The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 102

Ing thei_r p~eition a~d draw!ng nourishment ~ t~emselvee. Still, at beet, it is only the rooting 1n the BOIi that 1s thought of. This 1s but. the first stage. Eliphaz waH quite right in his surmise that the last stage would be very different, although he was in error ns to tbe time, circnmstanceR, an<l character o( the great denouement. 1. No good fruit will follow. The foolish stock can only bring forth fruit of ft1l!y; and if it grows luxuriantly, it will not bear any better products. Its size will only multiply and coarsen its natural issue. Let bad and foolish men advance unimpeded as far as possible in their earthly pl'Osperity, yet of real soul-prosperity they will have none, fur they have not in them the life from which this springs. 2. The flourishing prosperity will c0111e to an end. These noxious plants must be fi11ally rooted np if they are not struck down earlier by the thunderbolts of jucl,(ment. Rapid growth is no promise of long endurance. The mistake of the old world was to look for the judgment on earth. It may come here. ~ut if it does not, it is certain to come hereafter; for God is wise and good. and almighty. Therefore beware of the delusion of temporal insanity. Look to the end. Look to the quality of the success attained. Let this be what Christ approves; i.e. like his success, which was victory through the cross. Then a fruitful root will sprout out ofa "dry ground" (Isa. liii. 2).-W. F. A. Vers. 6, 1.-lnevitable trouble. I. TROUBLE DOES NOT COME CASUALLY AND WITHOUT DUE CAUSE. It is not like a weed that spriogs up by the wayside. This might seem to be the case, because it afrives so suddenly and so unexpectedly, and because there doe's not_ appear to be any rule that governs its advent at one place rather than another. But Elip):mz is rightly persuaded that it is not the effect of cbance. We have good reasons for agreeing with him thus far. 1. .All things are subiect to law. Chance is only a name for our ignorance. When we do not see a cause we imagine that the event has happened_ casually. But as we pursue our inquiries further we 5nd that there are nci stray events outside the !:Teat bond of Divine order. 2. All things are arranged by Providence. Here is another answer to the doctrine of chance. Not only is there_ faw; ther_e _1-s also a _supreme Administrator of law. God's hand is unseen, but not a pawn moves unless his finge~s are upon it; or if it be said that this leaves no scope for man's freeswill, still it may be asserted that, the infinite mind of God seeing the whole game, the 01.d from the beginning, he can always so arrauge that ultimately his desigus shall be fully executed. . II. '1.'ROU_BLE COMES FROM WITHIN, NOT FROM WITHOUT. It does not spring out of the ground. Man is born toit. There is something in human nature that pre- disposes him to trouble. Just as the sparks fly up by nature, so the soul of mau. suffers by nature. It is an attribute of the human constitution to be subject to suffer- ing. 1. Susceptibility to suffering is natural. 'rhe callous are the unnatural. The soul that never grieves is hard e.nd dead. We are made to be sensitive to pain, just as we are made to hear sounds arid see the light. 2. Trouble is born with us. Siu begets suffering. The sin of the parent descends in calamities on his children, who inherit the harvest of his misdeeds. The fall of man and the general sinfulness of the race ensure a certain amount of suffering to every innocent child who is born into the world. Nevertheless, do not take refuge with the fatalist. The trouble has a cause. Seek thi.i and master it. III. TROUBLE IS UNIVERSAL AND INEVITABLE. Some have more than others. There are men to whom the lines have fallen in pleasant places, yea, they have a. goodly heritage. One such had been Job. But his hour of trouble came, and then it proved to be an hour of unprecedented calamity. Though men suffer llifferently, all suffer-if not in body or estate, yeL in mind and son!; if not in sunny youth, yet in overcast man- hood; if uot in visible adversity, yet in inward distress. This does not mean that me!l are always suffering, nor that ther8 is more pain than joy in life. 1. We should not be surprised at meeting with trouble. Many people irrationally imagine that they are to be exceptions to the universal experience. When painful facts reveal their delusion they are overwhelmed with amazement and disappointment. It would be better to be prepared to expect what is part of the common lot of man. 2. Trouble which cannot be avoided may yet be cured. The true. resort should be neither to stoical indifference nor to impotent despair. There i8 no gospel in the assertion that trouble is universal. But there is a gospel which deals with the fact. Christ comts to give us power to 100 THE BOOK OF JOB. [on. v. 1-27.