The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 261

robbel'l!of Job'etime (oh. xii. 6; u.19) were men of thie type. (2) Defiant antagonism to God (vers. 25, 26). Hostility to God is the n11tural chraoterietio of the sinful heart (Rom. viii. 7); but all tyrannical oppression of men is practically a fighting age.inet God. And the particulBr aggravation of the wioked m11.n'e offence liee in thls1 that, though clearly understanding himself to be acting contrary to God'e Law1 and thus virtually entering t-he lists Bg!linet Jehovah, he persists in his nefarious behaviour, with much braggBdocio "stretohing out his hand," and "affecting to play the hero ngaiu~t God " (ver. 25); with immeasurable insolence "strengthening himself against t-hc Almighty," a feeble worm presuming to contend with the Lord of hosts• with infinite zest "running upon him," as if eager to close in mortal combat with his celestial Adversary (ver. 26)) with fierce determination, "with a stiffened neck," ex,,ressive of haughty resolution; with amazing self-sufficiency, dashina up ngainst him with "the thick bosses of his bucklers" (ver. 26), as if expecting ~ overwhelm the Supreme with ignominious defe&t. Examples of such defiers of God may be found in Pharaoh (Exod. v, 2), Sennacherib (Isa, xuvi. 20), the crucifiers of Christ (Ps. ii. 1; Acts iv. 25-27); though all sin is essentially an insolent rejection of God's rule and d~fiance of his authority (Luke xix. _14, 27). (3) Licentious indulgence of self (ver. 21). The language descnbes one given over to gluttony, a person whose "god is bis belly" (Phil. iii. 19). Luxurious living an object of ambition to most men (Luke xii. !9); a frequent mark of wicked men (P11. xvii. 14; lxxiii. 7; Luke xvi. 19); a special danger for all men (Deut. viii. 12). Fat feeding and fair clothincr have a tendency t.o beget and foster pride. "It is a common proverb that provender° pricketh men" (Calvin). When Jeshurun waxed fat he kicked (Deut. xxxii. 15). If in politics and civil ma.ttere "lean men are dangerous"(' Julius Cmsar,' act i. sc. 2), in religion it is mostly otherwise. Hence the wisdom of Agur's prayer (Prov. xxx. 8, 9). (4) Complete insensibility to sin (ver. 28). The wicked man takes up hie abocle in cities like Jericho (Josh. vi. 26), which God's curse has rendered desolate through some overwhelming visitation, thus evincing not so much his insolent defiance of God, as the stolidity of his wicked soul, hie utter want of pious feeling, the complete callousness and deadness of his moral and spiritual nature. All sin gravitates .towards "a con- science past feeling" (Eµh. iv. 19). , III. THE APPLICATION OF THIS WISDOJC. 1. A wicked insinuation. "Let not him that is deceived" (ver. 31), i.e. Job. Eliphaz charges Job with a false. confidence in bis own integrity. Though not true of Job, it is certain that of many it is not false. Hence the propriety of self-examination as to the grounds on which our assurance rests. If it rest on the Spirit's witness to our faith in Christ, it is good and will never disappoint our expectations; if it is bat>ed on any of those "vanities·" alluded to by Eliphaz, it is false, and will eventually overwhelm U!! in despair. 2. An eaxeUene admonition. " Let him not trust in vanity." Everything outside of God and his favour, on which a human 110ul grounds its confidence of safety, or in which it thinks to find happiness, is vanity-moral excellence, evangelical fervour, general philan- thropy, intellectual power, social position, commercial credit, political influence, no less than successful wickedness and unchecked antagonism t,o God. Yet tJ:i,e human heart is insanely prone to -clasp these to its bosom, saying, "Be thou my confidence," instead of truBting in the living God. But to do so is the merest self-deception.' For -none of these things, nO!' all of them, can satisfy a human souL Only God can so occupy the heart as to fill it with happiness and render it secure. God alone is the saint's portion and trnst. 3. A feMful predicf:ion. •• Vanity," probably in the sense of calamity, "shall be his recompense" (ver. 31). And this reward,for which the self-deceived man toils, sha11 be pai<I: (1) Fully; "it shall be accomplished" (ver. 32), i.e. his punishment will be fully measured out, his wage paid t,o the full-that wage being death (cf. Rom. vi. 23). (2) Prematurely; "before his time," i.e. before the natural termination of his life, sin having a tendency fu shorten ( Ps. Iv. 23), as godliness has to prolong life; before any of h.i.s schemes have reached completion, like e. vine .shaking off its unripe grapes and an olive casting off its B.owers (ver. 33). (3) Sadly; involving his family in his rnin, far "the family of the hypocrites shall be desolate" (ver. 34), the wicked man carrying the contagion of ungodliness into his home, and bnnging down up0n it the curse of God (Prov. iii. 38), as certainly as the good man surrounds :his children with an atmoephere of 11alvation (Luke xii. 9; Aets xvi. 31), and draws down upon them 011. xv. 1-35,] THE BOOK OF JOB. 271