{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_40470/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_40470","id":"gutenberg_40470","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40470","summary":null,"tags":["Bible. Job -- Commentaries","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"THE BOOK OF JOB.\n\n\n  BY\n  ROBERT A. WATSON, D.D.,\n\n  AUTHOR OF\n  \"JUDGES AND RUTH,\" \"GOSPELS OF YESTERDAY,\" ETC.\n\n\n\n  NEW YORK\n  FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY\n  LAFAYETTE PLACE\n  1900\n\n\n\n                      CONTENTS.\n\n\n\n                      _PROLOGUE._\n\n                             I.\n                                                        PAGE\n  THE AUTHOR AND HIS WORK                                  3\n\n                            II.\n\n  THE OPENING SCENE ON EARTH                              19\n\n                            III.\n\n  THE OPENING SCENE IN HEAVEN                             33\n\n                            IV.\n\n  THE SHADOW OF GOD'S HAND                                50\n\n                             V.\n\n  THE DILEMMA OF FAITH                                    67\n\n\n                 _THE FIRST COLLOQUY._\n\n                            VI.\n\n  THE CRY FROM THE DEPTH                                  85\n\n                            VII.\n\n  THE THINGS ELIPHAZ HAD SEEN                             99\n\n                            VIII.\n\n  MEN FALSE: GOD OVERBEARING                             116\n\n                             IX.\n\n  VENTURESOME THEOLOGY                                   135\n\n                              X.\n\n  THE THOUGHT OF A DAYSMAN                               141\n\n                              XI.\n\n  A FRESH ATTEMPT TO CONVICT                             154\n\n                             XII.\n\n  BEYOND FACT AND FEAR TO GOD                            162\n\n\n                  _THE SECOND COLLOQUY._\n\n                             XIII.\n\n  THE TRADITION OF A PURE RACE                           187\n\n                             XIV.\n\n  \"MY WITNESS IN HEAVEN\"                                 201\n\n                              XV.\n\n  A SCHEME OF WORLD-RULE                                 215\n\n                              XVI.\n\n  \"MY REDEEMER LIVETH\"                                   222\n\n                             XVII.\n\n  IGNORANT CRITICISM OF LIFE                             243\n\n                             XVIII.\n\n  ARE THE WAYS OF THE LORD EQUAL?                        253\n\n\n                   _THE THIRD COLLOQUY._\n\n                              XIX.\n\n  DOGMATIC AND MORAL ERROR                              269\n\n                               XX.\n\n  WHERE IS ELOAH?                                       281\n\n                              XXI.\n\n  THE DOMINION AND THE BRIGHTNESS                       298\n\n                              XXII.\n\n  THE OUTSKIRTS OF HIS WAYS                             302\n\n                             XXIII.\n\n  CHORAL INTERLUDE                                      313\n\n                              XXIV.\n\n  AS A PRINCE BEFORE THE KING                           320\n\n\n                    _ELIHU INTERVENES._\n\n                              XXV.\n\n  POST-EXILIC WISDOM                                    341\n\n                              XXVI.\n\n  THE DIVINE PREROGATIVE                                361\n\n\n               _THE VOICE FROM THE STORM._\n\n                             XXVII.\n\n  \"MUSIC IN THE BOUNDS OF LAW\"                          381\n\n                            XXVIII.\n\n  THE RECONCILIATION                                    392\n\n                             XXIX.\n\n  EPILOGUE                                              409\n\n\n  INDEX                                                 413\n\n\n\n\nPROLOGUE.\n\n\n\n\nI.\n\n_THE AUTHOR AND HIS WORK._\n\n\nThe Book of Job is the first great poem of the soul in its mundane\nconflict, facing the inexorable of sorrow, change, pain, and death,\nand feeling within itself at one and the same time weakness and\nenergy, the hero and the serf, brilliant hopes, terrible fears. With\nentire veracity and amazing force this book represents the\nnever-ending drama renewed in every generation and every genuine life.\nIt breaks upon us out of the old world and dim muffled centuries with\nall the vigour of the modern soul and that religious impetuosity which\nnone but Hebrews seem fully to have known. Looking for precursors of\nJob we find a seeming spiritual burden and intensity in the Accadian\npsalms, their confessions and prayers; but if they prepared the way\nfor Hebrew psalmists and for the author of Job, it was not by awaking\nthe cardinal thoughts that make this book what it is, nor by supplying\nan example of the dramatic order, the fine sincerity and abounding art\nwe find here welling up out of the desert. The Accadian psalms are\nfragments of a polytheistic and ceremonial world; they spring from the\nsoil which Abraham abandoned that he might found a race of strong men\nand strike out a new clear way of life. Exhibiting the fear,\nsuperstition, and ignorance of our race, they fall away from\ncomparison with the marvellous later work and leave it unique among\nthe legacies of man's genius to man's need. Before it a few notes of\nthe awakening heart, athirst for God, were struck in those Chald\u00e6an\nentreaties, and more finely in Hebrew psalm and oracle: but after it\nhave come in rich multiplying succession the Lamentations of Jeremiah,\nEcclesiastes, the Apocalypse, the Confessions of Augustine, the Divina\nCommedia, Hamlet, Paradise Regained, the Grace Abounding of Bunyan,\nthe Faust of Goethe and its progeny, Shelley's poems of revolt and\nfreedom, Sartor Resartus, Browning's Easter Day and Rabbi Ben Ezra,\nAmiel's Journal, with many other writings, down to \"Mark Rutherford\"\nand the \"Story of an African Farm.\" The old tree has sent forth a\nhundred shoots, and is still full of sap to our most modern sense. It\nis a chief source of the world's penetrating and poignant literature.\n\nBut there is another view of the book. It may well be the despair of\nthose who desire above all things to separate letters from theology.\nThe surpassing genius of the writer is seen not in his fine calm of\nassurance and self-possession, nor in the deft gathering and arranging\nof beautiful images, but in his sense of elemental realities and the\ndaring with which he launches on a painful conflict. He is convinced\nof Divine sovereignty, and yet has to seek room for faith in a world\nshadowed and confused. He is a prophet in quest of an oracle, a poet,\na maker, striving to find where and how the man for whom he is\nconcerned shall sustain himself. And yet, with this paradox wrought\ninto its very substance, his work is richly fashioned, a type of the\nhighest literature, drawing upon every region natural and\nsupernatural, descending into the depths of human woe, rising to the\nheights of the glory of God, never for one moment insensible to the\nbeauty and sublimity of the universe. It is literature with which\ntheology is so blended that none can say, Here is one, there the\nother. The passion of that race which gave the world the idea of the\nsoul, which clung with growing zeal to the faith of the One Eternal\nGod as the fountain of life and equally of justice, this passion in\none of its rarest modes pours through the Book of Job like a torrent,\nforcing its way towards the freedom of faith, the harmony of intuition\nwith the truth of things. The book is all theology, one may say, and\nall humanity no less. Singularly liberal in spirit and awake to the\nvarious elements of our life, it is moulded, notwithstanding its\npassion, by the artist's pleasure in perfecting form, adding wealth of\nallusion and ornament to strength of thought. The mind of the writer\nhas not hastened. He has taken long time to brood over his torment and\nseek deliverance. The fire burns through the sculpture and carved\nframework and painted windows of his art with no loss of heat. Yet, as\nbecomes a sacred book, all is sobered and restrained to the rhythmic\nflow of dramatic evolution, and it is as if the eager soul had been\nchastened, even in its fieriest endeavour, by the regular procession\nof nature, sunrise and sunset, spring and harvest, and by the sense of\nthe Eternal One, Lord of light and darkness, life and death. Built\nwhere, before it, building had never been reared in such firmness of\nstructure and glow of orderly art, with such design to shelter the\nsoul, the work is a fresh beginning in theology as well as literature,\nand those who would separate the two must show us how to separate them\nhere, must explain why their union in this poem is to the present\nmoment so richly fruitful. An origin it stands by reason of its\nsubject no less than its power, sincerity, and freedom.\n\nA phenomenon in Hebrew thought and faith--to what age does it belong?\nNo record or reminiscence of the author is left from which the least\nhint of time may be gathered. He, who by his marvellous poem struck a\nchord of thought deep and powerful enough to vibrate still and stir\nthe modern heart, is uncelebrated, nameless. A traveller, a master of\nhis country's language, and versed no less in foreign learning,\nforemost of the men of his day whensoever it was, he passed away as a\nshadow, though he left an imperishable monument. \"Like a star of the\nfirst magnitude,\" says Dr. Samuel Davidson, \"the brilliant genius of\nthe writer of Job attracts the admiration of men as it points to the\nAlmighty Ruler chastening yet loving His people. Of one whose sublime\nconceptions, (mounting the height where Jehovah is enthroned in light,\ninaccessible to mortal eye), lift him far above his time and\npeople--who climbs the ladder of the Eternal, as if to open heaven--of\nthis giant philosopher and poet we long to know something, his\nhabitation, name, appearance. The very spot where his ashes rest we\ndesire to gaze upon. But in vain.\" Strange, do we say? And yet how\nmuch of her great poet, Shakespeare, does England know? It is not\nseldom the fate of those whose genius lifts them highest to be\nunrecognised by their own time. As English history tells us more of\nLeicester than of Shakespeare, so Hebrew history records by preference\nthe deeds of its great King Solomon. A greater than Solomon was in\nIsrael, and history knows him not. No prophet who followed him and\nwrought sentences of his poem into lamentation or oracle, no\nchronicler of the exile or the return, preserving the names and\nlineage of the nobles of Israel, has mentioned him. Literary\ndistinction, the praise of service to his country's faith could not\nhave been in his mind. They did not exist. He was content to do his\nwork, and leave it to the world and to God.\n\nAnd yet the man lives in his poem. We begin to hope that some\nindication of the period and circumstances in which he wrote may be\nfound when we realise that here and there beneath the heat and\neloquence of his words may be heard those undertones of personal\ndesire and trust which once were the solemn music of a life. His own,\nnot his hero's, are the philosophy of the book, the earnest search for\nGod, the sublime despondency, the bitter anguish, and the prophetic\ncry that breaks through the darkness. We can see that it is vain to go\nback to Mosaic or pre-Mosaic times for life and thought and words like\nhis; at whatever time Job lived, the poet-biographer deals with the\nperplexities of a more anxious world. In the imaginative light with\nwhich he invests the past no distinct landmarks of time are to be\nseen. The treatment is large, general, as if the burden of his subject\ncarried the writer not only into the great spaces of humanity, but\ninto a region where the temporal faded into insignificance as compared\nwith the spiritual. And yet, as through openings in a forest, we have\nglimpses here and there, vaguely and momentarily showing what age it\nwas the author knew. The picture is mainly of timeless patriarchal\nlife; but, in the foreground or the background, objects and events are\nsketched that help our inquiry. \"His troops come together and cast up\ntheir way against me.\" \"From out of the populous city men groan, and\nthe soul of the wounded crieth out.\" \"He looseth the bond of kings,\nand bindeth their loins with a girdle; He leadeth priests away\nspoiled, and overthroweth the mighty.... He increaseth the nations and\ndestroyeth them; He spreadeth the nations abroad and bringeth them\nin.\" No quiet patriarchal life in a region sparsely peopled, where the\nyears went slow and placid, could have supplied these elements of the\npicture. The writer has seen the woes of the great city in which the\ntide of prosperity flows over the crushed and dying. He has seen, and,\nindeed, we are almost sure has suffered in, some national disaster\nlike those to which he refers. A Hebrew, not of the age after the\nreturn from exile,--for the style of his writing, partly through the\nuse of Arabic and Aramaic forms, has more of rude vigour and\nspontaneity on the whole than fits so late a date,--he appears to have\nfelt all the sorrows of his people when the conquering armies of\nAssyria or of Babylon overran their land.\n\nThe scheme of the book helps to fix the time of the composition. A\ndrama so elaborate could not have been produced until literature had\nbecome an art. Such complexity of structure as we find in Psalm cxix.\nshows that by the time of its composition much attention was paid to\nform. It is no longer the pure lyric cry of the unlearned singer, but\nthe ode, extremely artificial notwithstanding its sincerity. The\ncomparatively late date of the Book of Job appears in the orderly\nbalanced plan, not indeed so laboured as the psalm referred to, but\ncertainly belonging to a literary age.\n\nAgain, a note of time has been found by comparing the contents of Job\nwith Proverbs, Isaiah, Ecclesiastes, and other books. Proverbs, chaps.\niii. and viii., for example, may be contrasted with chap. xxviii. of\nthe Book of Job. Placing them together we can hardly escape the\nconclusion that the one writer had been acquainted with the work of\nthe other. Now, in Proverbs it is taken for granted that wisdom may\neasily be found: \"Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man\nthat getteth understanding.... Keep sound wisdom and discretion; so\nshall they be life unto thy soul and grace to thy neck.\" The author of\nthe panegyric has no difficulty about the Divine rules of life. Again,\nProverbs viii. 15, 16: \"By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.\nBy me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.\" In\nJob xxviii., however, we find a different strain. There it is: \"Where\nshall wisdom be found?... It is hid from the eyes of all living, and\nkept close from the fowls of the air;\" and the conclusion is that\nwisdom is with God, not with man. Of the two it seems clear that the\nBook of Job is later. It is occupied with questions which make wisdom,\nthe interpretation of providence and the ordering of life, exceedingly\nhard. The writer of Job, with the passages in Proverbs before him,\nappears to have said to himself: Ah! it is easy to praise wisdom and\nadvise men to choose wisdom and walk in her ways. But to me the\nsecrets of existence are deep, the purposes of God unfathomable. He is\nfain, therefore, to put into the mouth of Job the sorrowful cry,\n\"Where shall wisdom be found, and where is the place of understanding?\nMan knoweth not the price thereof.... It cannot be gotten for gold.\"\nBoth in Proverbs and Job, indeed, the source of Hokhma or wisdom is\nascribed to the fear of Jehovah; but the whole contention in Job is\nthat man fails in the intellectual apprehension of the ways of God.\nReferring the earlier portions of Proverbs to the post-Solomonic age\nwe should place the Book of Job at a later date.\n\nIt is not within our scope to consider here all the questions raised by\nparallel passages and discuss the priority and originality in each case.\nSome resemblances in Isaiah may, however, be briefly noticed, because we\nseem on the whole to be led to the conclusion that the Book of Job was\nwritten between the periods of the first and second series of Isaian\noracles. They are such as these. In Isaiah xix. 5, \"The waters shall\nfail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and become\ndry,\"--referring to the Nile: parallel in Job xiv. 11, \"As the waters\nfail from the sea, and the river decayeth and drieth up,\"--referring to\nthe passing of human life. In Isaiah xix. 13, \"The princes of Zoan are\nbecome fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have caused Egypt\nto go astray,\"--an oracle of specific application: parallel in Job xii.\n24, \"He taketh away the heart of the chiefs of the people of the earth,\nand causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way,\"--a\ndescription at large. In Isaiah xxviii. 29, \"This also cometh forth from\nJehovah of Hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in\nwisdom\": parallel in Job xi. 5, 6, \"Oh that God would speak, and open\nHis lips against thee; and that He would show thee the secrets of\nwisdom, that it is manifold in effectual working!\" The resemblance\nbetween various parts of Job and \"the writing of Hezekiah when he had\nbeen sick and was recovered of his sickness,\" are sufficiently obvious,\nbut cannot be used in any argument of time. And on the whole, so far,\nthe generality and, in the last case, somewhat stiff elaboration of the\nideas in Job as compared with Isaiah are almost positive proof that\nIsaiah went first. Passing now to the fortieth and subsequent chapters\nof Isaiah we find many parallels and much general similarity to the\ncontents of our poem. In Job xxvi. 12, \"He stirreth up the sea with His\npower, and by His understanding He smiteth through Rahab\": parallel in\nIsaiah li. 9, 10, \"Art thou not it that cut Rahab in pieces, that\npierced the dragon? Art thou not it which dried up the sea, the waters\nof the great deep?\" In Job ix. 8, \"Which alone stretcheth out the\nheavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea\": parallel in Isaiah xl.\n22, \"That stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them\nout as a tent to dwell in.\" In these and other cases the resemblance is\nclear, and on the whole the simplicity and apparent originality lie with\nthe Book of Job. Professor Davidson claims that Job, called by God \"My\nservant,\" resembles in many points the servant of Jehovah in Isaiah\nliii., and the claim must be admitted. But on what ground Kuenen can\naffirm that the writer of Job had the second portion of Isaiah before\nhim and painted his hero from it one fails to see. There are many\nobvious differences.\n\nIt has now become almost clear that the book belongs either to the\nperiod (favoured by Ewald, Renan, and others) immediately following\nthe captivity of the northern tribes, or to the time of the captivity\nof Judah (fixed upon by Dr. A. B. Davidson, Professor Cheyne, and\nothers). We must still, however, seek further light by glancing at the\nmain problem of the book, which is to reconcile the justice of Divine\nprovidence with the sufferings of the good, so that man may believe in\nGod even in sorest affliction. We must also consider the hint of time\nto be found in the importance attached to personality, the feelings\nand destiny of the individual and his claim on God.\n\nTaking first the problem,--while it is stated in some of the psalms\nand, indeed, is sure to have occurred to many a sufferer, for most\nthink themselves undeserving of great pain and affliction,--the\nattempt to grapple with it is first made in Job. The Proverbs,\nDeuteronomy, and the historical books take for granted that prosperity\nfollows religion and obedience to God, and that suffering is the\npunishment of disobedience. The prophets also, though they have their\nown view of national success, do not dispense with it as an evidence\nof Divine favour. Cases no doubt were before the mind of inspired\nwriters which made any form of the theory difficult to hold. But these\nwere regarded as temporary and exceptional, if indeed they could not\nbe explained by the rule that God sends earthly prosperity to the\ngood, and suffering to the bad in the long run. To deny this and to\nseek another rule was the distinction of the author of Job, his bold\nand original adventure in theology. And the attempt was natural, one\nmay say necessary, at a time when the Hebrew states were suffering\nfrom those shocks of foreign invasion which threw their society,\ncommerce, and politics into the direst confusion. The old ideas of\nreligion no longer sufficed. Overcome in war, driven out of their own\nland, they needed a faith which could sustain and cheer them in\npoverty and dispersion. A generation having no outlook beyond\ncaptivity was under a curse from which penitence and renewed fidelity\ncould not secure deliverance. The assurance of God's friendship in\naffliction had to be sought.\n\nThe importance attached to personality and the destiny of the\nindividual is on two sides a guide to the date of the book. In some of\nthe psalms, undoubtedly belonging to an earlier period, the personal\ncry is heard. No longer content to be part and parcel of the class or\nnation, the soul in these psalms asserts its direct claim on God for\nlight and comfort and help. And some of them, the thirteenth for\nexample, insist passionately on the right of a believing man to a\nportion in Jehovah. Now in the dispersion of the northern tribes or\nthe capture of Jerusalem this personal question would be keenly\naccentuated. Amidst the disasters of such a time those who are\nfaithful and pious suffer along with the rebellious and idolatrous.\nBecause they are faithful to God, virtuous and patriotic beyond the\nrest, they may indeed have more affliction and loss to endure. The\npsalmist among his own people, oppressed and cruelly wronged, has the\nneed of a personal hope forced upon him, and feels that he must be\nable to say, \"The Lord is _my_ shepherd.\" Yet he cannot entirely\nseparate himself from his people. When those of his own house and\nkindred rise against him, still they too may claim Jehovah as their\nGod. But the homeless exile, deprived of all, a solitary wanderer on\nthe face of the earth, has need to seek more earnestly for the reason\nof his state. The nation is broken up; and if he is to find refuge in\nGod, he must look for other hopes than hinge on national recovery. It\nis the God of the whole earth he must now seek as his portion. A unit\nnot of Israel but of humanity, he must find a bridge over the deep\nchasm that seems to separate his feeble life from the Almighty, a\nchasm all the deeper that he has been plunged into sore trouble. He\nmust find assurance that the unit is not lost to God among the\nmultitudes, that the life broken and prostrate is neither forgotten\nnor rejected by the Eternal King. And this precisely corresponds with\nthe temper of our book and the conception of God we find in it. A man\nwho has known Jehovah as the God of Israel seeks his justification,\ncries for his individual right to Eloah, the Most High, the God of\nuniversal nature and humanity and providence.\n\nNow, it has been alleged that through the Book of Job there runs a\nconstant but covert reference to the troubles of the Jewish Church in\nthe Captivity, and especially that Job himself represents the\nsuffering flock of God. It is not proposed to give up entirely the\nindividual problem, but along with that, superseding that, the main\nquestion of the poem is held to be why Judah should suffer so keenly\nand lie on the _mezbele_ or ash-heap of exile. With all respect to\nthose who hold this theory one must say that it has no substantial\nsupport; and, on the other hand, it seems incredible that a member of\nthe Southern Kingdom (if the writer belonged to it), expending so much\ncare and genius on the problem of his people's defeat and misery,\nshould have passed beyond his own kin for a hero, should have set\naside almost entirely the distinctive name Jehovah, should have\nforgotten the ruined temple and the desolate city to which every Jew\nlooked back across the desert with brimming eyes, should have let\nhimself appear, even while he sought to reassure his compatriots in\ntheir faith, as one who set no store by their cherished traditions,\ntheir great names, their religious institutions, but as one whose\nfaith was purely natural like that of Edom. Among the good and true\nmen who, at the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, were left in\npenury, childless and desolate, a poet of Judah would have found a\nJewish hero. To his drama what embellishment and pathos could have\nbeen added by genius like our author's, if he had gone back on the\nterrible siege and painted the Babylonian victors in their cruelty and\npride, the misery of the exiles in the land of idolatry. One cannot\nhelp believing that to this writer Jerusalem was nothing, that he had\nno interest in its temple, no love for its ornate religious services\nand growing exclusiveness. The suggestion of Ewald may be accepted,\nthat he was a member of the Northern Kingdom driven from his home by\nthe overthrow of Samaria. Undeniable is the fact that his religion has\nmore sympathy with Teman than with Jerusalem as it was. If he belonged\nto the north this seems to be explained. To seek help from the\npriesthood and worship of the temple did not occur to him. Israel\nbroken up, he has to begin afresh. For it is with his own religious\ntrouble he is occupied; and the problem is universal.\n\nAgainst the identification of Job with the servant of Jehovah in\nIsaiah liii. there is one objection, and it is fatal. The author of\nJob has no thought of the central idea in that passage--vicarious\nsuffering. New light would have been thrown on the whole subject if\none of the friends had been made to suggest the possibility that Job\nwas suffering for others, that the \"chastisement of their peace\" was\nlaid on him. Had the author lived after the return from captivity and\nheard of this oracle, he would surely have wrought into his poem the\nlatest revelation of the Divine method in helping and redeeming men.\n\nThe distinction of the Book of Job we have seen to be that it offers a\nnew beginning in theology. And it does so not only because it shifts\nfaith in the Divine justice to a fresh basis, but also because it\nventures on a universalism for which indeed the Proverbs had made way,\nwhich however stood in sharp contrast to the narrowness of the old state\nreligion. Already it was admitted that others than Hebrews might love\nthe truth, follow righteousness, and share the blessings of the\nheavenly King. To that broader faith, enjoyed by the thinkers and\nprophets of Israel, if not by the priests and people, the author of the\nBook of Job added the boldness of a more liberal inspiration. He went\nbeyond the Hebrew family for his hero to make it clear that man, as man,\nis in direct relation to God. The Psalms and the Book of Proverbs might\nbe read by Israelites and the belief still retained that God would\nprosper Israel alone, at any rate in the end. Now, the man of Uz, the\nArabian sheikh, outside the sacred fraternity of the tribes, is\npresented as a fearer of the true God--His trusted witness and servant.\nWith the freedom of a prophet bringing a new message of the brotherhood\nof men our author points us beyond Israel to the desert oasis.\n\nYes: the creed of Hebraism had ceased to guide thought and lead the\nsoul to strength. The Hokhma literature of Proverbs, which had become\nfashionable in Solomon's time, possessed no dogmatic vigour, fell\noften to the level of moral platitude, as the same kind of literature\ndoes with us, and had little help for the soul. The state religion, on\nthe other hand, both in the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, was\nritualistic, again like ours, clung to the old tribal notion, and\nbusied itself about the outward more than the inward, the sacrifices\nrather than the heart, as Amos and Isaiah clearly indicate. Hokhma of\nvarious kinds, plus energetic ritualism, was falling into practical\nuselessness. Those who held the religion as a venerable inheritance\nand national talisman did not base their action and hope on it out in\nthe world. They were beginning to say, \"Who knoweth what is good for\nman in this life--all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a\nshadow? For who can tell a man what shall be after him under the\nsun?\" A new theology was certainly needed for the crisis of the time.\n\nThe author of the Book of Job found no school possessed of the secret\nof strength. But he sought to God, and inspiration came to him. He\nfound himself in the desert like Elijah, like others long afterwards,\nJohn the Baptist, and especially Saul of Tarsus, whose words we\nremember, \"Neither went I up to Jerusalem, ... but I went into\nArabia.\" There he met with a religion not confined by rigid ceremony\nas that of the southern tribes, not idolatrous like that of the north,\na religion elementary indeed, but capable of development. And he\nbecame its prophet. He would take the wide world into council. He\nwould hear Teman and Shuach and Naamah; he would also hear the voice\nfrom the whirlwind, and the swelling sea, and the troubled nations,\nand the eager soul. It was a daring dash beyond the ramparts.\nOrthodoxy might stand aghast within its fortress. He might appear a\nrenegade in seeking tidings of God from the heathen, as one might now\nwho went from a Christian land to learn from the Brahman and the\nBuddhist. But he would go nevertheless; and it was his wisdom. He\nopened his mind to the sight of fact, and reported what he found, so\nthat theology might be corrected and made again a handmaid of faith.\nHe is one of those Scripture writers who vindicate the universality of\nthe Bible, who show it to be a unique foundation, and forbid the\ntheory of a closed record or dried-up spring, which is the error of\nBibliolatry. He is a man of his age and of the world, yet in\nfellowship with the Eternal Mind.\n\nAn exile, let us suppose, of the Northern Kingdom, escaping with his\nlife from the sword of the Assyrian, the author of our book has taken\nhis way into the Arabian wilderness and there found the friendship of\nsome chief and a safe retreat among his people. The desert has become\nfamiliar to him, the sandy wastes and vivid oases, the fierce storms\nand affluent sunshine, the animal and vegetable life, the patriarchal\ncustoms and legends of old times. He has travelled through Idum\u00e6a, and\nseen the desert tombs, on to Midian and its lonely peaks. He has heard\nthe roll of the Great Sea on the sands of the Shefelah, and seen the\nvast tide of the Nile flowing through the verdure of the Delta and\npast the pyramids of Memphis. He has wandered through the cities of\nEgypt and viewed their teeming life, turning to the use of imagination\nand religion all he beheld. With a relish for his own language, yet\nenriching it by the words and ideas of other lands, he has practised\nhimself in the writer's art, and at length, in some hour of burning\nmemory and revived experience, he has caught at the history of one\nwho, yonder in a valley of the eastern wilderness, knew the shocks of\ntime and pain though his heart was right with God; and in the heat of\nhis spirit the poet-exile makes the story of that life into a drama of\nthe trial of human faith,--his own endurance and vindication, his own\nsorrow and hope.\n\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\n_THE OPENING SCENE ON EARTH._\n\nCHAP. i. 1-5.\n\n\nThe land of Uz appears to have been a general name for the great\nSyro-Arabian desert. It is described vaguely as lying \"east of\nPalestine and north of Edom,\" or as \"corresponding to the _Arabia\nDeserta_ of classical geography, at all events so much of it as lies\nnorth of the 30th parallel of latitude.\" In Jer. xxv. 20, among those\nto whom the wine-cup of fury is sent, are mentioned \"all the mingled\npeople and all the kings of the land of Uz.\" But within this wide\nregion, extending from Damascus to Arabia, from Palestine to Chald\u00e6a,\nit seems possible to find a more definite locality for the\ndwelling-place of Job. Eliphaz, one of his friends, belonged to Teman,\na district or city of Idum\u00e6a. In Lam. iv. 21, the writer, who may have\nhad the Book of Job before him, says, \"Rejoice and be glad, O daughter\nof Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz\"; a passage that seems to\nindicate a habitable region, not remote from the gorges of Idum\u00e6a. It\nis necessary also to fix on a district which lay in the way of the\ncaravans of Sheba and Tema, and was exposed to the attacks of lawless\nbands of Chald\u00e6ans and Sabeans. At the same time there must have been\na considerable population, abundant pasturage for large flocks of\ncamels and sheep, and extensive tracts of arable land. Then, the\ndwelling of Job lay near a city at the gate of which he sat with\nother elders to administer justice. The attention paid to details by\nthe author of the book warrants us in expecting that all these\nconditions may be satisfied.\n\nA tradition which places the home of Job in the Hauran, the land of\nBashan of Scripture, some score of miles from the Sea of Galilee, has\nbeen accepted by Delitzsch. A monastery, there, appears to have been\nregarded from early Christian times as authentically connected with\nthe name of Job. But the tradition has little value in itself, and the\nlocality scarcely agrees in a single particular with the various\nindications found in the course of the book. The Hauran does not\nbelong to the land of Uz. It was included in the territory of Israel.\nNor can it by any stretch of imagination be supposed to lie in the way\nof wandering bands of Sabeans, whose home was in the centre of Arabia.\n\nBut the conditions are met--one has no hesitation in saying, fully\nmet--in a region hitherto unidentified with the dwelling-place of Job,\nthe valley or oasis of Jauf (Palgrave, _Djowf_), lying in the North\nArabian desert about two hundred miles almost due east from the modern\nMaan and the ruins of Petra. Various interesting particulars regarding\nthis valley and its inhabitants are given by Mr. C. M. Doughty in his\n\"Travels in Arabia Deserta.\" But the best description is that by Mr.\nPalgrave, who, under the guidance of Bedawin, visited the district in\n1862. Travelling from Maan by way of the Wadi Sirhan, after a difficult\nand dangerous journey of thirteen days, their track in the last stage\nfollowing \"endless windings among low hills and stony ledges,\" brought\nthem to greener slopes and traces of tillage, and at length \"entered a\nlong and narrow pass, whose precipitous banks shut in the view on\neither side.\" After an hour of tedious marching in terrible heat,\nturning a huge pile of crags, they looked down into the Jauf.\n\n\"A broad, deep valley, descending ledge after ledge till its innermost\ndepths are hidden from sight amid far-reaching shelves of reddish\nrock, below everywhere studded with tufts of palm groves and\nclustering fruit trees in dark green patches, down to the farthest end\nof its windings; a large brown mass of irregular masonry crowning a\ncentral hill; beyond, a tall and solitary tower overlooking the\nopposite bank of the hollow, and farther down, small round turrets and\nflat house-roofs, half buried amid the garden foliage, the whole\nplunged in a perpendicular flood of light and heat; such was the first\naspect of the Djowf as we now approached it from the west.\" The\nprincipal town bears the name of the district, and is composed of\neight villages, once distinct, which have in process of time coalesced\ninto one. The principal quarter includes the castle, and numbers about\nfour hundred houses. \"The province is a large oval depression, of\nsixty or seventy miles long by ten or twelve broad, lying between the\nnorthern desert that separates it from Syria and Euphrates, and the\nsouthern Nefood, or sandy waste.\" Its fertility is great and is aided\nby irrigation, so that the dates and other fruits produced in the Jauf\nare famed throughout Arabia. The people \"occupy a half-way position\nbetween Bedouins and the inhabitants of the cultivated districts.\"\nTheir number is reckoned at about forty thousand, and there can be no\nquestion that the valley has been a seat of population from remote\nantiquity. To the other points of identification may be added this,\nthat in the Wadi Sirhan, not far from the entrance to the Jauf, Mr.\nPalgrave passed a poor settlement with the name Oweysit, or Owsit,\nwhich at least suggests the \u03b5\u03bd \u03c7\u1f61\u03c1\u03b1 \u03c4\u03b7 \u0391\u03c5\u03c3\u1f31\u03c4\u03b9\u03b4\u03b9 of the Septuagint, and\nthe Outz, or Uz, of our text. With population, an ancient city,\nfertile fields and ample pasturage in the middle of the desert, the\nnearest habitable region to Edom, in the way of caravans, generally\nsafe from predatory tribes, yet exposed to those from the east and\nsouth that might make long expeditions under pressure of great need,\nthe valley of the Jauf appears to correspond in every important\nparticular with the dwelling-place of the man of Uz.\n\nThe question whether such a man as Job ever lived has been variously\nanswered, one Hebrew rabbi, for example, affirming that he was a mere\nparable. But Ezekiel names him along with Noah and Daniel, James in\nhis epistle says, \"Ye have heard of the patience of Job\"; and the\nopening words of this book, \"There was a man in the land of Uz,\" are\ndistinctly historical. To know, therefore, that a region in the\nArabian desert corresponds so closely with the scene of Job's life is\nto be reassured that a true history forms the basis of the poem. The\ntradition with which the author began his work probably supplied the\nname and dwelling-place of Job, his wealth, piety, and afflictions,\nincluding the visit of his friends, and his restoration after sore\ntrial from the very gate of despair to faith and prosperity. The rest\ncomes from the genius of the author of the drama. This is a work of\nimagination based on fact. And we do not proceed far till we find,\nfirst ideal touches, then bold flights into a region never opened to\nthe gaze of mortal eye.\n\nJob is described in the third verse as one of the Children of the East\nor Bene-Kedem, a vague expression denoting the settled inhabitants of\nthe North Arabian desert, in contrast to the wandering Bedawin and the\nSabeans of the South. In Genesis and Judges they are mentioned along\nwith the Amalekites, to whom they were akin. But the name as used by the\nHebrews probably covered the inhabitants of a large district very little\nknown. Of the Bene-Kedem Job is described as the greatest. His riches\nmeant power, and in the course of the frequent alternations of life in\nthose regions one who had enjoyed unbroken prosperity for many years\nwould be regarded with veneration not only for his wealth, but for what\nit signified--the constant favour of Heaven. He had his settlement near\nthe city, and was the acknowledged emeer of the valley, taking his place\nat the gate as chief judge. How great a chief one might become who added\nto his flocks and herds year by year and managed his affairs with\nprudence we learn from the history of Abraham; and to the present day,\nwhere the patriarchal mode of living and customs continue, as among the\nKurds of the Persian highland, examples of wealth in sheep and oxen,\ncamels and asses almost approaching that of Job are sometimes to be met\nwith. The numbers--seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five\nhundred yoke of oxen, five hundred she-asses--are probably intended\nsimply to represent his greatness. Yet they are not beyond the range of\npossibility.\n\nThe family of Job--his wife, seven sons, and three daughters--are\nabout him when the story begins, sharing his prosperity. In perfect\nfriendliness and idyllic joy the brothers and sisters spend their\nlives, the shield of their father's care and religion defending them.\nEach of the sons has a day on which he entertains the others, and at\nthe close of the circle of festivities, whether weekly or once a\nyear, there is a family sacrifice. The father is solicitous lest his\nchildren, speaking or even thinking irreverently, may have dishonoured\nGod. For this reason he makes the periodic offering, from time to time\nkeeping on behalf of his household a day of atonement. The number of\nthe children is not necessarily ideal, nor is the round of festivals\nand sacred observances. Yet the whole picture of happy family life and\nunbroken joy begins to lift the narrative into an imaginative light.\nSo fine a union of youthful enjoyment and fatherly sympathy and\npuritanism is seldom approached in this world. The poet has kept out\nof his picture the shadows which must have lurked beneath the sunny\nsurface of life. It is not even suggested that the recurring\nsacrifices were required. Job's thoughtfulness is precautionary: \"It\nmay be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts.\"\nThe children are dear to him, so dear that he would have nothing come\nbetween them and the light of heaven.\n\nFor the religion of Job, sincere and deep, disclosing itself in these\nofferings to the Most High, is, above his fatherly affection and\nsympathy, the distinction with which the poet shows him invested. He\nis a fearer of the One Living and True God, the Supremely Holy. In the\ncourse of the drama the speeches of Job often go back on his\nfaithfulness to the Most High; and we can see that he served his\nfellow-men justly and generously because he believed in a Just and\nGenerous God. Around him were worshippers of the sun and moon, whose\nadoration he had been invited to share. But he never joined in it,\neven by kissing his hand when the splendid lights of heaven moved with\nseeming Divine majesty across the sky. For him there was but One God,\nunseen yet ever present, to whom, as the Giver of all, he did not fail\nto offer thanksgiving and prayer with deepening faith. In his worship\nof this God the old order of sacrifice had its place, simple,\nunceremonious. Head of the clan, he was the priest by natural right,\nand offered sheep or bullock that there might be atonement, or\nmaintenance of fellowship with the Friendly Power who ruled the world.\nHis religion may be called a nature religion of the finest\ntype--reverence, faith, love, freedom. There is no formal doctrine\nbeyond what is implied in the names Eloah, the Lofty One, Shaddai,\nAlmighty, and in those simple customs of prayer, confession, and\nsacrifice in which all believers agreed. Of the law of Moses, the\npromises to Abraham, and those prophetical revelations by which the\ncovenant of God was assured to the Hebrew people Job knows nothing.\nHis is a real religion, capable of sustaining the soul of man in\nrighteousness, a religion that can save; but it is a religion learned\nfrom the voices of earth and sky and sea, and from human experience\nthrough the inspiration of the devout obedient heart. The author makes\nno attempt to reproduce the beliefs of patriarchal times as described\nin Genesis, but with a sincere and sympathetic touch he shows what a\nfearer of God in the Arabian desert might be. Job is such a man as he\nmay have personally known.\n\nIn the region of Idum\u00e6a the faith of the Most High was held in\nremarkable purity by learned men, who formed a religious caste or\nschool of wide reputation; and Teman, the home of Eliphaz, appears to\nhave been the centre of the cultus. \"Is wisdom no more in Teman?\"\ncries Jeremiah. \"Is counsel perished from the prudent? Is their wisdom\n(hokhma) vanished?\" And Obadiah makes a similar reference: \"Shall I\nnot in that day, saith the Lord, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and\nunderstanding out of the mount of Esau?\" In Isaiah the darkened wisdom\nof some time of trouble and perplexity is reflected in the \"burden of\nDumah,\" that is, Idum\u00e6a: \"One calleth unto me out of Seir,\" as if with\nthe hope of clearer light on Divine providence, \"Watchman, what of the\nnight? Watchman, what of the night?\" And the answer is an oracle in\nirony, almost enigma: \"The morning cometh, and also the night. If ye\nwill inquire, inquire; turn, come.\" Not for those who dwelt in\nshadowed Dumah was the clear light of Hebrew prophecy. But the wisdom\nor hokhma of Edom and its understanding were nevertheless of the kind\nin Proverbs and elsewhere constantly associated with true religion and\nrepresented as almost identical with it. And we may feel assured that\nwhen the Book of Job was written there was good ground for ascribing\nto sages of Teman and Uz an elevated faith.\n\nFor a Hebrew like the author of Job to lay aside for a time the thought\nof his country's traditions, the law and the prophets, the covenant of\nSinai, the sanctuary, and the altar of witness, and return in writing\nhis poem to the primitive faith which his forefathers grasped when they\nrenounced the idolatry of Chald\u00e6a was after all no grave abandonment of\nprivilege. The beliefs of Teman, sincerely held, were better than the\ndegenerate religion of Israel against which Amos testified. Had not that\nprophet even pointed the way when he cried in Jehovah's name--\"Seek not\nBethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba.... Seek Him\nthat maketh the Pleiades and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into\nthe morning, and maketh the day dark with night; that calleth for the\nwaters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth;\nJehovah is His name\"? Israel after apostasy may have needed to begin\nafresh, and to seek on the basis of the primal faith a new atonement\nwith the Almighty. At all events there were many around, not less the\nsubjects of God and beloved by Him, who stood in doubt amidst the\ntroubles of life and the ruin of earthly hopes. Teman and Uz were in the\ndominion of the heavenly King. To correct and confirm their faith would\nbe to help the faith of Israel also and give the true religion of God\nfresh power against idolatry and superstition.\n\nThe book which returned thus to the religion of Teman found an\nhonourable place in the roll of sacred Scriptures. Although the canon\nwas fixed by Hebrews at a time when the narrowness of the post-exilic\nage drew toward Pharisaism, and the law and the temple were regarded\nwith veneration far greater than in the time of Solomon, room was made\nfor this book of broad human sympathy and free faith. It is a mark at\nonce of the wisdom of the earlier rabbis and their judgment regarding\nthe essentials of religion. To Israel, as St. Paul afterwards said,\nbelonged \"the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving\nof the law, and the service of God, and the promises.\" But he too shows\nthe same disposition as the author of our poem to return on the\nprimitive and fundamental--the justification of Abraham by his faith,\nthe promise made to him, and the covenant that extended to his family:\n\"They which be of faith, the same are sons of Abraham\"; \"They which be\nof faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham\"; \"Not through the law\nwas the promise to Abraham or to his seed\"; \"That the blessing of\nAbraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ.\" A greater\nthan St. Paul has shown us how to use the Old Testament, and we have\nperhaps misunderstood the intent with which our Lord carried the minds\nof men back to Abraham and Moses and the prophets. He gave a religion to\nthe whole world. Was it not then the spiritual dignity, the religious\nbreadth of the Israelite fathers, their sublime certainty of God, their\nglow and largeness of faith for which Christ went back to them? Did He\nnot for these find them preparers of His own way?\n\nFrom the religion of Job we pass to consider his character described\nin the words, \"That man was perfect and upright, and one that feared\nGod, and eschewed evil.\" The use of four strong expressions,\ncumulatively forming a picture of the highest possible worth and\npiety, must be held to point to an ideal life. The epithet _perfect_\nis applied to Noah, and once and again in the Psalms to the\ndisposition of the good. Generally, however, it refers rather to the\nscheme or plan by which conduct is ordered than to the fulfilment in\nactual life; and a suggestive parallel may be found in the\n\"perfection\" or \"entire sanctification\" of modern dogma. The word\nmeans _complete_, built up all round so that no gaps are to be seen in\nthe character. We are asked to think of Job as a man whose\nuprightness, goodness, and fidelity towards man were unimpeachable,\nwho was also towards God reverent, obedient, grateful, wearing his\nreligion as a white garment of unsullied virtue. Then is it meant that\nhe had no infirmity of will or soul, that in him for once humanity\nstood absolutely free from defect? Scarcely. The perfect man in this\nsense, with all moral excellences and without weakness, would as\nlittle have served the purpose of the writer as one marred by any\ngross or deforming fault. The course of the poem shows that Job was\nnot free from errors of temper and infirmities of will. He who is\nproverbially known as the most patient failed in patience when the\nbitter cup of reproach had to be drained. But undoubtedly the writer\nexalts the virtue of his hero to the highest range, a plane above the\nactual. In order to set the problem of the book in a clear light such\npurity of soul and earnest dutifulness had to be assumed as would by\nevery reckoning deserve the rewards of God, the \"Well done, good and\nfaithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.\"\n\nThe years of Job have passed hitherto in unbroken prosperity. He has\nlong enjoyed the bounty of providence, his children about him, his\nincreasing flocks of sheep and camels, oxen and asses feeding in\nabundant pastures. The stroke of bereavement has not fallen since his\nfather and mother died in ripe old age. The dreadful simoom has spared\nhis flocks, the wandering Bedawin have passed them by. An honoured\nchief, he rules in wisdom and righteousness, ever mindful of the\nDivine hand by which he is blessed, earning for himself the trust of\nthe poor and the gratitude of the afflicted. Enjoying unbounded\nrespect in his own country, he is known beyond the desert to a circle\nof friends who admire him as a man and honour him as a servant of God.\nHis steps are washed with butter, and the rock pours him out rivers of\noil. The lamp of God shines upon his head, and by His light he walks\nthrough darkness. His root is spread out to the waters, and the dew\nlies all night upon his branch.\n\nNow let us judge this life from a point of view which the writer may\nhave taken, which at any rate it becomes us to take, with our\nknowledge of what gives manhood its true dignity and perfectness.\nObedience to God, self-control and self-culture, the observance of\nreligious forms, brotherliness and compassion, uprightness and purity\nof life, these are Job's excellences. But all circumstances are\nfavourable, his wealth makes beneficence easy and moves him to\ngratitude. His natural disposition is towards piety and generosity; it\nis pure joy to him to honour God and help his fellow-men. The life is\nbeautiful. But imagine it as the unclouded experience of years in a\nworld where so many are tried with suffering and bereavement, foiled\nin their strenuous toil and disappointed in their dearest hopes, and\nis it not evident that Job's would tend to become a kind of\ndream-life, not deep and strong, but on the surface, a broad stream,\nclear, glittering with the reflection of moon and stars or of the blue\nheaven, but shallow, gathering no force, scarcely moving towards the\nocean? When a Psalmist says, \"Thou hast set our iniquities before\nThee, our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance. For all our\ndays are passed away in Thy wrath: we bring our years to an end as a\ntale that is told,\" he depicts the common experience of men, a sad\nexperience, yet needful to the highest wisdom and the noblest faith.\nNo dreaming is there when the soul is met with sore rebuffs and made\naware of the profound abyss that lies beneath, when the limbs fail on\nthe steep hills of difficult duty. But a long succession of prosperous\nyears, immunity from disappointment, loss, and sorrow, lulls the\nspirit to repose. Earnestness of heart is not called for, and the\nwill, however good, is never braced to endurance. Whether by subtle\nintention or by an instinctive sense of fitness, the writer has\npainted Job as one who with all his virtue and perfectness spent his\nlife as in a dream and needed to be awakened. He is a Pygmalion's\nstatue of flawless marble, the face divinely calm and not without a\ntrace of self-conscious remoteness from the suffering multitudes,\nneeding the hot blast of misfortune to bring it to life. Or, let us\nsay, he is a new type of humanity in paradise, an Adam enjoying a\nGarden of Eden fenced in from every storm, as yet undiscovered by the\nenemy. We are to see the problem of the primitive story of Genesis\nrevived and wrought out afresh, not on the old lines, but in a way\nthat makes it real to the race of suffering men. The dream-life of Job\nin his time of prosperity corresponds closely with that ignorance of\ngood and evil which the first pair had in the garden eastward in Eden\nwhile as yet the forbidden tree bore its fruit untouched, undesired,\nin the midst of the greenery and flowers.\n\nWhen did the man Job live? Far back in the patriarchal age, or but a\nshort time before the author of the book came upon his story and made it\nimmortal? We may incline to the later date, but it is of no importance.\nFor us the interest of the book is not antiquarian but humane, the\nrelation of pain and affliction to the character of man, the righteous\ngovernment of God. The life and experiences of Job are idealised so that\nthe question may be clearly understood; and the writer makes not the\nslightest attempt to give his book the colour of remote antiquity.\n\nBut we cannot fail to be struck from the outset with the genius shown\nin the choice of a life set in the Arabian desert. For breadth of\ntreatment, for picturesque and poetic effect, for the development of a\ndrama that was to exhibit the individual soul in its need of God, in\nthe shadow of deep trouble as well as the sunshine of success, the\nscenery is strikingly adapted, far better than if it had been laid in\nsome village of Israel. Inspiration guided the writer's choice. The\ndesert alone gave scope for those splendid pictures of nature, those\nnoble visions of Divine Almightiness, and those sudden and tremendous\nchanges which make the movement impressive and sublime.\n\nThe modern analogue in literature is the philosophic novel. But Job is\nfar more intense, more operatic, as Ewald says, and the elements are\neven simpler. Isolation is secured. Life is bared to its elements. The\npersonality is entangled in disaster with the least possible machinery\nor incident. The dramatising altogether is singularly abstract. And\nthus we are enabled to see, as it were, the very thought of the\nauthor, lonely, resolute, appealing, under the widespread Arabian sky\nand the Divine infinitude.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII.\n\n_THE OPENING SCENE IN HEAVEN._\n\nCHAP. i. 6-12.\n\n\nWith the presentation of the scene in heaven, the genius, the pious\ndaring, and fine moral insight of the writer at once appear--in one\nword, his inspiration. From the first we feel a sure yet deeply\nreverent touch, a spirit composed in its high resolve. The thinking is\nkeen, but entirely without strain. In no mere flash did the over-world\ndisclose itself and those decrees that shape man's destiny. There is\nconstructive imagination. Wherever the idea of the heavenly council\nwas found, whether in the vision Micaiah narrated to Jehoshaphat and\nAhab, or in the great vision of Isaiah, it certainly was not unsought.\nThrough the author's own study and art the inspiration came that made\nthe picture what it is. The calm sovereignty of God, not tyrannical\nbut most sympathetic, is presented with simple felicity. It was the\ndistinction of Hebrew prophets to speak of the Almighty with a\nconfidence which bordered on familiarity yet never lost the grace of\nprofound reverence; and here we find that trait of serious na\u00efvet\u00e9.\nThe writer ventures on the scene he paints with no consciousness of\ndaring nor the least air of difficult endeavour, but quietly, as one\nwho has the thought of the Divine government of human affairs\nconstantly before his mind and glories in the majestic wisdom of God\nand His friendliness to men. In a single touch the King is shown, and\nbefore Him the hierarchies and powers of the invisible world in their\nresponsibility to His rule. Centuries of religious culture are behind\nthe words, and also many years of private meditation and philosophic\nthought. To this man, because he gave himself to the highest\ndiscipline, revelations came, uplifting, broad, and deep.\n\nIn contrast to the Almighty we have the figure of the Adversary, or\nSatan, depicted with sufficient clearness, notably coherent,\nrepresenting a phase of being not imaginary but actual. He is not, as\nthe Satan of later times came to be, the head of a kingdom peopled with\nevil spirits, a nether world separated from the abode of the heavenly\nangels by a broad, impassable gulf. He has no distinctive hideousness,\nnor is he painted as in any sense independent, although the evil bent of\nhis nature is made plain, and he ventures to dispute the judgment of the\nMost High. This conception of the Adversary need not be set in\nopposition to those which afterwards appear in Scripture as if truth\nmust lie entirely there or here. But we cannot help contrasting the\nSatan of the Book of Job with the grotesque, gigantic, awful, or\ndespicable fallen angels of the world's poetry. Not that the mark of\ngenius is wanting in these; but they reflect the powers of this world\nand the accompaniments of malignant human despotism. The author of Job,\non the contrary, moved little by earthly state and grandeur, whether\ngood or evil, solely occupied with the Divine sovereignty, never dreams\nof one who could maintain the slightest shadow of authority in\nopposition to God. He cannot trifle with his idea of the Almighty in the\nway of representing a rival to Him; nor can he degrade a subject so\nserious as that of human faith and well-being by painting with any\ntouch of levity a superhuman adversary of men.\n\nDante in his _Inferno_ attempts the portraiture of the monarch of\nhell:--\n\n            \"That emperor who sways\n      The realm of sorrow, at mid-breast from the ice\n      Stood forth; and I in stature, am more like\n      A giant than the giants are to his arms....\n             ... If he were beautiful\n      As he is hideous now, and yet did dare\n      To scowl upon his Maker, well from him\n      May all our misery flow.\"\n\nThe enormous size of this figure is matched by its hideousness; the\nmisery of the arch-fiend, for all its horror, is grotesque:\n\n               \"At six eyes he wept; the tears\n      Adown three faces rolled in bloody foam.\"\n\nPassing to Milton, we find sublimity in his pictures of the fallen\nlegions, and it culminates in the vision of their king:--\n\n      \"Above them all the archangel; but his face\n       Deep scars of thunder had intrenched, and care\n       Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows\n       Of dauntless courage, and considerate pride\n       Waiting revenge: cruel his eye, but cast\n       Signs of remorse and passion, to behold\n       The fellows of his crime, ...\n       Millions of spirits for his fault amerced\n       Of heaven, and from eternal splendours flung\n       For his revolt.\"\n\nThe picture is magnificent. It has, however, little justification from\nScripture. Even in the Book of Revelation we see a kind of contempt of\nthe Adversary where an angel from heaven with a great chain in his\nhand lays hold on the dragon, that old serpent which is the devil, and\nSatan, and binds him a thousand years. Milton has painted his Satan\nlargely, as not altogether unfit to take arms against the Omnipotent,\ngrown gigantic, even sublime, in the course of much theological\nspeculation that had its source far back in Chald\u00e6an and Iranian\nmyths. Perhaps, too, the sympathies of the poet, playing about the\nfortunes of fallen royalty, may have unconsciously coloured the vision\nwhich he saw and drew with such marvellous power, dipping his pencil\n\"in the hues of earthquake and eclipse.\"\n\nThis splendid regal arch-fiend has no kinship with the Satan of the Book\nof Job; and, on the other hand, the Mephistopheles of the \"Faust,\"\nalthough bearing an outward resemblance to him, is, for a quite\ndifferent reason, essentially unlike. Obviously Goethe's picture of a\ncynical devil gaily perverting and damning a human mind is based on the\nBook of Job. The \"Prologue in Heaven,\" in which he first appears, is an\nimitation of the passage before us. But while the vulgarity and\ninsolence of Mephistopheles are in contrast to the demeanour of the\nAdversary in presence of Jehovah, the real distinction lies in the kind\nof power ascribed to the one and the other. Mephistopheles is a cunning\ntempter. He receives permission to mislead if he can, and not only\nplaces his victim in circumstances fitted to ruin his virtue, but plies\nhim with arguments intended to prove that evil is good, that to be pure\nis to be a fool. No such power of evil suggestion is given to the\nAdversary of Job. His action extends only to the outward events by which\nthe trial of faith is brought about. Cynical he is and bent on working\nevil, but not by low cunning and sophistry. He has no access to the\nmind. While it cannot be said that Goethe has descended beneath the\nlevel of possibility, since a contemporary and friend of his own,\nSchopenhauer, might almost have sat for the portrait of Mephistopheles,\nthe realism in Job befits the age of the writer and the serious purpose\nhe had in view. Faust is a work of genius and art, and succeeds in its\ndegree. The author of Job succeeds in a far higher sense, by the charm\nof simple sincerity and the strength of Divine inspiration, keeping the\nplay of supernatural agency beyond human vision, making the Satan a mere\ninstrument of the Divine purpose, in no sense free or intellectually\npowerful.\n\nThe scene opens with a gathering of the \"sons of the Elohim\" in\npresence of their King. Professor Cheyne thinks that these are\n\"supernatural Titanic beings who had once been at strife with Jehovah,\nbut who now at stated times paid him their enforced homage\"; and this\nhe illustrates by reference to Chap. xxi. 22 and Chap. xxv. 2. But the\nquestion in the one passage, \"Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing He\njudgeth those that are high\" [\u05e8\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05de, the heights of heaven,\nhighnesses], and the affirmation in the other, \"He maketh peace in His\nhigh places,\" can scarcely be held to prove the supposition. The\nordinary view that they are heavenly powers or angels, willing\nservants not unwilling vassals of Jehovah, is probably correct. They\nhave come together at an appointed time to give account of their\ndoings and to receive commands, and among them the Satan or Adversary\npresents himself, one distinguished from all the rest by the name he\nbears and the character and function it implies. There is no hint that\nhe is out of place, that he has impudently forced his way into the\naudience chamber. Rather does it appear that he, like the rest, has to\ngive his account. The question \"Whence comest thou?\" expresses no\nrebuke. It is addressed to the Satan as to the others. We see,\ntherefore, that this \"Adversary,\" to whomsoever he is opposed, is not\na being excluded from communication with God, engaged in a princely\nrevolt. When the reply is put into his mouth that he has been \"going\nto and fro in the earth, and pacing up and down in it,\" the impression\nconveyed is that a certain task of observing men, perhaps watching for\ntheir misdeeds, has been assumed by him. He appears a spirit of\nrestless and acute inquiry into men's lives and motives, with a keen\neye for the weaknesses of humanity and a fancy quick to imagine evil.\n\nEvidently we have here a personification of the doubting,\nmisbelieving, misreading spirit which, in our day, we limit to men and\ncall pessimism. Now Koheleth gives so finished an expression to this\ntemper that we can hardly be wrong in going back some distance of time\nfor its growth; and the state of Israel before the northern captivity\nwas a soil in which every kind of bitter seed might spring up. The\nauthor of Job may well have drawn from more than one cynic of his day\nwhen he set his mocking figure in the blaze of the celestial court.\nSatan is the pessimist. He exists, so far as his intent goes, to find\ncause against man, and therefore, in effect, against God, as man's\nCreator. A shrewd thinker is this Adversary, but narrowed to one line\nand that singularly like some modern criticism of religion, the\nresemblance holding in this that neither shows any feeling of\nresponsibility. The Satan sneers away faith and virtue; the modern\ncountenances both, and so has an excellent reason for pronouncing them\nhollow; or he avoids both, and is sure there is nothing but emptiness\nwhere he has not sought. Either way, all is _hab\u0113l habalim_--vanity of\nvanities. And yet Satan is so held and governed by the Almighty that\nhe can only strike where permission is given. Evil, as represented by\nhim, is under the control of Divine wisdom and goodness. He appears as\none to whom the words of Christ \"Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,\nand Him only shalt thou serve,\" would bring home a sense neither of\nduty nor privilege, but of a sheer necessity, to be contested to the\nlast. Nevertheless he is a vassal of the Almighty. Here the touch of\nthe author is firm and true.\n\nSo of pessimistic research and philosophy now. We have writers who\nfollow humanity in all its base movements and know nothing of its\nhighest. The research of Schopenhauer and even the psychology of\ncertain modern novelists are mischievous, depraving, for this reason,\nif no other, that they evaporate the ideal. They promote generally\nthat diseased egotism to which judgment and aspiration are alike\nunknown. Yet this spirit too serves where it has no dream of serving.\nIt provokes a healthy opposition, shows a hell from which men recoil,\nand creates so deadly ennui that the least gleam of faith becomes\nacceptable, and even Theosophy, because it speaks of life, secures the\ncraving mind. Moreover, the pessimist keeps the church a little\nhumble, somewhat awake to the error that may underlie its own glory\nand the meanness that mingles too often with its piety. A result of\nthe freedom of the human mind to question and deny, pessimism has its\nplace in the scheme of things. Hostile and often railing, it is\ndetestable enough, but needs not alarm those who know that God takes\ncare of His world.\n\nThe challenge which begins the action of the drama--by whom is it\nthrown out? By the Almighty. God sets before the Satan a good life:\n\"Hast thou considered My servant Job? that there is none like him in the\nearth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth\nevil.\" The source of the whole movement, then, is a defiance of unbelief\nby the Divine Friend of men and Lord of all. There is such a thing as\nhuman virtue, and it is the glory of God to be served by it, to have His\npower and divinity reflected in man's spiritual vigour and holiness.\n\nWhy does the Almighty throw out the challenge and not wait for Satan's\ncharge? Simply because the trial of virtue must begin with God. This is\nthe first step in a series of providential dealings fraught with the\nmost important results, and there is singular wisdom in attributing it\nto God. Divine grace is to be seen thrusting back the chaotic falsehoods\nthat darken the world of thought. They exist; they are known to Him who\nrules; and He does not leave humanity to contend with them unaided. In\ntheir keenest trials the faithful are supported by His hand, assured of\nvictory while they fight His battles. Ignorant pride, like that of the\nAdversary, is not slow to enter into debate even with the All-wise.\nSatan has the question ready which implies a lie, for his is the voice\nof that scepticism which knows no reverence. But the entire action of\nthe book is in the line of establishing faith and hope. The Adversary is\nchallenged to do his worst; and man, as God's champion, will have to do\nhis best,--the world and angels looking on.\n\nAnd this thought of a Divine purpose to confound the falsehoods of\nscepticism answers another inquiry which may readily occur. From the\nfirst the Almighty knows and asserts the virtue of His servant,--that\nhe is one who fears God and eschews evil. But why, then, does He\ncondescend to ask of Satan, \"Hast thou considered My servant Job?\"\nSince He has already searched the heart of Job and found it faithful,\nHe does not need for His own satisfaction to hear Satan's opinion. Nor\nare we to suppose that the expression of this Adversary's doubt can\nhave any real importance. But if we take the Satan as representing all\nthose who depreciate faith and undermine virtue, the challenge is\nexplained. Satan is of no account in himself. He will go on cavilling\nand suspecting. But for the sake of the race of men, its emancipation\nfrom the miserable suspicions that prey on the heart, the question is\nproposed. The drama has its prophetical design; it embodies a\nrevelation; and in this lies the value of all that is represented.\nSatan, we shall find, disappears, and thereafter the human reason is\nalone addressed, solely considered. We pass from scene to scene, from\ncontroversy to controversy, and the great problem of man's virtue,\nwhich also involves the honour of God Himself, is wrought out that our\ndespondency and fear may be cured; that we may never say with\nKoheleth, \"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.\"\n\nTo the question of the Almighty, Satan replies by another: \"Doth Job\nfear God for nought?\" With a certain air of fairness he points to the\nextraordinary felicity enjoyed by the man. \"Hast Thou not made an\nhedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath, on\nevery side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance\nis increased in the land.\" It is a thought naturally arising in the\nmind that very prosperous people have all on the side of their virtue,\nand may be less pure and faithful than they seem. Satan adopts this\nthought, which is not only blameless, but suggested by what we see of\nGod's government. He is base and captious in using it, and turns it\nwith a sneer. Yet on the surface he only hints that God should employ\nHis own test, and so vindicate His action in making this man so\nprosperous. For why should Job show anything but gratitude towards God\nwhen all is done for him that heart can desire? The favourites of\nkings, indeed, who are loaded with titles and wealth, sometimes\ndespise their benefactors, and, being raised to high places, grow\nambitious of one still higher, that of royalty itself. The pampered\nservant becomes an arrogant rival, a leader of revolt. Thus too great\nbounty is often met with ingratitude. It does not, however, suit the\nAdversary to suggest that pride and rebellion of this kind have begun\nto show themselves in Job, or will show themselves. He has no ground\nfor such an accusation, no hope of proving it true. He confines\nhimself, therefore, to a simpler charge, and in making it implies that\nhe is only judging this man on general principles and pointing to what\nis sure to happen in the case. Yes; he knows men. They are selfish at\nbottom. Their religion is selfishness. The blameless human fear is\nthat much may be due to favourable position. The Satan is sure that\nall is due to it.\n\nNow, the singular thing here is the fact that the Adversary's\naccusation turns on Job's enjoyment of that outward felicity which the\nHebrews were constantly desiring and hoping for as a reward of\nobedience to God. The writer comes thus at once to show the peril of\nthe belief which had corrupted the popular religion of his time, which\nmay even have been his own error once, that abundant harvests, safety\nfrom enemies, freedom from pestilence, such material prosperity as\nmany in Israel had before the great disasters, were to be regarded as\nthe evidence of accepted piety. Now that the crash has fallen and the\ntribes are scattered, those left in Palestine and those carried into\nexile alike sunk in poverty and trouble, the author is pointing out\nwhat he himself has come to see, that Israel's conception of religion\nhad hitherto admitted and may even have gendered a terrible mistake.\nPiety might be largely selfishness--was often mingled with it. The\nmessage of the author to his countrymen and to the world is that a\nnobler mind must replace the old desire for happiness and plenty, a\nbetter faith the old trust that God would fill the hands that served\nHim well. He teaches that, whatever may come, though trouble after\ntrouble may fall, the great true Friend is to be adored for what He\nis, obeyed and loved though the way lies through storm and gloom.\n\nStriking is the thought that, while the prophets Amos and Hosea were\nfiercely or plaintively assailing the luxury of Israel and the lives\nof the nobles, among those very men who excited their holy wrath may\nhave been the author of the Book of Job. Dr. Robertson Smith has shown\nthat from the \"gala days\" of Jeroboam II. to the fall of Samaria there\nwere only some thirty years. One who wrote after the Captivity as an\nold man may therefore have been in the flush of youth when Amos\nprophesied, may have been one of the rich Israelites who lay upon beds\nof ivory and stretched themselves upon their couches, and ate lambs\nout of the flock and calves out of the midst of the stall, for whose\ngain the peasant and the slave were oppressed by stewards and\nofficers. He may have been one of those on whom the blindness of\nprosperity had fallen so that the storm-cloud from the east with its\nvivid lightning was not seen, who held it their safety to bring\nsacrifices every morning and tithes every three days, to offer a\nsacrifice of thanksgiving of that which was leavened, and proclaim\nfreewill offerings and publish them (Amos iv. 4, 5). The mere\npossibility that the author of Job may have had this very time of\nprosperity and religious security in his own past and heard Hosea's\ntrumpet blast of doom is very suggestive, for if so he has learned how\ngrandly right the prophets were as messengers of God. By the way of\npersonal sorrow and disaster he has passed to the better faith he\nurges on the world. He sees what even the prophets did not fully\ncomprehend, that desolation might be gain, that in the most sterile\nwilderness of life the purest light of religion might shine on the\nsoul, while the tongue was parched with fatal thirst and the eye\nglazed with the film of death. The prophets looked always beyond the\nshadows of disaster to a new and better day when the return of a\npenitent people to Jehovah should be followed by a restoration of the\nblessings they had forfeited--fruitful fields and vineyards, busy and\npopulous cities, a general distribution of comfort if not of wealth.\nEven Amos and Hosea had no clear vision of the prophetic hope the\nfirst exile was to yield out of its darkness to Israel and the world.\n\nThe question, then, \"Doth Job fear God for nought?\" sending a flash of\npenetrating light back on Israel's history, and especially on the\nglowing pictures of prosperity in Solomon's time, compelling all to look\nto the foundation and motives of their faith, marks a most important era\nin Hebrew thought. It is, we may say, the first note of a piercing\nstrain which thrills on to the present time. Taking rise here, the\nspirit of inquiry and self-examination has already sifted religious\nbelief and separated much of the chaff from the wheat. Yet not all. The\ncomfort and hope of believers are not yet lifted above the reach of\nSatan's javelin. While salvation is thought of mainly as self-enjoyment,\ncan we say that the purity of religion is assured? When happiness is\npromised as the result of faith, whether happiness now, or hereafter in\nheavenly glory, the whole fabric of religion is built on a foundation\ninsecure, because it may be apart from truth, holiness, and virtue. It\ndoes not avail to say that holiness is happiness, and so introduce\npersonal craving under cover of the finest spiritual idea. To grant that\nhappiness is in any sense the distinctive issue of faith and\nfaithfulness, to keep happiness in view in submitting to the restraints\nand bearing the burdens of religion, is to build the highest and best on\nthe shifting sand of personal taste and craving. Make happiness that for\nwhich the believer is to endure and strive, allow the sense of personal\ncomfort and immunity from change to enter into his picture of the reward\nhe may expect, and the question returns, Doth this man serve God for\nnought? Life is not happiness, and the gift of God is everlasting life.\nOnly when we keep to this supreme word in the teaching of Christ, and\nseek the fulness and liberty and purity of life, apart from that\nhappiness which is at bottom the satisfaction of predominant desires,\nshall we escape from the constantly recurring doubt that threatens to\nundermine and destroy our faith.\n\nIf we look further, we find that the very error which has so long\nimpoverished religion prevails in philanthropy and politics, prevails\nthere at the present time to an alarming extent. The favourite aim of\nsocial meliorists is to secure happiness for all. While life is the\nmain thing, everywhere and always, strength and breadth and nobleness\nof life, their dream is to make the warfare and service of man upon\nthe earth so easy that he shall have no need for earnest personal\nendeavour. He is to serve for happiness, and have no service to do\nthat may even in the time of his probation interfere with happiness.\nThe pity bestowed on those who toil and endure in great cities and on\nbleak hillsides is that they fail of happiness. Persons who have no\nconception that vigour and endurance are spiritually profitable, and\nothers who once knew but have forgotten the benefits of vigour and the\ngains of endurance, would undo the very order and discipline of God.\nAre human beings to be encouraged to seek happiness, taught to doubt\nGod because they have little pleasure, given to understand that those\nwho enjoy have the best of the universe, and that they must be lifted\nup to this level or lose all? Then the sweeping condemnation will hang\nover the world that it is following a new god and has said farewell to\nthe stern Lord of Providence.\n\nMuch may be justly said in condemnation of the jealous, critical\nspirit of the Adversary. Yet it remains true that his criticism\nexpresses what would be a fair charge against men who passed this\nstage of existence without full trial. And the Almighty is represented\nas confirming this when He puts Job into the hands of Satan. He has\nchallenged the Adversary, opening the question of man's fidelity and\nsincerity. He knows what will result. It is not the will of some\neternal Satan that is the motive, but the will of God. The Adversary's\nscornful question is woven into God's wise ordinance, and made to\nsubserve a purpose which completely transcends the base hope involved\nin it. The life of Job has not yet had the difficult and strenuous\nprobation necessary to assured faith, or rather to the consciousness\nof a faith immovably rooted in God. It would be utterly inconsistent\nwith the Divine wisdom to suppose God led on and beguiled by the sneer\nof His own creature to do what was needless or unfair, or indeed in\nany sense opposed to His own plan for His creation. And we shall find\nthat throughout the book it is assumed by Job, implied by the author,\nthat what is done is really the doing of God Himself. The Satan of\nthis Divine poem remains altogether subsidiary as an agent. He may\npropose, but God disposes. He may pride himself on the keenness of his\nintellect; but wisdom, compared to which his subtlety is mere\nblundering, orders the movement of events for good and holy ends.\n\nThe Adversary makes his proposal: \"Put forth now Thine hand, and touch\nall that he hath, and he will bid Thee farewell.\" He does not propose to\nmake use of sensual temptation. The only method of trial he ventures to\nsuggest is deprivation of the prosperity for which he believes Job has\nserved God. He takes on him to indicate what the Almighty may do,\nacknowledging that the Divine power, and not his, must bring into Job's\nlife those losses and troubles that are to test his faith.\n\nAfter all some may ask, Is not Satan endeavouring to tempt the Almighty?\nAnd if it were true that the prosperous condition of Job, or any man,\nimplies God's entire satisfaction with his faith and dutifulness and\nwith his character as a man, if, further, it must be taken as true that\nsorrow and loss are evil, then this proposal of the Satan is a\ntemptation. It is not so in reality, for \"God cannot be tempted to\nevil.\" No creature could approach His holiness with a temptation. But\nSatan's intention is to move God. He considers success and happiness to\nbe intrinsically good, and poverty and bereavement to be intrinsically\nevil. That is to say, we have here the spirit of unfaith endeavouring to\ndestroy God as well as man. For the sake of truth professedly, for his\nown pride of will really, he would arrest the righteousness and grace of\nthe Divine. He would unmake God and orphan man. The scheme is futile of\ncourse. God can allow his proposal, and be no less the Infinitely\ngenerous, wise, and true. The Satan shall have his desire; but not a\nshadow shall fall on the ineffable glory.\n\nAt this point, however, we must pause. The question that has just\narisen can only be answered after a survey of human life in its\nrelation to God, and especially after an examination of the meaning of\nthe term _evil_ as applied to our experiences. We have certain clear\nprinciples to begin with: that \"God cannot be tempted with evil, and\nHe Himself tempteth no man\"; that all God does must show not less\nbeneficence, not less love, but more as the days go by. These\nprinciples will have to be vindicated when we proceed to consider the\nlosses, what may be called the disasters that follow each other in\nquick succession and threaten to crush the life they try.\n\nMeanwhile, casting a glance at those happy dwellings in the land of Uz,\nwe see all going on as before, no mind darkened by the shadow that is\ngathering, or in the least aware of the controversy in heaven so full of\nmoment to the family circle. The pathetic ignorance, the blessed\nignorance in which a man may live hangs upon the picture. The cheerful\nbustle of the homestead goes on, the feasts and sacrifices, diligent\nlabour rewarded with the produce of fields, the wine and oil of\nvineyards and olive gardens, fleeces of the flock and milk of the kine.\n\n\n\n\nIV.\n\n_THE SHADOW OF GOD'S HAND._\n\nCHAP. i. 13-22.\n\n\nComing now to the sudden and terrible changes which are to prove the\nfaithfulness of the servant of God, we must not fail to observe that\nin the development of the drama the trial of Job personally is the\nsole consideration. No account is taken of the character of those who,\nbeing connected with his fortunes and happiness, are now to be swept\naway that he may suffer. To trace their history and vindicate Divine\nrighteousness in reference to each of them is not within the scope of\nthe poem. A typical man is taken as hero, and we may say the\ndiscussion covers the fate of all who suffer, although attention is\nfixed on him alone.\n\nThe writer is dealing with a story of patriarchal life, and himself is\ntouched with the Semitic way of thinking. A certain disregard of the\nsubordinate human characters must not be reckoned strange. His\nthoughts, far-reaching as they are, run in a channel very different\nfrom ours. The world of his book is that of family and clan ideas. The\nauthor saw more than any man of his time; but he could not see all\nthat engages modern speculation. Besides, the glory of God is the\ndominant idea of the poem; not men's right to joy, or peace, or even\nlife; but God's right to be wholly Himself and greatly true. In the\nlight of this high thought we must be content to have the story of one\nsoul traced with such fulness as might be compassed, the others left\npractically untouched. If the sufferings of the man whom God approves\ncan be explained in harmony with the glory of Divine justice, then\nthe sudden calamities that fall upon his servants and children will\nalso be explained. For, although death is in a sense an ultimate\nthing, and loss and affliction, however great, do not mean so much as\ndeath; yet, on the other hand, to die is the common lot, and the quick\nstroke appears merciful in comparison with Job's dreadful experiences.\nThose who are killed by lightning or by the sword do but swiftly and\nwithout protracted pain fall into the hands of God. We need not\nconclude that the writer means us to regard the sons and daughters of\nJob and his servants as mere chattels, like the camels and sheep,\nalthough the people of the desert would have so regarded them. But the\nmain question presses; the range of the discussion must be limited;\nand the tradition which forms the basis of the poem is followed by the\nauthor whenever it supplies the elements of his inquiry.\n\nWe have entirely refused the supposition that the Almighty forgot His\nrighteousness and grace in putting the wealth and happiness of Job\ninto the hands of Satan. The trials we now see falling one after the\nother are not sent because the Adversary has suggested them, but\nbecause it is right and wise, for the glory of God and for the\nperfecting of faith, that Job should suffer them. What is God's doing\nis not in this case nor in any case evil. He cannot wrong His servant\nthat glory may come to Himself.\n\nAnd just here arises a problem which enters into all religious\nthought, the wrong solution of which depraves many a philosophy, while\nthe right understanding of it sheds a flood of light on our life in\nthis world. A thousand tongues, Christian, non-Christian, and\nneo-Christian, affirm that life is for enjoyment. What gives enjoyment\nis declared to be good, what gives most enjoyment is reckoned best,\nand all that makes for pain and suffering is held to be evil. It is\nallowed that pain endured now may bring pleasure hereafter, and that\nfor the sake of future gain a little discomfort may be chosen. But it\nis evil nevertheless. One doing his best for men would be expected to\ngive them happiness at once and, throughout life, as much of it as\npossible. If he inflicted pain in order to enhance pleasure by and by,\nhe would have to do so within the strictest limits. Whatever reduces\nthe strength of the body, the capacity of the body for enjoyment and\nthe delight of the mind accompanying the body's vigour, is declared\nbad, and to do anything which has this effect is to do evil or wrong.\nSuch is the ethic of the philosophy finally and powerfully stated by\nMr. Spencer. It has penetrated as widely as he could wish; it\nunderlies volumes of Christian sermons and semi-Christian schemes. If\nit be true, then the Almighty of the Book of Job, bringing affliction,\nsorrow, and pain upon His servant, is a cruel enemy of man, to be\nhated, not revered. This matter needs to be considered at some length.\n\nThe notion that pain is evil, that he who suffers is placed at moral\ndisadvantage, appears very plainly in the old belief that those\nconditions and surroundings of our life which minister to enjoyment\nare the proofs of the goodness of God on which reliance must be placed\nso far as nature and providence testify of Him. Pain and sorrow, it\nwas held, need to be accounted for by human sin or otherwise; but we\nknow that God is good because there is enjoyment in the life He gives.\nPaley, for example, says that the proof of the Divine _goodness_ rests\nupon contrivances everywhere to be seen for the purpose of giving us\npleasure. He tells us that, when God created the human species,\n\"either He wished them happiness, or He wished them misery, or He was\nindifferent and unconcerned about either\"; and he goes on to prove\nthat it must be our happiness He desired, for, otherwise, wishing our\nmisery, \"He might have made everything we tasted, bitter; everything\nwe saw, loathsome; everything we touched, a sting; every smell, a\nstench; and every sound, a discord:\" while, if He had been indifferent\nabout our happiness we must impute all enjoyment we have \"to our good\nfortune,\" that is, to bare chance, an impossible supposition. Paley's\nfurther survey of life leads to the conclusion that God has it as His\nchief aim to make His creatures happy and, in the circumstances, does\nthe best He can for them, better far than they are commonly disposed\nto think. The agreement of this position with that of Spencer lies in\nthe presupposition that goodness can be proved only by arrangements\nfor giving pleasure. If God is good for this reason, what follows when\nHe appoints pain, especially pain that brings no enjoyment in the long\nrun? Either He is not altogether \"good\" or He is not all-powerful.\n\nThe author of the Book of Job does not enter into the problem of pain\nand affliction with the same deliberate attempt to exhaust the subject\nas Paley has made; but he has the problem before him. And in\nconsidering the trial of Job as an example of the suffering and sorrow\nof man in this world of change, we find a strong ray of light thrown\nupon the darkness. The picture is a Rembrandt; and where the radiance\nfalls all is sharp and bright. But the shadows are deep; and we must\nseek, if possible, to make out what lies in those shadows. We shall\nnot understand the Book of Job, nor form a just opinion of the\nauthor's inspiration, nor shall we understand the Bible as a whole,\nunless we reach a point of view clear of the mistakes that stultify\nthe reasoning of Paley and plunge the mind of Spencer, who refuses to\nbe called a materialist, into the utter darkness of materialism.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNow, as to enjoyment, we have the capacity for it, and it flows to us\nfrom many external objects as well as from the operation of our own\nminds and the putting forth of energy. It is in the scheme of things\nordained by God that His creatures shall enjoy. On the other hand,\ntrouble, sorrow, loss, bodily and mental pain, are also in the scheme\nof things. They are provided for in numberless ways--in the play of\nnatural forces causing injuries, dangers from which we cannot escape;\nin the limitations of our power; in the antagonisms and\ndisappointments of existence; in disease and death. They are provided\nfor by the very laws that bring pleasure, made inevitable under the\nsame Divine ordinance. Some say it detracts from the goodness of God\nto admit that as He appoints means of enjoyment so He also provides\nfor pain and sorrow and makes these inseparable from life. And this\nopinion runs into the extreme dogmatic assertion that \"good,\" by which\nwe are to understand _happiness_,\n\n                    \"Shall fall\n      At last far off, at last to all.\"\n\nMany hold this to be necessary to the vindication of God's goodness.\nBut the source of the whole confusion lies here, that we prejudge the\nquestion by calling pain evil. The light-giving truth for modern\nperplexity is that pain and loss are not _evil_, are in no sense\n_evil_.\n\nBecause we desire happiness and dislike pain, we must not conclude\nthat pain is bad and that, when any one suffers, it is because he or\nanother has done wrong. There is the mistake that vitiates theological\nthought, making men run to the extreme either of denying God\naltogether because there is suffering in the world, or of framing a\nrose-water eschatology. Pain is one thing, moral evil is quite another\nthing. He who suffers is not necessarily a wrong-doer; and when,\nthrough the laws of nature, God inflicts pain, there is no evil nor\nanything approaching wrong. In Scripture, indeed, pain and evil are\napparently identified. \"Shall we receive good at the hands of God, and\nshall we not receive evil?\" \"Is there evil in the city, and the Lord\nhath not done it?\" \"Thus saith the Lord, Behold I will bring upon\nJudah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, all the evil that I\nhave pronounced against them.\" In these and many other passages the\nvery thing seems to be meant which has just been denied, for evil and\nsuffering appear to be made identical. But human language is not a\nperfect instrument of thought, any more than thought is a perfect\nchannel of truth. One word has to do duty in different senses. Moral\nevil, wrongness, on the one hand; bodily pain, the misery of loss and\ndefeat, on the other hand--both are represented by one Hebrew word\n[\u05e8\u05b7\u05e2--root meaning, _displeased_]. In the following passages, where\nmoral evil is clearly meant, it occurs just as in those previously\nquoted: \"Wash you, make you clean, cease to do evil, learn to do\nwell\"; \"The face of the Lord is against them that do evil.\" The\ndifferent meanings which one Hebrew word may bear are not generally\nconfused in translation. In this case, however, the confusion has\nentered into the most modern language. From a highly esteemed thinker\nthe following sentence may be quoted by way of example: \"The other\nreligions did not feel evil like Israel; it did not stand in such\ncomplete antagonism to their idea of the Supreme, the Creator and\nSovereign of man, nor in such absolute contradiction to their notion\nof what ought to be; and so they either reconciled themselves as best\nthey could to the evil that was necessary, or invented means by which\nmen could escape from it by escaping from existence.\" The singular\nmisapprehension of Divine providence which underlies a statement like\nthis can only be got rid of by recognising that enjoyment and\nsuffering are not the good and evil of life, that both of them stand\nquite apart from what is intrinsically good and bad in a moral sense,\nand that they are simply means to an end in the providence of God.\n\nIt is not difficult, of course, to see how the idea of pain and the idea\nof moral evil have been linked together. It is by the thought that\nsuffering is punishment for evil done; and that the suffering is\ntherefore itself evil. Pain was simply penalty inflicted by an offended\nheavenly power. The evil of a man's doings came back to him, made itself\nfelt in his suffering. This was the explanation of all that was\nunpleasant, disastrous and vexing in the lot of man. He would enjoy\nalways, it was conceived, if wrong-doing or failure in duty to the\nhigher powers did not kindle divine anger against him. True, the\nwrong-doing might not be his own. The son might suffer for the parent's\nfault. Iniquity might be remembered to children's children and fall\nterribly on those who had not themselves transgressed. The fates pursued\nthe descendants of an impious man. But wrong done somewhere, rebellion\nof some one against a divinity, was always the antecedent of pain and\nsorrow and disaster. And as the other religions thought, so, in this\nmatter, did that of Israel. To the Hebrew the deep conviction of this,\nas Dr. Fairbairn has said, made poverty and disease peculiarly\nabhorrent. In Psalm lxxxix. the prosperity of David is depicted, and\nJehovah speaks of the covenant that must be kept: \"If his children\nforsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; ... then will I visit\ntheir transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.\" The\ntrouble has fallen, and out of the depth of it, attributing to past sin\nall defeat and disaster from which the people suffer--the breaking down\nof the hedges, curtailment of the vigour of youth, overthrow in war--the\npsalmist cries, \"How long, O Lord, wilt Thou hide Thyself for ever? How\nlong shall Thy wrath burn like fire? O remember how short my time is:\nfor what vanity hast Thou created all the children of men?\" There is\nhere no thought that anything painful or afflictive could manifest the\nfatherhood of God; it must proceed from His anger, and force the mind\nback upon the memory of sin, some transgression that has caused the\nAlmighty to suspend His kindness for a time.\n\nHere it was the author of Job found the thought of his people. With\nthis he had to harmonise the other beliefs--peculiarly theirs--that\nthe lovingkindness of the Lord is over all His works, that God who is\nsupremely good cannot inflict moral injury on any of His covenanted\nservants. And the difficulty he felt survives. The questions are still\nurged: Is not pain bound up with wrong-doing? Is not suffering the\nmark of God's displeasure? Are they not evil, therefore? And, on the\nother hand, Is not enjoyment appointed to him who does right? Does not\nthe whole scheme of Divine providence, as the Bible sets it forth,\nincluding the prospect it opens into the eternal future, associate\nhappiness with well-doing and pain with evil-doing? We desire\nenjoyment, and cannot help desiring it. We dislike pain, disease, and\nall that limits our capacity for pleasure. Is it not in accordance\nwith this that Christ appears as the Giver of light and peace and joy\nto the race of men?\n\nThese questions look difficult enough. Let us attempt to answer them.\n\nPleasure and pain, happiness and suffering, are elements of creaturely\nexperience appointed by God. The right use of them makes life, the wrong\nuse of them mars it. They are ordained, all of them in equal degree, to\na good end; for all that God does is done in perfect love as well as in\nperfect justice. It is no more wonderful that a good man should suffer\nthan that a bad man should suffer; for the good man, the man who\nbelieves in God and therefore in goodness, making a right use of\nsuffering, will gain by it in the true sense; he will reach a deeper and\nnobler life. It is no more wonderful that a bad man, one who disbelieves\nin God and therefore in goodness, should be happy than that a good man\nshould be happy, the happiness being God's appointed means for both to\nreach a higher life. The main element of this higher life is vigour, but\nnot of the body. The Divine purpose is _spiritual_ evolution. That\ngratification of the sensuous side of our nature for which physical\nhealth and a well-knit organism are indispensable--paramount in the\npleasure-philosophy--is not neglected, but is made subordinate in the\nDivine culture of life. The grace of God aims at the life of the\nspirit--power to love, to follow righteousness, to dare for justice'\nsake, to seek and grasp the true, to sympathise with men and bear with\nthem, to bless them that curse, to suffer and be strong. To promote this\nvitality all God appoints is fitted--pain as well as pleasure, adversity\nas well as prosperity, sorrow as well as joy, defeat as well as success.\nWe wonder that suffering is so often the result of imprudence. On the\nordinary theory the fact is inexplicable, for imprudence has no dark\ncolour of ethical faultiness. He who by an error of judgment plunges\nhimself and his family into what appears irretrievable disaster, may, by\nall reckoning, be almost blameless in character. If suffering is held to\nbe penal, no reference to the general sin of humanity will account for\nthe result. But the reason is plain. The suffering is disciplinary. The\nnobler life at which Divine providence aims must be sagacious no less\nthan pure, guided by sound reason no less than right feeling.\n\nAnd if it is asked how from this point of view we are to find the\npunishment of sin, the answer is that happiness as well as suffering is\npunishment to him whose sin and the unbelief that accompanies it pervert\nhis view of truth, and blind him to the spiritual life and the will of\nGod. The pleasures of a wrong-doer who persistently denies obligation to\nDivine authority and refuses obedience to the Divine law are no gain,\nbut loss. They dissipate and attenuate his life. His sensuous or sensual\nenjoyment, his delight in selfish triumph and gratified ambition are\nreal, give at the time quite as much happiness as the good man has in\nhis obedience and virtue, perhaps a great deal more. But they are penal\nand retributive nevertheless; and the conviction that they are so\nbecomes clear to the man whenever the light of truth is flashed upon his\nspiritual state. We read Dante's pictures of the Inferno, and shudder\nat the dreadful scenes with which he has filled the descending circles\nof woe. He has omitted one that would have been the most striking of\nall,--unless indeed an approach to it is to be found in the episode of\nPaolo and Francesca,--the picture of souls self-doomed to seek happiness\nand to enjoy, on whose life the keen light of eternity shines, revealing\nthe gradual wasting away of existence, the certain degeneration to which\nthey are condemned.\n\nOn the other hand, the pains and disasters which fall to the lot of\nevil men, intended for their correction, if in perversity or in\nblindness they are misunderstood, again become punishment; for they,\ntoo, dissipate and attenuate life. The real good of existence slips\naway while the mind is intent on the mere pain or vexation and how it\nis to be got rid of. In Job we find a purpose to reconcile affliction\nwith the just government of God. The troubles into which the believing\nman is brought urge him to think more deeply than he has ever thought,\nbecome the means of that intellectual and moral education which lies\nin discovery of the will and character of God. They also bring him by\nthis way into deeper humility, a fine tenderness of spiritual nature,\na most needful kinship with his fellows. See then the use of\nsuffering. The impenitent, unbelieving man has no such gains. He is\nabsorbed in the distressing experience, and that absorption narrows\nand debases the activity of the soul. The treatment of this matter\nhere is necessarily brief. It is hoped, however, that the principle\nhas been made clear.\n\nDoes it require any adaptation or under-reading of the language of\nScripture to prove the harmony of its teaching with the view just\ngiven of happiness and suffering as related to punishment? Throughout\nthe greater part of the Old Testament the doctrine of suffering is\nthat old doctrine which the author of Job found perplexing. Not\ninfrequently in the New Testament there is a certain formal return to\nit; for even under the light of revelation the meaning of Divine\nprovidence is learnt slowly. But the emphasis rests on _life_ rather\nthan happiness, and on _death_ rather than suffering in the gospels;\nand the whole teaching of Christ, pointed to the truth. This world and\nour discipline here, the trials of men, the doctrine of the cross, the\nfellowship of the sufferings of Christ, are not fitted to introduce us\ninto a state of existence in which mere enjoyment, the gratification\nof personal tastes and desires, shall be the main experience. They are\nfitted to educate the spiritual nature for life, fulness of life.\nImmortality becomes credible when it is seen as progress in vigour,\nprogress towards that profound compassion, that fidelity, that\nunquenchable devotion to the glory of God the Father which marked the\nlife of the Divine Son in this world.\n\nObserve, it is not denied that joy is and will be desired, that\nsuffering and pain are and will remain experiences from which human\nnature must recoil. The desire and the aversion are wrought into our\nconstitution; and just because we feel them our whole mortal\ndiscipline has its value. In the experience of them lies the condition\nof progress. On the one hand pain urges, on the other joy attracts. It\nis in the line of desire for joy of a finer and higher kind that\ncivilisation realises itself, and even religion lays hold of us and\nlures us on. But the conditions of progress are not to be mistaken for\nthe end of it. Joy assumes sorrow as a possibility. Pleasure can only\nexist as alternative to the experience of pain. And the life that\nexpands and reaches finer power and exaltation in the course of this\nstruggle is the main thing. The struggle ceases to be acute in the\nhigher ranges of life; it becomes massive, sustained, and is carried\non in the perfect peace of the soul. Therefore the future state of the\nredeemed is a state of blessedness. But the blessedness accompanying\nthe life is not the glory. The glory of the perfected is life itself.\nThe heaven of the redeemed appears a region of existence in which the\nexaltation, enlargement, and deepening of life shall constantly and\nconsciously go on. Conversely the hell of evil-doers will not be\nsimply the pain, the suffering, the defeat to which they have doomed\nthemselves, but the constant attenuation of their life, the miserable\nwasting of which they shall be aware, though they find some pitiful\npleasure, as Milton imagined his evil angels finding theirs, in futile\nschemes of revenge against the Highest.\n\nPain is not in itself an evil. But our nature recoils from suffering\nand seeks life in brightness and power, beyond the keen pangs of\nmortal existence. The creation hopes that itself \"shall be delivered\nfrom the bondage of corruption.\" The finer life is, the more sensible\nit must be of association with a body doomed to decay, the more\nsensible also of that gross human injustice and wrong which dare to\npervert God's ordinance of pain and His sacrament of death, usurping\nHis holy prerogative for the most unholy ends. And so we are brought\nto the Cross of Christ. When He \"bore our sins in His own body to the\ntree,\" when He \"suffered for sins once, the Righteous for the\nunrighteous,\" the sacrifice was real, awful, immeasurably profound.\nYet, could death be in any sense degrading or debasing to Him? Could\nevil touch His soul? Over its most insolent assumption of the right\nto injure and destroy He stood, spiritually victorious in the presence\nof His enemies, and rose, untouched in soul, when His body was broken\non the cross. His sacrifice was great because He bore the sins of men\nand died as God's atonement. His sublime devotion to the Father whose\nholy law was trampled under foot, His horror and endurance of human\niniquity which culminated in His death, made the experience profoundly\nterrible. Thus the spiritual dignity and power He gained provided new\nlife for the world.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt is now possible to understand the trials of Job. So far as the\nsufferer is concerned, they are no less beneficent than His joys; for\nthey provide that necessary element of probation by which life of a\ndeeper and stronger kind is to be reached, the opportunity of\nbecoming, as a man and a servant of the Almighty, what he had never\nbeen, what otherwise he could not become. The purpose of God is\nentirely good; but it will remain with the sufferer himself to enter\nby the fiery way into full spiritual vigour. He will have the\nprotection and grace of the Divine Spirit in his time of sore\nbewilderment and anguish. Yet his own faith must be vindicated while\nthe shadow of God's hand rests upon his life.\n\nAnd now the forces of nature and the wild tribes of the desert gather\nabout the happy settlement of the man of Uz. With dramatic suddenness\nand cumulative terror stroke after stroke descends. Job is seen before\nthe door of his dwelling. The morning broke calm and cloudless, the\nbright sunshine of Arabia filling with brilliant colour the far\nhorizon. The day has been peaceful, gracious, another of God's gifts.\nPerhaps, in the early hours, the father, as priest of his family,\noffered the burnt-offerings of atonement lest his sons should have\nrenounced God in their hearts; and now, in the evening, he is sitting\ncalm and glad, hearing the appeals of those who need his help and\ndispensing alms with a generous hand. But one comes in haste,\nbreathless with running, scarcely able to tell his tale. Out in the\nfields the oxen were ploughing and the asses feeding. Suddenly a great\nband of Sabeans fell upon them, swept them away, slew the servants\nwith the edge of the sword: this man alone has escaped with his life.\nRapidly has he spoken; and before he has done another appears, a\nshepherd from the more distant pastures, to announce a second\ncalamity. \"The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up\nthe sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped\nto tell thee.\" They scarcely dare to look on the face of Job, and he\nhas no time to speak, for here is a third messenger, a camel-driver,\nswarthy and naked to the loins, crying wildly as he runs, The\nChald\u00e6ans made three bands--fell upon the camels--swept them away--the\nservants are slain--I only am left. Nor is this the last. A fourth,\nwith every mark of horror in his face, comes slowly and brings the\nmost terrible message of all. The sons and daughters of Job were\nfeasting in their eldest brother's house; there came a great wind from\nthe wilderness and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell.\nThe young men and women are all dead. One only has escaped, he who\ntells the dreadful tale.\n\nA certain idealism appears in the causes of the different calamities\nand their simultaneous, or almost simultaneous, occurrence. Nothing,\nindeed, is assumed which is not possible in the north of Arabia. A\nraid from the south, of Sabeans, the lawless part of a nation\notherwise engaged in traffic; an organised attack by Chald\u00e6ans from\nthe east, again the lawless fringe of the population of the Euphrates\nvalley, those who, inhabiting the margin of the desert, had taken to\ndesert ways; then, of natural causes, the lightning or the fearful hot\nwind which coming suddenly stifles and kills, and the whirlwind,\npossible enough after a thunderstorm or simoom,--all of these belong\nto the region in which Job lived. But the grouping of the disasters\nand the invariable escape of one only from each belong to the dramatic\nsetting, and are intended to have a cumulative effect. A sense of the\nmysterious is produced, of supernatural power, discharging bolt after\nbolt in some inscrutable mood of antagonism. Job is a mark for the\narrows of the Unseen. And when the last messenger has spoken, we turn\nin dismay and pity to look on the rich man made poor, the proud and\nhappy father made childless, the fearer of God on whom the enemy seems\nto have wrought his will.\n\nIn the stately Oriental way, as a man who bows to fate or the\nirresistible will of the Most High, Job seeks to realise his sudden\nand awful deprivations. We watch him with silent awe as first he rends\nhis mantle, the acknowledged sign of mourning and of the\ndisorganisation of life, then shaves his head, renouncing in his grief\neven the natural ornament of the hair, that the sense of loss and\nresignation may be indicated. This done, in deep humiliation he bows\nand falls prone on the earth and worships, the fit words falling in a\nkind of solemn chant from his lips: \"Naked came I forth from my\nmother's womb, and naked I return thereto. Jehovah gave, and Jehovah\nhath taken away. Let Jehovah's name be blessed.\" The silence of grief\nand of death has fallen about him. No more shall be heard the bustle\nof the homestead to which, when the evening shadows were about to\nfall, a constant stream of servants and laden oxen used to come, where\nthe noise of cattle and asses and the shouts of camel-drivers made the\nmusic of prosperity. His wife and the few who remain, with bowed\nheads, dumb and aimless, stand around. Swiftly the sun goes down, and\ndarkness falls upon the desolate dwelling.\n\nLosses like these are apt to leave men distracted. When everything is\nswept away, with the riches those who were to inherit them, when a man\nis left, as Job says, naked, bereft of all that labour had won and the\nbounty of God had given, expressions of despair do not surprise us,\nnor even wild accusations of the Most High. But the faith of this\nsufferer does not yield. He is resigned, submissive. The strong trust\nthat has grown in the course of a religious life withstands the shock,\nand carries the soul through the crisis. Neither did Job accuse God\nnor did he sin, though his grief was great. So far he is master of his\nsoul, unbroken though desolated. The first great round of trial has\nleft the man a believer still.\n\n\n\n\nV.\n\n_THE DILEMMA OF FAITH._\n\nCHAP. ii.\n\n\nAs the drama proceeds to unfold the conflict between Divine grace in the\nhuman soul and those chaotic influences which hold the mind in doubt or\ndrag it back into denial, Job becomes a type of the righteous sufferer,\nthe servant of God in the hot furnace of affliction. All true poetry\nruns thus into the typical. The interest of the movement depends on the\nrepresentative character of the life, passionate in jealousy,\nindignation, grief, or ambition, pressing on exultantly to unheard-of\nsuccess, borne down into the deepest circles of woe. Here it is not\nsimply a man's constancy that has to be established, but God's truth\nagainst the Adversary's lie, the \"everlasting yea\" against the negations\nthat make all life and virtue seem the mere blossoming of dust. Job has\nto pass through profoundest trouble, that the drama may exhaust the\npossibilities of doubt, and lead the faith of man towards liberty.\n\nYet the typical is based on the real; and the conflict here described\nhas gone on first in the experience of the author. Not from the\noutside, but from his own life has he painted the sorrows and\nstruggles of a soul urged to the brink of that precipice beyond which\nlies the blank darkness of the abyss. There are men in whom the\nsorrows of a whole people and of a whole age seem to concentrate. They\nsuffer with their fellow-men that all may find a way of hope. Not\nunconsciously, but with the most vivid sense of duty, a Divine\nnecessity brought to their door, they must undergo all the anguish and\nhew a track through the dense forest to the light beyond. Such a man\nin his age was the writer of this book. And when he now proceeds to\nthe second stage of Job's affliction every touch appears to show\nthat, not merely in imagination, but substantially he endured the\ntrials which he paints. It is his passion that strives and cries, his\nsorrowful soul that longs for death. Imaginary, is this work of his?\nNothing so true, vehement, earnest, can be imaginary. \"Sublime\nsorrow,\" says Carlyle, \"sublime reconciliation; oldest choral melody\nas of the heart of mankind.\" But it shows more than \"the seeing eye\nand the mildly understanding heart.\" It reveals the spirit battling\nwith terrible enemies, doubts that spring out of the darkness of\nerror, brood of the prim\u00e6val chaos. The man was one who \"in this wild\nelement of a life had to struggle onwards; now fallen, deep abased;\nand ever with tears, repentance, with bleeding heart, rise again,\nstruggle again, still onwards.\" Not to this writer, any more than to\nthe author of \"Sartor Resartus,\" did anything come in his dreams.\n\nA second scene in heaven is presented to our view. The Satan appears\nas before with the \"sons of the Elohim,\" is asked by the Most High\nwhence he has come, and replies in the language previously used. Again\nhe has been abroad amongst men in his restless search for evil. The\nchallenge of God to the Adversary regarding Job is also repeated; but\nnow it has an addition: \"Still he holdeth fast his integrity, although\nthou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.\" The\nexpression \"although thou movedst me against him\" is startling. Is it\nan admission after all that the Almighty can be moved by any\nconsideration less than pure right, or to act in any way to the\ndisadvantage or hurt of His servant? Such an interpretation would\nexclude the idea of supreme power, wisdom, and righteousness which\nunquestionably governs the book from first to last. The words really\nimply a charge against the Adversary of malicious untruth. The saying\nof the Almighty is ironical, as Schultens points out: \"Although thou,\nforsooth, didst incite Me against him.\" He who flings sharp javelins\nof detraction is pierced with a sharper javelin of judgment. Yet he\ngoes on with his attempt to ruin Job, and prove his own penetration\nthe keenest in the universe.\n\nAnd now he pleads that it is the way of men to care more for\nthemselves, their own health and comfort, than for anything else.\nBereavement and poverty may be like arrows that glance off from\npolished armour. Let disease and bodily pain attack himself, and a man\nwill show what is really in his heart. \"Skin for skin, yea, all that a\nman hath will he give for himself. But put forth Thine hand now, and\ntouch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce Thee openly.\"\n\nThe proverb put into Satan's mouth carries a plain enough meaning, and\nyet is not literally easy to interpret. The sense will be clear if we\ntranslate it \"Hide for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for\nhimself.\" The hide of an animal, lion or sheep, which a man wears for\nclothing will be given up to save his own body. A valued article of\nproperty often, it will be promptly renounced when life is in danger\nthe man will flee away naked. In like manner all possessions will be\nabandoned to keep one's self unharmed. True enough in a sense, true\nenough to be used as a proverb, for proverbs often express a\ngeneralisation of the earthly prudence not of the higher ideal, the\nsaying, nevertheless, is in Satan's use of it a lie--that is, if he\nincludes the children when he says, \"all that a man hath will he give\nfor himself.\" Job would have died for his children. Many a father and\nmother, with far less pride in their children than Job had in his,\nwould die for them. Possessions indeed, mere worldly gear, find their\nreal value or worthlessness when weighed against life, and human love\nhas Divine depths which a sneering devil cannot see. The portraiture\nof soulless human beings is one of the recent experiments in\nfictitious literature, and it may have some justification. When the\ndesign is to show the dreadful issue of unmitigated selfishness, a\ndistinctly moral purpose. If, on the other hand, \"art for art's sake\"\nis the plea, and the writer's skill in painting the vacant ribs of\ndeath is used with a sinister reflection on human nature as a whole,\nthe approach to Satan's temper marks the degradation of literature.\nChristian faith clings to the hope that Divine grace may create a soul\nin the ghastly skeleton. The Adversary gloats over the lifeless\npicture of his own imagining and affirms that man can never be\nanimated by the love of God. The problem which the Satan of Job long\nago presented haunts the mind of our age. It is one of those ominous\nsymptoms that point to times of trial in which the experience of\nhumanity may resemble the typical affliction and desperate struggle of\nthe man of Uz.\n\nA grim possibility of truth lies in the taunt of Satan that, if Job's\nflesh and bone are touched, he will renounce God openly. The test of\nsore disease is more trying than loss of wealth at least. And,\nbesides, bodily affliction, added to the rest, will carry Job into yet\nanother region of vital experience. Therefore it is the will of God to\nsend it. Again Satan is the instrument, and the permission is given,\n\"Behold, he is in thine hand: only save his life--imperil not his\nlife.\" Here, as before, when causes are to be brought into operation\nthat are obscure and may appear to involve harshness, the Adversary is\nthe intermediary agent. On the face of the drama a certain formal\ndeference is paid to the opinion that God cannot inflict pain on those\nwhom He loves. But for a short time only is the responsibility, so to\nspeak, of afflicting Job partly removed from the Almighty to Satan. At\nthis point the Adversary disappears; and henceforth God is\nacknowledged to have sent the disease as well as all the other\nafflictions to His servant. It is only in a poetic sense that Satan is\nrepresented as wielding natural forces and sowing the seeds of\ndisease; the writer has no theory and needs no theory of malignant\nactivity. He knows that \"all is of God.\"\n\nTime has passed sufficient for the realisation by Job of his poverty\nand bereavement. The sense of desolation has settled on his soul as\nmorning after morning dawned, week after week went by, emptied of the\nloving voices he used to hear, and the delightful and honourable tasks\nthat used to engage him. In sympathy with the exhausted mind, the body\nhas become languid, and the change from sufficiency of the best food\nto something like starvation gives the germs of disease an easy hold.\nHe is stricken with elephantiasis, one of the most terrible forms of\nleprosy, a tedious malady attended with intolerable irritation and\nloathsome ulcers. The disfigured face, the blackened body, soon reveal\nthe nature of the infection; and he is forthwith carried out according\nto the invariable custom and laid on the heap of refuse, chiefly burnt\nlitter, which has accumulated near his dwelling. In Arab villages this\n_mezbele_ is often a mound of considerable size, where, if any breath\nof wind is blowing, the full benefit of its coolness can be enjoyed.\nIt is the common playground of the children, \"and there the outcast,\nwho has been stricken with some loathsome malady, and is not allowed\nto enter the dwellings of men, lays himself down, begging an alms of\nthe passers-by, by day, and by night sheltering himself among the\nashes which the heat of the sun has warmed.\" At the beginning Job was\nseen in the full stateliness of Oriental life; now the contrasting\nmisery of it appears, the abjectness into which it may rapidly fall.\nWithout proper medical skill or appliances, the houses no way adapted\nfor a case of disease like Job's, the wealthiest pass like the poorest\ninto what appears the nadir of existence. Now at length the trial of\nfaithfulness is in the way of being perfected. If the helplessness,\nthe torment of disease, the misery of this abject state do not move\nhis mind from its trust in God, he will indeed be a bulwark of\nreligion against the atheism of the world.\n\nBut in what form does the question of Job's continued fidelity present\nitself now to the mind of the writer? Singularly, as a question\nregarding his integrity. From the general wreck one life has been\nspared, that of Job's wife. To her it appears that the wrath of the\nAlmighty has been launched against her husband, and all that prevents\nhim from finding refuge in death from the horrors of lingering disease\nis his integrity. If he maintains the pious resignation he showed\nunder the first afflictions and during the early stages of his malady,\nhe will have to suffer on. But it will be better to die at once.\n\"Why,\" she asks, \"dost thou still hold fast thine integrity? Renounce\nGod, and die.\" It is a different note from that which runs through the\ncontroversy between Job and his friends. Always on his integrity he\ntakes his stand; against his right to affirm it they direct their\narguments. They do not insist on the duty of a man under all\ncircumstances to believe in God and submit to His will. Their sole\nconcern is to prove that Job has not been sincere and faithful and\ndeserving of acceptance before God. But his wife knows him to have\nbeen righteous and pious; and that, she thinks, will serve him no\nlonger. Let him abandon his integrity; renounce God. On two sides the\nsufferer is plied. But he does not waver. Between the two he stands, a\nman who has integrity and will keep it till he die.\n\nThe accusations of Satan, turning on the question whether Job was\nsincere in religion or one who served God for what he got, prepare us\nto understand why his integrity is made the hinge of the debate. To\nJob his upright obedience was the heart of his life, and it alone made\nhis indefeasible claim on God. But faith, not obedience, is the only\nreal claim a man can advance. And the connection is to be found in\nthis way. As a man perfect and upright, who feared God and eschewed\nevil, Job enjoyed the approval of his conscience and the sense of\nDivine favour. His life had been rooted in the steady assurance that\nthe Almighty was his friend. He had walked in freedom and joy cared\nfor by the providence of the Eternal, guarded by His love, his soul at\npeace with that Divine Lawgiver whose will he did. His faith rested\nlike an arch on two piers--one, his own righteousness which God had\ninspired; the other, the righteousness of God which his own reflected.\nIf it were proved that he had not been righteous, his belief that God\nhad been guarding him, teaching him, filling his soul with light,\nwould break under him like a withered branch. If he had not been\nrighteous indeed, he could not know what righteousness is, he could\nnot know whether God is righteous or not, he could not know God nor\ntrust in Him. The experience of the past was, in this case, a\ndelusion. He had nothing to rest upon, no faith. On the other hand, if\nthose afflictions, coming why he could not tell, proved God to be\ncapricious, unjust, all would equally be lost. The dilemma was that,\nholding to the belief in his own integrity, he seemed to be driven to\ndoubt God; but if he believed God to be righteous he seemed to be\ndriven to doubt his own integrity. Either was fatal. He was in a\nnarrow strait between two rocks, on one or other of which faith was\nlike to be shattered.\n\nBut his integrity was clear to him. That stood within the region of\nhis own consciousness. He knew that God had made him of dutiful heart\nand given him a constant will to be obedient. Only while he believed\nthis could he keep hold of his life. As the one treasure saved out of\nthe wreck, when possessions, children, health were gone, to cherish\nhis integrity was the last duty. Renounce his conscience of goodwill\nand faithfulness? It was the one fact bridging the gulf of disaster,\nthe safeguard against despair. And is this not a true presentation of\nthe ultimate inquiry regarding faith? If the justice we know is not an\nadumbration of Divine justice, if the righteousness we do is not\ntaught us by God, of the same kind as His, if loving justice and doing\nrighteousness we are not showing faith in God, if renouncing all for\nthe right, clinging to it though the heavens should fall, we are not\nin touch with the Highest, then there is no basis for faith, no link\nbetween our human life and the Eternal. All must go if these deep\nprinciples of morality and religion are not to be trusted. What a man\nknows of the just and good by clinging to it, suffering for it,\nrejoicing in it, is indeed the anchor that keeps him from being swept\ninto the waste of waters.\n\nThe woman's part in the controversy is still to be considered; and it is\nbut faintly indicated. Upon the Arab soul there lay no sense of woman's\nlife. Her view of providence or of religion was never asked. The writer\nprobably means here that Job's wife would naturally, as a woman,\ncomplicate the sum of his troubles. She expresses ill-considered\nresentment against his piety. To her he is \"righteous over much,\" and\nher counsel is that of despair. Was this all that the Great God whom he\ntrusted could do for him? Better bid farewell to such a God. She can do\nnothing to relieve the dreadful torment and can see but the one possible\nend. But it is God who is keeping her husband alive, and one word would\nbe enough to set him free. Her language is strangely illogical, meant\nindeed to be so,--a woman's desperate talk. She does not see that,\nthough Job renounced God, he might yet live on, in greater misery than\never, just because he would then have no spiritual stay.\n\nWell, some have spoken very strongly about Job's wife. She has been\ncalled a helper of the Devil, an organ of Satan, an infernal fury.\nChrysostom thinks that the Enemy left her alive because he deemed her a\nfit scourge to Job by which to plague him more acutely than by any\nother. Ewald, with more point, says: \"Nothing can be more scornful than\nher words which mean, 'Thou, who under all the undeserved sufferings\nwhich have been inflicted on thee by thy God, hast been faithful to Him\neven in fatal sickness, as if He would help or desired to help thee who\nart beyond help,--to thee, fool, I say, Bid God farewell, and die!'\"\nThere can be no doubt that she appears as the temptress of her husband,\nputting into speech the atheistic doubt which the Adversary could not\ndirectly suggest. And the case is all the worse for Job that affection\nand sympathy are beneath her words. Brave and true life appears to her\nto profit nothing if it has to be spent in pain and desolation. She does\nnot seem to speak so much in scorn as in the bitterness of her soul. She\nis no infernal fury, but one whose love, genuine enough, does not enter\ninto the fellowship of his sufferings. It was necessary to Job's trial\nthat the temptation should be presented, and the ignorant affection of\nthe woman serves the needful purpose. She speaks not knowing what she\nsays, not knowing that her words pierce like sharp arrows into his very\nsoul. As a figure in the drama she has her place, helping to complete\nthe round of trial.\n\nThe answer of Job is one of the fine touches of the book. He does not\ndenounce her as an instrument of Satan nor dismiss her from his\npresence. In the midst of his pain he is the great chief of Uz and the\ngenerous husband. \"Thou speakest,\" he mildly says, \"as one of the\nfoolish, that is, godless, women speaketh.\" It is not like thee to say\nsuch things as these. And then he adds the question born of sublime\nfaith, \"Shall we receive gladness at the hand of God, and shall we not\nreceive affliction?\"\n\nOne might declare this affirmation of faith so clear and decisive that\nthe trial of Job as a servant of God might well close with it. Earthly\ngood, temporal joy, abundance of possessions, children, health,--these\nhe had received. Now in poverty and desolation, his body wrecked by\ndisease, he lies tormented and helpless. Suffering of mind and\nphysical affliction are his in almost unexampled keenness, acute in\nthemselves and by contrast with previous felicity. His wife, too,\ninstead of helping him to endure, urges him to dishonour and death.\nStill he does not doubt that all is wisely ordered by God. He puts\naside, if indeed with a strenuous effort of the soul, that cruel\nsuggestion of despair, and affirms anew the faith which is supposed to\nbind him to a life of torment. Should not this repel the accusations\nbrought against the religion of Job and of humanity? The author does\nnot think so. He has only prepared the way for his great discussion.\nBut the stages of trial already passed show how deep and vital is the\nproblem that lies beyond. The faith which has emerged so triumphantly\nis to be shaken as by the ruin of the world.\n\nStrangely and erroneously has a distinction been drawn between the\nprevious afflictions and the disease which, it is said, \"opens or\nreveals greater depths in Job's reverent piety.\" One says: \"In his\nformer trial he blessed God who took away the good He had added to naked\nman; this was strictly no evil: now Job bows beneath God's hand when He\ninflicts positive evil.\" Such literalism in reading the words \"shall we\nnot receive evil?\" implies a gross slander on Job. If he had meant that\nthe loss of health was \"evil\" as contrasted with the loss of children,\nthat from his point of view bereavement was no \"evil,\" then indeed he\nwould have sinned against love, and therefore against God. It is the\nwhole course of his trial he is reviewing. Shall we receive \"good\"--joy,\nprosperity, the love of children, years of physical vigour, and shall we\nnot receive pain--this burden of loss, desolation, bodily torment?\nHerein Job sinned not with his lips. Again, had he meant moral evil,\nsomething involving cruelty and unrighteousness, he would have sinned\nindeed, his faith would have been destroyed by his own false judgment of\nGod. The words here must be interpreted in harmony with the distinction\nalready drawn between physical and mental suffering, which, as God\nappoints them, have a good design, and moral evil, which can in no way\nhave its source in Him.\n\nAnd now the narrative passes into a new phase. As a chief of Uz, the\ngreatest of the Bene-Kedem, Job was known beyond the desert. As a man\nof wisdom and generosity he had many friends. The tidings of his\ndisasters and finally of his sore malady are carried abroad; and after\nmonths, perhaps (for a journey across the sandy waste needs\npreparation and time), three of those who know him best and admire him\nmost, \"Job's three friends,\" appear upon the scene. To sympathise with\nhim, to cheer and comfort him, they come with one accord, each on his\ncamel, not unattended, for the way is beset with dangers.\n\nThey are men of mark all of them. The emeer of Uz has chiefs, no\ndoubt, as his peculiar friends, although the Septuagint colours too\nmuch in calling them kings. It is, however, their piety, their\nlikeness to himself, as men who fear and serve the True God, that\nbinds them to Job's heart. They will contribute what they can of\ncounsel and wise suggestion to throw light on his trials and lift him\ninto hope. No arguments of unbelief or cowardice will be used by them,\nnor will they propose that a stricken man should renounce God and die.\nEliphaz is from Teman, that centre of thought and culture where men\nworshipped the Most High and meditated upon His providence. Shuach,\nthe city of Bildad, can scarcely be identified with the modern\nShuwak, about two hundred and fifty miles south-west from the Jauf\nnear the Red Sea, nor with the land of the Tsukhi of the Assyrian\ninscriptions, lying on the Chald\u00e6an frontier. It was probably a city,\nnow forgotten, in the Idum\u00e6an region. Maan, also near Petra, may be\nthe Naamah of Zophar. It is at least tempting to regard all the three\nas neighbours who might without great difficulty communicate with each\nother and arrange a visit to their common friend. From their\nmeeting-place at Teman or at Maan they would, in that case, have to\nmake a journey of some two hundred miles across one of the most barren\nand dangerous deserts of Arabia,--clear enough proof of their esteem\nfor Job and their deep sympathy.\n\nThe fine idealism of the poem is maintained in this new act. Men of\nknowledge and standing are these. They may fail; they may take a false\nview of their friend and his state; but their sincerity must not be\ndoubted nor their rank as thinkers. Whether the three represent\nancient culture, or rather the conceptions of the writer's own time,\nis a question that may be variously answered. The book, however, is so\nfull of life, the life of earnest thought and keen thirst for truth,\nthat the type of religious belief found in all the three must have\nbeen familiar to the author. These men are not, any more than Job\nhimself, contemporaries of Ephron the Hittite or the Balaam of\nNumbers. They stand out as religious thinkers of a far later age, and\nrepresent the current Rabbinism of the post-Solomonic era. The\ncharacters are filled in from a profound knowledge of man and man's\nlife. Yet each of them, Temanite, Shuchite, Naamathite, is at bottom a\nHebrew believer striving to make his creed apply to a case not yet\nbrought into his system, and finally, when every suggestion is\nrepelled, taking refuge in that hardness of temper which is peculiarly\nJewish. They are not men of straw, as some imagine, but types of the\nculture and thought which led to Pharisaism. The writer argues not so\nmuch with Edom as with his own people.\n\nApproaching Job's dwelling the three friends look eagerly from their\ncamels, and at length perceive one prostrate, disfigured, lying on the\n_mezbele_, a miserable wreck of manhood. \"That is not our friend,\"\nthey say to each other. Again and yet again, \"This is not he; this\nsurely cannot be he.\" Yet nowhere else than in the place of the\nforsaken do they find their noble friend. The brave, bright chief they\nknew, so stately in his bearing, so abundant and honourable, how has\nhe fallen! They lift up their voices and weep; then, struck into\namazed silence, each with torn mantle and dust-sprinkled head, for\nseven days and nights they sit beside him in grief unspeakable.\n\nReal is their sympathy; deep too, as deep as their character and\nsentiments admit. As comforters they are proverbial in a bad sense. Yet\none says truly, perhaps out of bitter experience, \"Who that knows what\nmost modern consolation is can prevent a prayer that Job's comforters\nmay be his? They do not call upon him for an hour and invent excuses for\nthe departure which they so anxiously await; they do not write notes to\nhim, and go about their business as if nothing had happened; they do not\ninflict upon him meaningless commonplaces.\"[1] It was their misfortune,\nnot altogether their fault, that they had mistaken notions which they\ndeemed it their duty to urge upon him. Job, disappointed by-and-by, did\nnot spare them, and we feel so much for him that we are apt to deny\nthem their due. Yet are we not bound to ask, What friend has had equal\nproof of our sympathy? Depth of nature; sincerity of friendship; the\nwill to console: let those mock at Job's comforters as wanting here who\nhave travelled two hundred miles over the burning sand to visit a man\nsunk in disaster, brought to poverty and the gate of death, and sat with\nhim seven days and nights in generous silence.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[1] \"Mark Rutherford.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE FIRST COLLOQUY.\n\n\n\n\nVI.\n\n_THE CRY FROM THE DEPTH._\n\nJOB SPEAKS. CHAP. iii.\n\n\nWhile the friends of Job sat beside him that dreary week of silence,\neach of them was meditating in his own way the sudden calamities which\nhad brought the prosperous emeer to poverty, the strong man to this\nextremity of miserable disease. Many thoughts came and were dismissed;\nbut always the question returned, Why these disasters, this shadow of\ndreadful death? And for very compassion and sorrow each kept secret\nthe answer that came and came again and would not be rejected.\nMeanwhile the silence has weighed upon the sufferer, and the burden of\nit becomes at length insupportable. He has tried to read their\nthoughts, to assure himself that grief alone kept them dumb, that when\nthey spoke it would be to cheer him with kindly words, to praise and\nreinvigorate his faith, to tell him of Divine help that would not fail\nhim in life or death. But as he sees their faces darken into inquiry\nfirst and then into suspicion, and reads at length in averted looks\nthe thought they cannot conceal, when he comprehends that the men he\nloved and trusted hold him to be a transgressor and under the ban of\nGod, this final disaster of false judgment is overwhelming. The man\nwhom all circumstances appear to condemn, who is bankrupt, solitary,\noutworn with anxiety and futile efforts to prove his honour, if he\nhave but one to believe in him, is helped to endure and hope. But Job\nfinds human friendship yield like a reed. All the past is swallowed up\nin one tragical thought that, be a man what he may, there is no refuge\nfor him in the justice of man. Everything is gone that made human\nsociety and existence in the world worth caring for. His wife, indeed,\nbelieves in his integrity, but values it so little that she would have\nhim cast it away with a taunt against God. His friends, it is plain\nto see, deny it. He is suffering at God's hand, and they are hardened\nagainst him. The iron enters into his soul.\n\nTrue, it is the shame and torment of his disease that move him to utter\nhis bitter lamentation. Yet the underlying cause of his loss of\nself-command and of patient confidence in God must not be missed. The\ndisease has made life a physical agony; but he could bear that if still\nno cloud came between him and the face of God. Now these dark,\nsuspicious looks which meet him every time he lifts his eyes, which he\nfeels resting upon him even when he bows his head in the attempt to\npray, make religion seem a mockery. And in pitiful anticipation of the\ndoom to which they are silently driving him, he cries aloud against the\nlife that remains. He has lived in vain. Would he had never been born!\n\nIn this first lyrical speech put into the mouth of Job there is an\nOriental, hyperbolical strain, suited to the speaker and his\ncircumstances. But we are also made to feel that calamity and\ndejection have gone near to unhinging his mind. He is not mad, but his\nlanguage is vehement, almost that of insanity. It would be wrong,\ntherefore, to criticise the words in a matter-of-fact way, and against\nthe spirit of the book to try by the rules of Christian resignation\none so tossed and racked, in the very throat of the furnace. This is a\npious man, a patient man, who lately said, \"Shall we receive joy at\nthe hand of God, and shall we not receive affliction?\" He seems to\nhave lost all control of himself and plunges into wild untamed speech\nfilled with anathemas, as one who had never feared God. But he is\ndriven from self-possession. Phantasmal now is all that brave life of\nhis as prince and as father, as a man in honour beloved of the\nHighest. Did he ever enjoy it? If he did, was it not as in a dream?\nWas he not rather a deceiver, a vile transgressor? His state befits\nthat. Light and love and life are turned into bitter gall. \"I lived,\"\nsays one distressed like Job, \"in a continual, indefinite, pining\nfear; tremulous, pusillanimous, apprehensive of I knew not what; it\nseemed as if the heavens and the earth were but boundless jaws of a\ndevouring monster wherein I, palpitating, waited to be devoured....\n'Man is, properly speaking, based upon hope, he has no other\npossession but hope; this world of his is emphatically the Place of\nHope.'\" We see Job, \"for the present, quite shut out from hope;\nlooking not into the golden orient, but vaguely all round into a dim\nfirmament pregnant with earthquake and tornado.\"\n\nThe poem may be read calmly. Let us remember that it came not calmly\nfrom the pen of the writer, but as the outburst of volcanic feeling\nfrom the deep centres of life. It is Job we hear; the language befits\nhis despondency, his position in the drama. But surely it presents to\nus a real experience of one who, in the hour of Israel's defeat and\ncaptivity, had seen his home swept bare, wife and children seized and\ntortured or borne down in the rush of savage soldiery, while he\nhimself lived on, reduced in one day to awful memories and doubts as\nthe sole consciousness of life. Is not some crisis like this with its\nirretrievable woes translated for us here into the language of Job's\nbitter cry? Are we not made witnesses of a tragedy greater even than\nhis?\n\n\"What is to become of us,\" asks Amiel, \"when everything leaves us,\nhealth, joy, affections, when the sun seems to have lost its warmth,\nand life is stripped of all charm? Must we either harden or forget?\nThere is but one answer, Keep close to duty, do what you ought, come\nwhat may.\" The mood of these words is not so devout as other passages\nof the same writer. The advice, however, is often tendered in the name\nof religion to the life-weary and desolate; and there are\ncircumstances to which it well applies. But a distracting sense of\nimpotence weighed down the life of Job. Duty? He could do nothing. It\nwas impossible to find relief in work; hence the fierceness of his\nwords. Nor can we fail to hear in them a strain of impatience almost\nof anger: \"To the unregenerate Prometheus Vinctus of a man, it is ever\nthe bitterest aggravation of his wretchedness that he is conscious of\nvirtue, that he feels himself the victim not of suffering only, but of\ninjustice. What then? Is the heroic inspiration we name Virtue but\nsome passion, some bubble of the blood?... Thus has the bewildered\nwanderer to stand, as so many have done, shouting question after\nquestion into the sibyl cave of Destiny, and receive no answer but an\necho. It is all a grim desert, this once fair world of his.\"\n\nJob is already asserting to himself the reality of his own virtue, for\nhe resents the suspicion of it. Indeed, with all the mystery of his\naffliction yet to solve, he can but think that Providence is also\ncasting doubt on him. A keen sense of the favour of God had been his.\nNow he becomes aware that while he is still the same man who moved\nabout in gladness and power, his life has a different look to others;\nmen and nature conspire against him. His once brave faith--the Lord\ngave, the Lord hath taken away--is almost overborne. He does not\nrenounce, but he has a struggle to save it. The subtle Divine grace\nat his heart alone keeps him from bidding farewell to God.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe outburst of Job's speech falls into three lyrical strophes, the\nfirst ending at the tenth verse, the second at the nineteenth, the\nthird closing with the chapter.\n\nI. \"Job opened his mouth and cursed his day.\" In a kind of wild\nimpossible revision of providence and reopening of questions long\nsettled, he assumes the right of heaping denunciations on the day of his\nbirth. He is so fallen, so distraught, and the end of his existence\nappears to have come in such profound disaster, the face of God as well\nas of man frowning on him, that he turns savagely on the only fact left\nto strike at,--his birth into the world. But the whole strain is\nimaginative. His revolt is unreason, not impiety either against God or\nhis parents. He does not lose the instinct of a good man, one who keeps\nin mind the love of father and mother and the intention of the Almighty\nwhom he still reveres. Life is an act of God: he would not have it\nmarred again by infelicity like his own. So the day as an ideal factor\nin history or cause of existence is given up to chaos.\n\n        \"_That day, there! Darkness be it.\n      Seek it not the High God from above;\n      And no light stream on it.\n      Darkness and the nether gloom reclaim it.\n      Encamp over it the clouds;\n      Scare it blacknesses of the day._\"\n\nThe idea is, Let the day of my birth be got rid of, so that no other\ncome into being on such a day; let God pass from it--then He will not\ngive life on that day. Mingled in this is the old world notion of days\nhaving meanings and powers of their own. This day had proved malign,\nterribly bad. It was already a chaotic day, not fit for a man's birth.\nLet every natural power of storm and eclipse draw it back to the void.\nThe night too, as part of the day, comes under imprecation.\n\n      \"_That night, there! Darkness seize it,\n       Joy have it none among the days of the year,\n       Nor come into the numbering of months.\n       See! That night, be it barren;\n       No song-voice come to it:\n       Ban it, the cursers of day\n       Skilful to stir up leviathan.\n       Dark be the stars of its twilight,\n       May it long for the light--find none,\n       Nor see the eyelids of dawn._\"\n\nThe vividness here is from superstition, fancies of past generations,\nold dreams of a child race. Foreign they would be to the mind of Job in\nhis strength; but in great disaster the thoughts are apt to fall back on\nthese levels of ignorance and dim efforts to explain, omens and powers\nintangible. It is quite easy to follow Job in this relapse, half wilful,\nhalf for easing of his bosom. Throughout Arabia, Chald\u00e6a, and India went\na belief in evil powers that might be invoked to make a particular day\none of misfortune. The leviathan is the dragon which was thought to\ncause eclipses by twining its black coils about the sun and moon. These\nvague undertones of belief ran back probably to myths of the sky and the\nstorm, and Job ordinarily must have scorned them. Now, for the time, he\nchooses to make them serve his need of stormy utterance. If any who hear\nhim really believe in magicians and their spells, they are welcome to\ngather through that belief a sense of his condition; or if they choose\nto feel pious horror, they may be shocked. He flings out maledictions,\nknowing in his heart that they are vain words.\n\nIs it not something strange that the happy past is here entirely\nforgotten? Why has Job nothing to say of the days that shone brightly\nupon him? Have they no weight in the balance against pain and grief?\n\n             \"The tempest in my mind\n      Doth from my senses take all feeling else\n      Save what beats there.\"\n\nHis mind is certainly clouded; for it is not vain to say that piety\npreserves the thought of what God once gave, and Job had himself\nspoken of it when his disease was young. At this point he is an\nexample of what man is when he allows the water-floods to overflow him\nand the sad present to extinguish a brighter past. The sense of a\nwasted life is upon him, because he does not yet understand what the\nsaving of life is. To be kind to others and to be happy in one's own\nkindness is not for man so great a benefit, so high a use of life, as\nto suffer with others and for them. What were the life of our Lord on\nearth and His death but a revelation to man of the secret he had never\ngrasped and still but half approves? The Book of Job, a long, yearning\ncry out of the night, shows how the world needed Christ to shed His\nDivine light upon all our experiences and unite them in a religion of\nsacrifice and triumph. The book moves toward that reconciliation which\nonly the Christ can achieve. As yet, looking at the sufferer here, we\nsee that the light of the future has not dawned upon him. Only when he\nis brought to bay by the falsehoods of man, in the absolute need of\nhis soul, will he boldly anticipate the redemption and fling himself\nfor refuge on a justifying God.\n\nII. In the second strophe cursing is exchanged for wailing, fruitless\nreproach of a long past day for a touching chant in praise of the\ngrave. If his birth had to be, why could he not have passed at once\ninto the shades? The lament, though not so passionate, is full of\ntragic emotion. The phrases of it have been woven into a modern hymn\nand used to express what Christians may feel; but they are pagan in\ntone, and meant by the writer to embody the unhopeful thought of the\nrace. Here is no outlook beyond the inanition of death, the oblivion\nand silence of the tomb. It is not the extreme of unfaith, but rather\nof weakness and misery.\n\n      \"_Wherefore hastened the knees to meet me,\n       And why the breasts that I should suck?\n       For then, having sunk down, would I repose,\n       Fallen asleep there would be rest for me.\n       With kings and councillors of the earth\n       Who built them solitary piles;\n       Or with princes who had gold,\n       Who filled their houses with silver;\n       Or as a hidden abortion I had not been,\n       As infants who never saw light.\n       There the wicked cease from raging,\n       And there the outworn rest.\n       Together the prisoners are at ease,\n       Not hearing the call of the task-master.\n       Small and great are there the same,\n       The slave set free from his lord._\"\n\nIt is beautiful poetry, and the images have a singular charm for the\ndejected mind. The chief point, however, for us to notice is the absence\nof any thought of judgment. In the dim under-world, hid as beneath heavy\nclouds, power and energy are not. Existence has fallen to so low an ebb\nthat it scarcely matters whether men were good or bad in this life, nor\nis it needful to separate them. For the tyrant can do no more harm to\nthe captive, nor the robber to his victim. The astute councillor is no\nbetter than the slave. It is a kind of existence below the level of\nmoral judgment, below the level either of fear or joy. From the\npeacefulness of this region none are excluded; as there will be no\nstrength to do good there will be none to do evil. \"The small and great\nare there the same.\" The stillness and calm of the dead body deceive the\nmind, willing in its wretchedness to be deceived.\n\nWhen the writer put this chant into the mouth of Job, he had in memory\nthe pyramids of Egypt and tombs, like those of Petra, carved in the\nlonely hills. The contrast is thus made picturesque between the state\nof Job lying in loathsome disease and the lot of those who are\ngathered to the mighty dead. For whether the rich are buried in their\nstately sepulchres, or the body of a slave is hastily covered with\ndesert sand, all enter into one painless repose. The whole purpose of\nthe passage is to mark the extremity of hopelessness, the mind\nrevelling in images of its own decay. We are not meant to rest in that\nlove of death from which Job vainly seeks comfort. On the contrary, we\nare to see him by-and-by roused to interest in life and its issues.\nThis is no halting-place in the poem, as it often is in human thought.\nA great problem of Divine righteousness hangs unsolved. With the death\nof the prisoner and the down-trodden slave whose worn-out body is left\na prey to the vulture--with the death of the tyrant whose evil pride\nhas built a stately tomb for his remains--all is not ended. Peace has\nnot come. Rather has the unravelling of the tangle to begin. The\nAll-righteous has to make His inquisition and deal out the justice of\neternity. Modern poetry, however, often repeats in its own way the\nold-world dream, mistaking the silence and composure of the dead face\nfor a spiritual deliverance:--\n\n      \"The aching craze to live ends, and life glides\n       Lifeless--to nameless quiet, nameless joy.\n       Blessed Nirvana, sinless, stirless rest,\n       That change which never changes.\"\n\nTo Christianity this idea is utterly foreign, yet it mingles with some\nreligious teaching, and is often to be found in the weaker sorts of\nreligious fiction and verse.\n\nIII. The last portion of Job's address begins with a note of inquiry.\nHe strikes into eager questioning of heaven and earth regarding his\nstate. What is he kept alive for? He pursues death with his longing as\none goes into the mountains to seek treasure. And again, his way is\nhid; he has no future. God hath hedged him in on this side by losses,\non that by grief; behind a past mocks him, before is a shape which he\nfollows and yet dreads.\n\n      \"_Wherefore gives He light to wretched men\n       Life to the bitter in soul?\n       Who long for death but no!\n       Search for it more than for treasures._\"\n\nIt is indeed a horrible condition, this of the baffled mind to which\nnothing remains but its own gnawing thought that finds neither reason\nof being nor end of turmoil, that can neither cease to question nor\nfind answer to inquiries that rack the spirit. There is energy enough,\nlife enough to feel life a terror, and no more; not enough for any\nmastery even of stoical resolve. The power of self-consciousness seems\nto be the last injury, a Nessus-shirt, the gift of a strange hate.\n\"The real agony is the silence, the ignorance of the why and the\nwherefore, the Sphinx-like imperturbability which meets his prayers.\"\nThis struggle for a light that will not come has been expressed by\nMatthew Arnold in his \"Empedocles on Etna,\" a poem which may in some\nrespects be named a modern version of Job:--\n\n      \"This heart will glow no more; thou art\n       A living man no more, Empedocles!\n       Nothing but a devouring flame of thought--\n       But a naked eternally restless mind....\n       To the elements it came from\n       Everything will return--\n       Our bodies to earth,\n       Our blood to water,\n       Heat to fire,\n       Breath to air.\n       They were well born,\n       They will be well entombed--\n       But mind, but thought--\n       Where will they find their parent element?\n       What will receive them, who will call them home?\n       But we shall still be in them and they in us....\n       And we shall be unsatisfied as now;\n       And we shall feel the agony of thirst,\n       The ineffable longing for the life of life,\n       Baffled for ever.\"\n\nThought yields no result; the outer universe is dumb and impenetrable.\nStill Job would revive if a battle for righteousness offered itself to\nhim. He has never had to fight for God or for his own faith. When the\ntrumpet call is heard he will respond; but he is not yet aware of\nhearing it.\n\nThe closing verses have presented considerable difficulty to\ninterpreters, who on the one hand shrink from the supposition that Job\nis going back on his past life of prosperity and finding there the\norigin of his fear, and on the other hand see the danger of leaving so\nsignificant a passage without definite meaning. The Revised Version\nputs all the verbs of the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth verses into\nthe present tense, and Dr. A. B. Davidson thinks translation into the\npast tense would give a meaning \"contrary to the idea of the poem.\"\nNow, a considerable interval had already elapsed from the time of\nJob's calamities, even from the beginning of his illness, quite long\nenough to allow the growth of anxiety and fear as to the judgment of\nthe world. Job was not ignorant of the caprice and hardness of men. He\nknew how calamity was interpreted; he knew that many who once bowed to\nhis greatness already heaped scorn upon his fall. May not his fear\nhave been that his friends from beyond the desert would furnish the\nlast and in some respects most cutting of his sorrows?\n\n      \"_I have feared a fear; it has come upon me,\n       And that which I dread has come to me.\n       I have not been at ease, nor quiet, nor have I had rest;\n       Yet trouble has come._\"\n\nIn his brooding soul, those seven days and nights, fear has deepened\ninto certainty. He is a man despised. Even for those three his\ncircumstances have proved too much. Did he imagine for a moment that\ntheir coming might relieve the pressure of his lot and open a way to\nthe recovery of his place among men? The trouble is deeper than ever;\nthey have stirred a tempest in his breast.\n\nNote that in his whole agony Job makes no motion towards suicide.\nArnold's Empedocles cries against life, flings out his questions to a\ndumb universe, and then plunges into the crater of Etna. Here, as at\nother points, the inspiration of the author of our book strikes clear\nbetween stoicism and pessimism, defiance of the world to do its worst\nand confession that the struggle is too terrible. The deep sense of\nall that is tragic in life, and, with this, the firm persuasion that\nnothing is appointed to man but what he is able to bear, together make\nthe clear Bible note. It may seem that Job's ejaculations differ\nlittle from the cry out of the \"City of Dreadful Night,\"\n\n      \"Weary of erring in this desert, Life,\n         Weary of hoping hopes for ever vain,\n       Weary of struggling in all sterile strife,\n         Weary of thought which maketh nothing plain,\n       I close my eyes and calm my panting breath\n       And pray to thee, O ever quiet Death,\n         To come and soothe away my bitter pain.\"\n\nBut the writer of the book knows what is in hand. He has to show how\nfar faith may be pressed down and bent by the sore burdens of life\nwithout breaking. He has to give us the sense of a soul in the\nuttermost depth, that we may understand the sublime argument which\nfollows, know its importance, and find our own tragedy exhibited, our\nown need met, the personal and the universal marching together to an\nissue. Suicide is no issue for a life, any more than universal\ncataclysm for the evolution of a world. Despair is no refuge. The\ninspired writer here sees so far, so clearly, that to mention suicide\nwould be absurd. The struggle of life cannot be renounced. So much he\nknows by a spiritual instinct which anticipates the wisdom of later\ntimes. Were this book a simple record of fact, we have Job in a\nposition far more trying than that of Saul after his defeat on Gilboa;\nbut it is an ideal prophetic writing, a Divine poem, and the faith it\nis designed to commend saves the man from interfering by any deed of\nhis with the will of God.\n\nWe are prepared for the vehement controversy that follows and the\nsustained appeal of the sufferer to that Power which has laid upon him\nsuch a weight of agony. When he breaks into passionate cries and seems\nto be falling away from all trust, we do not despair of him nor of the\ncause he represents. The intensity with which he longs for death is\nactually a sign and measure of the strong life that throbs within him,\nwhich yet will be led out into light and freedom and come to peace as\nit were in the very clash of revolt.\n\n\n\n\nVII.\n\n_THE THINGS ELIPHAZ HAD SEEN._\n\nELIPHAZ SPEAKS. CHAPS. iv., v.\n\n\nThe ideas of sin and suffering against which the poem of Job was\nwritten come now dramatically into view. The belief of the three\nfriends had always been that God, as righteous Governor of human life,\ngives felicity in proportion to obedience and appoints trouble in\nexact measure of disobedience. Job himself, indeed, must have held the\nsame creed. We may imagine that while he was prosperous his friends\nhad often spoken with him on this very point. They had congratulated\nhim often on the wealth and happiness he enjoyed as an evidence of the\ngreat favour of the Almighty. In conversation they had remarked on\ncase after case which seemed to prove, beyond the shadow of doubt,\nthat if men reject God affliction and disaster invariably follow.\nTheir idea of the scheme of things was very simple, and, on the whole,\nit had never come into serious questioning. Of course human justice,\neven when rudely administered, and the practice of private revenge\nhelped to fulfil their theory of Divine government. If any serious\ncrime was committed, those friendly to the injured person took up his\ncause and pursued the wrong-doer to inflict retribution upon him. His\ndwelling was perhaps burned and his flocks dispersed, he himself\ndriven into a kind of exile. The administration of law was rude, yet\nthe unwritten code of the desert made the evil-doer suffer and allowed\nthe man of good character to enjoy life if he could. These facts went\nto sustain the belief that God was always regulating a man's happiness\nby his deserts. And beyond this, apart altogether from what was done\nby men, not a few accidents and calamities appeared to show Divine\njudgment against wrong. Then, as now, it might be said that avenging\nforces lurk in the lightning, the storm, the pestilence, forces which\nare directed against transgressors and cannot be evaded. Men would\nsay, Yes, though one hide his crimes, though he escape for long the\ncondemnation and punishment of his fellows, yet the hand of God will\nfind him: and the prediction seemed always to be verified. Perhaps the\nstroke did not fall at once. Months might pass; years might pass; but\nthe time came when they could affirm, Now righteousness has overtaken\nthe offender; his crime is rewarded; his pride is brought low. And if,\nas happened occasionally, the flocks of a man who was in good\nreputation died of murrain, and his crops were blighted by the\nterrible hot wind of the desert, they could always say, Ah! we did not\nknow all about him. No doubt if we could look into his private life we\nshould see why this has befallen. So the barbarians of the island of\nMelita, when Paul had been shipwrecked there, seeing a viper fasten on\nhis hand, said, \"No doubt this is a murderer whom, though he hath\nescaped from the sea, yet justice suffereth not to live.\"\n\nThoughts like these were in the minds of the three friends of Job, very\nconfounding indeed, for they had never expected to shake their heads\nover him. They accordingly deserve credit for true sympathy, inasmuch as\nthey refrained from saying anything that might hurt him. His grief was\ngreat, and it might be due to remorse. His unparalleled afflictions put\nhim, as it were, in sanctuary from taunts or even questionings. He has\ndone wrong, he has not been what we thought him, they said to\nthemselves, but he is drinking to the bitter dregs a cup of retribution.\n\nBut when Job opened his mouth and spoke, their sympathy was dashed with\npious horror. They had never in all their lives heard such words. He\nseemed to prove himself far worse than they could have imagined. He\nought to have been meek and submissive. Some flaw there must have been:\nwhat was it? He should have confessed his sin instead of cursing life\nand reflecting on God. Their own silent suspicion, indeed, is the chief\ncause of his despair; but this they do not understand. Amazed they hear\nhim; outraged, they take up the challenge he offers. One after another\nthe three men reason with Job, from almost the same point of view,\nsuggesting first and then insisting that he should acknowledge fault and\nhumble himself under the hand of a just and holy God.\n\nNow, here is the motive of the long controversy which is the main\nsubject of the poem. And, in tracing it, we are to see Job, although\nracked by pain and distraught by grief--sadly at disadvantage because he\nseems to be a living example of the truth of their ideas--rousing\nhimself to the defence of his integrity and contending for that as the\nonly grip he has of God. Advance after advance is made by the three, who\ngradually become more dogmatic as the controversy proceeds. Defence\nafter defence is made by Job, who is driven to think himself challenged\nnot only by his friends, but sometimes also by God Himself through them.\n\nEliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar agree in the opinion that Job has done\nevil and is suffering for it. The language they use and the arguments\nthey bring forward are much alike. Yet a difference will be found in\ntheir way of speaking, and a vaguely suggested difference of\ncharacter. Eliphaz gives us an impression of age and authority. When\nJob has ended his complaint, Eliphaz regards him with a disturbed and\noffended look. \"How pitiful!\" he seems to say; but also, \"How\ndreadful, how unaccountable!\" He desires to win Job to a right view of\nthings by kindly counsel; but he talks pompously, and preaches too\nmuch from the high moral bench. Bildad, again, is a dry and composed\nperson. He is less the man of experience than of tradition. He does\nnot speak of discoveries made in the course of his own observation;\nbut he has stored the sayings of the wise and reflected upon them.\nWhen a thing is cleverly said he is satisfied, and he cannot\nunderstand why his impressive statements should fail to convince and\nconvert. He is a gentleman, like Eliphaz, and uses courtesy. At first\nhe refrains from wounding Job's feelings. Yet behind his politeness is\nthe sense of superior wisdom--the wisdom of ages, and his own. He is\ncertainly a harder man than Eliphaz. Lastly, Zophar is a blunt man\nwith a decidedly rough, dictatorial style. He is impatient of the\nwaste of words on a matter so plain, and prides himself on coming to\nthe point. It is he who ventures to say definitely: \"Know therefore\nthat God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth,\"--a\ncruel speech from any point of view. He is not so eloquent as Eliphaz,\nhe has no air of a prophet. Compared with Bildad he is less\nargumentative. With all his sympathy--and he, too, is a friend--he\nshows an exasperation which he justifies by his zeal for the honour of\nGod. The differences are delicate, but real, and evident even to our\nlate criticism. In the author's day the characters would probably seem\nmore distinctly contrasted than they appear to us. Still, it must be\nowned, each holds virtually the same position. One prevailing school\nof thought is represented and in each figure attacked.\n\nIt is not difficult to imagine three speakers differing far more from\neach other. For example, instead of Bildad we might have had a Persian\nfull of the Zoroastrian ideas of two great powers, the Good Spirit,\nAhuramazda, and the Evil Spirit, Ahriman. Such a one might have\nmaintained that Job had given himself to the Evil Spirit, or that his\nrevolt against providence would bring him under that destructive power\nand work his ruin. And then, instead of Zophar, one might have been\nset forward who maintained that good and evil make no difference, that\nall things come alike to all, that there is no God who cares for\nrighteousness among men; assailing Job's faith in a more dangerous\nway. But the writer has no such view of making a striking drama. His\ncircle of vision is deliberately chosen. It is only what might appear\nto be true he allows his characters to advance. One hears the\nbreathings of the same dogmatism in the three voices. All is said for\nthe ordinary belief that can be said. And three different men reason\nwith Job that it may be understood how popular, how deeply rooted is\nthe notion which the whole book is meant to criticise and disprove.\nThe dramatising is vague, not at all of our sharp, modern kind like\nthat of Ibsen, throwing each figure into vivid contrast with every\nother. All the author's concern is to give full play to the theory\nwhich holds the ground and to show its incompatibility with the facts\nof human life, so that it may perish of its own hollowness.\n\nNevertheless the first address to Job is eloquent and poetically\nbeautiful. No rude arguer is Eliphaz but one of the golden-mouthed,\nmistaken in creed but not in heart, a man whom Job might well cherish\nas a friend.\n\nI. The first part of his speech extends to the eleventh verse. With\nthe respect due to sorrow, putting aside the dismay caused by Job's\nwild language, he asks, \"If one essay to commune with thee, wilt thou\nbe grieved?\" It seems unpardonable to add to the sufferer's misery by\nsaying what he has in his mind; and yet--he cannot refrain. \"Who can\nwithhold himself from speaking?\" The state of Job is such that there\nmust be thorough and very serious communication. Eliphaz reminds him\nof what he had been--an instructor of the ignorant, one who\nstrengthened the weak, upheld the falling, confirmed the feeble. Was\nhe not once so confident of himself, so resolute and helpful that\nfainting men found him a bulwark against despair? Should he have\nchanged so completely? Should one like him take to fruitless wailings\nand complaints? \"Now it cometh upon thee, and thou faintest; it\ntoucheth thee, and thou art confounded.\" Eliphaz does not mean to\ntaunt. It is in sorrow that he speaks, pointing out the contrast\nbetween what was and is. Where is the strong faith of former days?\nThere is need for it, and Job ought to have it as his stay. \"Is not\nthy piety thy confidence? Thy hope, is it not the integrity of thy\nways?\" Why does he not look back and take courage? Pious fear of God,\nif he allows himself to be guided by it, will not fail to lead him\nagain into the light.\n\nIt is a friendly and sincere effort to make the champion of God serve\nhimself of his own faith. The undercurrent of doubt is not allowed to\nappear. Eliphaz makes it a wonder that Job had dropped his claim on\nthe Most High; and he proceeds in a tone of expostulation, amazed that\na man who knew the way of the Almighty should fall into the miserable\nweakness of the worst evil-doer. Poetically, yet firmly, the idea is\nintroduced:--\n\n      \"_Bethink thee now, who ever, being innocent, perished,\n       And where have the upright been destroyed?\n       As I have seen, they who plough iniquity\n       And sow disaster reap the same.\n       By the wrath of God they perish,\n       By the storm of His wrath they are undone.\n       Roaring of the lion, voice of the growling lion,\n       Teeth of the young lions are broken;\n       The old lion perisheth for lack of prey,\n       The whelps of the lioness are scattered._\"\n\nFirst among the things Eliphaz has seen is the fate of those violent\nevil-doers who plough iniquity and sow disaster. But Job has not been\nlike them and therefore has no need to fear the harvest of perdition.\nHe is among those who are not finally cut off. In the tenth and\neleventh verses the dispersion of a den of lions is the symbol of the\nfate of those who are hot in wickedness. As in some cave of the\nmountains an old lion and lioness with their whelps dwell securely,\nissuing forth at their will to seize the prey and make night dreadful\nwith their growling, so those evil-doers flourish for a time in\nhateful and malignant strength. But as on a sudden the hunters,\nfinding the lions' retreat, kill and scatter them, young and old, so\nthe coalition of wicked men is broken up. The rapacity of wild desert\ntribes appears to be reflected in the figure here used. Eliphaz may be\nreferring to some incident which had actually occurred.\n\nII. In the second division of his address he endeavours to bring home to\nJob a needed moral lesson by detailing a vision he once had and the\noracle which came with it. The account of the apparition is couched in\nstately and impressive language. That chilling sense of fear which\nsometimes mingles with our dreams in the dead of night, the sensation of\na presence that cannot be realised, something awful breathing over the\nface and making the flesh creep, an imagined voice falling solemnly on\nthe ear,--all are vividly described. In the recollection of Eliphaz the\ncircumstances of the vision are very clear, and the finest poetic skill\nis used in giving the whole solemn dream full justice and effect.\n\n      \"_Now a word was secretly brought me,\n       Mine ear caught the whisper thereof;\n       In thoughts from visions of the night,\n       When deep sleep falls upon men,\n       A terror came on me, and trembling\n       Which thrilled my bones to the marrow.\n       Then a breath passed before my face,\n       The hairs of my body rose erect.\n       It stood still--its appearance I trace not.\n       An image is before mine eyes.\n       There was silence, and I heard a voice--\n       Shall man beside Eloah be righteous?\n       Or beside his Maker shall man be clean?_\"\n\nWe are made to feel here how extraordinary the vision appeared to\nEliphaz, and, at the same time, how far short he comes of the seer's\ngift. For what is this apparition? Nothing but a vague creation of the\ndreaming mind. And what is the message? No new revelation, no\ndiscovery of an inspired soul. After all, only a fact quite familiar\nto pious thought. The dream oracle has been generally supposed to\ncontinue to the end of the chapter. But the question as to the\nrighteousness of man and his cleanness beside God seems to be the\nwhole of it, and the rest is Eliphaz's comment or meditation upon it,\nhis \"thoughts from visions of the night.\"\n\nAs to the oracle itself: while the words may certainly bear\ntranslating so as to imply a direct comparison between the\nrighteousness of man and the righteousness of God, this is not\nrequired by the purpose of the writer, as Dr. A. B. Davidson has\nshown. In the form of a question it is impressively announced that\nwith or beside the High God no weak man is righteous, no strong man\npure; and this is sufficient, for the aim of Eliphaz is to show that\ntroubles may justly come on Job, as on others, because all are by\nnature imperfect. No doubt the oracle might transcend the scope of the\nargument. Still the question has not been raised by Job's criticism of\nprovidence, whether he reckons himself more just than God; and apart\nfrom that any comparison seems unnecessary, meeting no mood of human\nrevolt of which Eliphaz has ever heard. The oracle, then, is\npractically of the nature of a truism, and, as such, agrees with the\ndream vision and the impalpable ghost, a dim presentation by the mind\nto itself of what a visitor from the higher world might be.\n\nShall any created being, inheritor of human defects, stand beside\nEloah, clean in His sight? Impossible. For, however sincere and\nearnest any one may be toward God and in the service of men, he cannot\npass the fallibility and imperfection of the creature. The thought\nthus solemnly announced, Eliphaz proceeds to amplify in a prophetic\nstrain, which, however, does not rise above the level of good poetry.\n\n\"Behold, He putteth no trust in His servants.\" Nothing that the best\nof them have to do is committed entirely to them; the supervision of\nEloah is always maintained that their defects may not mar His purpose.\n\"His angels He chargeth with error.\" Even the heavenly spirits, if we\nare to trust Eliphaz, go astray; they are under a law of discipline\nand holy correction. In the Supreme Light they are judged and often\nfound wanting. To credit this to a Divine oracle would be somewhat\ndisconcerting to ordinary theological ideas. But the argument is clear\nenough,--If even the angelic servants of God require the constant\nsupervision of His wisdom and their faults need His correction, much\nmore do men whose bodies are \"houses of clay, whose foundation is in\nthe dust, who are crushed before the moth\"--that is, the moth which\nbreeds corrupting worms. \"From morning to evening they are\ndestroyed\"--in a single day their vigour and beauty pass into decay.\n\n\"Without observance they perish for ever,\" says Eliphaz. Clearly this\nis not a word of Divine prophecy. It would place man beneath the level\nof moral judgment, as a mere earth-creature whose life and death are\nof no account even to God. Men go their way when a comrade falls, and\nsoon forget. True enough. But \"One higher than the highest regardeth.\"\nThe stupidity or insensibility of most men to spiritual things is in\ncontrast to the attention and judgment of God.\n\nThe description of man's life on earth, its brevity and dissolution,\non account of which he can never exalt himself as just and clean\nbeside God, ends with words that may be translated thus:--\n\n      \"_Is not their cord torn asunder in them?\n       They shall die, and not in wisdom._\"\n\nHere the tearing up of the tent cord or the breaking of the bow-string\nis an image of the snapping of that chain of vital functions, the\n\"silver cord,\" on which the bodily life depends.\n\nThe argument of Eliphaz, so far, has been, first, that Job, as a\npious man, should have kept his confidence in God, because he was not\nlike those who plough iniquity and sow disaster and have no hope in\nDivine mercy; next, that before the Most High all are more or less\nunrighteous and impure, so that if Job suffers for defect, he is no\nexception, his afflictions are not to be wondered at. And this carries\nthe further thought that he ought to be conscious of fault and humble\nhimself under the Divine hand. Just at this point Eliphaz comes at\nlast within sight of the right way to find Job's heart and conscience.\nThe corrective discipline which all need was safe ground to take with\none who could not have denied in the last resort that he, too, had\n\n                    \"Sins of will,\n      Defects of doubt and taints of blood.\"\n\nThis strain of argument, however, closes, Eliphaz having much in his\nmind which has not found expression and is of serious import.\n\nIII. The speaker sees that Job is impatient of the sufferings which\nmake life appear useless to him. But suppose he appealed to the\nsaints--holy ones, or angels--to take his part, would that be of any\nuse? In his cry from the depth he had shown resentment and hasty\npassion. These do not insure, they do not deserve help. The \"holy\nones\" would not respond to a man so unreasonable and indignant. On the\ncontrary, \"resentment slayeth the foolish man, passion killeth the\nsilly.\" What Job had said in his outcry only tended to bring on him\nthe fatal stroke of God. Having caught at this idea, Eliphaz proceeds\nin a manner rather surprising. He has been shocked by Job's bitter\nwords. The horror he felt returns upon him, and he falls into a very\nsingular and inconsiderate strain of remark. He does not, indeed,\nidentify his old friend with the foolish man whose destruction he\nproceeds to paint. But an instance has occurred to him--a bit of his\nlarge experience--of one who behaved in a godless, irrational way and\nsuffered for it; and for Job's warning, because he needs to take home\nthe lesson of the catastrophe, Eliphaz details the story. Forgetting\nthe circumstances of his friend, utterly forgetting that the man lying\nbefore him has lost all his children and that robbers have swallowed\nhis substance, absorbed in his own reminiscence to the exclusion of\nevery other thought, Eliphaz goes deliberately through a whole roll of\ndisasters so like Job's that every word is a poisoned arrow:--\n\n      \"_Plead then: will any one answer thee;\n       And to which of the holy ones wilt thou turn?\n       Nay, resentment killeth the fool,\n       And hasty indignation slayeth the silly.\n       I myself have seen a godless fool take root;\n       Yet straightway I cursed his habitation:--\n       His children are far from succour,\n       They are crushed in the gate without deliverer:\n       While the hungry eats up his harvest\n       And snatches it even out of the thorns,\n       And the snare gapes for their substance._\"\n\nThe desolation he saw come suddenly, even when the impious man had\njust taken root as founder of a family, Eliphaz declares to be a curse\nfrom the Most High; and he describes it with much force. Upon the\nchildren of the household disaster falls at the gate or place of\njudgment; there is no one to plead for them, because the father is\nmarked for the vengeance of God. Predatory tribes from the desert\ndevour first the crops in the remoter fields, and then those protected\nby the thorn hedge near the homestead. The man had been an oppressor;\nnow those he had oppressed are under no restraint, and all he has is\nswallowed up without redress.\n\nSo much for the third attempt to convict Job and bring him to\nconfession. It is a bolt shot apparently at a venture, yet it strikes\nwhere it must wound to the quick. Here, however, made aware, perhaps by\na look of anguish or a sudden gesture, that he has gone too far, Eliphaz\ndraws back. To the general dogma that affliction is the lot of every\nhuman being he returns, that the sting may be taken out of his words:--\n\n      \"_For disaster cometh not forth from the dust,\n       And out of the ground trouble springeth not;\n       But man is born unto trouble\n       As the sparks fly upward._\"\n\nBy this vague piece of moralising, which sheds no light on anything,\nEliphaz betrays himself. He shows that he is not anxious to get at the\nroot of the matter. The whole subject of pain and calamity is external\nto him, not a part of his own experience. He would speak very\ndifferently if he were himself deprived of all his possessions and\nlaid low in trouble. As it is he can turn glibly from one thought to\nanother, as if it mattered not which fits the case. In fact, as he\nadvances and retreats we discover that he is feeling his way, aiming\nfirst at one thing, then at another, in the hope that this or that\nrandom arrow may hit the mark. No man is just beside God. Job is like\nthe rest, crushed before the moth. Job has spoken passionately, in\nwild resentment. Is he then among the foolish whose habitation is\ncursed? But again, lest that should not be true, the speaker falls\nback on the common lot of men, born to trouble--why, God alone can\ntell. Afterwards he makes another suggestion. Is not God He who\nfrustrates the devices of the crafty and confounds the cunning, so\nthat they grope in the blaze of noon as if it were night? If the other\nexplanations did not apply to Job's condition, perhaps this would. At\nall events something might be said by way of answer that would give an\ninkling of the truth. At last the comparatively kind and vague\nexplanation is offered, that Job suffers from the chastening of the\nLord, who, though He afflicts, is also ready to heal. Glancing at all\npossibilities which occur to him, Eliphaz leaves the afflicted man to\naccept that which happens to come home.\n\nIV. Eloquence, literary skill, sincerity, mark the close of this\naddress. It is the argument of a man who is anxious to bring his\nfriend to a right frame of mind so that his latter days may be peace.\n\"As for me,\" he says, hinting what Job should do, \"I would turn to\nGod, and set my expectation upon the Highest.\" Then he proceeds to\ngive his thoughts on Divine providence. Unsearchable, wonderful are\nthe doings of God. He is the Rain-giver for the thirsty fields and\ndesert pastures. Among men, too, He makes manifest His power, exalting\nthose who are lowly, and restoring the joy of the mourners. Crafty\nmen, who plot to make their own way, oppose His sovereign power in\nvain. They are stricken as if with blindness. Out of their hand the\nhelpless are delivered, and hope is restored to the feeble. Has Job\nbeen crafty? Has he been in secret a plotter against the peace of men?\nIs it for this reason God has cast him down? Let him repent, and he\nshall yet be saved. For\n\n      \"_Happy is the man whom Eloah correcteth,\n       Therefore spurn not thou the chastening of Shaddai.\n       For He maketh sore and bindeth up;\n       He smiteth, but His hands make whole.\n       In six straits He will deliver thee;\n       In seven also shall not evil touch thee.\n       In famine He will rescue thee from death,\n       And in war from the power of the sword.\n       When the tongue smiteth thou shalt be hid;\n       Nor shalt thou fear when desolation cometh.\n       At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh;\n       And of the beasts of the earth shalt not be afraid.\n       For with the stones of the field shall be thy covenant;\n       With thee shall the beasts of the field be at peace.\n       So shalt thou find that thy tent is secure,\n       And surveying thy homestead thou shalt miss nothing.\n       Thou shalt find that thy seed are many,\n       And thy offspring like the grass of the earth;\n       Thou shalt come to thy grave with white hair,\n       As a ripe shock of corn is carried home in its season.\n       Behold! This we have searched out: thus it is.\n       Hear it, and, thou, consider it for thyself!_\"\n\nFine, indeed, as dramatic poetry; but is it not, as reasoning,\nincoherent? The author does not mean it to be convincing. He who is\nchastened and receives the chastening may not be saved in those six\ntroubles, yea seven. There is more of dream than fact. Eliphaz is\napparently right in everything, as Dillmann says; but right only on\nthe surface. _He has seen_--that they who plough iniquity and sow\ndisaster reap the same. _He has seen_--a vision of the night, and\nreceived a message; a sign of God's favour that almost made him a\nprophet. _He has seen_--a fool or impious man taking root, but was not\ndeceived; he knew what would be the end, and took upon him to curse\njudicially the doomed homestead. _He has seen_--the crafty confounded.\n_He has seen_--the man whom God corrected, who received his\nchastisement with submission, rescued and restored to honour. \"Lo,\nthis we have searched out,\" he says; \"it is even thus.\" But the piety\nand orthodoxy of the good Eliphaz do not save him from blunders at\nevery turn. And to the clearing of Job's position he offers no\nsuggestion of value. What does he say to throw light on the condition\nof a believing, earnest servant of the Almighty who is _always_ poor,\n_always_ afflicted, who meets disappointment after disappointment, and\nis pursued by sorrow and disaster even to the grave? The religion of\nEliphaz is made for well-to-do people like himself, and such only. If\nit were true that, because all are sinful before God, affliction and\npain are punishments of sin, and a man is happy in receiving this\nDivine correction, why is Eliphaz himself not lying like Job upon a\nheap of ashes, racked with the torment of disease? Good orthodox\nprosperous man, he thinks himself a prophet, but he is none. Were he\ntried like Job he would be as unreasonable and passionate, as wild in\nhis declamation against life, as eager for death.\n\nUseless in religion is all mere talk that only skims the surface,\nhowever often the terms of it may be repeated, however widely they\nfind acceptance. The creed that breaks down at any point is no creed\nfor a rational being. Infidelity in our day is very much the\nconsequence of crude notions about God that contradict each other,\nnotions of the atonement, of the meaning of suffering, of the future\nlife, that are incoherent, childish, of no practical weight. People\nthink they have a firm grasp of the truth; but when circumstances\noccur which are at variance with their preconceived ideas, they turn\naway from religion, or their religion makes the facts of life appear\nworse for them. It is the result of insufficient thought. Research\nmust go deeper, must return with new zeal to the study of Scripture\nand the life of Christ. God's revelation in providence and\nChristianity is one. It has a profound coherency, the stamp and\nevidence of its truth. The rigidity of natural law has its meaning for\nus in our study of the spiritual life.\n\n\n\n\nVIII.\n\n_MEN FALSE: GOD OVERBEARING._\n\nJOB SPEAKS. CHAPS. vi., vii.\n\n\nWorst to endure of all things is the grief that preys on a man's own\nheart because no channel outside self is provided for the hot stream\nof thought. Now that Eliphaz has spoken, Job has something to arouse\nhim, at least to resentment. The strength of his mind revives as he\nfinds himself called to a battle of words. And how energetic he is!\nThe long address of Eliphaz we saw to be incoherent, without the\nbackbone of any clear conviction, turning hither and thither in the\nhope of making some way or other a happy hit. But as soon as Job\nbegins to speak there is coherency, strong thought running through the\nvariety of expression, the anxiety for instruction, the sense of\nbewilderment and trouble. We feel at once that we are in contact with\na mind no half-truths can satisfy, that will go with whatever\ndifficulty to the very bottom of the matter.\n\nSupreme mark of a healthy nature, this. People are apt to praise a mind\nat peace, moving composedly from thought to thought, content \"to enjoy\nthe things which others understand,\" not distressed by moral questions.\nBut minds enjoying such peace are only to be praised if the philosophy\nof life has been searched out and tried, and the great trust in God\nwhich resolves all doubt has been found. While life and providence,\none's own history and the history of the world present what appear to be\ncontradictions, problems that baffle and disturb the soul, how can a\nhealthy mind be at rest? Our intellectual powers are not given simply\nthat we may enjoy; they are given that we may understand. A mind hungers\nfor knowledge, as a body for food, and cannot be satisfied unless the\nreason and the truth of things are seen. You may object that some are\nnot capable of understanding, that indeed Divine providence, the great\npurposes of God, lie so far and so high beyond the ordinary human range\nas to be incomprehensible to most of us. Of what use, then, is\nrevelation? Is it given merely to bewilder us, to lead us on in a quest\nwhich at the last must leave many of the searchers unsatisfied, without\nlight or hope? If so, the Bible mocks us, the prophets were deceivers,\neven Christ Himself is found no Light of the world, but a dreamer who\nspoke of that which can never be realised. Not thus do I begin in doubt,\nand end in doubt. There are things beyond me; but exact or final\nknowledge of these is not necessary. Within my range and reach through\nnature and religion, through the Bible and the Son of God, are the\nprinciples I need to satisfy my soul's hunger. And in every healthy mind\nthere will be desire for truth which, often baffled, will continue till\nunderstanding comes.\n\nAnd here we join issue with the agnostic, who denies this vital demand\nof the soul. Our thought dwelling on life and all its varied\nexperience--sorrow and fear, misery and hope, love threatened by death\nyet unquenchable, the exultation of duty, the baffling of ambition,\nunforeseen peril and unexpected deliverance--our thought, I say,\ndealing with these elements of life, will not rest in the notion that\nall is due to chance or to blind forces, that evolution can never be\nintelligently followed. The modern atheist or agnostic falls into the\nvery error for which he used to reprove faith when he contemptuously\nbids us get rid of the hope of understanding the world and the Power\ndirecting it, when he invites us to remember our limitations and\noccupy ourselves with things within our range. Religion used to be\ntaunted with crippling man's faculties and denying full play to his\nmental activity. Scientific unbelief does so now. It restricts us to\nthe seen and temporal, and, if consistent, ought to refuse all ideals\nand all desires for a \"perfect\" state. The modern sage, intent on the\nstudy of material things and their changes, confining himself to what\ncan be seen, heard, touched, or by instruments analysed, may have\nnothing but scorn or, say, pity for one who cries out of trouble--\n\n      \"Have I sinned? Yet, what have I done unto Thee,\n           O Thou Watcher of men?\n       Why hast Thou set me as Thy stumbling-block,\n           So that I am a burden to myself?\n       And why wilt Thou not pardon my transgression,\n           And cause my sin to pass away?\"\n\nBut the man whose soul is eager in the search for reality must\nendeavour to wrest from Heaven itself the secret of his\ndissatisfaction with the real, his conflict with the real, and why he\nmust so often suffer from the very forces that sustain his life. Yes,\nthe passion of the soul continues. It protests against darkness, and\ntherefore against materialism. Conscious mind presses toward an origin\nof thought. Soul must find a Divine Eternal Soul. Where nature opens\nascending ways to the reason in its quest; where prophets and sages\nhave cut paths here and there through the forest of mystery; where the\nbrave and true testify of a light they have seen and invite us to\nfollow; where One stands high and radiant above the cross on which He\nsuffered and declares Himself the Resurrection and the Life,--there\nmen will advance, feeling themselves inspired to maintain the search\nfor that Eternal Truth without the hope of which all our life here is\na wearisome pageant, a troubled dream, a bitter slavery.\n\nIn his reply to Eliphaz, Job first takes hold of the charge of\nimpatience and hasty indignation made in the opening of the fifth\nchapter. He is quite aware that his words were rash when he cursed his\nday and cried impatiently for death. In accusing him of rebellious\npassion, Eliphaz had shot the only arrow that went home; and now Job,\nconscientious here, pulls out the arrow to show it and the wound.\n\"Oh,\" he cries, \"that my hasty passion were duly weighed, and my\nmisery were laid in the balance against it! For then would it, my\nmisery, be found heavier than the sand of the seas: therefore have my\nwords been rash.\" He is almost deprecatory. Yes: he will admit the\nimpatience and vehemence with which he spoke. But then, had Eliphaz\nduly considered his state, the weight of his trouble causing a\nphysical sense of indescribable oppression? Let his friends look at\nhim again, a man prostrated with sore disease and grief, dying slowly\nin the leper's exile.\n\n      \"_The arrows of the Almighty are within me,\n       The poison whereof my spirit drinketh up.\n       The terrors of God beleaguer me._\"\n\nWe need not fall into the mistake of supposing that it is only the\npain of his disease which makes Job's misery so heavy. Rather is it\nthat his troubles have come from God; they are \"the arrows of the\nAlmighty.\" Mere suffering and loss, even to the extremity of death, he\ncould have borne without a murmur. But he had thought God to be his\nfriend. Why on a sudden have those darts been launched against him by\nthe hand he trusted? What does the Almighty mean? The evil-doer who\nsuffers knows why he is afflicted. The martyr enduring for conscience'\nsake has his support in the truth to which he bears witness, the holy\ncause for which he dies. Job has no explanation, no support. He cannot\nunderstand providence. The God with whom he supposed himself to be at\npeace suddenly becomes an angry incomprehensible Power, blighting and\ndestroying His servant's life. Existence poisoned, the couch of ashes\nencompassed with terrors, is it any wonder that passionate words break\nfrom his lips? A cry is the last power left to him.\n\nSo it is with many. The seeming needlessness of their sufferings, the\nimpossibility of tracing these to any cause in their past history, in a\nword, the mystery of the pain confounds the mind, and adds to anguish\nand desolation an unspeakable horror of darkness. Sometimes the very\nthing guarded against is that which happens; a man's best intelligence\nappears confuted by destiny or chance. Why has he amongst the many been\nchosen for this? Do all things come alike to all, righteous and wicked?\nThe problem becomes terribly acute in the case of earnest God-fearing\nmen and women who have not yet found the real theory of suffering.\nEndurance for others does not always explain. All cannot be rested on\nthat. Nor unless we speak falsely for God will it avail to say, These\nafflictions have fallen on us for our sins. For even if the conscience\ndoes not give the lie to that assertion, as Job's conscience did, the\nquestion demands a clear answer why the penitent should suffer, those\nwho believe, to whom God imputes no iniquity. If it is for our\ntransgressions we suffer, either our own faith and religion are vain, or\nGod does not forgive excepting in form, and the law of punishment\nretains its force. We have here the serious difficulty that legal\nfictions seem to hold their ground even in the dealings of the Most High\nwith those who trust Him. Many are in the direst trouble still for the\nsame reason as Job, and might use his very words. Taught to believe\nthat suffering is invariably connected with wrong-doing and is always in\nproportion to it, they cannot find in their past life any great\ntransgressions for which they should be racked with constant pain or\nkept in grinding penury and disappointment. Moreover, they had imagined\nthat through the mediation of Christ their sins were expiated and their\nguilt blotted out. What strange error is there in the creed or in the\nworld? Have they never believed? Has God turned against them? So they\ninquire in the darkness.\n\nThe truth, however, as shown in a previous chapter, is that suffering\nhas no proportion to the guilt of sin, but is related in the scheme of\nDivine providence to life in this world, its movement, discipline, and\nperfecting in the individual and the race. Afflictions, pains, and\ngriefs are appointed to the best as well as the worst, because all\nneed to be tried and urged on from imperfect faith and spirituality to\nvigour, constancy, and courage of soul. The principle is not clearly\nstated in the Book of Job, but underlies it, as truth must underlie\nall genuine criticism and every faithful picture of human life. The\ninspiration of the poem is so to present the facts of human experience\nthat the real answer alone can satisfy. And in the speech we are now\nconsidering some imperfect and mistaken views are swept so completely\naside that their survival is almost unaccountable.\n\nBeginning with the fifth verse we have a series of questions somewhat\ndifficult to interpret:--\n\n      \"_Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass?\n       Or loweth the ox over his fodder?\n       Can that be eaten which is unsavoury, without salt?\n       Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?\n       My soul refuseth to touch them;\n       They are to me as mouldy bread._\"\n\nBy some these questions are supposed to describe sarcastically the\nsavourless words of Eliphaz, his \"solemn and impertinent prosing.\"\nThis, however, would break the continuity of the thought. Another view\nmakes the reference to be to Job's afflictions, which he is supposed\nto compare to insipid and loathsome food. But it seems quite unnatural\nto take this as the meaning. Such pain and grief and loss as he had\nundergone were certainly not like the white of an egg. But he has\nalready spoken wildly, unreasonably, and he now feels himself to be on\nthe point of breaking out afresh in similar impatient language. Now,\nthe wild ass does not complain when it has grass, nor the ox when it\nhas fodder; so, if his mind were supplied with necessary explanations\nof the sore troubles he is enduring, he would not be impatient, he\nwould not complain. His soul hungers to know the reasons of the\ncalamities that darken his life. Nothing that has been said helps him.\nEvery suggestion presented to his mind is either trifling and vain,\nwithout the salt of wisdom, like the white of an egg, or offensive,\ndisagreeable. Ruthlessly sincere, he will not pretend to be satisfied\nwhen he is not. His soul refuses to touch the offered explanations and\nreasons. Verily, they are like mouldy bread to him. It is his own\nimpatience, his loud cries and inquiries, he desires to account for;\nhe does not attack Eliphaz with sarcasm, but defends himself.\n\nAt this point there is a brief halt in the speech. As if after a\npause, due to a sharp sting of pain, Job exclaims: \"Oh that God would\nplease to destroy me!\" He had felt the paroxysm approaching; he had\nendeavoured to restrain himself, but the torture drives him, as\nbefore, to cry for death. Again and again in the course of his\nspeeches sudden turns of this kind occur, points at which the dramatic\nfeeling of the writer comes out. He will have us remember the terrible\ndisease and keep continually in mind the setting of the thoughts. Job\nhad roused himself in beginning his reply, and, for a little,\neagerness had overcome pain. But now he falls back, mastered by cruel\nsickness which appears to be unto death. Then he speaks:--\n\n      \"_Oh that I might have my request,\n       That God would give me the thing I long for,\n       Even that God would be pleased to crush me,\n       That He would loose His hand and tear me off;\n       And I should yet have comfort,\n       I should even exult amidst unsparing pain,\n       For I have not denied the words of the Holy One._\"\n\nThe longing for death which now returns on Job is not so passionate as\nbefore; but his cry is quite as urgent and unqualified. As we have\nalready seen, no motion towards suicide is at any point of the drama\nattributed to him. He does not, like Shakespeare's Hamlet, whose\nposition is in some respects very similar, question with himself,\n\n      \"Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer\n       The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,\n       Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,\n       And by opposing end them?\"\n\nNor may we say that Job is deterred from the act of self-destruction\nby Hamlet's thought, \"The dread of something after death\" that\n\n        \"makes us rather bear those ills we have\n      Than fly to others that we know not of.\"\n\nJob has the fear and faith of God still, and not even the pressure of\n\"unsparing pain\" can move him to take into his own hands the ending of\nthat torment God bids him bear. He is too pious even to dream of it. A\ntrue Oriental, with strong belief that the will of God must be done, he\ncould die without a murmur, in more than stoical courage; but a suicide\nhe cannot be. And indeed the Bible, telling us for the most part of men\nof healthy mind, has few suicides to record. Saul, Zimri, Ahithophel,\nJudas, break away thus from dishonour and doom; but these are all who,\nin impatience and cowardice, turn against God's decree of life.\n\nHere, then, the strong religious feeling of the writer obliges him to\nreject that which the poets of the world have used to give the strongest\neffect to their work. From the Greek dramatists, through Shakespeare to\nBrowning, the drama is full of that quarrel with life which flies to\nsuicide. In this great play, as we may well call it, of Semitic faith\nand genius, the ideas are masterly, the hold of universal truth is\nsublime. Perhaps the author was not fully aware of all he suggests, but\nhe feels that suicide serves no end: it settles nothing; and his problem\nmust be settled. Suicide is an attempt at evasion in a sphere where\nevasion is impossible. God and the soul have a controversy together, and\nthe controversy must be worked out to an issue.\n\nJob has not cursed God nor denied his words. With this clear\nconscience he is not afraid to die; yet, to keep it, he must wait on\nthe decision of the Almighty--that it would please God to crush him,\nor tear him off like a branch from the tree of life. The prospect of\ndeath, if it were granted by God, would revive him for the last moment\nof endurance. He would leap up to meet the stroke, God's stroke, the\npledge that God was kind to him after all.\n\n      \"Where he stands, the Arch Fear in a visible form,\n           Yet the strong man must go:\n       For the journey is done and the summit attained,\n           And the barriers fall,\n       Though a battle's to fight ere the guerdon be gained,\n           The reward of it all....\n       I would hate that death bandaged my eyes, and forbore,\n           And bade me creep past.\"\n\nAccording to Eliphaz there was but one way for a sufferer. If Job\nwould bow humbly in acknowledgment of guilt, and seek God in\npenitence, then recovery would come; the hand that smote would heal\nand set him on high; all the joy and vigour of life would be renewed,\nand after another long course of prosperity, he should come to his\ngrave at last as a shock of corn is carried home in its season.\nRecalling this glib promise, Job puts it from him as altogether\nincongruous with his state. He is a leper; he is _dying_.\n\n      \"_What is my strength that I should wait,\n       And what my term that I should be patient?\n       Is my strength the strength of stones?\n       Is my flesh brass?\n       Is not my help within me gone,\n       And energy quite driven from me?_\"\n\nWhy, his condition is hopeless. What can he look for but death? Speak\nto him of a new term; it was adding mockery to despair. But he would\ndie still true to God, and therefore he seeks the end of conflict. If\nhe were to live on he could not be sure of himself, especially when,\nwith failing strength, he had to endure the nausea and stings of\ndisease. As yet he can face death as a chief should.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe second part of the address begins at the fourteenth verse of chap.\nvi. Here Job rouses himself anew, and this time to assail his friends.\nThe language of their spokesman had been addressed to him from a\nheight of assumed moral superiority, and this had stirred in Job a\nresentment quite natural. No doubt the three friends showed\nfriendliness. He could not forget the long journey they had made to\nbring him comfort. But when he bethought him how in his prosperity he\nhad often entertained these men, held high discourse with them on the\nways of God, opened his heart and showed them all his life, he\nmarvelled that now they could fail of the thing he most\nwanted--understanding. The knowledge they had of him should have made\nsuspicion impossible, for they had the testimony of his whole life.\nThe author is not unfair to his champions of orthodoxy. They fail\nwhere all such have a way of failing. If their victim in the poem\npresses on to stinging sarcasm and at last oversteps the bounds of\nfair criticism, one need not wonder. He is not intended as a type of\nthe meek, self-depreciating person who lets slander pass without a\nprotest. If they have treated him badly, he will tell them to their\nfaces what he thinks. Their want of justice might cause a weak man to\nslip and lose himself.\n\n      \"_Pity from his friend is due to the despairing,\n       Lest he forsake the fear of the Almighty:\n       But my brethren have deceived as a torrent,\n       Like the streams of the ravine, that pass away,\n       That become blackish with ice,\n       In which the snow is dissolved.\n       What time they wax warm they vanish,\n       When it is hot they are dried up out of their place.\n       The caravans turn aside,\n       They go up into the desert and are perishing.\n       The caravans of Tema look out,\n       The merchants of Sheba hope for them.\n       They were ashamed because they had trusted,\n       They came up to them and blushed.\n       Even so, now are ye nought._\"\n\nThe poetical genius of the writer overflows here. The allegory is\nbeautiful, the wit keen, the knowledge abundant; yet, in a sense, we\nhave to pardon the interposition. Job is not quite in the mood to\nrepresent his disappointment by such an elaborate picture. He would\nnaturally seek a sharper mode of expression. Still, the passage must\nnot be judged by our modern dramatic rules. This is the earliest\nexample of the philosophic story, and elaborate word-pictures are part\nof the literature of the piece. We accept the pleasure of following a\ndescription which Job must be supposed to have painted in melancholy\nhumour.\n\nThe scene is in the desert, several days' journey from the Jauf, that\nvalley already identified as the region in which Job lived. Beyond the\nNefood to the west towers the Jebel Tobeyk, a high ridge covered in\nwinter with deep snow, the melting of which fills the ravines with\nroaring streams. Caravans are coming across the desert from Tema,\nwhich lies seven days' journey to the south of the Jauf, and from\nSheba still farther in the same direction. They are on the march in\nearly summer and, falling short of water, turn aside westward to one\nof the ravines where a stream is expected to be still flowing. But,\nalas for the vain hope! In the wadi is nothing but stones and dry\nsand, mocking the thirst of man and beast. Even so, says Job to his\nfriends, ye are treacherous; ye are nothing. I looked for the\nrefreshing water of sympathy, but ye are empty ravines, dry sand. In\nmy days of prosperity you gushed with friendliness. Now, when I\nthirst, ye have not even pity. \"Ye see a terror, and are afraid.\" I am\nterribly stricken. You fear that if you sympathised with me, you might\nprovoke the anger of God.\n\nFrom this point he turns upon them with reproach. Had he asked them\nfor anything, gifts out of their herds or treasure, aid in recovering\nhis property? They knew he had requested no such service. But again\nand again Eliphaz had made the suggestion that he was suffering as a\nwrong-doer. Would they tell him then, straightforwardly, how and when\nhe had transgressed? \"How forcible are words of uprightness,\" words\nthat go right to a point; but as for their reproving, what did it come\nto? They had caught at his complaint. Men of experience should know\nthat the talk of a desperate man is for the wind, to be blown away and\nforgotten, not to be laid hold of captiously. And here from sarcasm he\npasses to invective. Their temper, he tells them, is so hard and\nunfeeling that they are fit to cast lots over the orphan and bargain\nover a friend. They would be guilty even of selling for a slave a poor\nfatherless child cast on their charity. \"Be pleased to look on me,\" he\ncries; \"I surely will not lie to your face. Return, let not wrong be\ndone. Go back over my life. Let there be no unfairness. Still is my\ncause just.\" They were bound to admit that he was as able to\ndistinguish right from wrong as they were. If that were not granted,\nthen his whole life went for nothing, and their friendship also.\n\nIn this vivid eager expostulation there is at least much of human\nnature. It abounds in natural touches common to all time and in shrewd\nironic perception. The sarcasms of Job bear not only upon his\nfriends, but also upon our lives. The words of men who are sorely\ntossed with trouble, aye even their deeds, are to be judged with full\nallowance for circumstances. A man driven back inch by inch in a fight\nwith the world, irritated by defeat, thwarted in his plans, missing\nhis calculations, how easy is it to criticise him from the standpoint\nof a successful career, high repute, a good balance at the banker's!\nThe hasty words of one who is in sore distress, due possibly to his\nown ignorance and carelessness, how easy to reckon them against him,\nfind in them abundant proof that he is an unbeliever and a knave, and\nso pass on to offer in the temple the Pharisee's prayer! But, easy and\nnatural, it is base. The author of our poem does well to lay the lash\nof his inspired scorn upon such a temper. He who stores in memory the\nquick words of a sufferer and brings them up by and by to prove him\ndeserving of all his troubles, such a man would cast lots over the\norphan. It is no unfair charge. Oh for humane feeling, gentle truth,\nself-searching fear of falsehood! It is so easy to be hard and pious.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBeginning another strophe Job turns from his friends, from would-be\nwise assertions and innuendoes, to find, if he can, a philosophy of\nhuman life, then to reflect once more in sorrow on his state, and\nfinally to wrestle in urgent entreaty with the Most High. The seventh\nchapter, in which we trace this line of thought, increases in pathos\nas it proceeds and rises to the climax of a most daring demand which\nis not blasphemous because it is entirely frank, profoundly earnest.\n\nThe friends of Job have wondered at his sufferings. He himself has\ntried to find the reason of them. Now he seeks it again in a survey of\nman's life:--\n\n      \"_Hath not man war service on earth?\n       And as the days of an hireling are not his?_\"\n\nThe thought of necessity is coming over Job, that man is not his own\nmaster; that a Power he cannot resist appoints his task, whether of\naction or endurance, to fight in the hot battle or to suffer wearily.\nAnd there is truth in the conception; only it is a truth which is\ninspiring or depressing as the ultimate Power is found in noble\ncharacter or mindless force. In the time of prosperity this thought of\nan inexorable decree would have caused no perplexity to Job, and his\njudgment would have been that the Irresistible is wise and kind. But\nnow, because the shadow has fallen, all appears in gloomy colour, and\nman's life a bitter servitude. As a slave, panting for the shade,\nlonging to have his work over, Job considers man. During months of\nvanity and nights of weariness he waits, long nights made dreary with\npain, through the slow hours of which he tosses to and fro in misery.\nHis flesh is clothed with worms and an earthy crust, his skin hardens\nand breaks out. His days are flimsier than a web (ver. 6), and draw to a\nclose without hope. The wretchedness masters him, and he cries to God.\n\n      \"_O remember, a breath is my life;\n       Never again will mine eye see good._\"\n\nDoes the Almighty consider how little time is left to him? Surely a\ngleam might break before all grows dark! Out of sight he will be soon,\nyea, out of the sight of God Himself, like a cloud that melts away.\nHis place will be down in Sheol, the region of mere existence, not of\nlife, where a man's being dissolves in shadows and dreams. God must\nknow this is coming to Job. Yet in anguish, ere he die, he will\nremonstrate with his Maker: \"I will not curb my mouth, I will make my\ncomplaint in the bitterness of my soul.\"\n\nStriking indeed is the remonstrance that follows. A struggle against\nthat belief in grim fate which has so injured Oriental character gives\nvehemence to his appeal; for God must not be lost. His mind is\nrepresented as going abroad to find in nature what is most\nungovernable and may be supposed to require most surveillance and\nrestraint. By change after change, stroke after stroke, his power has\nbeen curbed; till at last, in abject impotence, he lies, a wreck upon\nthe wayside. Nor is he allowed the last solace of nature _in\nextremis_; he is not unconscious; he cannot sleep away his misery. By\nnight tormenting dreams haunt him, and visions make as it were a\nterrible wall against him. He exists on sufferance, perpetually\nchafed. With all this in his consciousness, he asks,--\n\n      \"_Am I a sea, or a sea-monster,\n       That thou keepest watch over me?_\"\n\nIn a daring figure he imagines the Most High who sets a bound to the sea\nexercising the same restraint over him, or barring his way as if he were\nsome huge monster of the deep. A certain grim humour characterises the\npicture. His friends have denounced his impetuosity. Is it as fierce in\nGod's sight? Can his rage be so wild? Strange indeed is the restraint\nput on one conscious of having sought to serve God and his age. In\nself-pity, with an inward sense of the absurdity of the notion, he\nfancies the Almighty fencing his squalid couch with the horrible dreams\nand spectres of delirium, barring his way as if he were a raging flood.\n\"I loathe life,\" he cries; \"I would not live always. Let me alone, for\nmy days are a vapour.\" Do not pain me and hem me in with Thy terrors\nthat allow no freedom, no hope, nothing but a weary sense of impotence.\nAnd then his expostulation becomes even bolder.\n\n\"What is man,\" asks a psalmist, \"that Thou art mindful of him, and the\nson of man, that Thou visitest him?\" With amazement God's thought of so\npuny and insignificant a being is observed. But Job, marking in like\nmanner the littleness of man, turns the question in another way:--\n\n      \"_What is man that Thou magnifiest him,\n       And settest Thine heart upon him?\n       That Thou visitest him every morning,\n       And triest him every moment?_\"\n\nHas the Almighty no greater thing to engage Him that He presses hard on\nthe slight personality of man? Might he not be let alone for a little?\nMight the watchful eye not be turned away from him even for a moment?\n\nAnd finally, coming to the supposition that he may have transgressed\nand brought himself under the judgment of the Most High, he even dares\nto ask why that should be:--\n\n      \"_Have I sinned? Yet what have I done unto Thee,\n       O Thou Watcher of men?\n       Why hast Thou set me as Thy butt,\n       So that I am a burden to myself?\n       And why wilt Thou not pardon my transgression,\n       And cause my sin to pass away?_\"\n\nHow can his sin have injured God? Far above man the Almighty dwells\nand reigns. No shock of human revolt can affect His throne. Strange is\nit that a man, even if he has committed some fault or neglected some\nduty, should be like a block of wood or stone before the feet of the\nMost High, till bruised and broken he cares no more for existence. If\niniquity has been done, cannot the Great God forgive it, pass it by?\nThat would be more like the Great God. Yes; soon Job would be down in\nthe dust of death. The Almighty would find then that he had gone too\nfar. \"Thou shalt seek me, but I shall not be.\"\n\nMore daring words were never put by a pious man into the mouth of one\nrepresented as pious; and the whole passage shows how daring piety may\nbe. The inspired writer of this book knows God too well, honours Him\ntoo profoundly to be afraid. The Eternal Father does not watch keenly\nfor the offences of the creatures He has made. May a man not be frank\nwith God and say out what is in his heart? Surely he may. But he must\nbe entirely earnest. No one playing with life, with duty, with truth,\nor with doubt may expostulate thus with his Maker.\n\nThere is indeed an aspect of our little life in which sin may appear too\npitiful, too impotent for God to search out. \"As for man, his days are\nas grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.\" Only when we see\nthat infinite Justice is involved in the minute infractions of justice,\nthat it must redress the iniquity done by feeble hands and vindicate the\nideal we crave for yet so often infringe; only when we see this and\nrealise therewith the greatness of our being, made for justice and the\nideal, for moral conflict and victory; only, in short, when we know\nresponsibility, do we stand aghast at sin and comprehend the meaning of\njudgment. Job is learning here the wisdom and holiness of God which\nstand correlative to His grace and our responsibility. By way of trial\nand pain and these sore battles with doubt he is entering into the\nfulness of the heritage of spiritual knowledge and power.\n\n\n\n\nIX.\n\n_VENTURESOME THEOLOGY._\n\nBILDAD SPEAKS. CHAP. viii.\n\n\nThe first attempt to meet Job has been made by one who relies on his\nown experience and takes pleasure in recounting the things which he\nhas seen. Bildad of Shuach, on the other hand, is a man who holds to\nthe wisdom of the fathers and supports himself at all times with their\nanswers to the questions of life. Vain to him is the reasoning of one\nwho sees all as through coloured glass, everything of this tint or\nthat, according to his state or notions for the time being. The\npersonal impression counts for nothing with Bildad. He finds no\nauthority there. In him we have the catholic theologian opposing\nindividualism. Unfortunately he fails in the power most needed, of\ndistinguishing chaff from grain. Back to antiquity, back to the\nfathers, say some; but, although they profess the excellent temper of\nreverence, there is no guarantee that they will not select the follies\nof the past instead of its wisdom to admire. Everything depends upon\nthe man, the individual, after all, whether he has an open mind, a\npreference if not a passion for great ideas. There are those who go\nback to the apostles and find only dogmatism, instead of the glorious\nbreadth of Divine poetry and hope. Yea, some go to the Light of the\nWorld, and report as their discovery some pragmatical scheme, some\nweak arrangement of details, a bondage or a futility. Bildad is not\none of these. He is intelligent and well-informed, an able man, as we\nsay; but he has no sympathy with new ideas that burst the old\nwine-skins of tradition, no sympathy with daring words that throw\ndoubt on old orthodoxies. You can fancy his pious horror when the rude\nhand of Job seemed to rend the sacred garments of established truth.\nIt would have been like him to turn away and leave to fate and\njudgment a man so venturesome.\n\nWith the instinct of the highest and noblest thought, utterly removed\nfrom all impiety, the writer has shown his inspiration in leading Job\nto a climax of impassioned inquiry as one who wrestles in the\nswellings of Jordan with the angel of Jehovah. Now he brings forward\nBildad speaking cold words from a mind quite unable to understand the\ncrisis. This is a man who firmly believed himself possessed of\nauthority and insight. When Job added entreaty to entreaty, demand to\ndemand, Bildad would feel as if his ears were deceiving him, for what\nhe heard seemed to be an impious assault on the justice of the Most\nHigh, an attempt to convict the Infinitely Righteous of\nunrighteousness. He burns to speak; and Job has no sooner sunk down\nexhausted than he begins:--\n\n      \"_How long wilt thou speak these things?\n       A mighty wind, forsooth, are the words of thy mouth.\n       God:--will He pervert judgment?\n       Almighty God:--will He pervert righteousness?\n       If thy children sinned against Him,\n       And He cast them away into the hand of their rebellion;\n       If thou wilt seek unto God,\n       And unto the Almighty wilt make entreaty;\n       If spotless and upright thou art,\n       Surely now He would awake for thee\n       And make prosperous thy righteous habitation.\n       So that thy beginning shall prove small\n       And thy latter end exceedingly great._\"\n\nHow far wrong Bildad is may be seen in this, that he dangles before\nJob the hope of greater worldly prosperity. The children must have\nsinned, for they have perished. Yet Job himself may possibly be\ninnocent. If he is, then a simple entreaty to God will insure His\nrenewed favour and help. Job is required to seek wealth and greatness\nagain as a pledge of his own uprightness. But the whole difficulty\nlies in the fact that, being upright, he has been plunged into\npoverty, desolation, and a living death. He desires to know the\nreason of what has occurred. Apart altogether from the restoration of\nhis prosperity and health, he would know what God means. Bildad does\nnot see this in the least. Himself a prosperous man, devoted to the\ndoctrine that opulence is the proof of religious acceptance and\nsecurity, he has nothing for Job but the advice to get God to prove\nhim righteous by giving him back his goods. There is a taunt in\nBildad's speech. He privately believes that there has been sin, and\nthat only by way of repentance good can come again. Since his friend\nis so obstinate let him try to regain his prosperity and fail. Bildad\nis lavish in promises, extravagant indeed. He can only be acquitted of\na sinister meaning in his large prediction if we judge that he reckons\nGod to be under a debt to a faithful servant whom He had unwittingly,\nwhile He was not observing, allowed to be overtaken by disaster.\n\nNext the speaker parades his learning, the wisdom he had gathered from\nthe past:--\n\n      \"_Inquire, I pray thee, of the bygone age,\n       And attend to the research of their fathers.\n       (For we are but of yesterday and know nothing;\n       A shadow, indeed, are our days upon the earth)--\n       Shall not they teach thee and tell thee,\n       Bring forth words from their heart?_\"\n\nThe man of to-day is nothing, a poor creature. Only by the proved\nwisdom of the long ages can end come to controversy. Let Job listen,\nthen, and be convinced.\n\nNow it must be owned there is not simply an air of truth but truth\nitself in what Bildad proceeds to say in the very picturesque passage\nthat follows. Truths, however, may be taken hold of in a wrong way to\nestablish false conclusions; and in this way Job's interlocutor errs\nwith not a few of his painstaking successors. The rush or papyrus of\nthe river-side cannot grow without mire; the reed-grass needs\nmoisture. If the water fails they wither. So are the paths of all that\nforget God. Yes: if you take it aright, what can be more impressively\ncertain? The hope of a godless man perishes. His confidence is cut\noff; it is as if he trusted in a spider's web. Even his house, however\nstrongly built, shall not support him. The man who has abandoned God\nmust come to this--that every earthly stay shall snap asunder, every\nexpectation fade. There shall be nothing between him and despair. His\nstrength, his wisdom, his inheritance, his possessions piled together\nin abundance, how can they avail when the demand is urged by Divine\njustice--What hast thou done with thy life? This, however, is not at\nall in Bildad's mind. He is not thinking of the prosperity of the soul\nand exultation in God, but of outward success, that a man should\nspread his visible existence like a green bay tree. Beyond that\nvisible existence he cannot stretch thought or reasoning. His school,\ngenerally, believed in God much after the manner of English\neighteenth-century deists, standing on the earth, looking over the\nlife of man here, and demanding in the present world the vindication\nof providence. The position is realistic, the good of life solely\nmundane. If one is brought low who flourished in luxuriance and sent\nforth his shoots over the garden and was rooted near the spring, his\npoverty is his destruction; he is destroyed because somehow the law of\nlife, that is of prosperity, has been transgressed, and the God of\nsuccess punishes the fault. We are made to feel that beneath the\npromise of returning honour and joy with which Bildad closes there is\nan _if_. \"God will not cast away a perfect man.\" Is Job perfect? Then\nhis mouth will be filled with laughter, and his haters shall be\nclothed with shame. That issue is problematical. And yet, on the\nwhole, doubt is kept well in the background, and the final word of\ncheer is made as generous and hopeful as circumstances will allow.\nBildad means to leave the impression on Job's mind that the wisdom of\nthe ancients as applied to his case is reassuring.\n\nBut one sentence of his speech, that in which (ver. 4) he implies the\nbelief that Job's children had sinned and been \"cast away into the\nhand of their rebellion,\" shows the cold, relentless side of his\northodoxy, the logic, not unknown still, which presses to its point\nover the whole human race. Bildad meant, it appears, to shift from Job\nthe burden of his children's fate. The catastrophe which overtook them\nmight have seemed to be one of the arrows of judgment aimed at the\nfather. Job himself may have had great perplexity as well as keen\ndistress whenever he thought of his sons and daughters. Now Bildad is\nthrowing on them the guilt which he believes to have been so terribly\npunished, even to the extremity of irremediable death. But there is no\nenlightenment in the suggestion. Rather does it add to the\ndifficulties of the case. The sons and daughters whom Job loved, over\nwhom he watched with such religious care lest they should renounce God\nin their hearts--were they condemned by the Most High? A man of the\nold world, accustomed to think of himself as standing in God's stead\nto his household, Job cannot receive this. Thought having been once\nstirred to its depths, he is resentful now against a doctrine that may\nnever before have been questioned. Is there, then, no fatherhood in\nthe Almighty, no magnanimity such as Job himself would have shown? If\nso, then the spirit would fail before Him, and the souls which He has\nmade (Isaiah lvii. 16). The dogmatist with his wisdom of the ages\ndrops in the by-going one of his commonplaces of theological thought.\nIt is a coal of fire in the heart of the sufferer.\n\nThose who attempt to explain God's ways for edification and comfort need\nto be very simple and genuine in their feeling with men, their effort on\nbehalf of God. Every one who believes and thinks has something in his\nspiritual experience worth recounting, and may help an afflicted brother\nby retracing his own history. But to make a creed learned by rote the\nbasis of consolation is perilous. The aspect it takes to those under\ntrial will often surprise the best-meaning consoler. A point is\nemphasised by the keen mind of sorrow, and, like Elijah's cloud, it soon\nsweeps over the whole sky, a storm of doubt and dismay.\n\n\n\n\nX.\n\n_THE THOUGHT OF A DAYSMAN._\n\nJOB SPEAKS. CHAPS. ix., x.\n\n\nIt is with an infinitely sad restatement of what God has been made to\nappear to him by Bildad's speech that Job begins his reply. Yes, yes; it\nis so. How can man be just before such a God? You tell me my children\nare overwhelmed with destruction for their sins. You tell me that I, who\nam not quite dead as yet, may have new prosperity if I put myself into\nright relations with God. But how can that be? There is no uprightness,\nno dutifulness, no pious obedience, no sacrifice that will satisfy Him.\nI did my utmost; yet God has condemned me. And if He is what you say,\nHis condemnation is unanswerable. He has such wisdom in devising\naccusations and in maintaining them against feeble man, that hope there\ncan be none for any human being. To answer one of the thousand charges\nGod can bring, if He will contend with man, is impossible. The\nearthquakes are signs of His indignation, removing mountains, shaking\nthe earth out of her place. He is able to quench the light of the sun\nand moon, and to seal up the stars. What is man beside the omnipotence\nof Him who alone stretched out the heavens, whose march is on the huge\nwaves of the ocean, who is the Creator of the constellations' the Bear,\nthe Giant, the Pleiades, and the chambers or spaces of the southern sky?\nIt is the play of irresistible power Job traces around him, and the\nDivine mind or will is inscrutable.\n\n      \"_Lo, He goeth by me and I see Him not:\n       He passeth on, and I perceive Him not.\n       Behold, He seizeth. Who will stay Him?\n       Who will say to Him, What doest Thou?_\"\n\nStep by step the thought here advances into that dreadful imagination\nof God's unrighteousness which must issue in revolt or in despair.\nJob, turning against the bitter logic of tradition, appears for the\ntime to plunge into impiety. Sincere earnest thinker as he is, he\nfalls into a strain we are almost compelled to call false and\nblasphemous. Bildad and Eliphaz seem to be saints, Job a rebel\nagainst God. The Almighty, he says, is like a lion that seizes the\nprey and cannot be hindered from devouring. He is a wrathful tyrant\nunder whom the helpers of Rahab, those powers that according to some\nnature myth sustain the dragon of the sea in its conflict with heaven,\nstoop and give way. Shall Job essay to answer Him? It is vain. He\ncannot. To choose words in such a controversy would be of no avail.\nEven one right in his cause would be overborne by tyrannical\nomnipotence. He would have no resource but to supplicate for mercy\nlike a detected malefactor. Once Job may have thought that an appeal\nto justice would be heard, that his trust in righteousness was well\nfounded. He is falling away from that belief now. This being whose\ndespotic power has been set in his view has no sense of man's right.\nHe cares nothing for man.\n\nWhat is God? How does He appear in the light of the sufferings of Job?\n\n      \"_He breaketh me with a tempest,\n       Increaseth my wounds without cause.\n       If you speak of the strength of the mighty,\n                     'Behold Me,' saith He;\n       If of judgment--'Who will appoint Me a time?'_\"\n\nNo one, that is, can call God to account. The temper of the Almighty\nappears to Job to be such that man must needs give up all controversy.\nIn his heart Job is convinced still that he has wrought no evil. But\nhe will not say so. He will anticipate the wilful condemnation of the\nAlmighty. God would assail his life. Job replies in fierce revolt,\n\"Assail it, take it away, I care not, for I despise it. Whether one\nis righteous or evil, it is all the same. God destroys the perfect and\nthe wicked\" (ver. 22).\n\nNow, are we to explain away this language? If not, how shall we defend\nthe writer who has put it into the mouth of one still the hero of the\nbook, still appearing as a friend of God? To many in our day, as of old,\nreligion is so dull and lifeless, their desire for the friendship of God\nso lukewarm, that the passion of the words of Job is incomprehensible to\nthem. His courage of despair belongs to a range of feeling they never\nentered, never dreamt of entering. The calculating world is their home,\nand in its frigid atmosphere there is no possibility of that keen\nstriving for spiritual life which fills the soul as with fire. To those\nwho deny sin and pooh-pooh anxiety about the soul, the book may well\nappear an old-world dream, a Hebrew allegory rather than the history of\na man. But the language of Job is no outburst of lawlessness; it springs\nout of deep and serious thought.\n\nIt is difficult to find an exact modern parallel here; but we have not\nto go far back for one who was driven like Job by false theology into\nbewilderment, something like unreason. In his \"Grace Abounding,\" John\nBunyan reveals the depths of fear into which hard arguments and\nmisinterpretations of Scripture often plunged him, when he should have\nbeen rejoicing in the liberty of a child of God. The case of Bunyan\nis, in a sense, very different from that of Job. Yet both are urged\nalmost to despair of God; and Bunyan, realising this point of\nlikeness, again and again uses words put into Job's mouth. Doubts and\nsuspicions are suggested by his reading, or by sermons which he hears,\nand he regards their occurrence to his mind as a proof of his\nwickedness. In one place he says: \"Now I thought surely I am possessed\nof the devil: at other times again I thought I should be bereft of my\nwits; for, instead of lauding and magnifying God with others, if I\nhave but heard Him spoken of, presently some most horrible\nblasphemous thought or other would bolt out of my heart against Him,\nso that whether I did think that God was, or again did think there was\nno such thing, no love, nor peace, nor gracious disposition could I\nfeel within me.\" Bunyan had a vivid imagination. He was haunted by\nstrange cravings for the spiritually adventurous. What would it be to\nsin the sin that is unto death? \"In so strong a measure,\" he says,\n\"was this temptation upon me, that often I have been ready to clap my\nhands under my chin to keep my mouth from opening.\" The idea that he\nshould \"sell and part with Christ\" was one that terribly afflicted\nhim; and, \"at last,\" he says, \"after much striving, I felt this\nthought pass through my heart, Let Him go if He will.... After this,\nnothing for two years together would abide with me but damnation and\nthe expectation of damnation. This thought had passed my heart--God\nhath let me go, and I am fallen. Oh, thought I, that it was with me as\nin months past, as in the days when God preserved me.\"\n\nThe Book of Job helps us to understand Bunyan and those terrors of his\nthat amaze our composed generation. Given a man like Job or like\nBunyan, to whom religion is everything, who must feel sure of Divine\njustice, truth, and mercy, he will pass far beyond the measured\nemotions and phrases of those who are more than half content with the\nworld and themselves. The writer here, whose own stages of thought are\nrecorded, and Bunyan, who with rare force and sincerity retraces the\nway of his life, are men of splendid character and virtue. Titans of\nthe religious life, they are stricken with anguish and bound with iron\nfetters to the rock of pain for the sake of universal humanity. They\nare a wonder to the worldling, they speak in terms the smooth\nprofessor of religion shudders at. But their endurance, their vehement\nresolution, break the falsehoods of the time and enter into the\nredemption of the race.\n\nThe strain of Job's complaint increases in bitterness. He seems to see\nomnipotent injustice everywhere. If a scourge (ver. 23), such as\nlightning, accident or disease, slayeth suddenly, there seems to be\nnothing but mockery of the innocent. God looks down on the wreck of\nhuman hope from the calm sky after the thunderstorm, in the evening\nsunlight that gilds the desert grave. And in the world of men the\nwicked have their way. God veils the face of the judge so that he is\nblinded to the equity of the cause. Thus, after the arguments of his\nfriends, Job is compelled to see wrong everywhere, and to say that it\nis the doing of God. The strophe ends with the abrupt fierce\ndemand,--If not, who then is it?\n\nThe short passage from the twenty-fifth verse to the end of chap. ix.\nreturns sadly to the strain of personal weakness and entreaty. Swiftly\nJob's days go by, more swiftly than a runner, in so far as he sees no\ngood. Or they are like the reed-skiffs on the river, or the darting\neagle. To forget his pain is impossible. He cannot put on an appearance\nof serenity or hope. God is keeping him bound as a transgressor. \"I\nshall be condemned whatever I do. Why then do I weary myself in vain?\"\nLooking at his discoloured body, covered with the grime of disease, he\nfinds it a sign of God's detestation. But if he could wash it with snow,\nthat is, to snowy whiteness, if he could purify those blackened limbs\nwith lye, the renewal would go no further. God would plunge him again\ninto the mire; his own clothes would abhor him.\n\nAnd now there is a change of tone. His mind, revolting from its own\nconclusion, turns toward the thought of reconciliation. While as yet\nhe speaks of it as an impossibility there comes to him a sorrowful\nregret, a vague dream or reflection in place of that fierce rebellion\nwhich discoloured the whole world and made it appear an arena of\ninjustice. With that he cannot pretend to satisfy himself. Again his\nhumanity stirs in him:--\n\n      \"_For He is not a man, as I, that I should answer Him,\n       That we should come together in judgment.\n       There is no daysman between us\n       That might lay his hand upon us both.\n       Let Him take away His rod from me,\n       And let not His terror overawe me;\n       Then would I speak and not fear Him:\n       For I am not in such case in myself._\"\n\nIf he could only speak with God as a man speaks with his friend the\nshadows might be cleared away. The real God, not unreasonable, not\nunrighteous nor despotic, here begins to appear; and in default of\npersonal converse, and of a daysman, or arbiter, who might lay\nreconciling hands upon both and bring them together, Job cries for an\ninterval of strength and freedom, that without fear and anguish he may\nhimself express the matter at stake. The idea of a daysman, although\nthe possibility of such a friendly helper is denied, is a new mark of\nboldness in the thought of the drama. In that one word the inspired\nwriter strikes the note of a Divine purpose which he does not yet\nforesee. We must not say that here we have the prediction of a\nRedeemer at once God and man. The author has no such affirmation to\nmake. But very remarkably the desires of Job are led forth in that\ndirection in which the advent and work of Christ have fulfilled the\ndecree of grace. There can be no doubt of the inspiration of a writer\nwho thus strikes into the current of the Divine will and revelation.\nNot obscurely is it implied in this Book of Job that, however earnest\nman may be in religion, however upright and faithful (for all this Job\nwas), there are mysteries of fear and sorrow connected with his life\nin this world which can be solved only by One who brings the light of\neternity into the range of time, who is at once \"very God and very\nman,\" whose overcoming demands and encourages our faith.\n\nNow, the wistful cry of Job--\"There is no daysman between\nus\"--breaking from the depths of an experience to which the best as\nwell as the worst are exposed in this life, an experience which cannot\nin either case be justified or accounted for unless by the fact of\nimmortality, is, let us say, as presented here, a purely human cry.\nMan who \"cannot be God's exile,\" bound always to seek understanding of\nthe will and character of God, finds himself in the midst of sudden\ncalamity and extreme pain, face to face with death. The darkness that\nshrouds his whole existence he longs to see dispelled or shot through\nwith beams of clear revealing light. What shall we say of it? If such\na desire, arising in the inmost mind, had no correspondence whatever\nto fact, there would be falsehood at the heart of things. The very\nshape the desire takes--for a Mediator who should be acquainted\nequally with God and man, sympathetic toward the creature, knowing the\nmind of the Creator--cannot be a chance thing. It is the fruit of a\nDivine necessity inwrought with the constitution and life of the human\nsoul. We are pointed to an irrefragable argument; but the thought\nmeanwhile does not follow it. Immortality waits for a revelation.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nJob has prayed for rest. It does not come. Another attack of pain makes\na pause in his speech, and with the tenth chapter begins a long address\nto the Most High, not fierce as before, but sorrowful, subdued.\n\n      \"_My soul is weary of my life.\n       I will give free course to my complaint;\n       I will speak in bitterness of my soul._\"\n\nIt is scarcely possible to touch the threnody that follows without\nmarring its pathetic and profound beauty. There is an exquisite\ndignity of restraint and frankness in this appeal to the Creator. He\nis an Artist whose fine work is in peril, and that from His own\nseeming carelessness of it, or more dreadful to conceive, His\nresolution to destroy it.\n\nFirst the cry is, \"Do not condemn me. Is it good unto Thee that Thou\nshouldest despise the work of Thine hands?\" It is marvellous to Job\nthat he should be scorned as worthless, while at the same time God\nseems to shine on the counsel of the wicked. How can that, O Thou Most\nHigh, be in harmony with Thy nature? He puts a supposition, which even\nin stating it he must refuse, \"Hast Thou eyes of flesh? or seest Thou\nas man seeth?\" A jealous man, clothed with a little brief authority,\nmight probe into the misdeeds of a fellow-creature. But God cannot do\nso. His majesty forbids; and especially since He knows, for one thing,\nthat Job is not guilty, and, for another thing, that no one can escape\nHis hands. Men often lay hold of the innocent, and torture them to\ndiscover imputed crimes. The supposition that God acts like a despot\nor the servant of a despot is made only to be cast aside. But he goes\nback on his appeal to God as Creator, and bethinks him of that tender\nfashioning of the body which seems an argument for as tender a care\nof the soul and the spirit-life. Much of power and lovingkindness goes\nto the perfecting of the body and the development of the physical life\nout of weakness and embryonic form. Can He who has so wrought, who has\nadded favour and apparent love, have been concealing all the time a\ndesign of mockery? Even in creating, had God the purpose of making His\ncreature a mere plaything for the self-will of Omnipotence?\n\n      \"_Yet these things Thou didst hide in Thine heart._\"\n\nThese things--the desolate home, the outcast life, the leprosy. Job\nuses a strange word: \"I _know_ that this was with Thee.\" His\nconclusion is stated roughly, that nothing can matter in dealing with\nsuch a Creator. The insistence of the friends on the hope of\nforgiveness, Job's own consciousness of integrity go for nothing.\n\n      \"_Were I to sin Thou wouldst mark me,\n       And Thou wouldst not acquit me of iniquity.\n       Were I wicked, woe unto me;\n       Were I righteous, yet should I not lift up my head._\"\n\nThe supreme Power of the world has taken an aspect not of unreasoning\nforce, but of determined ill-will to man. The only safety seems to be in\nlying quiet so as not to excite against him the activity of this awful\nGod who hunts like a lion and delights in marvels of wasteful strength.\nIt appears that, having been once roused, the Divine Enemy will not\ncease to persecute. New witnesses, new causes of indignation would be\nfound; a changing host of troubles would follow up the attack.\n\nI have ventured to interpret the whole address in terms of\nsupposition, as a theory Job flings out in the utter darkness that\nsurrounds him. He does not adopt it. To imagine that he really\nbelieves this, or that the writer of the book intended to put forward\nsuch a theory as even approximately true, is quite impossible. And\nyet, when one thinks of it, perhaps impossible is too strong a word.\nThe doctrine of the sovereignty of God is a fundamental truth; but it\nhas been so conceived and wrought with as to lead many reasoners into\na dream of cruelty and irresponsible force not unlike that which\nhaunts the mind of Job. Something of the kind has been argued for with\nno little earnestness by men who were religiously endeavouring to\nexplain the Bible and professed to believe in the love of God to the\nworld. For example: the annihilation of the wicked is denied by one\nfor the good reason that God has a profound reverence for being or\nexistence, so that he who is once possessed of will must exist for\never; but from this the writer goes on to maintain that the wicked are\nuseful to God as the material on which His justice operates, that\nindeed they have been created solely for everlasting punishment in\norder that through them the justice of the Almighty may be clearly\nseen. Against this very kind of theology Job is in revolt. In the\nlight even of his world it was a creed of darkness. That God hates\nwrong-doing, that everything selfish, vindictive, cruel, unclean,\nfalse, shall be driven before Him--who can doubt? That according to\nHis decree sin brings its punishment yielding the wages of death--who\ncan doubt? But to represent Him who has made us all, and must have\nforeseen our sin, as without any kind of responsibility for us,\ndashing in pieces the machines He has made because they do not serve\nHis purpose, though He knew even in making them that they would\nnot--what a hideous falsehood is this; it can justify God only at the\nexpense of undeifying Him.\n\nOne thing this Book of Job teaches, that we are not to go against our\nown sincere reason nor our sense of justice and truth in order to\nsquare facts with any scheme or any theory. Religious teaching and\nthought must affirm nothing that is not entirely frank, purely just,\nand such as we could, in the last resort, apply out and out to\nourselves. Shall man be more just than God, more generous than God,\nmore faithful than God? Perish the thought, and every system that\nmaintains so false a theory and tries to force it on the human mind!\nNevertheless, let there be no falling into the opposite error; from\nthat, too, frankness will preserve us. No sincere man, attentive to\nthe realities of the world and the awful ordinances of nature, can\nsuspect the Universal Power of indifference to evil, of any design to\nleave law without sanction. We do not escape at one point; God is our\nFather; righteousness is vindicated, and so is faith.\n\nAs the colloquies proceed, the impression is gradually made that the\nwriter of this book is wrestling with that study which more and more\nengages the intellect of man--What is the real? How does it stand\nrelated to the ideal, thought of as righteousness, as beauty, as\ntruth? How does it stand related to God, sovereign and holy? The\nopening of the book might have led straight to the theory that the\nreal, the present world charged with sin, disaster, and death, is not\nof the Divine order, therefore is of a Devil. But the disappearance of\nSatan throws aside any such idea of dualism, and pledges the writer to\nfind solution, if he find it at all, in one will, one purpose, one\nDivine event. On Job himself the burden and the effort descend in his\nconflict with the real as disaster, enigma, impending death, false\njudgment, established theology and schemes of explanation. The ideal\nevades him, is lost between the rising wave and the lowering sky. In\nthe whole horizon he sees no clear open space where it can unfold the\nday. But it remains in his heart; and in the night-sky it waits where\nthe great constellations shine in their dazzling purity and eternal\ncalm, brooding silent over the world as from immeasurable distance far\nwithdrawn. Even from that distance God sends forth and will accomplish\na design. Meanwhile the man stretches his hands in vain from the\nshadowed earth to those keen lights, ever so remote and cold.\n\n      \"_Show me wherefore Thou strivest with me.\n       Is it pleasant to Thee that Thou should'st oppress,\n       That Thou should'st despise the work of Thy hands\n       And shine upon the counsel of the wicked?\n       Hast Thou eyes of flesh?\n       Or seest Thou as man seeth?\n       Thy days--are they as the days of man?\n       Thy years--are they as man's days,\n       That Thou inquirest after fault of mine,\n       And searchest after my sin,\n       Though Thou knowest that I am not wicked,\n       And none can deliver from Thy hand?\n       Thine hands have made and fashioned me\n       Together round about; and Thou dost destroy me._\"\n                                               (_Chap. x._ 2-8.)\n\n\n\n\nXI.\n\n_A FRESH ATTEMPT TO CONVICT._\n\nZOPHAR SPEAKS. CHAP. xi.\n\n\nThe third and presumably youngest of the three friends of Job now\ntakes up the argument somewhat in the same strain as the others. With\nno wish to be unfair to Zophar we are somewhat prepossessed against\nhim from the outset; and the writer must mean us to be so, since he\nmakes him attack Job as an empty babbler:--\n\n      \"_Shall not the multitude of words be answered?\n       And shall a man of lips be justified?\n       Shall thy boastings make people silent,\n       So that thou mayest mock on, none putting thee to shame?_\"\n\nTrue it was, Job had used vehement speech. Yet it is a most insulting\nsuggestion that he meant little but irreligious bluster. The special\nnote of Zophar comes out in his rebuke of Job for the mockery, that is,\nsceptical talk, in which he had indulged. Persons who merely rehearse\nopinions are usually the most dogmatic and take most upon them. Nobody\nreckons himself more able to detect error in doctrine, nobody denounces\nrationalism and infidelity with greater confidence, than the man whose\ncreed is formal, who never applied his mind directly to the problems of\nfaith, and has but a moderate amount of mind to apply. Zophar, indeed,\nis a man of considerable intelligence; but he betrays himself. To him\nJob's words have been wearisome. He may have tried to understand the\nmatter, but he has caught only a general impression that, in the face of\nwhat appears to him clearest evidence, Job denies being any way amenable\nto justice. He had dared to say to God, \"Thou knowest that I am not\nwicked.\" What? God can afflict a man whom He knows to be righteous! It\nis a doctrine as profane as it is novel. Eliphaz and Bildad supposed\nthat they had to deal with a man unwilling to humble himself in the way\nof acknowledging sins hitherto concealed. By pressure of one kind or\nanother they hoped to get Job to realise his secret transgression. But\nZophar has noted the whole tendency of his argument to be heretical.\n\"Thou sayest, My doctrine is pure.\" And what is that doctrine? Why, that\nthou wast clean in the eyes of God, that God has smitten thee without\ncause. Dost thou mean, O Job! to accuse the Most High of acting in that\nmanner? Oh that God would speak and open His lips against thee! Thou\nhast expressed a desire to state thy case to Him. The result would be\nvery different from thy expectation.\n\nNow, beneath any mistaken view held by sincere persons there is almost\nalways a sort of foundation of truth; and they have at least as much\nlogic as satisfies themselves. Job's friends are religious men; they do\nnot consciously build on lies. One and all they are convinced that God\nis invariable in His treatment of men, never afflicting the innocent,\nalways dealing out judgment in the precise measure of a man's sin. That\nbelief is the basis of their creed. They could not worship a God less\nthan absolutely just. Beginning the religious life with this faith they\nhave clung to it all along. After thirty or forty years' experience they\nare still confident that their principle explains the prosperity and\naffliction, the circumstances of all human beings. But have they never\nseen anything that did not harmonise with this view of providence? Have\nthey not seen the good die in youth, and those whose hearts are dry as\nsummer dust burn to their sockets? Have they not seen vile schemes\nprosper, and the schemers enjoy their ill-gotten power for years? It is\nstrange the old faith has not been shaken at least. But no! They come to\nthe case of Job as firmly convinced as ever that the Ruler of the world\nshows His justice by dispensing joy and suffering in proportion to men's\ngood and evil deeds, that whenever trouble falls on any one some sin\nmust have been committed which deserved precisely this kind and quantity\nof suffering.\n\nTrying to get at the source of the belief we must confess ourselves\npartly at a loss. One writer suggests that there may have been in the\nearlier and simpler conditions of society a closer correspondence\nbetween wrong-doing and suffering than is to be seen nowadays. There\nmay be something in this. But life is not governed differently at\ndifferent epochs, and the theory is hardly proved by what we know of\nthe ancient world. No doubt in the history of the Hebrews, which lies\nbehind the faith attributed to the friends of Job, a connection may be\ntraced between their wrong-doing _as a nation_ and their suffering _as\na nation_. When they fell away from faith in God their obedience\nlanguished, their vigour failed, the end of their existence being lost\nsight of, and so they became the prey of enemies. But this did not\napply to individuals. The good suffered along with the careless and\nwicked in seasons of national calamity. And the history of the people\nof Israel would support such a view of the Divine government so long\nonly as national transgression and its punishment were alone taken\ninto account. Now, however, the distinction between the nation and the\nindividual has clearly emerged. The sin of a community can no longer\nexplain satisfactorily the sufferings of a member of the community,\nfaithful among the unbelieving.\n\nBut the theory seems to have been made out rather by the following\ncourse of argument. Always in the administration of law and the\nexercise of paternal authority, transgression has been visited with\npain and deprivation of privilege. The father whose son has disobeyed\nhim inflicts pain, and, if he is a judicious father, makes the pain\nproportionate to the offence. The ruler, through his judges and\nofficers, punishes transgression according to some orderly code.\nMalefactors are deprived of liberty; they are fined or scourged, or,\nin the last resort, executed. Now, having in this way built up a\nsystem of law which inflicts punishment with more or less justice in\nproportion to the offence imputed, men take for granted that what they\ndo imperfectly is done perfectly by God. They take for granted that\nthe calamities and troubles He appoints are ordained according to the\nsame principle, with precisely the same design, as penalty is\ninflicted by a father, a chief, or a king. The reasoning is\ncontradicted in many ways, but they disregard the difficulties. If\nthis is not the truth, what other explanation is to be found? The\ndesire for happiness is keen; pain seems the worst of evils: and they\nfail to see that endurance can be the means of good. Feeling\nthemselves bound to maintain the perfect righteousness of God they\naffirm the only theory of suffering that seems to agree with it.\n\nNow, Zophar, like the others full of this theory, admits that Job may\nhave failed to see his transgression. But in that case the sufferer is\nunable to distinguish right from wrong. Indeed, his whole contention\nseems to Zophar to show ignorance. If God were to speak and reveal the\nsecrets of His holy wisdom, twice as deep, twice as penetrating as Job\nsupposes, the sins he has denied would be brought home to him. He\nwould know that God requires less of him than his iniquity deserves.\nZophar hints, what is very true, that our judgment of our own conduct\nis imperfect. How can we trace the real nature of our actions, or know\nhow they look to the sublime wisdom of the Most High? Job appears to\nhave forgotten all this. He refuses to allow fault in himself. But God\nknows better.\n\nHere is a cunning argument to fortify the general position. It could\nalways be said of a case which presented difficulties that, while the\nsufferer seemed innocent, yet the wisdom of God, \"twofold in\nunderstanding\" (ver. 6) as compared with that of man, perceived guilt\nand ordained the punishment. But the argument proved too much, for\nZophar's own health and comfort contradicted his dogma. He took for\ngranted that the twofold wisdom of the Almighty found nothing wrong in\nhim. It was a na\u00efve piece of forgetfulness. Could he assert that his\nlife had no flaw? Hardly. But then, why is he in honour? How had he\nbeen able to come riding on his camel, attended by his servants, to\nsit in judgment on Job? Plainly, on an argument like his, no man could\never be in comfort or pleasure, for human nature is always defective,\nalways in more or less of sin. Repentance never overtakes the future.\nTherefore God who deals with man on a broad basis could never treat\nhim save as a sinner, to be kept in pain and deprivation. If suffering\nis the penalty of sin we ought all, notwithstanding the atonement of\nChrist, to be suffering the pain of the hour for the defect of the\nhour, since \"all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.\" At\nthis rate man's life--again despite the atonement--would be continued\ntrial and sentence. From all which it is evident that the world is\ngoverned on another plan than that which satisfied Job's friends.\n\nZophar rises to eloquence in declaring the unsearchableness of Divine\nwisdom.\n\n      \"_Canst thou find the depths of Eloah?\n       Canst thou reach to the end of Shaddai?\n       Heights of heaven! What canst thou do?\n       Deeper than Sheol! What canst thou know?\n       The measure thereof is longer than the earth,\n       Broader is it than the sea._\"\n\nHere is fine poetry; but with an attempt at theology the speaker goes\nastray, for he conceives God as doing what he himself wishes to do,\nnamely, prove Job a sinner. The Divine greatness is invoked that a\nnarrow scheme of thought may be justified. If God pass by, if He\narrest, if He hold assize, who can hinder Him? Supreme wisdom and\ninfinite power admit no questioning, no resistance. God knoweth vain\nor wicked men at a glance. One look and all is plain to Him. Empty man\nwill be wise in these matters \"when a wild ass's colt is born a man.\"\n\nTurning from this, as if in recollection that he has to treat Job with\nfriendliness, Zophar closes like the other two with a promise. If Job\nwill put away sin, his life shall be established again, his misery\nforgotten or remembered as a torrent of spring when the heat of summer\ncomes.\n\n      \"_Thou shalt forget thy misery;\n       Remember it as waters that have passed by;\n       And thy life shall rise brighter than noonday;\n       And if darkness fall, it shall be as the morning.\n       Thou shalt then have confidence because there is hope;\n       Yea, look around and take rest in safety,\n       Also lie down and none shall affray thee,\n       And many shall make suit unto thee.\n       But the eyes of the wicked fail;\n       For them no way of escape.\n       And their hope is to breathe out the spirit._\"\n\nRhetoric and logic are used in promises given freely by all the\nspeakers. But not one of them has any comfort for his friend while the\naffliction lasts. The author does not allow one of them to say, God is\nthy friend, God is thy portion--now; He still cares for thee. In some\nof the psalms a higher note is heard: \"There be many that say, Who will\nshew us any good? LORD, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon\nus. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their\ncorn and their wine increased.\" The friends of Job are full of pious\nintentions, yet they state a most unspiritual creed, the foundation of\nit laid in corn and wine. Peace of conscience and quiet confidence in\nGod are not what they go by. Hence the sufferer finds no support in them\nor their promises. They will not help him to live one day, nor sustain\nhim in dying. For it is the light of God's countenance he desires to\nsee. He is only mocked and exasperated by their arguments; and in the\ncourse of his own eager thought the revelation comes like a star of hope\nrising on the midnight of his soul.\n\nThough Zophar fails like the other two, he is not to be called a mere\necho. It is incorrect to say that, while Eliphaz is a kind of prophet\nand Bildad a sage, Zophar is a commonplace man without ideas. On the\ncontrary, he is a thinker, something of a philosopher, although, of\ncourse, greatly restricted by his narrow creed. He is stringent,\nbitter indeed. But he has the merit of seeing a certain force in Job's\ncontention which he does not fairly meet. It is a fresh suggestion\nthat the answer must lie in the depth of that penetrating wisdom of\nthe Most High, compared to which man's wisdom is vain. Then, his\ndescription of the return of blessedness and prosperity, when one\nexamines it, is found distinctly in advance of Eliphaz's picture in\nmoral colouring and gravity of treatment. We must not fail to notice,\nmoreover, that Zophar speaks of the omniscience of God more than of\nHis omnipotence; and the closing verse describes the end of the wicked\nnot as the result of a supernatural stroke or a sudden calamity, but\nas a process of natural and spiritual decay.\n\nThe closing words of Zophar's speech point to the finality of death, and\nbear the meaning that if Job were to die now of his disease the whole\nquestion of his character would be closed. It is important to note this,\nbecause it enters into Job's mind and affects his expressions of desire.\nNever again does he cry for release as before. If he names death it is\nas a sorrowful fate he must meet or a power he will defy. He advances to\none point after another of reasserted energy, to the resolution that,\nwhatever death may do, either in the underworld or beyond it he will\nwait for vindication or assert his right.\n\n\n\n\nXII.\n\n_BEYOND FACT AND FEAR TO GOD._\n\nJOB SPEAKS. CHAPS. xii.-xiv.\n\n\nZophar excites in Job's mind great irritation, which must not be set\ndown altogether to the fact that he is the third to speak. In some\nrespects he has made the best attack from the old position, pressing\nmost upon the conscience of Job. He has also used a curt positive tone\nin setting out the method and principle of Divine government and the\njudgment he has formed of his friend's state. Job is accordingly the\nmore impatient, if not disconcerted. Zophar had spoken of the want of\nunderstanding Job had shown, and the penetrating wisdom of God which\nat a glance convicts men of iniquity. His tone provoked resentment.\nWho is this that claims to have solved the enigmas of providence, to\nhave gone into the depths of wisdom? Does he know any more, he\nhimself, than the wild ass's colt?\n\nAnd Job begins with stringent irony--\n\n      \"_No doubt but ye are the people,\n       And wisdom shall die with you._\"\n\nThe secrets of thought, of revelation itself are yours. No doubt the\nworld waited to be taught till you were born. Do you not think so?\nBut, after all, I also have a share of understanding, I am not quite\nso void of intellect as you seem to fancy. Besides, who knoweth not\nsuch things as ye speak? Are they new? I had supposed them to be\ncommonplaces. Yea, if you recall what I said, you will find that with\na little more vigour than yours I made the same declarations.\n\n      \"_A laughing-stock to his neighbours am I,\n       I who called upon Eloah and He answered me,--\n       A laughing-stock, the righteous and perfect man._\"\n\nJob sees or thinks he sees that his misery makes him an object of\ncontempt to men who once gave him the credit of far greater wisdom and\ngoodness than their own. They are bringing out old notions, which are\nutterly useless, to explain the ways of God; they assume the place of\nteachers; they are far better, far wiser now than he. It is more than\nflesh can bear.\n\nAs he looks at his own diseased body and feels again his weakness, the\ncruelty of the conventional judgment stings him. \"In the thought of\nhim that is at ease there is for misfortune scorn; it awaiteth them\nthat slip with the foot.\" Perhaps Job was mistaken, but it is too\noften true that the man who fails in a social sense is the man\nsuspected. Evil things are found in him when he is covered with the\ndust of misfortune, things which no one dreamed of before. Flatterers\nbecome critics and judges. They find that he has a bad heart or that\nhe is a fool.\n\nBut if those very good and wise friends of Job are astonished at\nanything previously said, they shall be more astonished. The facts\nwhich their account of Divine providence very carefully avoided as\ninconvenient Job will blurt out. They have stated and restated, with\nutmost complacency, their threadbare theory of the government of God.\nLet them look now abroad on the world and see what actually goes on,\nblinking no facts.\n\nThe tents of robbers prosper. Out in the desert there are troops of\nbandits who are never overtaken by justice; and they that provoke God\nare secure, who carry a god in their hand, whose sword and the\nreckless daring with which they use it make them to all appearance\nsafe in villainy. These are the things to be accounted for; and,\naccounting for them, Job launches into a most emphatic argument to\nprove all that is done in the world strangely and inexplicably to be\nthe doing of God. As to that he will allow no question. His friends\nshall know that he is sound on this head. And let them provide the\ndefence of Divine righteousness after he has spoken.\n\nHere, however, it is necessary to consider in what way the limitations\nof Hebrew thought must have been felt by one who, turning from the\npopular creed, sought a view more in harmony with fact. Now-a-days the\nword _nature_ is often made to stand for a force or combination of\nforces conceived of as either entirely or partially independent of\nGod. Tennyson makes the distinction when he speaks of man\n\n      \"Who trusted God was love indeed\n         And love creation's final law,\n         Though nature, red in tooth and claw\n       With ravin, shrieked against the creed\"\n\nand again when he asks--\n\n      \"Are God and nature then at strife\n         That nature lends such evil dreams,\n         So careful of the type she seems,\n       So careless of the single life?\"\n\nNow to this question, perplexing enough on the face of it when we\nconsider what suffering there is in the creation, how the waves of\nlife seem to beat and break themselves age after age on the rocks of\ndeath, the answer in its first stage is that God and nature cannot be\nat strife. They are not apart; there is but one universe, therefore\none Cause. One Omnipotent there is whose will is done, whose character\nis shown in all we see and all we cannot see, the issues of endless\nstrife, the long results of perennial evolution. But then comes the\nquestion, What is His character, of what spirit is He who alone rules,\nwho sends after the calm the fierce storm, after the beauty of life\nthe corruption of death? And one may say the struggle between Bible\nreligion and modern science is on this very field.\n\nCold heartless power, say some; no Father, but an impersonal Will to\nwhich men are nothing, human joy and love nothing, to which the fair\nblossom is no more than the clod, and the holy prayer no better than\nthe vile sneer. On this, faith arises to the struggle. Faith warm and\nhopeful takes reason into counsel, searches the springs of existence,\ngoes forth into the future and forecasts the end, that it may affirm\nand reaffirm against all denial that One Omnipotent reigns who is\nall-loving, the Father of infinite mercy. Here is the arena; here the\nconflict rages and will rage for many a day. And to him will belong\nthe laurels of the age who, with the Bible in one hand and the\ninstruments of science in the other, effects the reconciliation of\nfaith with fact. Tennyson came with the questions of our day. He\npasses and has not given a satisfactory answer. Carlyle has gone with\nthe \"Everlasting Yea and No\" beating through his oracles. Even\nBrowning, a later athlete, did not find complete reason for faith.\n\n      \"From Thy will stream the worlds, life, and nature, Thy dread\n               sabaoth.\"\n\nNow return to Job. He considers nature; he believes in God; he stands\nfirmly on the conviction that all is of God. Hebrew faith held this,\nand was not limited in holding it, for it is the fact. But we cannot\nwonder that providence disconcerted him, since the reconciliation of\n\"merciless\" nature and the merciful God is not even yet wrought out.\nNotwithstanding the revelation of Christ, many still find themselves\nin darkness just when light is most urgently craved. Willing to\nbelieve, they yet lean to a dualism which makes God Himself appear in\nconflict with the scheme of things, thwarted now and now repentant,\ngracious in design but not always in effect. Now the limitation of the\nHebrew was this, that to his idea the infinite power of God was not\nbalanced by infinite mercy, that is, by regard to the whole work of\nHis hands. In one stormy dash after another Job is made to attempt\nthis barrier. At moments he is lifted beyond it, and sees the great\nuniverse filled with Divine care that equals power; for the present,\nhowever, he distinguishes between merciful intent and merciless, and\nascribes both to God.\n\nWhat does he say? God is in the deceived and in the deceiver; they are\nboth products of nature, that is, creatures of God. He increaseth the\nnations and destroyeth them. Cities arise and become populous. The\ngreat metropolis is filled with its myriads, \"among whom are six-score\nthousand that cannot discern between their right hand and their left.\"\nThe city shall fulfil its cycle and perish. It is God. Searching for\nreconciliation Job looks the facts of human existence right in the\nface, and he sees a confusion, the whole enigma which lies in the\nconstitution of the world and of the soul. Observe how his thought\nmoves. The beasts, the fowls of the air, the fishes of the sea, all\nliving beings everywhere, not self-created, with no power to shape or\nresist their destiny, bear witness to the almightiness of God. In His\nhand is the lower creation; in His hand also, rising higher, is the\nbreath of all mankind. Absolute, universal is that power, dispensing\nlife and death as it broods over the ages. Men have sought to\nunderstand the ways of the Great Being. The ear trieth words as the\nmouth tasteth meat. Is there wisdom with the ancient, those who live\nlong, as Bildad says? Yes: but with God are wisdom _and strength_; not\npenetration only, but power. He discerns and does. He demolishes, and\nthere is no rebuilding. Man is imprisoned, shut up by misfortune, by\ndisease. It is God's decree, and there is no opening till He allows.\nAt His will the waters are dried up; at His will they pour in torrents\nover the earth. And so amongst men there are currents of evil and good\nflowing through lives, here in the liar and cheat, there in the victim\nof knavery; here in the counsellors whose plans come to nothing, there\nin the judges whose sagacity is changed to folly; and all these\ncurrents and cross-currents, making life a bewildering maze, have\ntheir beginning in the will of God, who seems to take pleasure in\ndoing what is strange and baffling. Kings take men captive; the bonds\nof the captives are loosed, and the kings themselves are bound. What\nare princes and priests, what are the mighty to Him? What is the\nspeech of the eloquent? Where is the understanding of the aged when He\nspreads confusion? Deep as in the very gloom of the grave the\nambitious may hide their schemes; the flux of events brings them out\nto judgment, one cannot foresee how. Nations are raised up and\ndestroyed; the chiefs of the people are made to fear like children.\nTrusted leaders wander in a wilderness; they grope in midnight gloom;\nthey stagger like the drunken. Behold, says Job, all this I have seen.\nThis is God's doing. And with this great God he would speak; he, a\nman, would have things out with the Lord of all (chap. xiii. 3).\n\nThis impetuous passage, full of revolution, disaster, vast mutations,\na phantasmagoria of human struggle and defeat, while it supplies a\nnote of time and gives a distinct clue to the writer's position as an\nIsraelite, is remarkable for the faith that survives its apparent\npessimism. Others have surveyed the world and the history of change,\nand have protested with their last voice against the cruelty that\nseemed to rule. As for any God, they could never trust one whose will\nand power were to be found alike in the craft of the deceiver and the\nmisery of the victim, in the baffling of sincere thought and the\noverthrow of the honest with the vile. But Job trusts on. Beneath\nevery enigma, he looks for reason; beyond every disaster, to a Divine\nend. The voices of men have come between him and the voice of the\nSupreme. Personal disaster has come between him and his sense of God.\nHis thought is not free. If it were, he would catch the reconciling\nword, his soul would hear the music of eternity. \"I would reason with\nGod.\" He clings to God-given reason as his instrument of discovery.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nVery bold is this whole position, and very reverent also, if you will\nthink of it; far more honouring to God than any attempt of the friends\nwho, as Job says, appear to hold the Almighty no better than a petty\nchief, so insecure in His position that He must be grateful to any one\nwho will justify His deeds. \"Poor God, with nobody to help Him.\" Job\nuses all his irony in exposing the folly of such a religion, the\nimpertinence of presenting it to him as a solution and a help. In\nshort, he tells them, they are pious quacks, and, as he will have none\nof them for his part, he thinks God will not either. The author is at\nthe very heart of religion here. The word of reproof and correction,\nthe plea for providence must go straight to the reason of man, or it\nis of no use. The word of the Lord must be a two-edged sword of truth,\npiercing to the dividing asunder even of soul and spirit. That is to\nsay, into the centre of energy the truth must be driven which kills\nthe spirit of rebellion, so that the will of man, set free, may come\ninto conscious and passionate accord with the will of God. But\nreconciliation is impossible unless each will deal in the utmost\nsincerity with truth, realising the facts of existence, the nature of\nthe soul and the great necessities of its discipline. To be true in\ntheology we must not accept what seems to be true, nor speak\nforensically, but affirm what we have proved in our own life and\ngathered in utmost effort from Scripture and from nature. Men inherit\nopinions as they used to inherit garments, or devise them, like\nclothes of a new fashion, and from within the folds they speak, not as\nmen but as priests, what is the right thing according to a received\ntheory. It will not do. Even of old time a man like the author of Job\nturned contemptuously from school-made explanations and sought a\nliving word. In our age the number of those whose fever can be lulled\nwith a working theory of religion and a judicious arrangement of the\nuniverse is rapidly becoming small. Theology is being driven to look\nthe facts of life full in the face. If the world has learned anything\nfrom modern science, it is the habit of rigorous research and the\njustification of free inquiry, and the lesson will never be unlearned.\n\nTo take one error of theology. All men are concluded equally under God's\nwrath and curse; then the proofs of the malediction are found in\ntrouble, fear and pain. But what comes of this teaching? Out in the\nworld, with facts forcing themselves on consciousness, the scheme is\nfound hollow. All are not in trouble and pain. Those who are afflicted\nand disappointed are often sincere Christians. A theory of deferred\njudgment and happiness is made for escape; it does not, however, in the\nleast enable one to comprehend how, if pain and trouble be the\nconsequences of sin, they should not be distributed rightly from the\nfirst. A universal moral order cannot begin in a manner so doubtful, so\nvery difficult for the wayfaring man to read as he goes. To hold that it\ncan is to turn religion into an occultism which at every point bewilders\nthe simple mind. The theory is one which tends to blunt the sense of sin\nin those who are prosperous, and to beget that confident Pharisaism\nwhich is the curse of church-life. On the other hand, the \"sacrificed\nclasses,\" contrasting their own moral character with that of the\nfrivolous and fleshly rich, are forced to throw over a theology which\nbinds together sin and suffering, and to deny a God whose equity is so\nfar to seek. And yet, again, in the recoil from all this men invent\nwersh schemes of bland good-will and comfort, which have simply nothing\nto do with the facts of life, no basis in the world as we know it, no\nsense of the rigour of Divine love. So Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar remain\nwith us and confuse theology until some think it lost in unreason.\n\n      \"_But ye are patchers of lies,\n       Physicians of nought are ye all.\n       Oh that ye would only keep silence,\n       And it should be your wisdom._\" (_chap. xiii._ 4, 5).\n\nJob sets them down with a current proverb--\"Even a fool, when he\nholdeth his peace, is counted wise.\" He begs them to be silent. They\nshall now hear his rebuke.\n\n      \"_On behalf of God will ye speak wrong?\n       And for Him will ye speak deceit?\n       Will ye be partisans for Him?\n       Or for God will ye contend?_\"\n\nJob finds them guilty of speaking falsely as special pleaders for God in\ntwo respects. They insist that he has offended God, but they cannot\npoint to one sin which he has committed. On the other hand, they affirm\npositively that God will restore prosperity if confession is made. But\nin this too they play the part of advocates without warrant. They show\ngreat presumption in daring to pledge the Almighty to a course in\naccordance with their idea of justice. The issue might be what they\npredict; it might not. They are venturing on ground to which their\nknowledge does not extend. They think their presumption justified\nbecause it is for religion's sake. Job administers a sound rebuke, and\nit extends to our own time. Special pleaders for God's sovereign and\nunconditional right and for His illimitable good-nature, alike have\nwarning here. What justification have men in affirming that God will\nwork out His problems in detail according to their views? He has given\nto us the power to apprehend the great principles of His working. He has\nrevealed much in nature, providence, and Scripture, and in Christ; but\nthere is the \"hiding of His power,\" \"His path is in the mighty waters,\nand His judgments are not known.\" Christ has said, \"It is not for you to\nknow times and seasons which the Father hath set within His own\nauthority.\" There are certainties of our consciousness, facts of the\nworld and of revelation from which we can argue. Where these confirm, we\nmay dogmatise, and the dogma will strike home. But no piety, no desire\nto vindicate the Almighty or to convict and convert the sinner, can\njustify any man in passing beyond the certainty which God has given him\nto that unknown which lies far above human ken.\n\n      \"_He will surely correct you\n       If in secret ye are partial.\n       Shall not His majesty terrify you,\n       And His dread fall upon you?_\" (_chap. xiii._ 10, 11).\n\nThe Book of Job, while it brands insincerity and loose reasoning,\njustifies all honest and reverent research. Here, as in the teaching of\nour Lord, the real heretic is he who is false to his own reason and\nconscience, to the truth of things as God gives him to apprehend it,\nwho, in short, makes believe to any extent in the sphere of religion.\nAnd it is upon this man the terror of the Divine majesty is to fall.\n\nWe saw how Bildad established himself on the wisdom of the ancients.\nRecalling this, Job flings contempt on his traditional sayings.\n\n      \"_Your remembrances are proverbs of ashes,\n       Your defences, defences of dust._\"\n\nDid they mean to smite him with those proverbs as with stones? They\nwere ashes. Did they intrench themselves from the assaults of reason\nbehind old suppositions? Their ramparts were mere dust. Once more he\nbids them hold their peace, and let him alone that he may speak out\nall that is in his mind. It is, he knows, at the hazard of his life he\ngoes forward; but he will. The case in which he is can have no remedy\nexcepting by an appeal to God, and that final appeal he will make.\n\nNow the proper beginning of this appeal is in the twenty-third verse,\nwith the words: \"How many are mine iniquities and my sins?\" But before\nJob reaches it he expresses his sense of the danger and difficulty\nunder which he lies, interweaving with the statement of these a\nmarvellous confidence in the result of what he is about to do.\nReferring to the declarations of his friends as to the danger that yet\nthreatens if he will not confess sin, he uses a proverbial expression\nfor hazard of life.\n\n      \"_Why do I take my flesh in my teeth,\n       And put my life in my hand?_\"\n\nWhy do I incur this danger, do you say? Never mind. It is not your\naffair. For bare existence I care nothing. To escape with mere\nconsciousness for a while is no object to me, as I now am. With my\nlife in my hand I hasten to God.\n\n      \"_Lo! He will slay me: I will not delay--\n       Yet my ways will I maintain before Him_\" (_chap. xiii._ 15).\n\nThe old Version here, \"Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him,\" is\ninaccurate. Still it is not far from expressing the brave purpose of\nthe man--prostrate before God, yet resolved to cling to the justice of\nthe case as he apprehends it, assured that this will not only be\nexcused by God, but will bring about his acquittal or salvation. To\ngrovel in the dust, confessing himself a miserable sinner more than\nworthy of all the sufferings he has undergone, while in his heart he\nhas the consciousness of being upright and faithful--this would not\ncommend him to the Judge of all the earth. It would be a mockery of\ntruth and righteousness, therefore of God Himself. On the other hand,\nto maintain his integrity which God gave him, to go on maintaining it\nat the hazard of all, is his only course, his only safety.\n\n      \"_This also shall be my salvation,\n       For a godless man shall not live before Him._\"\n\nThe fine moral instinct of Job, giving courage to his theology,\ndeclares that God demands \"truth in the inward parts\" and truth in\nspeech--that man \"consists in truth\"--that \"if he betrays truth he\nbetrays himself,\" which is a crime against his Maker. No man is so\nmuch in danger of separating himself from God and losing everything as\nhe who acts or speaks against conviction.\n\nJob has declared his hazard, that he is lying helpless before Almighty\nPower which may in a moment crush him. He has also expressed his faith,\nthat approaching God in the courage of truth he will not be rejected,\nthat absolute sincerity will alone give him a claim on the Infinitely\nTrue. Now turning to his friends as if in new defiance, he says:--\n\n      \"_Hear diligently my speech,\n       And my explanation with your ears.\n       Behold now, I have ordered my cause;\n       I know that I shall be justified.\n       Who is he that will contend with me?\n       For then would I hold my peace and expire._\"\n\nThat is to say, he has reviewed his life once more, he has considered\nall possibilities of transgression, and yet his contention remains. So\nmuch does he build upon his claim on God that, if any one could now\nconvict him, his heart would fail, life would no more be worth living;\nthe foundation of hope destroyed, conflict would be at an end.\n\nBut with his plea to God still in view he expresses once more his\nsense of the disadvantage under which he lies. The pressure of the\nDivine hand is upon him still, a sore enervating terror which bears\nupon his soul. Would God but give him respite for a little from the\npain and the fear, then he would be ready either to answer the summons\nof the Judge or make his own demand for vindication.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWe may suppose an interval of release from pain or at least a pause of\nexpectancy, and then, in verse twenty-third, Job begins his cry. The\nlanguage is less vehement than we have heard. It has more of the\npathos of weak human life. He is one with that race of thinking,\nfeeling, suffering creatures who are tossed about on the waves of\nexistence, driven before the winds of change like autumn leaves. It is\nthe plea of human feebleness and mortality we hear, and then, as the\n\"still sad music\" touches the lowest note of wailing, there mingles\nwith it the strain of hope.\n\n      \"_How many are mine iniquities and sins?\n       Make me to know my transgression and my sin._\"\n\nWe are not to understand here that Job confesses great transgressions,\nnor, contrariwise, that he denies infirmity and error in himself.\nThere are no doubt failures of his youth which remain in memory, sins\nof desire, errors of ignorance, mistakes in conduct such as the best\nmen fall into. These he does not deny. But righteousness and happiness\nhave been represented as a profit and loss account, and therefore Job\nwishes to hear from God a statement in exact form of all he has done\namiss or failed to do, so that he may be able to see the relation\nbetween fault and suffering, his faults and his sufferings, if such\nrelation there be. It appears that God is counting him an enemy (ver.\n24). He would like to have the reason for that. So far as he knows\nhimself he has sought to obey and honour the Almighty. Certainly there\nhas never been in his heart any conscious desire to resist the will of\nEloah. Is it then for transgressions unwittingly committed that he now\nsuffers--for sins he did not intend or know of? God is just. It is\nsurely a part of His justice to make a sufferer aware why such\nterrible afflictions befal him.\n\nAnd then--is it worth while for the Almighty to be so hard on a poor\nweak mortal?\n\n      \"_Wilt thou scare a driven leaf--\n       Wilt thou pursue the dry stubble--\n       That thou writest bitter judgments against me,\n       And makest me to possess the faults of my youth,\n       And puttest my feet in the stocks,\n       And watchest all my paths,\n       And drawest a line about the soles of my feet--\n       One who as a rotten thing is consuming,\n       As a garment that is moth-eaten?_\"\n\nThe sense of rigid restraint and pitiable decay was perhaps never\nexpressed with so fit and vivid imagery. So far it is personal. Then\nbegins a general lamentation regarding the sad fleeting life of man.\nHis own prosperity, which passed as a dream, has become to Job a type\nof the brief vain existence of the race tried at every moment by\ninexorable Divine judgment; and the low mournful words of the Arabian\nchief have echoed ever since in the language of sorrow and loss.\n\n      \"_Man that is born of woman,\n       Of few days is he and full of trouble.\n       Like the flower he springs up and withers;\n       Like a shadow he flees and stays not.\n       Is it on such a one Thou hast fixed Thine eye?\n       Bringest Thou me into Thy judgment?\n       Oh that the clean might come out of the unclean!\n       But there is not one._\"\n\nHuman frailty is both of the body and of the soul; and it is\nuniversal. The nativity of men forbids their purity. Well does God\nknow the weakness of His creatures; and why then does He expect of\nthem, if indeed He expects, a pureness that can stand the test of His\nsearching? Job cannot be free from the common infirmity of mortals. He\nis born of woman. But why then is he chased with inquiry, haunted and\nscared by a righteousness he cannot satisfy? Should not the Great God\nbe forbearing with a man?\n\n      \"_Since his days are determined,\n       The number of his moons with Thee,\n       And Thou hast set him bounds not to be passed;\n       Look Thou away from him, that he may rest,\n       At least fulfil as a hireling his day._\"\n\nMan's life being so short, his death so sure and soon, seeing he is\nlike a hireling in the world, might he not be allowed a little rest?\nmight he not, as one who has fulfilled his day's work, be let go for a\nlittle repose ere he die? That certain death, it weighs upon him now,\npressing down his thought.\n\n      \"_For even a tree hath hope;\n       If it be hewn down it will sprout anew,\n       The young shoot thereof will not fail.\n       If in the earth its root wax old,\n       Or in the ground its stock should die,\n       Yet at the scent of water it will spring,\n       And shoot forth boughs like a new plant.\n       But a man: he dies and is cut off;\n       Yea, when men die, they are gone.\n       Ebbs away the water from the sea,\n       And the stream decays and dries:\n       So when men have lain down they rise not;\n       Till the heavens vanish they never awake,\n       Nor are they roused from their sleep._\"\n\nNo arguments, no promises can break this deep gloom and silence into\nwhich the life of man passes. Once Job had sought death; now a desire\nhas grown within him, and with it recoil from Sheol. To meet God, to\nobtain his own justification and the clearing of Divine righteousness,\nto have the problem of life explained--the hope of this makes life\nprecious. Is he to lie down and rise no more while the skies endure? Is\nno voice to reach him from the heavenly justice he has always confided\nin? The very thought is confounding. If he were now to desire death it\nwould mean that he had given up all faith, that justice, truth, and even\nthe Divine name of Eloah had ceased to have any value for him.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWe are to behold the rise of a new hope, like a star in the firmament\nof his thought. Whence does it spring?\n\nThe religion of the Book of Job, as already shown, is, in respect of\nform, a natural religion; that is to say, the ideas are not derived\nfrom the Hebrew Scriptures. The writer does not refer to the\nlegislation of Moses and the great words of prophets. The expression\n\"As the Lord said unto Moses\" does not occur in this book, nor any\nequivalent. It is through nature and the human consciousness that the\nreligious beliefs of the poem appear to have come into shape. Yet two\nfacts are to be kept fully in view.\n\nThe first is that even a natural religion must not be supposed to be a\nthing of man's invention, with no origin further than his dreams. We\nmust not declare all religious ideas outside those of Israel to be\nmere fictions of the human fancy or happy guesses at truth. The\nreligion of Teman may have owed some of its great thoughts to Israel.\nBut, apart from that, a basis of Divine revelation is always laid\nwherever men think and live. In every land the heart of man has borne\nwitness to God. Reverent thought, dwelling on justice, truth, mercy,\nand all virtues found in the range of experience and consciousness,\ncame through them to the idea of God. Every one who made an induction\nas to the Great Unseen Being, his mind open to the facts of nature and\nhis own moral constitution, was in a sense a prophet. As far as they\nwent, the reality and value of religious ideas, so reached, are\nacknowledged by Bible writers themselves. \"The invisible things of God\nfrom the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived\nthrough the things that are made, even His everlasting power and\ndivinity.\" God has always been revealing Himself to men.\n\n\"Natural religion\" we say: and yet, since God is always revealing\nHimself and has made all men more or less capable of apprehending the\nrevelation, even the natural is supernatural. Take the religion of\nEgypt, or of Chald\u00e6a, or of Persia. You may contrast any one of these\nwith the religion of Israel; you may call the one natural, the other\nrevealed. But the Persian speaking of the Great Good Spirit or the\nChald\u00e6an worshipping a supreme Lord must have had some kind of\nrevelation; and his sense of it, not clear indeed, far enough below\nthat of Moses or Isaiah, was yet a forth-reaching towards the same\nlight as now shines for us.\n\nNext we must keep it in view that Job does not appear as a thinker\nbuilding on himself alone, depending on his own religious experience.\nCenturies and ages of thought are behind these beliefs which are\nascribed to him, even the ideas which seem to start up freshly as the\nresult of original discovery. Imagine a man thinking for himself about\nDivine things in that far-away Arabian past. His mind, to begin with, is\nnot a blank. His father has instructed him. There is a faith that has\ncome down from many generations. He has found words in use which hold in\nthem religious ideas, discoveries, perceptions of Divine reality, caught\nand fixed ages before. When he learned language the products of\nevolution, not only psychical, but intellectual and spiritual, became\nhis. Eloah, the lofty one, the righteousness of Eloah, the word of\nEloah, Eloah as Creator, as Watcher of men, Eloah as wise, unsearchable\nin wisdom, as strong, infinitely mighty,--these are ideas he has not\nstruck out for himself, but inherited. Clearly then a new thought,\nspringing from these, comes as a supernatural communication and has\nbehind it ages of spiritual evolution. It is new, but has its root in\nthe old; it is natural, but originates in the over-nature.\n\nNow the primitive religion of the Semites, the race to which Job\nbelonged, to which also the Hebrews belonged, has been of late carefully\nstudied; and with regard to it certain things have been established that\nbear on the new hope we are to find struck out by the Man of Uz.\n\nIn the early morning of religious thought among those Semites it was\nuniversally believed that the members of a family or tribe, united by\nblood-relationship to each other, were also related in the same way to\ntheir God. He was their father, the invisible head and source of their\ncommunity, on whom they had a claim so long as they pleased him. His\ninterest in them was secured by the sacrificial meal which he was\ninvited and believed to share with them. If he had been offended, the\nsacrificial offering was the means of recovering his favour; and\ncommunion with him in those meals and sacrifices was the inheritance\nof all who claimed the kinship of that clan or tribe. With the\nclearing of spiritual vision this belief took a new form in the minds\nof the more thoughtful. The idea of communion remained and the\nnecessity of it to the life of the worshipper was felt even more\nstrongly when the kinship of the God with his subject family was, for\nthe few at least, no longer an affair of physical descent and\nblood-relationship, but of spiritual origin and attachment. And when\nfaith rose from the tribal god to the idea of the Heaven-Father, the\none Creator and King, communion with Him was felt to be in the highest\nsense a vital necessity. Here is found the religion of Job. A main\nelement of it was communion with Eloah, an ethical kinship with Him,\nno arbitrary or merely physical relation, but of the spirit. That is\nto say, Job has at the heart of his creed the truth as to man's\norigin and nature. The author of the book is a Hebrew; his own faith\nis that of the people from whom we have the Book of Genesis; but he\ntreats here of man's relation to God from the ethnic side, such as may\nbe taken now by a reasoner treating of spiritual evolution.\n\nCommunion with Eloah had been Job's life, and with it had been\nassociated his many years of wealth, dignity, and influence. Lest his\nchildren should fall from it and lose their most precious inheritance,\nhe used to bring the periodical offerings. But at length his own\ncommunion was interrupted. The sense of being at one with Eloah, if\nnot lost, became dull and faint. It is for the restoration of his very\nlife--not as we might think of religious feeling, but of actual spirit\nenergy--he is now concerned. It is this that underlies his desire for\nGod to speak with him, his demand for an opportunity of pleading his\ncause. Some might expect that he would ask his friends to offer\nsacrifice on his behalf. But he makes no such request. The crisis has\ncome in a region higher than sacrifice, where observances are of no\nuse. Thought only can reach it; the discovery of reconciling truth\nalone can satisfy. Sacrifices which for the old world sustained the\nrelation with God could no more for Job restore the intimacy of the\nspiritual Lord. With a passion for this fellowship keener than ever,\nsince he now more distinctly realises what it is, a fear blends in the\nheart of the man. Death will be upon him soon. Severed from God he\nwill fall away into the privation of that world where is neither\npraise nor service, knowledge nor device. Yet the truth which lies at\nthe heart of his religion does not yield. Leaning all upon it, he\nfinds it strong, elastic. He sees at least a possibility of\nreconciliation; for how can the way back to God ever be quite closed?\n\nWhat difficulty there was in his effort we know. To the common thought\nof the time when this book was written, say that of Hezekiah, the\nstate of the dead was not extinction indeed, but an existence of\nextreme tenuity and feebleness. In Sheol there was nothing active. The\nhollow ghost of the man was conceived of as neither hoping nor\nfearing, neither originating nor receiving impressions. Yet Job dares\nto anticipate that even in Sheol a set time of remembrance will be\nordained for him and he shall hear the thrilling call of God. As it\napproaches this climax the poem flashes and glows with prophetic fire.\n\n      \"_Oh that Thou would'st hide me in Sheol,\n       That Thou would'st keep me secret until Thy wrath be past,\n       That Thou would'st appoint a set time, and remember me!\n       If a (strong) man die, shall he live?\n       All the days of my appointed time would I wait\n       Till my release came.\n       Thou would'st call, I would answer Thee;\n       Thou would'st have a desire to the work of Thy hands._\"\n\nNot easily can we now realise the extraordinary step forward made in\nthought when the anticipation was thrown out of spiritual life going\non beyond death (\"would I wait\"), retaining intellectual potency in\nthat region otherwise dark and void to the human imagination (\"I would\nanswer Thee\"). From both the human side and the Divine the poet has\nadvanced a magnificent intuition, a springing arch into which he is\nunable to fit the keystone--the spiritual body; for He only could do\nthis who long afterwards came to be Himself the Resurrection and the\nLife. But when this poem of Job had been given to the world a new\nthought was implanted in the soul of the race, a new hope that should\nfight against the darkness of Sheol till that morning when the sunrise\nfell upon an empty sepulchre, and one standing in the light asked of\nsorrowful men, Why seek ye the living among the dead?\n\n\"Thou would'st have a desire to the work of Thy hands.\" What a\nphilosophy of Divine care underlies the words! They come with a force\nJob seems hardly to realise. Is there a High One who makes men in His\nown image, capable of fine achievement, and then casts them away in\ndiscontent or loathing? The voice of the poet rings in a passionate\nkey because he rises to a thought practically new to the human mind.\nHe has broken through barriers both of faith and doubt into the light\nof his hope and stands trembling on the verge of another world. \"One\nmust have had a keen perception of the profound relation between the\ncreature and his Maker in the past to be able to give utterance to\nsuch an imaginative expectation respecting the future.\"\n\nBut the wrath of God still appears to rest upon Job's life; still He\nseems to keep in reserve, sealed up, unrevealed, some record of\ntransgressions for which He has condemned His servant. From the height\nof hope Job falls away into an abject sense of the decay and misery to\nwhich man is brought by the continued rigour of Eloah's examination.\nAs with shocks of earthquake mountains are broken, and waters by\nconstant flowing wash down the soil and the plants rooted in it, so\nhuman life is wasted by the Divine severity. In the world the children\nwhom a man loved are exalted or brought low, but he knows nothing of\nit. His flesh corrupts in the grave and his soul in Sheol languishes.\n\n      \"_Thou destroyest the hope of man.\n       Thou ever prevailest against him, and he passeth;\n       Thou changest his countenance and sendest him away._\"\n\nThe real is at this point so grim and insistent as to shut off the\nideal and confine thought again to its own range. The energy of the\nprophetic mind is overborne, and unintelligible fact surrounds and\npresses hard the struggling personality.\n\n\n\n\nTHE SECOND COLLOQUY.\n\n\n\n\nXIII.\n\n_THE TRADITION OF A PURE RACE._\n\nELIPHAZ SPEAKS. CHAP. xv.\n\n\nThe first colloquy has made clear severance between the old Theology\nand the facts of human life. No positive reconciliation is effected as\nyet between reality and faith, no new reading of Divine providence has\nbeen offered. The author allows the friends on the one hand, Job on\nthe other, to seek the end of controversy just as men in their\ncircumstances would in real life have sought it. Unable to penetrate\nbehind the veil the one side clings obstinately to the ancestral\nfaith, on the other side the persecuted sufferer strains after a hope\nof vindication apart from any return of health and prosperity, which\nhe dares not expect. One of the conditions of the problem is the\ncertainty of death. Before death, repentance and restoration,--say the\nfriends. Death immediate, therefore should God hear me, vindicate\nme,--says Job. In desperation he breaks through to the hope that\nGod's wrath will pass even though his scared and harrowed life be\ndriven into Sheol. For a moment he sees the light; then it seems to\nexpire. To the orthodox friends any such thought is a kind of\nblasphemy. They believe in the nullity of the state beyond death.\nThere is no wisdom nor hope in the grave. \"The dead know not anything,\nneither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is\nforgotten\"--even by God. \"As well their love, as their hatred and\ntheir envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for\never in anything that is done under the sun\" (Eccles. ix. 5, 6). On\nthe mind of Job this dark shadow falls and hides the star of his hope.\nTo pass away under the reprobation of men and of God, to suffer the\nfinal stroke and be lost for ever in the deep darkness;--anticipating\nthis, how can he do otherwise than make a desperate fight for his own\nconsciousness of right and for God's intervention while yet any breath\nis left in him? He persists in this. The friends do not approach him\none step in thought; instead of being moved by his pathetic entreaties\nthey draw back into more bigoted judgment.\n\nIn opening the new circle of debate Eliphaz might be expected to yield\na little, to admit something in the claim of the sufferer, granting at\nleast for the sake of argument that his case is hard. But the writer\nwishes to show the rigour and determination of the old creed, or\nrather of the men who preach it. He will not allow them one sign of\n_rapprochement_. In the same order as before the three advance their\ntheory, making no attempt to explain the facts of human existence to\nwhich their attention has been called. Between the first and the\nsecond round there is, indeed, a change of position, but in the line\nof greater hardness. The change is thus marked. Each of the three,\ndiffering _toto c\u0153lo_ from Job's view of his case, had introduced an\nencouraging promise. Eliphaz had spoken of six troubles, yea seven,\nfrom which one should be delivered if he accepted the chastening of\nthe Lord. Bildad affirmed\n\n      \"_Behold, God will not cast away the perfect:\n       He will yet fill thy mouth with laughter\n       And thy lips with shouting._\"\n\nZophar had said that if Job would put away iniquity he should be led\ninto fearless calm.\n\n      \"_Thou shall be steadfast and not fear,\n       For thou shalt forget thy misery;\n       Remember it as waters that are passed by._\"\n\nThat is a note of the first series of arguments; we hear nothing of it\nin the second. One after another drives home a stern, uncompromising\njudgment.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe dramatic art of the author has introduced several touches into the\nsecond speech of Eliphaz which maintain the personality. For example,\nthe formula \"I have seen\" is carried on from the former address where\nit repeatedly occurs, and is now used quite incidentally, therefore\nwith all the more effect. Again the \"crafty\" are spoken of in both\naddresses with contempt and aversion, neither of the other\ninterlocutors of Job nor Job himself using the word. The thought of\nchap. xv. 15 is also the same as that ventured upon in chap. iv. 18, a\nreturn to the oracle which gave Eliphaz his claim to be a prophet.\nMeanwhile he adopts from Bildad the appeal to ancient belief in\nsupport of his position; but he has an original way of enforcing this\nappeal. As a pure Temanite he is animated by the pride of race and\nclaims more for his progenitors than could be allowed to a Shuchite or\nNaamathite, more, certainly, than could be allowed to one who dwelt\namong worshippers of the sun and moon. As a whole the thought of\nEliphaz remains what it was, but more closely brought to a point. He\ndoes not wander now in search of possible explanations. He fancies\nthat Job has convicted himself and that little remains but to show\nmost definitely the fate he seems bent on provoking. It will be a\nkindness to impress this on his mind.\n\nThe first part of the address, extending to verse 13, is an\nexpostulation with Job, whom in irony he calls \"wise.\" Should a wise\nman use empty unprofitable talk, filling his bosom, as it were, with\nthe east wind, peculiarly blustering and arid? Yet what Job says is\nnot only unprofitable, it is profane.\n\n      \"_Thou doest away with piety\n       And hinderest devotion before God.\n       For thine iniquity instructs thy mouth,\n       And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.\n       Thine own mouth condemneth thee; not I;\n       Thine own lips testify against thee._\"\n\nEliphaz is thoroughly sincere. Some of the expressions used by his\nfriend must have seemed to him to strike at the root of reverence.\nWhich were they? One was the affirmation that tents of robbers prosper\nand they that provoke God are secure; another the daring statement\nthat the deceived and the deceiver are both God's; again the confident\ndefence of his own life: \"Behold now I have ordered my cause, I know\nthat I am righteous; who is he that will contend with me?\" and once\nmore his demand why God harassed him, a driven leaf, treating him with\noppressive cruelty. Things like these were very offensive to a mind\nsurcharged with veneration and occupied with a single idea of Divine\ngovernment. From the first convinced that gross fault or arrogant\nself-will had brought down the malediction of God, Eliphaz could not\nbut think that Job's iniquity was \"teaching his mouth\" (coming out in\nhis speech, forcing him to profane expressions), and that he was\nchoosing the tongue of the crafty. It seemed that he was trying to\nthrow dust in their eyes. With the cunning and shiftiness of a man who\nhoped to carry off his evil-doing, he had talked of maintaining his\nways before God and being vindicated in that region where, as every\none knew, recovery was impossible. The ground of all certainty and\nbelief was shaken by those vehement words. Eliphaz felt that piety was\ndone away and devotion hindered, he could scarcely breathe a prayer in\nthis atmosphere foul with scepticism and blasphemy.\n\nThe writer means us to enter into the feelings of this man, to think\nwith him, for the time, sympathetically. It is no moral fault to be\nover-jealous for the Almighty, although it is a misconception of man's\nplace and duty, as Elijah learned in the wilderness, when, having\nclaimed to be the only believer left, he was told there were seven\nthousand that never bowed the knee to Baal. The speaker has this\njustification, that he does not assume office as advocate for God. His\nreligion is part of him, his feeling of shock and disturbance quite\nnatural. Blind to the unfairness of the situation he does not consider\nthe incivility of joining with two others to break down one sick\nbereaved man, to scare a driven leaf. This is accidental. Controversy\nbegun, a pious man is bound to carry on, as long as may be necessary,\nthe argument which is to save a soul.\n\nNevertheless, being human, he mingles a tone of sarcasm as he proceeds.\n\n      \"_The first man wast thou born?\n       Or wast thou made before the hills?\n       Did'st thou hearken in the conclave of God?\n       And dost thou keep the wisdom to thyself?_\"\n\nJob had accused his friends of speaking unrighteously for God and\nrespecting His person. This pricked. Instead of replying in soft words\nas he claims to have been doing hitherto (\"Are the consolations of God\ntoo small for thee and a word that dealt tenderly with thee?\"),\nEliphaz takes to the sarcastic proverb. The author reserves dramatic\ngravity and passion for Job, as a rule, and marks the others by\nvarying tones of intellectual hardness, of current raillery. Eliphaz\nnow is permitted to show more of the self-defender than the defender\nof faith. The result is a loss of dignity.\n\n      \"_What knowest thou that we know not?\n       What understandest thou that is not in us?_\"\n\nAfter all it is man's reason against man's reason. The answer will\nonly come in the judgment of the Highest.\n\n      \"_With us is he who is both grey-haired and very old,\n       Older in days than thy father._\"\n\n\nNot Eliphaz himself surely. That would be to claim too great\nantiquity. Besides, it seems a little wanting in sense. More probably\nthere is reference to some aged rabbi, such as every community loved\nto boast of, the Nestor of the clan, full of ancient wisdom. Eliphaz\nreally believes that to be old is to be near the fountain of truth.\nThere was an origin of faith and pure life. The fathers were nearer\nthat holy source; and wisdom meant going back as far as possible up\nthe stream. To insist on this was to place a real barrier in the way\nof Job's self-defence. He would scarcely deny it as the theory of\nreligion. What then of his individual protest, his philosophy of the\nhour and of his own wishes? The conflict is presented here with much\nsubtlety, a standing controversy in human thought. Fixed principles\nthere must be; personal research, experience and passion there are,\nnew with every new age. How settle the antithesis? The Catholic\ndoctrine has not yet been struck out that will fuse in one commanding\nlaw the immemorial convictions of the race and the widening visions of\nthe living soul. The agitation of the church to-day is caused by the\npresence within her of Eliphaz and Job--Eliphaz standing for the\nfathers and their faith, Job passing through a fever-crisis of\nexperience and finding no remedy in the old interpretations. The\nchurch is apt to say, Here is moral disease, sin; we have nothing for\nthat but rebuke and aversion. Is it wonderful that the tried life,\nconscious of integrity, rises in indignant revolt? The taunt of sin,\nscepticism, rationalism or self-will is too ready a weapon, a sword\nworn always by the side or carried in the hand. Within the House of\nGod men should not go armed, as if brethren in Christ might be\nexpected to prove traitors.\n\nThe question of the eleventh verse--\"Are the consolations of God too\nsmall for thee?\"--is intended to cover the whole of the arguments\nalready used by the friends and is arrogant enough as implying a\nDivine commission exercised by them. \"The word that dealt tenderly\nwith thee,\" says Eliphaz; but Job has his own idea of the tenderness\nand seems to convey it by an expressive gesture or glance which\nprovokes a retort almost angry from the speaker,--\n\n      \"_Why doth thine heart carry thee away,\n       And why do thine eyes wink,\n       That thou turnest thy breathing against God,\n       And sendest words out of thy mouth?_\"\n\nWe may understand a brief emphatic word of repudiation not unmixed with\ncontempt and, at the same time, not easy to lay hold of. Eliphaz now\nfeels that he may properly insist on the wickedness of man--painfully\nillustrated in Job himself--and depict the certain fate of him who\ndefies the Almighty and trusts in his own \"vanity.\" The passage is from\nfirst to last repetition, but has new colour of the quasi-prophetic kind\nand a certain force and eloquence that give it fresh interest.\n\nFormerly Eliphaz had said, \"Shall man be just beside God? Behold He\nputteth no trust in His servants, and His angels He chargeth with\nfolly.\" Now, with a keener emphasis, and adopting Job's own confession\nthat man born of woman is impure, he asserts the doctrine of\ncreaturely imperfection and human corruption.\n\n      \"_Eloah trusteth not in His holy ones,\n       And the heavens are not pure in His sight;\n       How much less the abominable and corrupt,\n       Man, who drinketh iniquity as water!_\"\n\nFirst is set forth the refusal of God to put confidence in the holiest\ncreature,--a touch, as it were, of suspicion in the Divine rule. A\nstatement of the holiness of God otherwise very impressive is marred by\nthis too anthropomorphic suggestion. Why, is not the opposite true, that\nthe Creator puts wonderful trust not only in saints but in sinners? He\ntrusts men with life, with the care of the little children whom He\nloves, with the use in no small degree of His creation, the powers and\nresources of a world. True, there is a reservation. At no point is the\ncreature allowed to rule. Saint and sinner, man and angel are alike\nunder law and observation. None of them can be other than servants, none\nof them can ever speak the final word or do the last thing in any cause.\nEliphaz therefore is dealing with a large truth, one never to be\nforgotten or disallowed. Yet he fails to make right use of it, for his\nsecond point, that of the total corruption of human nature, ought to\nimply that God does not trust man at all. The logic is bad and the\ndoctrine will hardly square with the reference to human wisdom and to\nwise persons holding the secret of God of whom Eliphaz goes on to speak.\nAgainst him two lines of reasoning are evident. Abominable, gone sour or\nputrid, to whom evil is a necessary of existence like water--if man be\nthat, his Creator ought surely to sweep him away and be done with him.\nBut since, on the other hand, God maintains the life of human beings and\nhonours them with no small confidence, it would seem that man, sinful as\nhe is, bad as he often is, does not lie under the contempt of his Maker,\nis not set beyond a service of hope. In short, Eliphaz sees only what he\nchooses to see. His statements are devout and striking, but too rigid\nfor the manifoldness of life. He makes it felt, even while he speaks,\nthat he himself in some way stands apart from the race he judges so\nhardly. So far as the inspiration of this book goes, it is against the\ndoctrine of total corruption as put into the mouth of Eliphaz. He\nintends a final and crushing assault on the position taken up by Job;\nbut his mind is prejudiced, and the man he condemns is God's approved\nservant, who, in the end, will have to pray for Eliphaz that he may not\nbe dealt with after his folly. Quotation of the words of Eliphaz in\nproof of total depravity is a grave error. The race is sinful; all men\nsin, inherit sinful tendencies and yield to them: who does not confess\nit? But,--all men abominable and corrupt, drinking iniquity as\nwater,--that is untrue at any rate of the very person Eliphaz engages to\nconvict.\n\nIt is remarkable that there is not a single word of personal\nconfession in any speech made by the friends. They are concerned\nmerely to state a creed supposed to be honouring to God, a full\njustification from their point of view of His dealings with men. The\nsovereignty of God must be vindicated by attributing this entire\nvileness to man, stripping the creature of every claim on the\nconsideration of his Maker. The great evangelical teachers have not so\ndriven home their reasoning. Augustine began with the evil in his own\nheart and reasoned to the world, and Jonathan Edwards in the same way\nbegan with himself. \"My wickedness,\" he says, \"has long appeared to me\nperfectly ineffable and, swallowing up all thought and imagination,\nlike an infinite deluge or mountains over my head. I know not how to\nexpress better what my sins appear to me to be than by heaping\ninfinite on infinite and multiplying infinite by infinite.\" Here is no\nEliphaz arguing from misfortune to sinfulness; and indeed by that line\nit is impossible ever to arrive at evangelical poverty of spirit.\n\nPassing to his final contention here the speaker introduces it with a\nspecial claim to attention. Again it is what \"he has seen\" he will\ndeclare, what indeed all wise men have seen from time immemorial.\n\n      \"_I will inform thee: hear me;\n       And what I have seen I will declare:\n       Things which wise men have told,\n       From their fathers, and have not hid,\n       To whom alone the land was given,\n       And no stranger passed in their midst._\"\n\nThere is the pride. He has a peculiar inheritance of unsophisticated\nwisdom. The pure Temanite race has dwelt always in the same land, and\nforeigners have not mixed with it. With it, therefore, is a religion\nnot perverted by alien elements or the adoption of sceptical ideas\nfrom passing strangers. The plea is distinctively Arabic and may be\nillustrated by the self-complacent dogmatism of the Wahh\u0101bees of\nRi'ad, whom Mr. Palgrave found enjoying their own uncorrupted\northodoxy. \"In central Nejed society presents an element pervading it\nfrom its highest to its lowest grades. Not only as a Wahh\u0101bee but\nequally as a Nejdean the native of 'Aared and Yem\u0101mah differs, and\nthat widely, from his fellow-Arab of Shomer and Kaseem, nay, of Woshem\nand Sedeyr. The cause of this difference is much more ancient than the\nepoch of the great Wahh\u0101bee, and must be sought first and foremost in\nthe pedigree itself. The descent claimed by the indigenous Arabs of\nthis region is from the family of Tameen, a name peculiar to these\nlands.... Now Benoo-Tameem have been in all ages distinguished from\nother Arabs by strongly drawn lines of character, the object of the\nexaggerated praise and of the biting satire of native poets. Good or\nbad, these characteristics, described some thousand years ago, are\nidentical with the portrait of their real or pretended descendants....\nSimplicity is natural to the men of 'Aared and Yem\u0101mah, independent of\nWahh\u0101bee puritanism and the vigour of its code.\" (\"Central Arabia,\"\npp. 272, 273.) To this people Nejed is holy, Damascus through which\nChristians and other infidels go is a lax disreputable place. They\nmaintain a strict Mohammedanism from age to age. In their view, as in\nthat of Eliphaz, the land belongs to the wise people who have the\nheavenly treasure and do not entertain strangers as guides of thought.\nInfallibility is a very old and very abiding cult.\n\nEliphaz drags back his hearers to the penal visitation of the wicked,\nhis favourite dogma. Once more it is affirmed that for one who\ntransgresses the law of God there is nothing but misery, fear and\npain. Though he has a great following he lives in terror of the\ndestroyer; he knows that calamity will one day overtake him, and from\nit there will be no deliverance. Then he will have to wander in search\nof bread, his eyes perhaps put out by his enemy. So trouble and\nanguish make him afraid even in his great day. There is here not a\nsuggestion that conscience troubles him. His whole agitation is from\nfear of pain and loss. No single touch in the picture gives the idea\nthat this man has any sense of sin.\n\nHow does Eliphaz distinguish or imagine the Almighty distinguishing\nbetween men in general, who are all bad and offensive in their\nbadness, and this particular \"wicked man\"? Distinction there must be.\nWhat is it? One must assume, for the reasoner is no fool, that the\nsettled temper and habit of a life are meant. Revolt against God,\nproud opposition to His will and law, these are the wickedness. It is\nno mere stagnant pool of corruption, but a force running against the\nAlmighty. Very well: Eliphaz has not only made a true distinction, but\napparently stated for once a true conclusion. Such a man will indeed\nbe likely to suffer for his arrogance in this life, although it does\nnot hold that he will be haunted by fears of coming doom. But\nanalysing the details of the wicked life in vers. 25-28, we find\nincoherency. The question is why he suffers and is afraid.\n\n      \"_Because he stretched out his hand against God,\n       And bade defiance to the Almighty;\n       He ran upon Him with a neck\n       Upon the thick bosses of His bucklers;\n       Because he covered his face with his fatness\n       And made collops of fat on his flanks;\n       And he dwelt in tabooed cities,\n       In houses which no man ought to inhabit,\n       Destined to become heaps._\"\n\nEliphaz has narrowed down the whole contention, so that he may carry it\ntriumphantly and bring Job to admit, at least in this case, the law of\nsin and retribution. It is fair to suppose that he is not presenting\nJob's case, but an argument, rather, in abstract theology, designed to\nstrengthen his own general position. The author, however, by side lights\non the reasoning shows where it fails. The account of calamity and\njudgment, true as it might be in the main of God-defiant lives running\nheadlong against the laws of heaven and earth, is confused by the other\nelement of wickedness--\"Because he hath covered his face with his\nfatness,\" etc. The recoil of a refined man of pure race from one of\ngross sensual appetite is scarcely a fit parallel to the aversion of God\nfrom man stubbornly and insolently rebellious. Further, the\nsuperstitious belief that one was unpardonable who made his dwelling in\ncities under the curse of God (literally, cities _cut off_ or\n_tabooed_), while it might be sincerely put forward by Eliphaz, made\nanother flaw in his reasoning. Any one in constant terror of judgment\nwould have been the last to take up his abode in such accursed\nhabitations. The argument is strong only in picturesque assertion.\n\nThe latter end of the wicked man and his futile attempts to found a\nfamily or clan are presented at the close of the address. He shall not\nbecome rich; that felicity is reserved for the servants of God. No\nplentiful produce shall weigh down the branches of his olives and\nvines, nor shall he ever rid himself of misfortune. As by a flame or\nhot breath from the mouth of God his harvest and himself shall be\ncarried away. The vanity or mischief he sows shall return to him in\nvanity or trouble; and before his time, while life should be still\nfresh, the full measure of his reward shall be paid to him. The branch\nwithered and dry, unripe grapes and the infertile flowers of the olive\nfalling to the ground point to the want of children or their early\ndeath; for \"the company of the godless shall be barren.\" The tents of\ninjustice or bribery, left desolate, shall be burned. The only fruit\nof the doomed life shall be iniquity.\n\nOne hesitates to accuse Eliphaz of inaccuracy. Yet the shedding of the\npetals of the olive is not in itself a sign of infertility; and\nalthough this tree, like others, often blossoms without producing\nfruit, yet it is the constant emblem of productiveness. The vine,\nagain, may have shed its unripe grapes in Teman; but usually they\nwither. It may be feared that Eliphaz has fallen into the popular\nspeaker's trick of snatching at illustrations from \"something supposed\nto be science.\" His contention is partly sound in its foundation, but\nfails like his analogies; and the controversy, when he leaves off, is\nadvanced not a single step.\n\n\n\n\n\nXIV.\n\n'_MY WITNESS IN HEAVEN._'\n\nJOB SPEAKS. CHAPS. xvi., xvii.\n\n\nIf it were comforting to be told of misery and misfortune, to hear the\ndoom of insolent evil-doers described again and again in varying\nterms, then Job should have been comforted. But his friends had lost\nsight of their errand, and he had to recall them to it.\n\n      \"_I have heard many such things:\n       Afflictive comforters are ye all.\n       Shall vain words have an end?_\"\n\nHe would have them consider that perpetual harping on one string is but\na sober accomplishment! Returning one after another to the wicked man,\nthe godless sinner, crafty, froward, sensual, overbearing, and his\ncertain fate of disaster and extinction, they are at once obstinately\nungracious and to Job's mind pitifully inept. He is indisposed to argue\nafresh with them, but he cannot refrain from expressing his sorrow and\nindeed his indignation that they have offered him a stone for bread.\nExcusing themselves they had blamed him for his indifference to the\n\"consolations of God.\" All he had been aware of was their \"joining words\ntogether\" against him with much shaking of the head. Was that Divine\nconsolation? Anything, it seemed, was good enough for him, a man under\nthe stroke of God. Perhaps he is a little unfair to his comforters. They\ncannot drop their creed in order to assuage his grief. In a sense it\nwould have been easy to murmur soothing inanities.\n\n      \"One writes that 'Other friends remain,'\n         That 'Loss is common to the race'--\n         And common is the commonplace,\n       And vacant chaff well meant for grain.\n\n      \"That loss is common would not make\n         My own less bitter, rather more:\n         Too common! Never morning wore\n       To evening, but some heart did break.\"\n\nEven so: the courteous superficial talk of men who said, Friend, you are\nonly accidentally afflicted; there is no stroke of God in this: wait a\nlittle till the shadows pass, and meanwhile let us cheer you by stories\nof old times:--such talk would have served Job even less than the\nserious attempt of the friends to settle the problem. It is therefore\nwith somewhat inconsiderate irony he blames them for not giving what, if\nthey had offered it, he would have rejected with scorn.\n\n      \"_I also could speak like you;\n       If your soul were in my soul's stead,\n       I could join words together against you,\n       And shake my head at you;\n       I could strengthen you with my mouth,\n       And the solace of my lips should assuage your grief._\"\n\nThe passage is throughout ironical. No change of tone occurs in verse 5,\nas the opening word _But_ in the English version is intended to imply.\nJob means, of course, that such consolation as they were offering he\nnever would have offered them. It would be easy, but abhorrent.\n\nSo far in sad sarcasm; and then, the sense of desolation falling too\nheavily on his mind for banter or remonstrance, he returns to his\ncomplaint. What is he among men? What is he in himself? What is he\nbefore God? Alone, stricken, the object of fierce assault and galling\nreproach. After a pause of sorrowful thought he resumes the attempt to\nexpress his woes, a final protest before his lips are silent in death.\nHe cannot hope that speaking will relieve his sorrow or mitigate his\npain. He would prefer to bear on\n\n      \"In all the silent manliness of grief.\"\n\nBut as yet the appeal he has made to God remains unanswered, for aught\nhe knows unheard. It appears therefore his duty to his own reputation\nand his faith that he endeavour yet again to break the obstinate\ndoubts of his integrity which still estrange from him those who were\nhis friends. He uses indeed language that will not commend his case\nbut tend to confirm every suspicion. Were he wise in the world's way\nhe would refrain from repeating his complaint against God. Rather\nwould he speak of his misery as a simple fact of experience and strive\nto argue himself into submission. This line he has not taken and never\ntakes. It is present to his own mind that the hand of God is against\nhim. Whether men will join him by-and-by in an appeal from God to God\nhe cannot tell. But once more all that he sees or seems to see he\nwill declare. Every step may bring him into more painful isolation,\nyet he will proclaim his wrong.\n\n      \"_Certainly, now, He hath wearied me out.\n       Thou hast made desolate my company;\n       Thou hast taken hold of me,\n       And it is a witness against me;\n       And my leanness riseth up against me\n       Bearing witness to my face._\"\n\nHe is exhausted; he has come to the last stage. The circle of his\nfamily and friends in which he once stood enjoying the love and esteem\nof all--where is it now? That hold of life is gone. Then, as if in\nsheer malice, God has plucked health from him, and doing so, left a\ncharge of unworthiness. By the sore disease the Divine hand grasps\nhim, keeps him down. The emaciation of his body bears witness against\nhim as an object of wrath. Yes; God is his enemy, and how terrible an\nenemy! He is like a savage lion that tears with his teeth and glares\nas if in act to devour. With God, men also, in their degree, persecute\nand assail him. People from the city have come out to gaze upon him.\nWord has gone round that he is being crushed by the Almighty for proud\ndefiance and blasphemy. Men who once trembled before him have smitten\nhim upon the cheek reproachfully. They gather in groups to jeer at\nhim. He is delivered into their hands.\n\nBut it is God, not men, of whose strange work he has most bitterly to\nspeak. Words almost fail him to express what his Almighty Foe has done.\n\n      \"_I was at ease, and He brake me asunder;\n       Yea he hath taken me by the neck\n       And dashed me to pieces:\n       He hath also set me as His butt,\n       His arrows compass me round about,\n       He cleaveth my reins asunder and spareth not,\n       He poureth my gall on the ground;\n       He breaketh me with breach upon breach,\n       He runneth upon me like a giant._\"\n\nFigure after figure expresses the sense of persecution by one full of\nresource who cannot be resisted. Job declares himself to be physically\nbruised and broken. The stings and sores of his disease are like arrows\nshot from every side that rankle in his flesh. He is like a fortress\nbeleaguered and stormed by some irresistible enemy. His strength humbled\nto the dust, his eyes foul with weeping, the eyelids swollen so that he\ncannot see, he lies abased and helpless, stricken to the very heart. But\nnot in the chastened mood of one who has done evil and is now brought to\ncontrite submission. That is as far from him as ever. The whole account\nis of persecution, undeserved. He suffers, but protests still that there\nis no violence in his hands, also his prayer is pure. Let neither God\nnor man think he is concealing sin and making appeal craftily. Sincere\nhe is in every word.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAt this point, where Job's impassioned language might be expected to\nlead to a fresh outburst against heaven and earth, one of the most\ndramatic turns in the thought of the sufferer brings it suddenly to a\nminor harmony with the creation and the Creator. His excitement is\nintense. Spiritual eagerness approaches the highest point. He invokes\nthe earth to help him and the mountain echoes. He protests that his\nclaim of integrity has its witness and must be acknowledged.\n\nFor this new and most pathetic effort to reach a benignant fidelity in\nGod which all his cries have not yet stirred, the former speeches have\nmade preparation. Rising from the thought that it was all one to God\nwhether he lived or died since the perfect and the wicked are alike\ndestroyed, bewailing the want of a daysman between him and the Most\nHigh, Job in the tenth chapter touched the thought that his Maker\ncould not despise the work of His own hands. Again, in chapter xiv.,\nthe possibility of redemption from Sheol gladdened him for a little.\nNow, under the shadow of imminent death, he abandons the hope of\ndeliverance from the under-world. Immediately, if at all, his\nvindication must come. And it exists, written on the breast of earth,\nopen to the heavens, somewhere in clear words before the Highest. Not\nvainly did the speaker in his days of past felicity serve God with all\nhis heart. The God he then worshipped heard his prayers, accepted his\nofferings, made him glad with a friendship that was no empty dream.\nSomewhere his Divine Friend lives still, observes still his tears and\nagonies and cries. Those enemies about him taunting him with sins he\nnever committed, this horrible malady bearing him down into\ndeath;--God knows of these, knows them to be cruel and undeserved. He\ncries to that God, Eloah of the Elohim, Higher than the highest.\n\n      \"_O Earth, cover not my blood,\n       And let my cry have no resting-place!\n       Even now, lo! my witness is in heaven,\n       And He that voucheth for me is on high.\n       My friends scorn me:\n       Mine eye sheds tears unto God--\n       That he would right a man against God,\n       And a son of man against his friend._\"\n\nNow--in the present stage of being, before those years expire that\nlead him to the grave--Job entreats the vindication which exists in\nthe records of heaven. As a son of man he pleads, not as one who has\nany peculiar claim, but simply as a creature of the Almighty; and he\npleads for the first time with tears. The fact that earth, too, is\nbesought to help him must not be overlooked. There is a touch of wide\nand wistful emotion, a sense that Eloah must regard the witness of His\nworld. The thought has its colour from a very old feeling; it takes us\nback to prim\u00e6val faith, and the dumb longing before faith.\n\nIs there in any sense a deeper depth in the faithfulness of God, a\nhigher heaven, more difficult to penetrate, of Divine benignity? Job\nis making a bold effort to break that barrier we have already found to\nexist in Hebrew thought between God as revealed by nature and\nprovidence and God as vindicator of the individual life. The man has\nthat in his own heart which vouches for his life, though calamity and\ndisease impeach him. And in the heart of God also there must be a\nwitness to His faithful servant, although, meanwhile, something\ninterferes with the testimony God could bear. Job's appeal is to the\nsun beyond the rolling clouds to shine. It is there; God is faithful\nand true. It will shine. But let it shine _now_! Human life is brief\nand delay will be disastrous. Pathetic cry--a struggle against what in\nordinary life is the inexorable. How many have gone the way whence\nthey shall not return, unheard apparently, unvindicated, hidden in\ncalumny and shame! And yet Job was right. The Maker has regard to the\nwork of His hands.\n\nThe philosophy of Job's appeal is this, that beneath all seeming discord\nthere is one clear note. The universe is one and belongs to One, from\nthe highest heaven to the deepest pit. Nature, providence,--what are\nthey but the veil behind which the One Supreme is hidden, the veil\nGod's own hands have wrought? We see the Divine in the folds of the\nveil, the marvellous pictures of the arras. Yet behind is He who weaves\nthe changing forms, iridescent with colours of heaven, dark with\nunutterable mystery. Man is now in the shadow of the veil, now in the\nlight of it, self-pitying, exultant, in despair, in ecstasy. He would\npass the barrier. It will not yield at his will. It is no veil now, but\na wall of adamant. Yet faith on this side answers to truth beyond; of\nthis the soul is assured. The cry is for God to unravel the enigmas of\nHis own providence, to unfold the principle of His discipline, to make\nclear what is perplexing to the mind and conscience of His thinking,\nsuffering creature. None but He who weaves the web can withdraw it, and\nlet the light of eternity shine on the tangles of time. From God the\nConcealer to God the Revealer, from God who hides Himself to God who is\nLight, in whom is no darkness at all, we appeal. To pray on--that is\nman's high privilege, man's spiritual life.\n\nSo the passage we have read is a splendid utterance of the wayworn\ntravelling soul conscious of sublime possibilities,--shall we not say,\ncertainties? Job is God-inspired in his cry, not profane, not mad, but\nprophetic. For God is a bold dealer with men, and He likes bold sons.\nThe impeachment we almost shuddered to hear is not abominable to Him\nbecause it is the truth of a soul. The claim that God is man's witness\nis the true courage of faith: it is sincere, and it is justified.\n\nThe demand for immediate vindication still urged is inseparable from\nthe circumstances.\n\n      \"_For when a few years are come\n       I shall go the way whence I shall not return.\n       My spirit is consumed, my days extinct;\n       The grave is ready for me.\n       Surely there are mockeries with me\n       And mine eyes lodgeth in their provocation.\n       Provide a pledge now; be surely for me with Thyself.\n       Who is there that will strike hands with me?_\"\n\nMoving towards the under-world, the fire of his spirit burning low\nbecause of his disease, his body preparing its own grave, the bystanders\nflouting him with mockeries under a sense of which his eyes remain\nclosed in weary endurance, he has need for one to undertake for him, to\ngive him a pledge of redemption. But who is there excepting God to whom\nhe can appeal? What other friend is left? Who else would be surety for\none so forlorn? Against disease and fate, against the seeming wreck of\nhope and life, will not God Himself stand up for His servant? As for the\nmen his friends, his enemies, the Divine suretyship for Job will recoil\nupon them and their cruel taunts. Their hearts are \"hid from\nunderstanding,\" unable to grasp the truth of the case; \"Therefore Thou\nshalt not exalt them\"--that is, Thou shalt bring them low. Yes, when God\nredeems His pledge, declares openly that He has undertaken for His\nservant, the proverb shall be fulfilled--\"He that giveth his fellows for\na prey, even the eyes of his children shall fail.\" It is a proverb of\nthe old way of thinking and carries a kind of imprecation. Job forgets\nhimself in using it. Yet how, otherwise, is the justice of God to be\ninvoked against those who pervert judgment and will not receive the\nsincere defence of a dying man?\n\n      \"_I am even made a byeword of the populace;\n       I am become one in whose face they spit:\n       Mine eye also fails by reason of sorrow._\"\n\nThis is apparently parenthetical--and then Job returns to the result of\nthe intervention of his Divine Friend. One reason why God should become\nhis surety is the pitiable state he is in. But another reason is the new\nimpetus that will be given to religion, the awakening of good men out of\ntheir despondency, the reassurance of those who are pure in heart, the\ngrowth of spiritual strength in the faithful and true. A fresh light\nthrown on providence shall indeed startle and revive the world.\n\n      \"_Upright men shall be amazed at this,\n       And the innocent shall rouse himself against the godless.\n       And the righteous shall keep his way,\n       And he that hath clean hands wax stronger and stronger._\"\n\nWith this hope, that his life is to be rescued from darkness and the\nfaith of the good re-established by the fulfilment of God's suretyship,\nJob comforts himself for a little--but only for a little, a moment of\nstrength, during which he has courage to dismiss his friends:--\n\n      \"_But as for you all, turn ye, and go;\n       For I shall not find a wise man among you._\"\n\nThey have forfeited all claim to his attention. Their continued\ndiscussion of the ways of God will only aggravate his pain. Let them\ntake their departure then and leave him in peace.\n\nThe final passage of the speech referring to a hope present to Job's\nmind has been variously interpreted. It is generally supposed that the\nreference is to the promise held out by the friends that repentance\nwill bring him relief from trouble and new prosperity. But this is\nlong ago dismissed. It seems clear that _my hope_, an expression twice\nused, cannot refer to one pressed upon Job but never accepted. It must\ndenote either the hope that God would after Job's death lay aside His\nanger and forgive, or the hope that God would strike hands with him\nand undertake his case against all adverse forces and circumstances.\nIf this be the meaning, the course of thought in the last strophe,\nfrom verse 11 onward, is the following,--Life is running to a low ebb\nwith me, all I had once in my heart to do is arrested, brought to an\nend; so gloomy are my thoughts that they set night for day, the light\nis near unto darkness. If I wait till death come and Sheol be my\nhabitation and my body is given to corruption, where then shall my\nhope of vindication be? As for the fulfilment of my trust in God, who\nshall see it? The effort once made to maintain hope even in the face\nof death is not forgotten. But he questions now whether it has the\nleast ground in fact. The sense of bodily decay masters his brave\nprevision of a deliverance from Sheol. His mind needs yet another\nstrain put upon it before it shall rise to the magnificent\nassertion--Without my flesh I shall see God. The tides of trust ebb\nand flow. There is here a low ebb. The next advance will mark the\nspringtide of resolute belief.\n\n      \"_If I wait till Sheol is my house;\n       Till I have spread my couch in darkness:\n       If I shall have said to corruption, My father art thou,\n       To the worm, My mother and my sister--\n       Where then were my hope?\n       As for my hope, who shall see it?\n       It shall go down to the bars of Sheol,\n       When once there is rest in the dust._\"\n\nHow strenuous is the thought that has to fight with the grave and\ncorruption! The body in its emaciation and decay, doomed to be the\nprey of worms, appears to drag with it into the nether darkness the\neager life of the spirit. Those who have the Christian outlook to\nanother life may measure by the oppression Job has to endure the value\nof that revelation of immortality which is the gift of Christ.\n\nNot in error, not in unbelief, did a man like Job fight with grim\ndeath, strive to keep it at bay till his character was cleared. There\nwas no acknowledged doctrine of the future to found upon. Of sheer\nnecessity each burdened soul had to seek its own Apocalypse. He who\nhad suffered with bleeding heart a lifelong sacrifice, he who had\nstriven to free his fellow-slaves and sank at last overborne by\ntyrannous power, the brave defeated, the good betrayed, those who\nsought through heathen beliefs and those who found in revealed\nreligion the promises of God--all alike stood in sorrowful ignorance\nbefore inexorable death, beheld the shadows of the under-world and\nsingly battled for hope amidst the deepening gloom. The sense of the\noverwhelming disaster of death to one whose life and religion are\nscornfully condemned is not ascribed to Job as a peculiar trial,\nrarely mingling with human experience. The writer of the book has\nhimself felt it and has seen the shadow of it on many a face. \"Where,\"\nas one asks, \"were the tears of God as He thrust back into eternal\nstillness the hands stretched out to Him in dying faith?\"\n\nThere was a religion which gave large and elaborate answer to the\nquestions of mortality. The wide intelligence of the author of Job can\nhardly have missed the creed and ceremonial of Egypt; he cannot have\nfailed to remember its \"Book of the Dead.\" His own work, throughout,\nis at once a parallel and a contrast to that old vision of future life\nand Divine judgment. It has been affirmed that some of the forms of\nexpression, especially in the nineteenth chapter, have their source in\nthe Egyptian scripture, and that the \"Book of the Dead\" is full of\nspiritual aspirations which give it a striking resemblance to the\nBook of Job. Now, undoubtedly, the correspondence is remarkable and\nwill bear examination. The soul comes before Osiris, who holds the\nshepherd's crook and the penal scourge. Thoth (or Logos) breathes new\nspirit into the embalmed body, and the dead pleads for himself before\nthe assessors--\"Hail to thee, great Lord of Justice. I arrive near\nthee. I am one of those consecrated to thee on the earth. I reach the\nland of eternity. I rejoin the eternal country. Living is he who\ndwelleth in darkness; all his grandeurs live.\" The dead is in fact not\ndead, he is recreated; _the mouth of no worm shall devour him_. At the\nclose of the \"Book of the Dead\" it is written, the departed \"shall be\namong the gods; his flesh and bones shall be healthy as one who is not\ndead. He shall shine as a star for ever and ever. He seeth God with\nhis flesh.\" The defence of the soul in claiming beatitude is this: \"I\nhave committed no revenge in act or in heart, no excesses in love. I\nhave injured no one with lies. I have driven away no beggars,\ncommitted no treacheries, caused no tears. I have not taken another's\nproperty, nor ruined another, nor destroyed the laws of righteousness.\nI have not aroused contests, nor neglected the Creator of my soul. I\nhave not disturbed the joy of others. I have not passed by the\noppressed, sinning against my Creator, or the Lord, or the heavenly\npowers.... I am pure, pure.\"[2]\n\nThere are many evident resemblances which have been already studied\nand would repay further attention; but the questions occur, how far\nthe author of the Book of Job refused Egyptian influences, and why,\nin the face of a solution of his problem apparently thrust upon him\nwith the authority of ages, he yet exerted himself to find a solution\nof his own, meanwhile throwing his hero into the hopelessness of one\nto whom death as a physical fact is final, compelled to forego the\nexpectation of a daysman who should affirm his righteousness before\nthe Lord of all. The \"Book of the Dead\" was, for one thing, identified\nwith polytheism, with idolatry and a priestly system; and a thinker\nwhose belief was entirely monotheistic, whose mind turned decisively\nfrom ritual, whose interests were widely humane, was not likely to\naccept as a revelation the promises of Egyptian priests to their\naristocratic patrons, or to seek light from the mysteries of Isis and\nOsiris. Throughout his book our author is advancing to a conclusion\naltogether apart from the ideas of Egyptian faith regarding the trust\nof the soul. But chiefly his mind seems to have been repelled by the\nexcessive care given to the dead body, with the consequent\nmaterialising of religion. Life to him meant so much that he needed a\nfar more spiritual basis for its continuance than could be found in\nthe preservation of the worn-out frame. With rare and unsurpassed\nendeavour he was straining beyond time and sense after a vision of\nlife in the union of man's spirit with its Maker, and that Divine\nconstancy in which alone faith could have acceptance and repose. No\nthought of maintaining himself in existence by having his body\nembalmed is ever expressed by Job. The author seems to scorn that\nchildish dream of continuance. Death means decay, corruption. This\ndoom passed on the body the stricken life must endure, and the soul\nmust stay itself upon the righteousness and grace of God.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[2] See Renouf's Hibbert Lecture, also \"The Unknown God,\" by C.\nLoring Brace.\n\n\n\n\nXV.\n\n_A SCHEME OF WORLD-RULE._\n\nBILDAD SPEAKS. CHAP. xviii.\n\n\nComposed in the orderly parallelism of the finished _mashal_, this\nspeech of Bildad stands out in its strength and subtlety and, no less,\nin its cruel rigour quite distinct among those addressed to Job. It is\nthe most trenchant attack the sufferer has to bear. The law of\nretribution is stated in a hard collected tone which seems to leave no\nroom for doubt. The force that overbears and kills is presented rather\nas fate or destiny than as moral government. No attempt is made to\ndescribe the character of the man on whom punishment falls. We hear\nnothing of proud defiance or the crime of settling in habitations\nunder the Divine curse. Bildad ventures no definitions that may not\nfit Job's case. He labels a man godless, and then, with a dogged\nrelish, follows his entanglement in the net of disaster. All he says\nis general, abstract; nevertheless, the whole of it is calculated to\npierce the armour of Job's supposed presumption. It is not to be borne\nlonger that against all wisdom and certainty this man, plainly set\namong the objects of wrath, should go on defending himself as if the\njudgment of men and God went for nothing.\n\nWith singular inconsistency the wicked man is spoken of as one who for\nsome time prospers in the world. He has a settlement from which he is\nejected, a family that perishes, a name of some repute which he loses.\nBildad begins by admitting what he afterwards denies, that a man of evil\nlife may have success. It is indeed only for a time, and perhaps the\nidea is that he becomes wicked as he becomes rich and strong. Yet if the\neffect of prosperity is to make a man proud and cruel and so bring him\nat once into snares and pitfalls according to a rigorous natural\nlaw--how then can worldly success be the reward of virtue? Bildad is\nnearer the mark with description than with reasoning. It is as though he\nsaid to Job, Doubtless you were a good man once; you were my friend and\na servant of God; but I very much fear that prosperity has done you\nharm. It is clear that, as a godless man, you are now driven from light\ninto darkness, that fear and death wait for you. The speaker does not\nsee that he is overturning his own scheme of world-rule.\n\nThere is bitterness here, the personal feeling of one who has a view\nto enforce. Does the man before him think he is of such account that\nthe Almighty will intervene to become surety for him and justify his\nself-righteousness? It is necessary that Job shall not even seem to\nget the best of the argument. No bystander shall say his novel\nheresies appear to have a colour of truth. The speaker is accordingly\nvery unlike what he was in his first address. The show of politeness\nand friendship is laid aside. We see the temper of a mind fed on\ntraditional views of truth, bound in the fetters of self-satisfied\nincompetence. In his admirable exposition of this part of the book\nDr. Cox cites various Arabic proverbs of long standing which are\nembodied, one way or other, in Bildad's speech. It is a cold creed\nwhich builds on this wisdom of the world. He who can use grim sayings\nagainst others is apt to think himself superior to their frailties, in\nno danger of the penalties he threatens. And the speech of Bildad is\nirritating just because everything is omitted which might give a hinge\nor loop to Job's criticism.\n\nNowhere is the skill of the author better shown than in making these\nprotagonists of Job say false things plausibly and effectively. His\nresources are marvellous. After the first circle of speeches the lines\nof opposition to Job marked out by the tenor of the controversy might\nseem to admit no more or very little fresh argument. Yet this address\nis as graphic and picturesque as those before it. The full strength of\nthe opposition is thrown into those sentences piling threat on threat\nwith such apparent truth. The reason is that the crisis approaches. By\nBildad's attack the sufferer is to be roused to his loftiest\neffort,--that prophetic word which is in one sense the _raison d'\u00eatre_\nof the book. One may say the work done here is for all time. The\nmanifesto of humanity against rabbinism, of the plain man's faith\nagainst hard theology, is set beside the most specious arguments for a\nrule dividing men into good and bad, simply as they appear to be happy\nor unfortunate.\n\nBildad opens the attack by charging Job with hunting for words--an\naccusation of a general kind apparently referring to the strong\nexpressions he had used in describing his sufferings at the hand of\nGod and from the criticism of men. He then calls Job to understand\nhis own errors, that he may be in a position to receive the truth.\nPerverting and exaggerating the language of Job, he demands why the\nfriends should be counted as beasts and unclean, and why they should\nbe so branded by a man who was in revolt against providence.\n\n      \"_Why are we counted as beasts,\n       As unclean even in your sight?\n       Thou that tearest thyself in thine anger--\n       For thy sake shall the earth be forsaken,\n       And the rock be moved from its place?_\"\n\nEwald's interpretation here brings out the force of the questions.\n\"Does this madman who complained that God's wrath tore him, but who,\non the contrary, sufficiently betrays his own bad conscience by\ntearing himself in his anger, really demand that on his account, that\nhe may be justified, the earth shall be made desolate (since really,\nif God Himself should pervert justice, order, and peace, the blessings\nof the happy occupation of the earth could not subsist)? Does he also\nhope that what is firmest, the Divine order of the world, should be\nremoved from its place? Oh, the fool, who in his own perversity and\nconfusion rebels against the everlasting order of the universe!\" All\nis settled from time immemorial by the laws of providence. Without\nmore discussion Bildad reaffirms what the unchangeable decree, as he\nknows it, certainly is.\n\n      \"_Nevertheless the light of the wicked shall be put out,\n       And the gleam of his fire shall not shine.\n       The light shall fade in his tent,\n       And his lamp over him shall be put out,\n       The steps of his strength shall be straitened,\n       And his own counsel shall cast him down.\n       For into a net his own feet urge him,\n       And he walketh over the toils.\n       A snare seizeth him by the heel,\n       And a noose holdeth him fast:\n       In the ground its loop is hidden,\n       And its mesh in the path._\"\n\nBy reiteration, by a play on words the fact as it appears to Bildad is\nmade very clear--that for the wicked man the world is full of perils,\ndeliberately prepared as snares for wild animals are set by the\nhunter. The general proposition is that the light of his prosperity is\nan accident. It shall soon be put out and his home be given to\ndesolation. This comes to pass first by a restraint put on his\nmovements. The sense of some inimical power observing him, pursuing\nhim, compels him to move carefully and no longer with the free stride\nof security. Then in the narrow range to which he is confined he is\ncaught again and again by the snares and meshes set for him by\ninvisible hands. His best devices for his own safety bring him into\nperil. In the open country and in the narrow path alike he is seized\nand held fast. More and more closely the adverse power confines him,\nbearing upon his freedom and his life till his superstitious fears are\nkindled. Terrors confound him now on every side and suddenly presented\nstartle him to his feet. This once strong man becomes weak; he who had\nabundance knows what it is to hunger. And death is now plainly in his\ncup. Destruction, a hateful figure, is constantly at his side,\nappearing as disease which attacks the body. It is leprosy, the very\ndisease Job is suffering.\n\n      \"_It devoureth the members of his skin,\n       Devoureth his members, even the firstborn of death.\n       He is plucked from the tent of his confidence,\n       And he is brought to the king of terrors._\"\n\n\nThe personification of death here is natural, and many parallels to\nthe figure are easily found. Horror of death is a mark of strong\nhealthy life, especially among those who see beyond only some dark\nSheol of dreary hopeless existence. The \"firstborn of death\" is the\nfrightful black leprosy, and it has that figurative name as possessing\nmore than other diseases that power to corrupt the body which death\nitself fully exercises.\n\nThis cold prediction of the death of the godless from the very malady\nthat has attacked Job is cruel indeed, especially from the lips of one\nwho formerly promised health and felicity in this world as the result\nof penitence. We may say that Bildad has found it his duty to preach\nthe terrors of God, and the duty appears congenial to him, for he\ndescribes with insistence and ornament the end of the godless. But he\nshould have deferred this terrible homily till he had clear proof of\nJob's wickedness. Bildad says things in the zeal of his spirit against\nthe godless which he will afterwards bitterly regret.\n\nHaving brought the victim of destiny to the grave, the speaker has yet\nmore to say. There were consequences that extended beyond a man's own\nsuffering and extinction. His family, his name, all that was desired\nof remembrance in this world would be denied to the evil-doer. In the\nuniverse, as Bildad sees it, there is no room for repentance or hope\neven to the children of the man against whom the decree of fate has\ngone forth.\n\n      \"_They shall dwell in his tent that are none of his:\n       Brimstone shall be showered on his habitation;\n       His roots shall be dried up beneath,\n       And above his branches shall wither;\n       His memory shall perish from the land,\n       And he shall have no name in the earth--\n       It shall be driven from light into darkness,\n       And chased out of the world._\"\n\nThe habitation of the sinner shall either pass into the hand of utter\nstrangers or be covered with brimstone and made accursed. The roots of\nhis family or clan, those who still survive of an older generation,\nand the branches above--children or grandchildren, as in verse\n19--shall wither away. So his memory shall perish, alike in the land\nwhere he dwelt and abroad in other regions. His name shall go into\noblivion, chased with aversion and disgust out of the world. Such,\nsays Bildad, is the fate of the wicked. Job saw fit to speak of men\nbeing astonished at the vindication he was to enjoy when God appeared\nfor him. But the surprise would be of a different kind. At the utter\ndestruction of the wicked man and his seed, his homestead and memory,\nthey of the west would be astonished and they of the east affrighted.\n\nAs logical as many another scheme since offered to the world, a moral\nscheme also, this of Bildad is at once determined and incoherent. He\nhas no doubt, no hesitation in presenting it. Were he the moral\ngovernor, there would be no mercy for sinners who refused to be\nconvicted of sin in his way and according to his law of judgment. He\nwould lay snares for them, hunt them down, snatch at every argument\nagainst them. In his view that is the only way to overcome\nunregenerate hearts and convince them of guilt. In order to save a man\nhe would destroy him. To make him penitent and holy he would attack\nhis whole right to live. Of the humane temper Bildad has almost none.\n\n\n\n\nXVI.\n\n\"_MY REDEEMER LIVETH._\"\n\nJOB SPEAKS. CHAP. xix.\n\n\nWith simple strong art sustained by exuberant eloquence the author has\nnow thrown his hero upon our sympathies, blending a strain of\nexpectancy with tender emotion. In shame and pain, sick almost to\ndeath, baffled in his attempts to overcome the seeming indifference of\nHeaven, the sufferer lies broken and dejected. Bildad's last address\ndescribing the fate of the godless man has been deliberately planned\nto strike at Job under cover of a general statement of the method of\nretribution. The pictures of one seized by the \"firstborn of death,\"\nof the lightless and desolate habitation, the withered branches and\ndecaying remembrance of the wicked, are plainly designed to reflect\nJob's present state and forecast his coming doom. At first the effect\nis almost overwhelming. The judgment of men is turned backward and\nlike the forces of nature and providence has become relentless. The\nunited pressure on a mind weakened by the body's malady goes far to\ninduce despair. Meanwhile the sufferer must endure the burden not only\nof his personal calamities and the alienation of all human\nfriendships, but also of a false opinion with which he has to grapple\nas much for the sake of mankind as for his own. He represents the\nseekers after the true God and true religion in an age of darkness,\naware of doubts other men do not admit, labouring after a hope of\nwhich the world feels no need. The immeasurable weight this lays on\nthe soul is to many unknown. Some few there are, as Carlyle says, and\nJob appears one of them, who \"have to realise a worship for\nthemselves, or live unworshipping. In dim forecastings, wrestles\nwithin them the 'Divine Idea of the World,' yet will nowhere visibly\nreveal itself. The Godlike has vanished from the world; and they, by\nthe strong cry of their soul's agony, like true wonder-workers, must\nagain evoke its presence.... The doom of the Old has long been\npronounced, and irrevocable; the Old has passed away; but, alas, the\nNew appears not in its stead, the Time is still in pangs of travail\nwith the New. Man has walked by the light of conflagrations and amid\nthe sound of falling cities; and now there is darkness, and long\nwatching till it be morning. The voice of the faithful can but\nexclaim: 'As yet struggles the twelfth hour of the night: birds of\ndarkness are on the wing, spectres uproar, the dead walk, the living\ndream. Thou, Eternal Providence, wilt cause the day to dawn.'\"\n\nAs in the twelfth hour of the night, the voices of men sounding hollow\nand strange to him, the author of the Book of Job found himself.\nCurrent ideas about God would have stifled his thought if he had not\nrealised his danger and the world's danger and thrown himself forward,\nbreaking through, even with defiance and passion, to make a way for\nreason to the daylight of God. Limiting and darkening statements he\ntook up as they were presented to him over and over again; he tracked\nthem to their sources in ignorance, pedantry, hardness of temper. He\ninsisted that the one thing for a man is resolute clearness of mind,\nopenness to the teaching of God, to the correction of the Almighty, to\nthat truth of the whole world which alone corresponds to faith.\nBelieving that the ultimate satisfying object of faith will disclose\nitself at last to every pure seeker, each in his degree, he began his\nquest and courageously pursued it, never allowing hope to wander where\nreason dared not follow, checking himself on the very brink of\nalluring speculation by a deliberate _reconnaissance_ of the facts of\nlife and the limitations of knowledge. Nowhere more clearly than in\nthis speech of Job does the courageous truthfulness of the author show\nitself. He seems to find his oracle, and then with a sigh return to\nthe path of sober reality because as yet verification of the sublime\nidea is beyond his power. The vision appears and is fixed in a vivid\npicture--marking the highest flight of his inspiration--that those who\nfollow may have it before them, to be examined, tried, perhaps\napproved in the long run. But for himself, or at any rate for his\nhero, one who has to find his faith through the natural world and its\nrevelations of Divine faithfulness, the bounds within which absolute\ncertainty existed for the human mind at that time are accepted\nunflinchingly. The hope remains; but assurance is sought on a lower\nlevel, where the Divine order visible in the universe sheds light on\nthe moral life of man.\n\nThat inspiration should thus work within bounds, conscious of itself,\nyet restrained by human ignorance, may be questioned. The apprehension\nof transcendent truth not yet proved by argument, the authoritative\nstatement of such truth for the guidance and confirmation of faith,\nlastly, complete independence of ordinary criticism--are not these the\nfunctions and qualities of inspiration? And yet, here, the inspired\nman, with insight fresh and marvellous, declines to allow his hero or\nany thinker repose in the very hope which is the chief fruit of his\ninspiration, leaving it as something thrown out, requiring to be\ntested and verified; and meanwhile he takes his stand as a prophet on\nthose nearer, in a sense more common, yet withal sustaining principles\nthat are within the range of the ordinary mind. Such we shall find to\nbe the explanation of the speeches of the Almighty and their absolute\nsilence regarding the future redemption. Such also may be said to be\nthe reason of the epilogue, apparently so inconsistent with the scope\nof the poem. On firm ground the writer takes his stand--ground which\nno thinker of his time could declare to be hollow. The thorough\nsaneness of his mind, shown in this final decision, gives all the more\nlife to the flashes of prediction and the Divine intuitions which leap\nout of the dark sky hanging low over the suffering man.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe speech of Bildad in chap. xviii., under cover of an account of\ninvariable law was really a dream of special providence. He believed\nthat the Divine King, who, as Christ teaches, \"maketh His sun to rise on\nthe evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust,\"\nreally singles out the wicked for peculiar treatment corresponding to\ntheir iniquity. It is in one sense the sign of vigorous faith to\nattribute action of this kind to God, and Job himself in his repeated\nappeals to the unseen Vindicator shows the same conception of\nprovidence. Should not One intent on righteousness break through the\nbarriers of ordinary law when doubt is cast on His equity and care?\nPardonable to Job, whose case is altogether exceptional, the notion is\none the author sees it necessary to hold in check. There is no Theophany\nof the kind Job desires. On the contrary his very craving for special\nintervention adds to his anxiety. Because it is not granted he affirms\nthat God has perverted his right; and when at last the voice of the\nAlmighty is heard, it is to recall the doubter from his personal desires\nto the contemplation of the vast universe as revealing a wide and wise\nfidelity. This undernote of the author's purpose, while it serves to\nguide us in the interpretation of Job's complaints, is not allowed to\nrise into the dominant. Yet it rebukes those who think the great Divine\nlaws have not been framed to meet their case, who rest their faith not\non what God does always and is in Himself, but on what they believe He\ndoes sometimes and especially for them. The thoughts of the Lord are\nvery deep. Our lives float upon them like skiffs upon an unfathomable\nocean of power and fatherly care.\n\nOf the treatment he receives from men Job complains, yet not because\nthey are the means of his overthrow.\n\n      \"_How long will ye vex my soul\n       And crush me utterly with sayings?\n       These ten times have ye reproached me;\n       Ye are not ashamed that ye condemn me.\n       And be it verily that I have erred,\n       Mine error remaineth to myself.\n       Will ye, indeed, exult against me\n       And reproach me with my disgrace?\n       Know now that God hath wronged me\n       And compassed me about with His net._\"\n\nWhy should his friends be so persistent in charging him with offence? He\nhas not wronged them. If he has erred, he himself is the sufferer. It is\nnot for them to take part against him. Their exultation is of a kind\nthey have no right to indulge, for they have not brought him to the\nmisery in which he lies. Bildad spoke of the snare in which the wicked\nis caught. His tone in that passage could not have been more complacent\nif he himself claimed the honour of bringing retribution on the godless.\nBut it is God, says Job, who hath compassed me with His net.\n\n      \"_Behold, of wrong I cry, but I am not heard;\n       I cry for help, but there is no judgment._\"\n\nDay after day, night after night, pains and fears increase: death\ndraws nearer. He cannot move out of the net of misery. As one\nneglected, outlawed, he has to bear his inexplicable doom, his way\nfenced in so that he cannot pass, darkness thrown over his world by\nthe hand of God.\n\nPlunging thus anew into a statement of his hopeless condition as one\ndiscrowned, dishonoured, a broken man, the speaker has in view all\nalong the hard human judgment which numbers him with the godless. He\nwould melt the hearts of his relentless critics by pleading that their\nenmity is out of place. If the Almighty is his enemy and has brought\nhim near to the dust of death, why should men persecute him as God?\nMight they not have pity? There is indeed resentment against\nprovidence in his mind; but the anxious craving for human sympathy\nreacts on his language and makes it far less fierce and bitter than\nin previous speeches. Grief rather than revolt is now his mood.\n\n      \"_He hath stripped me of my glory\n       And taken my crown from my head.\n       He hath broken me down on every side,\n       Uprooted my hope like a tree.\n       He hath also kindled his wrath against me\n       And counted me among His adversaries.\n       His troops come on together\n       And cast up their way against me\n       And encamp around my tent._\"\n\nSo far the Divine indignation has gone. Will his friends not think of\nit? Will they not look upon him with less of hardness and contempt\nthough he may have sinned? A man in a hostile universe, a feeble man,\nstricken with disease, unable to help himself, the heavens frowning\nupon him--why should they harden their hearts?\n\nAnd yet, see how his brethren have dealt with him! Mark how those who\nwere his friends stand apart, Eliphaz and the rest, behind them others\nwho once claimed kinship with him. How do they look? Their faces are\nclouded. They must be on God's side against Job. Yea, God Himself has\nmoved them to this.\n\n      \"_He hath put my brethren far from me,\n       And my confidants are wholly estranged from me.\n       My kinsfolk have failed\n       And my familiar friends have forgotten me.\n       They that dwell in my house and my maids count me for a stranger;\n       I am an alien in their sight.\n       I call my servant and he gives me no answer,\n       I must entreat him with my mouth.\n       My breath is offensive to my wife,\n       And my ill savour to the sons of my body.\n       Even young children despise me;\n       If I would arise they speak against me.\n       My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh,\n       And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth._\"\n\nThe picture is one of abject humiliation. He is rejected by all who\nonce loved him, forced to entreat his servants, become offensive to\nhis wife and grandsons; jeered at even by children of the place. The\ncase appears to us unnatural and shows the almost fiendish hardness of\nthe Oriental world; that is to say, if the account is not coloured for\ndramatic purposes. The intention is to represent the extremity of\nJob's wretchedness, the lowest depth to which he is reduced. The fire\nof his spirit is almost quenched by shame and desolation. He shows the\ndays of his misery in the strongest shadow in order to compel, if\npossible, the sympathy so persistently withheld.\n\n      \"_Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends,\n       For the hand of God hath touched me.\n       Why do ye persecute me as God,\n       And are not satisfied with my flesh?_\"\n\n\nNow we understand the purpose of the long description of his pain,\nboth that which God has inflicted and that caused by the alienation\nand contempt of men. Into his soul the prediction of Bildad has\nentered, that he will share the fate of the wicked whose memory\nperishes from the earth, whose name is driven from light into darkness\nand chased out of the world. Is it to be so with him? That were indeed\na final disaster. To bring his friends to some sense of what all this\nmeans to him--this is what he struggles after. It is not even the pity\nof it that is the chief point, although through that he seeks to gain\nhis end. But if God is not to interpose, if his last hour is coming\nwithout a sign of heaven's relenting, he would at least have men stand\nbeside him, take his words to heart, believe them possibly true, hand\ndown for his memorial the claim he has made of integrity. Surely,\nsurely he shall not be thought of by the next generation as Job the\nproud defiant evil-doer laid low by the judgments of an offended\nGod--brought to shame as one who deserved to be counted amongst the\noffscourings of the earth. It is enough that God has persecuted him,\nthat God is slaying him--let not men take it upon them to do so to the\nlast. Before he dies let one at least say, Job, my friend, perhaps you\nare sincere, perhaps you are misjudged.\n\nUrgent is the appeal. It is in vain. Not a hand is stretched out, not\none grim face relaxes. The man has made his last attempt. He is now\nlike a pressed animal between the hunter and the chasm. And why is the\nauthor so rigorous in his picture of the friends? It is made to all\nappearance quite inhuman, and cannot be so without design. By means of\nthis inhumanity Job is flung once for all upon his need of God from\nwhom he had almost turned away to man. The poet knows that not in man\nis the help of the soul, that not in the sympathy of man, not in the\nremembrance of man, not in the care or even love of man as a passing\ntenant of earth can the labouring heart put its confidence. From the\nhuman judgment Job turned to God at first. From the Divine silence he\nhad well-nigh turned back to human pity. He finds what other sufferers\nhave found, that the silence is allowed to extend beneath him, between\nhim and his fellows, in order that he may finally and effectually\ndirect his hope and faith above himself, above the creaturely race, to\nHim from whom all came, in whose will and love alone the spirit of man\nhas its life, its hope. Yes, God is bringing home to Himself the man\nwhom He has approved for approval. The way is strange to the feet of\nJob, as it often is to the weary half-blinded pilgrim. But it is the\none way to fulfil and transcend our longings. Neither corporate\nsympathy nor posthumous immortality can ever stand to a thinking soul\ninstead of the true firm judgment of its life that waits within the\nknowledge of God. If He is not for us, the epitaphs and memoirs of\ntime avail nothing. Man's place is in the eternal order or he does\nindeed cry out of wrong and is not heard.\n\nFrom men to the written book, from men to the graven rock, more\nenduring, more public than the book--will this provide what is still\nunfound?\n\n      \"_Oh that now my words were written,\n       That they were inscribed in a book;\n       That with an iron stylus and with lead\n       They were graven in the rock for ever._\"\n\nAs one accustomed to the uses of wealth Job speaks. He thinks first of a\nparchment in which his story and his claim may be carefully written and\npreserved. But he sees at once how perishable that would be and passes\nto a form of memorial such as great men employed. He imagines a cliff in\nthe desert with a monumental inscription bearing that once he, the Emeer\nof Uz, lived and suffered, was thrown from prosperity, was accused by\nmen, was worn by disease, but died maintaining that all this befel him\nunjustly, that he had done no wrong to God or man. It would stand there\nin the way of the caravans of Tema for succeeding generations to read.\nIt would stand there till the ages had run their course. Kings represent\non rocks their wars and triumphs. As one of royal dignity Job would use\nthe same means of continuing his protest and his name.\n\nYet, so far as his life is concerned, what good,--the story spread\nnorthward to Damascus, but he, Job, lost in Sheol? His protest is\nagainst forms of death; his claim is for life. There is no life in the\nsculptured stone. Baffled again he halts midway. His foot on a\ncrumbling point, there must be yet one spring for safety and refuge.\n\nWho has not felt, looking at the records of the past, inscriptions on\ntablets, rocks and temples, the wistful throb of antiquity in those\nanxious legacies of a world of men too well aware of man's\nforgetfulness? \"Whoever alters the work of my hand,\" says the\nconqueror called Sargon, \"destroys my constructions, pulls down the\nwalls which I have raised--may Asshur, Nin\u00eab, Ram\u00e2n and the great gods\nwho dwell there pluck his name and seed from the land and let him sit\nbound at the feet of his foe.\" Invocation of the gods in this manner\nwas the only resource of him who in that far past feared oblivion and\nknew that there was need to fear. But to a higher God, in words of\nbroken eloquence, Job is made to commit his cause, seeing beyond the\nperishable world the imperishable remembrance of the Almighty. So a\nHebrew poet breathed into the wandering air of the desert that brave\nhope which afterwards, far beyond his thought, was in Israel to be\nfulfilled. Had he been exiled from Galilee? In Galilee was to be heard\nthe voice that told of immortality and redemption.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWe must go back in the book to find the beginning of the hope now\nseized. Already Job has been looking forth beyond the region of this\nlittle life. What has he seen?\n\nFirst and always, Eloah. That name and what it represents do not fail\nhim. He has had terrible experiences, and all of them must have been\nappointed by Eloah. But the name is venerable still, and despite all\ndifficulties he clings to the idea that righteousness goes with power\nand wisdom. The power bewilders--the wisdom plans inconceivable\nthings--but beyond there is righteousness.\n\nNext. He has seen a gleam of light across the darkness of the grave,\nthrough the gloom of the under-world. A man going down thither,--his\nbody to moulder into dust, his spirit to wander a shadow in a prison\nof shadows,--may not remain there. God is almighty--He has the key of\nSheol--a star has shown for a little, giving hope that out of the\nunder-world life may be recovered. It is seen that Eloah, the Maker,\nmust have a desire to the work of His hands. What does that not mean?\n\nAgain. It has been borne upon his mind that the record of a good life\nabides and is with the All-seeing. What is done cannot be undone. The\nwasting of the flesh cannot waste that Divine knowledge. The eternal\nhistory cannot be effaced. Spiritual life is lived before Eloah who\nguards the right of a man. Men scorn Job; but with tears he has prayed\nto Eloah to right his cause, and that prayer cannot be in vain.\n\nA just prayer cannot be in vain because God is ever just. From this\npoint thought mounts upward. Eloah for ever faithful--Eloah able to\nopen the gate of Sheol--not angry for ever--Eloah keeping the tablet\nof every life, indifferent to no point of right,--these are the steps\nof progress in Job's thought and hope. And these are the gain of his\ntrial. In his prosperous time none of these things had been before\nhim. He had known the joy of God but not the secret, the peace not the\nrighteousness. Yet he is not aware how much he has gained. He is\ncoming half unconsciously to an inheritance prepared for him in\nwisdom and in love by Eloah in whom he trusts. A man needs for life\nmore than he himself can either sow or ripen.\n\nAnd now, hear Job. Whether the rock shall be graven or not he cannot\ntell. Does it matter? He sees far beyond that inscribed cliff in the\ndesert. He sees what alone can satisfy the spirit that has learned to\nlive.\n\n      \"'Tis life whereof our nerves are scant,\n       Oh life not death, for which we pant;\n       More life, and fuller, that I want.\"\n\nNot dimly this great truth flashes through the web of broken\nejaculation, panting thought.\n\n      \"_But I know it: my Redeemer liveth;\n       And afterward on the dust He will stand up;\n       And after my skin they destroy, even this,\n       And without my flesh shall I see Eloah,\n       Whom I shall see_ FOR ME,\n       _And mine eyes shall behold and not the stranger--\n       My reins are consumed in my bosom_.\"\n\nThe Go\u00ebl or Redeemer pledged to him by eternal justice is yet to\narise, a living Remembrancer and Vindicator from all wrong and\ndishonour. On the dust that covers death He will arise when the day\ncomes. The diseases that prey on the perishing body shall have done\ntheir work. In the grave the flesh shall have passed into decay; but\nthe spirit that has borne shall behold Him. Not for the passing\nstranger shall be the vindication, but for Job himself. All that has\nbeen so confounding shall be explained, for the Most High is the Go\u00ebl;\nHe has the care of His suffering servant in His own hand and will not\nfail to issue it in clear satisfying judgment.\n\nFor the inspired writer of these words, declaring the faith which had\nsprung up within him; for us also who desire to share his faith and to\nbe assured of the future vindication, three barriers stand in the way,\nand these have successively to be passed.\n\nFirst is the difficulty of believing that the Most High need trouble\nHimself to disentangle all the rights from the wrongs in human life. Is\nhumanity of such importance in the universe? God is very high; human\naffairs may be of little consequence to His eternal majesty. Is not this\nearth on which we dwell one of the smaller of the planets that revolve\nabout the sun? Is not our sun one amongst a myriad, many of them far\ntranscending it in size and splendour? Can we demand or even feel\nhopeful that the Eternal Lord shall adjust the disordered equities of\nour little state and appear for the right which has been obscured in the\nsmall affairs of time? A century is long to us; but our ages are\n\"moments in the being of the eternal silence.\" Can it matter to the\nuniverse moving through perpetual cycles of evolution, new races and\nphases of creaturely life arising and running their course--can it\nmatter that one race should pass away having simply contributed its\nstruggle and desire to the far-off result? Conceivably, in the design of\na wise and good Creator, this might be a destiny for a race of beings to\nsubserve. How do we know it is not ours?\n\nThis difficulty has grown. It stands now in the way of all religion,\neven of the Christian faith. God is among the immensities and\neternities; evolution breaks in wave after wave; we are but one. How\ncan we assure our hearts that the inexterminable longing for equity\nshall have fulfilment?\n\nNext there is the difficulty which belongs to the individual life. To\nenjoy the hope, feel the certainty to which Job reached forth, you or\nI must make the bold assumption that our personal controversies are\nof eternal importance. One is obscure; his life has moved in a very\nnarrow circle. He has done little, he knows little. His sorrows have\nbeen keen, but they are brief and limited. He has been held down,\nscorned, afflicted. But after all why should God care? To adjust the\naffairs of nations, to bring out the world's history in righteousness\nmay be God's concern. But suppose a man lives bravely, bears\npatiently, preserves his life from evil, though he have to suffer and\neven go down in darkness, may not the end of the righteous King be\ngained by the weight his life casts into the scale of faith and\nvirtue? Should not the man be satisfied with this result of his energy\nand look for nothing more? Does eternal righteousness demand anything\nmore on behalf of a man? Included in this is the question whether the\ndisputes between men, the small ignorances, egotisms, clashing of\nwills, need a final assize. Are they not trifling and transient? Can\nwe affirm that in these is involved an element of justice which it\nconcerns our Maker to establish before the worlds?\n\nThe third barrier is not less than the others to modern thought. How\nis our life to be preserved or revived, so that personally and\nconsciously we shall have our share in the clearing up of the human\nstory and be gladdened by the \"Well done, good and faithful servant\"\nof the Judge? That verdict is entirely personal; but how may the\nfaithful servant live to hear it? Death appears inexorable. Despite\nthe resurrection of Christ, despite the words He has spoken, \"I am the\nresurrection and the life,\" even to Christians the vision is often\nclouded, the survival of consciousness hard to believe in. How did the\nauthor of Job pass this barrier--in thought, or in hope? Are we\ncontent to pass it only in hope?\n\nI answer all these questions together. And the answer lies in the very\nexistence of the idea of justice, our knowledge of justice, our desire\nfor it, the fragmentariness of our history till right has been done to\nus by others, by us to others, by man to God, and God to man--the full\nright, whatever that may involve.\n\nWhence came our sense of justice? We can only say, From Him who made\nus. He gave us such a nature as cannot be satisfied nor find rest till\nan ideal of justice, that is of acted truth, is framed in our human\nlife and everything possible done to realise it. Upon this acted truth\nall depends, and till it is reached we are in suspense. Deep in the\nmind of man lies that need. Yet it is always a hunger. More and more\nit unsettles him, keeps him in unrest, turning from scheme to scheme\nof ethic and society. He is ever making compromises, waiting for\nevolutions; but nature knows no compromises and gives him no clue save\nin present fact. Is it possible that He who made us will not overpass\nour poor best, will not sweep aside the shifts and evasions current in\nour imperfect economy? The passion for righteousness comes from him;\nit is a ray of Himself. The soul of the good man craving perfect\nholiness and toiling for it in himself, in others, can it be greater\nthan God, more strenuous, more subtle than the Divine evolution that\ngave him birth, the Divine Father of his spirit? Impossible in\nthought, impossible in fact.\n\nNo. Justice there is in every matter. Surely science has taught us\nvery little if it has not banished the notion that the _small_ means\nthe _unimportant_, that minute things are of no moment in evolution.\nFor many years past science has been constructing for us the great\nargument of universal physical fidelity, universal weaving of the\nsmall details into the vast evolutionary design. The microscopist, the\nbiologist, the chemist, the astronomer, each and all are engaged in\nbuilding up this argument, forcing the confession that the universe is\none of inconceivably small things ordered throughout by law. Finish\nand care would seem to be given everywhere to minuti\u00e6 as though, that\nbeing done, the great would certainly evolve. Further, science even\nwhen dealing with material things emphasises the importance of mind.\nThe truthfulness of nature at any point in the physical range is a\ntruthfulness of the Overnature to the mind of man, a correlation\nestablished between physical and spiritual existence. Wherever order\nand care are brought into view there is an exaltation of the human\nreason which perceives and relates. All would be thrown into confusion\nif the fidelity recognised by the mind did not extend to the mind\nitself, if the sanity and development of the mind were not included in\nthe order of the universe. For the psychological student this is\nestablished, and the working of evolutionary law is being traced in\nthe obscure phenomena of consciousness, sub-consciousness and habit.\n\nIs it of importance that each of the gases shall have laws of\ndiffusion and combination, shall act according to those laws,\nunvaryingly affecting vegetable and animal life? Unless those laws\nwrought in constancy or equity at every moment all would be confusion.\nIs it of importance that the bird, using its wings, shall be able to\nsoar into the atmosphere; that the wings adapted for flight shall find\nan atmosphere in which their exercise produces movement? Here again is\nan equity which enters into the very constitution of the cosmos, which\nmust be a form of the one supreme law of the cosmos. Once more, is it\nof importance that the thinker shall find sequences and relations,\nwhen once established, a sound basis for prediction and discovery,\nthat he shall be able to trust himself on lines of research and feel\ncertain that, at every point, for the instrument of inquiry there is\nanswering verity? Without this correspondence man would have no real\nplace in evolution, he would flutter an aimless unrelated\nsensitiveness through a storm of physical incidents.\n\nAdvance to the most important facts of mind, the moral ideas which\nenter into every department of thought, the inductions through which\nwe find our place in another range than the physical. Does the\nfidelity already traced now cease? Is man at this point beyond the law\nof faithfulness, beyond the invariable correlation of environment with\nfaculty? Does he now come to a region which he cannot choose but\nenter, where, however, the cosmos fails him, the beating wing cannot\nrise, the inquiring mind reaches no verity, and the consciousness does\nflutter an inexplicable thing through dreams and illusions? A man has\nit in his nature to seek justice. Peace for him there is none unless\nhe does what is right and can believe that right will be done. With\nthis high conviction in his mind he is opposed, as in this Book of\nJob, by false men, overthrown by calamity, covered with harsh\njudgment. Death approaches and he has to pass away from a world that\nseems to have failed him. Shall he never see his right nor God's\nrighteousness? Shall he never come to his own as a man of good will\nand high resolve? Has he been true to a cosmos which after all is\ntreacherous, to a rule of virtue which has no authority and no issue?\nHe believes in a Lord of infinite justice and truth; that his life,\nsmall as it is, cannot be apart from the pervading law of equity. Is\nthat his dream? Then any moment the whole system of the universe may\ncollapse like a bubble blown upon a marsh.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNow let us clearly understand the point and value of the argument. It is\nnot that a man who has served God here and suffered here must have a\njoyful immortality. What man is faithful enough to make such a claim?\nBut the principle is that God must vindicate His righteousness in\ndealing with the man He has made, the man He has called to trust Him. It\nmatters not who the man is, how obscure his life has been, he has this\nclaim on God, that to him the eternal righteousness ought to be made\nclear. Job cries for his own justification; but the doubt about God\ninvolved in the slur cast upon his own integrity is what rankles in his\nheart; from that he rises in triumphant protest and daring hope. He must\nlive till God clears up the matter. If he dies he must revive to have it\nall made clear. And observe, if it were only that ignorant men cast\ndoubt on providence, the resurrection and personal redemption of the\nbeliever would not be necessary. God is not responsible for the foolish\nthings men say, and we could not look for resurrection because our\nfellow-creatures misrepresent God. But Job feels that God Himself has\ncaused the perplexity. God sent the flash of lightning, the storm, the\ndreadful disease; it is God who by many strange things in human\nexperience seems to give cause for doubt. From God in nature, God in\ndisease, God in the earthquake and the thunderstorm, God whose way is in\nthe sea and His path in the mighty waters--from this God, Job cries in\nhope, in moral conviction, to God the Vindicator, the eternally\nrighteous One, Author of nature and Friend of man.\n\nThis life may terminate before the full revelation of right is made; it\nmay leave the good in darkness and the evil flaunting in pride; the\nbeliever may go down in shame and the atheist have the last word.\nTherefore a future life with judgment in full must vindicate our\nCreator; and every personality involved in the problems of time must go\nforward to the opening of the seals and the fulfilment of the things\nthat are written in the volumes of God. This evolution being for the\nearlier stage and discipline of life, it works out nothing, completes\nnothing. What it does is to furnish the awaking spirit with material of\nthought, opportunity for endeavour, the elements of life; with trial,\ntemptation, stimulus, and restraint. No one who lives to any purpose or\nthinks with any sincerity can miss in the course of his life one hour at\nleast in which he shares the tragical contest and adds the cry of his\nown soul to that of Job, his own hope to that of ages that are gone,\nstraining to see the Go\u00ebl who undertakes for every servant of God.\n\n      \"_I know it: my Redeemer liveth,\n       And afterward on the dust He will stand up;\n       And without my flesh I shall see Eloah._\"\n\nBy slow cycles of change the vast scheme of Divine providence draws\ntoward a glorious consummation. The believer waits for it, seeing One\nwho has gone before him and will come after him, the Alpha and Omega of\nall life. The fulness of time will at length arrive, the time\nforeordained by God, foretold by Christ, when the throne shall be set,\nthe judgment shall be given, and the \u00e6ons of manifestation shall begin.\n\nAnd who in that day shall be the sons of God? Which of us can say that\nhe knows himself worthy of immortality? How imperfect is the noblest\nhuman life, how often it falls away into the folly and evil of the\nworld! We need one to deliver us from the imperfection that gives to\nall we are and do the character of evanescence, to set us free from\nour entanglements and bring us into liberty. We are poor erring\ncreatures. Only if there is a Divine purpose of grace that extends to\nthe unworthy and the frail, only if there is redemption for the\nearthly, only if a Divine Saviour has undertaken to justify our\nexistence as moral beings, can we look hopefully into the future. Job\nlooked for a Redeemer who would bring to light a righteousness he\nclaimed to possess. But our Redeemer must be able to awaken in us the\nlove of a righteousness we alone could never see and to clothe us in a\nholiness we could never of ourselves attain. The problem of justice in\nhuman life will be solved because our race has a Redeemer whose\njudgment when it falls will fall in tenderest mercy, who bore our\ninjustice for our sakes and will vindicate for us that transcendent\nrighteousness which is for ever one with love.\n\n\n\n\nXVII.\n\n_IGNORANT CRITICISM OF LIFE._\n\nZOPHAR SPEAKS. CHAP. xx.\n\n\nThe great saying that quickens our faith and carries thought into a\nhigher world conveyed no Divine meaning to the man from Naamah. The\nauthor must have intended to pour scorn on the hide-bound intelligence\nand rude bigotry of Zophar, to show him dwarfed by self-content and\nzeal not according to knowledge. When Job affirmed his sublime\nconfidence in a Divine Vindicator, Zophar caught only at the idea of\nan avenger. What is this notion of a Go\u00ebl on whose support a condemned\nman dares to count, who shall do judgment for him? And his resentment\nwas increased by the closing words of Job:--\n\n      \"_If ye say, How may we pursue him?\n       And that the cause of the matter is in me--\n       Then beware of the sword!\n       For hot are the punishments of the sword,\n       That ye may know there is judgment._\"\n\nIf they went on declaring that the root of the matter, that is, the\nreal cause of his affliction, was to be found in his own bad life, let\nthem beware the avenging sword of Divine justice. He certainly\nimplies that his Go\u00ebl may become their enemy if they continue to\npersecute him with false charges. To Zophar the suggestion is\nintolerable. With no little irritation and anger he begins:--\n\n      \"_For this do my thoughts answer me,\n       And by reason of this there is haste in me--\n       I hear the reproof which puts me to shame,\n       And the spirit of my understanding gives me answer._\"\n\nHe speaks more hotly than in his first address, because his pride is\ntouched, and that prevents him from distinguishing between a warning\nand a personal threat. To a Zophar every man is blind who does not see\nas he sees, and every word offensive that bids him take pause.\nBelievers of his kind have always liked to appropriate the defence of\ntruth, and they have seldom done anything but harm. Conceive the\ndulness and obstinacy of one who heard an inspired utterance\naltogether new to human thought, and straightway turned in resentment\non the man from whom it came. He is an example of the bigot in the\npresence of genius, a little uncomfortable, a good deal affronted,\nvery sure that he knows the mind of God, and very determined to have\nthe last word. Such were the Scribes and Pharisees of our Lord's time,\nmost religious persons and zealous for what they considered sound\ndoctrine. His light shone in darkness, and their darkness comprehended\nit not; they did Him to death with an accusation of impiety and\nblasphemy--\"He made Himself the Son of God,\" they said.\n\nZophar's whole speech is a fresh example of the dogmatic hardness the\nwriter was assailing, the closure of the mind and the stiffening of\nthought. One might not unjustly accuse this speaker of neglecting the\nmoral difference between the profane whose triumph and joy he declares\nto be short, and the good man whose career is full of years and\nhonour. We may almost say that to him outward success is the only mark\nof inward grace, and that prosperous hypocrisy would be mistaken by\nhim for the most beautiful piety. His whole creed about providence and\nretribution is such that he is on the way to utter confusion of mind.\nWhy, he has said to himself that Job is a wicked and false man--Job\nwhose striking characteristic is outspoken truthfulness, whose\nintegrity is the pride of his Divine Master. And if Zophar once\naccepts it as indisputable that Job is neither good nor sincere, what\nwill the end be for himself? With more and more assurance he will\njudge from a man's prosperity that he is righteous, and from his\nafflictions that he is a reprobate. He will twist and torture facts of\nlife and modes of thought, till the worship of property will become\nhis real cult, and to him the poor will of necessity seem worthless.\nThis is just what happened in Israel. It is just what slovenly\ninterpretation of the Bible and providence has brought many to in our\nown time. Side by side with a doctrine of self-sacrifice incredible\nand mischievous, there is a doctrine of the earthly reward of\ngodliness--religion profitable for the life that now is, in the way of\nfilling the pockets and conducting to eminent seats--an absurd and\nhurtful doctrine, for ever being taught in one form if not another,\nand applied all along the line of human life. An honest, virtuous man,\nis he sure to find a good place in our society? The rich broker or\nmanufacturer, because he washes, dresses, and has twenty servants to\nwait upon him, is he therefore a fine soul? Nobody will say so. Yet\nChristianity is so little understood in some quarters, is so much\nassociated with the error of Zophar, that within the church a score\nare of his opinion for one who is in Job's perplexity. Outside, the\nproportion is much the same. The moral ideas and philanthropies of our\ngeneration are perverted by the notion that no one is succeeding as a\nman unless he is making money and rising in the social scale. So,\nindependence of mind, freedom, integrity, and the courage by which\nthey are secured, are made of comparatively little account.\n\nIt will be said that if things were rightly ordered, Christian ideas\nprevailing in business, in legislation and social intercourse, the best\npeople would certainly be in the highest places and have the best of\nlife, and that, meanwhile, the improvement of the world depends on some\napproximation to this state of affairs. That is to say, spiritual power\nand character must come into visible union with the resources of the\nearth and possession of its good things, otherwise there will be no\nmoral progress. Divine providence, we are told, works after that manner;\nand the reasoning is plausible enough to require close attention. There\nhas always been peril for religion in association with external power\nand prestige--and the peril of religion is the peril of progress. Will\nspiritual ideas ever urge those whose lives they rule to seek with any\nsolicitude the gifts of time? Will they not, on the other hand,\nincreasingly, as they ought, draw the desires of the best away from what\nis immediate, earthly, and in all the lower senses personal? To put it\nin a word, must not the man of spiritual mind always be a prophet, that\nis, a critic of human life in its relations to the present world? Will\nthere come a time in the history of the race when the criticism of the\nprophet shall no longer be needed and his mantle will fall from him?\nThat can only be when all the Lord's people are prophets, when\neverywhere the earthly is counted as nothing in view of the heavenly,\nwhen men will seek continually a new revelation of good, and the\ncriticism of Christ shall be so acknowledged that no one shall need to\nrepeat after Him, \"How can ye believe which receive honour one of\nanother, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?\" By heavenly\nmeans alone shall heavenly ends be secured, and the keen pursuit of\nearthly good will never bring the race of men into the paradise where\nChrist reigns. Outward magnificence is neither a symbol nor an ally of\nspiritual power. It hinders instead of aiding the soul in the quest of\nwhat is eternally excellent, touching the sensuous, not the divine, in\nman. Christ is still, as in the days of His flesh, utterly indifferent\nto the means by which power and distinction are gained in the world. The\nspread of His ideas, the manifestation of His Godhead, the coming of His\nKingdom, depend not the least on the countenance of the great and the\nimpression produced on rude minds by the shows of wealth. The first task\nof His gospel everywhere is to correct the barbaric tastes of men; and\nthe highest and best in a spiritual age will be, as He was, thinkers,\nseers of truth, lovers of God and man, lowly in heart and life. These\nwill express the penetrating criticism that shall move the world.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nZophar discourses of one who is openly unjust and rapacious. He is\ncandid enough to admit that, for a time, the schemes and daring of the\nwicked may succeed, but affirms that, though his head may \"reach to\nthe clouds,\" it is only that he may be cast down.\n\n      \"_Knowest thou not this from of old,\n       Since man was placed upon earth,\n       That the triumphing of the wicked is short,\n       And the joy of the godless but for a moment?\n       Though his excellency ascend to heaven,\n       And his head reach to the clouds,\n       Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung:\n       They who saw him shall say, Where is he?\n       Like a dream he shall flee, no more to be found,\n       Yea, he shall be chased away like a night-vision._\"\n\nAs a certainty, based on facts quite evident since the beginning of\nhuman history, Zophar presents anew the overthrow of the evil-doer. He\nis sure that the wicked does not keep his prosperity through a long\nlife. Such a thing has never occurred in the range of human\nexperience. The godless man is allowed, no doubt, to lift himself up\nfor a time; but his day is short. Indeed he is great for a moment\nonly, and that in appearance. He never actually possesses the good\nthings of earth, but only seems to possess them. Then in the hour of\njudgment he passes like a dream and perishes for ever. The affirmation\nis precisely that which has been made again and again; and with some\ncuriosity we scan the words of Zophar to learn what addition he makes\nto the scheme so often pressed.\n\nSooth to say, there is no reasoning, nothing but affirmation. He\ndiscusses no doubtful case, enters into no careful discrimination of the\nvirtuous who enjoy from the godless who perish, makes no attempt to\nexplain the temporary success granted to the wicked. The man he\ndescribes is one who has acquired wealth by unlawful means, who conceals\nhis wickedness, rolling it like a sweet morsel under his tongue. We are\ntold further that he has oppressed and neglected the poor and violently\ntaken away a house, and he has so behaved himself that all the miserable\nwatch for his downfall with hungry eyes. But these charges, virtually\nof avarice, rapacity, and inhumanity, are far from definite, far from\ncategorical. Not without reason would any man have so bad a reputation,\nand if deserved it would ensure the combination against him of all\nright-minded people. But men may be evil-hearted and inhuman who are not\nrapacious; they may be vile and yet not given to avarice. And Zophar's\naccount of the ruin of the profane, though he makes it a Divine act,\npictures the rising of society against one whose conduct is no longer\nendurable--a robber chief, the tyrant of a valley. His argument fails in\nthis, that though the history of the proud evil-doer's destruction were\nperfectly true to fact, it would apply to a very few only amongst the\npopulation,--one in ten thousand,--leaving the justice of Divine\nprovidence in greater doubt than ever, because the avarice and\nselfishness of smaller men are not shown to have corresponding\npunishment, are not indeed so much as considered. Zophar describes one\nwhose bold and flagrant iniquity rouses the resentment of those not\nparticularly honest themselves, not religious, nor even humane, but\nmerely aware of their own danger from his violent rapacity. A man,\nhowever, may be avaricious who is not strong, may have the will to prey\non others but not the power. The real distinction, therefore, of\nZophar's criminal is his success in doing what many of those he\noppresses and despoils would do if they were able, and the picturesque\npassage leaves no deep moral impression. We read it and seem to feel\nthat the overthrow of this evil-doer is one of the rare and happy\ninstances of poetical justice which sometimes occur in real life, but\nnot so frequently as to make a man draw back in the act of oppressing a\npoor dependant or robbing a helpless widow.\n\nIn an sincerity Zophar speaks, with righteous indignation against the\nman whose ruin he paints, persuaded that he is following, step for\nstep, the march of Divine judgment. His eye kindles, his voice rings\nwith poetic exultation.\n\n      \"_He hath swallowed down riches; he shall vomit them again:\n       God shall cast them out of his belly.\n       He shall suck the poison of asps;\n       The viper's tongue shall slay him.\n       He shall not look upon the rivers,\n       The flowing streams of honey and butter.\n       That which he toiled for shall he restore,\n       And shall not swallow it down;\n       Not according to the wealth he has gotten\n       Shall he have enjoyment....\n       There was nothing left that he devoured not;\n       Therefore his prosperity shall not abide.\n       In his richest abundance he shall be in straits;\n       The hand of every miserable one shall come upon him.\n       When he is about to fill his belly\n       God shall cast the fury of His wrath upon him\n       And rain upon him his food._\"\n\nHe has succeeded for a time, concealing or fortifying himself among\nthe mountains. He has store of silver and gold and garments taken by\nviolence, of cattle and sheep captured in the plain. But the district\nis roused. Little by little he is driven back into the uninhabited\ndesert. His supplies are cut off and he is brought to extremity. His\nfood becomes to him as the gall of asps. With all his ill-gotten\nwealth he is in straits, for he is hunted from place to place. Not for\nhim now the luxury of the green oasis and the coolness of flowing\nstreams. He is an outlaw, in constant danger of discovery. His\nchildren wander to places where they are not known and beg for bread.\nReduced to abject fear, he restores the goods he had taken by\nviolence, trying to buy off the enmity of his pursuers. Then come the\nlast skirmish, the clash of weapons, ignominious death.\n\n      \"_He shall flee from the iron weapon,\n       And the bow of brass shall pierce him through.\n       He draweth it forth; it cometh out of his body:\n       Yea, the glittering shaft cometh out of his gall.\n       Terrors are upon him,\n       All darkness is laid up for his treasures;\n       A fire not blown shall consume him,\n       It shall devour him that is left in his tent.\n       The heaven shall reveal his iniquity,\n       And the earth shall rise against him.\n       The increase of his house shall depart,\n       Be washed away in the day of His wrath.\n       This is the lot of a wicked man from God,\n       And the heritage appointed to him by God._\"\n\nVain is resistance when he is brought to bay by his enemies. A moment\nof overwhelming terror, and he is gone. His tent blazes up and is\nconsumed, as if the breath of God made hot the avenging flame. Within\nit his wife and children perish. Heaven seems to have called for his\ndestruction and earth to have obeyed the summons. So the craft and\nstrength of the free-booter, living on the flocks and harvests of\nindustrious people, are measured vainly against the indignation of\nGod, who has ordained the doom of wickedness.\n\nA powerful word-picture. Yet if Zophar and the rest taught such a\ndoctrine of retribution, and, put to it, could find no other; if they\nwere in the way of saying, \"This is the lot of a wicked man from God,\"\nhow far away must Divine judgment have seemed from ordinary life,\nfrom the falsehoods daily spoken, the hard words and blows dealt to\nthe slave, the jealousies and selfishnesses of the harem. Under the\npretext of showing the righteous Judge, Zophar makes it impossible, or\nnext to impossible, to realise His presence and authority. Men must be\nstirred up on God's behalf or His judicial anger will not be felt.\n\nIt is however when we apply the picture to the case of Job that we see\nits falsehood. Against the facts of his career Zophar's account of\nDivine judgment stands out as flat heresy, a foul slander charged on\nthe providence of God. For he means that Job wore in his own\nsettlement the hypocritical dress of piety and benevolence and must\nhave elsewhere made brigandage his trade, that his servants who died\nby the sword of Chald\u00e6ans and Sabeans and the fire of heaven had been\nhis army of rievers, that the cause of his ruin was heaven's\nintolerance and earth's detestation of so vile a life. Zophar\ndescribes poetic justice, and reasons back from it to Job. Now it\nbecomes flagrant injustice against God and man. We cannot argue from\nwhat sometimes is to what must be. Although Zophar had taken in hand\nto convict one really and unmistakably a miscreant, truth alone would\nhave served the cause of righteousness. But he assumes, conjectures,\nand is immeasurably unjust and cruel to his friend.\n\n\n\n\nXVIII.\n\n_ARE THE WAYS OF THE LORD EQUAL?_\n\nJOB SPEAKS. CHAP. xxi.\n\n\nWith less of personal distress and a more collected mind than before\nJob begins a reply to Zophar. His brave hope of vindication has\nfortified his soul and is not without effect upon his bodily state.\nThe quietness of tone in this final address of the second colloquy\ncontrasts with his former agitation and the growing eagerness of the\nfriends to convict him of wrong. True, he has still to speak of facts\nof human life troublous and inscrutable. Where they lie he must look,\nand terror seizes him, as if he moved on the edge of chaos. It is,\nhowever, no longer his own controversy with God that disquiets him.\nFor the time he is able to leave that to the day of revelation. But\nseeing a vaster field in which righteousness must be revealed, he\ncompels himself, as it were, to face the difficulties which are\nencountered in that survey. The friends have throughout the colloquy\npresented in varying pictures the offensiveness of the wicked man and\nhis sure destruction. Job, extending his view over the field they have\nprofessed to search, sees the facts in another light. While his\nstatement is in the way of a direct negative to Zophar's theory, he\nhas to point out what seems dreadful injustice in the providence of\nGod. He is not however, drawn anew into the tone of revolt.\n\nThe opening words are as usual expostulatory, but with a ring of\nvigour. Job sets the arguments of his friends aside and the only\ndemand he makes now is for their attention.\n\n      \"_Hear diligently my speech,\n       And let that be your consolations.\n       Suffer me that I may speak;\n       And after I have spoken, mock on.\n       As for me, is my complaint of man?\n       And why should I not be impatient?_\"\n\nWhat he has said hitherto has had little effect upon them; what he is to\nsay may have none. But he will speak; and afterwards, if Zophar finds\nthat he can maintain his theory, why, he must keep to it and mock on. At\npresent the speaker is in the mood of disdaining false judgment. He\nquite understands the conclusion come to by the friends. They have\nsucceeded in wounding him time after time. But what presses upon his\nmind is the state of the world as it really is. Another impatience than\nof human falsehood urges him to speak. He has returned upon the riddle\nof life he gave Zophar to read--why the tents of robbers prosper and\nthey that provoke God are secure (chap. xii. 6). Suppose the three let\nhim alone for a while and consider the question largely, in its whole\nscope. They shall consider it, for, certainly, the robber chief may be\nseen here and there in full swing of success, with his children about\nhim, gaily enjoying the fruit of sin, and as fearless as if the Almighty\nwere his special protector. Here is something that needs clearing up. Is\nit not enough to make a strong man shake?\n\n      \"_Mark me, and be astonished,\n       And lay the hand upon the mouth.\n       Even while I remember I am troubled,\n       And trembling taketh hold of my flesh--\n       Wherefore do the wicked live,\n       Become old, yea, wax mighty in power?\n       Their seed is settled with them in their sight,\n       And their offspring before their eyes;\n       Their houses are in peace, without fear,\n       And the rod of God is not upon them....\n       They send forth their little ones like a flock,\n       And their children dance;\n       They sing to the timbrel and lute,\n       And rejoice at the sound of the pipe.\n       They spend their days in ease,\n       And in a moment go down to Sheol.\n       Yet they said to God, Depart from us,\n       For we desire not to know Thy ways.\n       What is Shaddai that we should serve Him?\n       And what profit should we have if we pray unto Him?_\"\n\nContrast the picture here with those which Bildad and Zophar\npainted--and where lies the truth? Sufficiently on Job's side to make\none who is profoundly interested in the question of Divine\nrighteousness stand appalled. There was an error of judgment\ninseparable from that early stage of human education in which vigour\nand the gains of vigour counted for more than goodness and the gains\nof goodness, and this error clouding the thought of Job made him\ntremble for his faith. Is nature God's? Does God arrange the affairs\nof this world? Why then, under His rule, can the godless have\nenjoyment, and those who deride the Almighty feast on the fat things\nof His earth? Job has sent into the future a single penetrating look.\nHe has seen the possibility of vindication, but not the certainty of\nretribution. The underworld into which the evil-doer descends in a\nmoment, without protracted misery, appears to Job no hell of torment.\nIt is a region of reduced, incomplete existence, not of penalty. The\nvery clearness with which he saw vindication for himself, that is,\nfor the good man, makes it needful to see the wrong-doer judged and\nopenly condemned. Where then shall this be done? The writer, with all\nhis genius, could only throw one vivid gleam beyond the present. He\ncould not frame a new idea of Sheol, nor, passing its cloud confines,\nreach the thought of personality continuing in acute sensations either\nof joy or pain. The ungodly ought to feel the heavy hand of Divine\njustice in the present state of being. But he does not. Nature makes\nroom for him and his children, for their gay dances and life-long\nhilarity. Heaven does not frown. \"The wicked live, become old, yea,\nwax mighty in power; their houses are in peace, without fear.\"\n\nFrom the climax of chap. xix. the speeches of Job seem to fall away\ninstead of advancing. The author had one brilliant journey into the\nunseen, but the peak he reached could not be made a new point of\ndeparture. Knowledge he did not possess was now required. He saw\nbefore him a pathless ocean where no man had shown the way, and\ninspiration seems to have failed him. His power lay in remarkably keen\nanalysis and criticism of known theological positions and in glowing\npoetic sense. His inspiration working through these persuaded him that\neverywhere God is the Holy and True. It is scarcely to be supposed\nthat condemnation of the evil could have seemed to him of less\nimportance than vindication of the good. Our conclusion therefore must\nbe that a firm advance into the other life was not for genius like\nhis, nor for human genius at its highest. One more than man must speak\nof the great judgment and what lies beyond.\n\nClearly Job sees the unsolved enigma of the godless man's prosperous\nlife, states it, and stands trembling. Regarding it what have other\nthinkers said? \"If the law of all creation were justice,\" says John\nStuart Mill, \"and the Creator omnipotent, then in whatever amount\nsuffering and happiness might be dispensed to the world, each person's\nshare of them would be exactly proportioned to that person's good or\nevil deeds; no human being would have a worse lot than another without\nworse deserts; accident or favouritism would have no part in such a\nworld, but every human life would be the playing out of a drama\nconstructed like a perfect moral tale. No one is able to blind himself\nto the fact that the world we live in is totally different from this.\"\nEmerson, again, facing this problem, repudiates the doctrine that\njudgment is not executed in this world. He affirms that there is a\nfallacy in the concession that the bad are successful, that justice is\nnot done now. \"Every ingenuous and aspiring soul,\" he says, \"leaves the\ndoctrine behind him in his own experience; and all men feel sometimes\nthe falsehood which they cannot demonstrate.\" His theory is that there\nis balance or compensation everywhere. \"Life invests itself with\ninevitable conditions, which the unwise seek to dodge, which one and\nanother brags that he does not know, that they do not touch him;--but\nthe brag is on his lips, the conditions are in his soul. If he escapes\nthem in one part, they attack him in another more vital part.... The\ningenuity of man has always been dedicated to the solution of one\nproblem,--how to detach the sensual sweet, the sensual strong, the\nsensual bright, from the moral sweet, the moral deep, the moral fair;\nthat is, again, to contrive to cut clean off this upper surface so thin\nas to leave it bottomless; to get a _one end_, without an _other\nend_.... This dividing and detaching is steadily counteracted. Pleasure\nis taken out of pleasant things, profit out of profitable things, power\nout of strong things, so soon as we seek to separate them from the\nwhole. We can no more halve things and get the sensual good, by itself,\nthan we can get an inside that shall have no outside, or a light without\na shadow.... For everything you have missed, you have gained something\nelse, and for everything you gain you lose something. If the gatherer\ngathers too much, nature takes out of the man what she puts into his\nchest; swells the estate but kills the owner.... We feel defrauded of\nthe retribution due to evil acts, because the criminal adheres to his\nvice and contumacy, and does not come to a crisis or judgment anywhere\nin visible nature. There is no stunning confutation of his nonsense\nbefore men and angels. Has he therefore outwitted the law? Inasmuch as\nhe carries the malignity and the lie with him, he so far deceases from\nnature. In some manner there will be a demonstration of the wrong to the\nunderstanding also; but, should we not see it, this deadly deduction\nmakes square the account.\"[3] The argument reaches far beneath that\nsuperficial condemnation of the order of providence which disfigures Mr.\nMill's essay on Nature. So far as it goes, it illuminates the present\nstage of human existence. The light, however, is not sufficient, for we\ncannot consent to the theory that in an ideal scheme, a perfect or\neternal state, he who would have holiness must sacrifice power, and he\nwho would be true must be content to be despised. There is, we cannot\ndoubt, a higher law; for this does not in any sense apply to the life of\nGod Himself. In the discipline which prepares for liberty, there must be\nrestraints and limitations, gain--that is, development--by renunciation;\nearthly ends must be subordinated to spiritual; sacrifices must be made.\nBut the present state does not exhaust the possibilities of development\nnor close the history of man. There is a kingdom out of which shall be\ntaken all things that offend. To Emerson's compensations must be added\nthe compensation of Heaven. Still he lifts the problem out of the deep\ndarkness which troubled Job.\n\nAnd with respect to the high position and success bad men are allowed to\nenjoy, another writer, Bushnell, well points out that permission of\ntheir opulence and power by God aids the development of moral ideas. \"It\nis simply letting society and man be what they are, to show what they\nare.\" The retributive stroke, swift and visible, is not needed to\ndeclare this. \"If one is hard upon the poor, harsh to children, he\nmakes, or may, a very great discovery of himself. What is in him is\nmirrored forth by his acts, and distinctly mirrored in them.... If he is\nunjust, passionate, severe, revengeful, jealous, dishonest, and\nsupremely selfish, he is in just that scale of society or social\nrelationship that brings him out to himself.... Evil is scarcely to be\nknown as evil till it takes the condition of authority. We do not\nunderstand it till we see what kind of god it will make, and by what\nsort of rule it will manage its empire.... Just here all the merit of\nGod's plan, as regards the permission of power in the hands of wicked\nmen, will be found to hinge; namely, on the fact that evil is not only\nrevealed in its baleful presence and agency, but the peoples and ages\nare put heaving against it and struggling after deliverance from it.\"[4]\nIt was, we say, Job's difficulty that against the new conception of\nDivine righteousness which he sought the early idea stood opposed that\nlife meant vigour mainly in the earthly range. During a long period of\nthe world's history this belief was dominant, and virtue signified the\nstrength of man's arm, his courage in conflict, rather than his truth in\njudgment and his purity of heart. The outward gains corresponding to\nthat early virtue were the proof of the worth of life. And even when the\nmoral qualities began to be esteemed, and a man was partly measured by\nthe quality of his soul, still the tests of outward success and the\ngains of the inferior virtue continued to be applied to his life. Hence\nthe perturbation of Job and, to some extent, the false judgment of\nprovidence quoted from a modern writer.\n\nBut the chapter we are considering shows, if we rightly interpret the\nobscure 16th verse, that the author tried to get beyond the merely\nsensuous and earthly reckoning. Those prospered who denied the authority\nof God and put aside religion with the rudest scepticism. There was no\ngood in prayer, they said; it brought no gain. The Almighty was nothing\nto them. Without thought of His commands they sought their profit and\ntheir pleasure, and found all they desired. Looking steadfastly at their\nlife, Job sees its hollowness, and abruptly exclaims:--\n\n      \"_Ha! their good is not in their hand:\n       The counsel of the wicked be far from me!_\"\n\nGood! was that good which they grasped--their abundance, their\ntreasure? Were they to be called blessed because their children danced\nto the lute and the pipe and they enjoyed the best earth could\nprovide? The real good of life was not theirs. They had not God; they\nhad not the exultation of trusting and serving Him; they had not the\ngood conscience towards God and man which is the crown of life. The\nman lying in disease and shame would not exchange his lot for theirs.\n\nBut Job must argue still against his friends' belief that the wicked\nare visited with the judgment of the Most High in the loss of their\nearthly possessions. \"The triumphing of the wicked is short,\" said\nZophar, \"and the joy of the godless but for a moment.\" Is it so?\n\n      \"_How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?\n       That their calamity cometh upon them?\n       That God distributeth sorrows in His anger?\n       That they are as stubble before the wind,\n       And as chaff that the storm carrieth away?_\"\n\nOne in a thousand, Job may admit, has the light extinguished in his\ntent and is swept out of the world. But is it the rule or the\nexception that such visible judgment falls even on the robber chief?\nThe first psalm has it that the wicked are \"like the chaff which the\nwind driveth away.\" The words of that chant may have been in the mind\nof the author. If so, he disputes the doctrine. And further he rejects\nwith contempt the idea that though a transgressor himself lives long\nand enjoys to the end, his children after him may bear his punishment.\n\n      \"_Ye say, God layeth up his iniquity for his children.\n       Let Him recompense it unto himself, that he may know it.\n       Let his own eyes see his destruction,\n       And let him drink of the wrath of Shaddai.\n       For what pleasure hath he in his house after him,\n       When the number of his moons is cut off in the midst?_\"\n\nThe righteousness Job is in quest of will not be satisfied with\nvisitation of the iniquities of the fathers upon the children. He will\nnot accept the proverb which Ezekiel afterwards repudiated, \"The fathers\nhave eaten sour grapes, the children's teeth are set on edge.\" He\ndemands that the ways of God shall be equal, that the soul that sinneth\nshall bear its punishment. Is it anything to a wicked man that his\nchildren are scattered and have to beg their bread when he has passed\naway? A man grossly selfish would not be vexed by the affliction of his\nfamily even if, down in Sheol, he could know of it. What Zophar has to\nprove is that every man who has lived a godless life is made to drink\nthe cup of Shaddai's indignation. Though he trembles in sight of the\ntruth, Job will press it on those who argue falsely for God.\n\nAnd with the sense of the inscrutable purposes of the Most High\nburdening his soul he proceeds--\n\n      \"_Shall any teach God knowledge?\n       Seeing He judgeth those that are high?_\"\n\nEasy was it to insist that thus or thus Divine providence ordained. But\nthe order of things established by God is not to be forced into harmony\nwith a human scheme of judgment. He who rules in the heights of heaven\nknows how to deal with men on earth; and for them to teach Him knowledge\nis at once arrogant and absurd. The facts are evident, must be accepted\nand reckoned with in all submission; especially must his friends\nconsider the fact of death, how death comes, and they will then find\nthemselves unable to declare the law of the Divine government.\n\nAs yet, even to Job, though he has gazed beyond death, its mystery is\noppressive; and he is right in urging that mystery upon his friends to\nconvict them of ignorance and presumption. Distinctions they affirm\nto lie between the good and the wicked are not made by God in\nappointing the hour of death. One is called away in his strong and\nlusty manhood; another lingers till his becomes bitter and all the\nbodily functions are impaired. \"Alike they lie down in the dust and\nthe worms cover them.\" The thought is full of suggestion; but Job\npresses on, returning for a moment to the false charges against\nhimself that he may bring a final argument to bear on his accusers.\n\n      \"_Behold, I know your thoughts,\n       And the devices ye wrongfully imagine against me.\n       For ye say, Where is the house of the prince?\n       And, Where the tents in which the wicked dwelt?\n       Have ye not asked them that go by the way?\n       And do ye not regard their tokens--\n       That the wicked is spared in the day of destruction,\n       That they are led forth in the day of wrath?_\"\n\nSo far from being overwhelmed in calamity the evil doer is considered,\nsaved as by an unseen hand. Whose hand? My house is wasted, my\nhabitations are desolate, I am in extremity, ready to die. True: but\nthose who go up and down the land would teach you to look for a\ndifferent end to my career if I had been the proud transgressor you\nwrongly assume me to have been. I would have found a way of safety\nwhen the storm-clouds gathered and the fire of heaven burned. My\nprosperity would scarcely have been interrupted. If I had been what\nyou say, not one of you would have dared to charge me with crimes\nagainst men or impiety towards God. You would have been trembling now\nbefore me. The power of an unscrupulous man is not easily broken. He\nfaces fate, braves and overcomes the judgment of society.\n\nAnd society accepts his estimate of himself, counts him happy,--pays\nhim honour at his death. The scene at his funeral confutes the\nspecious interpretation of providence that has been so often used as a\nweapon against Job. Perhaps Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar know something\nof obsequies paid to a prosperous tyrant, so powerful that they dared\nnot deny him homage even when he lay on his bier. Who shall repay the\nevil-doer what he hath done?\n\n      \"_Yea, he is borne to the grave,\n       And they keep watch over his tomb;\n       The clods of the valley are sweet to him,\n       And all men draw after him,\n       As without number they go before him._\"\n\nIt is the gathering of a country-side, the tumultuous procession, a\nvast disorderly crowd before the bier, a multitude after it surging\nalong to the place of tombs. And there, in nature's greenest heart,\nwhere the clods of the valley are sweet, they make his grave--and\nthere as over the dust of one of the honourable of the earth they keep\nwatch. Too true is the picture. Power begets fear and fear enforces\nrespect. With tears and lamentations the Arabs went, with all the\ntrappings of formal grief moderns may be seen in crowds following the\ncorpse of one who had neither a fine soul nor a good heart, nothing\nbut money and success to commend him to his fellow-men.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSo the writer ends the second act of the drama, and the controversy\nremains much where it was. The meaning of calamity, the nature of the\nDivine government of the world are not extracted. This only is made\nclear, that the opinion maintained by the three friends cannot stand. It\nis not true that joy and wealth are the rewards of virtuous life. It is\nnot always the case that the evil-doer is overcome by temporal disaster.\nIt is true that to good and bad alike death is appointed, and together\nthey lie down in the dust. It is true that even then the good man's\ngrave may be forsaken in the desert, while the impious may have a\nstately sepulchre. A new way is made for human thought in the exposure\nof the old illusions and the opening up of the facts of existence.\nHebrew religion has a fresh point of departure, a clearer view of the\nnature and end of all things. The thought of the world receives a\nspiritual germ; there is a making ready for Him who said, \"A man's life\nconsisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth,\" and\n\"What doth it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his\nlife?\" When we know what the earthly cannot do for us we are prepared\nfor the gospel of the spiritual and for the living word.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[3] Emerson, Essay III. \"Compensation.\"\n\n[4] Bushnell, \"Moral Uses of Dark Things.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE THIRD COLLOQUY.\n\n\n\n\nXIX.\n\n_DOGMATIC AND MORAL ERROR._\n\nELIPHAZ SPEAKS. CHAP. xxii.\n\n\nThe second colloquy has practically exhausted the subject of debate\nbetween Job and his friends. The three have really nothing more to say\nin the way of argument or awful example. It is only Eliphaz who tries\nto clinch the matter by directly accusing Job of base and cowardly\noffences. Bildad recites what may be called a short ode, and Zophar,\nif he speaks at all, simply repeats himself as one determined if\npossible to have the last word.\n\nAnd why this third round? While it has definite marks of its own and\nthe closing speeches of Job are important as exhibiting his state of\nmind, another motive seems to be required. And the following may be\nsuggested. A last indignity offered, last words of hard judgment\nspoken, Job enters upon a long review of his life, with the sense of\nbeing victorious in argument, yet with sorrow rather than exultation\nbecause his prayers are still unanswered; and during all this time the\nappearance of the Almighty is deferred. The impression of protracted\ndelay deepens through the two hundred and twenty sentences of the\nthird colloquy in which, one may say, all the resources of poetry are\nexhausted. A tragic sense of the silence God keeps is felt to hang\nover the drama, as it hangs over human life. A man vainly strives to\nrepel the calumnies that almost break his heart. His accusers advance\nfrom innuendo to insolence. He seeks in the way of earnest thought\nescape from their false reasoning; he appeals from men to God, from\nGod in nature and providence to God in supreme and glorious\nrighteousness behind the veil of sense and time. Unheard apparently by\nthe Almighty, he goes back upon his life and rehearses the proofs of\nhis purity, generosity, and faith; but the shadow remains. It is the\ntrial of human patience and the evidence that neither a man's judgment\nof his own life nor the judgment expressed by other men can be final.\nGod must decide, and for His decision men must wait. The author has\nfelt in his own history this delay of heavenly judgment, and he brings\nit out in his drama. He has also seen that on this side death there\ncan be no final reading of the judgment of God on a human life. We\nwait for God; He comes in a prophetic utterance which all must\nreverently accept; yet the declaration is in general terms. When at\nlast the Almighty speaks from the storm the righteous man and his\naccusers alike have to acknowledge ignorance and error; there is an\nend of self-defence and of condemnation by men, but no absolute\ndetermination of the controversy. \"The vision is for the appointed\ntime, and it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie: though it\ntarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not delay.\nBehold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him: but the just\nshall live by his faith\" (Hab. ii. 3, 4).\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nEliphaz begins with a singular question, which he is moved to state by\nthe whole tenor of Job's reasoning and particularly by his hope that God\nwould become his Redeemer. \"_Can a man be profitable unto God?_\" Not\nquite knowing what he asks, meaning simply to check the boldness of\nJob's hope, he advances to the brink of an abyss of doubt. You Job, he\nseems to say, a mere mortal creature, afflicted enough surely to know\nyour own insignificance, how can you build yourself up in the notion\nthat God is interested in your righteousness? You think God believes in\nyou and will justify you. How ignorant you must be if you really suppose\nyour goodness of any consequence to the Almighty, if you imagine that by\nmaking your ways perfect, that is, claiming an integrity which man\ncannot possess, you will render any service to the Most High. Man is too\nsmall a creature to be of any advantage to God. Man's respect,\nfaithfulness, and devotion are essentially of no profit to Him.\n\nOne must say that Eliphaz opens a question of the greatest interest\nboth in theology or the knowledge of God, and in religion or the right\nfeelings of man toward God. If man as the highest energy, the finest\nblossoming and most articulate voice of the creation, is of no\nconsequence to his Creator, if it makes no difference to the\nperfection or complacency of God in Himself whether man serves the end\nof his being or not, whether man does or fails to do the right he was\nmade to love; if it is for man's sake only that the way of life is\nprovided for him and the privilege of prayer given him,--then our\nglorifying of God is not a reality but a mere form of speech. The only\nconclusion possible would be that even when we serve God earnestly in\nlove and sacrifice we are in point of fact serving ourselves. If one\nwrestles with evil, clings to the truth, renounces all for\nrighteousness' sake, it is well for him. If he is hard-hearted and\nbase, his life will decay and perish. But, in either case, the eternal\ncalm, the ineffable completeness of the Divine nature are unaffected.\nYea, though all men and all intelligent beings were overwhelmed in\neternal ruin the Creator's glory would remain the same, like a\nfull-orbed sun shining over a desolate universe.\n\n               ...\"We are such stuff\n      As dreams are made of, and our little life\n      Is rounded by a sleep.\"\n\nEliphaz thinks it is for man's sake alone God has created him,\nsurrounded him with means of enjoyment and progress, given him truth\nand religion, and laid on him the responsibilities that dignify his\nexistence. But what comes then of the contention that, because Job has\nsinned, desolation and disease have come to him from the Almighty? If\nman's righteousness is of no account to God, why should his\ntransgressions be punished? Creating men for their own sake, a\nbeneficent Maker would not lay upon them duties the neglect of which\nthrough ignorance must needs work their ruin. We know from the opening\nscenes of the book that the Almighty took pleasure in His servant. We\nsee Him trying Job's fidelity for the vindication of His own creative\npower and heavenly grace against the scepticism of such as the\nAdversary. Is a faithful servant not profitable to one whom he\nearnestly serves? Is it all the same to God whether we receive His\ntruth or reject His covenant? Then the urgency of Christ's redemptive\nwork is a fiction. Satan is not only correct in regard to Job but has\nstated the sole philosophy of human life. We are to fear and serve God\nfor what we get; and our notions of doing bravely in the great warfare\non behalf of God's kingdom are the fancies of men who dream.\n\n      \"_Can a man be profitable unto God?\n       Surely he that is wise is profitable to himself.\n       Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous?\n       Or is it gain to Him that thou makest thy ways perfect?\n       Is it for thy fear of Him that He reproveth thee,\n       That He entereth with thee into judgment?_\"\n\nRegarding this what are we to say? That it is false, an ignorant attempt\nto exalt God at the expense of man, to depreciate righteousness in the\nhuman range for the sake of maintaining the perfection and\nself-sufficiency of God. But the virtues of man, love, fidelity, truth,\npurity, justice, are not his own. The power of them in human life is a\nportion of the Divine energy, for they are communicated and sustained by\nthe Divine Spirit. Were the righteousness, love, and faith instilled\ninto the human mind to fail of their result, were they, instead of\ngrowing and yielding fruit, to decay and die, it would be waste of\nDivine power; the moral cosmos would be relapsing into a chaotic state.\nIf we affirm that the obedience and redemption of man do not profit the\nMost High, then this world and the inhabitants of it have been called\ninto existence by the Creator in grim jest, and He is simply amusing\nHimself with our hazardous game.\n\nWith the same view of the absolute sovereignty of God in creation and\nprovidence on which Eliphaz founds in this passage, Jonathan Edwards\nsees the necessity of escaping the conclusion to which these verses\npoint. He argues that God's delight in the emanations of His fulness\nin the work of creation shows \"His delight in the infinite fulness of\ngood there is in Himself and the supreme respect and regard He has for\nHimself.\" An objector may say, he proceeds, \"If it could be supposed\nthat God needed anything; or that the goodness of His creatures could\nextend to Him; or that they could be profitable to Him, it might be\nfit that God should make Himself and His own interest His highest and\nlast end in creating the world. But seeing that God is above all need\nand all capacity of being added to and advanced, made better and\nhappier in any respect; to what purpose should God make Himself His\nend, or seek to advance Himself in any respect by any of His works?\"\nThe answer is--\"God may delight with true and great pleasure in\nbeholding that beauty which is an image and communication of His own\nbeauty, an expression and manifestation of His own loveliness. And\nthis is so far from being an instance of His happiness not being in\nand from Himself, that it is an evidence that He is happy in Himself,\nor delights and has pleasure in His own beauty.\" Nor does this argue\nany dependence of God on the creature for happiness. \"Though He has\nreal pleasure in the creature's holiness and happiness; yet this is\nnot properly any pleasure which He receives from the creature. For\nthese things are what He gives the creature.\"[5] Here to a certain\nextent the reasoning is cogent and meets the difficulty of Eliphaz;\nand at present it is not necessary to enter into the other difficulty\nwhich has to be faced when the Divine reprobation of sinful life needs\nexplanation. It is sufficient to say that this is a question even more\nperplexing to those who hold with Eliphaz than to those who take the\nother view. If man for God's glory has been allowed a real part in the\nservice of eternal righteousness, his failure to do the part of which\nhe is capable, to which he is called, must involve his condemnation.\nSo far as his will enters into the matter he is rightly held\naccountable, and must suffer for neglect.\n\nPassing to the next part of Eliphaz's address we find it equally\nastray for another reason. He asks \"_Is not thy wickedness great?_\"\nand proceeds to recount a list of crimes which appear to have been\ncharged against Job in the base gossip of ill-doing people.\n\n      \"_Is not thy wickedness great,\n       And no limit to thy iniquities?\n       For thou hast taken pledges of thy brother for nought,\n       And stripped the naked of their clothing.\n       Thou hast not given water to the weary,\n       And thou hast withholden bread from the famished.\n       The man of might--his is the earth;\n       And he that is in honour dwelt therein.\n       Thou hast sent widows away empty,\n       And the arms of the orphans have been broken._\"\n\nThe worst here affirmed against Job is that he has overborne the\nrighteous claims of widows and orphans. Bildad and Zophar made a\nmistake in alleging that he had been a robber and a freebooter. Yet is\nit less unfriendly to give ear to the cruel slanders of those who in\nJob's day of prosperity had not obtained from him all they desired and\nare now ready with their complaints? No doubt the offences specified\nare such as might have been committed by a man in Job's position and\nexcused as within his right. To take a pledge for debt was no uncommon\nthing. When water was scarce, to withhold it even from the weary was\nno extraordinary baseness. Vamb\u00e9ry tells us that on the steppes he has\nseen father and son fighting almost to the death for the dregs of a\nskin of water. Eliphaz, however, a good man, counts it no more than\nduty to share this necessary of life with any fainting traveller, even\nif the wells are dry and the skins are nearly empty. He also makes it\na crime to keep back corn in the year of famine. He says truly that\nthe man of might, doing such things, acts disgracefully. But there was\nno proof that Job had been guilty of this kind of inhumanity, and the\ngross perversion of justice to which Eliphaz condescends recoils on\nhimself. It does not always happen so within our knowledge. Pious\nslander gathered up and retailed frequently succeeds. An Eliphaz\nendeavours to make good his opinion by showing providence to be for\nit; he keeps the ear open to any report that will confirm what is\nalready believed; and the circulating of such a report may destroy the\nusefulness of a life, the usefulness which is denied.\n\nTake a broader view of the same controversy. Is there no exaggeration\nin the charges thundered sometimes against poor human nature? Is it\nnot often thought a pious duty to extort confession of sins men never\ndreamed of committing, so that they may be driven to a repentance that\nshakes life to its centre and almost unhinges the reason? With\nconviction of error, unbelief, and disobedience the new life must\nbegin. Yet religion is made unreal by the attempt to force on the\nconscience and to extort from the lips an acknowledgment of crimes\nwhich were never intended and are perhaps far apart from the whole\ndrift of the character. The truthfulness of John the Baptist's\npreaching was very marked. He did not deal with imaginary sins. And\nwhen our Lord spoke of the duties and errors of men either in\ndiscourse or parable, He never exaggerated. The sins He condemned were\nall intelligible to the reason of those addressed, such as the\nconscience was bound to own, must recognise as evil things,\ndishonouring to the Almighty.\n\nHaving declared Job's imaginary crimes, Eliphaz exclaims, \"_Therefore\nsnares are round about thee and sudden fear troubleth thee_.\" With the\nwhole weight of assumed moral superiority he bears down upon the\nsufferer. He takes upon him to interpret providence, and every word is\nfalse. Job has clung to God as his Friend. Eliphaz denies him the\nright, cuts him off as a rebel from the grace of the King. Truly, it\nmay be said, religion is never in greater danger than when it is\nupheld by hard and ignorant zeal like this.\n\nThen, in the passage beginning at the twelfth verse, the attempt is\nmade to show Job how he had fallen into the sins he is alleged to have\ncommitted.\n\n      \"_Is not God in the height of heaven?\n       And behold the cope of the stars how high they are!\n       And thou saidst--What doth God know?\n       Can He judge through thick darkness?\n       Thick clouds are a covering to Him that He seeth not;\n       And He walketh on the round of heaven._\"\n\nJob imagined that God whose dwelling-place is beyond the clouds and the\nstars could not see what he did. To accuse him thus is to pile offence\nupon injustice, for the knowledge of God has been his continual desire.\n\nFinally, before Eliphaz ends the accusation, he identifies Job's frame\nof mind with the proud indifference of those whom the deluge swept away.\nJob had talked of the prosperity and happiness of men who had not God in\nall their thoughts. Was he forgetting that dreadful calamity?\n\n      \"_Wilt thou keep the old way\n       Which wicked men have trodden?\n       Who were snatched away before their time,\n       Whose foundation was poured out as a stream:\n       Who said to God, Depart from us;\n       And what can the Almighty do unto us?\n       Yet He filled their houses with good things:\n       But the counsel of the wicked is far from me!_\"\n\nOne who chose to go on in the way of transgressors would share their\nfate; and in the day of his disaster as of theirs the righteous should\nbe glad and the innocent break into scornful laughter.\n\nSo Eliphaz closes, finding it difficult to make out his case, yet\nbound as he supposes to do his utmost for religion by showing the law\nof the vengeance of God. And, this done, he pleads and promises once\nmore in the finest passage that falls from his lips:--\n\n      \"_Acquaint now thyself with Him and be at peace:\n       Thereby good shall come unto thee.\n       Receive, I pray thee, instruction from His mouth,\n       And lay up His words in thy heart.\n       If thou return to Shaddai, thou shalt be built up;\n       If thou put iniquity far from thy tents:\n       And lay thy treasure in the dust,\n       And among the stones of the streams the gold of Ophir;\n       Then shall Shaddai be thy treasure\n       And silver in plenty unto thee._\"\n\nAt last there seems to be a strain of spirituality. \"Acquaint now\nthyself with God and be at peace.\" Reconciliation by faith and\nobedience is the theme. Eliphaz is ignorant of much; yet the greatness\nand majesty of God, the supreme power which must be propitiated occupy\nhis thoughts, and he does what he can to lead his friend out of the\nstorm into a harbour of safety. Though even in this strophe there\nmingles a taint of sinister reflection, it is yet far in advance of\nanything Job has received in the way of consolation. Admirable in\nitself is the picture of the restoration of a reconciled life from\nwhich unrighteousness is put far away. He seems indeed to have learned\nsomething at last from Job. Now he speaks of one who in his desire for\nthe favour and friendship of the Most High sacrifices earthly\ntreasure, flings away silver and gold as worthless. No doubt it is\nill-gotten wealth to which he refers, treasure that has a curse upon\nit. Nevertheless one is happy to find him separating so clearly\nbetween earthly riches and heavenly treasure, advising the sacrifice\nof the lower for what is infinitely higher. There is even yet hope of\nEliphaz, that he may come to have a spiritual vision of the favour and\nfriendship of the Almighty. In all he says here by way of promise\nthere is not a word of renewed temporal prosperity. Returning to\nShaddai in obedience Job will pray and have his prayer answered. Vows\nhe has made in the time of trouble shall be redeemed, for the desired\naid shall come. Beyond this there shall be, in the daily life, a\nstrength, decision, and freedom previously unknown. \"_Thou shalt\ndecree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee._\" The man who\nis at length in the right way of life, with God for his ally, shall\nform his plans and be able to carry them out.\n\n      \"_When they cast down, thou shalt say, Uplifting!\n       And the humble person He shall save.\n       He will deliver the man not innocent;\n       Yea he shall be delivered through the cleanness of thine hands._\"\n\nTrue, in the future experience of Job there may be disappointment and\ntrouble. Eliphaz cannot but see that the ill-will of the rabble may\ncontinue long, and perhaps he is doubtful of the temper of his own\nfriends. But God will help His servant who returns to humble\nobedience. And having been himself tried Job will intercede for those\nin distress, perhaps on account of their sin, and his intercession\nwill prevail with God.\n\nPut aside the thought that all this is said to Job, and it is surely a\ncounsel of wisdom. To the proud and self-righteous it shows the way\nof renewal. Away with the treasures, the lust of the eyes, the pride\nof life, that keep the soul from its salvation. Let the Divine love be\nprecious to thee and the Divine statutes thy joy. Power to deal with\nlife, to overcome difficulties, to serve thy generation shall then be\nthine. Standing securely in God's grace thou shalt help the weary and\nheavy laden. Yet Eliphaz cannot give the secret of spiritual peace. He\ndoes not really know the trouble at the heart of human life. We need\nfor our Guide One who has borne the burden of a sorrow which had\nnothing to do with the loss of worldly treasure but with the unrest\nperpetually gnawing at the heart of humanity, who \"bore our sin in His\nown body unto the tree\" and led captivity captive. What the old world\ncould not know is made clear to eyes that have seen the cross against\nthe falling night and a risen Christ in the fresh Easter morning.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[5] Jonathan Edwards, \"Dissertation concerning the End for which God\ncreated the World,\" Section IV.\n\n\n\n\nXX.\n\n_WHERE IS ELOAH?_\n\nJOB SPEAKS. CHAPS. xxiii., xxiv.\n\n\nThe obscure couplet with which Job begins appears to involve some\nreference to his whole condition alike of body and mind.\n\n      \"_Again, to-day, my plaint, my rebellion!\n       The hand upon me is heavier than my groanings._\"\n\nI must speak of my trouble and you will count it rebellion. Yet, if I\nmoan and sigh, my pain and weariness are more than excuse. The crisis\nof faith is with him, a protracted misery, and hope hangs trembling in\nthe balance. The false accusations of Eliphaz are in his mind; but\nthey provoke only a feeling of weary discontent. What men say does not\ntrouble him much. He is troubled because of that which God refuses to\ndo or say. Many indeed are the afflictions of the righteous. But every\ncase like his own obscures the providence of God. Job does not\nentirely deny the contention of his friends that unless suffering\ncomes as a punishment of sin there is no reason for it. Hence, even\nthough he maintains with strong conviction that the good are often\npoor and afflicted while the wicked prosper, yet he does not thereby\nclear up the matter. He must admit to himself that he is condemned by\nthe events of life. And against the testimony of outward circumstance\nhe makes appeal in the audience chamber of the King.\n\nHas the Most High forgotten to be righteous for a time? When the\ngenerous and true are brought into sore straits, is the great Friend\nof truth neglecting His task as Governor of the world? That would\nindeed plunge life into profound darkness. And it seems to be even so.\nJob seeks deliverance from this mystery which has emerged in his own\nexperience. He would lay his cause before Him who alone can explain.\n\n      \"_Oh that I knew where I might find Him,\n       That I might come even to His seat!\n       I would order my cause before Him,\n       And fill my mouth with arguments.\n       I would know the words which He would answer me,\n       And understand what He would say unto me._\"\n\nPresent to Job's mind here is the thought that he is under\ncondemnation, and along with this the conviction that his trial is not\nover. It is natural that his mind should hover between these ideas,\nholding strongly to the hope that judgment, if already passed, will be\nrevised when the facts are fully known.\n\nNow this course of thought is altogether in the darkness. But what are\nthe principles unknown to Job, through ignorance of which he has to\nlanguish in doubt? Partly, as we long ago saw, the explanation lies in\nthe use of trial and affliction as the means of deepening spiritual\nlife. They give gravity and therewith the possibility of power to our\nexistence. Even yet Job has not realised that one always kept in the\nprimrose path, untouched by the keen air of \"misfortune,\" although he\nhad, to begin, a pious disposition and a blameless record, would be\nworth little in the end to God or to mankind. And the necessity for\nthe discipline of affliction and disappointment, even as it explains\nthe smaller troubles, explains also the greatest. Let ill be heaped on\nill, disaster on disaster, disease on bereavement, misery on sorrow,\nwhile stage by stage the life goes down into deeper circles of gloom\nand pain, it may acquire, it will acquire, if faith and faithfulness\ntowards God remain, massiveness, strength and dignity for the highest\nspiritual service.\n\nBut there is another principle, not yet considered, which enters into\nthe problem and still more lightens up the valley of experience which to\nJob appeared so dark. The poem touches the fringe of this principle\nagain and again, but never states it. The author saw that men were born\nto trouble. He made Job suffer more because he had his integrity to\nmaintain than if he had been guilty of transgressions by acknowledging\nwhich he might have pacified his friends. The burden lay heavily upon\nJob because he was a conscientious man, a true man, and could not accept\nany make-believe in religion. But just where another step would have\ncarried him into the light of blessed acquiescence in the will of God,\nthe power failed, he could not advance. Perhaps the genuineness and\nsimplicity of his character would have been impaired if he had thought\nof it, and we like him better because he did not. The truth, however, is\nthat Job was suffering for others, that he was, by the grace of God, a\nmartyr, and so far forth in the spirit and position of that suffering\nServant of Jehovah of whom we read in the prophecies of Isaiah.\n\nThe righteous sufferers, the martyrs, what are they? Always the\nvanguard of humanity. Where they go and the prints of their bleeding\nfeet are left, there is the way of improvement, of civilisation, of\nreligion. The most successful man, preacher or journalist or\nstatesman, is popularly supposed to be leading the world in the right\npath. Where the crowd goes shouting after him, is that not the way of\nadvance? Do not believe it. Look for a teacher, a journalist, a\nstatesman who is not so successful as he might be, because he will, at\nall hazards, be true. The Christian world does not yet know the best\nin life, thought and morality for the best. He who sacrifices\nposition and esteem to righteousness, he who will not bow down to the\ngreat idol at the sound of sackbut and psaltery, observe where that\nman is going, try to understand what he has in his mind. Those who\nunder defeat or neglect remain steadfast in faith have the secrets we\nneed to know. To the ranks even of the afflicted and broken the author\nof Job turned for an example of witness-bearing to high ideas and the\nfaith in God which brings salvation. But he wrought in the shadow, and\nhis hero is unconscious of his high calling. Had Job seen the\nprinciples of Divine providence which made him a helper of human\nfaith, we should not now hear him cry for an opportunity of pleading\nhis cause before God.\n\n      \"_Would He contend with me in His mighty power?\n       Nay, but He would give heed to me.\n       Then an upright man would reason with Him;\n       So should I get free for ever from my Judge._\"\n\nIt is in a sense startling to hear this confident expectation of\nacquittal at the bar of God. The common notion is that the only part\npossible to man in his natural state is to fear the judgment to come\nand dread the hour that shall bring him to the Divine tribunal. From\nthe ordinary point of view the language of Job here is dangerous, if\nnot profane. He longs to meet the Judge; he believes that he could so\nstate his case that the Judge would listen and be convinced. The\nAlmighty would not contend with him any longer as his powerful\nantagonist, but would pronounce him innocent and set him at liberty\nfor ever. Can mortal man vindicate himself before the bar of the Most\nHigh? Is not every one condemned by the law of nature and of\nconscience, much more by Him who knoweth all things? And yet this man\nwho believes he would be acquitted by the great King has already been\ndeclared \"perfect and upright, one that feareth God and escheweth\nevil.\" Take the declaration of the Almighty Himself in the opening\nscenes of the book, and Job is found what he claims to be. Under the\ninfluence of that Divine grace which the sincere and upright may enjoy\nhe has been a faithful servant and has earned the approbation of his\nJudge. It is by faith he is made righteous. Religion and love of the\nDivine law have been his guides; he has followed them; and what one\nhas done may not others do? Our book is concerned not so much with the\ncorruption of human nature, as with the vindication of the grace of\nGod given to human nature. Corrupt and vile as humanity often is,\nimperfect and spiritually ignorant as it always is, the writer of this\nbook is not engaged with that view. He directs attention to the\nvirtuous and honourable elements and shows God's new creation in which\nHe may take delight.\n\nWe shall indeed find that after the Almighty has spoken out of the\nstorm, Job says, \"I repudiate my words and repent in dust and ashes.\"\nSo he appears to come at last to the confession which, from one point\nof view, he ought to have made at the first. But those words of\npenitence imply no acknowledgment of iniquity after all. They are\nconfession of ignorant judgment. Job admits with sorrow that he has\nventured too far in his attempt to understand the ways of the\nAlmighty, that he has spoken without knowledge of the universal\nprovidence he had vainly sought to fathom.\n\nThe author's intention plainly is to justify Job in his desire for the\nopportunity of pleading his cause, that is, to justify the claim of\nthe human reason to comprehend. It is not an offence to him that much\nof the Divine working is profoundly difficult to interpret. He\nacknowledges in humility that God is greater than man, that there are\nsecrets with the Almighty which the human mind cannot penetrate. But\nso far as suffering and sorrow are appointed to a man and enter into\nhis life, he is considered to have the right of inquiry regarding\nthem, an inherent claim on God to explain them. This may be held the\nerror of the author which he himself has to confess when he comes to\nthe Divine interlocution. There he seems to allow the majesty of the\nOmnipotent to silence the questions of human reason. But this is\nreally a confession that his own knowledge does not suffice, that he\nshares the ignorance of Job as well as his cry for light. The universe\nis vaster than he or any of the Old Testament age could even imagine.\nThe destinies of man form part of a Divine order extending through the\nimmeasurable spaces and the developments of eternal ages.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOnce more Job perceives or seems to perceive that access to the\npresence of the Judge is denied. The sense of condemnation shuts him\nin like prison walls and he finds no way to the audience chamber. The\nbright sun moves calmly from east to west; the gleaming stars, the\ncold moon in their turn glide silently over the vault of heaven. Is\nnot God on high? Yet man sees no form, hears no sound.\n\n      \"Speak to Him thou, for He hears, and spirit with spirit can meet;\n       Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.\"\n\nBut Job is not able to conceive a spiritual presence without shape or\nvoice.\n\n      \"_Behold, I go forward, but He is not there;\n       And backward, but I cannot perceive Him:\n       On the left hand where He doth work, but I behold Him not:\n       He hideth Himself on the right hand that I cannot see Him._\"\n\nNature, thou hast taught this man by thy light and thy darkness, thy\nglorious sun and thy storms, the clear-shining after rain, the sprouting\ncorn and the clusters of the vine, by the power of man's will and the\ndaring love and justice of man's heart. In all thou hast been a\nrevealer. But thou hidest whom thou dost reveal. To cover in thought the\nmultiplicity of thy energies in earth and sky and sea, in fowl and brute\nand man, in storm and sunshine, in reason, in imagination, in will and\nlove and hope;--to attach these one by one to the idea of a Being\nalmighty, infinite, eternal, and so to _conceive_ this God of the\nuniverse--it is, we may say, a superhuman task. Job breaks down in the\neffort to realise the great God. I look behind me, into the past. There\nare the footprints of Eloah when He passed by. In the silence an echo of\nHis step may be heard; but God is not there. On the right hand, away\nbeyond the hills that shut in the horizon, on the left hand where the\nway leads to Damascus and the distant north--not there can I see His\nform; nor out yonder where day breaks in the east. And when I travel\nforward in imagination, I who said that my Redeemer shall stand upon the\nearth, when I strive to conceive His form, still, in utter human\nincapacity, I fail. \"Verily, Thou art a God that hidest Thyself.\"\n\nAnd yet, Job's conviction of his own uprightness, is it not God's\nwitness to his spirit? Can he not be content with that? To have such a\ntestimony is to have the very verdict he desires. Well does Boethius,\na writer of the old world though he belonged to the Christian age,\npress beyond Job where he writes: \"He is always Almighty, because He\nalways wills good and never any evil. He is always equally gracious.\nBy His Divine power He is everywhere present. The Eternal and Almighty\nalways sits on the throne of His power. Thence He is able to see all,\nand renders to every one with justice, according to his works.\nTherefore it is not in vain that we have hope in God; for He changes\nnot as we do. But pray ye to Him humbly, for He is very bountiful and\nvery merciful. Hate and fly from evil as ye best may. Love virtues and\nfollow them. Ye have great need that ye always do well, for ye always\nin the presence of the Eternal and Almighty God do all that ye do. He\nbeholds it all, and He will recompense it all.\"[6]\n\nAmiel, on the other hand, would fain apply to Job a reflection which\nhas occurred to himself in one of the moods that come to a man\ndisappointed, impatient of his own limitations. In his journal, under\ndate January 29th, 1866, he writes: \"It is but our secret self-love\nwhich is set upon this favour from on high; such may be our desire,\nbut such is not the will of God. We are to be exercised, humbled,\ntried and tormented to the end. It is our patience which is the\ntouchstone of our virtue. To bear with life even when illusion and\nhope are gone; to accept this position of perpetual war, while at the\nsame time loving only peace; to stay patiently in the world, even when\nit repels us as a place of low company and seems to us a mere arena of\nbad passions; to remain faithful to one's own faith without breaking\nwith the followers of false gods; to make no attempt to escape from\nthe human hospital, long-suffering and patient as Job upon his\ndunghill;--this is duty.\"[7] An evil mood prompts Amiel to write thus.\nA thousand times rather would one hear him crying like Job on the\ngreat Judge and Redeemer and complaining that the Go\u00ebl hides Himself.\nIt is not in bare self-love or self-pity Job seeks acquittal at the\nbar of God; but in the defence of conscience, the spiritual treasure\nof mankind and our very life. No doubt his own personal justification\nbulks largely with Job, for he has strong individuality. He will not\nbe overborne. He stands at bay against his three friends and the\nunseen adversary. But he loves integrity, the virtue, first; and for\nhimself he cares as the representative of that which the Spirit of God\ngives to faithful men. He may cry, therefore, he may defend himself,\nhe may complain; and God will not cast him off.\n\n      \"_For He knoweth the way that I take;\n       If He tried me, I should come forth as gold.\n       My foot hath held fast to His steps,\n       His way have I kept, and not turned aside.\n       I have not gone back from the commandments of His lips;\n       I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my needful\n                food._\"\n\nBravely, not in mere vaunt he speaks, and it is good to hear him still\nable to make such a claim. Why do we not also hold fast to the garment\nof our Divine Friend? Why do we not realise and exhibit the resolute\ngodliness that anticipates judgment: \"If He tried me, I should come\nforth as gold\"? The psalmists of Israel stood thus on their faith; and\nnot in vain, surely, has Christ called us to be like our Father who is\nin heaven.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBut again from brave affirmation Job falls back exhausted.\n\n      \"Oh thou Hereafter! on whose shore I stand--\n       Waiting each toppling moment to engulf me,\n       What am I? Say thou Present! say thou Past\n       Ye three wise children of Eternity!--\n       A life?--A death?--and an immortal?--All?\n       Is this the threefold mystery of man?\n       The lower, darker Trinity of earth?\n       It is vain to ask. Nought answers me--not God.\n       The air grows thick and dark. The sky comes down.\n       The sun draws round him streaky clouds--like God\n       Gleaning up wrath. Hope hath leapt off my heart,\n       Like a false sibyl, fear-smote, from her seat,\n       And overturned it.\"[8]\n\nSo, as Bailey makes his Festus speak, might Job have spoken here. For\nnow it seems to him that to call on God is fruitless. Eloah is of one\nmind. His will is steadfast, immovable. Death is in the cup and death\nwill come. On this God has determined. Nor is it in Job's case alone so\nsore a doom is performed by the Almighty. Many such things are with Him.\nThe waves of trouble roll up from the deep dark sea and go over the head\nof the sufferer. He lies faint and desolate once more. The light fades,\nand with a deep sigh because he ever came to life he shuts his lips.\n\nNatural religion ends always with a sigh. The sense of God found in\nthe order of the universe, the dim vision of God which comes in\nconscience, moral life and duty, in fear and hope and love, in the\nlonging for justice and truth--these avail much; but they leave us at\nthe end desiring something they cannot give. The Unknown God whom men\nignorantly worshipped had to be revealed by the life and truth and\npower of the Man Christ Jesus. Not without this revelation, which is\nabove and beyond nature, can our eager quest end in satisfying\nknowledge. In Christ alone the righteousness that justifies, the love\nthat compassionates, the wisdom that enlightens are brought into the\nrange of our experience and communicated through reason to faith.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn chap. xxiv. there is a development of the reasoning contained in\nJob's reply to Zophar in the second colloquy, and there is also a\ncloser examination of the nature and results of evil-doing than has\nyet been attempted. In the course of his acute and careful\ndiscrimination Job allows something to his friends' side of the\nargument, but all the more emphasises the series of vivid touches by\nwhich the prosperous tyrant is represented. He modifies to some extent\nhis opinion previously expressed that all goes well with the wicked.\nHe finds that certain classes of miscreants do come to confusion, and\nhe separates these from the others, at the same time separating\nhimself beyond question from the oppressor on this side and the\nmurderer and adulterer on that. Accepting the limits of discussion\nchosen by the friends he exhausts the matter between himself and them.\nBy the distinctions now made and the choice offered, Job arrests\npersonal accusation, and of that we hear no more.\n\nContinuing the idea of a Divine assize which has governed his thought\nthroughout this reply, Job asks why it should not be held openly from\ntime to time in the world's history.\n\n      \"_Why are times not set by the Almighty?\n       And why do not they who know Him see His days?_\"\n\nEmerson says the world is full of judgment-days; Job thinks it is not,\nbut ought to be. Passing from his own desire to have access to the bar\nof God and plead there, he now thinks of an open court, a public\nvindication of God's rule. The Great Assize is never proclaimed. Ages go\nby; the Righteous One never appears. All things continue as they were\nfrom the beginning of the creation. Men struggling, sinning, suffering,\ndoubt or deny the existence of a moral Ruler. They ask, Who ever saw\nthis God? If He exists, He is so separate from the world by His own\nchoice that there is no need to consider Him. In pride or in sorrow men\nraise the question. But _no God_ means no justice, no truth, no\npenetration of the real by the ideal; and thought cannot rest there.\n\nWith great vigour and large knowledge of the world the writer makes\nJob point out the facts of human violence and crime, of human\ncondonation and punishment. Look at the oppressors and those who\ncringe under them, the despots never brought to justice, but on the\ncontrary growing in power through the fear and misery of their serfs.\nAlready we have seen how perilous it is to speak falsely for God. Now\nwe see, on the other hand, that whoever speaks truly of the facts of\nhuman experience prepares the way for a true knowledge of God. Those\nwho have been looking in vain for indications of Divine justice and\ngrace are to learn that not in deliverance from the poverty and\ntrouble of this world but in some other way they must realise God's\nredemption. The writer of the book is seeking after that kingdom which\nis not meat and drink nor long life and happiness, but righteousness\nand peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.\n\nObserve first, says Job, the base and cruel men who remove landmarks\nand claim as their own a neighbour's heritage, who drive into their\npastures flocks that are not theirs, who even take away the one ass of\nthe fatherless and the one ox the widow has for ploughing her scanty\nfields, who thus with a high hand overbear all the defenceless people\nwithin their reach. Zophar had charged Job with similar crimes, and no\ndirect reply was given to the accusation. Now, speaking strongly of\nthe iniquity of such deeds, Job makes his accusers feel their\ninjustice towards him. There are men who do such things. I have seen\nthem, wondered at them, been amazed that they were not struck down by\nthe hand of God. My distress is that I cannot understand how to\nreconcile their immunity from punishment with my faith in Him whom I\nhave served and trusted as my Friend.\n\nThe next picture, from the fifth to the eighth verse, shows in\ncontrast to the tyrant's pride and cruelty the lot of those who suffer\nat his hands. Deprived of their land and their flocks, herding\ntogether in common danger and misery like wild asses, they have to\nseek for their food such roots and wild fruits as can be found here\nand there in the wilderness. Half enslaved now by the man who took\naway their land they are driven to the task of harvesting his fodder\nand gathering the gleanings of his grapes. Naked they lie in the\nfield, huddling together for warmth, and out among the hills they are\nwet with the impetuous rains, crouching in vain under the ledges of\nthe rock for shelter.\n\nWorse things too are done, greater sufferings than these have to be\nendured. Men there are who pluck the fatherless child from the\nmother's breast, claiming the poor little life as a pledge. Miserable\ndebtors, faint with hunger, have to carry the oppressor's sheaves of\ncorn. They have to grind at the oil-presses, and with never a cluster\nto slake their thirst tread the grapes in the hot sun. Nor is it only\nin the country cruelties are practised. Perhaps in Egypt the writer\nhas seen what he makes Job describe, the misery of city life. In the\ncity the dying groan uncared for, and the soul of the wounded crieth\nout. Universal are the scenes of social iniquity. The world is full of\ninjustice. And to Job the sting of it all is that \"_God regardeth not\nthe wrong._\"\n\nMen talk nowadays as if the penury and distress prevalent in our large\ntowns proved the churches to be unworthy of their name and place. It may\nbe so. If this can be proved, let it be proved; and if the institution\ncalled The Church cannot justify its existence and its Christianity\nwhere it should do so by freeing the poor from oppression and securing\ntheir rights to the weak, then let it go to the wall. But here is Job\ncarrying the accusation a stage farther, carrying it, with what may\nappear blasphemous audacity, to the throne of God. He has no church to\nblame, for there is no church. Or, he himself represents what church\nthere is. And as a witness for God, what does he find to be his portion?\nBehold him, where many a servant of Divine righteousness has been in\npast times and is now, down in the depths, poorest of the poor,\nbereaved, diseased, scorned, misunderstood, hopeless. Why is there\nsuffering? Why are there many in our cities outcasts of society, such as\nsociety is? Job's case is a partial explanation; and here the church is\nnot to blame. Pariahs of society, we say. If society consists to any\ngreat extent of oppressors who are enjoying wealth unjustly gained, one\nis not so sure that there is any need to pity those who are excluded\nfrom society. Am I trying to make out that it may be well there are\noppressors, because oppression is not the worst thing for a brave soul?\nNo: I am only using the logic of the Book of Job in justifying Divine\nprovidence. The church is criticised and by many in these days\ncondemned as worthless because it is not banishing poverty. Perhaps it\nmight be more in the way of duty and more likely to succeed if it sought\nto banish excessive wealth. Are we of the twentieth Christian century to\nhold still by the error of Eliphaz and the rest of Job's friends? Are we\nto imagine that those whom the gospel blesses it must of necessity\nenrich, so that in their turn they may be tempted to act the Pharisee?\nLet us be sure God knows how to govern His world. Let us not doubt His\njustice because many are very poor who have been guilty of no crimes and\nmany very rich who have been distinguished by no virtues. It is our\nmistake to think that all would be well if no bitter cries were heard in\nthe midnight streets and every one were secured against penury. While\nthe church is partly to blame for the state of things, the salvation of\nsociety will not be found in any earthly socialism. On that side lies a\nslough as deep as the other from which it professes to save. The large\nDivine justice and humanity which the world needs are those which Christ\nalone has taught, Christ to whom property was only something to deal\nwith on the way to spiritual good,--humility, holiness, love and faith.\n\nThe emphatic \"_These_\" with which verse 13 begins must be taken as\nreferring to the murderer and adulterer immediately to be described.\nQuite distinct from the strong oppressors who maintain themselves in\nhigh position are these cowardly miscreants who \"rebel against the\nlight\" (ver. 13), who \"in the dark dig through houses\" and \"know not the\nlight\" (ver. 16), to whom \"the morning is as the shadow of death,\" whose\n\"portion is cursed in the earth.\" The passage contains Job's admission\nthat there are vile transgressors of human and Divine law whose\nunrighteousness is broken as a tree (ver. 20). Without giving up his\nmain contention as to high-handed wickedness prospering in the world he\ncan admit this; nay, asserting it he strengthens his position against\nthe arguments of his friends. The murderer who rising towards daybreak\nwaylays and kills the poor and needy for the sake of their scanty\nbelongings, the adulterer who waits for the twilight, disguising his\nface, and the thief who in the dark digs through the clay wall of a\nhouse--these do find the punishment of their treacherous and disgusting\ncrimes in this life. The coward who is guilty of such sin is loathed\neven by the mother who bore him and has to skulk in by-ways, familiar\nwith the terrors of the shadow of death, daring not to turn in the way\nof the vineyards to enjoy their fruit. The description of these\nreprobates ends with the twenty-first verse, and then there is a return\nto the \"mighty\" and the Divine support they appear to enjoy.\n\nThe interpretation of verses 18-21 which makes them \"either actually\nin part the work of a popular hand, or a parody after the popular\nmanner by Job himself,\" has no sufficient ground. To affirm that the\npassage is introduced ironically and that verse 22 resumes the real\nhistory of the murderer, the adulterer, and the thief is to neglect\nthe distinction between those \"who rebel against the light\" and the\nmighty who live in the eye of God. The natural interpretation is that\nwhich makes the whole a serious argument against the creed of the\nfriends. In their eagerness to convict Job they have failed to\ndistinguish between men whose base crimes bring them under social\nreprobation and the proud oppressors who prosper through very\narrogance. Regarding these the fact still holds that apparently they\nare under the protection of Heaven.\n\n      \"_Yet He sustaineth the mighty by His power,\n       They rise up though they despaired of life.\n       He giveth them to be safe, and they are upheld,\n       And His eyes are upon their ways.\n       They rise high: in a moment they are not;\n       They are brought low, like all others gathered in,\n       And cut off as the tops of corn.\n       If not--who then will make me a liar,\n       And to nothing bring my speech?_\"\n\nIs the daring right-defying evil-doer wasted by disease, preyed upon\nby terror? Not so. When he appears to have been crushed, suddenly he\nstarts up again in new vigour, and when he dies, it is not prematurely\nbut in the ripeness of full age. With this reaffirmation of the\nmystery of God's dealings Job challenges his friends. They have his\nfinal judgment. The victory he gains is that of one who will be true\nat all hazards. Perhaps in the background of his thought is the vision\nof a redemption not only of his own life but of all those broken by\nthe injustice and cruelty of this earth.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[6] \"Consolation of Philosophy,\" chap. xlii.\n\n[7] Mrs. Ward's translation, p. 116.\n\n[8] \"Festus,\" edition 1864, p. 503.\n\n\n\n\nXXI.\n\n_THE DOMINION AND THE BRIGHTNESS._\n\nBILDAD SPEAKS. CHAP. XXV.\n\n\nThe argument of the last chapter proceeded entirely on the general\naspect of the question whether the evil are punished in proportion to\ntheir crimes. Job has met his friends so far as to place them in a great\ndifficulty. They cannot assail him now as a sort of infidel. And yet\nwhat he has granted does not yield the main ground. They cannot deny his\ncontrast between the two classes of evil-doers nor refuse to admit that\nthe strong oppressor has a different fate from the mean adulterer or\nthief. Bildad therefore confines himself to two general principles, that\nGod is the supreme administrator of justice and that no man is clean. He\nwill not now affirm that Job has been a tyrant to the poor. He dares not\ncall him a murderer or a housebreaker. A snare has been laid for him who\nspoke much of snares, and seeing it he is on his guard.\n\n      \"_Dominion and fear are with Him;\n       He maketh peace in His high places\n       Is there any number of His armies?\n       And on whom doth not His light shine?\n       How then can man be just with God?\n       Or how can he of woman born be clean?\n       Behold, even the moon hath no brightness,\n       And the stars are not pure in His sight.\n       How much less man that is a worm,\n       And the son of man, the worm!_\"\n\nThe brief ode has a certain dignity raising it above the level of\nBildad's previous utterances. He desires to show that Job has been too\nbold in his criticism of providence. God has sole dominion and claims\nuniversal adoration. Where He dwells in the lofty place of\nunapproachable glory His presence and rule create peace. He is the\nLord of innumerable armies (the stars and their inhabitants perhaps),\nand His light fills the breadth of interminable space, revealing and\nilluminating every life. Upon this assertion of the majesty of God is\nbased the idea of His holiness. Before so great and glorious a Being\nhow can man be righteous? The universality of His power and the\nbrightness of his presence stand in contrast to the narrow range of\nhuman energy and the darkness of the human mind. Behold, says Bildad,\nthe moon is eclipsed by a glance of the great Creator and the stars\nare cast into shadow by His effulgence; and how shall man whose body\nis of the earth earthy claim any cleanness of soul? He is like the\nworm; his kinship is with corruption; his place is in the dust like\nthe creeping things of which he becomes the prey.\n\nThe representation of God in His exaltation and gory has a tone of\nimpressive piety which redeems Bildad from any suspicion of insolence\nat this point. He is including himself and his friends among those\nwhose lives appear impure in the sight of Heaven. He is showing that\nsuccessfully as Job may repel the charges brought against him, there\nis at all events one general condemnation in which with all men he\nmust allow himself to be involved. Is he not a feeble ignorant man\nwhose will being finite must be imperfect? On the one hand is the\npious exaltation of God, on the other the pious abasement of man.\n\nIt is, however, easy to see that Bildad is still bound to a creed of\nthe superficial kind without moral depth or spiritual force. The ideas\nare those of a nature religion in which the one God is a supreme Baal\nor Master, monopolising all splendour, His purity that of the fire or\nthe light. We are shown the Lord of the visible universe whose\ndwelling is in the high heavens, whose representative is the bright\nsun from the light of which nothing is hidden. It is easy to point to\nthis splendid apparition and, contrasting man with the great\nfire-force, the perennial fountain of light, to say--How dark, how\npuny, how imperfect is man. The brilliance of an Arabian sky through\nwhich the sun marches in unobstructed glory seems in complete contrast\nto the darkness of human life. Yet, is it fair, is it competent to\nargue thus? Is anything established as to the moral quality of man\nbecause he cannot shine like the sun or even with the lesser light of\nmoon or stars? One may allow a hint of strong thought in the\nsuggestion that boundless majesty and power are necessary to perfect\nvirtue, that the Almighty alone can be entirely pure. But Bildad\ncannot be said to grasp this idea. If it gleams before his mind, the\nfaint flash passes unrecognised. He has not wisdom enough to work out\nsuch a thought. And it is nature that according to his argument really\ncondemns man. Job is bidden look up to the sun and moon and stars and\nknow himself immeasurably less pure than they.\n\nBut the truth stands untouched that man whose body is doomed to\ncorruption, man who labours after the right, with the heat of moral\nenergy in his heart, moves on a far higher plane as a servant of God\nthan any fiery orb which pours its light through boundless space. We\nfind ignorance of man and therefore of his Maker in Bildad's speech. He\ndoes not understand the dignity of the human mind in its straining after\nrighteousness. \"With limitless duration, with boundless space and number\nwithout end, Nature does at least what she can to translate into visible\nform the wealth of the creative formula. By the vastness of the abysses\ninto which she penetrates in the effort, the unsuccessful effort, to\nhouse and contain the eternal thought we may measure the greatness of\nthe Divine mind. For as soon as this mind goes out of itself and seeks\nto explain itself, the effort at utterance heaps universe upon universe\nduring myriads of centuries, and still it is not expressed and the great\noration must go on for ever and ever.\" The inanimate universe majestic,\nruled by eternal law, cannot represent the moral qualities of the Divine\nmind, and the attempt to convict a thinking man, whose soul is bent on\ntruth and purity, by the splendour of that light which dazzles his eye,\ncomes to nothing.\n\nThe commonplaces of pious thought fall stale and flat in a controversy\nlike the present. Bildad does not realise wherein the right of man in\nthe universe consists. He is trying in vain to instruct one who sees\nthat moral desire and struggle are the conditions of human greatness,\nwho will not be overborne by material splendours nor convicted by the\naccident of death.\n\n\n\n\nXXII.\n\n_THE OUTSKIRTS OF HIS WAYS._\n\nJOB SPEAKS. CHAPS. xxvi., xxvii.\n\n\nBeginning his reply Job is full of scorn and sarcasm.\n\n      \"_How hast thou helped one without power!\n       How hast thou saved the strengthless arm!\n       How hast thou counselled one void of knowledge,\n       And plentifully declared the thing that is known!_\"\n\nWell indeed hast thou spoken, O man of singular intelligence. I am\nvery weak, my arm is powerless. What reassurance, what generous help\nthou hast provided! I, doubtless, know nothing, and thou hast showered\nillumination on my darkness.--His irony is bitter. Bildad appears\nalmost contemptible. \"_To whom hast thou uttered words?_\" Is it thy\nmission to instruct me? \"_And whose spirit came forth from thee?_\"\nDost thou claim Divine inspiration? Job is rancorous; and we are\nscarcely intended by the writer to justify him. Yet it is galling\nindeed to hear that calm repetition of the most ordinary ideas when\nthe controversy has been carried into the deep waters of thought. Job\ndesired bread and is offered a stone.\n\nBut since Bildad has chosen to descant upon the greatness and imperial\npower of God, the subject shall be continued. He shall be taken into\nthe abyss beneath, where faith recognises the Divine presence, and to\nthe heights above that he may learn how little of the dominion of God\nlies within the range of a mind like his, or indeed of mortal sense.\n\nFirst there is a vivid glance at that mysterious under-world where the\nshades or spirits of the departed survive in a dim vague existence.\n\n      \"_The shades are shaken\n       Beneath the waters and their inhabitants.\n       Sheol is naked before Him,\n       And Abaddon hath no covering._\"\n\nBildad has spoken of the lofty place where God makes peace. But that\nsame God has the sovereignty also of the nether world. Under the bed\nof the ocean and those subterranean waters that flow beneath the solid\nground where, in the impenetrable darkness, poor shadows of their\nformer selves, those who lived once on earth congregate age after\nage--there the power of the Almighty is revealed. He does not always\nexert His will in order to create tranquility. Down in Sheol the\n_refaim_ are agitated. And nothing is hid from His eye. Abaddon, the\ndevouring abyss, is naked before Him.\n\nLet us distinguish here between the imagery and the underlying\nthought, the inspired vision of the writer and the form in which Job\nis made to present it. These notions about Sheol as a dark cavern\nbelow earth and ocean to which the spirits of the dead are supposed to\ndescend are the common beliefs of the age. They represent opinion, not\nreality. But there is a new flash of inspiration in the thought that\nGod reigns over the abode of the dead, that even if men escape\npunishment here, the judgments of the Almighty may reach them there.\nThis is the writer's prophetic insight into fact; and he properly\nassigns the thought to his hero who, already almost at the point of\ndeath, has been straining as it were to see what lies beyond the\ngloomy gate. The poetry is infused with the spirit of inquiry into\nGod's government of the present and the future. Set beside other\npassages both in the Old and New Testaments this is found continuous\nwith higher revelations, even with the testimony of Christ when He\nsays that God is Lord not of the dead but of the living.\n\nFrom Sheol, the under-world, Job points to the northern heavens ablaze\nwith stars. God, he says, stretches that wonderful dome over empty\nspace--the immovable polar star probably appearing to mark the point of\nsuspension. The earth, again, hangs in space on nothing, even this solid\nearth on which men live and build their cities. The writer is of course\nignorant of what modern science teaches, but he has caught the fact\nwhich no modern knowledge can deprive of its marvellous character. Then\nthe gathering in immense volumes of watery vapour, how strange is that,\nthe filmy clouds holding rains that deluge a continent, yet not rent\nasunder. One who is wonderful in counsel must indeed have ordered this\nuniverse; but His throne, the radiant seat of His everlasting dominion,\nHe shutteth in with clouds; it is never seen.\n\n      \"_A bound He hath set on the face of the waters,\n       On the confines of light and darkness.\n       The pillars of heaven tremble\n       And are astonished at His rebuke.\n       He stilleth the sea with His power;\n       And by His understanding He smites through Rahab:\n       By His breath the heavens are made bright;\n       His hand pierceth the fleeing serpent.\n       Lo, these are the outskirts of His ways,\n       And what a whisper is that which we hear of Him!\n       But the thunder of His powers who can apprehend?_\"\n\nAt the confines of light and darkness God sets a boundary, the visible\nhorizon, the ocean being supposed to girdle the earth on every side.\nThe pillars of heaven are the mountains, which might be seen in\nvarious directions apparently supporting the sky. With awe men looked\nupon them, with greater awe felt them sometimes shaken by mysterious\nthrobs as if at God's rebuke. From these the poet passes to the sea,\nthe great storm waves that roll upon the shore. God smites through\nRahab, subdues the fierce sea--represented as a raging monster. Here,\nas in the succeeding verse where the fleeing serpent is spoken of,\nreference is made to nature-myths current in the East. The old ideas\nof heathen imagination are used simply in a poetical way. Job does not\nbelieve in a dragon of the sea, but it suits him to speak of the\nstormy ocean-current under this figure so as to give vividness to his\npicture of Divine power. God quells the wild waves; His breath as a\nsoft wind clears away the storm clouds and the blue sky is seen again.\nThe hand of God pierces the fleeing serpent, the long track of angry\nclouds borne swiftly across the face of the heavens.\n\nThe closing words of the chapter are a testimony to the Divine\ngreatness, negative in form yet in effect more eloquent than all the\nrest. It is but the outskirts of the ways of God we see, a whisper of\nHim we hear. The full thunder falls not on our ears. He who sits on\nthe throne which is for ever shrouded in clouds and darkness is the\nCreator of the visible universe but always separate from it. He\nreveals Himself in what we see and hear, yet the glory, the majesty\nremain concealed. The sun is not God, nor the storm, nor the clear\nshining after rain. The writer is still true to the principle of never\nmaking nature equal to God. Even where the religion is in form a\nnature religion, separateness is fully maintained. The phenomena of\nthe universe are but faint adumbrations of the Divine life. Bildad may\ncome short of the full clearness of belief, but Job has it. The great\ncircle of existence the eye is able to include is but the skirt of\nthat garment by which the Almighty is seen.\n\nThe question may be asked, What place has this poetical tribute to the\nmajesty of God in the argument of the book? Viewed simply as an effort\nto outdo and correct the utterance of Bildad the speech is not fully\nexplained. We ask further what is meant to be in Job's mind at this\nparticular point in the discussion; whether he is secretly complaining\nthat power and dominion so wide are not manifested in executing justice\non earth, or, on the other hand, comforting himself with the thought\nthat judgment will yet return to righteousness and the Most High be\nproved the All-just? The inquiry has special importance because, looking\nforward in the book, we find that when the voice of God is heard from\nthe storm it proclaims His matchless power and incomparable wisdom.\n\nAt present it must suffice to say that Job is now made to come very\nnear his final discovery that complete reliance upon Eloah is not\nsimply the fate but the privilege of man. Fully to understand Divine\nprovidence is impossible, but it can be seen that One who is supreme\nin power and infinite in wisdom, responsible always to Himself for the\nexercise of His power, should have the complete confidence of His\ncreatures. Of this truth Job lays hold; by strenuous thought he has\nforced his way almost through the tangled forest, and he is a type of\nman at his best on the natural plane. The world waited for the clear\nlight which solves the difficulties of faith. While once and again a\nflash came before Christ, He brought the abiding revelation, the\ndayspring from on high which giveth light to them that sit in darkness\nand the shadow of death.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAccording to his manner Job turns now from a subject which may be\ndescribed as speculative to his own position and experience. The\nearlier part of chap. xxvii. is an earnest declaration in the strain\nhe has always maintained. As vehemently as ever he renews his claim to\nintegrity, emphasizing it with a solemn adjuration.\n\n      \"_As God liveth who hath taken away my right,\n       And the Almighty who hath embittered my soul;\n       (For still my life is whole in me,\n       And the breath of the High God in my nostrils),\n       My lips do not speak iniquity,\n       Nor does my tongue utter deceit.\n       Far be it from me to justify you;\n       Till I die I will not remove my integrity from me.\n       My righteousness I hold fast, and let it not go;\n       My heart reproacheth not any of my days._\"\n\nThis is in the old tone of confident self-defence. God has taken away\nhis right, denied him the outward signs of innocence, the opportunity\nof pleading his cause. Yet, as a believer, he swears by the life of\nGod that he is a true man, a righteous man. Whatever betides he will\nnot fall from that conviction and claim. And let no one say that pain\nhas impaired his reason, that now if never before he is speaking\ndeliriously. No: his life is whole in him; God-given life is his, and\nwith the consciousness of it he speaks, not ignorant of what is a\nman's duty, not with a lie in his right hand, but with absolute\nsincerity. He will not justify his accusers, for that would be to deny\nrighteousness, the very rock which alone is firm beneath his feet.\nKnowing what is a man's obligation to his fellow-men and to God he\nwill repeat his self-defence. He goes back upon his past, he reviews\nhis days. Upon none of them can his conscience fix the accusation of\ndeliberate baseness or rebellion against God.\n\nHaving affirmed his sincerity Job proceeds to show what would be the\nresult of deceit and hypocrisy at so solemn a crisis of his life. The\nunderlying idea seems to be that of communion with the Most High, the\nspiritual fellowship necessary to man's inner life. He could not speak\nfalsely without separating himself from God and therefore from hope.\nAs yet he is not rejected; the consciousness of truth remains with\nhim, and through that he is in touch at least with Eloah. No voice\nfrom on high answers him; yet this Divine principle of life remains in\nhis soul. Shall he renounce it?\n\n      \"_Let mine enemy be as the wicked,\n       And he that riseth against me as the unrighteous._\"\n\nIf I have aught to do with a wicked man such as I am now to describe,\none who would pretend to pure and godly life while he had behaved in\nimpious defiance of righteousness, if I have to do with such a man,\nlet it be as an enemy.\n\n      \"_For what is the hope of the godless whom He cutteth off,\n       When God taketh his soul?\n       Will God hear his cry\n       When trouble cometh upon him?\n       Will he delight himself in the Almighty\n       And call upon Eloah at all times?_\"\n\nThe topic is access to God by prayer, that sense of security which\ndepends on the Divine friendship. There comes one moment at least, there\nmay be many, in which earthly possessions are seen to be worthless and\nthe help to the Almighty is alone to any avail. In order to enjoy hope\nat such a time a man must habitually live with God in sincere obedience.\nThe godless man previously described, the thief, the adulterer whose\nwhole life is a cowardly lie, is cut off from the Almighty. He finds no\nresource in the Divine friendship. To call upon God always is no\nprivilege of his; he has lost it by neglect and revolt. Job speaks of\nthe case of such a man as in contrast to his own. Although his own\nprayers remain apparently unanswered he has a reserve of faith and hope.\nBefore God he can still assure himself as the servant of His\nrighteousness, in fellowship with Him who is eternally true. The address\ncloses with these words of retrospection (vv. 11, 12):--\n\n      \"_I would teach you concerning the hand of God,\n       That which is with Shaddai would I not conceal.\n       Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it;\n       Why then are ye become altogether vain?_\"\n\nAt this point begins a passage which creates great difficulty. It is\nascribed to Job, but is entirely out of harmony with all he has said.\nMay we accept the conjecture that it is the missing third speech of\nZophar, erroneously incorporated with the \"parable\" of Job? Do the\ncontents warrant this departure from the received text?\n\nAll along Job's contention has been that though an evil-doer could\nhave no fellowship with God, no joy in God, yet such a man might\nsucceed in his schemes, amass wealth, live in glory, go down to his\ngrave in peace. Yea, he might be laid in a stately tomb and the very\nclods of the valley might be sweet to him. Job has not affirmed this\nto be always the history of one who defies the Divine law. But he has\nsaid that often it is; and the deep darkness in which he himself lies\nis not caused so much by his calamity and disease as by the doubt\nforced upon him whether the Most High does rule in steadfast justice\non this earth. How comes it, he has cried again and again, that the\nwicked prosper and the good are often reduced to poverty and sorrow?\n\nNow does the passage from the twelfth verse onwards correspond with\nthis strain of thought? It describes the fate of the wicked oppressor\nin strong language--defeat, desolation, terror, rejection by God,\nrejection by men. His children are multiplied only for the sword. Sons\ndie and widows are left disconsolate. His treasures, his garments\nshall not be for his delight; the innocent shall enjoy his substance.\nHis sudden death shall be in shame and agony, and men shall clap their\nhands at him and hiss him out of his place. Clearly, if Job is the\nspeaker, he must be giving up all he has hitherto contended for,\nadmitting that his friends have argued truly, that after all judgment\ndoes fall in this world upon arrogant men. The motive of the whole\ncontroversy would be lost if Job yielded this point. It is not as if\nthe passage ran, This or that may take place, this or that may befall\nthe evil-doer. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar never present more strongly\ntheir own view than that view is presented here. Nor can it be said\nthat the writer may be preparing for the confession Job makes after\nthe Almighty has spoken from the storm. When he gives way then, it is\nonly to the extent of withdrawing his doubts of the wisdom and justice\nof the Divine rule.\n\nThe suggestion that Job is here reciting the statements of his friends\ncannot be entertained. To read \"Why are ye altogether vain, _saying_,\nThis is the portion of the wicked man from God,\" is incompatible with\nthe long and detailed account of the oppressor's overthrow and\npunishment. There would be no point or force in mere recapitulation\nwithout the slightest irony or caricature. The passage is in grim\nearnest. On the other hand, to imagine that Job is modifying his\nformer language is, as Dr. A. B. Davidson shows, equally out of the\nquestion. With his own sons and daughters lying in their graves, his\nown riches dispersed, would he be likely to say--\"_If his children be\nmultiplied it is for the sword_\"? and\n\n      \"_Though he heap up silver as the dust,\n      And prepare raiment as the clay;\n      He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on\n      And the innocent shall divide the silver_\"?\n\nAgainst supposing this to be Zophar's third speech the arguments drawn\nfrom the brevity of Bildad's last utterance and the exhaustion of the\nsubjects of debate have little weight, and there are distinct points\nof resemblance between the passage under consideration and Zophar's\nformer addresses. Assuming it to be his, it is seen to begin precisely\nwhere he left off;--only he adopts the distinction Job has pointed out\nand confines himself now to \"oppressors.\" His last speech closed with\nthe sentence: \"This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the\nheritage appointed unto him by God.\" He begins here (ver. 13): \"This\nis the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of\noppressors which they receive from the Almighty.\" Again, without\nverbal identity, the expressions \"God shall cast the fierceness of His\nwrath upon him\" (chap. xx. 23), and \"God shall hurl upon him and not\nspare\" (chap. xxvii. 21), show the same style of representation, as\nalso do the following: \"Terrors are upon him.... His goods shall flow\naway in the day of his wrath\" (chap. xx. 25, 28), and \"Terrors\novertake him like waters\" (chap. xxvii. 20). Other similarities may be\neasily traced; and on the whole it seems by far the best explanation\nof an otherwise incomprehensible passage to suppose that here Zophar\nis holding doggedly to opinions which the other two friends have\nrenounced. Job could not have spoken the passage, and there is no\nreason for considering it to be an interpolation by a later hand.\n\n\n\n\nXXIII.\n\n_CHORAL INTERLUDE._\n\nCHAP. xxviii.\n\n\nThe controversy at length closed, the poet breaks into a chant of the\nquest of Wisdom. It can hardly be supposed to have been uttered or\nsung by Job. But if we may go so far as to imagine a chorus after the\nmanner of the Greek dramas, this ode would fitly come as a choral\ndescant reflecting on the vain attempts made alike by Job and by his\nfriends to penetrate the secrets of Divine providence. How poor and\nunsatisfying is all that has been said. To fathom the purposes of the\nMost High, to trace through the dark shadows and entanglements of\nhuman life that unerring righteousness with which all events are\nordered and overruled--how far was this above the sagacity of the\nspeakers. Now and again true things have been said, now and again\nglimpses of that vindication of the good which should compensate for\nall their sufferings have brightened the controversy. But the\nreconciliation has not been found. The purposes of the Most High\nremain untraced. The poet is fully aware of this, aware even that on\nthe ground of argument he is unable to work out the problem which he\nhas opened. With an undertone of wistful sadness, remembering passages\nof his country's poetry that ran in too joyous a strain, as if wisdom\nlay within the range of human ken, he suspends the action of the drama\nfor a little to interpose this cry of limitation and unrest. There is\nno complaint that God keeps in his own hand sublime secrets of Design.\nWhat is man that he should be discontented with his place and power?\nIt is enough for him that the Great God rules in righteous\nsovereignty, gives him laws of conduct to be obeyed in reverence,\nshows him the evil he is to avoid, the good he is to follow. \"The\nthings of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.\" Those who have a\nworld to explore and use, the Almighty to adore and trust, if they\nmust seek after the secret of existence and ever feel themselves\nbaffled in the endeavour, may still live nobly, bear patiently, find\nblessed life within the limit God has set.\n\nFirst the industry of man is depicted, that search for the hidden\nthings of the earth which is significant alike of the craving and\ningenuity of the human mind.\n\n      \"_Surely there is a mine for silver\n       And a place for gold which they refine.\n       Iron is taken out of the earth,\n       And copper is molten out of the stone.\n       Man setteth an end to darkness,\n       And searcheth, to the furthest bound,\n       The stones of darkness and deathful gloom.\n       He breaks a shaft away from where men dwell;\n       They are forgotten of the foot;\n       Afar from men they hang and swing to and fro._\"\n\nThe poet has seen, perhaps in Idum\u00e6a or in Midian where mines of\ncopper and gold were wrought by the Egyptians, the various operations\nhere described. Digging or quarrying, driving tunnels horizontally\ninto the hills or sinking shafts in the valleys, letting themselves\ndown by ropes from the edge of a cliff to reach the vein, then,\nsuspended in mid air, hewing at the ore, the miners variously ply\ntheir craft. Away in remote gorges of the hills the pits they have dug\nremain abandoned, forgotten. The long winding passages they make seem\nto track to the utmost limit the stones of darkness, stones that are\nblack with the richness of the ore.\n\nOn the earth's surface men till their fields, but the hidden treasures\nthat lie below are more valuable than the harvest of maize or wheat.\n\n      \"_As for the earth, out of it cometh bread;\n       And from beneath it is turned up as by fire.\n       The stones thereof are the place of sapphires,\n       And it hath dust of gold._\"\n\nThe reference to fire as an agent in turning up the earth appears to\nmark a volcanic district, but sapphires and gold are found either in\nalluvial soil or associated with gneiss and quartz. Perhaps the fire\nwas that used by the miners to split refractory rock. And the cunning\nof man is seen in this, that he carries into the very heart of the\nmountains a path which no vulture or falcon ever saw, which the proud\nbeasts and fierce lions have not trodden.\n\n      \"_He puts forth his hand upon the flinty rock,\n       He overturneth mountains by the roots._\"\n\nSlowly indeed as compared with modern work of the kind, yet surely,\nwhere those earnest toilers desired a way, excavations went on and\ntunnels were formed with wedge and hammer and pickaxe. The skill of\nman in providing tools and devising methods, and his patience and\nassiduity made him master of the very mountains. And when he had found\nthe ore he could extract its precious metal and gems.\n\n      \"_He cutteth out channels among the rocks;\n       And his eye seeth every precious thing.\n       He bindeth the streams that they trickle not;\n       And the hidden thing brings he forth to light._\"\n\n\nFor washing his ore when it has been crushed he needs supplies of\nwater, and to this end makes long aqueducts. In Idum\u00e6a a whole range\nof reservoirs may still be seen, by means of which even in the dry\nseason the work of gold-washing might be carried on without\ninterruption. No particle of the precious metal escaped the quick eye\nof the practised miner. And again, if water began to percolate into\nhis shaft or tunnel, he had skill to bind the streams that his search\nmight not be hindered.\n\nSuch then is man's skill, such are his perseverance and success in the\nquest of things he counts valuable--iron for his tools, copper to\nfashion into vessels, gold and silver to adorn the crowns of kings,\nsapphires to gleam upon their raiment. And if in the depths of earth\nor anywhere the secrets of life could be reached, men of eager\nadventurous spirit would sooner or later find them out.\n\nIt is to be noticed that, in the account given here of the search\nafter hidden things, attention is confined to mining operations. And\nthis may appear strange, the general subject being the quest of\nwisdom, that is understanding of the principles and methods by which\nthe Divine government of the world is carried on. There was in those\ndays a method of research, widely practised, to which some allusion\nmight have been expected--the so-called art of astrology. The\nChald\u00e6ans had for centuries observed the stars, chronicled their\napparent movements, measured the distances of the planets from each\nother in their unexplained progress through the constellations. On\nthis survey of the heavens was built up a whole code of rules for\npredicting events. The stars which culminated at the time of any one's\nbirth, the planets visible when an undertaking was begun, were\nsupposed to indicate prosperity or disaster. The author of the Book of\nJob could not be ignorant of this art. Why does he not mention it? Why\ndoes he not point out that by watching the stars man seeks in vain to\npenetrate Divine secrets? And the reply would seem to be that keeping\nabsolute silence in regard to astrology he meant to refuse it as a\nmethod of inquiry. Patient, eager labour among the rocks and stones is\nthe type of fruitful endeavour. Astrology is not in any way useful;\nnothing is reached by that method of questioning nature.\n\nThe poet proceeds:--\n\n      \"_Where shall wisdom be found,\n       And where is the place of understanding?\n       Man knoweth not the way thereof,\n       Neither is it to be found in the land of the living.\n       The deep saith, It is not in me;\n       And the sea saith, It is not with me._\"\n\nThe whole range of the physical cosmos, whether open to the\nexamination of man or beyond his reach, is here declared incapable of\nsupplying the clue to that underlying idea by which the course of\nthings is ordered. The land of the living is the surface of the earth\nwhich men inhabit. The deep is the under-world. Neither there nor in\nthe sea is the great secret to be found. As for its price, however\nearnestly men may desire to possess themselves of it, no treasures are\nof any use it is not to be bought in any market.\n\n      \"_Never is wisdom got for gold,\n       Nor for its price can silver be told.\n       For the gold of Ophir it may not be won,\n       The onyx rare or the sapphire stone.\n       Gold is no measure and glass no hire,\n       Jewels of gold twice fined by fire.\n       Coral and crystal tell in vain,\n       Pearls of the deep for wisdom's gain.\n       Topaz of Cush avails thee nought,\n       Nor with gold of glory is it bought._\"\n\nWhile wisdom is thus of value incommensurate with all else men count\nprecious and rare, it is equally beyond the reach of all other forms\nof mundane life. The birds that soar high into the atmosphere see\nnothing of it, nor does any creature that wanders far into\nuninhabitable wilds. Abaddon and Death indeed, the devouring abyss and\nthat silent world which seems to gather and keep all secrets, have\nheard a rumour of it. Beyond the range of mortal sense some hint there\nmay be of a Divine plan governing the mutations of existence, the\nfulfilment of which will throw light on the underworld where the\nspirits of the departed wait in age-long night. But death has no\nknowledge any more than life. Wisdom is God's prerogative, His\nactivities are His own to order and fulfil.\n\n      \"_God understandeth the way thereof,\n       And He knoweth the place thereof.\n       For He looketh to the ends of the earth,\n       And seeth under the whole heaven,\n       Making weight for the winds;\n       And He meteth out the waters by measure.\n       When He made a decree for the rain,\n       And a way for the lightning of thunder,\n       Then did He see it and number it,\n       He established it, yea, and searched it out._\"\n\nThe evolution, as we should say, of the order of nature gives fixed\nand visible embodiment to the wisdom of God. We must conclude,\ntherefore, that the poet indicates the complete idea of the world as a\ncosmos governed by subtle all-pervading law for moral ends. The\ncreation of the visible universe is assumed to begin, and with the\ncreated before Him God sees its capacities, determines the use to\nwhich its forces are to be put, the relation all things are to have to\neach other, to the life of man and to His own glory. But the hokhma or\nunderstanding of this remains for ever beyond the discovery of the\nhuman intellect. Man knoweth not the way thereof. The forces of earth\nand air and sea and the deep that lieth under do not reveal the secret\nof their working; they are but instruments. And the end of all is not\nto be found in Sheol, in the silent world of the dead. God Himself is\nthe Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last.\n\nYet man has his life and his law. Though intellectual understanding of\nhis world and destiny may fail however earnestly he pursues the quest,\nhe should obtain the knowledge that comes by reverence and obedience.\nHe can adore God, he can distinguish good from evil and seek what is\nright and true. There lies his hokhma, there, says the poet, it must\ncontinue to lie.\n\n      \"_And unto man He said,\n       Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,\n       And to depart from evil is understanding._\"\n\nThe conclusion lays a hush upon man's thought--but leaves it with a\ndoctrine of God and faith reaching above the limitations of time and\nsense. Reverence for the Divine will not fully known, the pursuit of\nholiness, fear of the Unseen God are no agnosticism, they are the true\nsprings of religious life.\n\n\n\n\nXXIV.\n\n_AS A PRINCE BEFORE THE KING._\n\nJOB SPEAKS. CHAPS. xxix.-xxxi.\n\n\nFrom the pain and desolation to which he has become inured as a\npitiable second state of existence, Job looks back to the years of\nprosperity and health which in long succession he once enjoyed. This\nparable or review of the past ends his contention. Honour and\nblessedness are apparently denied him for ever. With what has been he\ncompares his present misery and proceeds to a bold and noble\nvindication of his character alike from secret and from flagrant sins.\n\nIn the whole circle of Job's lamentations this chant is perhaps the most\naffecting. The language is very beautiful, in the finest style of the\npoet, and the minor cadences of the music are such as many of us can\nsympathise with. When the years of youth go by and strength wanes, the\nEden we once dwelt in seems passing fair. Of those beyond middle life\nthere are few who do not set their early memories in sharp contrast to\nthe ways they now travel, looking back to a happy valley and long bright\nsummers that are left behind. And even in opening manhood and womanhood\nthe troubles of life often fall, as we may think, prematurely, coming\nbetween the mind and the remembered joy of burdenless existence.\n\n      \"How changed are they!--how changed am I!\n         The early spring of life is gone,\n       Gone is each youthful vanity,--\n         But what with years, oh what is won?\n\n      \"I know not--but while standing now\n         Where opened first the heart of youth,\n       I recollect how high would glow\n         Its thoughts of Glory, Faith, and Truth--\n\n      \"How full it was of good and great,\n         How true to heaven, how warm to men.\n       Alas! I scarce forbear to hate\n         The colder breast I bring again.\"\n\nFirst in the years past Job sees by the light of memory the\nblessedness he had when the Almighty was felt to be his preserver and\nhis strength. Though now God appears to have become an enemy he will\nnot deny that once he had a very different experience. Then nature was\nfriendly, no harm came to him; he was not afraid of the pestilence\nthat walketh in darkness nor the destruction that wasteth at noon-day,\nfor the Almighty was his refuge and fortress. To refuse this tribute\nof gratitude is far from the mind of Job, and the expression of it is\na sign that now at length he is come to a better mind. He seems on the\nway fully to recover his trust.\n\nThe elements of his former happiness are recounted in detail. God\nwatched over him with constant care, the lamp of Divine love shone on\nhigh and lighted up the darkness, so that even in the night he could\ntravel by a way he knew not and feel secure. Days of strength and\npleasure were those when the secret of God, the sense of intimate\nfellowship with God, was on his tent, when his children were about\nhim, that beautiful band of sons and daughters who were his pride.\nThen his steps were bathed in abundance, butter provided by\ninnumerable kine, rivers of oil which seemed to flow from the rock,\nwhere terrace above terrace the olives grew luxuriantly and yielded\ntheir fruit without fail.\n\nChiefly Job remembers with gratitude to God the esteem in which he was\nheld by all about him. Nature was friendly and not less friendly were\nmen. When he went into the city and took his seat in the \"broad place\"\nwithin the gate, he was acknowledged chief of the council and court of\njudgment. The young men withdrew and stood aside, yea the elders,\nalready seated in the place of assembly, stood up to receive him as\ntheir superior in position and wisdom. Discussion was suspended that\nhe might hear and decide. And the reasons for this respect are given.\nIn the society thus with idyllic touches represented, two qualities\nwere highly esteemed--regard for the poor and wisdom in counsel. Then,\nas now, the problem of poverty caused great concern to the elders of\ncities. Though the population of an Arabian town could not be great,\nthere were many widows and fatherless children, families reduced to\nbeggary by disease or the failure of their poor means of livelihood,\nblind and lame persons utterly dependent on charity, besides wandering\nstrangers and the vagrants of the desert. By his princely munificence\nto these Job had earned the gratitude of the whole region. Need was\nmet, poverty relieved, justice done in every case. He recounts what he\ndid, not in boastfulness, but as one who rejoiced in the ability God\nhad given him to aid suffering fellow-creatures. Those were indeed\nroyal times for the generous-hearted man. Full of public spirit, his\near and hand always open, giving freely out of his abundance, he\ncommended himself to the affectionate regard of the whole valley. The\nready way of almsgiving was that alone by which relief was provided\nfor the destitute, and Job was never appealed to in vain.\n\n      \"_The ear that heard me blessed me,\n       The eye that saw bare witness to me,\n       Because I delivered the poor that cried,\n       And the fatherless who had no helper.\n       The blessing of him that was ready to die came upon me,\n       And I caused the widow's heart to sing with joy._\"\n\nSo far Job rejoices in the recollection of what he had been able to do\nfor the distressed and needy in those days when the lamp of God shone\nover him. He proceeds to speak of his service as magistrate or judge.\n\n      \"_I put on righteousness and it indued itself with me,\n       My justice was as a robe and a diadem;\n       I was eyes to the blind,\n       And feet was I to the lame._\"\n\nWith righteousness in his heart so that all he said and did revealed\nit and wearing judgment as a turban, he sat and administered justice\namong the people. Those who had lost their sight and were unable to\nfind the men that had wronged them came to him and he was as eyes to\nthem, following up every clue to the crime that had been committed.\nThe lame who could not pursue their enemies appealed to him and he\ntook up their cause. The poor, suffering under oppression, found him a\nprotector, a father. Yea, \"_the cause of him that I knew not I\nsearched out_.\" On behalf of total strangers as well as of neighbours\nhe set in motion the machinery of justice.\n\n      \"_And I brake the jaws of the wicked\n       And plucked the spoil from his teeth._\"\n\nNone were so formidable, so daring and lion-like, but he faced them,\nbrought them to judgment and compelled them to give up what they had\ntaken by fraud and violence.\n\nIn those days, Job confesses, he had the dream that as he was\nprosperous, powerful, helpful to others by the grace of God, so he\nwould continue. Why should any trouble fall on one who used power\nconscientiously for his neighbours? Would not Eloah sustain the man\nwho was as a god to others?\n\n      \"_Then I said, I shall die in my nest,\n       And I shall multiply my days as the Ph\u0153nix;\n       My root shall spread out by the waters,\n       And the dew shall be all night on my branch;\n       My glory shall be fresh in me,\n       And my bow shall be renewed in my hand._\"\n\nA fine touch of the dream-life which ran on from year to year, bright\nand blessed as if it would flow for ever. Death and disaster were far\naway. He would renew his life like the Ph\u0153nix, attain to the age of\nthe antediluvian fathers, and have his glory or life strong in him for\nuncounted years. So illusion flattered him, the very image he uses\npointing to the futility of the hope.\n\nThe closing strophe of the chapter proceeds with even stronger touch\nand more abundant colour to represent his dignity. Men listened to him\nand waited. Like a refreshing rain upon thirsty ground--and how\nthirsty the desert could be!--his counsel fell on their ears. He\nsmiled upon them when they had no confidence, laughed away their\ntrouble, the light of his countenance never dimmed by their\napprehensions. Even when all about him were in dismay his hearty\nhopeful outlook was unclouded. Trusting God, he knew his own strength\nand gave freely of it.\n\n      \"_I chose out their way, and sat as a chief,\n       And dwelt as a king in the crowd,\n       As one that comforteth the mourners._\"\n\nLooked up to with this great esteem, acknowledged leader in virtue of\nhis overflowing goodness and cheerfulness, he seemed to make sunshine\nfor the whole community. Such was the past. All that had been, is gone\napparently for ever.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nHow inexpressibly strange that power so splendid, mental, physical and\nmoral strength used in the service of less favoured men should be\ndestroyed by Eloah! It is like blotting out the sun from heaven and\nleaving a world in darkness. And most strange of all is the way in\nwhich low men assist the ruin that has been wrought.\n\nThe thirtieth chapter begins with this. Job is derided by the miserable\nand base whose fathers he would have disdained to set with the dogs of\nhis flock. He paints these people, gaunt with hunger and vice, herding\nin the wilderness where alone they are suffered to exist, plucking\nmallows or salt-wort among the bushes and digging up the roots of broom\nfor food. Men hunted them into the desert, crying after them as thieves,\nand they dwelt in the clefts of the wadies, in caves and amongst rocks.\nLike wild asses they brayed in the scrub and flung themselves down among\nthe nettles. Children they were of fools, base-born, men who had\ndishonoured their humanity and been whipped out of the land. Such are\nthey whose song and by-word Job is now become. These, even these abhor\nhim and spit in his face. He makes the contrast deep and dreadful as to\nhis own experience and the moral confusion that has followed Eloah's\nstrange work. For good there is evil, for light and order there is\ndarkness. Does God desire this, ordain it?\n\nOne is inclined to ask whether the abounding compassion and humaneness\nof the Book of Job fails at this point. These wretched creatures who\nmake their lair like wild beasts among the nettles, outcasts, branded as\nthieves, a wandering base-born race, are still men. Their fathers may\nhave fallen into the vices of abject poverty. But why should Job say\nthat he would have disdained to set them with the dogs of his flock? In\na previous speech (chap. xxiv.) he described victims of oppression who\nhad no covering in the cold and were drenched with the rain of the\nmountains, clinging to the rock for shelter; and of them he spoke\ngently, sympathetically. But here he seems to go beyond compassion.\n\nPerhaps one might say the tone he takes now is pardonable, or almost\npardonable, because these wretched beings, whom he may have treated\nkindly once, have seized the occasion of his misery and disease to\ninsult him to his face. While the words appear hard, the uselessness\nof the pariah may be the main point. Yet a little of the pride of\nbirth clings to Job. In this respect he is not perfect; here his\nprosperous life needs a check. The Almighty must speak to him out of\nthe tempest that he may feel himself and find \"the blessedness of\nbeing little.\"\n\nThese outcasts throw off all restraint and behave with disgraceful\nrudeness in his presence.\n\n      \"_Upon my right hand rise the low brood,\n       They push away my feet,\n       And cast up against me their ways of destruction;\n       They mar my path,\n       And force on my calamity--\n       They who have no helper.\n       They come in as through a wide breach,\n       In the desolation they roll themselves upon me._\"\n\nThe various images, of a besieging army, of those who wantonly break\nup paths made with difficulty, of a breach in the embankment of a\nriver, are to show that Job is now accounted one of the meanest, whom\nany man may treat with indignity. He was once the idol of the\npopulace; \"now none so poor to do him reverence.\" And this persecution\nby base men is only a sign of deeper abasement. As a horde of terrors\nsent by God he feels the reproaches and sorrows of his state.\n\n      \"_Terrors are turned upon me;\n       They chase away mine honour as the wind,\n       And my welfare passeth as a cloud.\n       And now my soul is poured out in me\n       The days of affliction have taken hold upon me._\"\n\nThought shifts naturally to the awful disease which has caused his\nbody to swell and to become black as with dust and ashes. And this\nleads him to his final vehement complaint against Eloah. How can He so\nabase and destroy His servant?\n\n      \"_I cry unto Thee and Thou dost not hear me;\n       I stand up, and Thou lookest at me.\n       Thou art turned to be cruel unto me:\n       With the might of Thine hand Thou persecutest me.\n       Thou liftest me up to the wind, Thou causest me to ride on it;\n       And Thou dissolvest me in the storm.\n       For I know that Thou wilt bring me to death,\n       And to the house appointed for all living.\n       Yet in overthrow doth not one stretch out his hand?\n       In destruction, doth he not because of this utter a cry?_\"\n\nStanding up in his wretchedness he is fully visible to the Divine eye,\nstill no prayer moves Eloah the terrible from His purpose. It seems to\nbe finally appointed that in dishonour Job shall die. Yet, destined to\nthis fate, his hope a mockery, shall he not stretch out his hand, cry\naloud as life falls to the grave in ruin? How differently is God\ntreating him from the way in which he treated those who were in trouble!\nHe is asking in vain that pity which he himself had often shown. Why\nshould this be? How can it be, and Eloah remain the Just and Living One?\nPained without and within, unable to refrain from crying out when people\ngather about him, a brother to jackals whose howlings are heard all\nnight, a companion to the grieving ostrich, his bones burned by raging\nfever, his harp turned to wailing and his lute into the voice of them\nthat weep, he can scarce believe himself the same man that once walked\nin honour and gladness in the sight of earth and heaven.\n\nThus the full measure of complaint is again poured out, unchecked by\nthought that dignity of life comes more with suffering patiently\nendured than with pleasure. Job does not know that out of trouble like\nhis a man may rise more human, more noble, his harp furnished with new\nstrings of deeper feeling, a finer light of sympathy shining in his\nsoul. Consistently, throughout, the author keeps this thought in the\nbackground, showing hopeless sorrow, affliction, unrelieved by any\nsense of spiritual gain, pressing with heaviest and most weary weight\nupon a good man's life. The only help Job has is the consciousness of\nvirtue, and that does not check his complaint. The antinomies of life,\nthe past as compared with the present, Divine favour exchanged for\ncruel persecution, well-doing followed by most grievous pain and\ndishonour, are to stand at the last full in view. Then He who has\njustice in His keeping shall appear. God Himself shall declare and\nclaim His supremacy and His design.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThis purpose of the author achieved, the last passage of Job's\naddress--chap. xxxi.--rings bold and clear like the chant of a victor,\nnot serene indeed in the presence of death, for this is not the Hebrew\ntemper and cannot be ascribed by the writer to his hero, yet with firm\nground beneath his feet, a clear conscience of truth lighting up his\nsoul. The language is that of an innocent man before his accusers and\nhis judge, yea of a prince in presence of the King. Out of the\ndarkness into which he has been cast by false arguments and\naccusations, out of the trouble into which his own doubt has brought\nhim, Job seems to rise with a new sense of moral strength and even of\nrestored physical power. No more in reckless challenge of heaven and\nearth to do their worst, but with a fine strain of earnest desire to\nbe clear with men and God, he takes up and denies one by one every\npossible charge of secret and open sin. Is the language he uses more\nemphatic than any man has a right to employ? If he speaks the truth,\nwhy should his words be thought too bold? The Almighty Judge desires\nno man falsely to accuse himself, will have no man leave an unfounded\nsuspicion resting upon his character. It is not evangelical meekness\nto plead guilty to sins never committed. Job feels it part of his\nintegrity to maintain his integrity; and here he vindicates himself\nnot in general terms but in detail, with a decision which cannot be\nmistaken. Afterwards, when the Almighty has spoken, he acknowledges\nthe ignorance and error which have entered into his judgment, making\nthe confession we must all make even after years of faith.\n\nI. From the taint of lustful and base desire he first clears himself.\nHe has been pure in life, innocent even of wandering looks which might\nhave drawn him into uncleanness. He has made a covenant with his eyes\nand kept it. Sin of this kind, he knew, always brings retribution, and\nno indulgence of his ever caused sorrow and dishonour. Regarding the\nparticular form of evil in question he asks:--\n\n      \"_For what is the portion from God above,\n       And the heritage of the Almighty from on high?\n       Is it not calamity to the unrighteous,\n       And disaster to them that work iniquity?_\"\n\nGrouped along with this \"lust of the flesh\" is the \"lust of the eyes,\"\ncovetous desire. The itching palm to which money clings, false dealing\nfor the sake of gain, crafty intrigues for the acquisition of a plot\nof ground or some animal--such things were far from him. He claims to\nbe weighed in a strict balance, and pledges himself that as to this\nhe will not be found wanting. So thoroughly is he occupied with this\ndefence that he speaks as if still able to sow a crop and look for the\nharvest. He would expect to have the produce snatched from his hand if\nthe vanity of greed and getting had led him astray. Returning then to\nthe more offensive suspicion that he had laid wait treacherously at\nhis neighbour's door, he uses the most vigorous words to show at once\nhis detestation of such offence and the result he believes it always\nto have. It is an enormity, a nefarious thing to be punished by the\njudges. More than that, it is a fire that consumes to Abaddon, wasting\na man's strength and substance so that they are swallowed as by the\ndevouring abyss. As to this, Job's reading of life is perfectly sound.\nWherever society exists at all, custom and justice are made to bear as\nheavily as possible on those who invade the foundation of society and\nthe rights of other men. Yet the keenness with which immorality of the\nparticular kind is watched fans the flame of lust. Nature appears to\nbe engaged against itself; it may be charged with the offence, it\ncertainly joins in bringing the punishment.\n\nII. Another possible imputation was that as a master or employer he\nhad been harsh to his underlings. Common enough it was for those in\npower to treat their dependants with cruelty. Servants were often\nslaves; their rights as men and women were denied. Regarding this, the\nwords put into the mouth of Job are finely humane, even prophetic:--\n\n      \"_If I despised the cause of my man-servant or maid\n       When they contended with me ...\n       What then shall I do when God riseth up?\n       And when He visiteth what shall I answer Him?\n       Did not He that made me in the womb make him?\n       And did not One fashion us in the womb?_\"\n\nThe rights of those who toiled for him were sacred, not as created by\nany human law which for so many hours' service might compel so much\nstipulated hire, but as conferred by God. Job's servants were men and\nwomen with an indefeasible claim to just and considerate treatment. It\nwas accidental, so to speak, that Job was rich and they poor, that he\nwas master and they under him. Their bodies were fashioned like his,\ntheir minds had the same capacity of thought, of emotion, of pleasure\nand pain. At this point there is no hardness of tone or pride of birth\nand place. These are well-doing people to whom as head of the clan Job\nstands in place of a father.\n\nAnd his principle, to treat them as their inheritance of the same life\nfrom the same Creator gave them a right to be dealt with, is prophetic,\nsetting forth the duties of all who have power to those who toil for\nthem. Men are often used like beasts of burden. No tyranny on earth is\nso hateful as many employers, driving on their huge concerns at the\nutmost speed, dare to exercise through representatives or underlings.\nThe simple patriarchal life which brought employer and employed into\ndirect personal relations knew little of the antagonism of class\ninterests and the bitterness of feeling which often menaces revolution.\nNone of this will cease till simplicity be resumed and the customs which\nkeep men in touch with each other, even though they fail to acknowledge\nthemselves members of the one family of God. When the servant who has\ndone his best is, after years of exhausting labour, dismissed without a\nhearing by some subordinate set there to consider what are called the\n\"interests\" of the employer--is the latter free from blame? The question\nof Job, \"What then shall _I_ do when God riseth up, and when He visiteth\nwhat shall I answer Him?\" strikes a note of equity and brotherliness\nmany so-called Christians seem never to have heard.\n\nIII. To the poor, the widow, the fatherless, the perishing, Job next\nrefers. Beyond the circle of his own servants there were needy persons\nwhom he had been charged with neglecting and even oppressing. He has\nalready made ample defence under this head. If he has lifted his hand\nagainst the fatherless, having good reason to presume that the judges\nwould be on his side--then may his shoulder fall from the\nshoulder-blade and his arm from the collar-bone. Calamity from God was\na terror to Job, and recognising the glorious authority which enforces\nthe law of brotherly help he could not have lived in proud enjoyment\nand selfish contempt.\n\nIV. Next he repudiates the idolatry of wealth and the sin of adoring\nthe creature instead of the Creator. Rich as he was, he can affirm\nthat he never thought too much of his wealth, nor secretly vaunted\nhimself in what he had gathered. His fields brought forth plentifully,\nbut he never said to his soul, Thou hast much goods laid up for many\nyears, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. He was but a\nsteward, holding all at the will of God. Not as if abundance of\npossessions could give him any real worth, but with constant gratitude\nto his Divine Friend, he used the world as not abusing it.\n\nAnd for his religion: true to those spiritual ideas which raised him\nfar above superstition and idolatry, even when the rising sun seemed\nto claim homage as a fit emblem of the unseen Creator, or when the\nfull moon shining in a clear sky seemed a very goddess of purity and\npeace, he had never, as others were wont to do, carried his hand to\nhis lips. He had seen the worship of Baal and Ishtar, and there might\nhave come to him, as to whole nations, the impulses of wonder, of\ndelight, of religious reverence. But he can fearlessly say that he\nnever yielded to the temptation to adore anything in heaven or earth.\nIt would have been to deny Eloah the Supreme. Dr. Davidson reminds us\nhere of a legend embodied in the Koran for the purpose of impressing\nthe lesson that worship should be paid to the Lord of all creatures,\n\"whose shall be the kingdom on the day whereon the trumpet shall be\nsounded.\" The Almighty says: \"Thus did We show unto Abraham the\nkingdom of heaven and earth, that he might become of those who firmly\nbelieve. And when the night overshadowed him he saw a star, and he\nsaid, This is my Lord; but when it set he said, I like not those that\nset. And when he saw the moon rising he said, This is my Lord; but\nwhen he saw it set he said, Verily, if my Lord direct me not, I shall\nbecome one of the people who go astray. And when he saw the rising sun\nhe said, This is my Lord; this is the greatest; but when it set he\nsaid, O my people, verily I am clear of that which ye associate with\nGod; I direct my face unto Him who hath created the heavens and the\nearth.\" Thus from very early times to that of Mohammed monotheism was\nin conflict with the form of idolatry that naturally allured the\ninhabitants of Arabia. Job confesses the attraction, denies the sin.\nHe speaks as if the laws of his people were strongly against\nsun-worship, whatever might be done elsewhere.\n\nV. He proceeds to declare that he has never rejoiced over a fallen\nenemy nor sought the life of any one with a curse. He distinguishes\nhimself very sharply from those who in the common Oriental way dealt\ncurses without great provocation, and those even who kept them for\ndeadly enemies. So far was this rancorous spirit from him that friends\nand enemies alike were welcome to his hospitality and help. Verse 31\nmeans that his servants could boast of being unable to find a single\nstranger who had not sat at his table. Their business was to furnish\nit every day with guests. Nor will Job allow that after the manner of\nmen he skilfully covered transgressions. \"If, guilty of some base\nthing, I concealed it, as men often do, because I was afraid of losing\ncaste, afraid lest the great families would despise me....\" Such a\nthought or fear never presented itself to him. He could not thus have\nlived a double life. All had been above-board, in the clear light of\nday, ruled by one law.\n\nIn connection with this it is that he comes with princely appeal to\nthe King.\n\n      \"_Oh that I had one to hear me!--\n       Behold my signature--let the Almighty answer me.\n       And oh that I had my Opponents charge!\n       Surely I would carry it on my shoulder,\n       I would bind it unto me as a crown.\n       I would declare unto Him the number of my steps,\n       As a prince would I go near unto Him._\"\n\nThe words are to be defended only on the ground that the Eloah to whom a\nchallenge is here addressed is God misunderstood, God charged falsely\nwith making unfounded accusations against His servant and punishing him\nas a criminal. The Almighty has not been doing so. The vicious reasoning\nof the friends, the mistaken creed of the age make it appear as if He\nhad. Men say to Job, You suffer because God has found evil in you. He\nis requiting you according to your iniquity. They maintain that for no\nother reason could calamities have come upon him. So God is made to\nappear as the man's adversary; and Job is forced to the demonstration\nthat he has been unjustly condemned. \"Behold my signature,\" he says: I\nstate my innocence; I set to my mark; I stand by my claim: I can do\nnothing else. Let the Almighty prove me at fault. God, you say, has a\nbook in which His charges against me are written out. I wish I had that\nbook! I would fasten it upon my shoulder as a badge of honour; yea, I\nwould wear it as a crown. I would show Eloah all I have done, every step\nI have taken through life by day and night. I would evade nothing. In\nthe assurance of integrity I would go to the King; as a prince I would\nstand in His presence. There face to face with Him whom I know to be\njust and righteous I would justify myself as His servant, faithful in\nHis house.\n\nIs it audacity, impiety? The writer of the book does not mean it to be\nso understood. There is not the slightest hint that he gives up his\nhero. Every claim made is true. Yet there is ignorance of God, and\nthat ignorance puts Job in fault so far. He does not know God's action\nthough he knows his own. He ought to reason from the misunderstanding\nof himself and see that he may fail to understand Eloah. When he\nbegins to see this he will believe that his sufferings have complete\njustification in the purpose of the Most High.\n\nThe ignorance of Job represents the ignorance of the old world.\nNotwithstanding the tenor of his prologue the writer is without a\ntheory of human affliction applicable to every case, or even to the\nexperience of Job. He can only say and repeat, God is supremely wise\nand righteous, and for the glory of His wisdom and righteousness He\nordains all that befalls men. The problem is not solved till we see\nChrist, the Captain of our salvation, made perfect by suffering, and\nknow that our earthly affliction \"which is for the moment worketh for\nus more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory.\"\n\nThe last verses of the chapter may seem out of place. Job speaks as a\nlandowner who has not encroached on the fields of others but honestly\nacquired his estate, and as a farmer who has tilled it well. This\nseems a trifling matter compared with others that have been\nconsidered. Yet, as a kind of afterthought, completing the review of\nhis life, the detail is natural.\n\n      \"_If my land cry out against me,\n       And the furrows thereof weep together,\n       If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money,\n       Or have caused the owners to lose their life:\n       Let thistles grow instead of wheat\n       And cockle instead of barley.\n           The words of Job are ended._\"\n\nA farmer of the right kind would have great shame if poor crops or wet\nfurrows cried against him, or if he could otherwise be accused of\ntreating the land ill. The touch is realistic and forcible.\n\nStill it is plain at the close that the character of Job is idealised.\nMuch may be received as matter of veritable history; but on the whole\nthe life is too fine, pure, saintly for even an extraordinary man. The\npicture is clearly typical. And it is so for the best reason. An\nactual life would not have set the problem fully in view. The\nwriter's aim is to rouse thought by throwing the contradictions of\nhuman experience so vividly upon a prepared canvas that all may see.\nWhy do the righteous suffer? What does the Almighty mean? The urgent\nquestions of the race are made as insistent as art and passion, ideal\ntruth and sincerity, can make them. Job lying in the grime of misery\nyet claiming his innocence as a prince before the Eternal King,\ndemands on behalf of humanity the vindication of providence, the\nmeaning of the world scheme.\n\n\n\n\nELIHU INTERVENES.\n\n\n\n\nXXV.\n\n_POST-EXILIC WISDOM._\n\nCHAPS. xxxii.-xxxiv.\n\n\nA personage hitherto unnamed in the course of the drama now assumes\nthe place of critic and judge between Job and his friends. Elihu, son\nof Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, appears suddenly and as\nsuddenly disappears. The implication is that he has been present\nduring the whole of the colloquies, and that, having patiently waited\nhis time, he expresses the judgment he has slowly formed on arguments\nto which he has given close attention.\n\nIt is significant that both Elihu and his representations are ignored in\nthe winding up of the action. The address of the Almighty from the storm\ndoes not take him into account and seems to follow directly on the\nclose of Job's defence. It is a very obvious criticism, therefore, that\nthe long discourse of Elihu may be an interpolation or an\nafterthought--a fresh attempt by the author or by some later writer to\ncorrect errors into which Job and his friends are supposed to have\nfallen and to throw new light on the matter of discussion. The textual\nindications are all in favour of this view. The style of the language\nappears to belong to a later time than the other parts of the book. But\nto reject the address as unworthy of a place in the poem would be too\nsummary. Elihu indeed assumes the air of the superior person from the\nfirst, so that one is not engaged in his favour. Yet there is an honest,\nreverent and thoughtful contribution to the subject. In some points this\nspeaker comes nearer the truth than Job or any of his friends, although\nthe address as a whole is beneath the rest of the book in respect of\nmatter and argument, and still more in poetical feeling and expression.\n\nIt is suggested by M. Renan that the original author, taking up his\nwork again after a long interval, at a period in his life when he had\nlost his verve and his style, may have added this fragment with the\nidea of completing the poem. There are strong reasons against such an\nexplanation. For one thing there seems to be a misconception where, at\nthe outset, Elihu is made to assume that Job and his friends are very\nold. The earlier part of the poem by no means affirms this. Job,\nthough we call him a patriarch, was not necessarily far advanced in\nlife, and Zophar appears considerably younger. Again the contention in\nthe eighth verse--\"There is a spirit in man, and the breath of the\nAlmighty giveth them understanding\"--seems to be the justification a\nlater writer would think it needful to introduce. He acknowledges the\nDivine gift of the original poet and adding his criticism claims for\nElihu, that is, for himself, the lucidity God bestows on every calm\nand reverent student of His ways. This is considerably different from\nanything we find in the addresses of the other speakers. It seems to\nshow that the question of inspiration had arisen and passed through\nsome discussion. But the rest of the book is written without any\nconsciousness, or at all events any admission of such a question.\n\nElihu appears to represent the new \"wisdom\" which came to Hebrew\nthinkers in the period of the exile; and there are certain opinions\nembodied in his address which must have been formed during an exile\nthat brought many Jews to honour. The reading of affliction given is\none following the discovery that the general sinfulness of a nation\nmay entail chastisement on men who have not personally been guilty of\ngreat sin, yet are sharers in the common neglect of religion and pride\nof heart, and further that this chastisement may be the means of great\nprofit to those who suffer. It would be harsh to say the tone is that\nof a mind which has caught the trick of \"voluntary humility,\" of\npietistic self-abasement. Yet there are traces of such a tendency, the\nbeginning of a religious strain opposed to legal self-righteousness,\nrunning, however, very readily to excess and formalism. Elihu,\naccordingly, appears to stand on the verge of a descent from the\nrobust moral vigour of the original author towards that low ground in\nwhich false views of man's nature hinder the free activity of faith.\n\nThe note struck by the Book of Job had stirred eager thought in the\ntime of the exile. Just as in the Middle Ages of European history the\nDivine Comedy of Dante was made a special study, and chairs were\nfounded in universities for its exposition, so less formally the drama\nof Job was made the subject of inquiry and speculation. We suppose\nthen that among the many who wrote on the poem, one acting for a\ncircle of thinkers incorporated their views in the text. He could not\ndo so otherwise than by bringing a new speaker on the stage. To add\nanything to what Eliphaz or Bildad or Job had said would have\nprevented the free expression of new opinion. Nor could he without\ndisrespect have inserted the criticism after the words of Jehovah.\nSelecting as the only proper point of interpolation the close of the\ndebate between Job and the friends, the scribe introduced the Elihu\nportion as a review of the whole scope of the book, and may indeed\nhave subtly intended to assail as entirely heterodox the\npresupposition of Job's integrity and the Almighty's approval of his\nservant. That being his purpose, he had to veil it in order to keep\nthe discourse of Elihu in line with the place assigned to him in the\ndramatic movement. The contents of the prologue and epilogue and the\nutterance of the Almighty from the storm affect, throughout, the added\ndiscourse. But to secure the unity of the poem the writer makes Elihu\nspeak like one occupying the same ground as Eliphaz and the others,\nthat of a thinker ignorant of the original motive of the drama; and\nthis is accomplished with no small skill. The assumption is that\nreverent thought may throw new light, far more light than the\noriginal author possessed, on the case as it stood during the\ncolloquies. Elihu avoids assailing the conception of the prologue that\nJob is a perfect and upright man approved by God. He takes the state\nof the sufferer as he finds it, and inquires how and why it is, what\nis the remedy. There are pedantries and obscurities in the discourse,\nyet the author must not be denied the merit of a careful and\nsuccessful attempt to adapt his character to the place he occupies in\nthe drama. Beyond this, and the admission that something additional is\nsaid on the subject of Divine discipline, it is needless to go in\njustifying Elihu's appearance. One can only remark with wonder in\npassing that Elihu should ever have been declared the Angel Jehovah,\nor a personification of the Son of God.\n\nThe narrative verses which introduce the new speaker state that his\nwrath was kindled against Job because he justified himself rather than\nGod, and against the three friends because they had condemned Job and\nyet found no answer to his arguments. The mood is that of a critic\nrather hot, somewhat too confident that he knows, beginning a task\nthat requires much penetration and wisdom. But the opening sentences\nof the speech of Elihu betray the need the writer felt to justify\nhimself in making his bold venture.\n\n      \"_I am young and ye are very old;\n       Wherefore I held back and durst not show my knowledge.\n       I thought, Days should speak,\n       And the multitude of years teach wisdom.\n       Still, there is a spirit in man,\n       And the breath of the Almighty giveth them understanding.\n       Not the great in years are wise,\n       Nor do the aged understand what is right.\n       Therefore I say: Hearken to me;\n       I also will show my opinion._\"\n\nThese verses are a defence of the new writer's boldness in adding to a\npoem that has come down from a previous age. He is confident in his\njudgment, yet realises the necessity of commending it to the hearers.\nHe claims that inspiration which belongs to every reverent\nconscientious inquirer. On this footing he affirms a right to express\nhis opinion, and the right cannot be denied.\n\nElihu has been disappointed with the speeches of Job's friends. He has\nlistened for their reasons, observed how they cast about for arguments\nand theories; but no one said anything convincing. It is an offence to\nthis speaker that men who had so good a case against their friend made\nso little of it. The intelligence of Elihu is therefore from the first\ncommitted to the hypothesis that Job is in the wrong. Obviously the\nwriter places his spokesman in a position which the epilogue condemns;\nand if we assume this to have been deliberately done a subtle verdict\nagainst the scope of the poem must have been intended. May it not be\nsurmised that this implied comment or criticism gave the interpolated\ndiscourse value in the eyes of many? Originally the poem appeared\nsomewhat dangerous, out of the line of orthodoxy. It may have become\nmore acceptable to Hebrew thought when this caveat against bold\nassumptions of human perfectibility and the right of man in presence\nof his Maker had been incorporated with the text.\n\nElihu tells the friends that they are not to say, We have found wisdom\nin Job, unexpected wisdom which the Almighty alone is able to vanquish.\nThey are not to excuse themselves nor exaggerate the difficulties of the\nsituation by entertaining such an opinion. Elihu is confident that he\ncan overcome Job in reasoning. As if speaking to himself he describes\nthe perplexity of the friends and states his intention.\n\n      \"_They were amazed, they answered no more;\n       They had not a word to say.\n       And shall I wait because they speak not,\n       Because they stand still and answer no more?\n       I also will answer my part,\n       I also will show my opinion._\"\n\nHis convictions become stronger and more urgent. He must open his lips\nand answer. And he will use no flattery. Neither the age nor the\ngreatness of the men he is addressing shall keep him from speaking his\nmind. If he were insincere he would bring on himself the judgment of\nGod. \"My Maker would soon take me away.\" Here again the second\nwriter's self-defence colours the words put into Elihu's mouth.\nReverence for the genius of the poet whose work he is supplementing\ndoes not prevent a greater reverence for his own views.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe general exordium closes with the thirty-second chapter, and in the\nthirty-third Elihu, addressing Job by name, enters on a new\nvindication of his right to intervene. His claim is still that of\nstraightforwardness, sincerity. He is to express what he knows without\nany other motive than to throw light on the matter in hand. He feels\nhimself, moreover, to be guided by the Divine Spirit. The breath of\nthe Almighty has given him life; and on this ground he considers\nhimself entitled to enter the discussion and ask of Job what answer\nhe can give. This is done with dramatic feeling. The life he enjoys is\nnot only physical vigour as contrasted with Job's diseased and infirm\nstate, but also intellectual strength, the power of God-given reason.\nYet, as if he might seem to claim too much, he hastens to explain that\nhe is quite on Job's level nevertheless.\n\n      \"_Behold, I am before God even as thou art;\n       I also am formed out of the clay.\n       Lo, my terror shall not make thee afraid,\n       Neither shall my pressure be heavy upon thee_.\n\nElihu is no great personage, no heaven-sent prophet whose oracles must\nbe received without question. He is not terrible like God, but a man\nformed out of the clay. The dramatising appears overdone at this\npoint, and can only be explained by the desire of the writer to keep\non good terms with those who already reverenced the original poet and\nregarded his work as sacred. What is now to be said to Job is spoken\nwith knowledge and conviction, yet without pretension to more than the\nwisdom of the holy. There is, however, a covert attack on the original\nauthor as having made too much of the terror of the Almighty, the\nconstant pain and anxiety that bore down Job's spirit. No excuse of\nthe kind is to be allowed for the failure of Job to justify himself.\nHe did not _because he could not_. The fact was, according to this\ncritic, that Job had no right of self-defence as perfect and upright,\nwithout fault before the Most High. No man possessed or could acquire\nsuch integrity. And all the attempts of the earlier dramatist to put\narguments and defences into his hero's mouth had of necessity failed.\nThe new writer comprehends very well the purpose of his predecessor\nand intends to subvert it.\n\nThe formal indictment opens thus:--\n\n      \"_Surely thou hast spoken in my hearing\n       And I have heard thy words:--\n       I am clean without transgression;\n       I am innocent, neither is there iniquity in me.\n       Behold, He findeth occasions against me,\n       He counteth me for His enemy;\n       He putteth me in the stocks,\n       He marketh all my paths._\"\n\nThe claim of righteousness, the explanation of his troubles given by\nJob that God made occasions against him and without cause treated him\nas an enemy, are the errors on which Elihu fastens. They are the\nerrors of the original writer. No one endeavouring to represent the\nfeelings and language of a servant of God should have placed him in\nthe position of making so false a claim, so base a charge against\nEloah. Such criticism is not to be set aside as either incompetent or\nover bold. But the critic has to justify his opinion, and, like many\nothers, when he comes to give reasons his weakness discloses itself.\nHe is certainly hampered by the necessity of keeping within dramatic\nlines. Elihu must appear and speak as one who stood beside Job with\nthe same veil between him and the Divine throne. And perhaps for this\nreason the effort of the dramatist comes short of the occasion.\n\nIt is to be noted that attention is fixed on isolated expressions\nwhich fell from Job's lips, that there is no endeavour to set forth\nfully the attitude of the sufferer towards the Almighty. Eliphaz,\nBildad, and Zophar had made Job an offender for a word and Elihu\nfollows them. We anticipate that his criticism, however telling it may\nbe, will miss the true point, the heart of the question. He will\npossibly establish some things against Job, but they will not prove\nhim to have failed as a brave seeker after truth and God.\n\nOpposing the claim and complaint he has quoted, Elihu advances in the\nfirst instance a proposition which has the air of a truism--\"_God is\ngreater than man._\" He does not try to prove that even though a man\nhas appeared to himself righteous he may really be sinful in the sight\nof the Almighty, or that God has the right to afflict an innocent\nperson in order to bring about some great and holy design. The\ncontention is that a man should suffer and be silent. God is not to be\nquestioned; His providence is not to be challenged. A man, however he\nmay have lived, is not to doubt that there is good reason for his\nmisery if he is miserable. He is to let stroke after stroke fall and\nutter no complaint. And yet Job had erred in saying, \"_God giveth not\naccount of any of His matters._\" It is not true, says Elihu, that the\nDivine King holds Himself entirely aloof from the inquiries and\nprayers of His subjects. He discloses in more than one way both His\npurposes and His grace.\n\n      \"_Why dost thou contend against God\n       That He giveth not account of any of His matters?\n       For God speaketh once, yea twice,\n       Yet man perceiveth it not._\"\n\nThe first way in which, according to Elihu, God speaks to men is by a\ndream, a vision of the night; and the second way is by the\nchastisement of pain.\n\nNow as to the first of these, the dream or vision, Elihu had, of\ncourse, the testimony of almost universal belief, and also of some\ncases that passed ordinary experience. Scriptural examples, such as\nthe dreams of Jacob, of Joseph, of Pharaoh, and the prophetic visions\nalready recognised by all pious Hebrews, were no doubt in the\nwriter's mind. Yet if it is implied that Job might have learned the\nwill of God from dreams, or that this was a method of Divine\ncommunication for which any man might look, the rule laid down was at\nleast perilous. Visions are not always from God. A dream may come \"by\nthe multitude of business.\" It is true, as Elihu says, that one who is\nbent on some proud and dangerous course may be more himself in a dream\nthan in his waking hours. He may see a picture of the future which\nscares him, and so he may be deterred from his purpose. Yet the waking\nthoughts of a man, if he is sincere and conscientious, are far more\nfitted to guide him, as a rule, than his dreams.\n\nPassing to the second method of Divine communication, Elihu appears to\nbe on safer ground. He describes the case of an afflicted man brought to\nextremity by disease, whose soul draweth near to the grave and his life\nto the destroyers or death-angels. Such suffering and weakness do not of\nthemselves insure knowledge of God's will, but they prepare the sufferer\nto be instructed. And for his deliverance an interpreter is required.\n\n      \"_If there be with him an angel,\n       An interpreter, one among a thousand,\n       To show unto man what is his duty;\n       Then He is gracious unto him and saith,\n       Deliver him from going down to the pit,\n       I have found a ransom._\"\n\nElihu cannot say that such an angel or interpreter will certainly\nappear. He may: and if he does and points the way of uprightness, and\nthat way is followed, then the result is redemption, deliverance,\nrenewed prosperity. But who is this angel? \"One of the ministering\nspirits sent forth to do service on behalf of the heirs of salvation?\"\nThe explanation is somewhat far-fetched. The ministering angels were\nnot restricted in number. Each Hebrew was supposed to have two such\nguardians. Then Malachi says, \"The priest's lips should keep\nknowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the\nangel (messenger) of Jehovah Sebaoth.\" Here the priest appears as an\nangel-interpreter, and the passage seems to throw light on Elihu's\nmeaning. As no explicit mention is made of a priest or any priestly\nfunction in our text, it may at least be hinted that interpreters of\nthe law, scribes or incipient rabbis are intended, of whom Elihu\nclaims to be one. In this case the ransom would remain without\nexplanation. But if we take that as a sacrificial offering, the name\n\"angel-interpreter\" covers a reference to the properly accredited\npriest. The passage is so obscure that little can be based upon it;\nyet assuming the Elihu discourses to be of late origin and intended to\nbring the poem into line with orthodox Hebrew thought the introduction\nof either priest or scribe would be in harmony with such a purpose.\nMediation at all events is declared to be necessary as between the\nsufferer and God; and it would be strange indeed if Elihu, professing\nto explain matters, really made Divine grace to be consequent on the\nintervention of an angel whose presence and instruction could in no\nway be verified. Elihu is realistic and would not rest his case at any\npoint on what might be declared purely imaginary.\n\nThe promise he virtually makes to Job is like those of Eliphaz and the\nothers,--renewed health, restored youth, the sense of Divine favour.\nEnjoying these, the forgiven penitent sings before men, acknowledging\nhis fault and praising God for his redemption. The assurance of\ndeliverance was probably made in view of the epilogue, with Job's\nconfession and the prosperity restored to him. But the writer\nmisunderstands the confession, and promises too glibly. It is good to\nreceive after great affliction the guidance of a wise interpreter; and\nto seek God again in humility is certainly a man's duty. But would\nsubmission and the forgiveness of God bring results in the physical\nsphere, health, renewed youth and felicity? No invariable nexus of\ncause and effect can be established here from experience of the\ndealings of God with men. Elihu's account of the way in which the\nAlmighty communicates with His creatures must be declared a failure.\nIt is in some respects careful and ingenious, yet it has no sufficient\nground of evidence. When he says--\n\n      \"_Lo, all these things worketh God\n       Oftentimes with man,\n       To bring back his soul from the pit_\"--\n\nthe design is pious, but the great question of the book is not\ntouched. The righteous suffer like the wicked from disease,\nbereavement, disappointment, anxiety. Even when their integrity is\nvindicated the lost years and early vigour are not restored. It is\nuseless to deal in the way of pure fancy with the troubles of\nexistence. We say to Elihu and all his school, Let us be at the truth,\nlet us know the absolute reality. There are valleys of human sorrow,\nsuffering, and trial in which the shadows grow deeper as the traveller\npresses on, where the best are often most afflicted. We need another\ninterpreter than Elihu, one who suffers like us and is made perfect by\nsuffering, through it entering into His glory.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAn invocation addressed by Elihu to the bystanders begins chap. xxxiv.\nAgain he emphatically asserts his right to speak, his claim to be a\nguide of those who think on the ways of God. He appeals to sound\nreason and he takes his auditors into counsel--\"_Let us choose to\nourselves judgment; let us know among ourselves what is good._\" The\nproposal is that there shall be conference on the subject of Job's\nclaim. But Elihu alone speaks. It is he who selects \"what is good.\"\n\nCertain words that fell from the lips of Job are again his text. Job\nhath said, I am righteous, I am in the right; and, God hath taken away\nmy judgment or vindication. When those words were used the meaning of\nJob was that the circumstances in which he had been placed, the\ntroubles appointed by God seemed to prove him a transgressor. But was\nhe to rest under a charge he knew to be untrue? Stricken with an\nincurable wound though he had not transgressed, was he to be against\nhis right by remaining silent? This, says Elihu, is Job's unfounded\nimpious indictment of the Almighty; and he asks:--\n\n      \"_What man is like Job,\n       Who drinketh up impiety like water,\n       Who goeth in company with the workers of iniquity,\n       And walketh with wicked men?_\"\n\nJob had spoken of his right which God had taken away. What was his\nright? Was he, as he affirmed, without transgression? On the contrary,\nhis principles were irreligious. There was infidelity beneath his\napparent piety. Elihu will prove that so far from being clear of blame\nhe has been imbibing wrong opinions and joining the company of the\nwicked. This attack shows the temper of the writer. No doubt certain\nexpressions put into the mouth of Job by the original dramatist might be\ntaken as impeaching the goodness or the justice of God. But to assert\nthat even the most unguarded passages of the book made for impiety was a\ngreat mistake. Faith in God is to be traced not obscurely but as a shaft\nof light through all the speeches put into the mouth of his hero by the\npoet. One whose mind is bound by certain pious forms of thought may fail\nto see the light, but it shines nevertheless.\n\nThe attempt made by Elihu to establish his charge has an appearance of\nsuccess. Job, he says, is one who drinks up impiety like water and\nwalks with wicked men,--\n\n      \"_For he hath said, It profiteth a man nothing\n       That he should delight himself with God._\"\n\nIf this were true, Job would indeed be proved irreligious. Such a\nstatement strikes at the root of faith and obedience. But is Elihu\nrepresenting the text with anything like precision? In chap. ix. 22\nthese words are put into Job's mouth:--\n\n      \"_It is all one, therefore I say,\n       He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked._\"\n\nGod is strong and is breaking him with a tempest. Job finds it useless\nto defend himself and maintain that he is perfect. In the midst of the\nstorm he is so tossed that he despises his life; and in perplexity he\ncries,--It is all one whether I am righteous or not, God destroys the\ngood and the vile alike. Again we find him saying, \"Wherefore do the\nwicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?\" And in another\npassage he inquires why the Almighty does not appoint days of judgment.\nThese are the expressions on which Elihu founds his charge, but the\nprecise words attributed to Job were never used by him, and in many\nplaces he both said and implied that the favour of God was his greatest\njoy. The second author is either misapprehending or perverting the\nlanguage of his predecessor. His argument accordingly does not succeed.\n\nPassing at present from the charge of impiety, Elihu takes up the\nsuggestion that Divine providence is unjust and sets himself to show\nthat, whether men delight themselves in the Almighty or not, He is\ncertainly All-righteous. And in this contention, so long as he keeps to\ngeneralities and does not take special account of the case which has\nroused the whole controversy, he speaks with some power. His argument\ncomes properly to this, If you ascribe injustice or partiality to Him\nwhom you call God, you cannot be thinking of the Divine King. From His\nvery nature and from His position as Lord of all, God cannot be unjust.\nAs Maker and Preserver of life He must be faithful.\n\n      \"_Far be from God a wickedness,\n       From the Almighty an injustice!\n       For every one's work He requiteth him,\n       And causeth each to find according to his ways.\n       Surely, too, God doeth not wickedness,\n       The Almighty perverteth not justice._\"\n\nHas God any motive for being unjust? Can any one urge Him to what is\nagainst His nature? The thing is impossible. So far Elihu has all with\nhim, for all alike believe in the sovereignty of God. The Most High,\nresponsible to Himself, must be conceived of as perfectly just. But\nwould He be so if He were to destroy the whole of His creatures? Elihu\nsays, God's sovereignty over all gives Him the right to act according\nto His will; and His will determines not only what is, but what is\nright in every case.\n\n      \"_Who hath given Him a charge over the earth?\n       Or who hath disposed the whole world?\n       Were He to set His mind upon Himself,\n       To gather to Himself His spirit and His breath,\n       Then all flesh would die together,\n       Man would return to his dust._\"\n\nThe life of all creatures implies that the mind of the Creator goes\nforth to His universe, to rule it, to supply the needs of all living\nbeings. He is not wrapped up in Himself, but having given life He\nprovides for its maintenance.\n\nAnother personal appeal in verse 16 is meant to secure attention to\nwhat follows, in which the idea is carried out that the Creator must\nrule His creatures by a law of justice.\n\n      \"_Shall one that hateth right be able to control?\n       Or wilt thou condemn the Just, the Mighty One?\n       Is it fit to say to a king, Thou wicked?\n       Or to princes, Ye ungodly?\n       How much less to Him who accepts not the persons of princes,\n       Nor regardeth the rich more than the poor?_\"\n\nHere the principle is good, the argument or illustration inconclusive.\nThere is a strong foundation in the thought that God, who could if He\ndesired withdraw all life, but on the other hand sustains it, must rule\naccording to a law of perfect righteousness. If this principle were kept\nin the front and followed up we should have a fruitful argument. But\nthe philosophy of it is beyond this thinker, and he weakens his case by\npointing to human rulers and arguing from the duty of subjects to abide\nby their decision and at least attribute to them the virtue of justice.\nNo doubt society must be held together by a head either hereditary or\nchosen by the people, and, so long as his rule is necessary to the\nwell-being of the realm, what he commands must be obeyed and what he\ndoes must be approved as if it were right. But the writer either had an\nexceptionally favourable experience of kings, as one, let us suppose,\nhonoured like Daniel in the Babylonian exile, or his faith in the Divine\nright of princes blinded him to much injustice. It is a mark of his\ndefective logic that he rests his case for the perfect righteousness of\nGod upon a sentiment or what may be called an accident.\n\nAnd when Elihu proceeds, it is with some rambling sentences in which\nthe suddenness of death, the insecurity of human things, and the\ntrouble and distress coming now on whole nations now on workers of\niniquity are all thrown together for the demonstration of Divine\njustice. We hear in these verses (20 to 28) the echoes of disaster and\nexile, of the fall of thrones and empires. Because the afflicted\ntribes of Judah were preserved in captivity and restored to their own\nland, the history of the period which is before the writer's mind\nappears to him to supply a conclusive proof of the righteousness of\nthe Almighty. But we fail to see it. Eliphaz and Bildad might have\nspoken in the same terms as Elihu uses here. Everything is assumed\nthat Job by force of circumstance has been compelled to doubt. The\nwhole is a homily on God's irresponsible power and penetrating wisdom\nwhich, it is taken for granted, must be exercised in righteousness.\nWhere proof is needed nothing but assertion is offered. It is easy to\nsay that when a man is struck down in the open sight of others it is\nbecause he has been cruel to the poor and the Almighty has been moved\nby the cry of the afflicted. But here is Job struck down in the open\nsight of others; and is it for harshness to the poor? If Elihu does\nnot mean that, what does he mean? The conclusion is the same as that\nreached by the three friends; and this speaker poses, like the rest,\nas a generous man declaring that the iniquity God is always sure to\npunish is tyrannical treatment of the orphan and the widow.\n\nLeaving this unfortunate attempt at reasoning we enter at verse 31 on\na passage in which the circumstances of Job are directly dealt with.\n\n      \"_For hath any one spoken thus unto God,\n       'I have suffered though I offend not:\n       That which I see not teach Thou;\n       If I have done iniquity I will do it no more'?\n       Shall God's recompense be according to thy mind\n       That thou dost reject it?\n       For thou must choose, and not I:\n       Therefore speak what thou knowest._\"\n\nHere the argument seems to be that a man like Job, assuming himself to\nbe innocent, if he bows down before the sovereign Judge, confesses\nignorance, and even goes so far as to acknowledge that he may have\nsinned unwittingly and promises amendment, such a one has no right to\ndictate to God or to complain if suffering and trouble continue. God\nmay afflict as long as He pleases without showing why He afflicts. And\nif the sufferer dares to complain he does so at his own peril. Elihu\nwould not be the man to complain in such a case. He would suffer on\nsilently. But the choice is for Job to make; and he has need to\nconsider well before he comes to a decision. Elihu implies that as yet\nJob is in the wrong mind, and he closes this part of his address in a\nsort of brutal triumph over the sufferer because he had complained of\nhis sufferings. He puts the condemnation into the mouth of \"men of\nunderstanding\"; but it is his own.\n\n      \"_Men of understanding will say to me,\n       And the wise who hears me will say:--\n       Job speaks without intelligence,\n       And his words are without wisdom:\n       Would that Job were tried unto the end\n       For his answers after the manner of wicked men.\n       For he addeth rebellion to his sin;\n       He clappeth his hands amongst us\n       And multiplieth his words against God._\"\n\nThe ideas of Elihu are few and fixed. When his attempts to convince\nbetray his weakness in argument, he falls back on the vulgar expedient\nof brow-beating the defendant. He is a type of many would-be\ninterpreters of Divine providence, forcing a theory of religion which\nadmirably fits those who reckon themselves favourites of heaven, but\ndoes nothing for the many lives that are all along under a cloud of\ntrouble and grief. The religious creed which alone can satisfy is one\nthrowing light adown the darkest ravines human beings have to thread,\nin ignorance of God which they cannot help, in pain of body and\nfeebleness of mind not caused by their own sin but by the sins of\nothers, in slavery or something worse than slavery.\n\n\n\n\nXXVI.\n\n_THE DIVINE PREROGATIVE._\n\nCHAPS. xxxv.-xxxvii.\n\n\nAfter a long digression Elihu returns to consider the statement\nascribed to Job, \"It profiteth a man nothing that he should delight\nhimself with God\" (chap. xxxiv. 9). This he laid hold of as meaning\nthat the Almighty is unjust, and the accusation has been dealt with.\nNow he resumes the question of the profitableness of religion.\n\n      \"_Thinkest thou this to be in thy right,\n       And callest thou it 'My just cause before God,'\n       That thou dost ask what advantage it is to thee,\n       And 'What profit have I more than if I had sinned'?_\"\n\nIn one of his replies Job, speaking of the wicked, represented them as\nsaying, \"What is the Almighty that we should serve Him? and what\nprofit should we have if we pray unto Him?\" (chap. xxi. 15). He added\nthen, \"The counsel of the wicked be far from me.\" Job is now declared\nto be of the same opinion as the wicked whom he condemned. The man who\nagain and again appealed to God from the judgment of his friends, who\nfound consolation in the thought that his witness was in heaven, who,\nwhen he was scorned, sought God in tears and hoped against hope for\nHis redemption, is charged with holding faith and religion of no\nadvantage. Is it in misapprehension or with design the charge is made?\nJob did indeed occasionally seem to deny the profit of religion, but\nonly when the false theology of his friends drove him to false\njudgment. His real conviction was right. Once Eliphaz pressed the same\naccusation and lost his way in trying to prove it. Elihu has no fresh\nevidence, and he too falls into error. He confounds the original\ncharge against Job with another, and makes an offence of that which\nthe whole scope of the poem and our sense of right completely justify.\n\n      \"_Look unto the heavens and see,\n       And regard the clouds which are higher than thou.\n       If thou sinnest, what doest thou against Him?\n       Or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto Him?\n       If thou be righteous, what givest thou Him?\n       Or what receiveth He at thy hands?_\"\n\nElihu is actually proving, not that Job expects too little from religion\nand finds no profit in it, but that he expects too much. Anxious to\nconvict, he will show that man has no right to make his faith depend on\nGod's care for his integrity. The prologue showed the Almighty pleased\nwith His servant's faithfulness. That, says Elihu, is a mistake.\n\nConsider the clouds and the heavens which are far above the world.\nThou canst not touch them, affect them. The sun and moon and stars\nshine with undiminished brightness however vile men may be. The clouds\ncome and go quite independently of the crimes of men. God is above\nthose clouds, above that firmament. Neither can the evil hands of men\nreach His throne, nor the righteousness of men enhance His glory. It\nis precisely what we heard from the lips of Eliphaz (chap. xxii. 2-4),\nan argument which abuses man for the sake of exalting God. Elihu has\nno thought of the spiritual relationship between man and his Creator.\nHe advances with perfect composure as a hard dogma what Job said in\nthe bitterness of his soul.\n\nIf, however, the question must still be answered, What good end is\nserved by human virtue? the reply is,--\n\n      \"_Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art;\n       And thy righteousness may profit a son of man._\"\n\nGod sustains the righteous and punishes the wicked, not for the sake\nof righteousness itself but purely for the sake of men. The law is\nthat of expediency. Let not man dream of witnessing for God, or\nupholding any eternal principle dear to God. Let him confine religious\nfidelity and aspiration to their true sphere, the service of mankind.\nRegarding which doctrine we may simply say that, if religion is\nprofitable in this way only, it may as well be frankly given up and\nthe cult of happiness adopted for it everywhere. But Elihu is not true\nto his own dogma.\n\nThe next passage, beginning with verse 9, seems to be an indictment of\nthose who in grievous trouble do not see and acknowledge the Divine\nblessings which are the compensations of their lot. Many in the world\nare sorely oppressed. Elihu has heard their piteous cries. But he has\nthis charge against them, that they do not realise what it is to be\nsubjects of the heavenly King.\n\n      \"_By reason of the multitude of oppressions men cry out,\n       They cry for help by reason of the arm of the mighty;\n       But none saith, Where is God my Maker,\n       Who giveth songs in the night,\n       Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth,\n       And maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?\n       There they cry because of the pride of evil men;\n       But none giveth answer._\"\n\nThese cries of the oppressed are complaints against pain, natural\noutbursts of feeling, like the moans of wounded animals. But those who\nare cruelly wronged may turn to God and endeavour to realise their\nposition as intelligent creatures of His who should feel after Him and\nfind Him. If they do so, then hope will mingle with their sorrow and\nlight arise on their darkness. For in the deepest midnight God's\npresence cheers the soul and tunes the voice to songs of praise. The\nintention is to show that when prayer seems of no avail and religion\ndoes not help, it is because there is no real faith, no right\napprehension by men of their relation to God. Elihu, however, fails to\nsee that if the righteousness of men is not important to God as\nrighteousness, much less will He be interested in their grievances.\nThe bond of union between the heavenly and the earthly is broken; and\nit cannot be restored by showing that the grief of men touches God\nmore than their sin. Job's distinction is that he clings to the\nethical fellowship between a sincere man and his Maker and to the\nclaim and the hope involved in that relationship. There we have the\njewel in the lotus-flower of this book, as in all true and noble\nliterature. Elihu, like the rest, is far beneath Job. If he can be\nsaid to have a glimmering of the idea it is only that he may oppose\nit. This moral affinity with God as the principle of human life\nremains the secret of the inspired author; it lifts him above the\nfinest minds of the Gentile world. The compiler of the Elihu portion,\nalthough he has the admirable sentiment that God giveth songs in the\nnight, has missed the great and elevating truth which fills with\nprophetic force the original poem.\n\nFrom verse 14 onward to the close of the chapter the argument is\nturned directly against Job, but is so obscure that the meaning can\nonly be conjectured.\n\n      \"_Surely God will not hear vanity,\n       Neither will the Almighty regard it._\"\n\nIf any one cries out against suffering as an animal in pain might cry,\nthat is vanity, not merely emptiness but impiety, and God will not\nhear nor regard such a cry. Elihu means that Job's complaints were\nessentially of this nature. True, he had called on God; that cannot be\ndenied. He had laid his case before the Judge and professed to expect\nvindication. But he was at fault in that very appeal, for it was still\nof suffering he complained, and he was still impious.\n\n      \"_Even when thou sayest that thou seest Him not,\n       That thy cause is before Him and thou waitest for Him;\n       Even then because His anger visiteth not,\n       And He doth not strictly regard transgression,\n       Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vanity,\n       He multiplied words without knowledge._\"\n\nThe argument seems to be: God rules in absolute supremacy, and His will\nis not to be questioned; it may not be demanded of Him that He do this\nor that. What is a man that he should dare to state any \"righteous\ncause\" of his before God and claim justification? Let Job understand\nthat the Almighty has been showing leniency, holding back His hand. He\nmight kill any man outright and there would be no appeal nor ground of\ncomplaint. It is because He does not strictly regard iniquity that Job\nis still alive. Therefore appeals and hopes are offensive to God.\n\nThe insistence of this part of the book reaches a climax here and\nbecomes repulsive. Elihu's opinions oscillate we may say between Deism\nand Positivism, and on either side he is a special pleader. It is by the\nmercy of the Almighty all men live; yet the reasoning of Elihu makes\nmercy so remote and arbitrary that prayer becomes an impertinence. No\ndoubt there are some cries out of trouble which cannot find response.\nBut he ought to maintain, on the other hand, that if sincere prayer is\naddressed to God by one in sore affliction desiring to know wherein he\nhas sinned and imploring deliverance, that appeal shall be heard. This,\nhowever, is denied. For the purpose of convicting Job Elihu takes the\nsingular position that though there is mercy with God man is neither to\nexpect nor ask it, that to make any claim upon Divine grace is impious.\nAnd there is no promise that suffering will bring spiritual gain. God\nhas a right to afflict His creatures, and what He does is to be endured\nwithout a murmur because it is less than He has the right to appoint.\nThe doctrine is adamantine and at the same time rent asunder by the\nerror which is common to all Job's opponents. The soul of a man\nresolutely faithful like Job would turn away from it with righteous\ncontempt and indignation. The light which Elihu professes to enjoy is a\nmidnight of dogmatic darkness.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nPassing to chap. xxxvi. we are still among vague surmisings which appear\nthe more inconsequent that the speaker makes a large claim of knowledge.\n\n      \"_Suffer me a little and I will show thee,\n       For I have somewhat yet to say on God's behalf.\n       I will fetch my knowledge from afar,\n       And will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.\n       For truly my words are not false:\n       One that is perfect in knowledge is with thee._\"\n\nElihu is zealous for the honour of that great Being whom he adores\nbecause from Him he has received life and light and power. He is sure\nof what he says, and proceeds with a firm step. Preparation thus made,\nthe vindication of God follows--a series of sayings which draw to\nsomething useful only when the doctrine becomes hopelessly\ninconsistent with what has already been laid down.\n\n      \"_Behold God is mighty and despiseth not any;\n       He is mighty in strength of understanding.\n       He preserveth not the life of the wicked,\n       But giveth right to the poor.\n       He withdraweth not His eyes from the righteous,\n       But, with kings on the throne,\n       He setteth them up for ever, and they are exalted.\n       And if they be bound in fetters,\n       If they be held in cords of affliction,\n       Then He showeth them their work\n       And their transgressions, that they have acted proudly,\n       He openeth their ear to discipline\n       And commandeth that they return from iniquity._\"\n\n\"God despiseth not any\"--this appears to have something of the humane\nbreadth hitherto wanting in the discourses of Elihu. He does not mean,\nhowever, that the Almighty estimates every life without contempt,\ncounting the feeblest and most sinful as His creatures; but that He\npasses over none in the administration of His justice. Illustrations\nof the doctrine as Elihu intends it to be received are supplied in the\ncouplet, \"He preserveth not the life of the wicked, but giveth right\nto the poor.\" The poor are helped, the wicked are given up to death.\nAs for the righteous, two very different methods of dealing with them\nare described. For Elihu himself, and others favoured with prosperity,\nthe law of the Divine order has been, \"With kings on the throne God\nsetteth them up for ever.\" A personal consciousness of merit leading\nto honourable rank in the state seems at variance with the hard dogma\nof the evil desert of all men. But the rabbi has his own position to\nfortify. The alternative, however, could not be kept out of sight,\nsince the misery of exile was a vivid recollection, if not an actual\nexperience, with many reputable men who were bound in fetters and held\nby cords of affliction. It is implied that, though of good character,\nthese are not equal in righteousness to the favourites of kings. Some\nerrors require correction; and these men are cast into trouble, that\nthey may learn to renounce pride and turn from iniquity. Elihu\npreaches the benefits of chastening, and in touching on pride he comes\nnear the case of Job. But the argument is rude and indiscriminative.\nTo admit that a man is righteous and then speak of his transgressions\nand iniquity, must mean that he is really far beneath his reputation\nor the estimate he has formed of himself.\n\nIt is difficult to see precisely what Elihu considers the proper frame\nof mind which God will reward. There must be humility, obedience,\nsubmission to discipline, renunciation of past errors. But we remember\nthe doctrine that a man's righteousness cannot profit God, can only\nprofit his fellow-men. Does Elihu, then, make submission to the powers\nthat be almost the same thing as religion? His reference to high\nposition beside the throne is to a certain extent suggestive of this.\n\n      \"_If they obey and serve God,\n       They shall spend their days in prosperity\n       And their years in pleasures.\n       But if they obey not\n       They shall perish by the sword,\n       And they shall die without knowledge._\"\n\nElihu thinks over much of kings and exaltation beside them and of\nyears of prosperity and pleasure, and his own view of human character\nand merit follows the judgment of those who have honours to bestow and\nlove the servile pliant mind.\n\nIn the dark hours of sorrow and pain, says Elihu, men have the choice to\nbegin life anew in lowly obedience or else to harden their hearts\nagainst the providence of God. Instruction has been offered, and they\nmust either embrace it or trample it under foot. And passing to the case\nof Job, who, it is plain, is afflicted because he needs chastisement,\nnot having attained to Elihu's perfectness in the art of life, the\nspeaker cautiously offers a promise and gives an emphatic warning.\n\n      \"_He delivereth the afflicted by his affliction\n       And openeth their ear in oppression.\n       Yea, He would allure thee out of the mouth of thy distress\n       Into a broad place where is no straitness;\n       And that which is set on thy table shall be full of fatness.\n       But if thou art full of the judgment of the wicked,\n       Judgment and justice shall keep hold on thee.\n       For beware lest wrath lead thee away to mockery,\n       And let not the greatness of the ransom turn thee aside.\n       Will thy riches suffice that are without stint?\n       Or all the forces of thy strength?\n       Choose not that night,\n       When the peoples are cut off in their place:\n       Take heed thou turn not to iniquity,\n       For this thou hast chosen rather than affliction._\"\n\nA side reference here shows that the original writer dealing with his\nhero has been replaced by another who does not realise the circumstances\nof Job with the same dramatic skill. His appeal is forcible, however, in\nits place. There was danger that one long and grievously afflicted might\nbe led away by wrath and turn to mockery or scornfulness, so forfeiting\nthe possibility of redemption. Job might also say in bitterness of soul\nthat he had paid a great price to God in losing all his riches. The\nwarning has point, although Job never betrayed the least disposition to\nthink the loss of property a ransom exacted of him by God. Elihu's\nsuggestion to this effect is by no means evangelical; it springs from a\nworldly conception of what is valuable to man and of great account with\nthe Almighty. Observe, however, the reminiscences of national disaster.\nThe picture of the night of a people's calamity had force for Elihu's\ngeneration, but here it is singularly inappropriate. Job's night had\ncome to himself alone. If his afflictions had been shared by others, a\ndifferent complexion would have been given to them. The final thrust,\nthat the sufferer had chosen iniquity rather than profitable\nchastisement, has no point whatsoever.\n\nThe section closes with a strophe (vv. 22-25) which, calling for\nsubmission to the Divine ordinance and praise of the doings of the\nAlmighty, forms a transition to the main theme of the address.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nChap. xxxvi. 26--xxxvii. 24. There need be little hesitation in\nregarding this passage as an ode supplied to the second writer or simply\nquoted by him for the purpose of giving strength to his argument.\nScarcely a single note in the portion of Elihu's address already\nconsidered approaches the poetical art of this. The glory of God in His\ncreation and His unsearchable wisdom are illustrated from the phenomena\nof the heavens without reference to the previous sections of the\naddress. One who was more a poet than a reasoner might indeed halt and\nstumble as the speaker has done up to this point and find liberty when\nhe reached a theme congenial to his mind. But there are points at which\nwe seem to hear the voice of Elihu interrupting the flow of the ode as\nno poet would check his muse. At chap, xxxvii. 14 the sentence is\ninterjected, like an aside of the writer drawing attention to the words\nhe is quoting,--\"_Hearken unto this, O Job; stand still and consider the\nwondrous works of God._\" Again (vv. 19, 20), between the description of\nthe burnished mirror of the sky and that of the clearness after the\nsweeping wind, without any reference to the train of thought, the\nejaculation is introduced,--\"_Teach us what we shall say unto Him, for\nwe cannot order our speech by reason of darkness. Shall it be told Him\nthat I speak? If a man speak surely he shall be swallowed up._\" The\nfinal verses also seem to be in the manner of Elihu.\n\nBut the ode as a whole, though it has the fault of endeavouring to\nforestall what is put into the mouth of the Almighty speaking from the\nstorm, is one of the fine passages of the book. We pass from \"cold,\nheavy and pretentious\" dogmatic discussions to free and striking\npictures of nature, with the feeling that one is guiding us who can\npresent in eloquent language the fruits of his study of the works of\nGod. The descriptions have been noted for their felicity and power by\nsuch observers as Baron Humboldt and Mr. Ruskin. While the point of view\nis that invariably taken by Hebrew writers, the originality of the ode\nlies in fresh observation and record of atmospheric phenomena,\nespecially of the rain and snow, rolling clouds, thunderstorms and\nwinds. The pictures do not seem to belong to the Arabian desert but to a\nfertile peopled region like Aram or the Chald\u00e6an plain. Upon the fields\nand dwellings of men, not on wide expanses of barren sand, the rains and\nsnows fall, and they seal up the hand of man. The lightning clouds cover\nthe face of the \"habitable world\"; by them God judgeth the peoples.\n\nIn the opening verses the theme of the ode is set forth--the greatness\nof God, the vast duration of His being, transcending human knowledge.\n\n      \"_Behold God is great and we know Him not,\n       The number of His years is unsearchable._\"\n\nTo estimate His majesty or fathom the depths of His eternal will is far\nbeyond us who are creatures of a day. Yet we may have some vision of His\npower. Look up when rain is falling, mark how the clouds that float\nabove distil the drops of water and pour down great floods upon the\nearth. Mark also how the dark cloud spreading from the horizon obscures\nthe blue expanse of the sky. We cannot understand; but we can realise to\nsome extent the majesty of Him whose is the light and the darkness, who\nis heard in the thunder-peal and seen in the forked lightning.\n\n      \"_Can any understand the spreadings of the clouds,\n       The crashings of His pavilion?\n       Behold He spreadeth His light about Him;\n       And covereth it with the depths of the sea.\n       For by these judgeth He the peoples;\n       He giveth meat in abundance._\"\n\nTranslating from the Vulgate the two following verses, Mr. Ruskin gives\nthe meaning, \"He hath hidden the light in His hands and commanded it\nthat it should return. He speaks of it to His friend; that it is His\npossession, and that he may ascend thereto.\" The rendering cannot be\nreceived, yet the comment may be cited. \"These rain-clouds are the robes\nof love of the Angel of the Sea. To these that name is chiefly given,\nthe 'spreadings of the clouds,' from their extent, their gentleness,\ntheir fulness of rain.\" And this is \"the meaning of those strange golden\nlights and purple flushes before the morning rain. The rain is sent to\njudge and feed us; but the light is the possession of the friends of\nGod, that they may ascend thereto,--where the tabernacle veil will cross\nand part its rays no more.\"[9]\n\nThe real import does not reach this spiritual height. It is simply\nthat the tremendous thunder brings to transgressors the terror of\njudgment, and the copious showers that follow water the parched earth\nfor the sake of man. Of the justice and grace of God we are made\naware when His angel spreads his wings over the world. In the darkened\nsky there is a crash as if the vast canopy of the firmament were torn\nasunder. And now a keen flash lights the gloom for a moment; anon it\nis swallowed up as if the inverted sea, poured in cataracts upon the\nflame, extinguished it. Men recognise the Divine indignation, and even\nthe lower animals seem to be aware.\n\n      \"_He covereth His hands with the lightning,\n       He giveth it a charge against the adversary.\n       Its thunder telleth concerning Him,\n       Even the cattle concerning that which cometh up._\"\n\nContinued in the thirty-seventh chapter, the description appears to be\nfrom what is actually going on, a tremendous thunderstorm that shakes\nthe earth. The sound comes, as it were, out of the mouth of God,\nreverberating from sky to earth and from earth to sky, and rolling\naway under the whole heaven. Again there are lightnings, and \"_He\nstayeth them not when His voice is heard._\" Swift ministers of\njudgment and death they are darted upon the world.\n\nWe are asked to consider a fresh wonder, that of the snow which at\ncertain times replaces the gentle or copious rain. The cold fierce\nshowers of winter arrest the labour of man, and even the wild beasts\nseek their dens and abide in their lurking-places. \"The Angel of the\nSea,\" says Mr. Ruskin, \"has also another message,--in the 'great rain of\nHis strength,' rain of trial, sweeping away ill-set foundations. Then\nhis robe is not spread softly over the whole heaven as a veil, but\nsweeps back from his shoulders, ponderous, oblique, terrible--leaving\nhis sword-arm free.\" God is still directly at work. \"_Out of His chamber\ncometh the storm and cold out of the north._\" His breath gives the frost\nand straitens the breadth of waters. Towards Armenia, perhaps, the poet\nhas seen the rivers and lakes frozen from bank to bank. Our science\nexplains the result of diminished temperature; we know under what\nconditions hoar-frost is deposited and how hail is formed. Yet all we\ncan say is that thus and thus the forces act. Beyond that we remain like\nthis writer, awed in presence of a heavenly Will which determines the\ncourse and appoints the marvels of nature.\n\n      \"_By the breath of God ice is given,\n       And the breadth of the waters is straitened.\n       Also He ladeth the thick cloud with moisture,\n       He spreadeth His lightning cloud abroad;\n       And it is turned about by His guidance,\n       That it may do whatsoever He commandeth\n       Upon the face of the whole earth._\"\n\nHere, again, moral purpose is found. The poet attributes to others his\nown susceptibility. Men see and learn and tremble. It is for\ncorrection, that the careless may be brought to think of God's\ngreatness, and the evil-doers of His power, that sinners being made\nafraid may turn from their rebellion. Or, it is for His earth, that\nrain may beautify it and fill the rivers and springs at which the\nbeasts of the valley drink. Or, yet again, the purpose is mercy. Even\nthe tremendous thunderstorm may be fraught with mercy to men. From the\nburning heat, oppressive, intolerable, the rains that follow bring\ndeliverance. Men are fainting for thirst, the fields are languishing.\nIn compassion God sends His great cloud on its mission of life.\n\nMore delicate, needing finer observation, are the next objects of study.\n\n      \"_Dost thou know how God layeth His charge on them,\n       And causeth the light of His cloud to shine?\n       Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds,\n       The wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge?_\"\n\nIt is not clear whether the light of the cloud means the lightning again\nor the varied hues which make an Oriental sunset glorious in purple and\ngold. But the balancings of the clouds must be that singular power which\nthe atmosphere has of sustaining vast quantities of watery\nvapour--either miles above the earth's surface where the filmy cirrhus\nfloats, dazzling white against the blue sky, or lower down where the\nrain-cloud trails along the hill-tops. Marvellous it is that, suspended\nthus in the air, immense volumes of water should be carried from the\nsurface of the ocean to be discharged in fructifying rain.\n\nThen again:--\n\n      \"_How are thy garments warm\n       When the earth is still because of the south wind?_\"\n\nThe sensation of dry hot clothing is said to be very notable in the\nseason of the siroccos or south winds, also the extraordinary\nstillness of nature under the same oppressive influence. \"There is no\nliving thing abroad to make a noise. The air is too weak and languid\nto stir the pendant leaves even of the tall poplars.\"\n\nFinally the vast expanse of the sky, like a looking-glass of burnished\nmetal stretched far over sea and land, symbolises the immensity of\nDivine power.\n\n      \"_Canst thou with Him spread out the sky\n       Which is strong as a molten mirror?...\n       And now men see not the light which is bright in the skies:\n       Yet the wind passeth and cleanseth them._\"\n\nIt is always bright beyond. Clouds only hide the splendid sunshine for\na time. A wind rises and sweeps away the vapours from the glorious\ndome of heaven. \"_Out of the north cometh golden splendour_\"--for it\nis the north wind that drives on the clouds which, as they fly\nsouthward, are gilded by the rays of the sun. But with God is a\nsplendour greater far, that of terrible majesty.\n\nSo the ode finishes abruptly, and Elihu states his own conclusion:--\n\n      \"_The Almighty! we cannot find Him out; He is excellent in power,\n       And in judgment and plenteous justice; He will not afflict.\n       Men do therefore fear Him;\n       He regardeth not any that are wise of heart._\"\n\nIs Job wise in his own conceit? Does he think he can challenge the\nDivine government and show how the affairs of the world might have\nbeen better ordered? Does he think that he is himself treated unjustly\nbecause loss and disease have been appointed to him? Right thoughts of\nGod will check all such ignorant notions and bring him a penitent back\nto the throne of the Eternal. It is a good and wise deduction; but\nElihu has not vindicated God by showing in harmony with the noblest\nand finest ideas of righteousness men have, God supremely righteous,\nand beyond the best and noblest mercy men love, God transcendently\nmerciful and gracious. In effect his argument has been--The Almighty\nmust be all-righteous, and any one is impious who criticises life. The\nwhole question between Job and the friends remains unsettled still.\n\nElihu's failure is significant. It is the failure of an attempt made,\nas we have seen, centuries after the Book of Job was written, to bring\nit into the line of current religious opinion. Our examination of the\nwhole reveals the narrow foundation on which Hebrew orthodoxy was\nreared and explains the developments of a later time. Job may be said\nto have left no disciples in Israel. His brave personal hope and\npassionate desire for union with God seem to have been lost in the\nfervid national bigotry of post-exilic ages; and while they faded, the\nPharisee and Sadducee of after days began to exist. They are both here\nin germ. Springing from one seed, they are alike in their ignorance of\nDivine justice; and we do not wonder that Christ, coming to fulfil and\nmore than fulfil the hope of humanity, appeared to both the Pharisee\nand Sadducee of His time as an enemy of religion, of the country, and\nof God.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[9] \"Modern Painters,\" vol. v., 141.\n\n\n\n\nTHE VOICE FROM THE STORM.\n\n\n\n\nXXVII.\n\n\"_MUSIC IN THE BOUNDS OF LAW._\"\n\nCHAP. xxxviii.\n\n\nOver the shadowed life of Job, and the world shadowed for him by his own\nintellectual and moral gloom, a storm sweeps, and from the storm issues\na voice. With the symbol of vast Divine energy comes an answer to the\nproblem of tried and troubled human life. It has seemed, as time went\nby, that the appeals of the sufferer were unheard, that the rigid\nsilence of heaven would never break. But had he not heard? \"Their line\nis gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the\nworld.\" Job should have known. What is given will be a fresh\npresentation of ideas now to be seen in their strength and bearing\nbecause the mind is prepared and made eager. The man, brought to the\nedge of pessimism, will at last look abroad and follow the doings of\nthe Almighty even through storm and darkness. Does the sublime voice\nissue only to overbear and reduce him to silence? Not so. His reason is\naddressed, his thought demanded, his power to recognise truth is called\nfor. A great demonstration is made, requiring at every step the response\nof mind and heart. The Creator reveals His care for the creation, for\nthe race of men, for every kind of being and every need. He declares His\nown glory, of transcendent power, of immeasurable wisdom, also of\nrighteous and holy will. He can afflict men, and yet do them no wrong\nbut good, for they are His men, for whom He provides as they cannot\nprovide for themselves. Trial, sorrow, change, death--is anything\n\"disastrous\" that God ordains? Impossible. His care of His creation is\nbeyond our imagining. There are no disasters in His universe unless\nwhere the will of man divorced from faith would tear a way for itself\nthrough the fastnesses of His eternal law.\n\nEloah is known through the tempest as well as in the dewdrop and the\ntender blossom. What is capable of strength must be made strong. That\nis the Divine law throughout all life, for the cedar on Lebanon, the\nox in the yoke, the lion of the Libyan desert. Chiefly the moral\nnature of man must find its strength. The glory of God is to have sons\nwho can endure. The easy piety of a happy race, living among flowers\nand offering incense for adoration, cannot satisfy Him of the\neternal will, the eternal power. Men must learn to trust, to endure,\nto hold themselves undismayed when the fury of tempest scours their\nworld and heaps the driven snow above their dwellings and death comes\ncold and stark. Struggle man shall, struggle on through strange and\ndreadful trials till he learn to live in the thought of Divine Will\nand Love, co-ordinate in one Lord true to Himself, worthy to be\ntrusted through all cloud and clash. Ever is He pursuing an end\nconformable to the nature of the beings He has created, and, with man\nan end conformable to his nature, the possibilities of endless moral\ndevelopment, the widening movements of increasing life. Let man know\nthis and submit, know this and rejoice. A dream-life shall be\nimpossible to man, use his day as he will.\n\nIs this Divine utterance from the storm required by the progress of the\ndrama? Some have doubted whether its tenor is consistent with the\nprevious line of thought; yet the whole movement sets distinctly towards\nit, could terminate in no other way. The prologue, affirming God's\nsatisfaction with His servant, left us assured that if Job remained pure\nand kept his faith his name would not be blotted from the book of life.\nHe has kept his integrity; no falsehood or baseness can be charged\nagainst him. But is he still with God in sincere and humble faith? We\nhave heard him accuse the Most High of cruel enmity. At the close he\nlies under the suspicion of impious daring and revolt, and it appears\nthat he may have fallen from grace. The author has created this\nuncertainty knowing well that the verdict of God Himself is needed to\nmake clear the spiritual position and fate of His servant.\n\nBesides this, Job's own suspense remains, of more importance from a\ndramatic point of view. He is not yet reconciled to providence. Those\nearnest cries for light, which have gone forth passionately,\npathetically to heaven, wait for an answer. They must have some reply,\nif the poet can frame a fit deliverance for the Almighty. The task is\nindeed severe. On one side there is restraint, for the original motive\nof the whole action and especially the approval of Job by his Divine\nMaster are not to be divulged. The tried man must not enjoy\nvindication at the risk of losing humility, his victory over his\nfriends must not be too decisive for his own spiritual good, nor out\nof keeping with the ordinary current of experience. On the other side\nlies the difficulty of representing Divine wisdom in contrast to that\nof man, and of dealing with the hopes and claims of Job, for\nvindication, for deliverance from Sheol, for the help of a Redeemer,\neither in the way of approving them or setting them definitely aside.\nUrged by a necessity of his own creating, the author has to seek a\nsolution, and he finds one equally convincing and modest, crowning his\npoem with a passage of marvellous brilliance, aptness, and power.\n\nIt has already been remarked that the limitations of genius and\ninspiration are distinctly visible here. The bold prophetic hopes put\ninto Job's mouth were beyond the author's power to verify even to his\nown satisfaction. He might himself believe in them, ardently, as\nflashes of heavenly foresight, but he would not affirm them to be\nDivine in their source because he could not give adequate proof. The\nideas were thrown out to live in human thought, to find verification\nwhen God's time came. Hence, in the speeches of the Almighty, the\nground taken is that of natural religion, the testimony of the\nwonderful system of things open to the observation of all. Is there a\nDivine Redeemer for the faithful whose lives have been overshadowed?\nShall they be justified in some future state of being when their\nbodies have mouldered into dust? The voice from on high does not\naffirm that this shall be; the reverence of the poet does not allow so\ndaring an assumption of the right to speak for God. On the contrary,\nthe danger of meddling with things too high is emphasised in the very\nutterance which a man of less wisdom and humility would have filled\nwith his own ideas. Nowhere is there a finer instance of self-denying\nmoderation for the sake of absolute truth. This writer stands among\nmen as a humble student of the ways of God--is content to stand there\nat the last, making no claim beyond the knowledge of what may be\nlearned from the creation and providence of God.\n\nAnd Job is allowed no special providence. The voice from the storm is\nthat which all may hear; it is the universal revelation suited to\nevery man. At first sight we are disposed to agree with those who\nthink the appearance of the Almighty upon the scene to be in itself\nstrange. But there is no Theophany. There is no revelation or message\nto suit a particular case, to gratify one who thinks himself more\nimportant than his fellow-creatures, or imagines the problem of his\nlife abnormally difficult. Again the wisdom of the author goes hand in\nhand with his modesty; what is within his compass he sees to be\nsufficient for his end.\n\nTo some the utterances put into the mouth of the Almighty may seem to\ncome far short of the occasion. Beginning to read the passage they may\nsay:--Now we are to have the fruit of the poet's most strenuous\nthought, the highest inspiration. The Almighty when He speaks in\nperson will be made to reveal His gracious purposes with men and the\nwisdom of His government in those cases that have baffled the\nunderstanding of Job and of all previous thinkers. Now we shall see a\nnew light penetrating the thick darkness and confusion of human\naffairs. Since this is not done there may be disappointment. But the\nauthor is concerned with religion. His maxim is, \"The fear of God\nthat is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.\" He has in\nhis drama done much for human thought and theology. The complications\nwhich had kept faith from resting in true spirituality on God have\nbeen removed. The sufferer is a just man, a good man whom God Himself\nhas pronounced to be perfect. Job is not afflicted because he has\nsinned. The author has set in the clearest possible light all\narguments he could find for the old notion that transgression and\nwickedness alone are followed by suffering in this world. He has shown\nthat this doctrine is not in accordance with fact, and has made the\nproof so clear that a thoughtful person could never afterwards\nremember the name of Job and hold that false view. But apart from the\nprologue, no explanation is given of the sufferings of the righteous\nin this life. The author never says in so many words that Job profited\nby his afflictions. It might be that the righteous man, tried by loss\nand pain, was established in his faith for ever, above all possibility\nof doubt. But this is not affirmed. It might be that men were purified\nby their sufferings, that they found through the hot furnace a way\ninto the noblest life. But this is not brought forward as the ultimate\nexplanation. Or it might be that the good man in affliction was the\nburden-bearer of others, so that his travail and blood helped their\nspiritual life. But there is no hint of this. Jehovah is to be\nvindicated. He appears; He speaks out of the storm, and vindicates\nHimself. Not, however, by showing the good His servant has gained in\nthe discipline of bereavement, loss, and pain. It is by claiming\nimplicit trust from men, by showing that their wisdom at its highest\nis foolishness to His, and that His administration of the affairs of\nHis world is in glorious faithfulness as well as power.\n\nIs it disappointing? Does the writer neglect the great question his\ndrama has stirred? Or has he not, with art far more subtle than we may\nat first suppose, introduced into the experience of Job a certain\nspiritual gain--thoughts and hopes that widen and clear the horizon of\nhis life? In the depth of despondency, just because he has been driven\nfrom every earthly comfort and stay, and can look only for miserable\ndeath, Job sees in prophetic vision a higher hope. He asks, \"If a man\ndie, shall he live again?\" The question remains with him and seeks an\nanswer in the intervals of suffering. Then at length he ventures on\nthe presage of a future state of existence, \"whether in the body or\nout of the body he cannot tell, God knoweth,\"--\"My Redeemer liveth; I\nshall see God for me.\" This prevision, this dawning of the light of\nimmortality upon his soul is the gain that has entered into Job's\nexperience. Without the despondency, the bitterness of bereavement,\nthe sense of decay, and the pressure of cruel charges made against\nhim, these illuminating thoughts would never have come to the\nsufferer; and along this line the author may have intended to justify\nthe afflictions of the righteous man and quietly vindicate the\ndealings of God with him.\n\nIf further it be asked why this is not made prominent in the course of\nthe Almighty's address from the storm, an answer may be found. The hope\ndid not remain clear, inspiring, in the consciousness of Job. The waves\nof sorrow and doubt rolled over his mind again. It was but a flash, and\nlike lightning at midnight it passed and left the gloom once more. Only\nwhen by long reflection and patient thought Job found himself reassured\nin the expectation of a future life, would he know what trouble had done\nfor him. And it was not in keeping with the gradual development of\nreligious faith that the Almighty should forestall discovery by reviving\nthe hope which for a time had faded. We may take it that with rare skill\nthe writer avoids insistence on the value of a vision which could appear\ncharged with sustaining hope only after it was again apprehended, first\nas a possibility, then as a revelation, finally as a sublime truth\ndisentangled from doubt and error.\n\nAssuming this to have been in the author's mind, we understand why the\nAlmighty speaking from the storm makes no reference to the gain of\naffliction. There is a return upon the original motive of the\ndrama,--the power of the Creator to inspire, the right of the Creator\nto expect faith in Himself, whatever losses and trials men have to\nendure. Neither the integrity of man nor the claim of man upon God is\nfirst in the mind of the author, but the majestic Godhead that gathers\nto itself the adoration of the universe. Man is of importance because\nhe glorifies his Creator. Human righteousness is of narrow range. It\nis not by his righteousness man is saved, that is to say, finds his\ntrue place, the development of his nature and the end of his\nexistence. He is redeemed from vanity and evanescence by his faith,\nbecause in exercising it, clinging to it through profoundest darkness,\namidst thunder and storm, when deep calleth to deep, he enters into\nthat wise and holy order of the universe which God has appointed,--he\nlives and finds more abundant life.\n\nIt is not denied that on the way toward perfect trust in his Creator\nman is free to seek explanation of all that befalls him. Our\nphilosophy is no impertinence. Thought must have liberty; religion\nmust be free. The light of justice has been kindled within us that we\nmay seek the answering light of the sublime justice of God in all His\ndealings with ourselves and with mankind. This is clearly before the\nmind of the author, and it is the underlying idea throughout the long\ncolloquies between Job and his friends. They are allowed a freedom of\nthought and speech that sometimes astonishes, for they are engaged in\nthe great inquiry which is to bring clear and uplifting knowledge of\nthe Creator and His will. For us it is a varied inquiry, much of it to\nbe conducted in pain and sorrow, on the bare hillside or on the rough\nsea, in the face of peril, change and disappointment. But if always\nthe _morale_ of life, the fulfilment of life bestowed by God as man's\ntrust and inestimable possession are kept in view, freedom is ample,\nand man, doing his part, need have no fear of incurring the anger of\nthe Divine Judge: the terrors of low religions have no place here.\n\nBut now Job is given to understand that liberty has its limitation;\nand the lesson is for many. To one half of mankind, allowing the mind\nto lie inert or expending it on vanities, the word has come--Inquire\nwhat life is, what its trials mean, how the righteous government of\nGod is to be traced. Now, to the other half of mankind, too\nadventurous in experiment and judgment, the address of the Almighty\nsays: Be not too bold; far beyond your range the activities of the\nCreator pass: it is not for you to understand the whole, but always to\nbe reverent, always to trust. The limits of knowledge are shown, and,\nbeyond them, the Divine King stands in glory inaccessible, proved true\nand wise and just, claiming for Himself the dutiful obedience and\nadoration of His creatures. Throughout the passage we now consider\nthis is the strain of argument, and the effect on Job's mind is found\nin his final confession.\n\nLet man remember that his main business here is not to question but to\nglorify his Creator. For the time when this book was written the truth\nlay here; and here it lies even for us, and will lie for those who\ncome after us. In these days it is often forgotten. Science questions,\nphilosophy probes into the reasons of what has been and is, men lose\nthemselves in labyrinths at the far extremities of which they hope to\nfind something which shall make life inexpressibly great or strong or\nsweet. And even theology and criticism of the Bible occasionally fall\ninto the same error of fancying that to inquire and know are the main\nthings, that although inquiry and knowledge do not at every stage aid\nthe service of the Most High they may promote life. The colloquies and\ncontroversies over, Job and his friends are recalled to their real\nduty, which is to recognise the eternal majesty and grace of the\nUnseen God, to trust Him and do His will. And our experiments and\nquestions over in every department of knowledge, to this we ought to\ncome. Nay, every step in our quest of knowledge should be taken with\nthe desire to find God more gloriously wise and faithful, that our\nobedience may be more zealous, our worship more profound. There are\nonly two states of thought or dominant methods possible when we enter\non the study of the facts of nature and providence or any research\nthat allures our reason. We must go forward either in the faith of God\nor with the desire to establish ourselves in knowledge, comfort and\nlife apart from God. If the second way is chosen, light is turned into\ndarkness, all discoveries prove mere apples of Sodom, and the end is\nvanity. But on the other line, with life which is good to have, with\nthe consciousness of ability to think and will and act, faith should\nbegin, faith in life and the Maker of life; and if every study is\npursued in resolute faith, man refusing to give existence itself the\nlie, the mind seeking and finding new and larger reasons for trust and\nservice of the Creator, the way will be that of salvation. The faults\nand errors of one who follows this way will not enter into his soul to\nabide there and darken it. They will be confessed and forgiven. Such\nis the philosophy of the Book of Job, and the final vindication of His\nservant by the Almighty.\n\n\n\n\nXXVIII.\n\n_THE RECONCILIATION._\n\nCHAPS. xxxviii. i-xlii. 6.\n\n\nThe main argument of the address ascribed to the Almighty is contained\nin chaps. xxxviii. and xxxix., and in the opening verses of chap.\nxlii. Job makes submission and owns his fault in doubting the\nfaithfulness of Divine providence. The intervening passage containing\ndescriptions of the great animals of the Nile is scarcely in the same\nhigh strain of poetic art or on same high level of cogent reasoning.\nIt seems rather of a hyperbolical kind, suggesting failure from the\nclear aim and inspiration of the previous portion.\n\nThe voice proceeding from the storm-cloud, in which the Almighty veils\nHimself and yet makes His presence and majesty felt, begins with a\nquestion of reproach and a demand that the intellect of Job shall be\nroused to its full vigour in order to apprehend the ensuing argument.\nThe closing words of Job had shown misconception of his position\nbefore God. He spoke of presenting a claim to Eloah and setting forth\nhis integrity so that his plea would be unanswerable. Circumstances\nhad brought upon him a stain from which he had a right to be cleared,\nand, implying this, he challenged the Divine government of the world\nas wanting in due exhibition of righteousness. This being so, Job's\nrescue from doubt must begin with a conviction of error. Therefore the\nAlmighty says:--\n\n      \"_Who is this darkening counsel\n       By words without knowledge?\n       Gird up now thy loins like a man;\n       For I will demand of thee and answer thou Me._\"\n\nThe aim of the author throughout the speech from the storm is to\nprovide a way of reconciliation between man in affliction and\nperplexity and the providence of God that bewilders and threatens to\ncrush him. To effect this something more than a demonstration of the\ninfinite power and wisdom of God is needed. Zophar affirming the glory\nof the Almighty to be higher than heaven, deeper than Sheol, longer\nthan the earth, broader than the sea, basing on this a claim that God\nis unchangeably just, supplies no principle of reconciliation. In like\nmanner Bildad, requiring the abasement of man as sinful and\ndespicable in presence of the Most High with whom are dominion and\nfear, shows no way of hope and life. But the series of questions now\naddressed to Job forms an argument in a higher strain, as cogent as\ncould be reared on the basis of that manifestation of God which the\nnatural world supplies. The man is called to recognise not illimitable\npower only, the eternal supremacy of the Unseen King, but also other\nqualities of the Divine rule. Doubt of providence is rebuked by a wide\ninduction from the phenomena of the heavens and of life upon the\nearth, everywhere disclosing law and care co-operant to an end.\n\nFirst Job is asked to think of the creation of the world or visible\nuniverse. It is a building firmly set on deep-laid foundations. As if by\nline and measure it was brought into symmetrical form according to the\narchetypal plan; and when the corner-stone was laid as of a new palace\nin the great dominion of God there was joy in heaven. The angels of the\nmorning broke into song, the sons of the Elohim, high in the ethereal\ndwellings among the fountains of light and life, shouted for joy. In\npoetic vision the writer beholds that work of God and those rejoicing\ncompanies; but to himself, as to Job, the question comes--What knows man\nof the marvellous creative effort which he sees in imagination? It is\nbeyond human range. The plan and the method are equally\nincomprehensible. Of this let Job be assured--that the work was not done\nin vain. Not for the creation of a world the history of which was to\npass into confusion would the morning stars have sung together. He who\nbeheld all that He had made and declared it very good would not suffer\ntriumphant evil to confound the promise and purpose of His toil.\n\nNext there is the great ocean flood, once confined as in the womb of\nprim\u00e6val chaos, which came forth in living power, a giant from its\nbirth. What can Job tell, what can any man tell of that wonderful\nevolution, when, swathed in rolling clouds and thick darkness, with\nvast energy the flood of waters rushed tumultuously to its appointed\nplace? There is a law of use and power for the ocean, a limit also\nbeyond which it cannot pass. Does man know how that is?--must he not\nacknowledge the wise will and benignant care of Him who holds in check\nthe stormy devastating sea?\n\nAnd who has control of the light? The morning dawns not by the will of\nman. It takes hold of the margin of the earth over which the wicked\nhave been ranging, and as one shakes out the dust from a sheet, it\nshakes them forth visible and ashamed. Under it the earth is changed,\nevery object made clear and sharp as figures on clay stamped with a\nseal. The forests, fields, and rivers are seen like the embroidered or\nwoven designs of a garment. What is this light? Who sends it on the\nmission of moral discipline? Is not the great God who commands the\ndayspring to be trusted even in the darkness? Beneath the surface of\nearth is the grave and the dwelling-place of the nether gloom. Does\nJob know, does any man know, what lies beyond the gates of death? Can\nany tell where the darkness has its central seat? One there is whose\nis the night as well as the morning. The mysteries of futurity, the\narcana of nature lie open to the Eternal alone.\n\nAtmospheric phenomena, already often described, reveal variously the\nunsearchable wisdom and thoughtful rule of the Most High. The force\nthat resides in the hail, the rains that fall on the wilderness where\nno man is, satisfying the waste and desolate ground and causing the\ntender grass to spring up, these imply a breadth of gracious purpose\nthat extends beyond the range of human life. Whose is the fatherhood\nof the rain, the ice, the hoar-frost of heaven? Man is subject to the\nchanges these represent; he cannot control them. And far higher are\nthe gleaming constellations that are set in the forehead of night.\nHave the hands of man gathered the Pleiades and strung them like\nburning gems on a chain of fire? Can the power of man unloose Orion\nand let the stars of that magnificent constellation wander through\nthe sky? The Mazzaroth or Zodiacal signs that mark the watches of the\nadvancing year, the Bear and the stars of her train--who leads them\nforth? The laws of heaven, too, those ordinances regulating the\nchanges of temperature and the seasons, does man appoint them? Is it\nhe who brings the time when thunderstorms break up the drought and\nopen the bottles of heaven, or the time of heat \"when the dust gathers\ninto a mass, and the clods cleave fast together\"? Without this\nalternation of drought and moisture recurring by law from year to year\nthe labour of man would be in vain. Is not He who governs the changing\nseasons to be trusted by the race that profits most of His care?\n\nAt verse 39 attention is turned from inanimate nature to the living\ncreatures for which God provides. With marvellous poetic skill they\nare painted in their need and strength, in the urgency of their\ninstincts, timid or tameless or cruel. The Creator is seen rejoicing\nin them as His handiwork, and man is held bound to exult in their life\nand see in the provision made for its fulfilment a guarantee of all\nthat his own bodily nature and spiritual being may require. Notable\nespecially to us is the close relation between this portion and\ncertain sayings of our Lord in which the same argument brings the same\nconclusion. \"Two passages of God's speaking,\" says Mr. Ruskin, \"one in\nthe Old and one in the New Testament, possess, it seems to me, a\ndifferent character from any of the rest, having been uttered, the one\nto effect the last necessary change in the mind of a man whose piety\nwas in other respects perfect; and the other as the first statement to\nall men of the principles of Christianity by Christ Himself--I mean\nthe 38th to 41st chapters of the Book of Job and the Sermon on the\nMount. Now the first of these passages is from beginning to end\nnothing else than a direction of the mind which was to be perfected,\nto humble observance of the works of God in nature. And the other\nconsists only in the inculcation of three things: 1st, right conduct;\n2nd, looking for eternal life; 3rd, trusting God through watchfulness\nof His dealings with His creation.\"[10] The last point is that which\nbrings into closest parallelism the doctrine of Christ and that of the\nauthor of Job, and the resemblance is not accidental, but of such a\nnature as to show that both saw the underlying truth in the same way\nfrom the same point of spiritual and human interest.\n\n      \"_Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lioness?\n       Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions.\n       When they couch in their dens\n       And abide in the covert to lie in wait?\n       Who provideth for the raven his food,\n       When his young ones cry unto God\n       And wander for lack of meat?_\"\n\nThus man is called to recognise the care of God for creatures strong\nand weak, and to assure himself that his life will not be forgotten.\nAnd in His Sermon on the Mount our Lord says, \"Behold the birds of the\nheaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns;\nand your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value\nthan they?\" The parallel passage in the Gospel of Luke approaches\nstill more closely the language in Job--\"Consider the ravens that they\nsow not neither reap.\"\n\nThe wild goats or goats of the rock and their young that soon become\nindependent of the mothers' care; the wild asses that make their\ndwelling-place in the salt land and scorn the tumult of the city; the\nwild ox that cannot be tamed to go in the furrow or bring home the\nsheaves in harvest; the ostrich that \"leaveth her eggs on the earth\nand warmeth them in the dust\"; the horse in his might, his neck\nclothed with the quivering mane, mocking at fear, smelling the battle\nafar off; the hawk, that soars into the blue sky; the eagle that makes\nher nest on the rock,--all these, graphically described, speak to Job\nof the innumerable forms of life, simple, daring, strong and savage,\nthat are sustained by the power of the Creator. To think of them is to\nlearn that, as one among the dependants of God, man has his part in\nthe system of things, his assurance that the needs God has ordained\nwill be met. The passage is poetically among the finest in Hebrew\nliterature, and it is more. In its place, with the limit the writer\nhas set for himself, it is most apt as a basis of reconciliation and a\nnew starting-point in thought for all like Job who doubt the Divine\nfaithfulness. Why should man, because he can think of the providence\nof God, be alone suspicious of the justice and wisdom on which all\ncreatures rely? Is not his power of thought given to him that he may\npass beyond the animals and praise the Divine Provider on their behalf\nand his own? Man needs more than the raven, the lion, the mountain\ngoat, and the eagle. He has higher instincts and cravings. Daily food\nfor the body will not suffice him, nor the liberty of the wilderness.\nHe would not be satisfied if, like the hawk and eagle, he could soar\nabove the hills. His desires for righteousness, for truth, for fulness\nof that spiritual life by which he is allied to God Himself, are his\ndistinction. So, then, He who has created the soul will bring it to\nperfectness. Where or how its longings shall be fulfilled may not be\nfor man to know. But he can trust God. That is his privilege when\nknowledge fails. Let him lay aside all vain thoughts and ignorant\ndoubts. Let him say: God is inconceivably great, unsearchably wise,\ninfinitely just and true; I am in His hands, and all is well.\n\nThe reasoning is from the less to the greater, and is therefore in\nthis case conclusive. The lower animals exercise their instincts and\nfind what is suited to their needs. And shall it not be so with man?\nShall he, able to discern the signs of an all-embracing plan, not\nconfess and trust the sublime justice it reveals? The slightness of\nhuman power is certainly contrasted with the omnipotence of God, and\nthe ignorance of man with the omniscience of God; but always the\nDivine faithfulness, glowing behind, shines through the veil of\nnature, and it is this Job is called to recognise. Has he almost\ndoubted everything, because from his own life outward to the verge of\nhuman existence wrong and falsehood seemed to reign? But how, then,\ncould the countless creatures depend upon God for the satisfaction of\ntheir desires and the fulfilment of their varied life? Order in nature\nmeans order in the scheme of the world as it affects humanity. And\norder in the providence which controls human affairs must have for\nprinciple fairness, justice, so that every deed shall have due reward.\n\nSuch is the Divine law perceived by our inspired author \"through the\nthings that are made.\" The view of nature is still different from the\nscientific, but there is certainly an approach to that reading of the\nuniverse praised by M. Renan as peculiarly Hellenic, which \"saw the\nDivine in what is harmonious and evident.\" Not here at least does the\ntaunt apply that, from the point of view of the Hebrew, \"ignorance is\na cult and curiosity a wicked attempt to explain,\" that \"even in the\npresence of a mystery which assails and ruins him, man attributes in a\nspecial manner the character of grandeur to that which is\ninexplicable,\" that \"all phenomena whose cause is hidden, all beings\nwhose end cannot be perceived, are to man a humiliation and a motive\nfor glorifying God.\" The philosophy of the final portion of Job is of\nthat kind which presses beyond secondary causes and finds the real\nground of creaturely existence. Intellectual apprehension of the\ninnumerable and far-reaching threads of Divine purpose and the secrets\nof the Divine will is not attempted. But the moral nature of man is\nbrought into touch with the glorious righteousness of God. Thus the\nreconciliation is revealed for which the whole poem has made\npreparation. Job has passed through the furnace of trial and the deep\nwaters of doubt, and at last the way is opened for him into a wealthy\nplace. Till the Son of God Himself come to clear the mystery of\nsuffering no larger reconciliation is possible. Accepting the\ninevitable boundaries of knowledge, the mind may at length have peace.\n\nAnd Job finds the way of reconciliation.\n\n      \"_I know that Thou canst do all things,\n       And that no purpose of Thine can be restrained.\n       'Who is this that hideth counsel without knowledge?'\n       Then have I uttered what I understood not,\n       Things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.\n       'Hear, now, and I will speak;\n       I will demand of Thee, and declare Thou unto me.'\n       I had heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear;\n       But now mine eye seeth Thee,\n       Wherefore I repudiate my words and repent in dust and ashes._\"\n\nAll things God can do, and where His purposes are declared there is the\npledge of their accomplishment. Does man exist?--it must be for some end\nthat will come about. Has God planted in the human mind spiritual\ndesires?--they shall be satisfied. Job returns on the question that\naccused him--\"Who is this darkening counsel?\" It was he himself who\nobscured counsel by ignorant words. He had only heard of God then, and\nwalked in the vain belief of a traditional religion. His efforts to do\nduty and to avert the Divine anger by sacrifice had alike sprung from\nthe imperfect knowledge of a dream-life that never reached beyond words\nto facts and things. God was greater far than he had ever thought,\nnearer than he had ever conceived. His mind is filled with a sense of\nthe Eternal power, and overwhelmed by proofs of wisdom to which the\nlittle problems of man's life can offer no difficulty.\n\n\"Now mine eye seeth Thee.\" The vision of God is to his soul like the\ndazzling light of day to one issuing from a cavern. He is in a new\nworld where every creature lives and moves in God. He is under a\ngovernment that appears new because now the grand comprehensiveness\nand minute care of Divine providence are realised. Doubt of God and\ndifficulty in acknowledging the justice of God are swept away by the\nmagnificent demonstration of vigour, spirit and sympathy, which Job\nhad as yet failed to connect with the Divine Life. Faith therefore\nfinds freedom, and its liberty is reconciliation, redemption. He\ncannot indeed behold God face to face and hear the judgment of\nacquittal for which he had longed and cried. Of this, however, he does\nnot now feel the need. Rescued from the uncertainty in which he had\nbeen involved--all that was beautiful and good appearing to quiver\nlike a mirage--he feels life again to have its place and use in the\nDivine order. It is the fulfilment of Job's great hope, so far as it\ncan be fulfilled in this world. The question of his integrity is not\nformally decided. But a larger question is answered, and the answer\nsatisfies meantime the personal desire.\n\nJob makes no confession of sin. His friends and Elihu, all of whom\nendeavour to find evil in his life, are entirely at fault. The\nrepentance is not from moral guilt, but from the hasty and venturous\nspeech that escaped him in the time of trial. After all one's defence\nof Job one must allow that he does not at every point avoid the\nappearance of evil. There was need that he should repent and find new\nlife in new humility. The discovery he has made does not degrade a\nman. Job sees God as great and true and faithful as he had believed\nHim to be, yea, greater and more faithful by far. He sees himself a\ncreature of this great God and is exalted, an ignorant creature and is\nreproved. The larger horizon which he demanded having opened to him,\nhe finds himself much less than he had seemed. In the microcosm of his\npast dream-life and narrow religion he appeared great, perfect, worthy\nof all he enjoyed at the hand of God; but now, in the macrocosm, he is\nsmall, unwise, weak. God and the soul stand sure as before; but God's\njustice to the soul He has made is viewed along a different line. Not\nas a mighty sheik can Job now debate with the Almighty he has invoked.\nThe vast ranges of being are unfolded, and among the subjects of the\nCreator he is one,--bound to praise the Almighty for existence and all\nit means. His new birth is finding himself little, yet cared for in\nGod's great universe.\n\nThe writer is no doubt struggling with an idea he cannot fully\nexpress; and in fact he gives no more than the pictorial outline of\nit. But without attributing sin to Job he points, in the confession of\nignorance, to the germ of a doctrine of sin. Man, even when upright,\nmust be stung to dissatisfaction, to a sense of imperfection--to\nrealise his fall as a new birth in spiritual evolution. The moral\nideal is indicated, the boundlessness of duty and the need for an\nawakening of man to his place in the universe. The dream-life now\nappears a clouded partial existence, a period of lost opportunities\nand barren vain-glory. Now opens the greater life in the light of God.\n\nAnd at the last the challenge of the Almighty to Satan with which the\npoem began stands justified. The Adversary cannot say,--The hedge set\naround Thy servant broken down, his flesh afflicted, now he has cursed\nThee to Thy face. Out of the trial Job comes, still on God's side,\nmore on God's side than ever, with a nobler faith more strongly\nfounded on the rock of truth. It is, we may say, a prophetic parable\nof the great test to which religion is exposed in the world, its\ndifficulties and dangers and final triumph. To confine the reference\nto Israel is to miss the grand scope of the poem. At the last, as at\nthe first, we are beyond Israel, out in a universal problem of man's\nnature and experience. By his wonderful gift of inspiration, painting\nthe sufferings and the victory of Job, the author is a herald of the\ngreat advent. He is one of those who prepared the way not for a Jewish\nMessiah, the redeemer of a small people, but for the Christ of God,\nthe Son of Man, the Saviour of the world.\n\nA universal problem, that is, a question of every human age, has been\npresented and within limits brought to a solution. But it is not the\nsupreme question of man's life. Beneath the doubts and fears with which\nthis drama has dealt lie darker and more stormy elements. The vast\ncontroversy in which every human soul has a share oversweeps the land of\nUz and the trial of Job. From his life the conscience of sin is\nexcluded. The author exhibits a soul tried by outward circumstances; he\ndoes not make his hero share the thoughts or judgment of the evil-doer.\nJob represents the believer in the furnace of providential pain and\nloss. He is neither a sinner nor a sin-bearer. Yet the book leads on\nwith no faltering movement toward the great drama in which every problem\nof religion centres. Christ's life, character, work cover the whole\nregion of spiritual faith and struggle, of conflict and reconciliation,\nof temptation and victory, sin and salvation; and while the problem is\nexhaustively wrought out the Reconciler stands divinely free of all\nentanglement. He is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. Job's\nhonest life emerges at last, from a narrow range of trial into personal\nreconciliation and redemption through the grace of God. Christ's pure\nheavenly life goes forward in the Spirit through the full range of\nspiritual trial, bearing every need of erring man, confirming every\nwistful hope of the race, yet revealing with startling force man's\nimmemorial quarrel with the light, and convicting him in the hour that\nit saves him. Thus for the ancient inspired drama there is set, in the\ncourse of evolution, another, far surpassing it, the Divine tragedy of\nthe universe, involving the spiritual omnipotence of God. Christ has to\novercome not only doubt and fear, but the devastating godlessness of\nman, the strange sad enmity of the carnal mind. His triumph in the\nsacrifice of the cross leads religion forth beyond all difficulties and\ndangers into eternal purity and calm. That is--through Him the soul of\nbelieving man is reconciled by a transcendent spiritual law to nature\nand providence, and his spirit consecrated for ever to the holiness of\nthe Eternal.\n\nThe doctrine of the sovereignty of God, as set forth in the drama of\nJob with freshness and power by one of the masters of theology, by no\nmeans covers the whole ground of Divine action. The righteous man is\ncalled and enabled to trust the righteousness of God; the good man is\nbrought to confide in that Divine goodness which is the source of his\nown. But the evil-doer remains unconstrained by grace, unmoved by\nsacrifice. We have learned a broader theology, a more strenuous yet a\nmore gracious doctrine of the Divine sovereignty. The induction by\nwhich we arrive at the law is wider than nature, wider than the\nprovidence that reveals infinite wisdom, universal equity and care.\nRightly did a great Puritan theologian take his stand on the\nconviction of God as the one power in heaven and earth and hell;\nrightly did he hold to the idea of Divine will as the one sustaining\nenergy of all energies. But he failed just where the author of Job\nfailed long before: he did not fully see the correlative principle of\nsovereign grace. The revelation of God in Christ, our Sacrifice and\nRedeemer, vindicates with respect to the sinful as well as the\nobedient the Divine act of creation. It shows the Maker assuming\nresponsibility for the fallen, seeking and saving the lost; it shows\none magnificent sweep of evolution which starts from the manifestation\nof God in creation and returns through Christ to the Father, laden\nwith the manifold immortal gains of creative and redeeming power.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[10] \"Modern Painters,\" vol. iii., p. 307.\n\n\n\n\n\nEPILOGUE.\n\n\n\n\nXXIX.\n\n_EPILOGUE._\n\nCHAP. xlii. 7-17.\n\n\nAfter the argument of the Divine voice from the storm the epilogue is\na surprise, and many have doubted whether it is in line with the rest\nof the work. Did Job need these multitudes of camels and sheep to\nsupplement his new faith and his reconciliation to the Almighty will?\nIs there not something incongruous in the large award of temporal\ngood, and even something unnecessary in the renewed honour among men?\nTo us it seems that a good man will be satisfied with the favour and\nfellowship of a loving God. Yet, assuming that the conclusion is a\npart of the history on which the poem was founded, we can justify the\nblaze of splendour that bursts on Job after sorrow, instruction and\nreconciliation.\n\nLife only can reward life. That great principle was rudely shadowed\nforth in the old belief that God protects His servants even to a green\nold age. The poet of our book clearly apprehended the principle; it\ninspired his noblest flights. Up to the closing moment Job has lived\nstrongly, alike in the mundane and the moral region. How is he to find\ncontinued life? The author's power could not pass the limits of the\nnatural in order to promise a reward. Not yet was it possible, even\nfor a great thinker, to affirm that continued fellowship with Eloah,\nthat continued intellectual and spiritual energy which we name eternal\nlife. A vision of it had come to him; he had seen the day of the Lord\nafar off, but dimly, by moments. To carry a life into it was beyond\nhis power. Sheol made nothing perfect; and beyond Sheol no prophet eye\nhad ever travelled.\n\nThere was nothing for it, then, but to use the history as it stood,\nadding symbolic touches, and show the restored life in development on\nearth, more powerful than ever, more esteemed, more richly endowed for\ngood action. In one point the symbolism is very significant. Priestly\noffice and power are given to Job; his sacrifice and intercession\nmediate between the friends who traduced him and Eloah who hears His\nfaithful servant's prayer. The epilogue, as a parable of the reward of\nfaithfulness, has deep and abiding truth. Wider opportunity of\nservice, more cordial esteem and affection, the highest office that\nman can bear, these are the reward of Job; and with the terms of the\nsymbolism we shall not quarrel who have heard the Lord say: \"Well\ndone, thou good servant, because thou wast found faithful in a very\nlittle, have thou authority over ten cities!\"\n\nAnother indication of purpose must not be overlooked. It may be said\nthat Job's renewal in soul should have been enough for him, that he\nmight have spent humbly what remained of life, at peace with men, in\nsubmission to God. But our author was animated by the Hebrew\nrealism, that healthy belief in life as the gift of God, which kept\nhim always clear on the one hand of Greek fatalism, on the other of\nOriental asceticism. This strong faith in life might well lead him\ninto the details of sons and daughters, grandchildren and\ngreat-grandchildren, flocks, tribute, and years of honour. Nor did he\ncare at the end though any one said that after all the Adversary was\nright. He had to show expanding life as Gods recompense of\nfaithfulness. Satan has long ago disappeared from the drama; and in\nany case the epilogue is chiefly a parable. It is, however, a parable\ninvolving, as our Lord's parables always involve, the sound view of\nman's existence, neither that of Prometheus on the rock nor of the\ngrim anchorite in the Egyptian cave.\n\nThe writer's finest things came to him by flashes. When he reached the\nclose of his book he was not able to make a tragedy and leave his\nreaders rapt above the world. No pre-Christian thinker could have\nbound together the gleams of truth in a vision of the spirit's undying\nnature and immortal youth. But Job must find restored power and\nenergy; and the close had to come, as it does, in the time sphere. We\ncan bear to see a soul go forth naked, driven, tormented; we can bear\nto see the great good life pass from the scaffold or the fire, because\nwe see God meeting it in the heaven. But we have seen Christ.\n\nA third point is that for dramatic completeness the action had to\nbring Job to full acquittal in view of his friends. Nothing less will\nsatisfy the sense of poetic justice which rules the whole work.\n\nFinally, a biographical reminiscence may have given colour to the\nepilogue. If, as we have supposed, the author was once a man of\nsubstance and power in Israel, and, reduced to poverty in the time of\nthe Assyrian conquest, found himself an exile in Arabia--the wistful\nsense of impotence in the world must have touched all his thinking.\nPerhaps he could not expect for himself renewed power and place; perhaps\nhe had regretfully to confess a want of faithfulness in his own past.\nAll the more might he incline to bring his great work to a close with a\ntestimony to the worth and design of the earthly gifts of God, the\ntemporal life which He appoints to man, that present discipline most\ngraciously adapted to our present powers and yet full of preparation for\na higher evolution, the life not seen, eternal in the heavens.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX\n\n\n  Abraham faith of, 27.\n\n  Accadian psalms, 3.\n\n  Acquittal, Job expects, 285.\n\n  Agnostic, 117.\n\n  Amiel quoted, 88, 288.\n\n  Amos, chap. iv. 4, 44.\n\n  Angel-interpreter, 351.\n\n  Argument, the reconciling, 392.\n\n  Arnold, Matthew, quoted, 95.\n\n  Assize, the Great, 292.\n\n  Astrology, neglected, 317.\n\n  Author, his greatness, 6;\n    lives in the poem, 7;\n    member of Northern Kingdom, 15;\n    in the desert, 17;\n    inspiration of, 32;\n    paints his own trials, 68;\n    his brave truthfulness, 224;\n    his prophetic insight, 303.\n\n\n  Bene-Kedem, 23.\n\n  Bible, universality of, 17.\n\n  Bigot, the, 244.\n\n  Bildad, character of, 102;\n    his first speech, 135;\n    his second speech, 215;\n    his bitterness, 216;\n    his third speech, 298.\n\n  Boethius quoted, 288.\n\n  Book of Job, a poem of the soul, 3;\n    precursors of, 3;\n    poetical art of, 5;\n    date of, 6;\n    autobiographical, 7, 411;\n    style of, 8;\n    problem of, 11;\n    personality in, 12;\n    place in canon, 27;\n    main controversy of, 101;\n    inspiration of, 122;\n    logic of, 295;\n    prepares for Christ, 265, 404.\n\n  Bunyan quoted, 144.\n\n  Bushnell, H., quoted, 259.\n\n\n  Carlyle, T., quoted, 68, 223.\n\n  Catholic theologian, 135.\n\n  Chald\u00e6ans, 65.\n\n  Chaos, no moral, 273.\n\n  Christ, sacrifice of, 62;\n    mediation of, 121;\n    his preaching, 276;\n    Redeemer, 242, 404;\n    preparation for, 265.\n\n  Church, the Jewish, 14.\n\n  Church, complaints against, 264;\n    its duty, 295.\n\n  Cliff in the desert, 231.\n\n  Consolation, 80.\n\n  Corporate sympathy, 230.\n\n  Creed of Job's friends, 155.\n\n  Criticism of first author, 346.\n\n\n  Dante, 60.\n\n  Davidson, Dr. A. B., 11, 96, 311, 333.\n\n  Davidson, Dr. S., 6.\n\n  Death, finality of, 187.\n\n  Deism and positivism, 365.\n\n  Delay of the Almighty, 269.\n\n  Dogmatism, 136.\n\n  Doughty, Mr. C. M., 20.\n\n  Dualism, 166.\n\n  Duty, keep close to, 88.\n\n\n  Edwards, Jonathan, quoted, 274.\n\n  Egyptian \"Book of the Dead,\" 212.\n\n  Elihu, who was he? 343;\n    inspiration claimed by, 342.\n\n  Eliphaz, character of, 102;\n    his first speech, 99;\n    vision of, 106;\n    apparently right, 113;\n    his religion, 114;\n    his second speech, 187;\n    a pure Temanite, 189;\n    jealous for God, 191;\n    his third speech, 269.\n\n  Eloah, the righteous, 232;\n    and the work of His hands, 233;\n    opening Sheol, 233.\n\n  Emerson, R. W., quoted, 257.\n\n  Eschatology, rose-water, 55.\n\n  \"Everlasting Yea,\" 67.\n\n  Evolution, spiritual, 58;\n    of religion, 180;\n    physical, completes nothing, 241;\n    reveals Divine wisdom, 318.\n\n  Ewald, H., 11, 15.\n\n\n  Failure of old world, 280.\n\n  Fairbairn, Dr. A. M., 57.\n\n  Faith, and happiness, 45;\n    three barriers of, 235.\n\n  False judgments, 86.\n\n  Fate of the wicked, 219.\n\n  Festus quoted, 290.\n\n  Finality and progress, 193.\n\n  Funeral in the desert, 264.\n\n\n  God, no despot, 149;\n    seems to persecute, 176, 204;\n    and nature, 301.\n\n  Godliness, earthly reward of, 245.\n\n  Go\u00ebl, the, 234.\n\n\n  Happiness and faith, 45.\n\n  Hauran, 20.\n\n  Hebrew thought, limitations of, 164;\n    realism, 410.\n\n  Hokhma, 9, 16.\n\n  Human frailty, 177.\n\n\n  Idealism, 65, 79.\n\n  Idolatry, 333.\n\n  Idum\u00e6a, religion of, 25.\n\n  Individualism of psalms, 13.\n\n  Inherited opinions, 169.\n\n  Inquiry and reverence, 389.\n\n  Inspiration, of author, 32, 33;\n    within limits, 224, 384, 387;\n    claimed by Elihu, 342.\n\n  Irresistible power, 141.\n\n  Isaiah compared with Job, 10.\n\n\n  Jauf, 20.\n\n  Jehovah, servant of, 15.\n\n  Jewel in the lotus, 364.\n\n  Jewish Church, 14.\n\n  Job, a real man, 22;\n    religion of, 24;\n    character of, 28;\n    early prosperity of, 29;\n    dream-life of, 30;\n    when he lived, 31;\n    trials of, 63;\n    type of righteous sufferer, 67;\n    his integrity, 72;\n    his faith, 74;\n    his wife, 75;\n    his friends, 78;\n    curses his day, 89;\n    praises death, 92;\n    rebuked for scepticism, 154;\n    prophetic, 208;\n    idealised, 337;\n    made priest, 410.\n\n  Justice, of man no refuge, 86;\n    in every matter, 237;\n    physical argument for, 238.\n\n\n  Kings, their favour, 357, 369.\n\n  Kinship with Eloah, 181.\n\n  Knowledge not the main thing, 390.\n\n  Koheleth, 38.\n\n\n  Letters and theology, 4.\n\n  Life, is it for enjoyment? 52;\n    meaning of, in the Gospels, 61;\n    as vigour, 260;\n    principle of man's, 382;\n    rewards life, 409.\n\n\n  Materialism, 54.\n\n  Mediator, desire for a, 147.\n\n  Mephistopheles, 36.\n\n  _Mezbele_, 72.\n\n  Microcosm and macrocosm, 402.\n\n  Mill, J. S., quoted, 256.\n\n  Mining, 314.\n\n  Modern science, 165.\n\n\n  Natural religion, 25;\n    source of, 178;\n    ends with a sigh, 290.\n\n  Nature and God, 166, 287, 301.\n\n  Necessity, 130.\n\n\n  Obedience, reward of, 42.\n\n  Ode cited by Elihu, 370.\n\n  Oriental, society, ideas of, 50;\n    life, contrasts of, 72;\n    character, 131.\n\n  Orthodoxy uncorrupted, 197.\n\n\n  Pain, not evil, 52-5;\n    and imprudence, 59;\n    mystery of, 120.\n\n  Paley quoted, 53.\n\n  Palgrave, W. G., quoted, 20.\n\n  Personality, 12.\n\n  Pessimism, 38.\n\n  Pharisee and Sadducee, germs of, 377.\n\n  Ph\u0153nix, 324.\n\n  Piety, daring, 133.\n\n  Pity of it, the, 229.\n\n  \"Positive evil,\" 77.\n\n  Poverty of spirit, 196.\n\n  Precursors of Job, 3.\n\n  Primitive religion of Semites, 180.\n\n  Probation, 47.\n\n  Problem, of the book, 11;\n    universal, 403.\n\n  Prophet, the, a critic, 246.\n\n  Proverbs, chaps. iii., viii., 9.\n\n  Providence, enigma of, 207;\n    special, 225.\n\n  Psalms, individualism in, 12.\n\n  Punishment of sin, 59.\n\n\n  Rabbi, the, 368.\n\n  Real and ideal, 152.\n\n  Religion, decay of, 16;\n    evolution of, 180.\n\n  Renan quoted, 399.\n\n  Revelation, 117.\n\n  Righteousness, man not saved by, 388.\n\n  Ruskin, J., quoted, 372, 374, 396.\n\n\n  Sabeans, 65.\n\n  Sacrifice of Christ, 62.\n\n  Sacrificed classes, 170.\n\n  Satan, 34;\n    Dante's, 35;\n    Milton's, 35;\n    power of, 36;\n    challenged by the Almighty, 40;\n    his question, 42;\n    disappears, 71.\n\n  Scepticism, 41, 140.\n\n  Schopenhauer, 37, 39.\n\n  Semites, primitive religion of, 180.\n\n  Servant of Jehovah, 15.\n\n  Sheol, life in, 183;\n    no hope in, 211;\n    no penalty in, 255.\n\n  Sin, punishment of, 59;\n    does it bring suffering? 157.\n\n  Sincerity of mind, 169.\n\n  Skin for skin, 69.\n\n  Smith, Dr. Robertson, 43.\n\n  Social, meliorism, 46;\n    tyranny, 331.\n\n  Sons of the Elohim, 37.\n\n  Soulless human beings, 70.\n\n  Special pleading for God, 171.\n\n  Spencer, H., 52.\n\n  Spiritual evolution, 58.\n\n  Suicide, 97, 124.\n\n\n  Teman, 15.\n\n  Theology and letters, 4;\n    new beginning in, 15.\n\n  Theosophy, 39.\n\n  Total depravity, 195.\n\n  Trouble, wherefore? 282.\n\n\n  Universal problem, 403.\n\n  Uz, 19.\n\n\n  Wisdom, of the past, 138, 192;\n    quest of, 313.\n\n  Woman's life, 75.\n\n  Worldly prosperity offered to Job, 137, 159.\n\n\n  Zophar, his character, 102;\n    his first speech, 154;\n    no mere echo, 161;\n    his second speech, 243;\n    his third speech, 309.\n\n\n\n\nTransciber's Notes:\n\n\nObvious punctuation and spelling errors have been fixed throughout.\n\nInconsistent hyphenation is as in the original text.","title":"Expositor's Bible: The Book of Job","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":116547}