vi. Scope and De.sign. — The mode of treat- ment adopted in this section will be to discuss the whole book as it now stands, showing how each part is related to the whole, and inquiring what teaching it may be supposed to convey in its present form. It has been shown in the last section that in all probability certain cliapters did
JOB, BOOK OF
JOE, BOOK OF
<iC7
not form part of the original design : but this is matter of opinion ; and while some critics wouUl excise more, others object to tlie setting aside of any portion of the boolc. A picture may be sur- veyed as a whole, apart from tlie varj'ing opinions of judges who hold tliat tlie colours in one portion or another of the canvas have been laid on by a later artist. Such a survey maj' aid in the decision of controverted questions.
The poem of 'Job,' so remarkable for imagina- tive power and literary skill, was unquestionably intended to set forth theological doctrine. Nothing abstract or technical is intended by the |)hrase ; it is but a way of expressing the aspect from wliich tlie deepest questions of life are here viewed. The poet can be engaged with no higher themes, with no more living and burning questions, than God, man, evil, good, suffering, hope, destiny. The thesis of the book — to translate poetry into prose — is that sull'ering in tlie present lite is not precisely proportioned to ill desert ; on the contrary, the righteous sutler ; yet God is, and God is good. How can this beV It is the object of Jub to answer the question.
In the first jilace, let the presuppositions of the discussion be borne in mind. The debate is not concerning the priiiiarj' truths of natural theology. God is : that is an axiom unciuestioned, unquestion- able. Anil by 'God' is meant a Ruler of tlie world, understood to be righteous and merciful, though the exact measure of His mercy and truth be not apprehensible by man. No atheistic theories are admissible, — that would mean to give up the problem, not to solve it. The pac-.neist, the m.aterialist, have here no standing - ground. A Western mind of to-day may cut the knot presented in Job in a hundred several ways not open to the Eastern — to say nothing of the Israelite — of ioOO years ago. Further, the evidently accepted re- ligious doctrine presupposed by the book is that in this life the wicked are punished and the righteous rewarded by a just God, each man according to his deeds and character. Against this current ortho- dox opinion the book is a protest, but it is a religious protest. It is not a sceptical inquiry, nor a cynical denial, nor a blasphemous denuncia- tion, either as a whole or in any of its constituent parts. It is a plea for a wider, deeper, truer, more easily defensible orthodoxy. It rejiresents the process by which a step was taken in the formation of religious thought, and a religions explanation of life-problems was arrived at. Even those who would reduce the book to the narrowest dimen- sions, and who reject certain portions as pious glosses or orthodo.x corrections, must admit that Job's attitude throughout is that of the man who is trying to understand God, not denying His existence or mocking at His rule. Job pleads for God as truly as the friends. The ring, if we may BO speak, witliin which the conflict is carried on — a figlit for life so far as Job is concerned— i.e. tlie recognized limits of the discussion, must be borne in mind throughout.
The colluiiuies form the kernel of the book : let them be taken first, especially as they are the only portions which beyond all question constitute its original elements. The exact issue between Job and his friends concerns, not the punishment of the wicked, but the sutl'ering of the righteous. Job is not concerned to deny that the wicked as Buch sutler : if ch. •2V'''^ belongs to him, he ex- plicitly aa.serts it. What the friends assume is that only the wicked sutler, and precisely in proportion to their wickedness ; what they at liist imply and afterwards explicitly declare is, that if an api)ar- ently righteous man sutlers, he cannot be so righteous as he seems; hence that Job, who is enduring exceptional pain and calamity, must
have llagiantly olli.-nded, in secret if not openly, a''ainst the laws of righteousness and the Power wTiich executes ami vindicates them. This, Job strenuously and even passionately denies, jlore- over, it is contrary to hypothesis. To draw for a moment from the prologue, Jolj is not only asserted by the historian, but by the Almighty, to be upright; 'perfect,' indeed, when judged by the relative standard which alone is in question, a man of thorough integrity within and without. If tliis be not granted, the whole problem vanishes. Job not only denies his opponents' contention, with his own consciousness and the testimony of f.acts to back him, but he does so successfully. The poet represents him as victor in the contest of words. The friends are silenced, though not con- vinced. Without availing ourselves of the justifi- cation of Job pronounced liy the Almighty in the epilogue, it is clear that tlie friends are worsted in the conllict, and their position is rendered unten- able.