The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 177

perfectly lntelliglble to Job on the hypothesis that God, like eom'l petty tyrant, bad resorted to the thumbscrews of affliction to extort confession from II prisoner whom he knew to be innocent, eimply because he had the power so to do. But Ruch a suppnsition was, of course, untenable. Therefore Job felt hemmed in on every side by inextricable difficulty, and wa~ obliged to cry, "Show me wherefore thou contende~t with me." LESSONS. 1. The best thing for burdened souls to no is to cast themselves and their burdens into God's lap; not angrily, but humbly; not compiainingly, but confidingly. 2. There is o. wide difference between God's contending with his people, and G,Jd's condemning them; this he never, that he often, does. 3. When God's character and God's conduct appear in conflict, it becomes us to question our interpretations of the latter rather than renounce our trust in the former. Vera. 8-17.-.Tob to God: the progress of the thirdcontr011ersy: 2. .An inexplicable wntradiction, I. Goo's FORMER LOVING CARE. 1. Minutely detailed. (1) In Job's creation. 'fhis is first stated generally, the patriarch describing himself as having been made directly, by God's hand: "'l'hine hands have made me and fashioned me;" perhaps in allusion to Gen. i. 26 (cf. Deut. iv. 32; eh. xii. 10; xxxiv. 19; Ps. xxxiii. 15; Isa. xiv. 12); completely, in all his parts: "together[' literally,' all of me'] rouml about" (cf. Ps. cxxxix. 15, 16; Exod. iv. 11; eh. xxvii. 3; Ps. xciv. 9); carefully, with exquisite skill: "'l'hou hast made me as the clay,"-possibly an echo of Gen. ii. 7, though most probably the image is that of a potter moulding an exquisite vessel. And certainly man is God's noblest hanJiwork, whether we have regard to bis physical structure or to his mental and moral organization, and much more if we include both in our contemplation (cf. 'Hamlet,' act ii. sc. 2). The process of man's formation is then sketched in four particulars, showing a remarkable acquaintance with the phy- siological phenomena connected with this mysterious subject: the generation of the child ; the production of the embryo; the gradual development of the fret us; anJ the actual birth of the child (vers. 10-12); for further information on which points the Exposition may be consulted. (2) In Job's preservation. "Thy visitation [literally, 'thy providence 'J hath preserved my spirit" (ver. 12). Man's continued existence on earth is as much a miracle of Divine power as his first introduction into life. Only Divine care constantly exercised could keep a delicate organism like the human body, awl much more & complicated instrument like the human mind, from falling into d1Rrepair, and eventually into dissolution. Man, too, has so many wants, that unless Divine goodness waited on him daily, he would speedily succumb beneath the stroke of death. Hence Scripture assigns our sustenance no less than our formation to God (Deut. viii. 3; Ps. xxxvi. 6; Acts xvii. 28). 2. Slcilfully employed. As Job recalls the time when he was thus an object of God's paternal solicitude, he cannot help lingering over the sweet memories with which it floods his soul. Setting up, too, these tender reminiscences against the dark background of his present sorrow, he feels melted and softened. The thought of that Divine love which had fashioned him and favoured him enkindles in his soul a strange yearning for its return, which makes him try, as it were, by recalling old times to God, to excite a touch of pity in the Divine heart. "Thine hands have made me; and yet thou destroyest me!" "Thou hast made me as clay; and yet thou reducest me to dust again!" There are few arguments that touch the heart of God so powerfully as the remembrance of former mercies. "Put me in remembrance," says God ([sa. xliii. 26). "Forget not all his benefits," says David (Ps. ciii. 2; cf. xiii. 6; lxxvii. 10; cxliii. 5). II. Goo's PRESENT CRUEL TREATMENT. 1. The Divine plot. "And these things hast thou hid in thine heart: I know that this is with thee" (ver. 13). Job con- ceived that his terrible afflictions were the outcome of a dark and deep de8ign which God had formed concerning him before he was born ; that, in fact, God had summoned him into existence precisely in order to persecute him in the way about to be described. That God worketh all things on earth according to the counsel of his will, that every event in history, as well as every incident in individual experience, has its place in an eternally existing and universe-embracing plan, is a truth of natural religion no less thnn of Divine revelation (Acts xv. 18; Eph. i. 11). But that God created any soul expressly for the purpose of rendering it miserable, either iu time or eternity, is a 1lmple perversion of truth, inconsistent alike with mau's fuodameutal notions of ths 182 TITE BOOK OF JOI\. [Clt. x. 1-22,