HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. 1-22.-Deep dtjection and irrepressible hope. In this reply Job refuses to make IL direct rejoinder to the atta.ck upon him; he ill too utterly bowed do1vn in his weakness. But- I. The first part of his speech consists of A BITTER BABCABlll UPON THE IDLE TALK OF ms FRIENDS, (Vers.1-5.) Their speeches are useless. They mean to comfort (eh. x.v. 11), but their reasonings produce an opposite effect on his mind. They should cease; there must be something ailiug those who are thus afflicted with the disease of words. Words will not heal the _broken bones nor soothe the wounded heart. Were it so, then Job could act the part of comforter as well as they, in the case of their affliction. 'l'hus with scorn he repels their futile attempts to "charm ache with air, and agony with words," to "patch grief with proverbs." " Brother, men Can counsel, sod speak comfort to that grief ·Which they themselves not feel; but, ta.sting it, Their counsel turns to passion, which before Would give preceptial medicine to rage, Fetter strong madness in a silken thread, Charm acl!e with air, and agony with words ; No, no; 'tie all men's office to speak patience To those that wring under the load of sorrow; But no man's virtue, nor suffioiency, To be so moral, when he aha.II endure The like himself: therefore give me no counsel: My griefs ory louder than advertieeJnent." II. Next, he relapses into IL MELANCHOLY CONTElllPLATION OF HIS EXTB:SlllE llISEBY. (Vers. 6-17.) 1. The alternative of silence or of 1peech is equally unbearable. (Ver. 6.) A healthy mnn can give vent to his feeling;s in talk; but no words suffice to check the flow of this immense grief. Would he do well to be silent? Bur, then, what grief would depart from him? None! There is no riddance either way. Spl'ak or not, his sutf,·r- ing remains the same. 2. The instinct to p01J,r forth his woe proves irrepressible, and he proceeds with the description of his terribl~ sufferings. (Vers. 7-14.) His streugth is exhausted. Hi~ house is desolate. His wrinkled sod emaciated body is a spectacle to move his own pity. But still keener are the sutfe1ings of his mind. 'l'h,, tho11ght that God has inflicted this suffering, that he is, as he supposes, a.n object of the Divine wrath, fills his mind ·with intolerable gloom. And not only is God against him, but evil men seem to be employed as instruments of his wrath. They, envious of his former prosperity, and _of his goodness, now ga_ther aro?nd to heap ~very insult. u_pon his head, Tracing again all to God, Job conceives of him under the image of a lunous warrior, who h11s advanced against him in utmost violence, caused a shower of arrows 288 THE BOOK OF JOI\. [OH, XVI. 1-22,
to fnll upon him, pierced him as with a sword, battered him into ruins e.e a strong wall is battered into breaches by the violence of the battering-mm. 3, His present con- dition. (Vers. 16-17.) Humbling himself beneath the rod, he baa adopted all tho symbolic language of penitence and grief. He has put on the sackcloth; bowed his head to the dust; given himself to weeping until his eyes are heavy and his faoo is red. And all this "though there is no wrong in his hand, and bis prayer is pure," IIL 'I'm: HEA,EN-PIERCING ORY OF INNOCENCE. (Vers. 18-22,) So soon as in tht course of these sad reflections Job once more recurs to the consciousness of his innocence new courage is born to his he&rt; in his very exhaustion he can still cry to Heaven in th; might of a confidence that will yet wring an answer from God. He callR upon the earth not to hide his blood, and may his cry have no resting-place. The allusion is to tho ancient sacred custom of blood-revenge (Gen. iv. 10, 11; comp. Isa. xxvi. 21 ; 2 Sam. i. 21). But the circumstances under which the desire not to die unavenged here appears arc quite unnsual. As one persecuted, not merely by man, but far more by God, near to death, he maintains his innocence before man a,nd God, Here is a seemin.. contra- diclion between the dark thoughts just expressed of God, and this profound faith in the invisible nnd just Judge. Grief is full of inconsistencies and contradictions arising from the impe:fection of the understanding. • They cannot be solved by thought, only as here by faith. Thus we come to another moment of calm amidst this terrible tempest of grief-another break in the sky amidst these storms. The chapter leaves the deposit of a noble consolation at our feet. 1. The existence of the Witness in h2aven. An all-intelligent Witness, a feeling ·witness, an all-rememberin .. Witness of innocent suffering, is our heavenly Father. There m!ly be ever an appeal to him from the unfeeling conduct and the mocking observation of men. 2. The certainty of a just decision in the end. "If we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." In all the Eense of life's mystery, and the temptation to doubt wheLher God be perfectly good and kind, let Patience, supported by faith, have her perfect work. Let us "remember Job," and "consider the end of the Lord."-J.