The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 53

Ver. 4.-" Saean's old saw" (Browning). Sa.tan was defeated in the first trial, but not convinced. '11.ith persistent malignity he proceeded to suggest a more severe test. It wa~ no fault of his that the first test, hard as it was, had not gone to the utmost extremity; for he had been expressly limited by the words, "Only upon himself put not forth thine hand" (ver. 12). He had gone to the full length of his tether, but that had not satisfied him; so he must apply for a larger privilege of mischief-making. He requests permission to touch the person of Job, either quoting or coining the proverb which Browning has called" Satan's old saw." L 1'HE FORCE oir THE PROVERB. Take it how you will-that a man will sacrifice a less vital part to .save a more vital part, holding up his arm to shelter his head; or that he will give the Jives of his cattle, slaves, children, to save his own body's skin; or t.hat he will sell hide after hide of precious skins from his warehouse, i.e. all his property, for his life-the proverb plainly means that a man will make any sacrifice to save his life. 1. There is an instinct of sel,J-pre,seruation. Here we come to an impulse· of nature. When in a state of nat11re all creatures try to save their own lives at any cost. Even the wonld-be suicide, when once he finds himself drowning, screams fo1' help, and clutches madly at the rope that is flung to him. Accordingly, juries usually bring in a verdict predicating an unsound mind in the case of any one who has succeeded in takiug his own life. Now, this instinct of self-preservation is a gift from the Author of nature; it is innocent because Divine, and powerful because primitive. 2. Life is a first condition of all e:r:perience and possession. If a ma.n loses hie life he loses his all. He may sacrifice many things for the sake of one coveted end-selling all he has t.o buy one pea.rl of great price; he may risk hie life on a great venture; but if he loses his life he can obtain nothing in return. " What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own life?" (Matt. xvi. 26). 3. Life is seen to be supremely wil:ued. Starving men become cannibals. In the siege of Jerusalem women boiled t.heir own children for a 1.e.st meal, natural affection itself being sacrificed to the instinct of self-preservation. Desperate men sell their lives dearly. • II. THE FALSITY or THE PROVERB. We must be on our guard how we quote texts from Scripture. This is especially important in the Book of Job, where the form is dramatic. The proverb before us is in Scripture; yet it is not from God, but from the devil. This very fact should make us snspicious ,i.bout it. It looks like truth, but it comes from the "father of lies." 1. It denies the higl,er life. Satan refers to a natural instinct. But that instinct does not cover the whole of our being. His lie is the more deadly because it is the exaggeration of a truth, or rather because it is the statement of one truth which needs to be qualified with another truth. Bishop Butler has taught us that human nature in its fulness includes conscience. But conscience may go against the lower part of our nature. The higher life may dominate and suppress the instincts of the lower. 2. It ignores the fact of self-sacrifice. Sata.11 uttered his saw as though it were a generalization from wide experience. We may have our fine theories as to how things ought to be~ he will tell us how he finds them really existing in the world. The devil only perceives the lower lifo, only perceives the selfish side of man. He is the "spirit that denies," because he is blind. But self-sacrifice is as mnch a fact ae self-preservation. The cross is its great witness. The good Shepherd giving his life for the sheep is the triumphant refutation of Satan's old saw. So in  THE BOOK OF JOB. 17