JUN 2« 1913
Division IdS4"S
, H 35
Copy I
THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
EDITED BV THE REV.
JAMES llASTINGS, D.D.
EDITOR OF "THE EXPOSITORY TIMES" "THE DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE
"THE DICTIONARY OF CHRIST AND THE GOSPELS" AND
"THE ENCYCLOP/F.DIA OF RELIGION AND ETHICS"
JOB to PSALM XXIII.
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS EDINBURGH : T. & T. CLARK
1913
CONTENTS
TOPICS.
Thi<; Unselfishness of True Religion
The Deeps of God
Trust Inextinguishable
Life Beyond Death ,1 Know that my Redeemer Livkth
Acquaintance with God
Songs in the Night
The Treasuries of the Snow .
Hearsay and Experience
The Man that is Blessed
The Four Acts of Religion
Rest after Toil .
The Greatness of Man .
Knowing and Trusting .
A Goodly Heritage
The Vision of God
God's Gentleness and Man's Gkkaxnesb
The Perfect Law , Hidden Faults
Tflfi Ministry op Surprise
A Personal Providence
Rest, Refreshment, Restoration
(iooD Guidance . .
The Vallk.y of the Shadow
Entertainment, Enjoyment, Eni-.ichment
Pursuit and Pep.jianknce
PAQB 1
19
35 55
71 97 111 129 145 165 185 211 227 245 261 281 297 319 343 361 383 401 425 445 465 493
VI
CONTENTS
I. 9
XI. 7
XIII. 15
XIV. 14 XIX. 25-27
XXII. 21 XXXV. 10 XXXVIII. 22 XLII. 5, G
TEXTS. Job.
21
37
57
73
99
113
131
147
Psalms.
I. 1 IV. 4, 5 IV. 8 VIII. 5 IX. 10 XVI. 5, 6 XVII. 15 XVIII. 35 XIX. 7-9 XIX. 12 XXI. 3 XXIII. 1 XXIII. 2, 3 XXIII. 3 XXIII. 4 XXIII. 5 XXIII. 6
167 187 213 229 247 263 283 299 321 345 363 385 403 427 447 467 495
The Unselfishness of True Religion.
JOB-PS. XXX, — X
Literature.
Bradley (G. G.), Lectures on the Book of Job, 34.
Brooks (P.), New Starts in Life, 36.
Davies (D.), The Book of Job, i. 59.
Godet (F.), Old Testament Studies, 183.
Kemble (C), Memorials of a Closed Ministry, 209.
Ker (John), Sermons, i. 98.
Eattenbury (J. E.), Six Sermons on Social Subjects, 53.
Shore (T. T.), Some Difficulties of Belief , 211.
Simeon (C), Works, iv. 314.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Evening by Evening, 22.
Watkinson (W. L.), The Ashes of Boses, 191.
Christian World Pulpit, x-\di. 241 (Perowne).
The Unselfishness of True Religion.
Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought ? —Job i. 9.
Before the throne of Jehovah are gathered " the Sons of God." We meet the phrase elsewhere in the Old Testament, and we find it again in this Book, as used to designate beings of other than human mould, employed as God's ministers of mercy or of judgment, whose creation dates from a period older than that of the material earth and of us its inhabitants. Among these beings, who come to do homage to their Lord, is one who bears the title of " the Adversary," or " Opposer," the Satan, as the word stands in the Hebrew, who reports himself as fresh from travel- ling to and fro on the surface of the earth. Jehovah Himself calls his attention to one, of whom He speaks as my servant Job, and bears His own testimony, a more than human testimony, to his goodness. He repeats, reminding some of us perhaps of similar repetitions in the oldest of classic poets, the very words in which the author had introduced him : " Hast thou considered," he says, " my servant Job ? for there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil." But " the Adversary," clearly a malignant spirit, has his answer ready. "Doth Job fear God," he asks, "for nought?" He insinuates at once a doubt, and more than a doubt, as to Job's motives. "Hast thou not," he goes on, "made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath, on every side ? Thou hast blessed the works of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will renounce thee to thy face." I myself, he seems to say, could be as pious as Job, were I as prosperous as he. "It is easy," says a character drawn by a modern satirist, " to be virtuous on a handsome income, on so
4 UNSELFISHNESS OF TRUE RELIGION
many thousands a year." The temptations of poverty are obvi- ous, and strike the eye. Satan sees them at a glance. Those of wealth, which wrung from the Great Teacher the words, " How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God," are more subtle and hidden. Satan read the one, Jesus Christ the other.^
L
The Accuser.
1. The word " Satan," or " adversary," or " accuser," supplies one aspect only of Satanic character. He is here presented not as the " tempter," the one who suggests evil to man ; but as the " accuser," the one who insinuates evil about man. No one name sums up the whole character of the fallen angel. It is as an "accuser" that he appears here. Job was a perfect and an upright man, one who feared God, and turned away from evil. The devil in the capacity of tempter had very little elbow-room in the life of Job. Hence he appears here as the false accuser of the man whom he could not successfully tempt.