The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 427

breathed Into man's nostrils, whereby he what will he have to look fonnml toin the end beoe.me a Jiving soul (Gen. ii. 7), is still, when Ood taketh a.way (i.e. removoth fro~ Job so.ye, wiLhin him, and mnkes him co.pable earth) his soul l Job evidently regards tho of judging nnd deolaring who.t is right. soul tho.t is "tA.kon away" or removed from Vor. 4.-lly lips shall not speak wioked- enrth e.s •till existing, still conscion•, still neH. Nothing shall induce him, Job sA.ys, capo.hie uf ltope or of despo.ir, and n•ks who.t to spoak knowingly wicked words. Nor my hope of a happy future could the man who tongue utter deoeit. Neithor will ho be in- had lived a hypocrite enti,rtain, when God duced, whatever happens, to utter untruth. require<l his soul, and he fell under God's A confession of guilt, such o.s his friends jnclgment. The question reminds us of those have endeavoured to extort from him, would words of our blessed Lord, '' What shall it be both wioked 1md false. profit o. man, it' he gain the whole world, and Ver. 5.-God forbid that I should justify lose his own soul? or wliat shall a man givo you; i.e. allow that you have been right all in exchange for his soul?" (Mark viii. 36, along, and that I have drawn these judg- 87). menls down upon me by secret sins. Till I Ver. 9.-Will God hear his ery when die I will not remove mine integrity from trouble cometh upon him l Can be expect me, So long as he continues to live, Job that in the day of trouble, "when distress will not oease to maintain his innocence. It and anguish come npon him" (Prov. i. 27), has been repeatedly pointed out that he God will hear his cry, and respond to it, does not mean to declare himself absolutely and give him relief? No; conscious hypo- without sin, but only to deny such heinous crisy-living a lie-cuts off from God, severs guilt as his friends impuLed to him (see eh. between a man and liis Maker, makes all xxii. 5-9). prayers for help vain, until it is repented of Ver. 6.-lly righteousness I hold fast, and put a.way from us. The man who dies and will not let it go. Not only will Job in it is in a desperate ca.se. never oeo.se to mRintain his integrity in the Ver. 10.-Will he delight himself in the past, but he will hold fa.et to the same Almighty 1 A further ill result of hypocrisy course of blameless life in the future. He is noted. Not only does it alienate God will not "curse God, o.nd die." Resolutely from us, but it alienates us from God. The he will mo.inte.in his faith in God, and hypocrite cannot "delight in the Almighty." hill dependence on him. "Though he slay He must shrink from him, fear him, dilllike me, yet will I trust in him." llily heart to dwell on the thought of his presence and ■hall not reproaoh me 10 long as I live. realize it. His natural inclination must be This is probably the true meauing, though to withdraw his thoughts from God, and some suggest " My heart doth not reproaoh give himself up to the worldliness which has me for a.ny of my days." Job determines been his attraction to assume the hypocrite'd to "have al ways a consoience void of offence, pa.rt. Will he always call upon God 1 Can both toward God and toward ma.n" (Acts be even be depen<led on not to renounce the xxiv. 16; comp. Acts xxiii. 1; l Cor. iv. 4; service of God ultogether? The mutual 2 Tim. i. 8; 1 John iii. 21). alienation above spoken of must tend to Ver. 7.-Let mine enemy be ae the wicked. check communion, to disincline to pra.yc,r The nezua of this passage with what goes and calling upon God, to erect a barrier before is uncertain. Some suppose Job's full between the hypocrite and the Alrnighty, thought to have been, "Ye try to persuade which, though for a while it may be rn:;ul~ me to a.et wickedly by making 11 false repre- ficient to withstand the force of use and sentation of my feelings and convictions; wont, will yet, iu the long run, be sure to but I absolutely refuse to do so. Let that tell, and will either put a.n end to prayer rathor be the act of my .enemy." Others altogether, or reduce it to a formality regard him as simply so vexed by his pre- tended friends, who are his real enemies, Vers. 11-28.-lt is impossible to deny that he is driven to utter o.n imprecation that this passage directly contradicts Job's ago.inst them. And he that riseth up against former utterances, especially eh. xxiv. 2-U. me as the unrighteous. This is another in- But the hypotheses which would make Juli stance of a mere pleono.stic hemistioh-a re- petition of the preceding olause in different irresponsible for the present utterance and words. fix on him, as his steadfast conviction, the Ver. 8.-l!'or what is the hope of the hypo- opposite theory, are unsatisfactory a.nu have crite, though he bath gained. The hypo- no solid basis. To suppose that Zophar is crite and lir.r may get advauta.ge in this life the real speaker is to iwagine the absolute by his lies and his hyp?orisy_. He ~a.y d~- loss and suppression of two entire verses- ceive men; lie may 1·a1s.i huuself m their opinion; he mn.y derive worldly advl\ntage one between vers. 10 und ll, assigning tho from having secureJ. theii e.pprovnl. But speech to hiw, and another at tlle beginning  THE BOOK ()F JoB.