sufferings (veri:i. 6-16), maintains his innocence (ver. 17), and appea\ 11 to earth and heaven to declare themselves on hie side ( vers. 18, 19), ancl to God himself to be his Witness (ver. 19), "The train of thought thus suggested carries him," as Canon Cook observes,1 "much further in tho way towards the great truth-that, since in this life the righteous certainly are not saved from evil, it foHows that their ways are watched, and their sufferings recorded, with a view to a. future and perfect manifestation of the Divine justice. This view becomes gradually brighter and more definite as the controversy proceeds, and at last finds expression in a strong and clear declaration of his conviction that at the latter day ( evidently the day which Job had expressed a longing to see, oh. xiv. 12-14) God will personally manifest himself, and that he, Job, will then see him in his body, with his own eyes, and notwithstanding the destruction of his skin, i.e. the outward man, retaining or recovering hie personal identity. There can be no doubt that Job here (eh. xix. 25-27) virtually anticipates the final answer to all difficulties supplied by the Christian revelation." On the other hand, provoked by Zophar, Job concludes the second dialogue with a very wrong-headed and overcoloured view of the happiness of the wicked in this life, and maintains that the distribution of good and evil in the present world proceeds on no discoverable principle (eh. xxi. 7-33). 4. The third dialogue, which begins with eh. xxii. and terminates at the close of eh. xxxi., is confined to three interlocutors-Job, Eliphaz, and Bildad, Zophar taking no part in it, at any rate as the text stands at present. It comprises four speeches only-one by Eliphaz (eh. x:x:ii.), one by Bildad (eh. xxv.), and two by Job (oh. xxiii., xxiv., and eh. xxvi.-xxxi.). The speech of Eliphe.z is an elaboration of the two points on which he had principally insisted throughout-Job's extreme wicK:ednese (eh. xxv. 5-20), and God's readiness to pardon and restore him if he will humble himself in the dust, repent of his evil doings, and turn to God in sincerity and truth (eh. xxv. 21-30). Bildad'e speech consists of a few short reflections on the majesty of God, and the weakness and sinfulness of man. Job, in his reply to Eliphe.z (eh. xxiii., xxiv.), repeats in the main his former statements, enforcing them, however, by new arguments. " His own innocence, his longing for judgment, the misery of the oppressed, and the triumph of the oppressors, are successively brought forward." i In his second speech (eh. xxvi.-xxxi.) he takes a wider and more comprehensive enrvey. After brushing aside the irrelevant remarks of Bildad (eh. xxvi. 1-4), he proceeds to deliver with all solemnity his" last word" (eh. :xx:xi. 40) upon the whole controversy. First of e.11, he makes a full acknow- ledgment of God's greatness, might, and inscrutableness (eh. x:xvi. 5-14). Then he addressee himself once more to the question of God's dealings with the wioked in this life, and, retracting his previous utterances on the eubject (oh. ix. 22-24; xii. 6; xxi. 7-33; xxiv. 2-24), admits that, as a 1 • Dictionary or the Bible,' vol. i. p. 1089.
• •Speaker's Co111meute.ry,' vol. iv. p. t. J011, b yi INTRODUCTION TO
general rnle, retributive justioe overtakes them (eh. xxvii.11---23). Next, he shows that, great as is man's oleverness a.nd ingenuity with respeot to earthly things and physical phenomena, with respect to heavenly things and the spiritnal world he knows next to nothing. God is inscrutable to him, a.nd his nee.rest approach to wisdom is, through the fear of the Lord, to direct his conduct aright (eh. xxviii.). Finally, he turns his eye upon himself, and in three touching chapters describes his happy condition in his former life before his troubles oa.me (eh. xxix.), the miserable state to which he has since then been reduced (oh. xxix.), and his moral character and condition, as shown by the way in which he has condncted himself under all the various circnmstances e.nd relations of human existence ( eh. xxxi.). This last review amounts to e. complete vindication of his character from all the aspersions and insinuations of his opponents. 5 . .A. new speaker now appears upon the scene. Elihu, a. comparatively young man, who has been present at all the colloquies, and heard all the arguments, dissatisfied alike with the discourses of Job and with the replies ma.de to them by his "comforters" ( eh. xxxii. 2, 3), interposes with a long harangue ( eh. x:xxii. 6-xxxvii.), addressed partly to the "comforters'' (eh. mii. 6-22), but mainly to Job himself (eh. xxxiii., xxxv.-xxxvii.), and havmg for its object to shame the "comforters," to rebuke Job, an'd to vindicate God's ways from the misrepresentations of both parties to the controversy. The speech is that of a somewhat arrogant and conceited young man. It exaggerates Job's faults of temper and language, and consequently censures him unduly; but it adds one important element to the controversy by its insistence on the view that calamities are sent by God, for the most part, as chastisements, not punishments, in love, not in anger, and have for their ma.in object to warn, and teach, and restrain from evil courses, not to te.ke vengeance on past sins. There is much that is elevating and in.st,rn.ctive in Elihu's arguments and reflections (eh. xxxiii. 14--30; :xxxiv. 5-11; x:xxvi. i'-16; xxxvii. 2-13, etc.); but the tone of the speech is harsh, disrespectful, and presumptuous, so that we feel no ~rise at Job not condescending to answer it, but meeting it by a con- temptuous silence. 6. Suddenly, though not without some preliminary -warnings ( eh. xxni. 32, 33; xxxvii. 1-5), in the midst of a tempest of thunder, lightning, and rain, God himself takes the word (eh. xxxviii.), and makes an address which occupies, with one short interruption (eh. xi. 3-5)~ four chapters (eh. xx:xviii.-xli.). The object of the address is not, however, to solve the various questions raised in the course of the controversy, but to bring Job to see a.nd acknowledge that he has been rash wit,h his tongue, and tha.t, in questioning the perfect rectitude of the Divine govel'lilllent of the world, he has trenched on groun.d where he is incompetent to fonu e. judgment. This is done by "a, marvellously bea,utiful and comprehe.µsive survey of the glory of creation," and especially of the animal creation, with its wonderful variet, of instinct!!. Job is challeng~d to declare how things THE BOOK 01!' JOB, vii