The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 432

need of o&ths to support it. 4:. That good men should never renounce their integrity while they live, however they m11,y sometimes forbear from asserting It. 6. That however much 11. wicked man ml\y gRin on earth, he losas RU 11t death. 6, That that hope only ie good which extends 'beyond the grave. 7. That God delighte in theru who delight in him. 8. 'l'h&t a mm's piety oan be pretty accurately gauged by the intensity and frequency of his prayers. Ven,. 11-23.-Job's first parabl,e: 2. 7Vie pqrtwn Qf a tlllcked man tDUA God. I. Jon's LANGUAGE EXPLAINED. The lot, or earthly inheritance, of the ungodly Job exhihits in thr<'e particull\rs. 1. TM wwked mun's famuy. However num.ous the children that gather round a sinner's hearth, they will 11.\l be overwhelmed in eventual destruction. (1) Designed. If hie sons and daughters multiply, it is not beoanse or any special f11.vour with which they are regarded by Heaven, but only to meet their appointed portion. If the wicked send forth their little ones like a flock (eh, m. 11), it is purely that, like oxen, they may be fattened for the slaughter. (2) Violent. lnstRad or dying peacefully in the course of nature after long, prosperous, and happy Jives, they shall perish by the sword, by famine, or by pestilence-the three most usual forms of calamity in the East, and the three customary modes of inflicting Divine punishment (2 Sl\m. xxiv. 13; Jer. xiv. 12). Job's children were not removed in either of these ways. (3) Humili11.ting. Such indignity will fall upon his offspring, when they in turn follow him to the grave, that they shall be "buried in death," meaning either left unbnried, or, as is more probable, totally forgotten the instant they are dead. Contrast the picture of the wicked man's funeral in a previous oration (eh. :ui. 9, 32). (4:) .Appalling. Either 80 complete will the ruin of this ungodly person's family be tbe.t no widows shall remain to moum for himself '.and children ; or 80 sudden will be the shock of bereavement, that, paralyzed with grief, they will be unable to weep; or so attended with indications of Divine displeasure that they will fear to indulge in outward tokens of sorrow. 2. The wwked man's we.al.th. Thi!:' also shall be dissipated. (1) His money. Should it be plentiful as the dust (Zech. iL 3; cf. 1 Kings x. 27), he must leave it behind him, bu.t.not to his children, for "his silver the innocent shall divide" (ver. 17). The dying millionaire cannot calculate, or secure, that his accumulated t1'9&1!ures will be enjoyed by his family (Ps. :uxix.. 6; Luke xii. 20). God can scatter a man's wealth as easily as destroy a man's life or extinguish a man's house. (2) His raiment. This is another form of Oriental. wealth (vi,d,e Exposition), which, though abundant as the mire, must share the B!l.me fate, and become the property &f the righteous. (3) His palace. Strongly built and gorgeously decorated, it yet is frail and brittle, as easily destroyed and M quickly removed as a moth-web (eh. viiL 15) or a watchman's hut (Isa.. i. 8). 3. TJ.e wicked man's pt:rlKYtl.. Equally with his family and possessions, the wicked man himself is engulfed in an awful doom. (1) Surprised by sudden death. .At night retiring to bed rich. he knows not that before morning he shall be removed from life and riches at a stroke; or, if permitted to see the dawn, he is quite unconscious that he does so for the last time, and that, ere the night fall~, he shall be no more (ver. 19). Death, which comes to all men suddenly (Matt. xxiv. 44), is no 1urprise to them who habitually look for its approach (2 'l'im. iv. 6), but a fearful awakening to them who live in careless unconcern about their latter end (1 TheBS. v. 8). (2) Terrified by impending judgment. While the violent surprise with which death seizes on the sinuer is represented by three more metaphors~{ a flood from which it is impossible t.o run (Ps. xviii. 4), & tempest or whirlwind which stealeth one away by night ( eh. m 18; Prov. x. 25), and an east wind accompanied by destructive storms (Isa.. xli. 16), sometimes "so severe as to smite down whole villages and uproot the largest trees" (Cox)-the effect produced upon the sinner's mind is depicted as one of paralyzing, overwhelming, devouriDg consternation (Ps. lxxiii. 19). This tear is pro- bably the apprehension of something after death (cl. 'Macbeth,' act i. ec. 7). (3) Over~ taken by merited punishment. Upon the head of this Wlhappy wretch God shall rain iown cal&m.ities so f&Bt and furious that every attempt to escape his doom will be in v&i.n. Such also David thought would be the portion of the wicked (Ps. xi. 6); and•such St. Paul aaserte will be the ultima.te reward of the unbelieving and im~nitent (Rom. ii. II). (") PUIBued by universal eMCraijon. Even if we read (Carey) it, ,.e. the wind, OU, XXVII, 1-23.] THE BOOK OF JOB. 447