"Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an b PAGE LECTURE I.* THE QUESTION OF EVIL. JOB, i. 9, 10. "Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side ?" IN N this commencing chapter of the Book of Job we have a representation of the Court of Heaven, to which, at an appointed time-the day, as it is in the original Hebrew-the high dignitaries of the heavenly kingdom, who are called, after Oriental fashion, the Sons of God, come to present themselves before the Supreme. Amongst these, one presents himself who is named Satan in our English Version. This word, as is well known, was not originally a proper name. It was the word in common use to denote an adversary, and only acquired a special signification when it had the definite article, as here, prefixed. Whether the being we commonly call Satan was here intended or not, the person described appears, in accordance with the general representation taken from the customs of earthly courts, somewhat in the capacity of a * Delivered on Sunday, November 25th, 1877. B public accuser-one who, with the watchful suspiciousness of his kind, was ever on the look-out for faults, and ready to suggest deficiencies. Of this adversary the Lord inquires whether he had considered His servant Job, a perfect and upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil. The words which I have read for the text are the answer to this inquiry. They suggest that Job's righteousness was not disinterested, that he had been so hedged about by the kind providence of God, so guarded from temptations and trials, that there was no satisfactory proof of the reality of his goodness, and that at best it could not be regarded as virtue of the highest order. It would give way at the first serious trial, and could not bear the test of any strong temptation.* * * The prominence given to this at the very outset of the book, and the permission given to the adversary for Job's affliction in consequence of his suggestion, plainly show that the probative use of our present trials formed an important part of the instruction intended to be conveyed. The illnatured suggestion of Job's wife, that his sufferings were a proof that he had not retained his integrity, was afterwards taken up by Job's friends, and holds a more prominent part in the sequel, owing perhaps to special circumstances when the book was written. The reader needs not to be reminded of Warburton's famous theory respecting this book. The unrelenting severity with which Job's three friends press this suggestion of secret guilt lead Job, in his replies, to dwell fully on his own integrity, which he stoutly maintains. But the probative use of his afflictions is not wholly overlooked by him. Thus, in xxiii. 10–12, he says: "He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me I shall come forth as gold. My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips." When Elihu appears on the stage he introduces another lesson. While he blames the three friends for the severity of their judgment, he insists also on the undue confidence of Job's self-justification. The corrective and disciplinary use of affliction is brought out in his discourse. It is remarkable that when God Himself is introduced at last, he condescends not to give any explanation of His dealings with His afflicted servant. His own greatness, as shown in the works of creation, and the consequent duty of unquestioning submission, in our necessary ignorance of His purposes, is the burden of the Divine discourse. Now of course, as I suppose, this representation is not to be taken as literally descriptive of any actual scene in the courts above. But when we pass from the letter to the spirit, we find a deep moral and spiritual significance. And though the words of the text are put into the mouth of a malignant adversary, I cannot doubt that Divine wisdom intended them to embody a great truth which the sequel was designed to elicit. The highest order of moral excellence is not that which is presented under circumstances which offer no difficulty, afford no real test of goodness, and do not constitute an effective probation. The suggestion of the adversary is, indeed, one that naturally occurs to our own minds; and if it often gives rise to The moral uses of God's providential dealings are left to our own reflections, the preliminary to any profitable exercise of which must be our entire submission to God's will. As long as the mind rebels against that, all such profitable reflections are shut out. The English version of the words of Job's wife, "Curse God, and die” (the Vulgate has benedic), is justified by the apparent reference in the writer's mind to the assertion of the adversary, that if Job were afflicted he would curse God to His face. What the adversary predicts he would do, that his wife suggests to him to do. On the other hand, it is to be said that her words may be read in the better sense, "Bless God, and die," and thus would correspond to Joshua's words to Achan, "My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him," Josh. vii. 19. Moreover, Job's rebuke is scarcely strong enough for so impious a suggestion. The foolishness he lays to her charge is sufficiently exemplified in the supposition that his afflictions proved that he had not maintained his integrity. The LXX., if they read as in our present Hebrew copies, appear to have been in doubt, and have left the question undecided, saying merely, εἰπόν τι ρῆμα εἰς Κύριον-say something, whether good or bad. It is possible, however, that their copies might have had, by a transposition of letters and a slight variation, 27 instead of T. That their copies must have varied from ours is evident from their introducing a speech of some length instead of the brief sentences put into her mouth by the present Hebrew copies; and for the question, "Dost thou still retain thine integrity ?" they have substituted simply, "How long wilt thou hold out?" ómitting all mention of his integrity. |