The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 303

the family, right principlen exert a beneficent influence. The absence of them is the precursor or evil of nil kinds, The wall is broken down; protection is wanting. The home is a prey to evil. II. IT LACKS THE PBOMIBE OJ!' TIIE DIVINE PBO'l'EOTION AND BLESSING. It is a.s a. field unwatered. '!'here is no spring of hope within it. In the blessing of the Lord lies hidden the secret germ of e.11 true prosperity, and all se.foty and permanence. ,Where that blessing is not, the house is as a tender plant unsheltered beneath a scorching aun. The Divine providence CI\Dnot be expected to work for the promotion of ends directly contrary to its own. 'l.'he whole world, with its innumerable laws and its wise administration, is on the side of right, on the side of virtue and goodness. The blessing of the Lord, which makes the field to be fruitful, makes the abode of the righteous to be an abode of safety, of pea.ye, and of blessing. The home of wickedness has none of these things. III. The home of the wicked finds NO ENCOURAGEMENT TO 1TB PR0SPEBITY IN THE GOOD WILL OF MEN ABOUND. The evil companions are not trustworthy. They turn aside as a deceitful bow. 'fhey are as likely to rej0ice and make sport out of their companion's downfall as to pity him under it; while the ungodly, having separated himself from the righteous, can find no sympathetic spirit amongst them. That the home of evil should be broken up is rather a cause of rejoicing, for it i~ the putting aside a cause of evil. This is the portion of the man that maketh not God his trust. He fights against his own best interests. He forsakes the only true anrl safe way. He puts himself in opposition to the great forces of righteousness which ever in the end prevail. He links his interests with that on which the withering curse of God rests, and "brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation." "His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off."-R. G. Vers.16-21.-The curse upon thefami1y of the wicked. The permanent continuance of the family was one of the most coveted· blessings of Eastern nations. Very deeply was this em bedded in the minds of the peoples. It was, therefore, a signal curse of God to cut off the remembrance of e. family from the earth. With cruel error Bilda.d points to the cutting otf of Job's family-at least, such is tbe presumption, otherwise his words are inapproprinte here--and he seems to charge upon Job the sin of which the punishment was to be found in the death of his children. That Bildad states a true principle of Divine retribution all agree; his error was in its application. The cutting off the family of the ungodly is- I. A PRINCIPLE OF THE DIVINE JUDGMENT AGAINST EVIL-DOING. It is frequently announced in Holy Scripture. God, the jealous Gou, visits "the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation." It is part of his holy and wise and just retribution. As he blesses the sons of the faithful for their fathers' sakes, so he visits upon the children the offences of their fathers. The evil-doer withers as a plant without water. "His roots shall bo dried up beneath." Therefore his branches spread not; but they are "cut off." The remembrance of him perishes from the earth, and his name from the street (ver. 17). He dies away without descendant and without remembrance. II, This judgment is seen to be A NATURAL CONSEQUENCE OF W!l.ONG-D0ING. For evil is visited in various ways by the avenging Nemesis that hovers over all life. Evil undermines the health; it tends to habits and pursuits which are destructive of the peace and security and progress of home. It puts man in conflict with his neighbour, and so men drive the evil-doer "from light into dt\Tkness." He is "chased out of the world." Even should his posterity be perpetuated, it is lost to eight. It sinks down in tho world till it sinks out of view. III. '!'his judgmeot STANDS IN DIBE0T CONTRAST TO THE LOT OF THE RIIJHTEOUS- the man who knoweth God. Over his house is the Divine protection. " When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." The blessing of God rests upon the home and the doings of the righteous. Even though chastisement and calamity may fall upon him, they do not destroy him; rather, he, as a pruned tree, groweth the more and more fruitful. God's promise is unto the good, and unto their children after them. The family of the good rua.n hns the advantago of a holy example. They nre screened from a thousand perils, whil11  THE BOOK OF JOB. [dJt :nm. 1-2L