The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 350

moral worth ls so different and so contrasted. "With one another they lie on the dust of the grave, and tho worms cover them." "Both, heire to eome six feet of clod arc oquo.l in the earth-Rt laBt" (ver. 28). ' JII, CORREOTION 01!' BIB FRIENDS FOR THEIR PARTIAL JUDOMENT OP' THE OUTWARD 00NDITI0N OF MEN, (Vere. 27-34.) He knows their thoughts,, anrl the malice with which they ill-troot him, with the object of proving him by any means, fair or unfair, a hypocrite, "Where," they say, "iB the house of the tyrant? anrl where the tent inhabited by wicked tnen ?" Job alludes still to the repeated descriptions of Eliphaz and Bildad (oh. xv. 34; xviii. 15, 21) of the overthrow of the tent of the wicked man (ver. 28). Have they, then, not a.sked the wanderers by the way (Lam. i. 12; Ps. lnx, 12), and will they mistake their tokens? The instances of prosperous bad men and unhappy good men which these persons can produce---they must not misunderstand nor reject them. The "tokens" are the memorable and wonderful events of this kind (ver. 29). Then follow the summary contents of these people's experiences (ver. 30): '! 'Phat on· the day of destruction the wicked is spared, on the day of wrath they are ledJ: away" from •its devastating fury,.10 ~hat they suffer nothing. "Who will show him: his way to hie face-? and if he has acted, who will repay it to him?" (ver. 31). 'l'hie is Job's question; It concerns God, the unfathomably wise and mighty Author of the destinies:,or tnen. "And ·be" (allnding to ver. 30) "is brought to burial" in honour and pomp, "and on a mound he kee1>s watch," like one immortalized in a. statue or tomb. His tumulus remains to record his name and memory, while Bildad had described the memory of tbe,wicked as perishing from the earth, his name being forgotten.· Veu33, "The clods·of the valley lie softly upon him "-the valleys being the favourite burying-places in the East-" and all the world draws after him," treading the same-path which multitudes have done before. CoNOLUSION. (Ver. 34.) "How will you nowsovainlycomfortme?" Falsehood only remaill!J from ·their replies: There is some truth both in Zophar's and in Job's speeches. But both. represent, one side only of the truth. The end of the wicked man is that which,Zopbar depicts. Yet the temporal prosperity of the wicked, lasting to the latest hour of life, is ,often seen. Job :cannot deny the facts of Zophar; but neither can Zophar deny the exceptions pointed out .by Job. The friends are blind to these, because the admission of them would overthrow the whole battery of their attack. Job remains nearer to the truth 'than' Zophar (Delitzscb). The godless are often greatly exalted, to Jail the more deeply afterwards. "Raised up on high to be hnrled down below" (Shakespeare). "Lofty towers have the heavier fall" (Horace,' Od.,' iL 10. 10; Juvenal,' Sat.,' x. 104, 1;qq., on the fate of Sejanus). But it is the belief in a future judgment and a future life which can alone give patience under the anomalies and contradictions of the present. .'fhe God who is "upright, true, and all-disposing" hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness, and "reward every man according to his works." "Thie is certain, that. God is infinitely just; whether or not we apprehend him, _he is so. When we think his ways are imperfect, we should remember that the imperfection is only in our understanding. It is not the ground or the trees that turn round; but the tilttth is, we are giddy, and think so. . . . Because I cannot.see the light; shall I say that the sun does not shine? There may be many reasons that may hinder me. Something may cover the eye, or the clouds may cover the sun, or it may be in.another. horizon, as in the night; but it is impossible for the sun, so long as it is a sun, not to shine. , .. It was not for Job's sin that God afflicted him, brit because he was freely pleased to do so; yet there was a reason for this pleasure, which was to discover that grace of patience given him by God, to the astonishment of the world and the confutation of the devil" (South).-J. Vere. 7-15.-The perverse misapplication of the Divine goodness. Job is ready with his answer. Although Zophar has correctly represented the judgments that come upon the wicked, and the evils to which wickedness not unfrequently lead, yet many co.sea of departure from this rule are to be observed. Job therefore proposes a counter- question," Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?" He then depicts the prosperity which agaiu:and again m11rks the career of the wicked, to whom the Divine bounty is shown (I) in prolonged life; (2) iu the power and influence they .are permitted to gain; (3) in their family prosperity; (4) in their freedom from 86{ THE BOOK OF .JOB. [orr. xn. 1-84,