The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 274

a Jong time be b&d Btruggled bravely, against the eloquent reprelient&tlone of hla frienns, to maintAin his confidence in God's affection, notwithstanding all untoward appearances. But now, under extreme presrure of misery, he is on the eve of giving way-talking quite openly of God as his enemy, whose wrath tears him and makes war upon him, and whose t.eeth sharpen themselves against him (ver. 9). The stern facts which appear to shut him up to so reluctant an inference are three. 1. The inward lestimcny ef his own consciousness. Though it would be wrong to say that this wit.ness of e.n anguish-laden spirit expressed the maturely formed and definitely fixed judgment of the pRtrinrch, it would yet be equally erroneous not to recoguize that for the moment, Job did believe that God had turned against him. Such a complet~ reversal of a good man's consciousness was exceptional ; the result, not of affliction alone, however sev~re and protracted, but of Satanic influence and temptation. It dis- closes the extraordmary power the devil has to work upon the human spirit. If he can so handle "e. perfect man and an upright," it is not at all surprising he should be able to lead captive at his ";n "silly ,vomen, laden with sins, led away with divers lusts" (2 Tim. iii. 6), and even proud and imperious men who oppose themselves to the truth (2 Tim. ii. 26). It reveals also how far a saint may go in a course of unbelief and _backsliding without renouncing his integrity; ~nd is fitted to suggest hope con- cermng many who are supposed to have lapsed entirely from tho truth. It sheds a light upon the Di'l'ine Father's forbearance and mercy, that he can see a saint misconstrue his providences, and calumniate his character, and yet lay not his sin to his charge (eh. xiii. 7). 2. The ezpressed judgment of hisfillow-rrum. Elipbaz had cited, as one of the items in the sinner's doom, the desolation of his family (eh. xv. 34), and the obvious allusion to this remark in Job's language, "Thou hast made desolate all my household" (ver. 7), seems to intimate that Job regarded the cruel verdict of his friends upon bis case as substantially correct. He could see, from a comparison of his sad condition with the sentiments they had uttered, that they, Bi well as he, had arrived at the inference that God was against him. 3. The palpable witness of his misery. His emaciated body, his weary and pinched face, his feeble and wasting frame, all covered over with ulcers, seemed to rise up and tell him to his face that God was dealing with him as with a convicted criminal. According to the theology of the period, this was strong circumstantial evidence against the patriarch; but circumstantial nidence often lies. Here it notoriously did, as afterwards it did in the case of Christ, whose marred face was no proof th.a.t he was "stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted " (Isa. !iii. 4). "A marred and meagre visage ma.y testify to our· grief, but not to our guilt" (Robinson). IL EXTREMELY SEVERE. 1. Their TJa.riety. Almost every form of calamity was heaped upon the patriarch. (1) Bodily distress; consisting of complete exhaustion of physical vigour (ver. 7), unsightly ema.ciation of the countenance (ver. 8), lamentable wasting of the once strong and goodly frame (ver. 8). (2) Mental anguish; occasioued by the overthrow of his family (ver. 7), the alienation of his friends, who beheld in his miseries a witness to his condemnation (ver. 8); the opposition and insolence of wicked men, to whose mercy God had apparently abandoned him, who gaped upon hin1 with their mouths, rejoicing in his misfortune, smote him upon the cheek: reproachfully, adding insult to enmity, a.nd conspired against him, in order to complete his destruction (ver. 10)-an experience which in all its parts was predicted of Messiah and fulfilled in Christ (cf. Ps. xxii. 12-21 with Matt. x..xvi. 59, 67; and Ps. ii. 1 with Acts iv. 25- 27). (3) Spiritual sorrow ; arising, as above explained, from a sense of abandonment by God. 2. Their unexpectedness. Job had been at ease, prosperous and contented, fearinu God and eschewing evil, when all at once misfortune leaped upon him, and God, seizing him, broke him in pieces. And this was an aggravation of the sufferer's distress, that without apparent cause, and certainly without warning, he was hurled from the pinnacle of prosperity to the lowest depths of adversity; as the wicked will eventually be (Ps. l.xxili. 19), and as at any moment, though not for the same reason, tile godly may be. Therefore Jet no one indulge in a vain confidence like David, that his mountaio shall stand strong for ever (Ps. xxx. 6, 7); or like Job, that he ehall die in his nest ( eh. xxiL 18); or like the daughter of the Chaldeans, that she shall be a lady for ever (Isa. xlvii. 7); but being forewarned, as the patriarch of Uz was not, let him alao be forearmed. 3. Thevr violence. Job pictures the dreadful hostility of God OH, XVI, 1-22,] THE BOOK OF JOB. 286