problem tb11.t his misfortunes have rai~ed. Rejecting the hMktniyed doctrine o( hla friends tbat trouble comes IU! the temporal '!'>llnlshment of IJin, and seeing tha.t bad mcln often escape trouble, he concludes that all the injustice is bu't temporary. The proa• perity of the wicked is but for "a little while." Before long there will be a fair treat• rnent of all. 1. "'JCKED1'"8S MAY 111!: AOOOll:PANIED BY TEMPORARY Pnost>El\ITY. l. This i, tJl'l "bviou., f<1d. Only the extrnordin&ry blindnes.~ of bigotry could have allowe,l the three friend~ t,, deny it. Job ha1; only to point to events which artnipen to the eyes of all, to show that there are h&d prosperous men. This is always admitted wheu it ia 11.pprn:,c\Jed from another point of view, i.e. when the sins of the rich are· <lanounced. 2. This .•ho1dd 'Tlot d.:smn.y t1s. All faith has grown up in face of the obvious faot of the prosperity of the wicked. If we have not considered it, others have in byg6ne ages; Y<'t faith has flourished 11.nd triumphed, although she could not explain the mystery. Th<'refore faith may still find ground to stancl on, even when one more person discovers to his surprise what has alway~ bren J)lltent to all who would take the trouble to obser~e it. 3. This cannot fustify wickedness. Earthly prosperity is not the· se'al or heavenly approY11,l. The assumption that it is so only originated in e. mistake, Here ancient orthodoxy Las proved to be in error. If the notion is erroneous when used against a man in misfortune, it is eque.lly erroneous when claimed by one who is tem- porarily prosperons. .• JI. 'l'HE l'ROSPEB.ITY THAT ACCOMPAJIIES WIOKEDNEBS OAB ORLY ENDURE FOB A Ll'l'TLB wnn,E. 1. It doeJ; not outlast death. By the nature of things it cannot do so, because it simply sprin~s ·from accidental circnmstances and earthly influences, which are confined t.o this Ii fc. It bas not its source in 11, dee-p and enduring spiritue.l experience. The very triumph of it rests on the score ofthe spiritnal. But though the spiritual may be trMnpled on now, it cannot be pretended that the material will continue after death. •R'ich·es; pleasures, pomp, and prowess are e.ll left behind on this side of the gmve. 2. Its earthly ez£stenoe is urief. The careless man may postpone all consideration of his end. He mny be satisfied that he has enough and to spare for the present. Nevertheless, the present is rushing away from him. As he looks back, all past years seem tci be but a brief period, and coming years will accelerate their speed. What, then, is· this· short tenure of prosperity for -which he is selling himself? A passing shadow! 8;· 1t is· of 110 wortli even while potISessed. The temporary character ·of this prosperity of the -wicked is a sign that it is a hollow deception. Its charms a.re JlfOVed to be ineretrici'oua by th& fact that it will not remain with us. So ephemeral a good cannot be substantial. 'l'he se-eds of decay are in it from the first. And what is its joy·but a deceitful mockery? There is a dreadful doom in the very quietness of this hopeless life. A:U that is-worth living for is gone out of it. Rie1h, gay, oo.twardly prosperous, the soul is • • "Left in God's oonteinpi apart, ' • •' With gb1111tl.y smooth life, .clead at heart." W.F.A. EXPOSITION. CHAPTER XXV. Vera. 1, 2.-Then answered Bildad the Bhuhite, and .Ba.id, . Dominion and fear are Vem. 1-6.-Far from aooeptiDg Job's with him (i.e. with God). God.is the absQ. challeuge, and grappliDg with the difficulty lute 8overeign of the universe, ·to whom, invoh-ed io the frequent, if not nniverse.l, therefore, all cre~ted beings must perforce prosperity of tile wicked, Bilde.d, in his weak submit themselves. He ·is also terrible in reply, entirely e.voida the subject, and limits hi.a might, so that for. their own sakes men should submit to his decrees. Through bis himself to briefly tonchi.Qg two old and well- active sovereignty, and the fear whioh ho worn topica-tlle might of God (vers. 2, 3) inspires, he maketb peaoe in:,hia high' places: nd the Wlivenal ainfuln.eas of me11.. On The meaning may be that;,through theae neither of t1- two points doee he throw high aUributea, God ~ i T U peace among any U'811h ·light. • Be avoids, how8'1'er, the the dwellers in the eupeme.l regiona ~ but beyond thi.a tbe,e ie e. possible all usioii to a reekl"8B ch.e.rgee of Eliphaz (eh. uii. fi-9) time in which peace wae di.aturbed, and the wi well as the eoar11e llleDIICel of Zo,Pha.r (c!J. Almighty ha.ci to "make" it, 9r re-eat.,blieh x:t. 5-29). • it. (On the subject of the "war in heaven," OR. XX\I'. 1....6,] THE BOOK OF JOB. 428
and the defeat 11nd snbjeotion of the rebels, short tf the glory of God" (Rom. iii. 23). see the oomrnen t on oh. ix. 13.) Or how oan he be olean that is born of Vor. 8.-Is there any number of hi• a woman 1 (comp. oh. xiv. 4, "Who shall armies 1 ( comp. Ps. lxviii. 17, "The ohnriote bring a clean thing ont of an unclean? Not of God nro twenty thousand, even thousands one;" and tho comment ad 1.oc.). of angels; " nnd Do.n. vii. 10, "'fhousand Ver. 5.-Behold even to the moon, and it thousands ministered unto him, nnd ten shineth not. Observe, i.e., all that is pnrely thousand times ten thouso.nd et.ood before bright in creation, "even to the moon," the him;" seeuleo 2 Kingsvi.16, 17; Matt. llXvi. most purely bright object of all, and con- 53; Heh. xii. 22; Rev. ix. 16). The number sider that in God's sight,, compared to his or tho angels o.t o.ny given time must be a radiance, it has no brightness-'' it shineth definite one. But o.s there is nothing to not." Or turn your attention from tbe moon limit the further exercise of creative power to the stars, rivals of the moon in purity and in this direction, the possible number is brilliance, e,nd reflect that the stars are not indefinite. And upon whom doth not his pure in his sight. A sort of dusky veil light arise 1 Upon who.t being o.mong all oversprea,ls them. the countless thousands whom he bath Ver. 6.-Kow muoh leas man, that is a creat«id, or will create, does not the bright- worm 1 and the aon of man, which is a ness of his effulgence shine in such sort worm l (comp. Ps. xxii. 6). How mnch less that they are illumined by him, and them- can man be pure in God's sight I An un- selves shine with a mere reflected splendour? doubted truth, or rather, perhaps, a truism, Ver. 4.-How then can man be justified but not to the point, for Job has never really with God 1 If God's creatures ho.ve no maintained that he is without sin (see eh. brightness of their own, o.nd, when they vii. 20, 21 ; ix. 2, 20, etc.). He has only shine, shine only with a reflected radiance, maintained that his sins have not been of theu certainly can no mo.n be justified by such a character as to account for his his own merits. "All have sinned, and come smferinge.