The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 163

1:hcy were a, nearly e.s po98ible •the opposite. All experience showed: (1) 'l'he.t God frequently confounded the righteous and the wicked in one indiscriminate overthrow. "This is one thing [literally, 'it is all one'], therefore I 11&.id [or, • will say'] lt, he destroycth I.be perfoct and the wicked" (ver. 22). An incontrovertible fact, which wars, famines, pestilenees, ea.rthquakes, t.empests, and other dis11Btrous occurrences, sunicie11tly attest, which thoughtful observers in all ages have noted (Eccles. ix, 23), and which has frequently perplexed the good (Gen. xviii, 24); but which, while it is not an injustice to the creature, even the righteous themselves being 11inful, is es little an inequality on the part of the Creator, who, though not bound to justify his ways to sinful man, may yet have adopted this method of Divine government as best suited to meet the moral and spiritual improvement of m1mkiud generally, to exercise the faith and de,·elop the graces of the righteous, and to awaken within the soul a con,·iction of the necessity and oerte.inty of a future et.ate (Mai. iii. 18; cf. Butler's 'Analogy,' eh. iii.). (2) That God was indifferent to the miseries of the righteoui "If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the righteO\lS" (ver, 23); :first at their suffern,gs, and then at the inward temptations to unbelief and despa.ir the.t these sufferings occasion. This, however, is iuconoeivable. God cautions mon against judging one another simply by appearances. Much mor\) is it necessary to avoid this mistake in judging of God. "God doth not afflict the children of men," much lees his own children, " willingly" (Lam. iii. 33). .. Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face." God laughs at the wicked and their machinations (Ps. ii. 4); never at bis people and their sorrows (Exod. iii. 7; Matt. xxiii. 37; John xi. 35). (3) That God seemingly extended favour to the wicked; first, generally, by promoting wicked men to positions of worldly influence nnd power: "The earth is given into the hand of the wicked" (ver. 24); and second, particularly, by committing the administration of fustice to the ungodly; "He covereth the faces of the judges thereof" (ver. 24); i.e. so that, through ignorance and corruption, being unable to discern between right: and wrong, they le.,aalize oppression and robbery, "framing mischief by a law," That such anomalies exist is undenia.ble (Ps. xii. 8). And Job means to say that he holds God responsible for them. "lf it is not he that is the Author of them, then .who is it?" God is the moral Governor of the universe (Exod. ix. 29; Ps. xlvii. 2, 7.; lxxxiii. 18). The civil magistracy is a Divine institution (Prov. viii. 15, 16). God alone has power to prevent the perversion of his own ordinance (Ps. lxxv. 7; Dan. ii, 21). God is not in ignorance that his people are oppressed (Eccles. v. 8). And God has diijtinctly promised to exercise righteoumess and judgment for all that are oppressed (Pe. ciii. 6), Hence nobody is to blame but God, says Job. The logic is good, but the theology is; bad. lL fu:MOilo'ING me LOT. 1. The impossi/n,1,ity of attaining to happiness. (1) The fi.eetness of bis days had rendered this beyond his ability. His past ,life had vanished with incredible velocity: (a) like a quick-footed courier: "My days are [literally, • were '] swifter than a .post" ( ver. 25), or etate-nmner carrying letter~ and despatches, sometimes able, when mounted on dromedaries, to travel a hundred and fifty miles a day; (b) like. a fast-sailing ship, literally, " ships of reed," skiffs constructed of· the papyrus Niloti.ca, and celebrated for their swiftness, "a little pinnace that may serr.e to make sport and pastime on the water, which turneth nimbly.here and there, and goeth away apaoe" (Calvin); and(c) like a swift-flying eagle; ".Ail the eagle that hastcth to the prey" (ver. 26) ;-three images conveying an impressive picture of the brevity of man's existence on lhe earth. (2) The vanity of his life was another ea.use of failure in reaching mundane felicity. His days bad rushed by "without seeing good" (ver. 25), or," having seen 110 good;" which in Job's case was not correct, as pl'ior U> his affliction he had attained to a high degree of both .temporal and spiritual pros- perity. Men are prone to forget past mercies. "Out of sight, out of mind," iB frequently exemplified among saints. Perhaps no liv81 exist that never see good, , Yet the noblest thing in God's world is not to see, but to do, good. A life that does,good may be short; it can never be wholly vain.,.2. The impossibility o/s'IIIMTl,Ounting hiuorrow, This o.lso had a double cause. (1) The immovability of bill misery. However freq_uently he might re1olve to brighten up, the recollection of his pains made him  CJ1r. IX. 1---86,] 'fHE BOOK OF JOB. 167