The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 49

this book; though, from his Bcque.inte.nce with Bildad, Eliphaz, e.nd Job, it may be Inferred he e.leo was e. person of distinction. Probably e.11 three were, like the patriarch in hie prosperity, powerful Arabian sheiks. II. '!'HE EXCELLENT OIIARACTERB THEY FOBBEBSED. 1. Points of agreement. (1) Intellectual ability. Without alleging that all three stood upon the same platform in respect of mental calibre (which they did not, Eliphaz holding unmistakably the pre- eminence), it is apparent that they all were thinkers of no mean capacity. It is a special ornament to men in high social position to be possessed of correspondi □ g mental faculties; besides immensely adding to their personal enjoyment and public usefolne~e (cf. Eccles. x. 16). (2) Religious principle. Unquestionably good men, who not only revered Jehovah, but practised the Divine will so far as they understood it. They were likewise sincerely desirous of promoting Job's highest welfare, while they unfeignedly sympathized with him in his appalling trouble. If we cannot quite adopt their speculative and religious formulas, any more than we can commend their wisdom or kindness in lecturing the patriarch as they did; on the other hand, it is cluJ to them not to estimate their characters from the gall and wormwood outpourecl on their devoted heads by Job,,when stung to madness through their reproaches. (3) Mistaken views. .All three were equally astray in the fundamental doctrine they propounded in the course of their debate with the patriarch, viz. that suffering was so indis- solubly associated with sin that the one was the measure of the other-a theory which Job strenuously combats throughout the poem; thus giving rise to what we designate the 11econd problem of the book, viz. as to the precise relation subsisting between sin and suffering as they appear on earth. 2. Points of difference. (1) Eliphaz, a man of erudition, a person given to profound spiritual reflection, a seer who discerned spirits, dreamed dreams, and enjoyed intercourse with the unseen world, may be held to represent the prophet of the period. (2) Bildad, of smaller build and nar- rower vision, a strong traditionalist in religion, with a profound veneration for the ancients, who accepted his theology from his ancestors without putting ugly questions as to its truth, and was prepared, by quoting maxims and citing proverbs of hoary antiquity, to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints, was probably designed to typify the sage of the time. (3) Zophar the Naamathite, an echo of his friends as to sentiment, as to manner more boisterous and arrogant than either, full of commonplaces and conventional dogmas, which he enunciated with imposing dignity and tremendous authority, may be regarded as the good man of the day, the vulgar but sincere formalist, who says sharp and bitter things, and always means what he says, as well as says what be means (Cox). III. THE MELANCHOLY TIDINGS THEY RECEIVED. How they learnt the news of Job's evil fortunes is not related, but the fact that they did reminds us of: 1. The rapidity with which evil tidings u.~ually spread; since it was obviously not long before the report of their friend's calamities reached their ears. 2. The organic unity of society ; which renders it impossible for any one to either suffer or rejoice alone (cf. 1 Cor. xii. 26). 3. The special susceptibility of friendly hearts for learning of others' woes. IV. THE MUTUAL APPOINTMENT THEY MADE. A token of: 1. Lively interest in the patriarch's welfare. Seeing they must have communicated with each other concerning their neighbour's evil hap, thus showing they were not indifferent to what had occurred. 2. Loving sympathy u,ith the patriarch's distress. For they meant to mourn with him and to comfort him, not to treat him to a mere call of ceremony. 3. High appreciation of the patriarch's worth. Since they planned to go together to the scene of sorro1v, which, if it did spring from a due regard to their own di~ity as princes, was perhaps also traceable to their sense of what was owing to the rank and worth of their old friend. It says much for the three neighbours that they did not neglect Job now that he was a poor, diseased le par. V. THE FERVEt.T EMOTION THEY DISPLAYED. 1. Tearful sympathy. Catching a sight of their former neighbour, whom they had k1 own and revered in hi, prosperity, now sitting on the ash-heap, outside his house, and hardly recognizi □ g, in the emaciated features on which they gazed, the noble form of the quondam prince whose glory outshone the radiance of all his contemporaries, they lifted up their voices a°:d wept. Orientals e.re proverbially more emotioual and lachrymose than phlegmatic Occidentals; but still it must have been a.u affecting spectacle to behold the three  TH.Ii: BOOK OF ·JOB. [OR, II, 1-18, - - - - - -------- great princes moved to tel\rs by the patri1LI'Oh's distress. 2. Genuine amazement. " They rent every one his mantle." A symbol of horror and astonishment, I\R in the cRBe of JRcob (Gen. xxxdi. 34), Joshua (vii. 6), Ezra (ix. 8), Cainpha.s (Matt, xxvl. 65). B. Profvund sorrow. "They sprinkled dust upon their heads towards heaven; " i.e. threw handfuls of dust into the air, as the Arabs still do, that it might fall upon their beads, in wken tbnt they were deeply moved by the troubles and calamities that had fallen on their friend. Yl. THE PECULIAR A'l'TITUDE THEY ASSUMED. It is unnecessary to snppoee that they were absolutely silent, but merely that they spake nothing to him during all that period, certainly not in any way alluding to the cause of his distress. And this silent attitude may have been expressive of (1) ceremonial propriety, if this was the customary manner of Orient.al mourning, which is dou htful; but was more pro• bably dictated by (2) delicate sensibility, which forbr.de them to intrude UJ>On the solitude of a sorrow so overpowering as that which they beheld; and (3) reverential awe, as seeing in the patriarch one upon whom the hand of God was visibly laid (cf. Gen. xxxiv. 5; Lev. x. 3; Ps. xlvi. 10; Ezek. iii. 15); if it di<l not also spring from (4) rising 6Uspicion, the thought beginning to thrust itself into view, which indeed, according to their philosophy, could not long be repressed, that the agonized and wretched sufferer before them must have been, notwithstanding his previous high reputation for piety, a hypocrite at bottom, whose disguised insincerities and secret iniquities had at length drawn down upon him the just judgment of. a holy and incensed God. . .. . · Learn : 1. That good men may often misunderstand God's truth, misconstrue God's providence, and misjudge God's people. 2. That good men should always study to be distinguished for sympathy towards the suffering and sorrowing. 3. That goo<l men who aspire to be brothers of consolation should not forget that silence is sometimes more soothing than speech. 4. That good men should never cherish secret suspicions of those whom they seek to comfort.