The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 586

proouctfon of 1m all-wise Artificl'r, since the 8uggestion is little short of inconceivable that a world so wondrously fair, ~o exquisitely diversified, so harmoniously adjusted in all its parts, c0uld h,wc been the w0rk of blind, unintelligent force, direoted in its operations by pnrposeless chance, or could h&ve emanated from any other source than thnt of 11n infinite mind. 11. "\VoN"DERFITL IN RESPECT OF THEIR ORIGIN, The presumption above created is explicitly confirmed by Elihu, who commends to Job's attention the entire circle of nature's interesting _phenom~na as "the wondrous works of God" (ver. 14), 11 the wondrous works of him who 1s perfect lil knowledge" (ver. 16), and "his work" (ver. 7), i.e. as the productions of his almighty finger. Does the thunder cannonade along the ,;ky? It is God who roaretb with the voice of his excellency (ver. 4). Do the heavens shake their snowfiakei:, distil their gentle showers, or pour their copious floods upon the earth? It is God who saith to the snow and rain," Be thou on the earth" (ver. 6). Does the frost arrest the flowing river, congeal the water-drop, lie like crisp white beads upon the ground, or trace its fairy pictures on the window- pane? It is God's breath that sends the frost into the air (ver. 10). Do the rain- clouds fill and empty themselves upon the earth? It is God who loadeth them with liquid burdens (ver. 11). Does the lightning-shaft, leaping from the dark bosom of the storm-cloud, career through the murky sky? It is God who directeth it under the whole heaven (ver. 3). Nor is this simply superstition, like that which caused the untutored savage and the cultured Greek alike to transform every mountain and stream into the abode of a divinity. And just as little is it merely poetry which, personifying dead things, deals with them as beings endued with life and intelligence. It is piety which, with a keener and truer discernment th&n is sometimes evinced by modern scientists, overleaping every intermediatE' c&use, t&kes its station with adoring wonder beside the throne of him who is the absol Ute and uncre&ted Author of this universal frame. The characteristic here ascribed to Elihu, the youthful prophet of Arabia, was one which in an eminent degree pertained to the Hebrew mind. The psalms of David, in particular, are distinguished by the boldness with which they recognize the hand of God in the ever-varying phenomena of this terrestrial sphere (cf. Ps. viii.; xix.; u:ix.; !xv. ; lxviii.). Nor was this peculiarity awanting to the later poets of the period of the exile (cf. Ps. civ.). Even New Testament writers (e.g. St. Paul,Acts .x.iv.17; xvii. 28) are not strangers to this devout practice. Above all, it was habitual with Christ (Matt. vi. 30; John v. 17). It is much to be regretted that modern scientists should so frequently overlook the fact that in investigating nature's law■ they are merely informing themselves as to the specific methods in which the supreme Creator has been pleased to work. ffi W O1."DEB.FUL IN RESPECT OF THEIR EXEOUTIO!l. If the phenomena of n&ture are in themselves such as to demand an infinite mind for their conception, much more docs their _production call for a supreme Artificer of unlimited resources as to wisdom and power. Elihu declares them to be ''doings" positively incomprehensible by the finite mind (ver. 5); and, notwithstanding all the results of scientific observalion, it is still true that the chief secrets of nature continue to baffle man's intelligence. '.fake the thunderstorm., for in.stance, to which ElilJu alludes. Almost any scientific treatise touching on the subject will explain how the dark masses of cloud that pile themselves above the horizon and gradually spread along the sky are filled with water and chargetl with electricity, how the lightning is produced by the meeting of positive with negative electricity, and how the thuoderclap results from the explosion of the overcharged clouds. But, after all, this does not impart a great deal of information to the mind. It leaves unresolved the deepest mysteries connected with the problem, such as the way in which the storm-cloud is formed, and the structure of the particles of which it is composed, the mode in which the earth and the air have been charged with different kinds or degrees of electricity, what electricity itself is, and what are the laws of its production and distribution. And even though all these matters were explored by the patient intellect of science, there would still remain the question how the phenomena themselves can be made, clearly showing that the utmost that is attainable by man is tu underst.and the works of God (at least in part) when they &re made, not to arrive at tbe wisdom by which they might be reproduced. The meteorologist can observe how God ma.kes his thunder, but he cannot himEelf thunder with a voice like God'11. lit cu desca.nt upon the cau-.e of snow, can expatiate upon the beauty of the snowflake11• Oll, XXXVII, 1-24.] 'rHE nooK OF JOB, 601