concooler.l, shall be one day mede known dimensions, and then after a while shrinking (Mott. x. 26). Many IU"e laid bare even in back A.gain to their original narrow limits. tho lifetime of their devisers. Egypt, Elam, Babylon, ancl the Hittite na- Ver. 23.-He inoreaeeth the nations, and tion were cnses in point. deatroyeth them. Go,l's providence concerns Ver. 24.-He taketh away the heart of itself, not only with the fate of individunl the chief of tho people of the earth; rather, men, but nleo with thnt of nntions. With the chief• of the penp/,t,, or "the popular chief- lsrnol, his "peculio.r people" (Deut. xiv. 2), tains'' (Lee). He deprives these" chiefH" he espeoinlly concerned himself, but not of their wisdom or courage, or both, o.nd with Israel only. Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, thus brings down the nations under their Elnm, Edom, Ammon, Moab, wero likewise governance. And causeth them to wander objects of his ntlention, of his gnido.nce, of in a wilderness where there is no we.y; hie obaetening ho.nd, of hie o.venging ro,1. re.tiler, in a chao•-one of the words used Particular nations were consigned by Goel in Gen. i. 2 to describe the condition of the to the charge of particular angels (Dan. x. material universe before God had ordered 18, 20). At his pleasure he can "increaeo" and arranged it. The chieftains, t!epri ved nations by blessing them with extraordinary of their "heart," are so confused and per• fecundity (Exod. i. 7-12), or " destroy" plexcd the.t they do not know what to do, them by internal decay, by civil wars, or or which way to tum. by the swords of their neighbours. Re Ver. 25.-They grope in the dark without enlargeth the nations, and stra.iteneth them light (comp. eh. v. 14 and Deut. xxviii. 29). again; i.e. " enlarges their bounds, or dimi- And he maketh them to stagger like a nishes them." In Western Asia., where Job drunken man; litera.lly, to wandeT-to pur- lived, empires were continually starting up, sue a. devioUB course instead of a etraigh t growing and expandiDg, increasiDg to vast one.
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-5.-Job to Zophar: 1. The conduct of the friends criticized. I. Aluwo.ANT ASSUMPTION REPELLED. I. With sarcastic admiration. "No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you." Irony is a weapon difficult and dangerous to use, apt to wound the hand that wields it as well as the heart that feels it, and seldom becoming on the lips of any, least of all of goo,! men. Admirably adapted to sting and lacerate, it rarely improves or conciliates those against whom it is <lirected. Yet, not being absolutely sinful, it may be employed with success against arrogant pretension and haughty assumption. Elijah on Mount Carmel (1 Kings xviii. 27), and St. Paul in his Epistles (Gal. v. 15; Phil. iii. 2; 1 Cor. iv. 8), used satire with remarkable effect. Job also in the present instance may be held as justified in retorting on Zophar and his colleagues, whose conduct richly deserved castigation. 2. With vehement self-asseTtion. "But I have understanding [literally, 'a heart'] as well as you; I am not inferior to you [literally, 'I fall not l:iEineath or behind you']." Modesty, which at all times becomes good men (Prov. xxx. 3 ; Dan. ii. 30; John i. 27 ; 2 Cor. iii. 5), and is specially enjoined ~pcm God's people (Ps. xxv. 9; Isa. !xvi. 2; Micah vi. 8), and Christ's followers {Matt. v. 3; xviii. 4; Rom. xii. 3; Col. iii. 12; 1 Pet. v. 5), need not prevent a frank self-assertion when one is, like Job, unjustly aspersed. It is sometimes false humility to sit with uncomplaining silence beneath the tongue of slander, Provided one indulge not in extravagant assertion, and assume not the credit of gifts and graces which have descended from above, a man may honestly a.nd even boldly maintain hie intellectual and moral worth, should these appear to be maliciously traduced. Job might have safely claimed to surpass bis antagonists in mental capacity and acquaintance with the culture of the d_ay, in ripe personal experience and ability to interpret the ways of God to man ; but with much modesty he only aspires to be their equal, to have a heart (Anglice, a head, a braiD) as well as they, and not to be the sballow-pated witling, or wild ass's colt, they insiDuated. 3. With scornful contempt. "Yea, who knowcth not such things as these?" The subiime wisdom with which they sought to overwhelm him was the veriest commonplace; their much- paraded teaching but a string of threadbare maxims, "familiar in the mouth as household words," of which be himself could supply an endless series of examples, as beautiful and more correct-which he does in the present chapter. It is a Ju1t ground of complaint when old aud hackneyed seutiments iu mor~s or religion, science or 212 TRE BOOK OF .TOB. (CH. xn. l-211.