(Continued from page 94.)

Section 3.- The third addresses of the friends- conclusion of their argument. Job answers them all, and remains unmoved by them, but still in darkness and self-satisfaction (chaps. 22-26).

With the present series we reach the conclusion of the controversy, so far as the friends were concerned. Beyond a wearisome reiteration of their former arguments, if such they can be called, there is nothing of importance advanced by them. Eliphaz, indeed, who opens this third section of the controversy, continues to maintain his original contention, and speaks with dignity and much poetic beauty, with some slight return to gracious-ness. But the address is marred by a painful spirit of gross unfairness. Bildad, the second speaker, closes feebly and briefly. Zophar remains silent. This, their last attempt, is fragmentary therefore, and may without injustice be considered a failure.

On the other hand, Job waxes stronger and stronger. He replies with vigor and a good deal of conclusiveness to the remarks of his friends, and in a way which effectually closes their mouths. But his own mouth remains open to pour forth the misery of his unrelieved heart; and the dark cloud still hangs between himself and God. All this will appear as we take up each address and its reply. These fall into two parts-Zophar, as we have said, taking no part.

1. Eliphaz:False charges against Job; the promise of restoration if he is penitent. Job's reply (chaps. 22-24).

2. Bildad :Renewed statement of God's greatness and man's sinfulness. Job's reply (chaps. 25, 26).

1. Eliphaz's Address.

This may be divided into seven parts, a complete summing up from his point of view of the entire argument:

(1) Job's sin in view of God's greatness (chap. 22 :1-5).

(2)The direct charge (vers. 6-n).

(3)All is known to God (vers. 12-14).

(4) The way of the wicked (vers. 15-18).

(5) Their just punishment (vers. 19, 20).

(6) Final call to repentance (vers. 21-25).

(7) Prophecy of a bright future (vers. 26-30).

(I) In this first portion Eliphaz dwells upon God's infinite greatness and sufficiency unto Himself. Is man profitable to God ? Does he add anything to the infinite fulness of the Creator ? A wise man is profitable to himself, but in no sense is God dependent upon him. His righteousness is of no special profit to God (not " pleasure," for surely He does take pleasure in His saints). As the self-emptied One declares, "My goodness extendeth not to Thee" (Ps. 16 :2). If therefore Job refuses to repent of his sin, he is not injuring God, but himself, and must reap the consequences. Eliphaz asks Job, does not his chastisement prove his sin ? For would God rebuke a man for piety-his godly fear? Therefore Job's sin is proven! Surely an easy way, in a world of suffering, to prove man a sinner. But it proves too much, for it includes every sufferer-the righteous as well as the wicked.

We must, however, take exception to the first part of this declaration, as well as to the manifestly mistaken character of the second part. Has not God suffered, not in His blessed nature, but in what should have displayed it-righteousness in His creature ? All has been created for His glory and pleasure. God is therefore a loser by the failure of man to exhibit in his life that which manifests the wisdom and goodness of his Creator. Judgment is not vindictive, therefore, but retributive, and wrath is for actual sin against God. Such is the conviction of sin brought home to the conscience by the Spirit of God:"Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned." We get but a cold view of God as Eliphaz describes Him. On the contrary, the word of God presents Him as deeply concerned in all our affairs, as intimately associated with His creation. There would be no room for the gospel in the partial statements of Eliphaz. God is not simply" holding the balances of justice as a disinterested observer, to mete out punishment to the one who comes short. If such teaching obtained, where would we find place for, "Like as a Father pitieth His children;" "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth;" "He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness ? "

(2) Having laid down his erroneous principle with such positiveness, and having declared that Job's sin was infinitely great (for God does not punish a pious man) Eliphaz opens up a most startling series of statements as to Job's actual conduct. It is no longer implied sin in the call to repentance,
or innuendoes in likening Job's suffering to those of the wicked, but as outrageous accusations of actual sin as could be imagined. Job has taken away his brother's goods on a false claim! He has stripped the poor of his last covering! He has refused water to the languishing and bread to the starving! By sheer power he has taken the lands of others and dwelt there himself as a great and honorable man! Widows and orphans have been driven away by this heartless monster! Proofs? Witnesses? What need of these, when the theory proves all so satisfactorily without going to the trouble of establishing facts! Thus, out of his "inner consciousness," does the grave and gray-haired Eliphaz evolve conclusive proof that the suffering friend and patriarch before him is a monster of iniquity! From such friendship and perversions of truth, may God deliver us.

But even now, is not suspicion of others all too common ? One is not successful in business, has illness in his family, loses loved ones, and the hasty conclusion is that he is being chastened for some imaginary faults. How cruel this is, and contrary to the plain direction, "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." Let us be slow to suspect, and slower to charge unknown evil, leaving that to the Searcher of hearts. If He calls upon us to declare evil, it is of what He has unmistakably manifested.

Concluding his charge, Eliphaz declares these sins explain why Job is caught as in a snare, and overwhelmed with fear. Can he not see the darkness which envelops him, and the flood of waters in which he is engulfed ?
(3) This portion continues the unfair suspicions of Eliphaz. He makes Job say that God dwells in heaven, and has His abode among the stars, therefore how can He see what is taking place beneath the clouds which hide the earth from His view ? He walks about in the vault of heaven in satisfied ignorance of everything that goes on in the world below! Has Eliphaz forgotten Job's strong declaration of the omnipotence and omniscience of God in chapter 9 ? The title of this section is rightly given however as "All is known to God," for Job's imagined unbelief is intended to bring out into all the bolder relief the great truth that nothing can be hid from the Searcher of hearts.

(4) Recurring to the oft-repeated example of the wicked and their punishment, Eliphaz depicts their temporal prosperity and the inevitable judgment which overtakes them. Like the grass which groweth up only to be cut down and withered, they perished before their time. Their apparently solid foundations were swept away by a flood (or, perhaps more accurately, turned into a flood). The meaning is the same in either case, and there may be a reference to the days of Noah, when they ate and drank, married, and were given in marriage, "until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all." As samples of the ungodly at all times, these men before the flood had defied the God who had bestowed His blessings upon them:"Depart from us!" and what can the Almighty do to them ? From such impiety Eliphaz-we may believe with all sincerity-turns in horror; "The counsel of the wicked be far from me." He is quoting the very words of Job (chap. 21-16)-why will he not allow to his former friend the same abhorrence of evil as himself ? Instead of this, it would almost seem that he is expressing his repulsion from Job, associating him with those who defy God.

(5) This godlessness can receive but its merited punishment, at which all the righteous shall rejoice. "The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance:he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.' So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous:verily He is a God that judgeth in the earth " (Ps. 58 :10, n). There is, however, this difference between the position of Eliphaz and that taken in many of the psalms :these give us the final cleansing of the kingdom " of all things 'Sat offend and them which do iniquity" (Matt. 13:41), after full space has been given for repentance, and when evil shall have been manifested as incurable rebellion against God, as the absolute barrier to all full blessing upon the earth. Therefore the righteous rejoice at the deliverance rather than the mere judgment, although all will be seen as perfectly in accord with the full character of God. So, too, there is joy in heaven when Satan is cast out (Rev. 12 :10-12), and when Babylon receives her long – deferred judgment (Rev. 18 :20 ; 19 :1-3).

But we can see how unfair Eliphaz's judgment is, in view of the admittedly various life and end of wicked men, and especially in view of the suffering of many of the righteous. It is particularly painful, as it seems to be spoken with a relish by Eliphaz, in reference to Job's state, which is all too apparent.

(6) But the oldest of the friends is going to bring his remarks to a decorous end. He will once more hold out the offer of restoration to the offender- if he will but repent. The language is of great beauty, and we might well wish it had been used in a worthier way. ' 'Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace :thereby good shall come unto thee." This might well serve as a gospel text; for is it not eternal life to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent ? And what peace is found through this knowledge-"peace by the blood of the Cross"-peace preached and peace possessed by faith! What good, for time and eternity, flows from this acquaintance! But he is addressing one who does know God-that is, according to the Old Testament revelation-and therefore the apparent tenderness of the exhortation is turned to gall. "Receive, I pray thee, the law (instruction) from His mouth, and lay up His words in thy heart." The comfort to God's people, "We glory in tribulations also," or the "weeping with them that weep," is not found in Eliphaz's words:" If thou return to the Almighty thou shalt be built up, if thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles."

A gain, we must warn God's people of the snare into which Eliphaz has fallen. All pious exhortations to repent, to give up sin, to judge a course of evil, if not based upon known facts, are but insults, and savor of a pharisaic spirit, which, as with Eliphaz and his friends, must itself be repented of.

Eliphaz holds out, in an almost prophetic way, the prospect of a restoration of all Job's former prosperity-wealth and happiness. Verses 24 and 25 have been rendered in different ways. The Authorized Version begins the promises with the close of verse 23, " thou shalt put away iniquity," etc., "Then thou shalt lay up gold as dust," etc. The ordinarily excellent version of Delitzsch makes all conditional up to the close of verse 24:" If thou lay by in the dust the gold ore, and under the pebbles of the brooks the gold of Ophir, so shall the Almighty be to thee gold ore in abundance, and silver to thee of the brightest luster."

The usual rendering, however, seems to be preferred. Old Testament usage, and particularly that of the book of Job, associates the enjoyment of temporal wealth with the favor of God. Thus Eliphaz promises restoration of all the wealth that Job had lost. TK$n, too, it would seem nothing short of satire to exhort a man who had been already deprived of his wealth, to lay it aside in the dust, or as worthless stones of the brook. It has been therefore contended that Eliphaz is speaking figuratively, and that Job is told to lay aside the covetous love of gold in the dust. We leave therefore the rendering of our excellent version largely as it is. The Almighty will be a high place of defense for the penitent, and abundance of wealth will be his.

(7) Eliphaz now reaches his peroration, picturing the joys that await Job if he will only-? acknowledge that his false accusers are right! Then he will enjoy communion with the Almighty, basking in the sunlight of His countenance. Prayer will receive its answer, and the vows he has made in his affliction will be accepted. He shall make plans which will not be frustrated, and the light will fall upon all his paths. If these paths should seem to take a downward course (ver. 29) Job will need but to say, "Arise," or "a lifting up," and all will be well. For he will be one of the humble whom God exalteth. Yea, Job shall be a succorer of others, the once guilty (not, "island of the innocent") will be rescued by him whose hands have become clean.

Thus the friend closes. He has sought to make out his case, and to mingle promises with denunciations. Sometimes it would seem that he was foretelling the recovery of Job, but all is marred by his wrong principle, and is therefore in itself valueless. And yet there are many noble and beautiful utterances here. How important it is therefore to have the true point of view, that the opening of our mouth may be right things. S. R.

(To be continued.)