The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 541

an answer to. the friends, tbat was perfecUy legitimate, it was possible to eo exhibit that perplexing circumstance as to make it carry the conclusion that the supreme Governor of the universe was indifferent to the characters of his subject intelligences, and that a good man derived no advantage from his piety, while a wicked man sulfered no disadvantage in consequence of his irreligioa. This, in the judgwent of Elihu, Job had done, and against this Elihu proceeded to protest. III. THE COUNTER-PROPOSITION STATED. The position taken by Elihn was the no;ntive of Job's, viz. that the perpetration of wrong against any of hie creatures was on the part of God simply impossible, that with him such a. thing as perversion of judgment was inconceivable, and that, when rightly comprehended, the principle of the Divine administration was one of absolute equity. The three. friends maintained, not only that such was the principle of the Divine administration, but that its operation was always visible. Job contended that the operation of such a principle was not al~ays visible in God's dealings with mankind, and hence Job sometimes doubted whether that was the principle on which the universe was governed, though in his inmost soul he felt that it ought to be. Elihu affirms that, whether visible or not to human.intelligence and in particular cases, such aud no other was the law or rule of the Divine procedure. IV. THE NEEDFUL- DEMONSTRATION OFFERED. 1. The absolute supremacy of God. (Vers. 13-15.) The argument has three points. (1) God governs the worl<l with no de.legat!ld !fUtb_ority. No one bath given him a charge over the whole earth, or con;i.ll).itted .to him, as to a satrap or underling, the viceroyalty of the globe (ver. 13). Oaihe contrary,,: he rules with a.right that is essential and underived, indisputable and irresponsible. . (2) God governs the world with no insufficient power. Were God se~fishly to fix his attention on himself alone (Grotius, Eichhorn, Delitzsch, Umbreit, Carey, Goo,k, Cox), rather than on man, regarding him as an enemy (Vulgate, Targums, De Wett~,)tosenmiiller), and in consequence to gather unto himself his Spirit an<l his breath, by which all living creatures are sustained (eh. xii. 9, 10), the result would be the C(!mplete; extincti\>n of all animated being on the face of earth (ver. 15). The meaning is that God has all creature1;1. so entirely in his hand that they are nothing. and. can do nothing except in so far as they are upheld by him. Hence (3) God governs the world for no selfish end. If he did, he could easily dispose of a rebel univ.erse by reducing it to dust or consigning it to annihilation. That he does not is proof. tliat he r.egards not himself alone, or, in other words, that he is impelled by considerations o! unselfish love for man. And this being so, it is manifestly impossible that God can inflict injustice on a creature whom he loves. 2. The immaculate purity of God. (Ver, 17.) Elihu's argument amounts to this: that the necessary basis of all government is right-integrity in the Person and equity in the Law of the Ruler; that witliout this every aµministration, human or Divine, would fall into anarchy and con- fusion; and that, consequently, unless. these conditions were supplied by the supreme Governor of mankind, the administration he conducted would sooner or later be over- whelmed in ruin: If it be.true that the stability of any government depen<ls ultimately upon the righteous character of.its rulers and the equitable nature of its laws, much more must the moral administration of the universe be founded on the immaculate holiness of God and the unchangeable justice of his laws. 3. The strict impartiality of God. According to Elihu it -is little short of Iese-majesty, or high treason, for a subject to accuse either kings or princes of corruption (Ex:od. uil. 28), thereby denying them the first and most.indispensable qualification of a ruler. "The king-becoming graces Are justioe, V0l"ity, temp6rance, stableness." • (Shakespeare.) And "he that ruleth over men must be just, ruiing in the fear of God" (2 Sam. x:riii. 3). WJ:lat, t.ben, must it bo to impeach him who" accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor? " (ver. 19). Respect of persons, a common 11nough failii;ig even with good people (Dent. i. 17; xvi. 19; Jas. ii. 1, 9), is impossible with God (2 1:iam. xiv. 14; Aots x. 34; 1 Pet. i. 17), whose impartiality towa~ men is based on the consideration that they are all alike "the work of his hands" (ver. 19), therefore all alike possessed of the same essential diguity, amenable to the same high  566 'l'RE BOOK OF J013. [oH. XXXIV, 1-31,