The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 460

propbete generally were afterwards lnattucted libout the tnind of God (Amos iii. 7), ae "the secret or the Lord la with them that fear him" (Ps. xxv. 14; Prov. iii. 32), and RB on believers ia conferred an unction from the Holy One, e!labling them to know all thlnga (1 Jdhn ii. 20, 27; v. 20), but more particulaTly the mind of Christ (John xvi. 13-15; 1 Cor. Ii. 16). II. DAYS OF DOMJ!:sTio FELTOI'l'Y. It is II special mark of piety in Job that, enume- rating his lost blessings, he begins with what the worldly or wicked man would have )11aced last, viz. the Divine friendship. • As to David (Pa. !xiii. 3) and to Asaph (Ps. luiii. 25), eo to. Job the favour and fellowship of God constituted the principal ingredient in his full cup of blessing. But next to fellowship with a God of mercy and salvation, no earthly happiness can be compared to a. home illumined by the sunshine of genuine religion, nod gladdened by the cheery voices of loving and obedient children. Job cannot recall the time when the Almighty was still with him (ver. 5) without remembering that then also his children (his young men, his boys) were about him-a numerous, happy, loving, united, and, it may be hoped, a pious family (eh. i. 1-5; vide homiletics). It is contrary to religion for a e:ood man, or any man, to prize his wife and children above his Saviour and his God (Matt. x. 37); it is contrary to nature to behold them taken from his side by the band of death without weeping (Gen. xxiii. 2; John xi. 31, 33, 35); it is contrary to neither nature nor religion to cherish them with fondest affection, and to mourn for their death with sincere lamentation. TII. ·DAYS OF MATERIAL PROSPERITY. Guarded by Divine care and g,1 d. J by Divine light, like Jacob in Padan-aram (Gen. xxxi. 5, 7, 11, 12, 42), Job attained to extensive wealth,' the poetic imagery employed (ver. 6) to depict it meaning, when converted into 1µ1adorned prose, that his flocks became so abundant, and their yield of milk so rich and plentiful, that he might almost be said to wash bis steps in bniter, which among the Arabs was mostly a liquid preparation, and that everywhere throughout his domain the crags were clothed with olive trees so prolific that the very rocks appeared to· pour forth oit It was another mark of Job's fervent piety and well- balanced judgment that he preferred his children to his flocks and trees, giving these latter only the.third place in his esteem, and th.at he ascribed his material prosperity, no less than· his domestic felicity, to the circumstance that then the Almighty was with him. So did Jacob when serving with Laban (Gen. :xxxi. 5), and Joseph when ruling fdr Pharaoh (Gen. xiv. 8), recognize God as the Author of their temporal advancement. So does Scripture habitually trace to God every blessing which the saint enjoys (Ps. Ixxv. 6, 7; Jas. i. 17). IV. DAYS OF c1v10 HONOUR. A saint of eminent piety, the father of a numerous family, and the proprietor or vast possessions, Job had likewise been the chief magis- trate, or sttpr.eme dispenser·of law and justice, in his clan. Passing beyond the bounds of bis own private· domain, and entering the adjacent city, when he took his seat among t·he elders in the broad way, i.e. in the open space usually reserved in Oriental cities, either in front of the gate (2 Chron. xuii. 6; Neh. viii. 1, 3, 16), or in the vaulted recesses beneath the archway (Gen. xix. 1 ; 1 Kings xxii. 10), for the trans- action of business (Ruth iv. 1), the dispensing of justice (Prov. xx:.xi. 23), or the conducting of other negotiations, he was saluted with marked tokens of respect. 'l'he younger men, conscious of his greatness, retired into the background; the old men amongst· the coilncillors received him standing; the voice of the greatest magnate amongst them was silent until he had uttered his opinion. A remarkable testimony to the hlgh esteem in which Job was held for his personal qualities and cGJmmanding abilities. V. DAYS OF PUDLIC PHILANTHROPY. What Eliphaz once admitted (eh. iv. 3, 4), Job is now constrained to avow, that his whole by-past career had been one of unwearic.d benevolence. In his magisterial capacity be had: 1. Espoused the cause of the poor and needy. In conspicuous contradiction to Eliphaz, who bad charged him (eh. xiii: 5-9) with intolerable oppression and cruelty, with robbing the poor, and inhumanly suffering the naked and hungry to perish, he had taken, it might be said, the whole family of the unfortunate under his protection. When a poor man oppressed by his neighbour had cried out for help, when an orphan had poured into his ear a tale of pitiful distress, when a miserable outcast half-dead through cold and nakedness, or through hunger nnd thirst, had found the way to his door, when a broken-hearted widow hnd avFcal<d to him for assistance, he had had au ear for every cry, a. heart fllr  THE BOOK OF JOI'.\. [OR, Utt, 1-98-: