(Continued from page 38.)

2. Bildad's Second Address-Job's Reply.

The principal difference between Bildad's address and that of Eliphaz is the brevity of the former. He follows the lead of Eliphaz largely, but in a manner all his own. His address abounds in beautiful poetic imagery and true declarations as to the inevitable doom of the wicked; but it is beside the mark in that it utterly fails to establish any relation between Job and the wicked, whose end he so graphically describes. His address may be divided into six portions, the last being a brief concluding word.

(1) Fresh reproach (chap. 18 :1-3).

(2) The sure doom of the wicked (vers. 4-7).

(3) A snare falls upon him (vers. 8-11).

(4)Disease and death his portion (vers. 12-15).

(5)Root and branch dried up (vers. 16-19).

(6) The end of his day (vers. 20, 21).

(I) As usual in the later speeches, the address opens with "a reproach, indicating the absence of the courtesy which marked the first address of Eliphaz. Bildad, who is quite moderate in the length of his speeches, accuses Job of multiplying words, and of being so full of talk that he will not listen to others. It is noteworthy that Bildad addresses Job as if others were associated with him:" How long will ye hunt for words ? " as verse z has been rendered. This does not necessarily mean that others were directly associated with Job at that time and place, but he is looked upon as the representative of the whole class of those who would question the position of the friends. But, as we know, Job, at least in his opposition to their contention, was maintaining the truth, we may think of him as standing at the head of that great company of the righteous who have passed through deep suffering without any apparent reason. If Job had used strong language, there had been great provocation in the charges of the friends.

(2) Taking up his charges, Bildad reminds Job that all his lamentations are unavailing-he is only tearing himself in vain rage-a most unkind description of the laments of the afflicted man. He goes on to tell him that all his cries will not change the fixed order of the earth; it will not become desolate for his sake, nor will the stable rock of retribution for evil be moved out of its place. The light of the wicked may burn brightly for a little while, as Job's had done, but it would be put out. The light of home, with its beckoning attraction, would vanish. His vigorous steps would begin to falter, and he would fall by his own evil counsel.

When we remember that by implication all this referred to Job, we can imagine how galling it was to his bruised spirit. It was painful enough to lose all he once had, and have the bright light quenched which once glowed in his hospitable tent; but to have this, and the inroads of the dread disease which was gnawing at his vitals and sapping his strength, cited as proof of his wickedness, was intolerable to human nature. It is as though he were saying, "Now we have found you out; you are reaping the fruit of your sin, and all this misery is a visitation from God for your wickedness."

(3) It is this retribution that Bildad enlarges upon, using imagery whose pungency would burn like salt upon raw flesh. He tells him that the wicked is driven into the net by his own feet, whose perverse ways carry him into those paths whose end is destruction. True, he was stating a solemn fact as to the wicked, but it remained to be proved Job was such. He declares that, all unknown to himself, the wicked walked over a snare which would take him when he least expected it:"The wicked is snared in the works of his hands." Repeating this with painful reiteration, Bildad assures Job of the certainty of the heel being caught in a trap, of a noose encircling him, as verse 9 has been rendered. The snare, skillfully covered in the earth, is ready for him; the net in his path is ready to enclose him as an unwary bird. No wonder that terrors affrighted him on every side, and fill him with dread at every step. Bildad selected words rich in poetic imagery, to force upon Job- what is untrue!

(4) But the captivity of the wicked will not satisfy the stern denouncer of evil; he must smite even unto death. So in this portion he traces the misery of the evil-doer until he falls into the jaws of death. His " calamity," as the word is rendered, preferably to "strength," is represented as a beast with hunger gnawing at it, ready to pounce upon him as he falls. Surely Job had felt this in the calamities which had come upon him. In the following verses there is even a closer description of the miseries of the afflicted patriarch. Calamity devoured the various parts of his skin, and "the first-born of death "-a solemn and poetic description of the bodily disease which devoured Job- devours his members, and leads him on to death, "the king of terrors." Strangers inhabit his tent, and brimstone-the final judgment of God – is showered upon his abode. It has been thought that in this last we have an allusion to "the fire of God" which fell upon Job's property, and the destruction of his family. But at any rate, the general meaning of fierce judgment is apparent.

(5) Bildad next describes the overthrow of the evil man's family, or rather of himself and family. Changing the metaphor, as he had already done, from the snares of various kinds to the extinguishing of the light in a home, he now likens the evil man to a tree, whose root withers in the parched land of his affliction, and the branches are lopped off-as the cutting off of Job's children. All this is scripturally accurate. Does not the Psalmist say, " I have seen the wicked . . . spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and lo, he was not" (Ps. 37:35, 36); and, "Cursed be the man . . '. whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert" (Jer. 17:5, 6). As repeatedly said, the fault lies in the application of such words to a man whose life gave the lie to their insistent"charges of flagrant wickedness. Pursuing his theme, Bildad declares that name and remembrance shall fail the evil man- "the memory of wicked shall rot"-he is driven off into darkness and none of his kin shall escape the disaster. Here is a sharp thrust at the bereaved parent, which must have made him wince with pain, though not in guilt.

(6) With this parting stab, Bildad closes his speech, reserving as a conclusion the declaration that all behold the fall of the wicked, both east and west-rather than those who went before and come after-and be filled with dread. Thus are the wicked recompensed.
Job's Reply.

No matter how greatly pained he might be at the cruel language of Bildad, Job's reply does not indicate the slightest consciousness of guilt such as had been laid at his door. Indeed, as ever, he more than holds his own against the sharp lash of calumny, and with far more justice than his friends charges them with cruelty and malignity. He defies them to show any evil in him, and goaded on by their implacable theory (which had also been his own), boldly charges God with having wronged him. He is the object of divine cruelty and of human scorn. And yet it is wonderful to see the poor crushed spirit rise from the dust in those words of faith and hope, " I know that my Redeemer liveth." There is a most pathetic, though futile appeal to the friends for pity. But we must look at each part in more detail. The response in its six parts balances the address of Bildad.

(1) Reproach (chap. 19 :1-6).

(2) God's hand (vers. 7-11).

(3) The scorn of man (vers. 12-20).

(4) The plea for pity (vers. 21-24).

(5) The triumph of faith (vers. 25-27).

(6) The close (vers. 28, 29).

(1) We must take Job's words as literally true; the speeches of Bildad and the others crushed him
by their cruel severity. "Ten times"-a complete number-they had heaped reproaches upon him, and had amazed him by the unjust charges they had shamelessly made against him. What proof had they of sins in his past ? If he had really erred, the secret lay in his own bosom, where they had no right to intrude. They goad him on to declaring, as he had already done, that the wrong was not his but God's! It is this root of suspicion of the Almighty which must be searched out; but these men's false charges will never accomplish that.

(2) There follows now a fearful arraignment of God. Well is it for Job that he is accusing infinite patience, or he might have had a real taste of divine anger. But God bears with it all, waiting His own time to bring the poor distracted man into His own holy presence. Job cries out for judgment and help, but no answer is vouchsafed. God had hedged him about, as he had previously charged, and as Jeremiah in his lamentations had complained. He had brought him into darkness, had torn his honor from him, and dashed the crown of dignity from his head. Like an uprooted tree, he lay prostrate and helpless under the fierce wrath of God.

(3) Passing to man, Job sees the same injustice, which by implication is from God. It is His troops who beset him. His own brethren have forsaken him; kinsfolk have forgotten him. His very slaves look upon him as a stranger, and even to his own servant he is obliged to address words of persistent entreaty before he will be heard. Worst of all, the wife of his bosom recoils from the foul stench of his person. Boys mock him, friends abhor him. His bones cleave to his skin, and he has barely escaped death thus far, as by the skin of his teeth; that is, everything is eaten away except the slight covering about their roots. It is a dreadful picture of a horrid disease, unutterably sad when we remember that he could not turn to God for comfort.

(4) The plea for pity and sympathy might well move hearts of adamant, but apparently Job's words fall on unheeding ears. It was their contention that God's hand had been upon him-for his sin. Job asks, will they persecute him as God was doing (awful charge!), and madly feed upon his flesh with unsatisfied desire ? Such injustice renders him almost frantic. He longs that his words (charging them-and God) were written, indelibly engraved in the rock forever.

And then, in the midst of all these lamentations, he utters those magnificent words of faith:"I know that my Redeemer liveth." But this was the very God whom he was just now charging with injustice! How good it is to see Job's faith amid all this turmoil, turning to the very One whom he was maligning! Truly these-not his own protestations of innocence-are words worthy of being graven upon the enduring rock. This Redeemer, this Daysman, shall rise for him, though it be in the last days, after his death.

Here, then, we have a glimpse of the blessed Lord whom we know-not as One who shall arise, but who has already triumphed over death and the grave. He has vindicated us, not from the impugnment of an imagined righteousness, but from sins of deepest dye, and enabled us to say, " Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect ?" (5) In the following words commentators have found varying meanings, according to their translation. We may resolve these into two:Does Job say, "In my flesh I shall see God," or "From (away from) my flesh I shall see God ?" In other words, does he declare his belief in a spiritual disembodied condition after death, in which he will behold God and get his vindication ? Or does he plainly state his conviction of the truth of a literal bodily resurrection ? While the New Testament clearly teaches the spiritual consciousness' of those who are out of the body-"To depart to be with Christ, which is far better"-yet it ever points forward to the resurrection of the body, in glory and incorruption. The words of David, prophesying the resurrection of our Lord, "Thou wilt not suffer thy Holy One to see corruption," show that the resurrection of the body was foretold before the advent of our Lord upon earth.

Does not Job speak here of beholding the Lord with his own eyes, and does not this necessitate a resurrection ? It does not seem that he was looking for the Redeemer to act for him in this present life, but after his death-in a glorified body. Thus, as has been beautifully said, " he plants the flag of victory upon his own grave."

We leave the statement of his faith therefore as we find it in our Authorized Version, a beautiful and clear confession of the truth of a risen, living Redeemer, who will also restore his poor corrupted body into a glorified one in which he will behold God face to face, and learn the secret of all his sorrows here. Surely a man with such faith must overcome in the end, for "This is the victory … even our faith."

(6) He turns therefore to his friends and asks why they should persecute one in whom this living indestructible root of faith is found. Rather, he tells them, they should ask themselves the reason for their implacable pursuit of him. His reply to Bildad, about the same length as the words that called it forth, he closes with a solemn warning lest they fall under the stroke which they vainly imagined was laying him low.
We may safely leave these addresses side by side to speak for themselves. In the light of all that has been before us, can we doubt that the moral advantage has been with Job ? S. R.

(To be continued.)