The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 339

them down, they e.re being robbed. With us the swe11,ting system takes the place of the old territ-0rial oppreBSion. 2. Its inva1·iable wickedness. le the modern commerci11,l oppression one whit Iese guilty th11,n the old lordly tyr11,nny? The evil is more dis- guised with us; it is more difficult to bring it home to its authors; our complicated oivili1:11tion bushes it up-yet the cruelty and wickedness are M real M ever. II. THE ru:insHMENT. The writers of the Bible who denounced the sin of oppressing the poor cnntinually threetened punishment to the guilty oppressors, 1. Dfrect los,, Zopbar contemplates the actual loss of ill-gotten gains. This may happen in the present life. It will certainly ocour at death. The oppressor can take none of the profits of bis cruelty out of the world with him. 2. Disappointment. In ihe fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits. Even without the loss of property difficulties will erise. 'J'be rich man may be murdered in his palace. Most oppressors live in fear. Trouble of mind mingles like gall in the sweetest cup of pleesures got by cruelty. III. TnE OURE. Punishment is not cure. The fear of it may act as somewhat of a check. But we must go deeper for " the root of the matter 1' if we would cure it. Now und.oubtedly in this ca.se the root is not hard to find, for it is simply unmitigated selfishness. Therefore until men can be taught to substitute brotherliness for selfish- ness, oppression of the poor must continue. No BOCial revolution, no legal enactment, no forcible change, can eradicate the evil. We must go for the cure of social evils to Christ. He is concerned with society as well M with the individual, and there is no hope for society until he is recogni1:ed a.s its Saviour and its Lord. Christianity instils brotherliness. No man can be a Christian who is destitute of this grace. Oppression of the poor belies the most sanctimonious profession of religion. We want to get back to the religion of Christ, which made more of brotherliness than even of faith; the religion of St. Paul and St. John, which ta.ught that love is the greatest thing in the world.-W. F. A. Ver. 'l:2.-Bf:raitened in the time offulness. I. SUDDEN DISASTER. This had come \lpon Job. It looks as if the pragmatic Zophar was rude enough to insinuate that the picture he wo.s painting would be recognized by the patriarch a.s a portrait of himself. Now, the external part of the picture was trne to the circumstances of Job. Therefore the broad hint that the internal part also applied to him was the more cruel. Job's sufferings were extreme, but they were not contrary to precedent. Sudden disaster is not unknown. The rich man is beggared by a.n unexpected commerc:ia.l collapse. An epidemic or a storm at sea suddenly bereaves a father of his whole family. Death snatches the prosperous person away at the height of his success. 1. This is not t:rpeded. Although it is not uncommon, people a.re generally unprepared for it; a.nd when it comes they a.re astounded and dismayed. We are deceived by present appear- ances. It is difficult to believe in the overthrow of that which gives no sign of being in rlanger. 2. This is cn/,IJR,fflg. The pain of a fall is determined by the height from which one deBCends as much as by the depth that is reached. The troubles of those who were once prosperous are far worse to bear than the troubles of people who do not know what earthly happiness means. 3. Thu should teach us to look beymd the present. (1) In preparation for possible disaster. We should not, however, be always brooding over the possibility. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Still, we should be fortified against it. (2) In •he possession of better than earthly things. We can endure the shocks that strike our earthly tabernacle, if we have "a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (2 Cor. v .. 1). II. INTERNAL POVJIBTY. 'fhe ruin may ta.ke another form. There may be no 1mch external and visible calamities as those that came upon Job. The normal course of events may be unbroken, the material prosperity may be unaffected. Yet there may be distress and misery. Then the soul is straitened although the fulness of earthly 1mfficiency ii .not touched. 1. This C()1M8 from 011,r spiritual nature. The body has been fed, but the soul has been starved; therefore the eoul is straitened. There are times when we perceive deeper needs than any earthly bread can satisfy; ".for man shall not live by bread alone," etc. (Matt. iv. 4). 2. This is felt in the awakening of oonaeienoe. A voice within calla us to a service for which our earthly sufficiency affordB no 11Dpport. -On the contrary, the wealth of external things seems a sort or hinc\nmce, distfacting our thoughts iu1d e.bsorbipg ow care when w~ 11hQuld be tuI'Jling t!R. XXI. 1-34.] THE BOOK OF JOB. 863