The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 410

they are completely prevent.£ from working hllI"ID against his throne or empire, but are kept in chaine againet the judgment of the great day. As God rules in hel\ven, so &I.so does be reign on el\rtb in e.nd through Christ, who is our Peacerue.ker (Eph. il. 14), having by his incarnation me.de peace (unity instead of division) between Jew 11,11d Gentile, by bis cross produced at-one-ment (the reconcilil\tion of both in one body unt.o God), and by his power will nltiml\tely effect the complete subjugation of his foes (1 Cor. xv. 24-28). 4. Illimitable in its sway. "Is there any number of hie armies?" (ver. 3). The armies alluded to are (1) the angels (Ps. ciii. 21), who are represented in Scripture as an innumerable (Ps. lxviii. 17; Heh. xii. 22; Rev. v. 11) host, arrayed in military order (Dan. iv. 35), whose shining legions are led on by the power of the supreme Creator (Ps. civ. 4; Matt. xxv. 31), every individual member thereof being promptly obedient to that Creator's will (Zech. vi. 6 ; Matt. xxiv. 21 ; Heh. i. H). (2) The stars, which also are in Scripture depicted as an army (lsa. xl. 26), are discovered by modern science to be immensely more numerous than ever entered into the mind of Bildad to conceive. Though not intended by Bildad, God's armies may be B&id also to include (3) the creatures generally, which are all in his hand I\Ild under his control. 5. Beneficent in its administration. "And upon whom doth not his light arise?" (ver. 3). (1) The light of his material sun, whose cheering beams, created (Gen. i. 16) and directed by him, diffuse themselves abroad upon the face of earth (Ps. xix. 6), awaking life, imparting health, producing beauty, inspiring joy, blessing all creatures animate and inanimate, rational and irrational, good and bad alike (Matt. v. 45). A sunless earth would be an arctic region of perpetual ice, a dismal chamber of horrors, a prison-house of misery, a cheerless sepulchre of death. Besides being signal demonstrations of God's creative wisdom and power, the making of light and the disposition of it in a central orb are strikiug t.okens of his goodness. (2) The light of his providential favour, in respect of which he is styled "the Father of lights" (Jas. i. 1 i). The goodness of God, like the light of the sun, is freely flowing (Jas. i 5), far-extending (Ps. :u.xili. 6), all- enriching (Ps. cxlv. 9), never-failing (Ps. c. 6). As the Divine beneficence blesses all God's terrestrial creatures, we may rest assured it does not forget his celestial armies of saints and angels. (3) The light of his gracious truth, which is also set forth in Scripture under the emblem of light (Isa. ii. 5; ix. 2; John xii. 35; 2 Cor. iv. 4). Christ, in whom that light is embodied (John i. 4; ix. 5), is characterized as the true Light (John i. 8, 9), being designed for the saving illumination of the spiritually benighted, collectively and individually. The light of his gospel is destined to circle round the earth like the sun ( Ps. xi.I. 4 ; Rom. L 18). 6. .All-transcending in ita sp/,endOU,r. " Whom doth not his light surpass?" (Delitzsch). The resplendent Ruler of the numberless legions of heaven ie One whose glory, i.e. ae a personal Sovereign, out- shine5 in radiance that of each and a.II of those beings of light over whom he reigns. These latter have no light they derive not from hi.m, ae the moon and planets have none they receive not from the sun, and Christians none that does not come to them from Christ, round whom they revolve like attendant satellites; and so the glory which the an~els or other creatures have is as no glory by reason of " the glory that excelleth." IL THE LI'M'LENEBS oF :HAN. With a painful lack of originality, Bildad, the master of ancient laws and popular traditions, quietly appropriates a sentiment which already Elipbaz had uttered (eh. iv. 17-21; xv. 14-16), and to which even Job had assented (eh. iL 2; :xiv. 4), that in comparison with so transcendently glorious a Being man must for ever be immeasurably insignificant and mean. 1. Gui'lty. "How then can man be justified with God?" (ver. 4). '!'he argument is a fortiori: If these radiant beings constituting God's celestial armies would never think of contending with him in order to establiBh the faultless purity of their characters, it is simply monetrou.s to suppose that a frail man, whose feebleness is the result of a depraved moral constitution, wo!lld ever succee,l in securing acquittal before the bar of a holy God. The language implies (1) that no man can be jUBtified by works-a doctrino pervading both the Old and New 'l'estaments (eh. ix. 2; Ps. cxliii. 2; Isa. lvii. 12; Born. iii. 20; Eph. ii. 9; TitUB iii. 6); (2) that if a man is to be justified, it must be by grace (Gen. xv. 6; P11. x:x:xii. 2; Rom. iii. 24; v. 21; Titus iii. 7), i.e. without works and by faith ; while it seems also to teach (3) that the legal standing of the an11:ela before the throne is not of wo&ii an7 more than man'&-& doctrine of which CJB, XXV, 1-6,] THE BOOK OF JOB, t26