The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 130

it nffords a. fearfully vivid representation of the misery of the lost (Rev. vi. 16, l 7). 2, A ],fan-shooter. "Why hast thou set •me as a mark against thee?" i.e. a>t a target to shoot at (cf. oh. vi. 4). Another outrageous impeachment of the Deity, implying that God, in afflicting Job, had been guilty of: (I) Mauifest favouritism, in passin2; by others and selecting him as the object of his attacks. (2) Delibemte cruelty, in not morely sending a random or occasional shaft against Job, but in, so to speak, setting him up like a target, and taking calm and deliberate aim at his bosom. (3) Deep malevolence, as.if God took the same delight in directing his arrows a.ga.inet him, Job, that an archer might do in practising at a butt, or a soldier in sending a shaft against a foe. (4) Unjustifiable hostility, since Job at least was quite unable to dis- cern any cause for such extraordinary procedure. 3. A Man-oppressor. "Why hast thou made me o.n obstacle in thy way?" (according to another and perhaps a. more exact translation); the idea being that Job was perpetually in God's path, and that God, ho.ting him and feeling him a burden (according to another reading of the next clause) rushed against him as if to destroy him, and so get rid of him. But God never 80 feel~ toward any man. He may hate man's sin, but man himself he never hates . .He may often find man, through sin, an obstacle in his path, but he never sets man up before him as an object of hostile assault. II. THE DIVINE OONDU0T 0HARACTEBIZED. As: 1. Unworthy. Job designs to hint that man's insignificance makes it wholly unbecoming, if not mean, on God's part to visit him with affliction; that such incessant vigilance as God exercises over man is altogether to attribute to him too much importance, that man, being so utterly frail and short-lived, it were nobler in God to permit him to enjoy his brief span of life in ease and comfort. A fallacious argument, since: (1) No being that God has made is too insignificant for God to care for. He cares for sparrows (Matt. x. 29), and for oxen (1 Cor. ix. 9), and why not for man (Matt. x. 31)? (2) If man is not too insignificant to sin, he cannot be too insignificant for God to keep his eye upon. The capacity of sinnin6 gives man an importance in God's universe that he would not otherwise have possessed. (3) Though man's life on earth be short, the consequences of his evil deeds may live behind him; hence the impossibility of God withdrawing his control of mun- dane things. (4) The charge completely falls to the ground, since God watches over man, not in an evil sense, but in a good.. 2. Unkind. Job's language sets forth the Divine conduct in a most offensive light, as never for a solitary instant looking away from mau, or allowing him a moment's ease; but harassing him so incessantly that life becomes a burden, pursuing him so remorselessly that, do what he will, he can never get out of the Creator's way. Thank God, such a picture is only true of the impenitent. "The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth" (Ps. xxxiv ..16). 8. Ungracious. Granting that he had committed faults, and that the great Man-watcher had detected sin in his past life,-" Why dost thou not pardon my transgression?" asks Job, "and take away mine iniquity?" An exceedingly natural question, not, however, because man is so insignificant a creature, and human life so evanescent, and sin so comparatively trifling, but because (1) God is essentially merciful and gracious (Exod. :x.x.xiv. 6); (2) in the exercise of mercy God specially delights (Jer. ix. 24; Isa. xliii. 25; Ezek. x.x:xiii. 11; Micah vii. 18); (8) the exercise of mercy is perfectly consistent with the other attributes of his Divine nature (Rom. iii. 25, 26); (4) mercy more than justice redounds to the glory of God (Rom. ix. 23; 2 Cor. iv. 15; Eph. i. 6; Jas. ii. 18); (5) mercy is more calculated to soften and subdue man than punishment; (6) no one but God can pardon tra.nsgres- ' sion or take away sin (Ps. xxxii. 6; ciii. 8; Isa. xliii. 25; Luke v. 21); and (7) God bas distinctly promised to pardon them that cast themselves upon his mercy (Rom. x. 12, 18; 1 John i. 9). Yet in perfect harmony with all this, the awakened sinner may, like Job, be denied the sense or the outward sign of forgiveness (in Job's case the removal of trouble), because (1) he does not ask in the right spirit, with humility and self-abasement (Ps. xxxii. Ii-; Ii. 4, 11), asking that as a matter of right which can only be obtained as a gift of grace,-men who think they have a claim on God cannot be forgiven (Luke xviii. 14); (2) he does not ask with the right plea, viz. in the Name of God (Ps. cvi. 8; Isa. xliii. 25) or of Christ (John :xiv. 13), but comes expecting to find favour on the ground of his own righteousness (Rom. ix. 32); (3) he does not ask for the right purpose, his object being escape from sin's punishment rather than from sin JOD, g,  180 THE BOOK OF JOB. (CB, Vil, 1--2.1.