd to scrape himself ivitJial ; and he sat doivn amon(j the ashes." See, too, how he corrupts Job's wife. " 2'hen said his loife unto him, Dost thou still retain tJiine integrity ? curse God, and die." If you substitute the word " bless " for " curse,'' you still have the impious spirit of- the wdfe : then in heartless irony she counsels her husband to blaspheme his Maker. Perhaps she meant, " Thou hast been blessing God under thine affliction thus far, go on with thy cant, and die, for death would be desirable both to thyself and me." Satan acted thus not only on Job's body, but on the soul of Job's tvife, and both in order to tempt the patriarch to sin against his Maker. There would not, I trow, be much difficulty in thus exciting the patriarch's wife. What woman that loved her husband with strong, deep love would not be easily moved to furious rage against Heaven in thus torturing to the utmost severity the dearest object of her heart ? There is something womanly in her language after all. Notice : — III. Satan's grand purpose with human nature. — What was his master-aim ? To turn Job against God, and D 2 36 JOB II. i-io. to demonstrate tliat Job's religion was only another form of selfishness. And in this he failed, signally failed, gloriously failed. Three things here show his failure : — First : Job reproves his wife. " Thou speahest as one of the foolish women speakethy Secondly: Job vindicates his Maker . " What? shall we receive good at the hands of God, and shall we not receive evil ? " Thirdly : * Job is commended by inspiration. Here is the Divine testimony to Job's state of mind amid the tor- turino- of the devil. " In all this did not Job sin with his lips." Conclusion. — First : What a moral triumjjh is here. Here is demonstrated the fact, which worldly men in all ages have denied, that moral goodness to a good man is dearer to him than everything else ; that genuine piety is absolutely disinterested. Satan had charged Job with selfishness in his religion. ''Doth Job fear God for nought ? " Is he not religious because religion answers his purpose? Thou hast ''hedged him about '^ with every blessing ; deprive him of his possessions, and then see. Divine permission is given Satan to try the question on Job. Secondly : What a portrait of the devil we have here. What a remarkable correspondence there is between this old Arabian picture of the devil, and the devil as he appears in the Gospels, the Epistles, and the Apocalypse. Strange that diiferent artists, in difi'erent ages and countries, should draw a picture so strikingly similar of this invisible, mighty Anarch of the universe — " lie cabove the rest, In shape and gesture proudly emment, Stood like a tower : his form had not yet lost All its original brightness, nor appear'd Less than archangel ruin'd, and th' excess Of glory obscured : as when the sun, new risen, Looks through tlie horizontal misty air. Shorn of his beams ; or from behind the moon, In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds On half the nations, and with fear of change Perplexes monarchs : darken'd so, yet shone Above them all th' archangel : but his face Deep scars of thunder had entrench'd, and care Sat on his faded cheeks, but under brows Of dauntless courage, and consid'rate pride, Waiting revenge : cruel his eye, but cast Signs of remorse and passion, to behold The fellows of his crime, the followers rather, (Far other once beheld in bliss !) condenm'd For ever now to have then- lot in pain." — MUtwi. JOB II. 11-13. 37 Thus far we have two problems solved. First : That it is possible for the human soul to serve God loith disinterested love. This is illustrated in the first homily. Secondly : That there is a being in the universe beside God to whom we mag philosophically ascribe evil. There are five facts which show this. (1) That rational and moral existences con- stitute the chief part of the glory of creation. Without these wdiat would the universe have been ? — a college without students, a temple without w^orshippers. (2) That it is the essence of rational and moral intelligences that they should be free to obey or to disobey.. No being can be moral that is not endowed with the power of spontaneity and self-motion. Each moral being is a fountain, not a channel ; a free agent, not an engine ; the maker of his own character. It is the characteristic of such beings that they have the power of sinning ; it is their glory when they sin not. (3) That disobedience begets a tendency in its author to tempt others to wrong. Sin has in it the tempting instinct. (4) That the greater the rebel, the more powerful in propagat ing evil. (5) Tltat Infinite Goodness turns moral evil to a good account. These fiicts render it far more philosophical to ascribe all moral evil to Satan than to God. Had God not permitted His creatures to become devils He would only have been the Maker and Manager of machines. nOxMILY No. VI. GENUINE FRIENDSHIP. " Noxo when JoVs three friends heard of all this evil that was come upofi him, they came every one from his own place ; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite : for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted vp their voice, and loept ; and they rent every one Ids mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. So they sat dmon ivith him upon the ground serpen days and seven nights, and n@ne spake a vord vrito him : for they saw that his grief loas very great." — Chap. ii. 11-13. ExEGETiCAL REMARKS. Vcr. 11. heard of all this evil that was come — " Noiv when Job's three friends upon him, they came everyone from 38 JOB 11. 11-13. his own place ; Eliphaz the Teman- ife, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite." Here begins Job's third trial, a trial which goes right into his soiil, tortures his deepest religious faiths and feelings, which are the tenderest nerves of a man's being. This trial goes on so long as the discussion continues. These three friends were, in all probability, the patriarch's most particular friends. Elsewhere in the book we are given to understand that his admiring and grateful acquaintances were numerous. A man of his high intellectual power ; deep, tender, and practical philan- thropy ; high social influence and affluent means, could scarcely fail to gather around him a large num- ber of attached friends ; but these " three " were special — hence they came to visit Job in his deep afflic- tion. How they " heard of all this evil " we are not told. There were no postal communications in those days, but in all societies ill news has swift pinions. They came to- gether, we are told, by pre-appoint- ment ; each left his own house and started on his mission. " Eliphaz the Temanite." From the fact that he seems to take the lead in nearly all the conversations of the book, and the others to have followed and sustained his pro[)Ositiuns, Ave may inier that he was the most influen- tial man and the oldest friend. The name signifies " My God's strength," and his parents, in all probability, were religious people. He is called the Temanite, perhaps because he was a native of Teman, a country of Idumea, the home of one of the descendants of Esau. (Gen. xxxvi. 10 ; comp. Jer. xlix. 7, 20 ; Ezek. xxv. 13 ; Amos i. 11, 12; Obad. i. 8, 9.) '^ Bildad the Shuhite." It is sujiposed that he was a descendant from Shuheh, a son of Abraham by Keturah. This Shuheh is the only person to whom we can trace the denomination of Shuhite (Gen. xxv. 2). " A7id Zophar the Naamathite." "Naa- mah, from which I^aamathite is derived, was a town mentioned iu Josh. XV. 41, in a list of the utter- most cities of Judah's lot, ' toward the coast of Edom southward ' (ver. 21). It is, further, among that portion of those towns that lay ' in the valley,' which is supposed to have been Petra. !N^aamah was probably, therefore, in or near the Ghor, or valley, which extends from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Akabah." — Kitto. The residences of these three friends render it probable that the scene of this book was laid in the land of Edom. Of these three friends Canon Cook says, " Eliphaz represents the patri- archal chieftain, grave and dignified, erring only by too strict an adherence to tenets hitherto unquestioned. Bildad, Avithout much originality or independence of character, reposes partly on the wise saws of antiquity, and partly on the authority of his older friend. Zophar diflers from both. He seems to have been a young man. His language is violent, sometimes even coarse and offens- ive ; he represents the bigots of his age." " For they had made an appointment together, to come to mourn ivith him, and to comfort him." The fact that they "made an appointment " to visit Job indi- cates that they did not live far apart ; and the fact that they came to mourn with him and to comfort him shows that the strong re- proaches Avhich they afterwards addressed to him never entered into their purpose at first. Ver. 12. — "And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and kneio him not." His terrible afflictions had JOB 11. 11-13. 39 so transfigured him that his friends could not recognize him. " From our being told here," says Bernard, ** that his friends lifted up their eyes from afar, and did not recognize him, together with the fact that he was sitting amidst ashes, we may fairly conclude that Job had taken up his seat in the open air: and there the reader will do well to imagine he continued during the whole time occupied by the events recorded in this book; as thereby will not only the grandeur of the description given in the latter chapters of this book, of the phe- nomena of nature, and of the ap- proach of the whirlwind, from which God addresses Job, be greatly en- hanced ; but also some passages be cleared up which might otherwise seem obscure." " They lifted up their voice and wept ; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinlded dust ujjon their heads toward heaven." Here we have a natural and a conventional way of showing grief ; the natural way is by tears — they " wept." It is natural, the world over and the ages through, for sorrow to flow forth in tears. But the rending of the mantle and the sprinkling of dust on their heads toward heaven seem to have been acts of fashion or custom among the Ancients. (Josh. vii. 6; 1 Sam. iv. 12 ; Ezek. xxvii. 30 ; Acts xxii. 23.) " Tliis custom," says a modern expositor, " resembles in a remarkable manner the mode in which Achilles gave utterance to his sorrow when informed of the death of Patroclus." — " A sudden horror shot through all tlie chief. And wrapp'd his senses in the cloud of grief ; Cast on the ground, with furious hand he spread The scorching ashes o'er his graceful head. His purple garments and his golden hairs— Those he deforms with dust, and these he tears ; On the hard soil his groaning breast he threw, And roU'd and grovell'd as to earth he grew." — Pope. Ver. 13. — " So they sat doion tcith him iqjon the ground seven days and seven nights and none spake a ivord unto him." "■ They did not remain in the one posture and without food all this time, but for the most of this period daily and nightly. Sitting on the earth marked mourning (Lam. ii. 10). Seven days was the usual length of it (Gen. 1. 10 ; 1 Sam. xxxi. 13). This silence may have been due to a rising suspicion of evil in Job ; but chiefly because it is only ordinary griefs that lind vent in language — extraordinary griefs are too great for utterance." — A. R. Fansset. HoMiLETics. — Here is a record of the visit of these three friends to Job. " What a picture is here," says Froude. " What majestic tenderness ! His wife had scoffed at his faith, bidding him leave God and die. His acquaintance had turned from him. He had called his servant, and he had given him no answer. Even the children, in their unconscious cruelty, had gathered round and mocked him as he lay among the ashes. But his friends sprinkle dust towards heaven, and sit silently by him, and weep for him 40 JOB 11. 11-13. seven days and seven nights upon the ground. That is, they were true-hearted, truly loving, religious, devout men, and yet they with their religion were to become the instruments of the most poignant sufferings, the sharpest temptations, which he had to endure. So it was, and is, and will be — of such materials is this human life of ours composed." The passage suggests a few of the leading features of genuine friendship. I. It is deepened by adversity. — The effect on his friends of the overwhelming calamities which overtook Job, was not to drive them from him, but to draw them to him. When they ""heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own placer His afflictions so roused and intensified their affections, that they left their homes and hastened to his presence. Adversity is one of the best tests of friendship. The Germans have a proverb, " Let the guests go before the storm bursts." False friends forsake in adversity. When the tree is gay in summer beauty, and rich in aroma, bees will crowd around it and make music amongst its branches ; but when the flower has fallen, and the honey has been exhausted, they will pass it by, and avoid it in their aerial journeys. When your house is covered with sunshine, birds will chirp at your windows, but in the cloud and the storm their notes are not heard — such bees and birds are types of false friends. Not so with true friendship ; it comes to you when your tree of prosperity has withered ; when your house is shadowed by the cloud and beaten by the storm. " True friends," says an old writer, " visit us in prosperity only when invited, but in adversity they come to us without invitation." I have seen an oak-tree, once the ornament of the forest, Iccifless, blanched, dead ; but the ivy that had clung to it in its better days seemed to clasp it more tenaciously in its decay, as if so to cover every branch with its own beauty as to conceal the wrinkles and deformities that time had made. This is true friendship. " Wheu true friends meet in adverse hour, 'Tis like a suubcaiu tlirough a shower ; A watery ray an instant seen, The darkly clo.smg clouds between. "Sir Walter Scott. JOB 11. 1 1 -1 3. 41 In this respect, Christ is the highest manifestation of genuine friendship. He came down from His own bright heavens because of our adversity. " He came to seek and to save the lost." Another thought suggested concerning genuine friendship is — n. It is practically helpful. — The friendship of these men was not a passing sentiment, an evanescent emotion, it was a working force ; it set them to — First : A self -denying work. They left their homes and directed their footsteps to the scene of their afflicted friend. We know not the exact distance they had to travel ; it was probably a long journey, otherwise it was not likely they would have made an appointment to travel together. Travelling, too, in those days meant something more than it does in these times, when means of transit are so access- ible, agreeable, and swift. And then, no doubt, it required not a little self-denying efi"ort to break away from their homes, their numerous associations, and the avocations of their daily life. Their friendship meant seJf-denpnf/ effort. This is always a characteristic of genuine friendship — ■ spurious friendship abounds in talk and evaporates in sighs and tears ; it has no w^ork in it. As a rule, it is not the man whose aflfection for you is the most garrulous, and whose words are the most glozing, that you can trust ; the stronger and deeper the love a man has for you, the more modest and mute. It set them to — Secondly :. A self-denying work in order to relieve. They came ''to mourn with him and to comfort him." Man can comfort man. The expressions of true s}Tnpathy are balm to a wounded heart, and courage to a fainting soul. They have often broken in as sunbeams through the black clouds of sorrow, under which the spirit had quivered and quailed. These men did not come to pay Job a complimentary visit ; address to him a few flattering words, and then depart ; they came " to mourn ivith him and to comfort him." In this feature of genuine friendship Christ was again transcendent. " He came to preach deliverance to the captive — to open the prison door to them that are bound — to bind up the broken-hearted," &c. 42 JOB 11. 11-13. Anotlier thouglit suggested concerning genuine friendship is — in. It is vicariously afflicted. ''And when they lifted up their eyes afar 0/, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice and wept : and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven!' If this language means anything, it means soul suffering. The very sight of their friend's overwhelming afflictions harrowed their hearts. We are so constituted that the personal sufferings of our friend can bring sufferings to our heart as great, and often greater. What is the pain endured by the child with the burning fever on it, compared with the agonizing distress of its mother s heart ? The more love we have in us, the more vicarious suffering we endure, in scenes where sufferings abound. In this respect again the friendship of Christ excels all others. In all our afflictions He is afflicted. So great was the Divine love within Him, that " He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows." Another thought suggested here concerning genuine friendship is — IV. It is tenderly reticent. " So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights., and none spake a loord unto him : for they saw that his grief loas very great!' Why were they silent? We are sometimes silent with amazement; we are struck dumb by astonishment. We are sometimes silent because we know not what words to utter on the occasion ; and sometimes we are silent because the tide of our emotion rises and chokes the utter- ance. Why were these men silent ? For any of these reasons ? Perhaps for all. Anyhow, in their silence there was wisdom — silence on that occasion was better than speech. They let their flowing tears, their symbolic mantle, their beads turned towards heaven with imploring looks, their sobs and sighs, do what words could not do-^express the profound sympathy of their hearts. Silence, not speech, is the best service that friendship can render in sorrow. First, Because silence is the strongest evidence of the depth of our friendship towards our suffering friend ; Secondly, Be- JOB III. 1-26. 43 cause silence is most consistent with our ignorance of Divine Providence towards our suffering friend ; Thirdly, Because silence is most congenial to the mental state of our suftering friend.* HOMILY No. VII. JOB'S FIRST SPEECH— THE MADDENING FORCE OF SUFFERING. " After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed hi -26. day,'' &c. — Chap. iii. ExEGETICAL EeMARKS. Tllis cliapter commences the poetic de- bate of the book, which extends to the 6th verse of the 42nd chapter. Here Job begins. For " seven days and seven nights " he sat in mute anguish ; meanwhile his sufferings abated not, but probably increased. The passions of soul which they generated grew and became irrepres- sible, and he speaks. The swelling waters break through the embank- ment, and rush forth with fury and foam. Ver. 1. — "After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day." His natal day. " This chapter," says Mr. Cox, in his admirable exposi- tion of the Book, "divides itself into three sections, three strophes, in which life is execrated through its whole course. (1) Job asks (ver. 3-10), since life is such a burden, why was I born ? (2) He demands (11-19), why was not I suffered to die as soon as born 1 (3) If that were too great a boon, why may I not die now 1 (20-26). Ver. 2, 3. — '^A)id Job spake, and said, Let the day p)erish ivherein I was horn, and the night in which it ivas said. There is a man ch ild con- ceived.'" From this to the twelfth verse thepatriarch employs language of terrible grandeur and wild ex- travagance in reviling his natal day. " There is nothing that I know of, in ancient or modern poetry, equal to the entire burst, whether in the wildness and horror of the impreca- tions, or the terrible sublimity of its imagery." Jeremiah, one of the boldest of the Hebrew poets, has language strikingly similar (chap. XX. 14-16). Ver. 4. — " Let that day he dark- ness ; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it." "Let not Eloah ask after it." — Delifzsch. The curse is against the day of his birth and the night of his conception as recurring yearly, not against the first. His wish is that his birthday may become Dies alta, swallowed up in darkness. Ver. 5. — " Let darkness and the shadoio of death stain it; let a cloud divell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it." The idea is the same as that already expressed, a desire that his birthday should be buried in black oblivion. For remarks on this point see Homilist, Second Series, vol. ill., p. 416. 44 JOB III. 1-26. Ver. 6.— "^s for that night, let darkness seize upon it ; let it not be joined unto the days of the i/ear, let it not come into the number of the months." " Darkness is to seize it, and so completely swallow it up, that it shall not be possible for it to pass into the light of clay. It is not to become a clay, to be reckoned as belonging to the days of the year, and rejoice in the light thereof." — Delifzsch. Ver. 8. — " Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise ujj their mourning." " May the day cursers execrate it; they who are able to raise up leviathan. The day cursers were supposed to make days unlucky by their enchant- ments. It was also the popular be- lief that they possessed the power to call forth the great dragon against the sun and moon, so as to produce darkness." — Dr. Samuel Davidson. Ver. 9. — "Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark,'^ &c. " If the night on which he was conceived is to become day, then let the stars of the twilight (^. e. the stars which as the messengers of the morning twinkle through the twilight of dawn) become dark." — Delitzsch. Ver. 10. — "Because it shut not ujj the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes." A terrible reason he here assigns for cursing the night of his birth. Thus speaks his storm-tossed soul, as speaks the ocean in a hurricane, in wild grandeur and savage majesty. He has no language too strong, no figures too bold, to express his detestation of his natal day. Ver. 13.— "i^(;/' now should I have lain still and been quiet,I shoidd have slept : then had I been at rest." Job means by this, that had he died as an infant, instead of undergoing his present torture, he would have been sleeping quietly in the dust. Ver. 14-18. — " With kings and counsellors of the earth, ivhich built desolate places for themselves," &c. He seems in this passage to speak with ecpial grandeur, but with a more subdued and reflective soul. Never was the physical condition of the dead more magnificently and impressively described. A condition of rest, — a condition common to men of all social grades, — the king and his siibject, the prince and the pauper, the good and the bad, the oppressor and his victim. Ver. 19. — " The small and great are there." — This text should be, " the small and the great are the same ;" and the "small and the great are there " should be in the margin. Schlottman is wrong in thinking the personal pronoun a copula in all passages like the present, and so re- fusing it the meaning of the same. — Dr. Samuel Davidson. Ver. 20, 21.—" WJierefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul ? " &c. " Why is light given to the miser- able, and life to the bitter soul who waits for death 1 " — Lee. Ver. 22, 23. — "Which rejoice ex- ceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave ? Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and lohom God hath hedged in ? " The cpiestion here asked is, Why should man, whose misery leads him to desire death, be kept in life 1 A very natural c][uestion this. A. modern expositor has answered the question thus: — " (1) Those suftV rings may be the very means which are needful to develop the true state of the soul. Such was the case with Job. (2) They may be the proper punishment of sin in the heart, of which the individual was not fully aware, but which may be distinctly seen by God. There may be pride, the love of ease, self-confidence, ambition, JOB III. 1-26. 45 and a desire of reputation. Such appear to have been some of the besetting sins of Job. (3) They are needful to teach true submission, and to show whether a man is wilHng to resign himself to God. (4) They may be the very things which are necessary to prepare the individual to die. At the same time that men often desire death, and feel that it would be a great relief, it might be to them the greatest possible calamity. They may be wholly unprepared for it." Ver. 24. — "Formy sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters." Noyes explains this thus : — " My sighing comes on when I begin to eat, and prevents me taking my daily nour- ishment." He compares his roar- ings to the waters : they were like the restless billows, numerous and tumultuous. Ver. 2.5. — "For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me." — Margin, " I feared a fear, and it has come upon me." Perhaps he had a deep presentiment, even in his pros- perity, that some terrible catastrophe lay before him; or perhaps he refers to the apprehensions which the first trials awakened ; for it is common in human nature to apprehend a second when a first calamity comes: when one child is taken away, the parent naturally fears lest a second should fall. Ver. 26. — " I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet : yet trouble came." — '■" If I rightly apprehend," says Lee, " the drift of the context here. Job means to have it understood that he is conscious of no instance in which he has relaxed from his religious obli- gations : of no season in which his fear and love of God have waxed weak : and on this account, it was the more perplexing that such a complication of miseries had befallen him." At the close of this speech it is natural to ask — Does it not seem that the assertion of Satan was about to be confirmed'? Delitzsch asks this question, and he answers it. (See Commentary, vol. i. p. 84.) HoMiLETics. — This chapter is the language of a man overwhelmed with suffering. There have been suffering men in all ages, and there are suffering men still, but we can scarcely conceive of a greater sufferer than Job. He suffered in his circumstances. The fortune which, perhaps, he had gained by years of industry, which he had long enjoyed, and w^ith which he had done great good, was utterly destroyed as in a moment. He suffered in his body. He was smitten with " sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown." A virulent poison rankled in his blood, and covered his frame with burning eruptions. He suffered in his heart. His faithful servants, and his beloved sons and daughters, who were rooted in his affections, were ruthlessly snatched away, and his heart was bleeding at every pore. The partner of his bosom, too, instead of 46 JOB III. 1-26. soothing him with kind words and loving attentions, taunted him with impious remarks. He was wounded in his intellect. His calamities broke in upon his religious belief, and confounded his judgment He was involved in the most agonizing perplexity concerning the character and procedure of his Maker. The amount of his anguish we can scarcely exaggerate. Now this chapter is the language of a man overwhelmed with suffering, and we must explain it accordingly. We must not apply to it the same cauons of interpretation as we would to the language of a man in calmness, in health, and in prosperity. A man's language must be construed according to the mood of his soul. Here is suffering urging a man— I. To THE USE OF EXTRAVAGANT LANGUAGE. The lan- guage of Job in this chapter is confessedly extravagant. It reads to us more like the eloquent ravings of a maniac, than the sober expressions of a saint. " Let the day perish wherein I urns born,'' &c. Wild and extravagant as the language seems to be it is natural. Three facts will show this : — First : Great sufferings generate great passions in the soul. Hope, fear, love, anger, and other sentiments may remain in the mind, during the period of ease and comfort, so latent and quiescent as to crave no expression. But let suffering come, and they will rush into passions that shake and con- vulse the whole man. What elements sleep in every human heart, now latent, which a certain class of suffering would rouse into fury ! Suffering often acts on certain attributes of the soul as fire on powder. Secondly : Great passions often become irrepressible. Some men have a wonderful power of restraining their feelings. They keep them down, and will not allow them a revelation in words, or looks, or acts. But passion sometimes rises to such a pitch that no man, however great his self-control, is able to repress. Like the volcanic fire, it breaks through all the mountains that lie upon it, and flames up to the heavens. Thirdly : When great passions become irrepressible, they express themselves extravagantly. The flood that has broken through its obstructions does not roll on at once m calm I JOB III. 1-26. 47 and silent flow, but rushes and foams : and the passion that has become irrepressible will not express itself in calm looks, but in facial contortions ; not in peaceful movements of the body, but in muscular violence ; not in calm prose, but in tumultuous poetry. Hence the language of Job in the text. What man who endured his suflPerings would speak with less wildness and hyperbole ? The Psalmist describes the process of feeling taking the form of sjDeech. " I said, I will take heed to my ways, That I siu not with my tongue : I will keep my mouth with a bridle, While the wicked is before me. I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good ; And my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me, While I was musing, the fire burned : Then spake I with my tongue." — Psalm xxxix. 1-3. Here is sufi'ering urging a man — II. To DEPLORE THE FACT OF HIS EXISTENCE. " TFIl^ died I not from the ivomb ? Wliy did I not give up the ghost ? " &c. In this passage he deplores — First : The/<2C^ tliat he existed at all. " Let the dag perish wherein I was horn^ Language which means — " 0 had there never been such a day 1 Would that I had never come into being, never opened my eyes on the universe, never felt an impression, or conceivecl a thought ! I had rather a thousand times never to have been at all, than to be what I am, to endure the agonies that now overwhelm me." Many sufferers have felt the same. What Sophocles said expressed the experience of millions in all ages, " Not to be born is best in every way. Once born, by far the better lot is then at once to go back whence we came." In this passage he deplores — Secondly : That having existed, he did not die at the very daion of his' being. ''Whg died I not from the womb? whg did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly ? Why did the knees prevent me ? or why the breasts that I should suck ? " We ought to observe here that the word ^^ prevent " does not mean as now, obstruct, but to anticipate, to go before ; and the expression, " why did the knees pre- vent me? or why the breasts that I should suck ? " means 48 JOB III. 1-26. *' why was tlie nursing lap of my mother and her nutritious breasts made ready for me when I came into life, so as to continue me in existence ? " Incidentally, I cannot but remark how good is God in making jDrovision for our sup- port before we enter on the stage of life. The Patriarch says that, had not such provision been made for him, he would have died at once. " For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept; then had I been at rest, with kings and counsellors of the earth, ivhich built desolate places for themselves" &c. The fact that suffering can thus make existence intoler- able suggests the following thoughts — (1) Annihilation is not the worst of evils. Existence, especially an existence like man's, with so many ca23acities for pleasure, is undoubt- edly an immense blessing, and to lose it would be a terrible calamity; but ^o;/-existence is preferable to ^'//-existence. Better not to be at all than to be in misery ; better to be quenched than to burn. Another truth suggested is — (2) Desire for death is no proof of genuine religion. Mere suffering has the power not only to destroy our natural love of life, but to generate a desire to go out of existence. Many a man, destitute entirely of all Christliness, like Job often exclaims, " I would not live alway." Another truth suggested is— (3) Hell must be an overwhelmingly terrible condition of existence. Hell, the Bible tells us, is a condi- tion of excruciating suffering, where death is sought, but not found. Here is suffering urging a man — III. To HAIL THE CONDITION OF THE DEAD. " For nOW should I have lain still and been quiet," &c. (verses 13-19). With what an earnest longing does Job look to the grave ; with what admiration does he seem to speak of the state of the dead. He speaks of it as a general resting place where dwelt ''kings and counsellors of the earth," ''princes that had gold, and filed their houses with silver," where "the wicked cease from troubling" and where " the weary be at rest," where " the prisoners rest together and hear not the voice of the oppressor," where are " the small and great," and where the " servant is free from his master" He looked to death — JOB III. 1-26. 49 First : As a real rest. How profound is the rest of the grave ! The loudest thunders cannot penetrate the ear of the dead ; the hottest fires cannot touch the nerves of the dead ; no tyrant, no oppressor, can disturb the slumbers of the dead. He looked at death — Secondly : As a common rest. " Kings and counsellors," princes and paupers, tyrants and their victims, the illustri- ous and the obscure — all are there together. His descrip- tion here of the grave is as true as it is grand. The state of the dead, as here described, suggests two practical thoughts: — (1) The transitoriness of all worldly distinc- tions. The flowers that appear in our fields in the summer season of the year vary greatly in form, size, hues. Some are far more imposing and beautiful than others ; but in a few weeks all the distinctions are utterly destroyed. It is so in society. Great are the secular distinctions in this generation, but a century hence, and the whole will be common dust. How egregiously absurd to be proud of mere secular greatness. The state of the dead, as here described, suggests — (2) The folly of making corporeal interests supreme. Men are prone to make the body para- mount in everything. The great question is, " What shall we eat, what shall we drink, wherewithal shall we be clothed ? " Material pleasures, material distinctions, mate- rial resources ; for these, alas ! the present generation crave and toil. But how soon are all these over ; the grave puts an end to all ! " The rich and the poor meet together." " Not to thy eternal resting place Shalt thou retire alone Thou slialt lie down With patriarchs of the ancient world, with kings, The powerful of the earth, the wise and good, Fair forms and hoary seers of ages past, All in one mighty sepulchre. The hills, Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun ; the vales Stretching in pensive quietness between ; The venerable wood ; rivers that move In majesty, and the cemplaining brooks That make the meadows green ; and poured round all, Old ocean's gray and melancholy waste — Are but the solemn decorations all Of the great tomb of man." Here is suffering urging a man — IV. To PRY INTO THE REASONS OF A MISERABLE LIFE. 60 JOB III. 1-26. ** Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the hitter in soulf' &c. (verses 20-26). The great question running tlirougli these verses is, Why should God contioue the existence of a miserable man ? '"A man whose way is hid!' A very natural question this ! Has the Great Author of existence any pleasure in the sufferings of His creatures ? Is the writhing frame a pleasant object to His eye ? Are groans and shrieks of anguish music to His ear? It cannot be. Man's instinctive belief in His benevolence, and the plan of happiness on which the universe is organized, condemn the thought. Why then ? There are, no doubt, good reasons, reasons that we shall understand and appre- ciate ere long. First : Great sufferings are often spiritually useful to the sufferer. They are storms to purify the dark atmosphere of his heart, they are bitter ingredients to make spiritually curative his cop of life. Suffering teaches man the evil of sin ; for sin is the root of all anguish. Suffering develops the virtues : — patience, forbearance, resignation. Suffering tests the character : — it is a fire that, tries the moral metal of the soul. Secondly : Great sufferings are often spiritually useful to the spectator. The view of a suffering human creature tends to awaken compassion, stimulate benevolence, and excite gratitude. Conclusion. — From this subject we learn — First : The utmost power that the Devil is capable of exert- ing on man. All these afflictions came upon Job through the agency of the Wicked One. The Eternal had given him permission to deal thus with His servant. And what did he do? (1) He did not destroy life. Mighty as is this Great Fiend, he can neither create nor annihilate. (2) He did not destroy piety. He expected — he engaged, indeed, to make Job curse his God, but the Patriarch did not do so. Amidst the ravings of his agony, he utters no words of irreverence towards his Maker. He reviles his natal day, and deplores the fact of his existence, it is true, but does no more. What then did Satan do ? He rendered existence intolerable, and this is all he can do. We learn — JOB IV. i-ir. 51 Secondly : The strength of genuine retigion. It is wonder- ful, yet glorious, to find that Job, in the midst of all his sutferino-s, did not blame God in these words. This is the more wonderful, inasmuch as he had not two things, which we have, to help him under his sufferings. (1) The example of Christ as a Sufferer. Christians, in suffering, have great consolation in comparing their afflictions with those of Christ, but Job had no such comfort. He had not (2) The assurance of a future life. There is no evidence clear that Job believed in a future state. This world bounded his whole horizon. It is, therefore, wonderful that, imder such circumstances, he should have refrained, in these terrible utterances of suffering, to reflect upon the Author of his being. How much more elevated should our piety be than his ! What higher light has fallen on us ! he lived in starlight, we under solar beams. HOMILY No. VIII. THE FIRST SPEECH OF ELIPHAZ TO JOB : (1.) WRONG CRITERIA OF CHARACTER. " Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said," &c. — Chap. iv. 1-11. ExEGETiCAL Eemarks. Ver. 1. turn. Eliphaz first, then Bildad, and — " Then Eliphaz the Temanite then Zophar. They all proceed on answered and said" Up to this three principles on which they time, Jolj's friends had maintained had agreed: (1) That under the a strict silence : they seemed mute righteous administration of Heaven with amazement at the greatness of good always comes to the good, and his afflictions, and reluctant, from evil to the evil. (2) That sulfer- sympathy, to distiirb him with their ings here imply great sin. Because convictions. Job's bitter complaint, Job was a great sufferer, he was a however clothed in extravagant, and great sinner. (3) That if the great what they considered blasphemous, sinner would repent he would be language, left them no alternative restored to the favour of God and the but to speak. Here begins the enjoyment of life. Eliphaz is the three-fold colloquy between Job first speaker here, and indeed, in and his friends. Each speaks in all the series of arguments in the e2 52 JOB IV. i-ii. discupsions of the book. He is so, perhaps, because lie might be the oldest of Job's friends, and regarded by the others as more experienced in wisdom. Though mild, courte- 3US, and candid, his severity at times is sharp and scathing. Ver. 2. — "//' we assay to com- mune with thee, wilt thou be grieved ?" "If one attempts a word with thee, will it grieve thee?" — Delitzsch. Uinbreit makes two questions : " May we attempt a word with theel Wilt thou be grieved at it 1 " But the English version is good sense, and accords with the Hebiew. " But who can withhold himself from speaking ] " Margin, " Eefrain from words." He speaks not for the sake of dis- cussion, but for the sake of what he believed to be the truth. Strong convictions overcame his tacitur- nity. Ver. ^3, 4. — " Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands," &c. I see no sarcasm, as some do, in these words : on the contrary, a generous acknowledgment of the noble services which Job had ren- dered to others, in instructing the ignorant and strengthening the weak. Ver. 5. — "Butnow it is comeupon thee, and tho.u faintest ; it foucheth thee, and thou art troubled." " Now it Cometh on thee thou grievest, now it toucheth thee thou despondest." — Delitzsch . Ver. 6. — " Is not this thy fear, thy confidejice, thy hope, and. the ujirigJitness of thy ways?" There are diffi-rent renderings of this : "Is nut the fear of God thy con- fidence, and the perfectness of tliy way, thy hope^' — Lee. "Is thy piety then nothing? thy hope, thy confidence, or the uprightness of thy ways ] " — Goude. " Ought not thy piety to inspire with hope, and the integrity of thy life with con- fidence ] " — Wemyss. " 0 ught not the fear of thy God be thy confid- ence, and the integrity of thy ways thy hope?" — Bernard. The idea seems to me to be as Coverdale has it, " Where is now thy fear of God, thy steadfastness, the patience and the perfectness of thy life 1 " Ver. 7. — " Bejnemher, I pray thee, who ever perished, being inno- cent ? or where xcere the righteous cut off?" By this appeal he means to imply that, inasmuch as Job was such a suff'erer, he was neither righteous nor innocent. I^ever does the innocent perish. You are perishing, therefore you are not innocent. Ver. 8. — " Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow ivickedness, reap the same." There is nothing wonderful in this. Who has not seen this 1 It is the eter- nal principle of Divine government. " Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Ver. 9.—" By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed." Destruction is here described by the image of a furious tempest — a com- mon figure. (Job i. 16; Is. v. 25; Ps. xviii. 15.) Ver. 10. — " Tlie roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth, of the young lions, are broken," &c. Wicked men are fre- quently compared to wild animals (Is. xi. ; Ps. X. 9 ; Ixviii. 6) ; and to the Hon especially (Ps. xxii. 14 ; xxxiv. 1 1 ; XXXV. 17). By the lion, Eliphaz means wicked, ferocious, and rapacious men. The number of words that he here empLiys to represent the lion is somewhat remarkable: "roaring," "fierce," "old," "stout." Wicked men dif- fer in ferocity, age, and strength. JOB IV. i-ii. 63 HoMlLETics. — The introduction of this first address of Eliphaz to Job is admirable. Mark, First: Hi?, politeness. " If we assay to commune with thee^" that is, may we attempt a word with thee ? He does not approach his venerable friend intrusively, and break forth abruptly into speech. With the true spirit of a gentleman, in .the Bible sense, he entreats permission to say a word. " He speaks in a soft, subdued, suggestive strain, contriving in every way to spare the feelings of the sufferer." Courteousness is no mean attri- bute of excellence. Mark, Secondly: His tenderness. ''If we assay to commune with thee, loiJt thou be grieved ? " He means, shall 1 wound thy feelings if I speak out my mind ? Respect for the feelings of another is not only the dictate of a noble nature and the mark of good breeding, but an element of Christian morality. We are CDmmanded to be tender-hearted one toward another. Mark, Thirdly : His ^delity to conviction. " Who can witlihold himself from speakiny ? " As if he had said, with the tenderest regard for thy feeling and the utmost reluctance to give pain, I feel bound by my conscience to speak. He sincerely believed — though his faith was ill-founded — that Job was not a good man because he was a sufferer ; and loyalty to his faith prompted him to speak. Mark, Fourthly : His candour. He gives Job full credit for what he had done. ''Behold, thou hast instructed many',' &c. Though he felt that Job was at fault, and that he had now to dispute with him on a vital question, he gave him full credit for all that was excellent in the past of his life. In all this, he is an example ; an example which puts to shame millions who profess their Christian morality ; it is an example of a natural religionist. The religion he had was, in all probability, derived from the light of nature. He was not of the seed of Abraham, and there is no proof that he had a documental revelation. He was outside the circle to whom the written oracles of Heaven were vouchsafed. He drew his doctrines from the pages of material nature, and the tablets of the human soul. These verses show his criteria of moral character. I. He regarded the fact that a man suffered as a proof 54 JOB IV. i-ii. tliat lie was not innocent. He saw his old friend Job now in afflictions unparalleled, and well nigh intolerable ; and he drew the conclusion that he was not wdiat he once thought him to be — a good man. " Bemember, I prcuj thee, who ever perMcd, being innocent? or ichere ivere the righteous cut off? Even as I have seen, they that ploio iniquity, and sow ivickedness, reap the same. By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of His nostrils are they consumed!' In these words of his, there are certain implicates which reveal his knowledge ot several cardinal theological truths: such as (1) The existence of One Supreme Being. He was neither Atheist, Pantheist, nor Polytheist : he believed in one God. (2) That this One Supreme Being superintends the affairs of individual life. The wretchedness and ruin of wicked men he ascribes to the " blast of God!' (3) That this One Supreme Being, in His superintendence of individual life, administers retri- bution. He refers to Him as preserving the " innocent," and as destroying the " wicked." Now it is just at this point that Eliphaz makes the mistake. It is true that the principle of retribution is at work amongst men in this world ; that there is a connection as close and indissoluble between man's character and man's condition, as there is between the seed that is sown in spring and the grain that is reaped in autumn. " They that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same." It is true also that this principle is often manifested in most signal judgments. '^ By the blast of God they perish ; and by the breath of His nostrils are they consumed. TJie roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken. The old lion perisheth for want of prey .^ and the stout lions whelps are scattered abroad." The deluge, the fiery showers that came down on Sodom, and the destruction of Jerusalem, are such displays of Divine retribu- tion. All men have seen what Eliphaz had seen, — suffering growing out of sin, signal judgments coming down on flagrant crimmals. ]3ut Eliphaz must have seen something more than this : he must have seen oftentimes the opposite. He must have often seen adversity linked to goodness, and prosperity to guilt. He only states a part of what he saw, and what is to be seen in God's dealinsr with mankind. JOB IV. i-ir. 55 It is undoubtedly true that God, in His dealing with men, has respect to their moral character, but His providential treatment of them is not always regulated by this. Retri- bution here, though often manifest, is not invariable and adequate: the wicked are not always made wretched, nor are the good always made happy in this life. Eliphaz is not the only man that has made this mistake : his two friends, and indeed men in all ages, have fallen into the same error. So prevalent was the error in the days of Christ, that He liad to lay down, with all His authority and force, the opposite principle (Luke xiii. 1-5). To judge a man's character by his external circumstances is a most flagrant mistake. The following facts reveal this: (1) That suffering is not necessarily connected with sin. Suffering was in the world before sin existed, and suffering pervades those sentient existences throughout the world that are incapable of sin. " The whole creation groaneth." (2) Suffering seems almost necessary to the kmnan creature in this world. Pain is one of the best ministers that man has. It is one of his greatest incentives to study, to labour, to prudence, and to sympathy. I see not how the human race could advance without pain. Pain is the power that whips all the faculties of the soul into strenuous exercise.* " Suffering," says Dr. Channing, " comes to us through and from our whole nature. It cannot be winked out of sight. It cannot be thrust into a subordinate place in the picture of human life. It is the chief burden of history. It is the solemn theme of one of the highest departments of literature — the tragic drama. It gives to fictions their deep interest. It wails through much of our poetry. A large part of human vocations are intended to shut up some of its avenues. It has left traces on every human countenance over which years have passed. It is, to not a few, the most vivid recollection of life." (3) Suffering, as a fact, has a sanitary influence upon the character of the good. Affliction is disciplinary. " It worketh out the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby." The millions who have reached the world of perfection are those who " have come out of great tribulation." * See Homilist, Fourth Series, vol. iii. p. 176. JOB IV. i-ii. " 0 fear not in a world like this, And thou shalt know ere long, Know how sublime a thing it is To suffer and be ^\xo\xg!'—Low3felloio. This is a scene of probation : men are not dealt with here according to their works ; there is a future where retribution, which is here partial, will be full and complete. 11. He regarded the murmuring of a man under suffering as a proof of his wickedness. Job had uttered terrible complaints in the preceding chapter : and these complaints tended to confirm the conviction which the fact of his sufleriugs gave him, that Job was not a genuinely righteous man in the sight of God. He was right here : a murmuring spirit is essentially an evil. In this complaining spirit Eliphaz discovers moral degeneracy. " Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands. Thy words have uphoJden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest ; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways ? " The meaning of all this is, thou hast fallen from thy past excellence : thou hast in days gone by exhorted sufferers to be resigned, courageous, and mag- nanimous; but now, when thou thyself art touched by affliction, thou art frantic with excitement and complaints. Is this thy religion ? Is this thy ''fear of God,'' thy " con- fidence," thy ''hope" of which thou hast so often spoken? What is it worth ? Nothing. Thy complaining spirit now proves that thou art not true to thy original profession and character. Here Eliphaz does what narrow theologians have always done and are still doing, — he judged a man's character by a religious dogma.* Somehow or other the ill-digested idea had got into this man's heart, as well as into the hearts of the other two, that great suffering in a man always indicated his great sin ; and through this idea he treated a noble man, a man worthy of his commiseration and admiration, as one who had greatly fallen, • See Book of Job. By J. A. Froude, M.A. Page 8. JOB IV. 12-21. 57 HOMILY No. IX. THE FIRST SPEECH OF ELIPHAZ TO JOB. (2.) MAN'S FELLOWSHIP WITH THE UNSEEN WORLD. ^^ Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof" &c. — Chap. iv. 12-21. ExEGETicAL Eemarks. — Ver. 12. — "Now a thing mas secretly brought to me" &c. " J^ow a word •was brought to me secretly, and my ear received a portion of it." — Lee. He refers to this vision, no doubt, in order to reprove what he con- sidered Job's unfounded state of confidence. Ver. 13.—"//?. thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleejj falleth on men." The orij^iual sug- gests disturbing thoughts— thoughts that heave and agitate the soul : such thoughts came to Ehphaz in the season of profound slumber. Probably he had been pondering on the problem of God's government during the day ; and, as often hap- pens, the most absorbing thoughts of the day are reproduced in strange visions in the night. Ver. 1-1. — " Fear came upon me and trembling, which made all my hones to shake." " It is impossible," says Dr. Barnes, " to conceive any- thing more sublime than this whole description. It was midnight. There was solitude and silence all around. At that fearful hour this vision came, and a sentiment was communicated to Eliphaz, of the utmost importance, and fitted to make the deepest possible impres- sion. The time, the cpiiet, the form of the image, its passing along, and then suddenly standing still ; the silence, and then the deep and solemn voice — all were fitted to produce the profound est awe. So graphic and so powerful is this de- scription, that it wo aid be impossible to read it — -and particularly at mid- night, and alone — without some- thing of the feeling of awe and horror which Eliphaz says it pro- duced on his mind. It is a de- scription which, for power, lias pro- bably never been equalled, though an attempt to describe the invisible world has often been made. Virgil has attempted such a description, which, though exceedingly bpauti- ful, is far inferior to this of the Sage of Teman. It is the descrip- tion of the appearance of the wife of ^'Eneas : — ' Infelix siniulachrum atque ipsius umbra Oreus;\3 Visa mihi ante oculos, et nota major iinago Obstupui; stetei-untque comce, et vox faucibus hsesit.' — JEn. ii. 772. ' At length she hears. And sudden through the shades of night appears : Appears no more Creiisa, aor my wife. But a pale spectre, larger than the life. Aghast, astonished, and struck dumb with fear I stood ; like bristles rose my stifi'eued liair.' — Drydeii." Ver. 15, 16.— "T//e» a spirit passed before my face ; the hair of my flesh stood up : it stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes ; there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying." The spirit first 68 JOB IV. 12-21. glided silently before his eye, then it stood in a form shadowy and indistinct ; it was silent for a time, and then it spoke. "7 heard a voice,'' or, as the margin has it, " I heard a still voice." The effect of this vision is told with physiological accuracy. " T/;e lunr of my flesh stood ?//?." Fear drives the blood from the extremities of the body, contracts the skin, the hair becomes erect, and often blanched. Sudden alarm has been known to turn the hair white in an hour. Shake- speare, in his speech of the ghost to Hamlet, describes the effect of fear upon the flesh : — " But that I am forbid To tell the secrets of my prison-house, I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy youDg blood, Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres. Thy knotty and combined locks to part, Aud each particular hair to staod on end, Like quills upon the fretful porcupine." Ver. 17. — " Shcdl mortal man he more just than God ? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker ? " " Is a mortal man just before Eloah V'—Delitzsch. The idea is, shall mortal man be just before, or in the presence of, God 1 Yer. 18. — ''Behold, he put no trust in his servants ; and his angels he charged tvith folly " (imperfec- tion). "Servants" and "angels" here point to the same class of existences, God's highest and purest intelligent creatures. They even are unworthy of God's confidence. Ver. 19. — " Hoio much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth 1 " "Much more the inhabiters of houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are beaten to pieces before the moth." — Lee. " Whose origin is in the dust." — Delitzseh. Ver. 20, 21.— " They are de- stroyed from morning to evening: they p)erish for ever ivithout any regarding it. Doth not their excel- lency u-hich is in them go away ? They die, even ivithout wisdom." " From morning to evening they are broken to pieces, without heeding it ; they continually are perishing. Hath not their superiority which is in them been removed 1 They are even dying, but without wisdom to perceive it." — Bernard. Or better, " Is not the tent-cord torn from themi They die, without wisdom." — Dr. S. Davidson. HoMiLETics : — Whether this vision was within or without the mind of Eliphaz — to the imagination or the senses ; whether the address of the "spirit" that passed before him and spoke was divinely inspired or not, the three following propositions which it suggests and illustrates w^ould he true. They are true independent of the vision, and independent of the Bible itself. I. That man has a capacity to hold intercourse WITH the spiritual WORLD. The existence of a spiritual world is one of the fundamental faiths of humanity. It is a felt sentiment with man in his unreasoning state, peopling with ghosts the whole sphere of his being ; a theory with JOB IV. 12-21. 59 man in liis reflective state, accounting for a class of pheno- mena otherwise inexplicable ; a living conviction with man in his Christian state, bringing him under the " powers of the world to come." The material universe is but the creature, the instrument, and the sensuous form of the spiritual — a vesture which shall wear out with age, and be folded up. Now man's capacity for intercourse with the spiritual is two-fold — to receive and to feel its communica- tions. Eliphaz had a capacity to receive the utterance of the spirit that broke his slumbers, and startled into fearful earnestness every power of his soul. It was but a little that his ear received, but a few sentences that he caught. Our ignorance of the spiritual arises not from the lack of communication. God speaks freely : the spiritual speaks in everything; there is no " speech nor language where its voice is not heard;" but from the lack of a capacity to take in all, our ears receive a little, and only a little. We are in the universe like a child who enters a lecture-room when a profound philosopher is in the midst of a discourse on some great branch of science, and who leaves before the subject has concluded : his ear received a little, and all it received he understood not. God's great discourse commenced ages before we entered the scene of knowledge, and will go on when we are in the dust. We only hear a part, and much of that we understand not ; still though little it is some- thing— something great, solemn, suggestive, sanctifying — • something that proves the existence of a capacity to receive. But he has not only a capacity for receiving, but also for feeling spiritual communications. ''Fear came upon me, and trembling, wJiich made all mij bones to shake." There may be existences of sheer intellect possessing no suscepti- bilities of feeling, who would receive the most momentous thoughts from the spiritual universe without the sliglitest emotion. Such is not man's nature — he has a heart as well as a head. One thought may act on his soul as the fierce winds on the seas — lash it into foaming and battling billows of every emotion. Often, as in the case before us, deep spiritual impressions come most unexpectedly. It is night ; the toils of the day are over, and the man has retired to rest. All is dark, lonely, and silent around him ; the doors 60 JOB IV. 12-21. are fastened, and with conscious security he sinks into repose. But see ! a vision approaches ; it halts right before his eye ; it ilkimines midnight with its brightness ; it breaks the silence with its voice, and delivers a message from the Everlasting. What a symbol is tliis of a spiritual thought ! It often comes into the chamber of a man's soul at night on his bed, breaks his slumbers, and shakes his spirit to its centre. Nothing can exclude it — no walls, gates, bolts, or locks, can shut out a thought. He who made the mind knows its every avenue, and can reach it whenever and however He pleases. Friend ! God can impart at any moment into thy nature thoughts, either hideous and malignant, that shall scare and terrify thee as demons, or lovely and . benevolent, that shall, as angels, delight thy spirit and help thee on tliy destiny. It is frequently the case that man's communication from the spiritual world is connected with terror and alarm. " The hair of my fesh dood up," says Eliphaz. Such is the connection between mind and body, that the force of the emotion caused the blood to rush back to the heart, leaving the extremities to contract with cold, and thus produce the effects here expressed. The fact that an invisible and intangible agent, like thought, should produce such a physical plieuomenon as this, is no feeble argument in favour of the immateriality of the soul. But why should alarm be the general effect of spiritual communication upon man ? Why should he be so frequently overwhelmed in fear when in contact with the spiritual ? Is he not spirit? Is not his Father spirit? Is not his ultimate home a realm of spirits ? Ought he not, therefore, to hail, rather than dread, spiritual communications — be delighted witli them than be alarmed ? Yes, every sound from the spiritual universe ought to fall upon his soul with far more exquisite emotion than the sweetest strains of music on the outward ear. His terror confirms the Scripture doctrine, that his spirit is not in its normal state — that it is depraved. 11. That man's character determines his position in THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. The address of the "spirit" to JOB IV. 12-21. 61 Eliphaz significantly expresses man's moral inferiority -. — '^ Shall mortal man he more pure than his Maker? Beliold, he put no trust in his servants ; and his angels he charged with folly : how much less in them that dwell in houses of clay ? " There are two ideas implied in this language, powerfully expressive of man's moral meanness in the spiritual empire : — First, That Jehovah is infinitely/ superior to angels ; so immeasurable is the moral distance, that he charges them with folly ; and secondly, that man is inferior to angels: — ''' Iloiv much less in them that dwell in houses of dag r' In the empire of spirit the citizen is estimated, not by the amount of his wealth, the extent of his knowledge, the greatness of his intellect, or the brilliancy of his genius, but by the moral virtues that mark his character ; the holiest is the greatest. Herein is man's inferiority as a citizen. The best is tainted, and is unw^orthy of fellowship with those high ones in the universe whom the Almighty charges with folly. If thou, 0 man, art thus mean in the domain of souls, what humility should ever breathe in thy spirit, and reign in thy life ! How monstrous — how surprisingly impious — thy complaining strictures on the operations of a perfect God ! How obvious, and how binding, the obligation of boundless trust in the principles of His government, and of a hearty concurrence in all His doings ! Above all, how oughtest thou to hail with grati- tude, and to seek with earnestness, the mediative help of Jesus to raise thee in the spiritual kingdom, and give to thee the sympathy and friendship of an innumerable company of angels, the spirits of just men made perfect, and of God, the Judge of all ! III. That man's earthly state is but A temporary SEPARATION FROM A CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE in the Spiritual world. We are now in the great universe of spirits, but we are not conscious of the fact. This body is spoken of as a " housed' Though wondrously and intimately asso- ciated with my conscious being, it is not ine, but mine— my dwelling, not myself. As the tenant is independent of his house, — can live though he leave it, or though it falls to 62 JOB IV. 12-21. ruins, — so I myself am distinct from this body, and sliall live after it has crumbled into dust. Death is but the tenant changing apartments. Our present apartments, constructed of gross matter, partition us not from the spiritual world — for we are of it, and in it we ever live, as in an atmosphere — but from the consciousness of it. The partition, however, will soon be taken down, and then spirit will be more real to us than matter is now. Several things are here suggested about the departure into the consciousness of the spiritual. First : — It is inevitable. Our present dwellings are not built of brass, iron, or marble, or granite — they are "houses of clay" exposed to all the changes of the outward elements ; the sun may harden the clay, but the shower will wear it away ; the frost may bind it, but it will crumble in the thaw. Its foundation, too, is not the everlasting rock, but the " dust." It requires not some behemoth force to tear it down — it is " crushed before the mothT A breath, a worm, a thought, an atom, can break up this house of clay. Secondly : It is constantly proyressing. The progress of decay proceeds without pause. We are being " destroyed from morning to evening : " every hour, every minute, we are moving towards the felt spiritual ; we cannot halt a moment in our course ; we are impelled by a force as resistless as that which rolls the planets in their spheres. Thirdly : It is frequently dis- regarded. Our departure from this world, however active our lives or influential our positions, will not awaken much attention among the men we leave behind. " IFe perish for ever, without any regarding it." My proud friend, whatever thou mayest think about the wondrous esteem in which thou art held by thy compeers, and of the importance of thy life to society ; though thou art a merchant, whose vast transactions influence the markets of the world ; or a statesman, whose speeches control the doiijgs and destinies of cabinets ; or, what is greater still, a writer, moving the minds of the millions, — but few of the men that kuow thee will pause in their business to think of thy death, and fewer still will drop a tear on thy grave. The sorrow of those that love thee most will soon be but as a cloud upon the sky, however dark for the moment, soon JOB IV. 12-21. 63 dispersed. In a few short days after the earth has closed on thy remains, thy very children shall gambol on the hearth, with their little hearts as gladsome as ever, and the convivial laugh and jest of domestic joy will be heard as usual in thy dwelling. The world can do without thee, my friend ; everything will progress as usual when thou art in thy grave. Thy death will be but a blade withered in the fields, the landscape can spare thee ; a drop exhaled from the ocean, the mountain billows will not miss thee. Fourthly : The departure terminates earthly (^^ory. The adventitious distinctions of birth, beauty, wealth, power, are all ended when men leave their '^ houses of clay." " Doth not their excellency, which is in them, go aioay ? " Lastly : Their departure occurs before any perfection in wisdom is attained — " they die even ivithout ivisdom." The wisest die with scarcely more than the alphabet of knowledge ! Seeing that we are of the spiritual — that we receive and feel communications from it — that our moral relation to it is not right, and that every moment we are moving into an intensely felt connection with it, is it not madness to have our sympathies, thoughts, and aims, bounded by the earthly? May the Great Spirit regenerate us into the spiritual now ! "He that is born of the Spirit is spirit." Spirit in him is being felt, developed, and raised into living sympathy with God and His holy universe. Death to such need start no fear. He may say of the last enemy — " Thou art the shadow of Hfe ; and as the tree Stands in the sun, and sliadows all beneath, So, in the light of great eternity, Life eminent creates the shade of death : The shadow passeth when the tree shall fall. But I shall reign for ever over all." — Tennyson. 64 JOB V. 1-7. HOMILY No. X. THE FIRST SPEECH OF ELIPHAZ TO JOB, (3.) A VIEW OF MORAL EVIL. " Call now, if there he any that will ansicer thee ; and to which of the saints loilt thou turn ?" &c. — Chap, v, 1-7. ExEGETiCAL Eemarks. In the preceding chapter, Eliphaz had dwelt upon the sinfuhiess of Job in com- plaining of the dispensations of Pro- vidence ; now he tells him that, independently of this flagrant sin of his, lie will also ruin himself in pub- lic opinion, so that his best friends will shrink from him; meanmg, of course, to intimate, that even he himself and the two friends, who, like himself, had come to assure him of their condolence and sympathy, will, if he continues in the cour.se he has adopted, be compelled to renounce his friendship, and aban- don him to his fate. He says : " IsTow, that thou hast uttered all these curses, call for sympathy and conso- lation, and see whether there will be found any one responding to thy call ! And to whom, amongst good and pious men, canst thou turn] that is, look up with the hope that they will commiserate thy affliction'?" — Dr. Bernard. Ver. 1. — " Call now, if there be aty that loill ansioer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn?" Some see a judicial idea in the word " call " here ; as if Eliphaz meant, "summon the Almiglity to 'hy tri- bunal, or any of His holy ones. Enter into discussion with them as to thy conduct, and will they say a word in thy favour 1 " Go into a judicial controversy with them ; will any evidence come out to justify thee ? By the saints or " holy ones " he refers to the angels. (Deut. xxxiii. 3; Zechariah xiv. 5; Psalms Ixxxix. Q-^). Grotius, I think, has the idea of the verse. He supposes that Eliphaz, having stated in the preceding chapter that he had received a Divine revelation " in the visions of night, when deep sleep falleth on men," in favour of his position, now calls upon Job to produce, if he can, the same kind of testimony on his own behalf. "Call to the holy ones, and ask them." The language expresses the belief of Eliphaz that the conduct of Job would find no sympathy with any holy intelligence in the universe. Ver. 2. — " For lorath Mlleth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.'" " For he is a fool who is destroyed by complaining, and envy slays the simple one." — Delifzsch. Some suppose that as Eliphaz pro- ceeds. Job, by some exclamation or gesture, had expressed passion. The word " wrath " in the margin is '' indir/nation ;" and the word "foolish " must be regarded as representing wicked men. Wicked- ness is moral madness. It is not said that the wrath and envy of God will destroy the wicked, for in the heart of the Infinite no such passions exist, but these foul passions of his own heart will kill him. The verse may be translated thus, "For his oivn wrath will kill the fool, his own folly the silly one." Eliphaz, no doubt, had reference to those strong, wild passions which Job bad ex- pressed in the last chapter. JOB V. 1-7. 65 Ver. 3. — " I have seen the fooUt^h taking root : but suddenly I cursed his habitation." In confirmation of what he had first advanced he ad- duces his own observation. Dr. Lee translates this verse thus : "As for me, I have seen the foolish taking root, and instantly I denounced his habitation." The words mean " yet I cursed his pasture immediately." — Dr. Samuel Davidson. His ex- perience corresponds with tlie ex- perience of David, and is expressed in language similar : — " I have seen the wicked in great power, And spreading liimself like a green bay tree. Yet, he passed away, and, lo, he was not : Yea, I sought him, but he could not be found." Ver. 4. — " His children are far from safety (help), and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them." Here he quotes what he said when he saw the wicked in prosperity. The children of prosperous sinners are often help- less and exposed; calamity awaits them. All judicial proceedings amongst the Hebrews were carried on in the gates of the city (Deut. xxi. 19; Euth iv. 1-11). What Eliphaz seems to say, is that the children of the wicked will be so hated on acctmnt of their ancestors that even in public assemblies or courts of justice their voice Avill not be heard. Ver. 5. — " Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns." This is still a declaration of what he had observed in the history of the wicked. They are plundered of the results of their labour, the fruits of the harvest are taken from them, — even the grains among the thorns. " And the robber swalloweth up their sub- stance." The true reading and trans- lation is, " And the thirsty pant after his substance." — Dr. S. Davidson. Now Eliphaz states the result of his observation on wicked men in such a way as must have cut Job to the quick, whether he intended it or not. Job's calamities, after a period of great prosperity, had " come suddenly upon him." His " habitation " had been destroyed, his children had been fatally smitten with a sudden stroke, and robbers and freebooters had plundered him of his worldly substance. Ver. 6, 7. — " Although affliction Cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground; yet man is horn unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward." Eliphaz hints that the cause of the affliction lay with Job himself. The cause of afflictions is not to be sought for extrinsically, but in man himself. Some render this, "as birds by flying soar aloft; " some, "as sons of lightningfly high." " The English translation should not be changed, for it is the most proba- ble."-Z>r. S. Davidson. Some critics, Dr. Lee and others, regard the words " affliction and trouble," in these verses, as meaning moral evil and sin. In the margin, " iniquity " is given for "affliction," and "labour" for " trouble." If Eliphaz meant sin, he was correct in the sixth verse, but wrong in the seventh. It is true that iniquity does not come from the dust ; sin does not rise out of the constitution of things. It is not a something that springs up by the necessity of nature. Indeed its very essence consists in its being against the established order of things. But it is untrue that man is born unto trouble or sin; that he is sent into the world to go wrong, predestinated to wickedness. This is a foul cal- umny on the Creator. But if suf- fering, and not sin, is meant by the words, he is correct in the whole passage, if the sufiering be regarded C6 JOB V. 1-7. as the suffering^ of the sinner. It it does come as certain as he comes is true that tlie suffering of the into existence. Man is born — that sinner does not come out of the is, sinful man — unto trouble, as dust as a mere blind force, and that sparks fly upwards. HoMiLETics. — In the preceding chapter, containing the first portion of the speech of Eliphaz to Job, we noticed wrong criteria of character, and fellowship with the unseen ; in this section we have his view of moral evil. He regarded t\\Qfacf that Job suffered, as a proof that he was not innocent; and his murm/fri/?^ under suffering, as a proof that his guilt was very great. He was not, in his view, innocent because he suffered ; on the contrary, a great sinner because he murmured. Now^ although Eliphaz was a mere natural religionist, we see, from these verses, that his view of sin was tolerably correct. How does he view sin ? I. As EXCLUDING THE SINNER FROM THE SYMPATHY OF THE GOOD. " Call now, if there he any that will ansiver thee ; and to which of the saints icilt thou turn ?" He may mean here one of two things — First, Who will sympathize with thy opinions as a sinner ? Who, amongst holy intelligences, will side with thee in this discussion? Who wall defend thy propositions against mine ? Who will become thine advocate, and my antagonist, in this dispute ? His appeal implies his belief that none of the "holy ones" would sympathize with Job's opinions ; that he had " the communis sensus fidelium; that the conscience of the faithful would everywhere be with him." Or he may mean. Secondly, Who will sympathize with thy conduct as a sinner ? " Call now, if there be any that will answer theeT Thy conduct is such, that none of the holy will notice thee. Thou hast put thyself, by thy sins, so beyond the pale of the good, as to prevent thy cries touching any holy chord of responsive sympathy. Now, although all this is very untrue, as applied to Job, and very unjust to his character — for Eliphaz had not properly interpreted his old friend, now overwhehned in suffering and sorrow — yet it 'w> perfectly true in relation to sin (/enerally. Sin always excludes from the sympathy of the JOB V. 1-7. 67 good. All holy intellects in the universe are dead against the opinions, and all holy consciences against the conduct, of the sinner. God and His holy creation are against the wicked. This fact shows the folly of the sinner — he is waging a w^ar against Omnipotence, a war in which he must inevitably be crushed. Eliphaz here views sin — TI. As BY ITS OWN PASSIONS WORKING OUT THE DESTRUC- TION OF ITS AUTHOR. " Wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly oneT His own wrath, not the wrath of the Almighty, — " for fury is not in me," says the Infinite. His own envy, for no such feeling dwells in the heart of Eternal Love. It is a psychological fact, that the malific passions, in whatever form they appear — " wrath., envy," jealousy, revenge, &c., are destructive. First : Such passion " killeth''^ and ^''slayeth. " the body. Such is the vital connection between soul and body, that the health of the latter depends upon the condition of the former. Gloomy thoughts, dark forebodings, foul emotions, work disease and death into the body. A man need not take poison into his lips to destroy his physical life ; by his own mind he can inject thoughts and passions into his blood, that, like prussic acid, will work out his ruin. Germs of disease float in the atmosphere of depraved souls. Every sinner is a felo de se. Secondly : Such passion " killeth " and " slayeth " the soul. " Lust, when it is conceived, bringeth forth sin ; sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." Malign feelings quench the light, crush the liberty, blight the hopes, and destroy the peace of souls. They are the moral fiends. Eliphaz here views sin — III. As ENJOYING PROSPERITY ONLY TO TERMINATE IN RUIN. '' I have seen the foolish taldng root: hut suddenly I cursed his habitation." What he means, I presume, is, I have seen cases like thine own. Job ; I have seen wdcked men prosper as thou hast prospered, and I have seen the same calamity befall them as has befallen thee. Indeed I have always predicted the ruin of such men ; therefore, I have never envied them. When I have seen them in their f2 68 JOB V. 1-7. glory, mine eye has gone on and looked down the tremendous precipice into which they would assuredly fall. It is destiny. What has come to thee has always come to sinners, must always come. Now, what he says here, although untrue in relation to Job, is perfectly true in relation to sin generally. First : Sinners often prosper in the world. They " take root!' Indeed, so far as secular prosperity is concerned, the wicked have generally the advantage. Their hearts are more set on gain than the hearts of the good, and they are less scrupulous as to the means they employ to attain it. Hence they frequently rise to opulence, and tenant mansions ; whilst the godly have often to live in cots of obscurity and want. The wicked in every age have been seen in great power, " spreading themselves out like a green bay tree." Secondly: The jirosperity must come to a termination. It is only temporary. It often vanishes during life. " Riches take to themselves wings and flee away." At death the largest fortunes are left behind. "Naked came we into the world, and naked shall we return." Thirdly : Jt the termination the ruin is complete. In the end the sinner loses all, — " habitation,'' " children," " harvest," all. Ay, sin brings ruin — ruin into everything connected with the sinner — ruin into his soul, his body, his family, his estate. As autumn brings influences into the fields and forests, that shall end in the cold desolations of winter, so sin brings ruin wherever it goes. Sin is ruin. He here views sin — IV. As FATED TO PRODUCE MISERY WHEREVER IT EXISTS. " Although ajjliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble sprinf/ out of the ground ; yet man is born nnto trouble, as the sparks Jlij ujward." Whatever might have been the real meaning of Elipliaz, there are two thoughts which the words convey to our mind, and which are true — First : That miser// follows sin by Divine ordination. It does not spring up like weeds or thistles from the earth, but comes by Divine appointment. The Eternal Governor of the universe has, by an inviolable decree, linked misery to sin. And, though it does not spring from the earth ; though the dust JOB V. 8-16. 69 may be adorned with verdure, and the ground with flowers, and the whole globe be beautiful in all its aspects, yet misery must come to the sinner. From God's bountihood in nature, do not a,rgue against His retributive decrees. Secondly : That a sinful matt, so sure as he is born, must endure trouble. " Man is born unto trouble, as the sj) arks fly upward^ If Eliphaz meant man was created for suffering, it was a blasphemous error ; but if he meant that man, as a sinner, suffered as sure as he was born, he uttered a truth con- firmed by all history. As sure as by a law of nature '' sparks fly upward" so sure trouble follows every sinful man through every stage of life. Conclusion : Such was this old Temanite's view of moral evil ; and, in the main, his view is true. His view accords with fact, — fact as written in all consciences, history, and the Bible. Sin is truly an abominable thing. God hates it. All holy intelligences hate it. Would that man would loathe and renounce it ! "Oh, cursed, cursed siu! Traitor to God, And ruiuer of uiau ! Motlier of woe, And death, and hell ! Wretched, yet seeking worse ; Polluted most, yet wallowing in the mire ; Most mad, yet drinking frenzy^s giddy cup ; Depths ever deepening, darkness darkening still ; Folly for wisdom ; guilt for innocence ; Anguish for rapture; and for hope despair : Destroy'd, destroying, in tormenting pain'd ; Unawed by wrath, by mercy uureclaim'd ; Thing most unsightly, most forlorn, most sad." — Pollock. HOMILY No. XI. THE FIRST SPEECH OF ELIPHAZ TO JOB: (4.) A VIEW OF THE GREAT GOD. "/ would seek unto God, and unto God wordd I commit my cause," &c. — Chap. v. 8-16. ExEQETicAL Ebmarks. Vpt. 8. approach unto God, and commit — " / would seek unto God, and my cause unto the Godhead." — unto God would I co7nmit mi/ cause." Delitzsch. "Therefore, inasmuch '' On the contrary, I would earnestly as suffering comes to the sinner by 70 JOB V. 8-16. tlie plan of God, I would have thee go to Him." He might mean, Were I in thy place I would do so. I would have recourse to Him. If chastisement had come upon me as it has upon thee, instead of theoriz- ing ancl murmuring, I should at once have felt satisfied that as it has come from God I must have deserved it, and I should, therefore, have approached Him Avith suhmis- sion and put my cause into His hand. Ver. 9. — " Which doeth great things and unsearchahle (margin, " there is no search "), marvellous things tcithout mimher" (margin, "till there be no number"). Here he begins to indicate the reasons why the Almiglity should be sought in affliction. What a concise, but comprehensive, representation of God's works is here. They are " great " — " unsearchable " — " mar- vellous " -— " without number." Such a representation agrees with all observation and all science. This illustrious Temanite strongly insinuates that a Eeing whose works are of this description is beyond all human philosophizings in relation to His conduct toward men ; and therefore confidence in Him, and not speculation about Him, is at once our duty and in- terest. Ver. 10. — " Wlio giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields " (margin, " out- places "). He passes here from the general description to detailed specifications, which extend to the end of the chapter. An instance of God's work in material nature is given in this verse : He sends rain upon the earth. Perhaps by this utterance he intendetl suggesting to Job that the God who, by sending rain upon the earth, changes and revives the whole face of nature, could, if he would apply to Him, effect a happy tiansition in his ex- j)erience, turn his afflictions into health, and his mourning into joy- Ver. 11. — "To set np) on high those that he low ; that those which mmirn may he exalted to safety." Here he turns from God as operating in material nature, to Him as working in the fields of human history. In this verse he declares Him to be the Friend of the humble. The illustrious Virgin, blessed mother of our Great Master, expressed in her song the sentiments of this " He hath put down the mighty from their seats. And exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things. And the rich He hath sent empty away." — Luke i. 52, 53. Ver. 12. — "He disappointeth the devices of the crcffy, so that their hands cannot perform their enter- p)rise " (cannot accomplish any- thing). " He frustrateth the plots of the crafty, that their hands effect nothing substantial."- Dr. Bernard. Ver. 13. — "HetaJceth the wise in their own craftiness : and the counsel of the froioard is carried headlong." Whether Eliphaz was an inspired man or not, it is remarkable that Paul quoted these words, " It is written," he says, " He taketh the wise in their own craftiness " — (1 Cor. iii. 19). It is also a fact that what is here stated has often been done in the history of the world. The case of Haman, who was hanged on the gallows he pre- pared for Mordecai, is a striking example. Ver. 14. — "They meet with (margin — "run into") darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night." " The JOB V. 8-16. 71 sense is, that where there is really the mouth and the hand, and these no obstacle to the accomplishment two ways are here mentioned, of an honest plan — any more than Ver. 16. — " >S'o the poor hath there is for a man to walk in the hope, and iniquity stnppdh her day-time — they become perplexed mouth." " Hope ariseth for the and embarrassed, as much a-^ a man weak, and folly shall close its mouth." would be should sudden darkness — Delifzsch. This verse agrees come around him at mid-day. The with Psalm cvii. 41, 42. same sentiment occurs in chapter « yet setteth He the poor on high from xii. 25. —Barnes. affliction, Ver. 15. — "But He saveth the Ami maketh him famihes hke a flock. poor from the sword, from their The righteous shall see it, and rejoice: viouth, and from the hand of the And aU miquity shall stop her mouth. mighty." So that He saveth the " Iniquity stoppeth her mouth." needy from the sword, from their God's providence often confounds mouth, and from the hand of the the reasonings of the ungodly, and strong. There are two ways by smites with speechlessness the slan- which man injures his brother, by derer and the sceptic. HoMiLETtcs. — These verses enable us to discover the view which this old Natural Religiouist had of the Supreme Existence. We see — I. That he regarded Him as a trustworthy God. " / would seek iinfo God, and unto God tvould I commit my cause'' As if he had said to Job, I would recommend thee in this thy affliction to confide in the Almighty : were I in thy position I would do so : to do so is the right thing. This implies his belief that God was infinitely trustworthy : and so He is. Everywhere in the Bible are men invited and encouraged to exercise unbounded trust in the charac- ter and procedure of the Supreme, and everywhere is trust in Him represented as the grand duty and privilege of mankind. Four things demonstrate the Trustworthiness of the Almighty : — First : His love. We could not trust an unloving God, still less a malific one. Before we commit our " cause," our interest, our all, to any being we must be assured of his love to us. What an assurance of the Eternal love we have : — sincere, deep, tender, boundless, never-failing. All the love that other beings have for us is only a drop from the immeasurable ocean of the Divine heart. " God so loved the world," &c. Secondly : His trutlifutness. Truthfulness lies at the 72 JOB V. 8-16. foundation of trustworthiness. It is, alas, too true that we trust the false, but we trust them believing that they are true. It is not on their falseness, but on their supposed truthfulness, that we rely. God is true in Himself. He is truth. He is the One Great Reality in the universe. God is true in His revelations. All that He has uttered by works or words is in perfect accord with His own great heart and thought. It is " impossible for Him to lie.'' " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but not one jot or tittle of His word shall fail," Thirdly : His capacity. Capability of realizing what we expect and need in the object in which we confide is essen- tial to trustworthiness. It is true that we trust beings who cannot meet our exigencies, but we should scarcely do so were we convinced that they could not. God is infinitely capable : capable to counsel, guard, and nourish us for ever. " He is able to do exceeding al)undantly," &c. Fourthly : His constancy. Constancy is essential to trust- worthiness. Wherever there is inconstancy there is unreli- ability. How constant is the Eternal. He is of one mind. He is " the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever," — the same in nature, the same in heart, the same in thought and purpose. He stands as an immoveable rock amidst the incessant surges of a changing universe. Truly this old Temanite was justified in regarding the Almighty as infinitely trustworthy. We see from these verses — 11. That he regarded Him as a wonder-working God. His God was not merely a trustworthy, but an active God. His God was not quiescent, sitting down in His universe, having finished His work. First : Eliphaz refers to His works in general. " Which doeth great things and unsearchable ; marvellous things with- out number" or as the margin has it, "till there be no number " — passing beyond the bounds of arithmetical cal- culation. To all His numerous works he applies the epi- thets ''great," ''unsearchable" "marvellous.'" His works in the material Universe are wonderful. Go through all the scientific cyclopaedias in the libraries of the world, and you JOB V. 8-16. 73 will only have a few specimens of His marvellous achieve- ments. Take the microscope, and you may, like Lauwen- hoeck, discover a thousand million animalculoe, whose united bulk will not exceed the size of a grain of sand, and all having distinct formations, with all the array of func- tions essential to life. Take the telescope, and survey " the milky way," and you will find the central suns of a million systems all larger than the solar economy to which our little planet belongs. His works in the spiritucd world are even more wonderful. Who can tell the number of God's mental systems, the millions that belong to each ; how multitudinous and vast the hierarchies of souls ? Thy works, 0 Lord, are wondrous. So vast, and yet so small , Worlds iu bright skies beyond us, And atoms on this ball. In all there is a meaning Beyond the reach of sage, Something inside the seeming That mortals cannot gauge. Secondly : Eliphaz refers to His works in particular. (1) He refers to the vegetable sphere. " IFho giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields y What a blessed thing is rain ! In seasons of drought its value is deeply felt. How its showers change the face of nature, turn death into life, and life into bud and bloom, flower and fruit. Our little sages ascribe rain to certain laws : they point us to the shifting of winds and changing of temperatures as the causes of rain. But this old sage of Teman referred the showers to God. " Who giveth rain upon the earth." This is inspired philosophy. "The Lord our God," said Jeremiah, " giveth rain, both the former and the latter in His seasons." " lliou visitest the earth and waterest it," said David. " He," says Paul, " left not Himself without witness in that He gave us rain from heaven," &c. (2) He refers to the human sphere. " To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn mag be exalted to safetg. He disappointeth the devices of the craftg" &c., &c. (verses 11-16). He sees God in human history. Human events to him were not fortuitous occurrences, but Divine acts. He indicates that in His conduct to mankind He does two things — {a) Favours the good. He sets ''on 74, JOB V. 17-27. high those that be low,'' and those that " moimi^' He exalts. This is true throughout the world : in^^the^ long run of things ever the " good comes uppermost." They are often socially exalted, always morally, {b) Confounds the evil. ''He disappoiideth the devices of the crafty ^ History abounds with the examples of the bafflement of wrong. The conduct of Joseph's brethren, Ahithophel, SanbaUat, Haman, and the Jewish Sanhedrim in relation to Christ, are instances. Satan, the arch-enemy of the universe, will exemplify this through all the confounding crises of his accursed future. HOMILY No. XII. THE FIRST SPEECH OF ELIPHAZ TO JOB: (5.) HIS JUDGMENT OF HUMAN AFFLICTIONS. Behold, happy is the man irhora^, God corredeth : therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty :" &c. — Chap. v. 17-27. EXEGETICAL PiEMARKS. Ver. 17. — " BeJiold, happy is theman ichom God corredeth : therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Al- mighty." The translation of this verse cannot he improved. It starts a new argument to assure Joh tliat afflictions, properly home, are so highly advantageous that they should he suhnihted to with a calm resignation. The sentiment of this verse will he found elsewhere (He- hrews xii. 5; James i. 12; Prov. iii. 11, 12). Ver. 18. — ^'' For He viukdh sore, and bindeth up) : He icoiuideth, and His liands make whole." " I wound and I heal " (Hos. vi. 1 ; 1 Samuel ii. 6). An image, from hinding up a Avound. The healing art con- sisted much at that time in external ap])licatious. ' ' He healeth the hruken in heart, and hindeth up their wounds " (Psalm cxlvii. 3). Ver. 19. — "He shall deliver thee in six troubles : yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee." " The Hehrew idiom fixes on a certain number (here six) in order to call attention, as to a thing of import- ance, then increases the force, hy adding, with a ' yea,' — nay, even the next higher number : here seven, the sacred and perfect num- ber. In all possible troubles : not merely in the precise number seven. How many soever may be thy trou- bles, the Lord will deliver thee out of them all (Psalm xxxiv. 6, 15, 17, 19)."—^. R. Fausset. Ver. 20. — " In famine He shall redeem thee from death : and in war from the puwer of the sword." In the margin, " from the hand of the JOB V. 17-27. sword." " It means that he should not be slain by armed men. A vioidli is often attributed to the sword in the Scriptures, because it devours ; hands are attributed to it here, because it is by the hand that we perforin an imdertaking, and the sword is personified, and represent- ed as acting as a conscious agent. (Comp. Ezekiel xxx. 5, margin.) Tlie meaning is, that God would protect those who put their trust in Him in times of calamity and war." Ver. 2\.—"TJiou slialt he hid from the scourge of the tongue : nei- ther shalt thou he afraid of destruc- tion when it cometh." The tongue of the enemy, it is here suggested, is a whip — a scourge. How often the slanderous tongue cuts and laceratf^s the soul. Ver. 22. — ^^ At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou he afraid of the beasts of the earth." Wild beasts are always objects of terror ; they abounded in the deserts of Arabia, and are often, therefore, in Scripture figuratively employed to represent man's ene- mies. The Divine promise to the go.>d runs thus : " Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder, the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under foot " (Psalm xci. 13). The idea is, that those who trust in the Almighty shall be well defended. Ver. 23. — '^ For thou shalt be in league ivitli the stones of the field : and the beasts of the field shall he at peace loith thee." " For thou art in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field are at p-'ace with thee." — Delitzsch. " With the stones of the field." They shall not hurt the fertility of thy soil (2 Kings iii. 19-25; Isaiah V. 2). Arabia abounded with stones which were great obstacles to culti- vation. "And the beasts of the field." They shall be restrained, so that they shall not hurt thee. Their mouths shall be stopped like the lions' in the den of l)aniel. Ver. 24. — "And thou shalt know that tlnj tabernacle shall be in jjeace; and thou shalt visit thij habitation, and shalt not sin." This verse has been differently translated. " So shalt thou know that thy tent shall be in peace : so shalt thou order thy habitation, and shalt not err." — Lee. "And thou shalt know that thy tent is in peace : and when thou shalt visit thy dwelling, thou shalt miss nothing." — Bernard. " Thou shalt know that thy family is secure, and in choosing thy habitation thou shalt not err." — Wemyss. The correct translation is, "Thou mus- terest thy pasture and missest nothing ; i. e. all thy flocks are safe." — Dr. S. Davidson. The ex- pression " not sin," according to all, is an incorrect translation. In the margin it is " err." Men, in those days, in Arabia, lived in tents ; and the idea here is, that a good man would enjoy domestic comfort and protection when absent, and that when he returned to it he should find it all right. Ver. 25. — " Thou shalt hioio also that thy seed shall he great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth." It was considered a great blessing, in those distant days, and in Eastern lands, to have a large family. " Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord ; That walketh in His ways. Thy wife shall be a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house; Thy children like olive plants round about thy table." — Psal. cxxviii. 1-3. Ver. 26. — " Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his 7o JOB V. 17-27. season." " Thou shalt come," — not literally, ascends. The corn is lifted literally, but, expressing willingness up off tlie earth and carried home : to die. " Eliphaz speaks from the so the good man is raised into the Old Testament point of view, which heap of sheaves. — Umhreit. 'In made full years a reward of the his season ' — in its right time, when righteous — * With long years will the grain is fully ripe. ' He shall I satisfy him' (Psalm xci. 16; be like a tree planted by the waters, Exod. XX. 12), and premature death that bringeth forth his fruit in his the lot of the wicked — ' Bloody season.' " — Critical and Experi- and deceitful mensiiall not live out mental Commentary. half their days' (Psalm Iv. 23). Ver. 27. — " Lt» this, we have The righteous are immortal till their searched it, so it is; hear it, and work is done. To keep them longer kw^w thou it for thy good." " Lo would be to render them less fit to this, we have searched it, so it is : die. God takes them at their best. hear it, and mark it for thyself." — ' The righteous is taken away from Bernard. The idea here is : These the evil to come' (Isaiah Ivii. 1). are my ideas of the Divine govern- The good are compared to wheat. ment in relation to men, and I would ' Gather the wheat into my barn ' have thee to ponder them for thy- (Matt. xiii. 30). 'Cometh in,' self. HoMiLETics. — In this paragraph Eliphaz indicates his idea of human afflictions. His view seems to be — I. That affliction, through whatever channel it may COME, IS to a good MAN A BENEFICENT DISPENSATION. " Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth .- therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty^' &c. He regards affliction, in these verses, as coming from a variety of sources. He speaks of ''famine,'' of " loar," of " the scourge of the tongue" (slander), and points even to the ravages of wild beasts, and the " stones of the feld." Truly, human suffering does spring up from a great variety of sources ; it starts from many fountains, and flows through many channels. There are elements both within him and without that bring on man unnumbered pains and sorrows. But his position is that all this affliction, to a good man, is beneficent. "Behold, happy is the man.'' Why happy? He suggests some reasons : — First : God corrects the good man by affliction. — " Whom God correcteth." Afflictions of whatever kind, or from whatever source, are under Divine controlment; they are chastening rods in the hands of the Great Father. The New Testament is full of this doctrine. " Whom the Lord JOB V. 17-27. 77 lovetli He chasteneth." He suggests another reason why a good man is happy : — Secondly : God redeems the good man from affliction. — " For He maketh sore, and bindefh up : He icoundefh, and His hands make whole. He shall deliver thee in six troubles : yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee" The affliction is only temporary : the Almighty in His time removes it. He that maketh sore binds up, He that woundeth maketh whole. The afflictions maybe great, ''six troubles," or even ''seven :" yet they shall cease : the darkest cloud shall be scattered : the severest hurricane shall be hushed. " Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all." Another reason he suggests why a good man under affliction is happy, is — • Thirdly : God j/uards the good man in affliction. — " Thou shall be hid from the scourge of the tongue : neither shall thou be afraid of destruction lohen it comet h. At destruction and famine thou shall laugh : neither shall thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth." The Eternal is with His people in the furnace : He is a wall of fire round about them, He hides them in His pavilion. " The scourye of the tongue " shall not hurt them. " He keeps them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues." Destruction, " ivhen it cometh," shall not harm them. They need not be afraid of the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wvasteth at noonday. " Famine " shall not consume them. He will keep them alive in "famine." The wild " beasts of the earth " shall not injure them. " My God hath sent His angel to shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me." Another reason he suggests why a good man under affliction is happy, is — Fourthly : God blesses the good man in affliction. These blessiugs are indicated — (1) Facility in material progress. " For thou shall be in league ivith the sto?ies of the field : and the beasts of the field shall be at peace ivith thee." Whether the "stones and beasts of the field" here point to the obstructions of the agriculturist, or to the progress of the traveller, it does not matter, the idea is the same, — the absence of obstructions. In worldly matters the Great God 78 JOB V. 17-27. makes straight the path of His people. (2) Peace and security in domestic life. God guards the families of the good. " Blessed shalt thou be ivhen thou comest i?i, blessed shalf thou be ivhe?i thou goest out.'' (3) Flourishing posterity. " Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great {margin, much), and thine offspring as the grass of the earth'' This is a blessing more esteemed in distant aojes and eastern lands than in modern times and western climes. Another reason he suggests is — Fifthly : Qo^ perfects the good man hg affliction. " Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season." The idea is, that affliction will ripen the character and prepare for a happy world. Three ideas are suggested here — (1) That true religion is a life which grows in this world to a certain maturity. The ripened sheaf came out of life. (2) That when this maturity in a man is reached, his removal from the world will take place. Some reach maturity earlier than others. (3) That affliction is one of the means that brings about this maturity. The farmer requires frosts and tempests as well as heat and calm. Even so the great Husbandman.* " So may'st thou live, till, like ripe fruits, thou drop Into thy mother's lap : or be with ease Gathei-'d, not harshly pluck'd : for death mature " — Milton. His view seems to be — - n. That this affliction, as a beneficent dispensa- tion TO A GOOD MAN, SHOULD BE DULY PRIZED AND PONDERED BY HIM. First : It should ho, prized. — ''Despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty." " More is implied than is here expressed," says Matthew Henry : " reverence the chasten- ing of the Lord." Do not murmur, do not complain ; accept it as the suffering patient accepts the bitter draught which is to remove his maladies ; accept it as the mariner accepts the strong wind that bears his vessel homeward. Prize it because it comes from the hand of love ; prize it because it is needful to discipline character ; prize it because it serves to detach you from the material and temporal, and ally you to the spiritual and eternal. • For further notes on this text see Homilist, Second Series, vol. iv., p. 244. JOB V. 17-27. 79 Secondly : It should be pondered. — " Lo tins, we have searched it, so it is ; hear it, and know thou it for thy good'' The idea is, that all this is according to our observations and searching, and we want thee to ponder it well for thy- self! It would be well if the afflicted saint would ever ponder the origin, the design, the necessity, and tendency of his sufferings. Conclusion : This first address of Eliphaz — First : Serves to correct popular mistakes. It is popularly supposed that the farther back we go in the history of the world, the more benighted are men : that broad and philo- sophic views of God and His universe are the birth of these last times. But here is a man, this old Temanite, who lived in a lonely desert, upwards of 3000 years ago, whose views, in their loftiness, breadth, and accuracy, shall bear comparison, not only with the wisest sages of Greece and Eome, but with the chief savans of these enlightened times. It is a popular idea, too, that the men inspired by God, were certain men, of a certain lineage, and in a certain land. But this old Temanite was outside the supposed inspired circle — he was not a Jew but a Gentile — and yet his ideas seem, for the most part, so thoroughly in accord with the utterances of the acknowledged inspired men, that they are even quoted by them. The fact is, that the Great Father, the Source of all true human intelligence, is near to all in every land and age who seek Plim. His moral ideas flow like a river through men of all lands and times. All souls are His, and one soul is as near to Him as another. This first address of Eliphaz — Secondly : Suggests a probable theological misunderstanding. Most Biblical expositors and theological writers regard Eliphaz as considering Job a great sinner, because he was a great sufferer. How can this be reconciled with the fact that Eliphaz starts the paragraph under our notice with : ^'Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth" ? In the whole of the paragraph, in fact, he shows that it was a good thing for a good man to be afflicted. Does he con- tradict himself? It may be so, for he was human, and therefore errable; but my impression is, that Eliphaz 80 JOB VI. 1-13. drew his conclusion that Job was a great sinner, not merely, if at all, from his great sufferings, but from the murmuring spirit which he displayed under them, as recorded in the third chapter. HOMILY No. XIII. JOB'S REPLY TO THE FIRST SPEECH OF ELIPHAZ : (1.) GREAT SUFFERINGS. ^^ But Job ansioered and said" &c. — Chap. vi. 1-13. General Note. — Eliphaz, to whom Job now commences bis re- ply, was undoubtedly a man of great genius, piety, and eloquence. Not- withstanding this be signally fails through the whole of bis magnifi- cent addresses to touch the great point in question, which Avas simply this. Why a man whom God Him- self had pronounced to be pious, upright, and a fearer of Himself, should be overwhelmed Avith such sufferings'? He utterly failed to point out what Job had donemorally to deserve the chastisement. It is true that he reproves Job in strong language for bis murmuring spirit in liis sufferings ; in this, in all pro- bability, he was right. But wliy did he suffer? This was the point, and this point Eliphaz touched not. Hence Job begins liis reply by exclaiming, " 0 that my grief," &c. EXEQETICAL REMARKS. Vev. 2. — " Oh. that my grief were through- ly weighed, and my calamity laid in the Ixdances together ! " " Oh that my vexation were but weighed, and they would put my sufiering in the balance against it ! " — De- litzsch. Language this which con- tains obliquely, but strongly, his conviction that the magnitude of his anguish had not been appreciated by the man who had spoken to him. Eliphaz bad not sounded the depths, had not gauged the im- mensity, of his grief. He either had not weighed them in the Ijalance of a sound judgment or had not such a balance at comnjand. He had reproved Job with excessive passion more than once (chap. iv. 2-11; v. 2). And the patriarch intimated that if his sufferings had been duly estimated such a charge would not have been brought. Ver. 3. — " For noio it would he heavier than the sand of the sea." A poetical manner of declaring that his sufierings were insupportable. "Who could bear up under the ponderous weight of the sands over which oceans roll ? No more, as if Job had said, is it possible to bear up under the cru.^bing mountain of my sufferings. " My words are sioal- loived up." ^largin, " I want words to expre?!S my grief." " Therefore my words are rash." — Delitzsch. The pas^sion of agony is a sea that JOB F/.1-13. 81 always engulfs language. " I am so troubled," said the Psalmist, " tliat I cannot speak." Ver. 4. — " For the arroics of the Almighty are ivithin me, tlie poison lohereof drinketh up my spirit^ " For the arrows of the Almighty are in me, the poison of which is drunk in by my spirit, the teirors of God like an army assail me." — Professor Davidson. He traces all his anguish to Jehovah. His pains are poignant as arrows ; these ain)ws are poison, that stick fast within him, and their venom drinks up his spirit. Poisoned arrows were not unfrequently used amongst the ancients. The object was to secure certain death, even where the wound caused by the arrow itself would not produce it. Poison was made so concentrated that the smallest quantity conveyed by the point of an arrow wmild render death in- evitable. " The terrors of God do set tliemselves in array against me." He regarded his sufferings as coming to him from God as an army marshalled for fight. Ver. 5. — " Duth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fodder ?" Eliphaz had found fault with him for crying out so frantically under his suffering. Job reminds him that such a cry meant great anguish. Even the brute cries not without a cause. Neither the wild ass feeding on the grass nor the ox over his fodder will cry, so lung as they are free from pain and well supplied. The Avild ass in such condition will not of course bray, nor will the ox low. If the wild ass bray and the ox low, it would mean pain, and so with him. He means to say that his murmurings were not empty sounds, they meant anguish. Ver. 6. — " Ca7i that ichich is un- savoury he eaten without salt ? or is there ajiy taste in the xvhite of an egg 1 " The eastern people often make use of bread, with nothing more than salt, or some such trifling addition, such as sunmier savoury dried and powdered. Perhaps this language was intended by Job to express his feeling of the insipidity and inappropriateness of the old Temanite's address to him. Ver. 7. — "The things that my sold refused to touch are as my sor- rowfid meat." " My soul refuseth to touch them : they are unmeaning, in-ipid words and similes ; are as the loathsomeness of my food ; are as loathsome to my soul as food now is to my body. It stands to reason, that a man afflicted with such sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head could not relish any food." — Bernard. Ver. 8. — " Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing I long for I " " Would that my request were ful- filled, and that Eloah Avould grant my expectation." — Delitzsch. His existence had become intolerable, he longs for death, yet he will not commit suicide ; he regards his life as the property of the Almighty, and he asks Him to put it out. Ver. 9. — "Even that it would please God to destroy me ; that He would let loose His hand, and cut me off!" — The continuation of the idea of the eighth verse. He wishes that God would finish that work of destruction which He had com- menced, that He would blot him entirely out of existence. Ver. 10. — "Then shoidd I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorroiv : let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One." The right trans- lation is, " That I might still have consolation, and rejoice in the pain Q 82 JOB VI. 1-13. He spares not, for I have not hope for a continuation of existence? denied the words of the Holy One." and what end is there to be gained — Dr. a. Davidson. The idea by my continuing longer in life ? seems to be, that if he were per- Is my strength the strength of mitted to die he would even exult stones] Am I hke a rock that can in his present sufferings, and in the bear up under a mountain, or stand consciousnpss that he had been the hurricane of ages ? Or is my faithful to his Maker. flesh of brass (or brazen, as the Ver. 11, 12. — "■ Wlmt is my margin has it)? I must give strength, that I should hope 1 and way ; muscles, nerves, sinews, flesh, what is mine end, that I should pro- must yield to this tremendous lo7ig my life ? Is my strength the pressure." strength of stones ? or is my flesh of Ver. 1 3. — " Is not my help in me ? brass 1 " There are a great many and is wisdom driven quite from difi'erent tianslntions of this verse. me ? " " Is not my inward help I think it may be tlins paraphrased: gone, and deliverance thrust away " "What is my strength that I should from me ? " — Dr. S. Davidson. HoMiLETics : 111 this reply of Job to Eliphaz, extending over two chapters, there are four subjects to be noticed : — Great sufferings, mistaken friendship, life regarded as bur- densome and brief, and a cry to Heaven. The first is the subject of the verses heading this article. Job indicates three things here concerning his great sufferings, that they were unappreciated by men, misunderstood by friends, intolerable to himself. His sufferings were — I. Unappreciated by men. This is the meaning of the first five verses : " Oh that my grief ivere through! g tceighed, and my catamity laid in the balances together !" EJiphaz had no conception of the profundity and poignancy of Job's suffering. There are two things indicated here in relation to his sufferings — First : They were unutterahle .- " My words are swallowed up." His whole humanity was in torture. (1) He suffered in body. " He was smitten with sore bods from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head, and he took a potsherd to scrape himself withal, and sat down amongst the ashes.'' The physi- cal disease with which he was smitten was acute, loathsome, and universal. It tortured every nerve, it rendered him hideous ; it spread over his entire frame. (2) He suffered in mind. " The arroivs of the Almighty are within, me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit."' He suftered secularly JOB VI. I- 1 3. 83 in mind. All liis earthly possessions were gone, and he was reduced to the most abject pauperism. All that he had inherited or toiled for and valued, so far as this life was concerned, were taken from him with a suddenness that stunned him, and a ruthlessness that made an utter wreck of all his worklly possessions, plans, and hopes. He sni- fered paf('r?/a//^ in mind. All his children, in whom his fatherly affections were centred, were snatched from his embrnces, and his heait was left in desolation to bleed at every pore. He suffered religiously in mind. He was con- founded at the procedure of the God whom he had loved and served. Truly " the arrows of the Almiglitij'' with a rankling poison, stuck within his soul. Well might he say, therefore, " My words are swallowed up." " Swallowed up " may mean either that his feelings of distress were so over- whelming as to choke his utterance, or that no words could be found to represent them. Words are always w^eak when the mind is charged with strong and tumultuous feelings. When the billows of distress roll over the soul they engulf vocabularies and paralyze speech. The other thing indicated here in relation to Job's sufferings is — Secondly : They were irrepressible. " Both the toild ass bray ichen lie hath grass ? or loweth the ox over his fodder ? " The idea here is, I cannot but cry ; my cries spring from my agonies. Had not the wild ass his grass, he would bray with a ravenous hunger ; and had not the ox his fodder, he, too, would low in an agony for food : this is nature, and my cries are natural ; I cannot help them. Who can be silent in torture ? Man's sufferings may be unutterable ; they may be beyond all language ; but not beyond groans, shrieks, and vehement cries. Why should such a man as Job be thus tortured ? That is the problem. Job indicates that his sufferings were — II. MisuNDEESTOOD BY FRIENDS. " Can that which is un- savoury be eaten ivithout salt ? or is there any taste in the white of an eyy ? " This language seems to me to point to Job's impression of the address which Eliphaz had delivered to him. He seemed to feel — First : That the address of Eliphaz was utterly insipid. " Can that which is unsavoury g2 84 JOB V/. 1-13. he eaten without salt ? " As if he had said, your speech lacks that which can make it savoury to me ; it does not apply : you misunderstand my sufferings. I suffer not because I am a great sinner, as you seem to imply ; my own con- science attests my rectitude ; nor because I need this ter- rible chastisement, as you have said : you neither understand the cause nor the nature of my sufferings, therefore your talk is beside the mark. He seenied to feel — Secondly : That the address of Eliphaz was truly offensive. " The things that yny soul refused to toueh are as my sorrowful meat'' Does not this mean what Dr. Bernard says, " The things you speak — your unmeaning, insipid words and similes— are as the loathsomeness of my food, or are as loathsome to my soul as food now is to my body " ? You intrude remarks on me that are not only tasteless, because of their unsuitability, but that are as dis- gusting as loathsome food. I recoil from them with an ineffable revulsion of heart. Few things are more distress- ing to the heart of a sufferer than the inane and inappro- priate remarks of some friend who comes to comfort. Go to the man in his cell, who has been unjustly convicted of murder, urge upon his attention the enormity of the sin in the sight of God, call upon him to repent, and to pray to the Great Creator for forgiveness, and would not the man feel towards you what Job here poetically expresses, " The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat " ? You have added to the agony of the man's feelings, you have driven the nail of insult into his very heart, and he recoils from your speech with an inexpressible abhorrence. Religious teachers have often made great mistakes here, and are doing so still. They talk to men who are true believers, as if they were sceptics ; who are unconscious of any great sinfulness, as if they were the chief of sinners. Job indi- cates that his sufferings were : — III. Intolerable to himself. " Oh that I might have my request, and that God would grant me the thing that Hong for! " He longed for death, he believed that in the grave he would have rest. " Then should I yet have comfort^ He does not seem to have had any idea of a future state ; he JOB VI. 1-13. 85 looked to Sheol, as the eternal resting-place of humanity. Three remarks are here suggested concerning the felt unbear- ableness of Job's sufferings. First : Though his life was unbearable, he would not take it away himself. " Oh that I might have my request^ and that God would grant me the thing that I long for ! " Man can easily take away his own life, for the rope, the razor, the poison, the river are at his service. Cicero, and some of the ancient moralists, not only justified, but even advocated suicide under certain circumstances. The patriarch, how- ever, felt that he was not the proprietor, but the trustee of his life ; that it was in the hand of the Creator : and hence he says, " even that it loould please God to destroy me!' Oh that He would crush me, let loose His hand and despatch me. Secondly : Though his life was unbearable, he was not for- getful of his relation to his Maker. " / have not concealed the words of the Holy One." Does not this mean, I have not denied His word, I have not disregarded His command- ments, 1 have not shunned to declare my attachment to Himself and His cause? His sufferings, unbearable as they were, did not obliterate the memory of his Maker, drive him from His presence, or impel him to blasphemy or atheism. No, he still held on. God was the Great Object in his horizon, he saw Him through the thick hot steam of his fiery trials. Thirdly : Though his life was unbearable, he knew that it could not last long. " JFhat is my strength, that I should hope ? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life?" Whether God will loose His hand, and cut me off, and thus put an end to my existence, or not, I cannot endure long. I am not made " of stone or brass," and I cannot stand these sufferings long. My inward help is gone : the springs of life are all exhausted. My life is shattered and poisoned to the very centre. However powerful, the human frame may be, great sufferings must sooner or later break it to pieces. Human life is not like a cedar, which requires the fiercest whirlwind to uproot it ; but like a frail flower that a zephyr can blight, and a ray can scorch. JOB VI. 14-30. Conclusion. — Let the tried, the afflicted, and the tempted think of Job : their sufferings dwindle into insignificance when compared with his. His friends could not speak to him a suitable word : he had no Gospel in his hand, the true light shone not on him, and yet he held fast to his God and his profession. HOMILY No. XIV. JOB'S REPLY TO THE FIRST SPEECH OF ELIPHAZ : (2.) MISTAKEN FRIENDSHIP. " To liim that is afflicted pit]/ should he shewed from his friend ; hut he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty." &c. — Chap. vi. 14-30. General Note. — Elipliaz, it will be remembered, had in his address treated Job with irrelevant rhetoric, but with little or no sympathy. He spoke to him as a great sinner and a heretic rather than as a friend overwlielmed with suffering. And having repul'^ed this assault, Job here begins an attack himself. EXEGETICAL REMARKS. Ver. 14. " To him that is afflicted jjity should be shewed from his friend." " To him who is consumed gentleness is due from his friend." — Delitzsch. Eliphaz had not shown piry. After witnessing Job's agony for seven long days and nights he breaks out, not into tears, but into oratoric moralizings. The word "afflicted" is in the margin melteth, and indi- cates that the speaker felt himself consuming away under the hres of his anguish. " To him that is pining away," some render it. " But he forsaketh the fear of tlie Almighty." " Otherwise he might forsake the fear of the Almighty." — Delitzsch. This may be either understood as referring to the language which Job says had been used to him, charging him with forsaking the fear of God, instead of consoling him ; or it may mean that Eliphaz had forsaken the fear of God in reproaching him, and in failing to comfort him ; or it may mean that if such kindness were not shown to a friend in trial, he Avould be left to cast off the fear of God. Dr. Goode supposes that it is design- ed to be a severe reproach of Eliphaz for the course which he had pursued. Some read for " but he " " even if he." This gives a good meaning, and expresses the idea that if the sufferer was a bad man he should have the sympathv of his friends. Perhaps Job means that a man under suffering was likely to lose confid- ence in God unless las friends helped him with encouraging words. There- fore to him that is afflicted pity should be shown. Ver. 15. — " J/y brethren have dealt deceitfully as a hrook, and as the stream of brooks they pass JOB VI . 14-30. 87 away." A " brook," not a river, it has its existence in winter torrents, but dries up in the summer. In Arabia, river.'^ are few, but brooks abound; they come wlien the rains flow down in torrents from the mountains, but are lost in the dry- sand when the hot summer sets in. Thus they disappoint Oriental travellers. " In the desert parts of Africa," says Campbell in his " Travels," " it has aiibrded much joy to fall in with a brook of water, especially when running in the di- rection of the journey, expectin.i,' it would prove a valuable companion. Perhaps before it accompanied us two miles it became invisible by sinking into the sand, but two miles farther along it would re-appear and raise hopes of its continuance, but after running a few hundred yards would sink finally into the sand, no more again to rise." Ver. 16. — " Which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid." This refers to the melting of the snow in spring and thereby swelling the brooks. Ver. 17. " What time they wax warm, they vanish : ichen it is hot, they are constimed out of their place." A lepetition of the idea in the former verse. " Job had longed for the true words of friendly sym- pathy,longed for them as the parched caravans in the desert for the water- streams ; and his brethren had dealt deceitfully with him, as the brooks, which in the cool winter roll in a full turbid stream, but what time it waxes warm they have vanished, and are consumed out of their place." — Froude. Ver. 18. — " The j^^dhs of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish." " Job com- pares his friends to the waddy swollen by ice and snow water, and even to the travelling bands themselves lan- guisliiiig for water. He thirsts for friendly solace, but the seeming comfoit which his friends utter is only as the scattered meandering waters in which the mountain brook leaks out." — DeJitzsch, Ver. 19. — " The troops of Tenia looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them." Tema was the country of Eliphaz, and he would well understand the figure. No doubt he had often seen what Job described, travellers wearied and parched coming to spots in search of water and finding the streams had disappeared. Ver. 20. — "They were confounded because they had hoped; they came thither, and ivere ashamed." Here he describes the vexation and dis- appointment of the thirsty travellers when they found out their mistake ; when they reached the spot and found no water, they looked at each other with shame and confusion. Ver. 21. — "For noio ye are no- thing." In the margin the expres- sion "ye are" reads "like to them," that is, not to the travellers but to the waters. Ye are nothing, gene, vanished. You treat me exactly in the same way as the torrents do the travellers who hope for them. " Ye see my casting doivn, and ye are afraid." " You see misfortune and are affrighted." — Delitzsch. Ver. 22. — '■'■Did I say, Bring unto me? or, Give a reward for me of your substance ? " What Job means here is that he did not ask them any favour, he did not invite them to visit him, but they came voluntarily, their address to him was gratuitous and unasked, they were intruders. Ver. 23. — " Or, Deliver me from the enemy's hand ? or, Hedeem me from the hand of the mighty?" (the violent). This means, I have never asked you for a favour, I have never asked you to rescue me from robbers 88 JOB VL 14-30. or from foes, you have never laid me under obligations for any kindness, and why should you address me so % Ver. 24. — " Teach me, and I toill hold my tongue : and cause me to understand wherein I have erred." This means, bring forward real argu- ments to me, show me wherein I have erred, and I will be silent. Ver. 25. — " Hoio forcihle are right words ! But ivhat doth your arguing reprove ? " " Words which present a matter in its true liglit will always be powerful, whether they be plain and unvarnished or elegant and ornate. But what argument can one get out of you ? " — Bernard. Ver. 26. — " Do ye imagine to reprove rvords, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind ? " " Do you think to reprove words 1 The words of one in de-spair belong to the wind." — Delitzsch. Perhaps the patriarch meant to say, the words you have been criticizing are the words of a man in despair, and tliey are but wind. Mr. Cox seems to express the true idea : "Are the wild words of his curses the sin that shuts up their bowels of com- passion against him 1 Pshaw ! The words of a man crazed with misery are no proof of guilt, no sufficient ground for suspicion and rebuke. Idle as the wind, they should be left for the wind to blow away." Ver. 27. — "Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your frie7id." " Ye would even cast lots for the orphan, and traffic about your friend." — Delitzsch. What he seems to mean here is this, if you can take advantage of the wild ex- pressions of a man in agony, you may as well cast yourself upon the orphan and devour your friend. Ver. 28. — "Now therefore be content, look upon me ; for it is evi- dent unto you if I lie." Job seems here to have passed into a quieter m lod, and invites his so-called friends to give a fairer attention to him. " Look upon me," look me in the face, see for yourselves whether I am sincere or not ; I am willing to be honestly criticized, for I am not playing the hypocrite. Ver. 29. — " Return, I pray you, let it not he iniquity ; yea, return again, my righteousness is in it." " Come back to me, I pray, let there be no wrong. Do not wrong me by deserting me without first hearing me. Yea, come back, then will ye be convinced that my righteousness is still in it." — Bernard. Ver. 30, — " Is there iniquity in my tongue'^ cannot my taste discern, perverse things 1 " Here he appeals to their consciences. " The meaning is, that Job was qualified to discern what was true or false, sincere or hypocritical, just or unjust, in the same manner as the palate is fitted to discern the qualities of objects, whether bitter or sweet, pleasant or unpleasant, wholesome or unwhole- some." HoMiLETics : Tliis passage may be taken to illustrate mistaken frirnck/iij). It would be unfair to call the three men who came from the East to address Job fake friends. They were undoubtedly sincere, but being mistaken they failed to discharge the high offices of true friendship. From the whole passage we draw two general remarks — that there are times in a man's life when the need of friendship is JOB VI. 14-30. 89 deeply felt, and that at these times professed friends are often terribly disappointing. I. There are times in a man's life when the need OF friendship is deeply felt. — First : Man is made for friendship. Deep and constant is his craving for the love of others, and equally deep and strong is his tendency to reciprocate the same. Indeed, without friendship his nature could no more be developed than could the acorn without the sunshine or the shower. Isolation would be man's death, solitary confinement has always been felt the most severe and intolerable of punishments. Secondly : Man requires friendship. Without the aid of friendship he would die in infancy ; he requires friendship to nourish, to succour, and to train him. Thirdly : Affliction intensifies the need of friendship. In times of suffering the need of friendship is specially felt, and such a time had come on the patriarch, the time of severe and overwhelming affliction. His agonizing heart yearned for human sympathy. What- ever be the nature of our affliction, whether corporeal or mental, constitutional or circumstantial, whenever it comes upon us we involuntarily and earnestly look out for friend- ship : nothing on earth is so soothing and sustaining as a look, a word, a grasp of sympathy. The presence of a true friend in our sorrows makes the heart beat stronger and the blood flow more vigorously through the veins. " Friendship is power and riches all to me, Friendship another element of life ; Water and fire not of more general nse To the support and comfort of the y^oxX^."— Southern. II. At times WHEN friendship is needed professed friends are often terribly disappointing. Job says, in language of great poetic beauty and tenderness, that he was as much disappointed with his friends now as were the troop of Tema, and the companies of Sheba, who travelling over the hot sand, parched and wearied, came to a spot where they expected to find refreshing streams and found none. " My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook,'' &c. He does not mean perhaps that they were false, but that they deceived him not intentionally but by mistake. 90 JOB VI . 14-30. First : Instead of pity they gave him unsympathetic talk. Had they wept and said nothing he would have been comforted ; or had they spoken to the point and expressed sympathy he might have been comforted; or had they tenderly acknowledged the mystery of the Divine procedure in all, it might have soothed in some measure his anguished heart. But Eliphaz talked grandly and perhaps with a cold heart, he never touched the mark but by implication, charged him with being a great sinner because he was a great sufferer, and strongly reprobated his language of distress. Where Job expected pity, tenderness, love, he only met with cold and unsympathetic words. Secondly : Instead of pity they gave him intrusive talk. " Bid I say, Bring unto me ? or. Give a reward for me of your substance ? " &c. " If a man applies to his friends for pecuniary aid, and that aid is refused him, he may be disappointed, but he cannot at once condemn them and charge them with unkindness, as they may be under cir- cumstances which render it perfectly impossible for them to comply with his request. But if he asks of them nothing but commiseration and sympathy, and even these are denied him, he cannot but consider such denial as a great piece of inhumanity and cruelty. Now this was precisely the case with Job." Thirdly : Instead of pity they gave him irrelevant talk. " Teacli me, and I will hold my tongue : and cause me to understand wherein I have erred. How forcible are right words ! but u-hat doth your arguing reprove ? " In all this he evidently reproves Eliphaz for the irrelevancy of his talk. He seems to say. You have not taught me anything, you have not explained the true cause of my affliction. I am ready to learn — ^ready to be corrected if I am in error. But you have only given me words that have no application to my case. Give me right words, and I shall feel their force ; but what does your argument prove ? You do not touch the point. Nothing that you have said is applicable to me in my miserable condition. Fourthly : Instead of pity they gave him ungenerous talk. Here the patriarch acknowledges that the extravagant language which, in the wildness of his anguish, he used in JOB VI. 14-30. 91 the 4th chapter was nx^^^Q "■ whuiy ''Do you imnf/ine to reprove words F" &c. He states that their carping at such utterances was as cruel as the overwhelming of the father- less. Language spoken in certain moods of mind, should be allowed to pass by, almost without notice. Anguish often maddens the mind, and causes the tongue to run riot. It is ungenerous in friends to notice language which, under the tide of strong emotions, may be forced from us. (1) He urges them to look upon him and not at his words. " Now therefore he content, look iqjon me.'' Look at my face, examine my past history, and see what iniquity you can discover in me. (2) He assures them of the sincerity/ even of his language. " Is there any iniquity in my tongue ? " As if he had said, though I may have spoken inconsider- ately and extravagantly, there is no hypocrisy in my speech. " Cannot my taste discern perverse things ? " I have an inner sense by which I can determine what is right or wrong in speech. Conclusion : Mistaken friendship is often an offence and an injury to men in trouble. It comes with a glib tongue, but with an icy heart : its words are often irrelevant, they never touch the* point, and throw no light upon our dark- ness : not unfrequently does it enter our chamber of affliction intrusively and unasked, and begin to criticize words that we have sj^oken in the wild fury of a nature wrapped in anguish. Mistaken friendship is sometimes as pernicious and irritating as false friendship. 92 JOB VIL 1-6. HOMILY No. XV. JOB'S REPLY TO THE FIRST SPEECH OF ELIPHAZ. (3.) LIFE BURDENSOME AND BRIEF. Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth ? are not his days also like the days of an hireling 1 " &c. — Chap. vii. 1-6. General Note. — " This chapter rises quite naturally out of the final verses of the preceding. The two thoughts there were, that the friends ought to proceed to consider and judge Job's case on other grounds than their hypothesis of his sin, which was false : and that he surely knew himself best, and whether the Divine treatment of him was just or not, which it was not : nay, he proceeds, the Divine treatment of men altogether was harsh and cruel, and man's lot miserable and en- slaved, and in antithesis to the se- ductive portrait drawn by Eliphaz, of the Divine Father of his children (chap. v.). Job paints another, of the Divine Taskmaster driving his worn-out and lacerated slaves." — Professor Davidson. EXEGETIUAL REMARKS, Ver. 1. — "/s there not an appointed time to man upon earth ? " In the mar- gin " warfare ; " some read " serv- ice." " Are not his days also like the days of an hireling ? " or " Truly as the days of an hireling are his days." The idea is, as a hired serv- ant continues only for a specified p '.riod with his employer, so the Great Master has given man an allotted time on earth. Ver. 2. — " As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hire- ling looketh for the reioard of his v)ork." " As a slave who pants for he shadow, and as a hireling longs for his wages." — Professor David- son. The idea is, that as the slave toiling in the heat of day pants for the cooling shade of evening, and eagerly anticipates the reward of his labours, so he anxiously desired the termination of his mortal life. Ver. 3. — " So am I made to pos- sess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are app)ointed to me." Some read for " wearisome nights," " nights of trouble." The idea per- haps is, whatever may liave been my longings, I have been doomed to a life that is not only worthless but full of trouble. Ver. 4.—" When I lie down, I say. When shall I arise, and the night he gone ? " The two clauses should be separated thus : " When I lie down, I say. When shall I arise ? And the evening is lengthened out," &c. — Dr. S. Davidson. All who know what affliction is understand this — the anxieties which suffering prompts for the first breaking of the dawn. " / am fidl of tossings to a7id fro unto the daivning of the day." Some reckon it " until the morning breeze," others, " until the morning twilight." Ver. 5. — " My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust ; my skin is broken, and become loath- some." " My skin heals up to tes- ter again." — Delitzsch. " My skin stiffens and runs again." — Professor Davidson. He appears to allude to the state of his skin induced by his JOB VI I. 1-6. 93 disease, for it is well known that in bred in great numbers in the ulcers. elephantiasis (as occurring in hot Job's body then being covered with countries) the skin becomes of a such ulcers, would swarm with muddy hue, thickened and indur- worms. ated (like that of the elephant), so Ver. 6. — "My days are swifter as to have very much the appear- than a weaver's shuttle, and are ance of the ground when dried up spent without hope." " My days and cracked by the heat. With are tilled up more speedily than the regard to the worms, it is said that, web, and are closed without hope." after ulceration has occurred in the — Dr. Lee. The idea is the fleet- progress of the disease, worms are ness of life. HoMiLETics. — In these verses Job enters into detail con- cerning liis great sufferings. He does so in all probability in order that his friends might make some allowance for his distraction, and might not be surprised at the vehe- ment language which he was about to address to the Almighty God. He indicates in these verses that his life was burdensome and brief. He felt his life to be — I. Burdensome. He speaks of his life — First : As a hard servitude. " Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth ? " A " hard service " up'on earth. Whether he alludes to a military service, an agricultural service, or some other particular kind of service, matters not. Life is a servitude. The Great Task-master gets work of some kind out of every human life. ''As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work." Eagerly he desired his day of life to close, that he might lay down the heavy implements of labour, and retire into the rest of the grave. In Oriental lands, where the sun's rays come down like fire on the burning sands, how refreshing and how delicious the shadow of a rock or a tree, especially to him who has been labouring under the hot sky ! eagerly as such a labourer longed for such a shadow, so Job yearned for the grave. Never did soldier in the heat of battle long more for the warfare to be over, or the labourer under the burning sun for the day to close, than did Job long for death. He felt weary with waiting for the allotted period. He speaks of his life — Secondly : As spent worthlessly. '* So am I made to possess 94 JOB VII . 1-6. months of vanity" Deeply did he feel that he did not realize the true ideal of life, that his powers were wasted, his desires were unsatisfied. What thoughtful man does not feel that his earthly life here is but vanity ! Man organized for wonderful achievements, but involved in trifles. Verily the human creature is made subject to vanity. He speaks of his life — Thirdly : As phpicaUy afflicted. " Wearisome nights are appointed to me!' The weight of his sufferings pressed on him as an intolerable load. Life with many men in every age grows wearisome, and the desire to be freed from it often becomes strong and vehement. Job felt that the allotted period of his life was too long for endurance. " When I lie down, 1 say. When shall I arise, and the night he gone ? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day." We retire to bed hoping to get that refreshing sleep which kind nature has provided for the wearied and the suffering, and when it comes not, our physical" condition is injured, rather than improved. So great were the patriarch's sufferings, that sleep never came with its soothing breath and balm to him : he rolled in agony during the night, looking earnestly for the first grey beams of the morning. One of the curses enumerated in the Book of Deuteronomy seemed to rest upon him. " In the morning thou shalt say. Would God it were even ; and at even thou shalt say. Would God it were morning." How could he rest with his body in the condition here described ? " My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome." He felt his life to be — II. Brief. — " My days are sivfter than a iveavers shuttle, and are spent loithout hope!' *' It was common," says one, "to compare life with a web, which was filled -up with the successive days. The ancient classic writers spoke of it as a web woven by the Fates. We can all feel the force of the comparison here used by Job, that the days which we live fly swiftly away. How rapidly is one after another added to the web of life ! How soon will the whole web be filled up, and life be closed ! A few more shoots of the shuttle and all will be over, and our life will be cut off, as JOB VI I. 7-IO. 95 the weaver removes one web from the loom to make room for another. How important to improve the fleeting mo- ments, and to live as if we were soon to see the rapid shuttle flying for the last time," How fleet is life ! Jacob speaks of his days, at the age of 130, as " few and evil." Life is a chariot whose wheel never stops till it dashes over the precipice, and is destroyed. It is a vessel that never anchors. Nay, more fleeting, more unsubstantial than these ; a flower, a vapour, a shadow, a watch in the night. " Like the snow-fall in the river, A moment white, — tlieu melts for ever ; Or like the rainbow's lovely form, Evauisliin;' amid the storm." HOMILY No. XVL JOB'S REPLY TO THE FIRST SPEECH OF ELIPHAZ. (-1.) A CRY TO HEAVEN, (a) INVOCATION. " 0 rememler that my life is loind: mine eye shall no more see good" &c. —Chap. vii. 7-10. ExKGETiCAL Eemarks. — Ver. 7. of Hezekiali's : "I shall behold — " 0 remember that my life is man no more with the inhabitants tcind" (a breath). "This verse and of the world." those that follow to the end of the Ver. 8. — " The eye of him that chapter, are so evidently addressed hath seen me shall see me no more." to God that it was not thought The idea is, " I shall be cut off for necessary by the speaker to name ever from all I know, my connec- Him." — Dr. Bernard. He speaks of tion with my race will be ended." his life here as " wind," to indicate " Thine eyes are upon me, and I am his sense of its frailty and fleetness. not." Some read, " Thine eyes " He remembered that they were shall look for me, but I shall not but flesh," says the Psalmist, "a be ; " others, " Thine eyes shall wind that passeth away, and cometh seek for me, and I shall be gone ; " not again." " Mine eye shall no more but our version seems on the see good." " No more look on whole to be correct. He seems prosperity." — Delitzsch. In the t