The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 435

Immense wealth and profuse display follows (ver. 16)-his silver being heaped up like duet, and fine rniment being as common as dirt. Yet there is no more real substcmtiality in all this than In the frail cocoon of the moth, or the hut which the watchman puts up in the vineyard or orchard (Isa. i. 8). The striking story i~ told by Herodotus (vl. 86) of bne Glaucus, Lhe son of Epicydes, who was requested by a man of Miletus to take cbnrgo of the half of his fortune. When the sons o[ tbe Milcsian claimed the money, Glaucus denied all knowledge of it, and consulted the oracle ns to the results of perjury, and whether he could SRfely retain the money. The oracle replied, " Glaucus, son of Epicydee, for the present moment, indeed, it is more profitable to prevail by nn oath, and to make the money thy booty. Swear; for death in truth 11waits the man who is true to his oath. But, on the other hand, the child of the oath is nameless, and bath neither hands nor feet; yet he swiftly comes on, until he has ruined and destroyed thy whole race, yea, all thy house. With the race of the faithful man it shall fare better hereafter." He restored the money, but was told it was too late ; and Leotychides, who related the story to the Athenians, says, "There is now no descendant of Glaucus living, no hearth that owns his name; be has been utterly rooted out, and has passed away from Sparta." 3. Im1ecwrity of life. (Vers. 19-23.) "He lies down rich, and-doth it not again," according to the best, reading. Thie is a picture of the evening. The next is a picture of the morning. "Opens his eyes, and~is gone I" Both depict the suddenness of the wicked man's end (ver. 19). A multitude of terrors rush in upon him, like the waters of an inundation (ver. 20; comp. eh. :xx. 28; Ps. xviii, 5; Jer. xlvii. 2), and fill his death-bed with horror (comp. eh. xvi ii. 14; xx. 25), and the east wind carries him away (ver. 21)-the east wind being often mentioned as one of great violence (cb. i.19; xv. 2; xxxviii. 24; lea. :xxvii. 8; Ezek. xxvii. 26). God slings without sparing the bolts of his wrath against him, and he must flee before his hand (ver. 22). The fearful scene doses amidst the scornful laughter and clapping of hands of those who exult in the tyrant's doom (ver. 23 ; comp. eh. xxxiv. 37; Lam. ii. 15; Nah. iii. 19), and he departs from his place amid,, the hisses of execration. The powerful picture of the great moralist, Juvenal, may be compared with this passage (' Sat.,' xiii. 210, sqq.). After depicting the sufferings of a guilty conscience, he proceeds, "What, then, if the sinner has achieved his purpose ? A respiteless anxiety is his, that ceases not, even at the hours of meals; his jaws are parched as though with fever, and the food he lcathes swells between his teeth. All wines the miserable wretch spits out; old Alban wine, of highly prized antiquity, disgusts him. At night, if anxious care has granted him perchance some brief slumber, and hie limbs, that have been tossing over the whole bed, at length are at rest, imme- diately be sees in dreams the temple and altar of the deity he has insulted; and, what weighs upon his soul with especial terror, he sees thee [the wronged one]! Thy awful form, of more than human bulk, confounds the trembling wretch, and wrings confession from him I " These pictures of the doom of the godless are fitted to teach patience to all the ill-used and the suffering in this world. God forgets nothing; neither the work of faith and labour of love of his children, nor the rank offences of the rebels against his laws. In due time he will both reward and punish, commonly even in this life (Exod. xxxii. 34; Rom. ii.). Calamity is not a mere accident, as the worldly and the infidel think. It follows sin, according to a fixed connection, by the will of God (Amos iii. 6).-J. Vere. 6, 6.-Determined integrity. Job is resolved to retain his integrity in spite of every rude assault. He will not suffer himself to be withdrawn from bis fixed resolve. By firm resolution integrity may be preserved, though a boastful spirit exposes itself to temptation. Between the perils of presumptuous boasting on the one band and timid irresolution on the other, lies the path of safety in a lowly, humble determination. I. RESOLUTION FORTIFIES THE MIND AGAINST THE ATTACKS OF TEMPTATION. Evil finds its easiest prey in the irresolute and undetermined. Subtle and sudden sug- gestions of wrong are instantly rejected by the determined mind. They are cast off. '!'here is a spirit of antagonism-a cherished antipathy to wrong; and before tempta- tion has power to draw away the feet of the unwary, the determined one casts be.ck the offending presence. He waits not to parley. There is a law established to cleave to ~ 2a 4.50 THE BOOK OF .JOB. [OH, XXVII, l-,-23,