prosperity, to deprive him of his property, destroy his numerous offspring, and finally inflict upon him a most loathsome, painful, and terrible diseaAe, from which there was, humanly epeaking, no hope of recovery. Under thie accumulation of evils, the faith of Job's wife gives way entirely, and she reproaches her husband with his patience and tameness, suggesting to him that he should do, exactly what Satan had declared that he would do, , "Curse God, and die" (eh. ii. 9). But Job remains firm and unmoved. At the lose of 'his property he says not a. word; when he hears of the destruction of hie children, he shows the tokens of natural grief (eh. i. 20), but only utters the sublime speech, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither : the Lord gave, and the Lord bath taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord" (eh. i. 21); when be is stricken with his foul disease, he submits without a murmur; when his wife offers her foolish and wicked counsel, he repels it with the remark, "Thon speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand o.f God, and shall we not receive evil?" "In all this did not Job sin with his lips" (eh. ii. 10), nor did he "charge G0d foolishly" (eh. i. 22). Here the narrative might have ended, Satan being baffled, Job's character vindicated, and the real existence of true and dis. interested piety having been irrefragably manifested and proved. But a new incident supervened, giving rise to the discussions with which the book is mainly concerned, and in which the author, or authors, whoever he or they were, was, it is evident, chiefly a,n.xions to interest readers. Three of Job's friends, hearing of his misfortunes, came to visit him from some considerable distance, to condole with him on his sufferings, and, if possible, to comfort him. After one burst of irrepressible grief on beholding his miserable state, they sat down with him in silence on the ground, "seven days and seven nights," without addres~ing to him a word (eh. ii. 13). Then at length he broke the silence, and the discllSsion began. 2. The discussion opened with a speech from Job, in which, no longer able to control himself, he cursed the day that gave him birth, and the night of his conception, lamented that he had not died in his childhood, and expressed a longing to go down to the grave at once, as having no fu.rther hope on earth. Eliphaz, then, probably the oldest of the three "comforters," took the word, rebuking Job for his want of fortitude, and at once suggesting (eh. iv. 7-11)-what becomes one of the main points of controversy-that Job's calamitieo have come upon him from God's hand as a punishment for sins which he has committed, and of which he has not repented. On this view he naturally exhorts him to repent, confess, and turn to God, promising him in that case a renewal of all his former prosperity (eh. v. 18-26). Job replies (eh. vi. and vii.), and then in turn the other two II comforters" add1·ess him (eh. viii. and xi.), re-echoing in the main the arguments of Eliphaz, while Job answers them severally in oh. ix., x., and xii.-xiv. As the discussion continues, the disputitnts wax hot. Bildad is harsher and blunter than Eliphaz; Zophar, ruder and iv INTRODUCTION TO
coa,rser than Bildad; while Job, on his part, exasperated by his friends' unfairness and want of sympathy, grows passionate and reckless, uttering words which he is obliged to acknowledge to be rash, and retorting upon his opponents their own discourteous language (eh. xiii. 4). The argument makes little progress. The "friends" maintain Job's guilt. Job, while admitting that he is not exempt from human frailty, acknowledging "iniquities of his youth" (eh. xiii. 26), and allowing frequent sins of infirmity (eh. 'Vii. 20, 21; x.14; xiii. 23; xiv. 16, 17), insists that he "is not wicked" (eh. x. 7); that he has not fallen away from God; that, if his cause is heard, he is certain to be justified ( eh. xiii. 8). To the " friends " this insistence seems almost blasphemous, and they take a worse and worse ,iew of his moral condition, b~coming convinced that he has been secretly guilty of some unpardonable sin, and is hardened in nilt, an u· covera e c . xi. ; xv. - . e act gf his sn erings, an t ~ mtensi is to them proof positive that he lies under the a of ?roa an:l therefore m t have provo ~e m y some emous sin or other. o , in rebutting their arguments, allows imse to drawn into statements 'With regard to God's indifference to moral good and evil (eh. ix. 22-24; xii. 6) which are, to say the least, incautious and presumptuous, while he also goes near to tax God with injustice towards himself (eh. iii 20-26; vii. 12-21; ix. 30-35, etc.). At the same time, he in no way renounces God or ceases to trust in him. He is confident that in some way or other and at some time or other, his own innocence will be vindicated, and God's justice mallifested. Meanwhile he hangs upon God, turns to him when his friends' wordB are too cruel, continually prays to him, looks to him for salvation, proclaims that, "though he slay him, yet will he trust in him" (eh. xiii. 15). Finally, he expresses a presentiment that, after death, when he is in the grave, God will find a mode of doing him justice, will " remember him" (eh. xiv. 13), and give him a. "renewal" (eh. xiv. 14). 3. A second dialogue begins with the opening of eh. xv., and extends to the end of eh. xxi. Again Eliphaz takes the word, and, after reproaching Job for presumption, impiety, and arrogance (eh. xv. 1-16), in e. tone much more severe than that which he had used previously, resumes the argument, and endeavours to prove, from the authority of the wise men of old, that 'Wickedness is always punished in this life with the utmost severity (vers. 17-35). Bildad follows, in eh. xviii., with a series of denunciations and threats, apparently assuming the guilt of Job as proved, and maintaining that the calamities which have fallen upon him a.re exactly what he onght to have expected (vers. 5-21). Zophar, in eh. xx., con- tinues the same strain, ascribing Job's calamities to special sins, which he supposes him to have committed (vers. 5-19), and menacing him with further and worse evils (vers. 20-29). Job makes reply to each of the friends separately (eh. xvi., xvii., xix., and x.xi.), but at first scarcely deigns to grapple with their arguments, which seem to him "words of wind" (eh. xvi. 3). Instead, he addresses himself to God, describes his THE BOOK OF JOB.