Biblical
Reparatory and
Public Domain.
[William Henry Green]
1857] The Book of Job. 281
ART.
VI.--Commentar uber das Buch Hiob,
von, H. A. HAHN
u. s. w.
Das Buch Hiob, verdeutseht und erlautert von Lic. Kon-
STANTIN SCHLOTTMANN.
The
Book of Job; a Translation from the original Hebrew
on the basis of the common and earlier English
versions.
For the American Bible Union, by THOMAS J. CONANT,
the Hebrew Text, and the Revised Version, with
Critical and
Philological Notes 4to. pp. 165. Part Second, The Revised
Version, with Explanatory Notes for the English
reader
4to. pp. 85.
Part Third Revised Version. 4to. pp. 52.
THE poetical books of the Old Testament fall
naturally into
two
divisions of three each. There are distinguished both by
their
subject and by the style of their poetry. The first class
embraces
in addition to the Psalms two brief books, which from
their
character might naturally have been included in the same
collection,
had not their length and importance been such as to-
justify
the assigning to them an independent position. The
Song
of Solomon is an extended 45th Psalm. And the Lament-
tions of Jeremiah find counterparts in the Psalms, as
well in
their
theme (Comp. Ps. lxxix. lxxx.)
as in their alphabetic
structure:
These are all purely lyrical, and express the devout
feelinge of the heart, in the contemplation of the
character of
God,
the truths of his word, or the dispensations of his providence.
The other three books constituting the second
class, are Job,
the
Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. Their common theme may be
suggested
to us by the use which they make of one character-
istic word, "wisdom." Their aim is to show
that piety, is
wisdom;
that it is the one course promotive of man's true and
highest
welfare. They seek in other words to exhibit the con-
sistency between the truths of God's revelation
and the lessons of
his
providence, by making it appear--that what the former sanc-
tions as right, is attested by the latter as good.
The book of
Proverbs
presents the harmony of the divine law and of the
actual
experience of the world as a general fact. It contains
VOL. XXIX.-NO. II. 36
282
The Book of Job. [APRIL
a
great number of maxims bearing upon every department of
human
life, and, embodying the results of long continued and
careful
observation, which prove conclusively that piety con-
duces to human welfare, and that wickedness is
opposed to it.
Such
is the present constitution of things on the whole; such is
the
native tendency of these respective courses, unless obstructed
by
casual and outside influences. General rules are, however,
liable
to exceptions: this is the case with many of these inspired
maxims.
The conclusion as to the usual course of things cannot,
it
is true, be invalidated in this way; but anxious questionings
and
perplexing doubts may be awakened, which demand a satis-
factory
solution, if one can be furnished. If the identity of
piety
and wisdom is not only a general truth with occasional
exceptions,
but a universal truth with no exceptions; it is impor-
tant that this should be shown, and the apparent
interruptions
of
the general law explained in such a way as to show that it is
at
no time suspended or reversed. It is to this that the books
of
Job and Ecclesiastes are directed. There are but two possi-
ble cases which could be regarded as exceptions to
the general
rule,
and these in various forms and degrees are perpetually
presenting
themselves in the actual life of the world. These
are,
first, piety without prosperity; and, second, prosperity
without
piety. The first is discussed in Job, the second in
Ecclesiastes.
In both, to make the argument perfectly conclu-
sive, the difficulty is presented in its extreme
form. In Job, a
man
without his equal for piety in the world, is overwhelmed by
a
sudden and most extraordinary accumulation of disasters; he
is
stripped of his possessions, bereaved of his family, afflicted by
sore
disease, despised and shunned by his acquaintance, and
made
the victim of cruel suspicions and censures, until life
became
a burden; and yet in it all it is shown that God was not
unfaithful,
and piety did not fail of its reward. On the other
hand,
the book of Ecclesiastes exhibits the spectacle of a man,
who
is raised to the summit of earthly felicity, who has sur-
rounded
himself with every source of gratification that power
or
wealth can command, or his heart desire; who leaves no
project
unfulfilled, no wish un gratified, and gives himself of set
purpose
to extract solid satisfaction from the world, conducting
his
efforts with a sagacity and a wisdom such as no other man
1857.] The Book of Job. 283
has
possessed before or since.; and the: result of all was disap-
pointment and failure, vanity and vexation, of spirit;
and the
conclusion
to which he came after, the baffling experiment of a
life-time
was, that the world without God can, yield no solid
good.
Or as he states the issue himself, Eccl.
xii.13: "Fear"
God,
and, keep his commandments; for this is the whole of
man;"
this sums up at once his duty and his happiness.
These three books, forming thus a complete cycle,
and cov-
ering together the entire range of the subject to whose
illustra-
tion, they are devoted, belong to one common style
of poetry,
the,
gnomic or aphoristic. This style, with its, brief, sententious
apophthegms, seems specially suited to bring out
clearly and
forcibly
the truths of experience, embodying them in such, a
shape
as shall strongly affect the mind, and lodge firmly in the
memory.
It appears in its purest and most unmixed
form in
the
Proverbs; less so in Ecclesiastes, as the nature of the dis-
cussion demanded; least of all in Job, where the
lyrical ele-
ment rises to greater prominence than in either of
the others,
although
the aphoristic is not discarded.
According to a supscription
added, to this book in, the, Sep-
tuagint, Uz lay upon
the borders of Idumea and Arbia;
and
Job
was the grandson of Esau, the same with Jobab (Gen.
xxxvi.
33) one of the kings of
is
to be placed upon this; latter statement, the correctness of
the
former is generally conceded. The
authority of the trans-
lator is itself something, as it is not improbable that,
the land
may
still have been known by its original name in his day.
It
seems to be even mentioned by Ptolemy. And all the
indications
in the book; itself, and in other passages of Scrip-
ture, where the name occurs, conspire to fix it
somewhere in
that
region. Whether it was so called from
the descendant of
Seir, (Gen. xxxvi; 28) or the son of Nahor, (xxii. 21) or of
favoured by the fact that Job is called a son of
the East, (i. 3,)
that,
his property was exposed to incursions of the Sabeans
and
the
Chaldeans, that his friends were from Teman, Shuah,
(Gen.
xxv. 2,) and Naamah, (possibly that mentioned Josh.
xv.
41,) that in Lamentations iv. 2;1, Uz is associated with
284
The Book of Job. [APRIL
That
Job was a real person, and his history is a record of
actual
events, may be inferred from the fact that the localities
are
real, that the names are not significant, (except Job, which
may
mean the one assailed or treated with hostility,) that there
is
no analogy in ancient writers, and particularly in the Bible,
for
such a purely fictitious tale. The question is settled,
however,
by the allusions to Job as an historical person in
Ezek.
xiv. 14, &c., James v. 11. This does not render it
necessary
to assume that everything occurred precisely as is
here
narrated, that the speeches are reported verbatim, that the
Lord
pronounced a long discourse, or that Satan literally
appeared
in heaven among the sons of God. Still less can the
round
numbers in which Job's possessions are stated, and their
exact
duplication afterwards occasion any embarrassment. The
history
is given substantially as it occurred, not with an eye to
precision
in trivial details, but with the view of developing in
their
full extent the important lessons which it was adapted to
convey.
The period when Job lived is nowhere expressly
stated.
But
his grMt longevity, the patriarchal simplicity of the
wor-
ship,
as well as of the life and manners, reflected in this book,
the
absence of all allusion to the miracles or revelations which
marked
the period of the exodus, the fact of such piety existing
out
of the line of the covenant people, incline to the, belief that
he
was not subsequent to the time of Moses. And the mention of
names
(ii. 11; vi. 19; xxxii. 2,) which occur among the descen-
dants of Nahor, Keturah, Ishmael, and Esau, render it probable
that
he did live very long before this time.
The mystery which invests the origin of this
book, as well as
that
of some others belonging to the Old Testament, will proba-
bly never be dispelled. Our ignorance of its author,
however,
does
not prejudice its canonicity, for we may safely acquiesce
in
the decision which admitted it to its present rank while the
evidence
of its inspiration was still in being, attested as it is by
the
infallible sanction of our Lord and his apostles, given to the
integrity
of the Jewish Scriptures, and by repeated citations in
the
New Testament from this individual book. The opinion
that
Job was written in the later times of the kingdom of
1857.] The Book of Job. 285
in
its favour. It is less easy to decide between two
other
epbchs, to which it has been assigned, viz. that of
Moses, and
that
of David and Solomon.. The ablest continental scholars
appear
to be settling down" in favour of the latter,
which, is
maintained
not only by Hahn and Schlottmann, but by Heng-
stenberg, Havernick, Delitzsch, Vaihinger, Hofmann,
(in his
later
publications,) Welte and others. We are pleased to see
that
Professor Conant advocates the former, not so much
because
we
have any settled conviction upon the point, as because no
sufficient
reason has yet been given for abandoning the old
ditional opinion.
The highly artistic structure of this book and
the exquisite
finish
of its poetry, are urged as showing that the poetic art
must
have been long cultivated, and brought to a great degree
of
perfection; and that some such golden period of the sacred
muse
as the age of David must be pre-supposed, before such a
production
as this could have been conceived or executed. But
the
finest specimens of a people's poetry stand sometimes among
the
earliest monuments of their literature. The epics of Homer
furnish
an irrefragable answer to every objection from this
quarter
directed against the antiquity of Job. Poetic genius
was
needed for its production, rather than any formal rules of
art;
and it is impossible to determine upon any general princi-
ples the time when such a genius must have appeared.
It has been argued from the relation in which
this book stands
to
the law as an enlargement of its teachings relative to divine
retribution,
that the law as the foundation must have been first,
and
then Job as the superstructure, must have been built upon
it.
The law says, Fear God, and be blessed. Job shows that
the
truth of the law is still preserved, even when the righteous
do
not externally prosper. The law, it is
alleged, must have
been
promulgated, before the question as to its consistency
with
the facts or experience could have arisen. But as, this
declaration
of the law is a direct consequence of the, divine
rectitude,
it was equally a tenet of the patriarchs by whom this
attribute
of God was known. And at a time when the piety of
men,
like Abraham and Isaac, was reflected in their fortunes,
such
a question as this in the case of Job would be peculiarly
liable
to arise and to occasion the most painful misgivings.
286
The Book of Job. [APRIL
And
if, as is alleged by those who would bring its composition
down
to the time of the exile, a period of national distress would
make
the subject here discussed one of wider interest and im-
portance, would not its consolations be
especially needed when
sion of
able
idolaters held possession of the promised land? Why may
not
the great legislator have been commi~sioned under
these
circumstances
to expound, in what sense the promises of pros-
perity and blessing given of God were meant?
The striking resemblance which undoubtedly
exists between
several
passages in this book, and such as occur in the Psalms
and
Proverbs, is quite as consistent with its priority as with
that
of the latter. It was naturally to be expected that a work
of
such originality and power should leave its traces on all the
subsequent
poetry of the nation. And if we find phrases, words
or
turns of thought common to it with other books, the pre-
sumption is, until the contrary is shown, that
Job was imitated,
not
the imitator. This is admitted in the case of Ezekiel,
Jeremiah,
Isaiah, Amos; why not in that of David and Solo-
mon?
That the whole air of this book is patriarchal,
and that it
never
refers to any event subsequent to the time of Moses, might
be
explained on the hypothesis of the later origin of the book,
by
the assumption that the writer whose subject lay in the olden
time,
strictly observed the proprieties of time and place; though
it
would evidence extraordinary skill that he has not by the
slightest
expression betrayed that his assumed differed from his
real
position. The natural impression, however, antecedent to
proof
of the contrary, must be that the book was written in or
near
the times and scenes which it so admirably portrays. It
is
a remarkable coincidence, even if it be a casual one, that
many
of the things that we expect to find m the writer, meet in
Moses.
His long sojourn in Midian explains his acquaintance
with
the facts, while his personal experience and that of his
suffering
people impressed their lessons on his heart. This too
may
furnish a solution of the Arabisms of the book. The
writer's
familiarity with Egyptian objects (which is such that
Schlottmann insists that he must have seen what he
describes,)
1857.]
The Book of
Job. 287
and
the knowledge which he displays of nature and of the arts
will
also be readily accounted for, since Moses was learned
all
the wisdom of the Egyptians. That Ophir (xxii. 24,
xxviii.
16,)
was not known to the Hebrews before the days of Solomon
is
asserted by Hahn; but it might be difficult to prove that
Egyptian
conquests or Egyptian trade had not extended there.
The
powerful and versatile genius of Moses none can dispute;
a
specimen of the various and exquisite poetry he was capa-
ble of producing, is furnished Ex. xv. Deut. xxxii.
and xxxiii.
and
Ps. xc.
We do not venture to say that Moses did write this
book, nor
that
it was written in his time; but only that the contrary is
not
proven. The chief repugnance, which we confess to having
it
assigned to a later period, arises from the manifest disposition
in
those who do so, though it is by no means a necessary conse-
quence, to entertain lax notions of its historical
character.
Schlottmann distinguishes between the event itself
and the tra-
dition of it ,as it came to the writer. And Hengstenberg, after
maintaining
(Kitto's Cyc. II. p. 121)
that there might be some
intangible
historical basis for what is recorded of Job, has at
length
(Lecture before the Evangelical Union in
13)
reached the conclusion that there is none whatever, and
that
all which the allusions of Ezekiel and James compel us to
assume,
is that the lesson of the book is true and that the writer
had
passed through some such conflict in his own experience.
The
different views which have been held of the design and
teachings
of this book, have mostly arisen from not taking a
sufficiently
comprehensive view of the whole, confining the
attention
mainly or exclusively to one portion, and exalting it
to
an undue prominence. This is also the secret of the dispo-
sition manifested by several critics to dispute the
genuineness
of
one section or of another, which they find incompatible with
what
they have arbitrarily assumed to be the governing idea.
It
is decisive against any view of the book at the outset, if such
forcible
measures are necessary in order to carry it through.
No
theory can be admitted which will not furnish the solution
of
it in all its parts just as it exists, without the necessity of its
being
mutilated or altered; in which it shall not appear that
there
is nothing wanting, and nothing superfluous, but that all
288
The Book of Job. [APRIL
harmonizes
and conspires together in its just proportion to pro-
duce
the contemplated end.
The supposition that it is the design of this
book to develope
the
idea of true wisdom, takes its shape from chap. xxviii. and
makes
that the key of the whole. Baumgarten-Crusius, who
maintains
this view, thinks that the different speakers represent
the
different stages in the progress of this idea. Job personates
a
simple, unsophisticated piety; the three friends a legal mind;
Elihu a loftier and more comprehensive intelligence;
while a
thoroughly
instructed religion and wisdom in its highest form are
embodied
in the discourse of the Lord. But besides that this
is
not a just view of the parts sustained by the respective
speakers,
the discussions relate not to wisdom in the abstract,
nor
in the general, but in its bearings upon one particular
case.
Ewald thinks that the aim of
the book is to teach the immor-
tality of the soul, and by means of the hope of a
future state to
reconcile
to the inequalities of the present. This is taking the
key
from chapter xix; a chapter which plays an important
part
in the economy of the book, as will appear hereafter, but
which
is not entitled to the predominance here given it. It is
there
shown how the man of God can rise to an assured
triumph
even in the most desperate case, by holding firmly to
his
faith that the God whom he serves is his friend in spite of
everything
that seems to establish the contrary, and that he
will
surely make this appear, if not on this side of the grave,
yet
beyond it. But this is not the solution given to the
problem
of suffering righteousness. It is possible to vindi-
cate the present as well as to make an appeal to the
future.
Accordingly
the subsequent speeches of Job show that, not-
withstanding
the triumphant assurance which he had gained
respecting
his actually existing relation to God, and the
certain
manifestation of it in the future, yet the distressing
enigma
of its present obscuration, remained to him as insoluble
as
before. And in the discourses of Elihu and of the
Lord,
where
we look for the final settlement of the matter at issue,
man's
immortality is not once referred to. Whatever place
this
may have, therefore, in the complete view of the question,
it
is not its ultimate solution.
1857.] The Book of Job. 289
According to others, the design. of the book is
to inculcate
unconditional
submission to the will of the infinite God. His
ways
are inscrutable. Man's duty is, without murmuring, to
submit
humbly to his dispensations. But instead of solving
the
enigma, this would be to dismiss it as insolvable. The book
of
Job goes far beyond this. The infinite perfections of God
are
presented as a sure ground of confidence, even in his
darkest
dispensations, while his 'gracious purpose in affliction,
,and
its happy issue, are distinctly brought, to view. The
resignation
of the truly pious, on such grounds as these, is at a
world..wide remove from the submission of the Stoic
to inexor-
able
fate. This view has led' several of its advocates to rid
themselves
of the difficulties which the historical introduction
and
conclusion lay in their way, by denying their genuineness.
But
the alleged discrepancies between these and the body of
the
book are of no account. The grounds assigned for Job's
sufferings
in the introduction, and the issue to which they are
conducted
in the conclusion., teach nothing incompatible with
the
intermediate portion of the book, if this be on1y properly
understood.
That Job was a man of eminent holiness, and
bore
his calamities with becoming resignation, is not falsified
by
the subsequent language of impatience and despair, wrung
from
him by their long continued intensity, and by the cruel
censures
of his friends. The Lord's rebuke of Job, xxxviii. 2,
xl.
2, involves ho such apprf1val of his friends, as would conflict
with
xlii. 7. Chapters xix. 17, and xxxi. 8, are not at variance
with
the account of the death of Job's children, i. 18,
19. Pro-
fessor Conant translates the
second passage correctly, "Let my
products
be rooted up." And the first he
renders, "I am offen-
sive to the sons of the same womb;" whatever
question there
may
be as to the first part of this clause, there can be little as
to
the last; the allusion is not to Job's 'children, but to his
brethren,
xlii 11. The death of his children is in fact alluded
to
in the body of the book itself, viii. 4, xxix. 5. That the
introduction
and conclusion are in prose, (as historical sections
always
are,) that they speak of sacrifices, while no mention is
made
of them in the rest of the book (for the reason that there
was
no occasion for it,) that they use the divine name Jehovah,
(though
not exclusively,) while in the rest of, the book the
VOL. XXIX.-NO. II. 37
290
The Book of Job. [APRIL
divine
name employed is Eloah, God, (yet see xii. 9,
xxxviii. 1,
xl.
1, 3, 6, xlii. 1,) can scarcely be considered serious argu-
ments. On the other hand, the positive and invincible
argument
of
genuineness is, that the beginning and the end of the book
are
essential to the understanding of it. Apart from these,
there
is no intimation who the parties are who are here speak-
ing, nor what is the occasion of their discussion.
It is especi-
ally
necessary that the reader should be made aware of Job's
character
at the outset, or how could it be known that there was
any
enigma in his suffering, or that the suspicions of his friends
were
unjust, and that he was not merely pretending to an inno-
cence which he did not possess: and the book would be
mani-
festly unfinished, if it were to stop where the poetic
portion
ends;
that is no suitable conclusion. This is so clearly the
case,
that some who deny the genuineness of the present intro-
duction and conclusion, assert that it must have
had others in
their
stead originally, and that these were removed to make
way
for those we now possess. But this is bringing hypothesis
to
support hypothesis, and only involves the matter in still
greater
difficulties. What has become of that original preface
and
termination? What motive was there for expunging them
to
introduce new ones? And how was it possible that such a
forgery
in so remarkable a book as this, and one, too, included
in
the sacred canon, could succeed? Not to speak of the fresh
obstruction
interposed by the authority of the New Testament,
for
the allusion in James v. 11, is to the historical conclusion.
Others think the book designed to show the
inadequacy of
the
Mosaic doctrine of a temporal retribution. Their notion is,
that,
according to the law of Moses, righteousness is to be inva-
riably rewarded and sin punished in the present life,
in prop or-
tion to their deserts; and that the writer of Job
meant to prove
on
the contrary that men are not treated in this world accord-
ing to their characters. But, 1. It would be inconceivable
that
a
book whose design was to contradict the Mosaic law, should
be
written by a pious member of the theocracy, or that it should
be
admitted to the canon if it was. The law of Moses was
sacred
in the eyes of every Israelite, and antagonism to it
would
not have been tolerated. Those passages in the pro-
phets, which have been alleged to be antagonistic to
the law, in
1857.] The Book of Job. 291
which
they speak of ceremonial observances' as inferior to
spiritual
religion, are not in reality such, for this is the very
spirit
of the law itself. If this book, therefore, takes ground
opposed
to the 1aw, it is without analogy in the whole Old'Tes-
tament. 2. The defenders of this view identity the
position
taken
by the friends of Job with the statements of the law, and
regard
the censure passed upon the former as falling equally
upon
the latter. But this is not correct. It is not the law, but
partial
or erroneous conclusions drawn from its teachings, which
are
here condemned. Just as in his sermonic
on the mount, our
Lord
rebuked not the law itself; but the false glosses and inter-
pretations which the Jews! had put upon
it..B'ecause1ife and:
prosperity
are promised to the righteous, and calamities are
threatened
to the wicked, the friends inferred that the external
prosperity
of' the good must be uninterrupted, and that severe
calamities
always evidence gross wickedness. This
book does,
not
oppose the law, but confirms it, by freeing it from the burden
of
these erroneous inferences. It shows that a man of eminent
piety
may, for reasons inferring no antecedent crime on his part
be
cast down from his prosperity, and involved in the greatest
misfortunes.
It shows moreover that the promises of
God were
after
all fulfilled in the case of Job, and the mystery which
overhung
the ways of
the
end to a higher prosperity than ever; thus revealing that
temporary
sorrows may, be conducive to a future, higher good,
and
may be themselves blessings: in disguise. It is to be
observed
likewise that the discourses of the three friends are
not
to be condemned in toto.
Many of their sentiments are
correct,
and much that they say is just and proper. In fact,
even
where they are wrong, their error is often not so much in
what
they say as in what they intimate. Taken as abstract
propositions,
what they oppose to Job is commonly true; it is
only
the application of it which they design, that is false. Their
statements,
though capable for the most part of being under-
stood
in a sense that is correct, are rendered incorrect by their
being
adduced as the full explanation of a case which they do
not
really meet, and to which they could only be applied by the
most
unjust and unfounded assumptions of the guilt of Job.
3.
The law of Moses, in teaching the righteousness of God's
292
The Book of Job. [APRIL
dispensations
in the present life, is most strictly true, and is in
entire
accordance with the doctrine of the New Testament on
this
same subject. Piety has its temporal as well as its eternal
rewards.
Our Saviour (Matt. v. 5) blesses the meek; for they
shall
inherit the earth. In Mark x. 29, 30, he says that who-
ever
has left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father or mother,
or
wife; or children, or lands, for his sake and the gospel's, shall
receive
an hundred-fold now in this time, and in the world to
come
eternal life. The apostle Paul tells us (1 Tim. iv. 8) that
godliness
has the promise of the life that now is, and of that
which
is to come. The essential righteousness of God in fact
secures
the righteousness of all his dispensations in this world,
as
much as in the future state. The retributions of the world to
come
are not to be regarded as a compensation for present
inequality
and injustice. He who admits that men are not
dealt
with justly here, and treated according to their characters,
cuts
the nerves of the argument for a future retribution, instead
of
strengthening it. For if God is not just now, what assurance
can
we have that he ever will be? But in claiming for the right-
eous the favour and
blessing of God here, it must be distinctly
understood
what that means. For external worldly prosperity
is.
no certain gauge even of present happiness, much less of
men's
true welfare. God consults for the highest interests of
his
people. He sends upon them what he sees to be most for
their
good. Affliction thus sent is not an evil, but a benefit;
while
worldly prosperity without the divine favour is a
curse
instead
of a blessing. Besides it must be borne in mind, and
this
is one of the truths insisted upon in the book before us, that
even
the holiest of men are not free from sin. Conscious, there-
fore,
of ill-desert, they should receive with humility and resigna-
tion whatever sufferings are sent upon them. These
sufferings
have
a direct connection with their sin. They may not be
penal,
indeed, but they are disciplinary. They are needed and
designed
to purge from sin. Their proper effect was produced
upon
Job as soon as he said, (xlii. 6,) "I abhor myself, and
repent
in dust and ashes." When that state of mind was pro-
duced, the discipline had gained its end, and was at
once
removed.
This book has also been regarded as an allegory,
designed to
1857.] The Book of Job. 293
set
forth, the fortunes of the ,Jewish people. According to
Bishop
Warburton, Job represents the nation of the Jews, and
his
sufferings the calamities, which befell them, including their
captivity;
the three friends were those who obstructed the
rebuilding
of
Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshero; Elihu represents the
writer of
the
book himself. Others make, the three friends stand for the
prophets;
others explain them differently still. But without
going
into the details of any of these schemes, it will, be suffi-
cient to show them to be impracticable in regard to
their chief
character,
in which alone they all agree. Job cannot possibly
represent
the Jewish nation, for the whole mystery, of his suf-
ferings lies in their arising from no fault on his
part, whereas
those
which befell the Jews are always represented as the
penalty
of their transgressions. And there is no allusion in
the
whole book to the circumstances of the people at the time.
of
the exile, and nothing whatever from which an intimation
can
be gained that it is to be allegorically understood. Every-
thing,
indicates the subject to be a case of individual not of
national
suffering. This view too would require the assumption
that
the book was written in or after the exile; it is contra
dicted likewise by the historical character of Job
already;
proved.
The real theme of this book is, as it has, been
well expressed,
“the
mystery of the cross." It is intended to throw light upon
that
perplexing enigma, so trying oftentimes to faith, of the
sufferings
of the righteous. How are they to be reconciled
with
the justice of God, or with the declaration of his law
"Do
this, and thou shalt live?" This purpose is accomplished
by
adducing the case of a man, in whose history the truth to be
taught
is strikingly illustrated. God himself testifies regarding
Job,
that "there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an
upright
roan, one that feareth God and escheweth
evil." This
roan,
not for any special transgression, but at, the solicitation
of
Satan, is suddenly cast down from his prosperity, and made
to
endure the severest inflictions in his property, his family,
and
his person, in order to try the strength of his piety, and
that
his steadfastness may be exhibited to the confusion of the
tempter.
The secret of Job's sufferings is thus far explained
294
The Book of Job. [APRIL
to
the reader before the discussion begins; but it is a mistake
however
common, to suppose that this is the whole mystery.
So
Delitzsch, (Herzog's Encyklop.
art. Hiob,) after enumerat-
ing the four kinds of suffering to which men may be
subjected,
viz.
punishment, chastisement, trial, and martyrdom, insists
upon
it that the third is the only one applicable to this case, in
which
"there is not the remotest connection between the
suffering
and the sinfulness of the sufferer." This initial error
leads
him, as we shall see hereafter, to deny the genuineness of
an
important section of the book. Others who are not pre-
pared
for this extreme, go at least to the length of declaring
that
it contributes nothing toward the proper settlement of the
question
at issue. Even Professor Conant says of the section
referred
to, "Elihu has contributed his suggestions,
without
advancing
a step towards the solution of the problem. For
there
is no place in his theory, any more than in that of the
three
friends, for the actual case presented." It will be suf-
ficient to say here, that it is not the design
of the introduction
to
dispose of the case, but simply' to place it before the reader.
It
prepares the way for the discussion, but without anticipating
its
result. It acquaints the reader with the fact, concealed
from
the human speakers, of Satan's agency in these inflictions.
But
it does not profess to give in full the reasons by which the
Lord
was moved in allowing Satan to deal with Job as he did.
No
haste is exhibited anywhere in this book to disclose the
hidden
purposes of God. They are suffered to unfold them-
selves
in his actual providence, and their ripened issue is their
ample
justification. In fact, a similar course is pursued with
most
of the great lessons here inculcated, and herein lies one of
the
evidences of the wonderful skill of the writer. These
lessons
are strongly brought out, and the impression which they
leave
is perfectly distinct and clear; but this is effected less
by
precise and formal statements, than by the combined effect
of
the whole course of the history and the discussion.
That Satan was used to accomplish results on
behalf of this
pious
man, very different from any that he designed or imagined,
is
suggested by the representation of his appearing statedly
among
the sons of God, when they came to present themselves
before
the Lord. Satan is like them, God's servant, employed
1857.]
The Book of
Job. 295
in
ministrations to men which are directed (or controlled) by
God's
sovereign will, and of his performance of which he comes
like
the rest to render his report. It is not given to this
cious spirit to torture men' as he may please. His
office is to
spy
out the faults of good men, and to tempt them to sin;
labouring to crush where- he cannot seduce them.
But this is
an
agency, which God employs for ends of his own. He does
not
originate the evil, but he uses it. So too, when Satan mis-
leads
the wicked to their ruin, as we are taught in 1 Kings xxii.
19
23, a passage strikingly similar to that before us, it is by
the
same divine permission and in just judgment for their sins.
This
subordination of evil to the designs of the Most High is it
leading
lesson impressed upon the; very front of Job's history.
Perhaps
it may be called one of the original conditions of the
problem.
What those designs were, or how evil can be employed
to
effect them, we must be content to learn as the progress of
events
shall disclose them.
One purpose which God had in view, as shown by
the event
particularly
of the first trial (i. 22, ii. 3,) was, as has been
stated
already,
to test the fidelity of Job, not of course for the satis-
action
of the Lord, who had previously given his unerring judg-
ment of his character, but to confound the tempter
and to pre-
sent
an example of the sustaining power of faith to men. But
it
is nowhere intimated that this was his sole design. From
subsequent
developments we learn that he had another purpose
quite
compatible with the former, but additional to it and dis-
tinct from it. The fire was designed not only to
prove the
existence
of the gold, but to purge away its dross. The trial
was
a chastisement likewise, not for overt acts of sin, but for
the
yet unsubdued corruption of the heart. God would not
have
subjected a perfectly sinless being even temporarily to
Satan's
power, however gloriously his steadfastness might there-
by
be made to appear. If there had been no discipline in them
for
Job himself, permission would not have been given for these.
inflictions.
This antecedent, presumption is confirmed by the
fact
that, latent sin is detected in Job and brought to light
under
"the terrible pressure of his sorrows. There is an unmis-
takable leaven of self-righteousness in his
vindications of him-
self
and in his complaints of God. Job would never have sus-
296
The Book of Job. [APRIL
pected himself of this, nor have sought its
correction, but for
this
affliction. This element of corruption in his soul it is the
evident
aim of the writer to depict with a strong hand. And
this
explains the puzzle, that so eminently good a man, as Job
is
known from divine testimony to have been, could speak so
presumptuously
as he sometimes does. He had been touched
with
divine skill precisely upon his tender point, and this pre-
viously undeveloped evil sprang up at once in
full power. And
his
speeches are so framed as to allow us to look directly in
upon the struggles of his heart, which is here lai