The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 28

sufficient provision of external goods r.ns essential to complete; happiness, just as the equipping of the Greek chorus was necessary for the representaUon of a drama. Yet the inferiority of the external elements of happiness to the internal is indicated, not only by their coming second in the description of the sacred poet, but by the swift tragic sequel, the darkening of the scene, the sudden breaking up of house and home and fortune of the prosperous man. And here we are reminded of the saying of another illustrious Greek, Solon: "Call no man hflppy till the day of his death." The fate of Crresus, whose name was e. synonym for worldly luck in the ancient Greek world, pointed the moral of that saying, according to the charming story of Herodotus, aB Job's vicissitudes give point to it here. This world passeth; all that is external to us is liable to loss, change, uncertainty. Only the "sweet and virtuous soul, like seasoned timber, never gives." The ruins of e. falling world leave the true man unshaken. Doing the will of God, united to him by conscious obedience and trust, he abides for ever. Thus, in the concise emphatic designation of Job's character, in the very first verse of the poem, its key-note is struck. II. LINEAMEN'l'B OF CHARACTER. Four words, like a few expressive toucheB from a master's pencil, place before us the character of the patriarch. 1. "That man was perfect." That is, he was sound (integer vitm, as the Roman poet says) in heart and life, blameless in the ordinary sense in which we use that word, free from glaring vice or gross inconsistency. We must bear in mind that general ~pithets like these, denoting attributes of human character, are derived from our experience of external objects. They are, therefore, figurative expressions, not to be used in an exact mathematical sense, which, of course, is inapplicable to such an object as hnman1 character. Perfect, as a sound animal is said to be; without blemish, like a snowy, sacrificial lamb; spotless, like a "garnered fruit," without "pitted speck." There are two aspects of perfection -the negative and the positive. Negative perfection is more the Old Testament view. It is when the character presents a blank on the side of those gross vices, those sins against honour and truth and every Divine and social bond, which incur the hatred of man and the displeasure of Heaven. '!'he New Testament view brings out the positive side of" perfection." It is not only the life void of offence, but it is the completeness of the Christian man in those heavenly graces, that bright resplendent adornment of the sanctified character, which in the sight of God is of great price. But there are conditions of life in which there is comparatively little scope for the development of character widely on the positive side. There is but a small circle of duties, employments, amusements, relations, in such circumstances as in the primeval and pastoral simplicity of Job. How dHferent from this highly developed, widely and variously interesting modern life of ours! Where more is given, more will be required. But the example of Job con- sists in the simplicity and integrity with which he moved about in the sphere of his little sovereignty, and, with every facility for inuulging passion, for infringing right, for encroaching on the happiaess of others, kept himself white as the lily, nobly free from blame. Not that he was that insipidity of character, a merely correct man. Intense selfishness is often found in your correct men. We see from glimpses presently given us in the course of the poem that he was an actively good man. Here we may read the exquisite descriptions of his past life in eh. xxix. and xxxi., forced from him in his self-defence. We look upon the picture of a man who is the pillar of his com- munity, a light, a comfort, a joy to dependents and equals alike. It is a. picture which the thousands of our countrymen who are in the enjoyment of fortune, position, education, and 5nfluence in their respective neighbourhoods, may be invited to con- template and to imitate. The Divine pleasures and the noble reward of II right use of wealth and position, form for multituues of the great e. field but little explored. Amidst the serious warnings of Scripture and of experience age.inst the dangers of prosperity, let the pure example of Job stand out to remind the prosperous that they may make their means a help instead of a hindrance to the kingdom of heaven; may enslave the unrighteous mammon; in gaining much of this world, need not necessarily lose their souls I 2. He was upright. The idea is that of II right line. And the opposite image ls conveyed by the word "froward," or "crooked," from the curved, deviating line. As the country-people say of an honest man," He acts straighf,n and as our fine old English word gives it, "straightforward." There is a certain mathematics of conduct. Nev-er to depart from truth, even in jest; not to extenuate, nor k> 10a. Q  18 THE BOOK OF JOB. [ OR, I, 1-22,