The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 540

~ecret.ion-" wise " and II knowing -ones " (ver. 2), 11 men •of understanding," literally, "men of bee.rt," i.e. pel'llOns of intelligence and ripe experien~ onpable of forming a judgment upon so high a matter as that about to be submitted to them. 3. The protJecv,f.or. Elihu. Details of his personality have been given in eh. z.:txH. 2. A young Arabian prophet claiming to speitk ·under a Divjnlj impulse, and introduced for the 11urpose of delivering a prelitninary verdict upon Job's case, 'With a view to preparing Job for the subsequent thcophany of Jehovah (eh, xxxviii. 1). 4. The address. Elihu invites the court of jurymen to attend to the details of the case, as he should present it for their consideration, to use discrimination in sifting what tho car beard, so as to separate the essential from the aoci<len-tal. the important from the unimportant, the pertinent from the irrelevant, the ear being endowed with a faculty of trying words as the palate is with a capacity for tasting m1•ats (ver. 3), and, in the exercise of a. sound judgment, to resolve upon arriving at the truth (ver. 4). What are here commended to the listeners and spectators beside the" ash-heap" as indispensable qualifications for judging the case of Job raright, viz. attention, discrimination, and probation, are needful for all inquirers after truth, aod are specially enjoined upon believing students of the Word of God, who are commanded not only, like the Berceans, "to receive the Word with all ree.dioess of mind," and "to search the Scriptures daily" (Acts xvii. 11), but, like the Thessalonians, to "prove all things, and hold fast that which is good" (1 'l'licss. v. 21). II. 'l'HE IKDICTME:i-.'T l'BF.Fl!:IIRF:D. 1. That Job haa, declared himself to be righteow. Elihu doubtless alludes to those passages in which Job had asserted his innocence as Mainst the baseless aspersions of his friends (eh. ix. 17, 21.; x. 7 ; xiii. 18; xvi. 17). Though true in the sense that Job was guiltless of flagrant wickedness, yet in the judgment of Elihu such vehement protestations of st.ainless integrity as -had-fallen from his lips were hardly becoming in a sinful cre&ture (vi,de eh. xxxii. 2, homiletics). 2. That Job charged God with in}ustice. Again Elihu faithfully reports wb\',t he regards as the substance -of Job's contention, that he would be guilty of falsehood and hypocrisy were he to .admit the correctness of his friends' allegations (eh. xxvii. 4); that the seemingly incurable malady which he.d overtaken him (God's arrow, as i'n1 eh. vi;· 4·; :xvi. 9; :xi.x. ll) bad come upon him although he was «-without transgression" (eh, i. 17), :i.nd that consequently God had taken away his right (eh. :uvil. .2), which he supposes to mean, had denied him justice and treated I.Jim as a criminal, while in reality lie was innocent. 3. TJ,at Job had indulged in blasphemy. In charging Job with "drinking up scorning like water," i.e. uttering blasphemous .censures .against God, Elihu, it has been said (Canon Cook)," goes now for the first time far beyond-the truth," siBce "Job's words" of fierce and bitter remonstrance "were wrung from him by agony, and by tbe taunts of his unfriendly counsellors," while "his scorn was altogether directed against them, not, as Elihu seems to assume, against God!' But it may be questioned whether this is· not an illustration of_ forgetting to act upon Elihu's canon, "Let us choose to us judgmcnt: let us know among oq~- selves what is right." Ex.cusable a.s wa.s the scornful contempt Job hurled against the friends, it is impossible to recall the wild, passionate, often reckless .and nnrcasonable appeals and expostulations he addressed to God without agreeing with Elihu that at such moments he did overstep the limits of a just and holy modera· tion, and came perilously near, if he did not actnally touch, the boupde of. an impious an<l blasphemous irreverence. "We cannot but· feel that he often pushed ·his. infe,- ences against the Divine justice 1lnd providence much· too far, as indeed he 'himself confessed he had when at last he saw Jehovah face to face" (Oo:x). 4. That 'Job J.ad adopt,ed th£ sentiments an_d ma:r:ims of the ':ngodly. . ".\7ith?~~. e:xp~iciUy assertiµg that Job had himself been a nbald and profane Jester at holythtngs, -Ehhu affirms that by maintaining that " it profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself with God" (ver. 9), Job had practically gone over to _the side of the irreligious. Though nowhere is the above declaration stated in so many words, it is by no means an unnatural inference from Job's words (eh. ix. 22; u.i. 7; .u:iv. 1; XXL 26). A reasoner is not unfairly held responsible for what may be deduced by just and necessary coneequenqe from his premisses, even though he himself should fail t,o pe,ceive, or, perceiving, should not mean, what these premisses involve. Now, Job had repeatedly insisted on \he appvently ~maloua distribution of ggod.and evil aPlOng mankind;,anp. whil~ 1.,.a orr.:uinv. 1-37.] TEIE :BOOK OF JOB. 655