The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 397

Rtalk forth on e&rth unchallenged and nn&venged, without let or hindrsnce pretty much e.e If there were no euch tribunal in existence. And this fact, which' ,fob 80 strenuously affirme, In addition to having been observed by Aesph (Ps. lxxiii. 5), David (Pe. 1. 21), the Preaober (Eccles, viii. 11), Jeremish (xii. I), Habakknk (i. 15, 16;, and others, le likewise recognized in Scripture generally as correct. II. A CONVINOING DEMONSTRATION OJ'Jl'ERED, That the Almighty does not bold a regular sssizo on earth estahlished by two patent fact&. 1. The most e'Zl!hrab~ widwi- ne,s is s,1,.ffered to rage withw-t either pu11iahment <Y1' rmraint. 'fbe special form of ungodliness depicted le that of ruthless opp reesion of the helplees and defencele.81!, exem- plified in such crimes as: (1) Secret fraud. "They," i.e. the tyrannical oppreswrR of the aborigines of the soil," remove the landmarks," shift the stones or stakes which mark the boundary-line between the poor man's plot and the rich man's farm, so a.~ w diminish the one and increase the other-an act of impiety denounced in the Law of Moses as worthy of, and certain to be punished by, the curse of God (Deut. xix. 14; xxvii. 17), a crime practised in the days of Solomon (Prov. xxii. 28; u.iii. 10) an<l of Hosea (v. 10), a form of wickedness not unknown to modern society. Every attempt by covert fraudulence to augment one's own estate at the expense of a nei;hbonr's, whether that neighbour be poor or rich, is equivalent to a removing of the lan<lmark between mewm and tuum, and as such incurs the Divine displeasure. If one thing is more saddening than the prevalence of indirect and minute spoliation amongst all ranks and classes, it is that good men should not be able to see that theft is still thdt, although practised in infinitesimal proportfons and by underhand contrivances, and that even wicked men should not be deterred from such nefarious actions by a recol- lection of God's anathemas against th1J thief. (2) Barefaced robbery. "They violently take away flocks and feed them " (ver. 2), not taking the trouble to dispose of the stolen sheep by slaughter or sale, but openly and coolly retaining them amongst their own, as the Sabeans had done with Job's oxen (eh. i. 14}-an aggravation of their crime that they were so shameless and audacious in its commission; but they who could brave God's curse in order to remove a land.mark would not likely shrink from enduring man's scorn in order to steal a flock. Sin inevitably tends to sear the con- science and to petrify the feelings. (3) Pitiless exaction. "They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge" (ver. 3). Besides being out of all proportion, and therefore unjust, lo carry off an ass or an ox: in payment of a trifling loan or debt, it was unspeakably heartless to proceed to such extremity Boaainst those whose friendless condition should have drawn forth sympathy and succour. It was also a clear violation. of the Divine Law to appropriate what was so indispensable .. to the subsistence of an orphan as the one ass wherewith he laboured, or so needful for the widow as the ox which plonghed her plot of ground. For similar reasons the Mosaic Law forbade the taking in pledge of a widow's raiment (Deut. x::tlv. 17), and much more, it may be argued, of a widow's yoke ox:, or of an orphan's ass (Exod. u:ii. 22). The nether or the upper millstone e.lso, for a like cause, was an illegal pledge (Deut. xx:iv. 6). (4) Violent oppression. "They turn the needy out of the way• (ver. 4), thru.~tinri; them out of their accustomed paths and pursuits, compelling them through fear to abandon the highways and travel through trackless regions, ejecting them by force from their wonted habitations and ancient possessions (cf. eh. x:xii. 8, homiletics). (5) Merciless subjugation. "They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor" (ver. 9). So pitiless are these inhuman monsters, that they distrain not the widow's ox merely, but her infant child as well, plucking it from her bosom, and carrying it off to be reared in miserable servitude; yea, if the second clause may be added to the first, after robbing the broken-hearted mother of her babe, stripping her of her r.iiment, and turning her forth naked and trembling to find food and clothing as best she may, It is doubtful if any .American Legree or modern slave- driver ever eclipsed these ancient child-stenlers in relentless barbarity. 2. The most ea;treme misei·y is allowed to go unnoticed and unrelieved. 1n three affecting pictures, according to one view of the poet's meaning, he sketches the calamitous fate of the unhappy victims of those remorseless destroyers. The first (vers. 5-8) depicts the melancholy fortune,'! of the poor of the land (perhaps the aboriginal inhabitants), who being cast forth from their ancient possessions are obliged to" hide themselves together" (vcr. 4), or to slink nway out of sight, disappearinr., as illferior races ha.ve since done,  4-12 THE BOOK. OF JOB. [OB. llU\r, 1-25.