The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 567

ls just, what is in moral and spiritual harmony with their condition, viz. deliveranc8 and sal~ation-e.lso e. tenet of the friends (eh. v.17-27; viii. 5-7; xi. 13-19), though here ngnin set forth with more precision and moderation than by them. III. 'l'HE PREAOHEB DEVELOPS HIS ARGUMENT. 1. The Divine treritment of tho righteous. (1) Watching over them while doing right. "He withdraweth not bis eyes from the righteous "-a frequently stated doctrine of Scripture (2 Chron. xvi. 9; Pa. i. 6; xxxiv. 16; Prov. x. 3; Isa. xxvi. 7; xxvii. 3); illustrated by the cases of Noah (Gen. vii. 1), the Israelites (Exod. iii. 7), David (Ps. cxxxix. 1), and even Job himself (eh. xxiii. 10); end here declared to be of universal application, whether the objects of hie observation aro kings on the throne, like David, Solomon, Hezekiah, and Josiah, or prisoners in affliction, like Joseph in Egypt, Daniel in Babylon, or St. Paul in Philippi. (2) Rewarding them for their piety, "With kings are they [i.e. the righteous] on the throne j yea, he doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted." Sooner or later, the righteous are advanced to a state of regal prosperity; sometimes literally, as with Joseph, David, Daniel; but always spiritually, like the chosen people, who were made" a kingdom of priests" (Exod. xix. 6), and like Christians, who are constituted " kings and priests unto God" (Rev. i. 6 ; v. 10 ; 1 Pet. ii. 9) and appointed to reign for ever and ever. (3) Instructing them when afllicted. Assuming that the cords and fetters which bold them have been imposed as an act of mercy by God ( eh. v. 17; Ps. xciv. 12; Prov. iii. 11 ; Rev. iii. 12), Elihu directs attention to a richer benefaction than the affliction, viz. the special education they receive from God during its continuance-an education in its character (a) gracious, being imparted by God, chiefly through his Word and Spirit; (b) convincing, unfolding to them the sin of which they have been guilty; (c) humbling, pointing out the foolish pride and vain- glory from which it has proceeded; (d) admonitory, warning them of the danger in which they continue while impenitent; (e) anthoritative, enabling their awakened consciences to feel the urgent duty of departing Crom evil ; and (/) efficacious, leading in the case of every genuine child of God to a hearty return to God's ways. (4) , Restoring them when penitent. Defining that submission they accord to God as a . hearing and serving (the essential ingredients of all true contrition), Elihu depict.a • them as finishing their days in the midst of "good," i.e. of every scrt of pure enjoy- ment, end their years in the midst of pleasures, or things of loveliness and true delight. 2. The Divine treatment of the unrighteous. One principal aim of aflliction is to sift the unrighteous from the righteous. As the latter are distinguished by their penitential return to God, so the former are recognized by opposite characteristics, neither hearing God's voice (ver. 12; cf. John xviii. 37) nor submitting to God's hand, but cherishing wrath and indignation against God's justice in afflicting them (ver. 13), nor praying for God's help (ver. 13) when he has bound them, but either enduring in sullen silence or howling in impatient anguish. Accordingly, God leaves them to their richly merited and naturally evolved doom, of dying (1) suddenly: "They shall pass away by the swonl," the allusion being not so much to the violent manner of their departure, as to its being the result of a judicial visitation; (2) hopelessly: 11 They shall die without knowledge"-" without having attained to wisdom" (eh. iv. 21), having missed the true end of their existence, having failed to reach that knowledge of God in which alone lies salvation (John xvii. 2), like the Gentiles of whom Paul writes, "Having no hope, and without God in the world" (Eph. ii. 12) ; (3) prematurely : 11 They [literally, • their souls'], die in youth" (ver. 14), being cut down while as yet they are only standing on the threshold of life, their sun going down while it is yet noon (Amos viii. 9), like Ahaziah (2 Kings viii, 26), Alexander the Great, and others; (4) filthily: " Their life is among the unclean," i.e. having spent their days in sensuality and prematurely enervating incontinence, like the sodomites (margin), like the consecrated men who practised nameless lewdness in heathen temples (1 Kings xiv. 2.J:; xv. 12; xxii. 47), like those whom St. Paul describes as" dishonouring their own bodies between themselves" (Rom. i. 24-27), they were permitted to die as they he.d lived, and to find a grave in the moral filthiness in which they had wallowed, thus "receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet." IV. THE PREACHER APPLIES ms DISCOURSE. Generally, to the whole body of the righteous (ver. 16), but more particularly to Job, by setting forth: 1. The blessing ha had miBBed. If instead of murmuring and repining under God's chastisements, he had  'l'BE BOOK OF .TOB. [llB. xnvt. l-83.