The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 87

Ver. 8.-.A tnu fpri1n.ciplefalsel,y applied. We have now reached the kernel of the controversy with which Job and his friends are t.o be engaged. While-as the pro- l~crue shows-the primary purpose of the Book of Job is to refute Satan's low, sneering insinuation implied in. the words, "Doth Job serve God for nought?" and to prove that God can and does inspire disinterested devotion, the long discussion among the friends is .concerned with the problem of suffering, and the old orthodox notion that it was just the punishment of sin, showing the inadequacy of that notion, and the deep mystery of the whole subject. Now we are introduced to this perplexing question; It comes before us in the form of a principle that is undoubtedly true, although th& application of it by Job's friends turned out to be egregiously false. ·• I. 'l'HE TRUTH OF THE PRINCIPLE. 1. This is communieated in the Nll'W Testament by St. Paul, " Whatsoever a. man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Gal. vi 7). 2. Thu is in accordance wi,th experience. Eliphaz had seen it. We need not suppose that he had been deceived by some strange hallncination. We mast all have observed how men make or mar their own fortunes. We know what will be the end of the career of the idle and dissipated. We are constantly watching the triumph of diligence and prudence. 3. This is afte:r the analogy of nature. 'fhen the harvest is according to the .sowmg, and it is determined by absolute laws. But there ie no chaos in the human sphere. Moral causation works there as strictly as physical causation in the outer world. There is no escaping from the natural consequences of our deeds. He who eows the wind will most assuredly reap the whirlwind. 4. This is just. Job's friends were right in feeling that the wicked ought to suffer and that the good ought to be blessed. The attempt to evade the great law of causation in the spiritual sphere is as immoral as it is futile. Why should any one expect to be saved from the hanest which he has himself sown? IL Tm: Jl'ALBE APPLICATION OP THE PRINCIPLE. The whole Book of Job demon- strates that Job's friends were wrong in applying this principle to the case of the patriarch. But why was it not applicable? 1. They anticipated the liarved. ·The harvest is the end of the world. Some firstfruits may be gathered earlier; often we eee the evil consequences of misdeeds ripening rapidly. But this is not always the case. Meanwhile we can judge of no life until we have seen the whole of it. In the eud Job reaped an abundant harvest of blessings (eh. xlii. 10-17). 2. They ignored the fXllri.ety of ca.uaea. It is a recognized rule of logic that while you can always argue from the cause to the effect, you cannot safely reverse the process and reason back from the effect to the cause, because the same effect may come from any one of a number of caW!eS. Job might bring calamity on himself, and if he did wrong he would bring it -in the long rWl. But other 0&11868 might produce it. In this case it was not Job,  Olt, IV, 1-21.] THE BOOK OF JOB. 83