obeoure hints are believed to be foun1l in Scripture (cf. Candlish'e • Fatherhood of God ' leot. vi, p. 260). 2, Impure. "How can be be clean that ie born of a woman/" (ver, 4). In Bildad's estimation the moral defilement of man is (1) involved in his origin, as being the child of woman--a sentiment in which Job (cf. eh. xiv. 1, 4) and Elipbaz (eh. xv. 14) a.like concur (cf. homiletics, in Zoe.); (2) proved by his station: "Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in hie sight: how much less, then, man?" (vers. 6, 6). Bildad, soaring at a lower altitude than Eliphaz (eh. iv. 18), contrasts the glory of God with the purity of his highest creatllres. The incomparable brilliance of an Oriental evening sky is attested by travellers; yet the pale, clear, silver whiteness of the moon's light, and the sparkling lustre of the starry orbs, become dimmed beside the insufferable radiance of the Divine glory (1 Tim. vi. 16). The imperfection of the highest creatures being thus established, it follows that man, one of the lowest (physically considered), cannot be pure. 3. Feeble. " Man ~hat ie a worm, and the son of man that is a worm" (ver. 6). Man is compared by Eliphaz to II dweller in a mud hut (eh. iv. 19), and by Job to a flower springing up from the soil (eh. xiv. 2). He is here likened to a worm bred by putrefaction, i.e. a mean, despicable, and insignificant creature (Ps. xxii. 6), which he is (1) in comparison with the rest of creation (Ps. viii. 3, 4; Isa. xii. 24), but much more (2) in comparison with the God of creation (Isa. xl. 22). Learn: 1. The claim God has on the reverential homage of his creatures. 2. The antiquity of the gospel doctrine of justification by faith. 3. The humility man should cultivate in thinking of himself. 4. The infinite condescension of him who is the Lord of all the armies of light in becoming a worm and no man. 6. The tran- scendent glory of Divine grace which coniemplates the elevation_ of "man that is a worm, and the son of man the.t is a worm," to a position higher than the stars or the angels; yea, to a partnership in that very dominion (Rev. iii. 21) which belongs to God.
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-6,-The majesty of God and the weakness of man. Leaving untouched the perplexing question of the prosperity of bad men, Bildad makes the point of his attack upon Job his assertions of innocence (eh. xxiii. 10-12). His object is to insist that, the distance between man and God being infinite, man cannot enter into controversy with God, nor can he be pure in his eyes. The address of Bildad consists mainly of repetitions from the previous discourses of Eliphaz (eh. iv. 17, sq_q_.; xv. 14, sq_q.)- descriptions of the majesty and sublimity of God. 1n reply, Job seizes the opportunity offered by his antagonist, and, after a few bitter words of self-vindication, proceeds to outvie and far surpass Bildad in his description of the greatness of God. I. GoD's MAJESTY; AND APPLIOATION. (Vers. 2-4.) 1. Absolute power, carrying with it overwhelming awe into the minds of his subjects-a power which has quelled the earlier discord of heaven and made peace in those heights-is associated with God (ver. 2). He is "Lord of hosts," and those hosts are innumerable-the stars of heaven, the angels who inhabit and guide them (eh. xv. 15); and all the marvellous forces of nature-winds, lightnings, waves (eh. xxxviii. 19-21; Ps. civ. 4), which do his bidding (ver. 3). 2. He is the absolute Liyht, from which all othera are but reflected and derived. It is bis garment and his glory (Ps. civ. 2; Ezek. i. 27, 28; 1 Tim. vi. 16). It blesses and cheers all that lives (Matt. v. 45). No living creature is exempt from its all-pervading beams. Then how can a mortal be just with God? How can man, in his feebleness, enter into court and contend with absolute Power (comp. eh. ix. 2)? Thus the speaker would convict Job of folly. .And then comes the second member of ver. 4 leading to the second great thought of the speech: " How can he be pure the.t is born of a wome.n?" II. Goo's PURITY; AND APPLlOATION. (Vers. 6, 6.) The bright silver lustre of the moon seems pale, the stars are dimmed, when compared with the essential and eternal splendour of the Highest-to say nothing of man, the maggot, the worm ! The stau are but the outer adornments of the palace and abode of God; and how, then, shall man, living on this dim spot that men c11ll earth, think to meet God on equal terms ud dispute with him~ If he, like_ moon and stars, keeps to his rank and order, he 426
may enjoy the benefit of God; if he attempts to tra'tel beyond It, he will be crneMd by the Wl!igbt of the Divine majesty (Ooooeius). The view of yonder glory reminds m11.n of hi11 sin and corruption. The celestial lustre is the 11ign of celll!ltil\l purity hi the inhabitants of heaven; hie frailty and mortality are the evidence of hi~ sin. The time h!U! not yet oome when, life and immortality being broaght to light, man la oon- 11Cious or the grandeur of his inward faith and of his spiritual destiny, when he refuses to be crushed by the dazzling might and splendour of the material universe because conscious of nffinity to the creative thought.-J. · •