Vers. 1-17.-Longing for the appl!arance of the delivering and justifying God. I. EXCLAMATION. (Vers. 2-5.) So bitter is his complaint, "his hand is heavy upon his groaning," i.e. he must force gror.n after groan out of himself. Oh that he knew where to find the ju<lgment-seat of God, and that he might have the opportunity of pleading his cause! ( vers. 3-5). He possesses still "faith and a good conscience," those best jewels of a Christian (1 Tim. i. 5), and can think of appearing before God, not with terror, but with confidence. "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence with God" (1 John iii. 21). II. Dom!T (vers. 6-9) of the possibility of this intervention of God on his behalf. He timidly thinks of the overwhelming effect of God's majesty upon him (comp.eh. ix. 34; xiii. 21). But here, relying on the consciousness of innocence, he casts the doubt away. "Would he contend with me in his omnipotence? No; he. would only attend to me" (ver. 6). It would be seen that it is a righteous man who enters into judgment with him, and Job would escape his Judge (ver. 7). But then this cheerful expecta- tion is checked by the thought that God is nowhere to be found-neither east nor west, north nor south (vers. 8, 9), although present in all quarters (Ps. cmix. 8-10). With- out the definite revelation of the gospel, we may readily lose ourselves in a vague and aimless pantheism. God is everywhere, yet nowhere; present in all things for the intel- lect, found in none by the heart. It is the doctrine of the Mediator, of the Man Christ Jesus, which resolves this contradiction. God must meet us in the form of man, other- wise he is but an abstraction. III. REASON OF GoD's WITHDRAW.AL. (Vers.10-13.) According to Job, this is, that although God knows his innocence, he will not depart from his resolve not to be found of him. Vers. 10-12 contain strong assertions of his innocence. God knows Job's wonted way or manner of life; and, if proved, he would come out like gold from the furnace. His foot has kept :firmly to. God's step, God's way he has observed, and has not turned aside, nor departed from the commandment of hie lips. "More than my own law I kept the words of hie mouth," i.e. more than the dictates of pleasure or self- will (ver. 12). "But he remains one, and who will turn him" from his design (comp. Ps. xxxiii. 9; Numb. xxiii.19; 1 Sam. xv. 29)? IV. A WE AND HUJiULITY IN THE PRESENCE OF GoD. (Vers. 14-17.) God will fulfil Job's destiny, like that of many others (ver. 14). The thought of this unfathomable counsel of God through which Job must 1:1uffer fills him with fearfulness and amazement (ver. 15). It is God himself, not the mere sufferings, who has unnerved Job and over- thrown him (ver. 16). It is not the darkness of his trouble (eh. xxii. 11) nor his own hideous form (eh. xiL 13-15) which have stupefied him. No, it is God alone who is the cause of this stupor, who is behind these sufferings with his incomprehensible counsels. Here, again, we see how deep is faith in the heart of Job, how inextinguishable the longing and the need for comm.union with God, which is life to him, and more than life I He can bear pain, he can dispense, if need be, with human sympathy; but he cannot bear the absence of GtJd ! As the plant in the cellar, so the faithful soul ever turns and str:1<Igles towards the light; and the only Light of the soul is God 1-J, cm. XXIII. 1-17.] THE BOOK OF JOB. 401
Vere. 8-13,-The true support under deferred judgment. In the bitterness of his complaint nnd the heaviness of his stroke, Job makes known his desire to appeal directly to God. In the impossibility of this his faith is more and more severely tested. but he reposes in an assurance that the Divine eye is upon him, e.nd he is confident of~ just nnd oven merciful sentence, So does conscious integrity uphold the tried and suffering believer, over whom for the present the shadows of suspicion gather, although the sufferer is tried by deferred judgment. I. THE DEMAND FOB A PATIENT HEARING. Only the consciously upright would desire to plee.d with his judge. The self-accused tries to hide from the keen eye of detection and exposure; but he who knows himself to be unjustly accused may well desire to appear before a righteous tribune.I. It is a high testimony to Job's character that he makes demand to be tried by One who cannot err (vers. 3-7). But his longing is not allayed, A further test is applied to his character. For the present, at least, judgment is denied him. II. JUDGMENT WITHHELD, A FURTHER TRIAL. To the unjustly condemned no severe,: testing could be given than the withholding of the desired judgment. Job's hope is in God; but God is hidden. If he attempts to "go forward," behold "he is not there." If" backward," he "cannot perceive him." Turning to the right hand or to the left, it is the same, God, his Friend, is hidden. His only refuge is closed. How severely is faith tried and patience put to the proof by the hiding of God I The struggle is a spiritual one. The soul is cast upon the unseen. It is thrown back upon its integrity and upon its power to wait. It is the supreme test of faith. It precedes the dawn of the day of vindication, of jndgment and deliverance, It is a further weight upon the already tried heart of the patriarch. To an afflicted spirit is added a suffering body, and for the present the cruel accusations of would-be friends, who mistake the dis- cipline of God for his judgment against sin. 111. IT IS HERE THAT JOB'S FAITH IN THE DIVINE JUSTICE SHINES OUT WITH CLEAR- NESS. He knows God would not take advantage of his " great power" to plead that against him or to crush him with it. Nay, rather he would "put strength" in the poor suppliant. He would compassionate the oppressed, and concede to him. So Job C<\!Ilforts himself in the quiet repose upon the justice of the Divine decisions. The fruits of early obedience and faith are now gathered. He who sows in his own heart the seeds of Divine truth in earlier. .days, prepares for himself a harvest of consolation in the days of trial and adversitYv. Job is proving the blessedness of the man whose ways please the Lord. IV. ALL THIS 18 BASED UPON JoB'B CONSCIOUSNESS OF PERSONAL INTEGRITY. With confidence be rebuts the accusations of his accusing friends. He rejoices in the assurance of the Divine cognizance of his doings: "He knoweth the way that I take." Happy the man who can appeal with confidence to the searching of the Divine eye! Job may have he.d cause sufficient to be abased btJfore God, hut he is conscious of innocence of the charges preferred by his friends. Thus is falsely accused innocence sustained when its judgwent is deferred. And Job appears a bright example of the comfort derived in affliction from faith in God and consciousness of untarnished integrity.-R. G.