The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 476

pre~ioue discourses (eh. iii. 24: vii. 3, 4, 13, 15; x. 20, etc.), it is here presented in a fresh eerles of images, Job describing his sinews ns taking no rest (ver. 17), literally "my gnawere,'1 mea1;1ing either his tormenting·pains (Gesenins), or the gnawing worm; formed in his ulcers (Delitzsch), "rest not," and speaking of his disease as binding him fnst, and sticking closely to him like the collar of his coat (ver. 18), and finally adding that hie bowels, as the seat of pain, boiled and rested not (ver. 27). 6. Manifokl. In this his last lament Job confines not his attention to the one point of his bodily ailment, but makes a survey of the whole course of bis affliction-from the day when, bereft of his ·family and possessions, be went about the streets as a mourner, a1Ta.yed in sackcloth, without the sun (ver. 28), i.e. in such a state of grief and dejection that even the glad- dening sunshine failed to give him pleasure, to that moment when he had become a.s "a brother to dragons and a companion to owls" (ver. 29). 7. Def}7'ading. By reason of this terrible disease be had been cast into the mire, and had become like dust and ashes (cf. eh. xvi. 15, 16); nay, lower even than that, be bad been reduced to the level of jackal~ and ostriches; creatures whose dolorous howlings fill men with shuddering and dejection. _ _ . • _ . II. JoB's MENTAL ANGUISH. The thought which most keenly lacerated Job's bosom was the fixed and i=ovable idea which had fastened on his soul, that the God whom he had lo;ved and served had become to him a changed God, who treated him with Ullspa.ring cruelty (ver. 21). Of_ this the proof to Job's miad lay in several con- siderations, . ~-·That God was the real Author of Job's sufferings. It was he and no other who had cast Job into the mire (ver. 19). In a. very real sense this was true, since ·Job'B miLligna.rtt· and unsleeping adversary could have bad no power over him, except it bad been given him from above; -but in the sense which Job meant it was a hideous misconception, Satan and not God having been the enemy who had· touched his bones and bis flesh. Saints should be careful not to impute to God the blame of what be only permits. 2. That God remained deaf to Job's entreaties. "I cry unto thee, and thou dost not. hear. me: I stand up, and thou regar.dest me;" i.e. lookest :fixedly at me (ver, 20), meeting my earnest reverential upward glance with a stare of li_tony· indifferenii'!l, if not of hostile intent (cf. ver. 24). A fearful perversion of the truth wb'.icl\ Job's prolonged misery cannot justify. God is the enemy of no man who doe~ not first 'qiake himself a.n enemy of God. "The face of God is set against them that do evil;" but C< God's eyes are ever towards the righteous" with looks of love and benignant compassion.· '·Even when he forbears to help, and seems to be deaf to the good man's supplications, he hears and pities. If God answers not, it is in love rather than in hate._ Whatev_er beralls a saint he should hold fast by the unchanging and unfaltering love of the Divin~ Father. Believers under the gospel should find this easier to do than Job did. 3. That God was insensible to Job's feebleness. With the strength of his om9ipotent arm he appeared to be ma.king war upon one who was insignificant and frail, heedless of the agonies he inflicted or the terrors he inspired, lifting up his vict_ini upon the fierce hurricane of tribulation, ea.using him to drive along before its howling blasts and to vanish in the crashing of the storm, as a thin cloud is caught 'by the whirling tempest, "blown with restless violence round about the pendent worldt and :finally dispersed by the violent agitation it endures (vers. 21, 22). 4. That God ha.d fixedly resolved on Job's destructiO'TI. In Job's anguish-laden mind it was a foregone conclusion that God bad determined to pursue him to the grave, to bring him down. to the dust of death; to shut him up in the- house of assembly for all living (ver. 23). Job's conception of the grave was sublimely true. It was and is "the great \nvoluntary rendezvous of all who live in this world." Job's belief that God would eventually conduct him thither was likewise correct. "It is appointed unto all mei;i once to die." Job's apprehension that his immediate dissolution was decreed was wrong. The times of all are in the hand of God; and it is not given to any to anticipate with certainty the day and the hour of departure from this sublunary scene. So also was Job's infe_ rence erroneous that prayer was unavailing when God had determined on o. creature's destruction (ver. 24). It was not so in the case of Hezekiah, to whom God, in answer to his fervent supplication, added fifteen years (2 E.ings xx. 1-7; Isa. xxxviii. 1-6). But even should God decline to move the shadow on the dial backward, it is at.ill not in vain for dying men to call aloud to him in prayer, inasmuch 11s he can help them by his grace to m~et that which by his hand  THE BOOK OF JOB. [ou. n:x. 1-81,