The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 33

11ervanll! of eo d11rk a spirit., the agents of such malice I Wheneve~ we find the rust of ele.nder e.nd be.ckbiting gathering too easily on our tongues, whenever we find the.t the sight of good men's failures affords us more pleasure than the.t of their success and honour, we he.ve need to look closely into the heart. We must be ill befot·e we can enjoy these diseased pleasures. A soul in health towards God delights to see thb reflection of that bee.Ith in the faces and the lives of otbers. It is the misery of con" ecious sin which seeks relief in the sin of others. Whether in . good or in evil · we cannot endure to be alone. 'l'he fulness of the heart's joy must have expression,'arid so must the burden of its unpardoned guilt-the one in words of charity to men and praise to God; the other in those of bitterness and blasphemy. But this scene sets before us a man :who is t? ~come the object, rather than the subject, of this malignant rnfluenc.e. Job 1s the v1ct1m, not the agent, of Satanic slanders. .And it is well to consider here what there is in the constitution of our nature which lays us open td these diabolical attempts. 1. There is a weak side in tM nature ef every one.· The sensuous side of nature presents a constant opening to attack. We can be easily bribed by bodily pleasures and frightened by bodily pains. Our affections too often expose us. We may be fortified on all sides ; yet there is some postern door or secret entrance to the seat of will, which our wife, or little child, or bosom friend is well acquainted with and has the. key ?f, a11d can readilr, at any hour of day or night, pass through. Our tastes, purSUlts, circumstances, vanously constitute sources of weakness; Some men appear richer toward God amidst poverty and struggle; with many comfort and competence seem to foster and beautify their piety. In the case of Job, an attack is suddenly made all along the line; he is assailed in all the weak points of humanity. And in this completeness of his trial, with the result, lies a main point of instruction in the book. 2. In the best ef men there is a mixture of motives. A man chooses the right from principle-from the fear of God in his heart. Bat he has promises beforehand to stimulate and encourage his choice, and successes afterwards to .con- firm it. Kone long travels on the narrow way without discovering that it is not orily' the right path, but the wise one; not only the right and the wise path, but the path' of happiness, honour, and peace. Therefore, at any given point in a· man's course; 'it' may be difficult to determine what is the rnling motive of good within him.· DU. h'e· begin to be good because he believed beforehand that it would turn out well with him• in this world ? Does he persevere because he has discovered by experience that god- liness is profitable for this life? or is the fear and love of the Eternal and his righteousness the greatest, deepest, secret of his career? Who can answer these ques-i tions? Can any observer from ontside? Can the man himself answer _these questions? No. Trial, judgment, the sifting by tbe winnowing-fan, the cleanEing of the refiner's fire, can alone declare what sort of man he is t'o himself and to others. By 'trial the inferior a.nd the superior motives are separated. "Experience worketh knowledge; •., an.a: all new knowledge is new power. Blessed, then, the man that' cndureth, affliction: The fine old Greek proverb, in his case, wa.Bfiµa:ra, µ1181/µa.Ta, comes true-" to suffer is: to learn." Thus the very malignancy of his adversary, by the overruling of supreme wisdom and goodness, turns to his advantage; the calumnious foe becomes the unwilling friend. As the general feels grateful for au assault which has been severe,' but in resisting which he has been taught a new lesson iu wa.r, so the faithful heart thanks God in the end for the permission of those trials which have called forth to the utmost and corroborated the holy energies within. 3. Every outwardly good deed, every outwardly good life, admits ef a two/old explanation, until the real f actti ue known. This follows from the theory of motives. 'l'he most disinterested action, in semblance, may conceivably be referred, by a subtle analysis of motives, to sonie egoti.l!Lic and more or less faulty motive. Here we have, in the theory of Sa.tan con- eerning the piety of Job, an iltustration of these laws. And the evil spirit, we may say, is within his right in insisting upon it, until the facts of experience shall refute him. It is trial a.lone which can, by its clear manifestation, refute the dark insinua- tions of our spirituaf foes. Every man has two sides ·to his life-an outward and an inward. Does the inward correspond to the outward? Who can judge without proof? What all-silencing proof can there be but facts, stamped by suffering1 written in blood and in fire? The Greeks ha.Ii a sa.yiug that the character of a man wae not to be known until he was placed in authority (Sophocles, ' Antigone'): Cer• on. 1. 1-22.1 THE noo:K: OF JOB. 23