The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 193

V ors. 13-20.-Zophar to Job: 3. An exhortation to repentance. I. Tm: ACTINGB OF PEKITENCE. 1. Preparatioo of the heart. "If thou prepare [literally, •direct'] thy heart," i.e. towards God. True penitence is a heart-work, beginning in the heart, relating to the heart, and car,i.ed on by the heart, thongh not without Divine assistance·(Prov; rn. I). (1) An arduous work; the verb io1plying serions purpose, fixed resolution; continuous effort; and tbe concentration of the heart upon anything, much more upon what is spirit=lly good, being ever a task of supreme difficulty (Jer. xvii. ~). (2) Ji, complex work; the right setting or directing of the heart involving self-examination, to discover where the heart is wrong; self-humiliation, or sincere sorrow on account of that wrongness of heart which is discovered; and self-rectification, or the immediate, conscious, and deliberate reversal of that state of wrong (Ps. cxix.. 69; Jer. xx:xi. 18, 19 ;' Hos. vi. I). (3) A ::iecessary work; Scripture invariably representing this Godward direction of the heart; as a constituent element in true repentance (1 Sam. vii. 3; 2 Chron. xx. 33), as the want of it is no leas strongly stigmatized as a mark of impeni- tence and sin (P,;. lxxviiL 8). (4) A personal work; sinful man having many aids. in the task expected of him, such as the external teaching of the Word, and the internal illumination of the Spirit, but still being himself held responsible for its actual• per- formance. 2. E7evatioo of the soul. "If thou stretch out thine hands towards him," i.e. God ; the lifting up and stretching forth of the hands being a common devotional attitude (Exod. ix. 33; Ezra ix. 5; 1 Kings viii. 22), and hence a frequent biblical symbol of the outgoing and ascending of the soul. to God in prayer (Ps. lxiii. 4; _cxliii. 6; Isa. i. 15). Such exercise implies a sense of tbe soul's need of God, a yearning of the soul after God, a perception of the soul's distance from God, an inward persuasion that this distance me.y be diminished, if not entirely removed, and the human soul again be at peace witb God, and a fervent application tbat such confidential and loving relationship between the two may again be restored. 3. Reformation of the life. "If iniquity be in thine band, put it far away, and let not wickedneBB dwell in thy tabernacles." This, no Iese than the two preceding, is indispensable to a complete work of penitence. Mere amendment of the external walk and conversation does not amount !.o, and will certainly not serve as a substitute for, the cleansing of the heart, On the other hand, the work of in ward purification, though it could stand alone, would not suffice without a corresponding rectification of the daily life. True repentance consists in sorrowful acknowledgment of sin, and tearful supplication of mercy, followed by e. steadfast resolution after new obedience, Beginning in the heart with the detection of oin, and proceeding to t~ lip with the confession of sin, it terminates in-the life wit.Ii OH, XI, 1-20.] TUE BOOK OF JOB. 19'.)