The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 286

"sit upon the ground," and "talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs;" to reflect that,- "Nothing can we oall our own, but death : And that small model of the bnrren earth, Which servos na peate and oover to our bones." (' King RicharJ II.,' act ii. sc. 1; act iii. sc. 2.) It I.a well to realize that the tomb is but a step from the youngest, the fairest, tho wisest, the strongest of Adam's children, and prepare ourselves for It, as already it is prepared for us. II. BIDDING FADEWELL TO HIS FRIENDS. 1. Describing their character. He calls them mockers, who had trifled with hi~ , ,;sery, laughed at his innocence, openly e.ccused him of flagrant wickedness, consu111mate hypocrisy, and daring impiety (cf. eh. xii. 4). 'l'his vehement reassertion of Job's estimate of their behaviour would fall with the greater force and impressiveness upon their ears, because of proceeding from the lips of a dying man (cf. 'King Richard II.,' act ii. sc. 1, and '.King Henry VIII.,' act ii. sc. 1, in which John o' Gaunt and Buckingham call attention to the weightine8s of dying men's words). It would sound like the malediction of an expiring prophet. 2. Brooding over their cal1'mnies. Their wicked insinuations had stung him to the quick, and were still rankling in his bosom. Not even death's shadow or the grave's gloom could hide them from bis mental vision. As if with an evil fascination, his soul's eye fastened on them, found a lodging with them, and could not shake them off. Easily had they been spoken, but not so easily could their remembmnce be effaced. " Cutting words and cruel reproaches are not easily banished," especially when spoken by those from whom sympathy and kindness were expected. Hence the care which should be exercised not to inflict with the tongue wounds that only death can heal. 3. Predicting their discomfiture. "Therefore thou sbalt not exalt them" (ver. 4). Job means that in the hotly waged controversy between himself and his friends they will not be allowed to triumph, but be utterly routed and put to shame. And of thls he points out the premonitory symptom, in that moral and spiritual blindness with which God had suffered them to be overtaken-" for thou bast hid their heart from understanding" (ver. 4). Either they had wilfully called good evil, and put darkness for light, or they were wholly incapable of understanding true religion or appreciating spiritual integrity. Hence, in either case, it was impossible that they could be right. Apart altogether from their applicability to the friends, Job here lays hold of important truths; as e.g. (1) that the highest function of the spiritual understanding is to "discern spirits" (1 Cor. xii. 10; 1 John iv. 1); (2) that the capacity of distinguishing the true from the false in religion belongs to no man by nature, but must be imparted by God (Matt. xi. 25; 1 Cor. xii. 11; 1 John i. 20); (3) that the absence of this power to recognize true moral worth and ·spiritual integrity not only disqualifies an individual from acting as a judge in the sphere of religion, but, ipso facto, proclaims him to be as yet outside of tbat sphere altogether; and (4) that God will certainly in the long run award the triumph to his own people and bis own cause. 4. .Announcing their punishment. (i) Its severity.- Their wickedness should be avenged, not alone upon themselves, but upon their children, whose "eyes should fail," or languish (ver. 5). That children suffer for the sins of parents is a fact of everyday experience; e.g. the families of drunkards, profligates, murderers, traitors, etc. It is a special sign of excessive wicked- ness when its results affect the innocent desccnJants of its perpetrators. Hence God is said to visit the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate him (ExLd, xx. 5). The sin of .Achan was visited on himself and bis sons and daughters (Josh. vii. 24, 25). The wickedness of .Ahab was avenged on.himself and bis posterity (1 Kings xxi. 20). The leprosy of Naama.Il clung to Gehazi and his descendants (2 Kings v. 27). Over against this, however, stands the blessed fact that, though grace does not run in the blood, the piety of parents has a tendency to reproduce itself in the characters, as certainly it draws down blessings on the headij, of children. And as no greater felicity can be bestowed upon a parent than to contemplate the happiness of bis household, so no greater sm:row can be his than to witness its destruction or dishonour. And such was the portion Job foretold for his mocking friends. (2) Its naturalness. It would be a. punishment in all respects befitting theii' offence. They had trampJ.ad on their best affections, delivering up him,  Till: BOOK OF JOB. [cnt. rm, t-18,