The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 528

determines that one to be the Angel of Jehovah, who alone among the myriad hosts l)f 1\Dgels stands without a peer. That a young Arabian prophet of Aram.aia.n extrac- tion should be familiar with the angel-interpreter is no more remarkable than that the Ani;el of the Lord should be known to the patriarchs. II. 'l'RE PURPOSES OF DIVINE INSTRUCTION. 1. To deter 'T1U1111,from Bin. In particular the withdrawing of man from hie purpose (ver. 17), literally, from hie work, generally in an evil sense, ie exhibited as the specific object aimed at by God's supernatural warniugs to the soul, as e.g. in the cases of Abimelech (Gen. xx. 6) and Laban (Gen. xxxi. 24); but none the less is affliction designed to exercise on wicked men a deterrent influence, restraining them from sin, as in the cases of Pharaoh (Exod. vii. 16) and Mo.nasseh (2 Chron. xxxiii. 12); while the third method of instruction referred to, that of spiritual enlightenment (whether human or Divine as to its agency,) distinctly con- templates as its aim, among other things, the subjugation of evil impulses in the soul, and the obliteration of evil deeds from the life, of man (John xv. 3; xvii. 17; 1 These. ii. 13; 2 Tim. iii. 16). 2. To withdraw man from pride. Pride is the homage which a human soul pays to itself, the arrogant assumption by self of that worship which is due to God. The great sin to which man in innocence was tempted by the devil (Gen. iii. 5), it has ever since been a characteristic of the fallen heart (Ps. x. 2), which, seemingly oblivious of its weakness, is always looking out for symptoms of its power, styling itself a geber, "a strong one," a valiant hero, when in reality it is an enosh, "a frail and feeble creature" (cf. the Laodicean Christians). Besides being extremely foolish in itself, and infinitely dangerous to the subject of it, such a disposition and mind is intensely hateful to God (Ps. ci. 5; Prov. viii. 13; Isa. xiii. 11; Jer. l. 31; 1 Cor. i. 29; Jae. iv. 6), who, by the threefold ministry above specified, aims at its complete extirpation from the human heart-first checking its outward Illll.nifestations by providential warnings, supernatural or otherwise, as iu the cases of Hagar (Gen. xvi. 9), Miriam and Aaron (Numb. xii. 2-10), David (2 Sam. xxiv. 10), and Hezekiah (2 Kings xx. 13; 2 Chron. x.xxii. 31); then striking at its inward roots by the sharp axe of affliction, as he did with Pharaoh (Exod. vii., et seq.), Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. iv. 30-34), Sennacherib (2 Kings xviii. 19-35); and finally, by the personal example and teaching of Christ (Matt. xi. 29), casting it out, and hiding it, from the soul~ of those in whom such affliction is sanctified. 3. To deliver man from ignorance. More specifically is this declared to be the object contemplated by the "Maleach Malitz."' Sinful man is pre-eminently in darkness concerning "his uprightness;'' i.e. either God's rectitude and justice in dealing with individuals (Carey), or, what seems prefer- able, man's right course-to be followed (cf. 1 Sam. vi. 12; Prov. xiv. 2}-the path which he ought to pursue when lying under God's chastening hand; "in one word, the way of salvation, which he must take in order to get free of sin and death, the way, viz., of repentance and of faith" (Delitzsch, Good, Fry, Cox, and others). In large measure this absence of moral and spiritual enlightenment as to the way of salvation accounts for man's hardness and impenitence of heart. Consequently, the Divine ad.ministration has provided for bringing the needful illumination to man's benighted soul by means of a special Angel-Interpreter (first Christ, then the Holy Ghost, and, under them, the angels or ministers of the Churches); and the time selected for sending in a flood of heavenly light upon man's darkened understanding ill the season of affliction, when, his pride having been laid low, his heart has become soft and amenable to instruction. 4. To save man from death. It is unreasonable to insist that Elihu knew nothing of a spiritual deliverance of the soul from condemnation and everlasting death, and that bis language (vers. 18, 24, 30) about the pit must be confined exclusively to the grave. On the other hand, it would be equally preposterous to deny that Elihu does here allude to the temporal and physico.l recovery of a sick man as the result of accepting with penitence and faith the teaching of the Angel-Interpreter; as e.g. in the case of Hezekiah, to whom Isaiah acted in the capacity of a" Maleach Malitz," and who, in answer to his prayers al!.d tears, was restored to health (Isa. xx.xviii. 5), and as in early Christian times the invalii who called £or the elders of the Church and listened to their instruc- tions was directed to hope that in response to the prayer of faith God would raise him up (Jas. v. 14, 15). The ~rohability is that both forms of deliverance were in the contemplation of Elihu: (1) of the sinful man's soul from the pit of condemnation of wliicb Pavicl sings (fs. :r;l. ~), &:Ad (2) of ibe sick miu.i's bodf fropi the fit of corrup- 54-2 TII~ BOOK· OF J'Ol3. [oli. xJtxm. l-3S.