(Continued from page 152)

5. Elihu's closing Address-God's workings among Men and in Nature (chaps. 36, 37).

We come now to the close of Elihu's remarkable dealings with Job. He still has much to say, and still the theme is the same-he will speak for God. This supreme object to vindicate God from the aspersions of Job-in which the friends had failed so utterly-is the great characteristic of Elihu's address, and gives us the key to what he says. He acts as a mediator, an interpreter for men, a revealer of God. The typical resemblance to our Lord's work is manifest.

This closing part begins with a summing up along the lines already followed, but concludes with a description of the workings of God in nature, which for grandeur is incomparable. If in the beginning he speaks in simple didactic manner, addressing the judgment and the conscience, the close is so vivid that it has been well thought to be a description of an actual storm whose approach heralded the presence of God-a most fitting prelude to Jehovah's word from the whirlwind.

The address therefore may be divided into two parts, each subdivided according to the indicated progress of thought.

1.God's dealings among men (chap. 36 :1-21).

2. His ways in Nature (chaps. 36:22-37:24).

Though the division indicated is clear, there is a close connection between the two parts of the address, marking its unity.

I. We may at once give the outline of the first part, in which the ways of God with men are dwelt upon.

(1) Introductory (vers. 1-4).

(2) God's care over the righteous (vers. 5-7).

(3) The object of affliction (vers. 8-15).

(4) The application to Job (vers. 16-18).

(5) Exhortations (vers. 19-21).

(1) There is no invitation for Job to speak at the close of the previous part of the address; but Elihu presses on toward the close. Job is asked to permit him yet to speak for God; he will bring near the knowledge of Him who dwelleth afar. His constant aim is to vindicate Him, and in doing so, he will speak with a knowledge that is "perfect." This is no proud boast of personal attainment, but the solemn consciousness that he is speaking for God.
(2) In one word he sweeps away the unholy suspicions which had been harbored by Job-"God

is great, and despiseth not any." Infinite in power as He is, He looks with compassion upon the feeblest of His creatures. There are two infinities in which He is equally seen-the infinitely great, and the infinitely small. How comforting is the truth, "He despiseth not any!" His greatness is never the occasion for scorn. His wisdom is infinitely powerful, but never exerted against feebleness. He does not ignore sin-will not, eventually, preserve the life of the ungodly; but we maybe sure that He deals in perfect righteousness in all the afflictions He permits. The righteous are His special care; He withdraweth not His eyes from them. They are as secure as though they were kings, they will be established and exalted. Here Job's questionings are answered. As a righteous man, he need not fear; he is secure, and will be established and exalted in due time. This his own faith had seen through the darkness that closed about him; here it is stated once for all.

(3) Why then affliction ? These righteous who are the objects of God's care, are at times "bound in fetters, holden in cords of affliction." Is it a contradiction of what Elihu had just said? To Job it had been, because he failed to see in his own heart possibilities of evil, a pride which was as real a transgression as the flagrant evils falsely charged by the friends upon Job. God's object was to lay bare to man the hidden evil of his heart, to open his ear to His warnings and to turn them from pride. If they bow to this, sooner or later will their sufferings pass-even in this life-if not, they must be chastened even to the end, and be smitten as by a speeding arrow from His hand.

Naturally Elihu cannot go beyond the present life. The veil that hung between the present and the future had not been lifted. With the added light we now have, we can speak of "our light affliction which is but for a moment," though it endure for a lifetime. The suffering for righteousness' sake, for Christ, instead of being a cloud and darkness is the " spirit of glory and of God " (i Pet. 4:14). Of this, necessarily, Elihu could not speak. He points out the great principles of present affliction-the refusal of the hypocrite, who nurses his wrath instead of humbly crying to God for mercy, only emphasizes this. The despiser shall meet his doom with all the unclean, but God will save the humble sufferer, " in " and indeed "by" his affliction. It "worketh out" blessing for him.

(4) This principle is applied to Job's case. God would have thus dealt with him, restoring to prosperity, as He soon will. But Job had hindered this by his unholy charges against God. This was " the judgment of the wicked" (ver. 17), their manner of charging God, and he need not be surprised that judgment had laid hold on him. This has been rendered, "Judging and judgment lay hold on one another,"but the thought is similar. If one judges God, it is closely linked with judgment upon himself. Ver. 18 has been variously explained. Our own version gives a very connected meaning, "Because there is wrath, beware lest He take thee away with His stroke:then a great ransom cannot deliver thee." Another rendering refers the "wrath" to Job-"Let not anger entice thee to scorning, and let not the greatness of the ransom mislead thee." The "ransom" is here taken as humility, the price of his deliverance. But this seems strained. The thought that the greatness of the ransom must not close Job's eyes to the truth of God's goodness, seems also out of place. On the whole, the solemn warning of our version seems most suitable to the connection. Job is warned that persistence in proud charging of God can only result in one way-death. It is a question of the present life. Job is warned against "the sin unto death" (i Jno. 5:16), though not of course with the full light of the New Testament. There is evidently a chastening of the people of God that goes on to death, because of their failure to judge themselves. "For this cause . . . many sleep" (i Cor. ii:30). A persistent refusal on Job's part to humble himself might have resulted in this.

(5) The reading of ver. 19 is also disputed. Our version, followed by others, links it closely with what precedes, the price of a great ransom:" Will He esteem thy riches? " etc. Delitzsch links it rather with what follows:" Shall thy crying place thee beyond distress, and all the efforts of strength?" This gives a consistent meaning, for Job had been crying aloud to the limit of his strength, but without help. He had longed for the night of death to come upon him, as it eventually does upon all the nations of the earth. Let him take heed, and rather bow to affliction than choose the path of pride.

2. The remainder of the address is devoted to a description of some of God's ways in nature, almost exclusively indeed with the meteorological or heavenly sphere. This accords both with what precedes and what follows, especially the latter, as has been already noted. The subdivisions follow:

(1) God's greatness in His works, proving His uprightness (ch. 36:22-25),

(2) As seen in the clouds and rain (vers. 26-29).

(3)Signs of His presence (vers. 30-33).

(4)Puny man in the tornado (ch. 37:1-5).

(5)His hand in winter upon man (vers. 6-10).

(6) Storms and their varied effect (vers. 11-16).

(7) The conclusion (vers. 17-24).

Whether viewed as poetic or didactic literature, we have in this close of Elihu's address an example of sublime diction and holy sentiment that commands our wonder and our worship. Continuing his thought, in the previous portion, of God's uprightness, he rises rapidly into the heavens and there views Him in the clouds, the rain, the lightning and the storm. The wisdom and beneficence of God are seen in these, and then as though heralding the immediate approach of the Almighty, he seems to stand trembling in presence of the great storm where God rides "upon the wings of the wind." All nature is hushed in sympathy with his unknown dread; the very cattle, startled and fearful, await the coming of the storm. The very language, with its broken, exclamatory utterances, its humility and godly fear, is in beautiful accord with the whole theme. In all we see the Almighty power and majesty of God, and man's feebleness. Yet all is for purposes of wise government in mercy and blessing. Let Job ponder it all:is he like God ? Fittingly Elihu closes with the basic tone of his theme-the absolute all-sufficiency of God and His abhorrence of the pride of man.

Let us look a little at the details.

(1) The transition from the previous verses to what is to come is very beautiful. In these first three subdivisions we begin with " Behold " (vers. 22, 26, 30). Who is a great God like unto Him? Who teacheth like Him, both in the mind of man and in nature ? Can we charge such an One with evil ? Rather let us magnify His works, the theme of men in their song. Though looking upon it from afar, and but feebly apprehending it, all nations, from the most cultured to the untutored savage, have gazed in wonder and admiration upon the scene.

(2) Again His greatness and His eternity are declared, voiced in the ever repeated recurrence of mist and cloud, rain and storm. From the great reservoir of waters-whether above or below the firmament-He causes the rain to distill in gentle and abundant showers upon men. Could modern science state more exactly the origin of the rain? Or atheistic poetry so celebrate its beauty ?

"I am the daughter
Of the sky and water."

But both science and poetry leave God out, and when men see Him not of what value is all the rest? Of what avail to speak of "gravity, expansion, condensation," if we do not see the spreading of His clouds, the majestic crash of the thunder in His tabernacle ?

And how good He is! If He opened the windows of heaven all at once, a deluge would sweep all life away. Instead, He makes small the drops of rain, they distill in refreshing "upon the place beneath." So is it with His afflictions; the suffering and the grief are after all but blessings in disguise for faith.

" The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and will break
In blessings on your head."

(3) That blaze of lightning is but the garment with which He covers Himself (Ps. 104:2); the reverberating thunder but His voice who sits as King upon the water flood (Ps. 29:3-10). From His hand is sent food for the needy, judgment for the proud. The light from His presence strikes to the very depths of the sea; both His hands of power wield the bolt as a dart sure of its aim; such, rather than the translation given in our version, seems the meaning of ver. 32. His thunder is the mighty voice announcing His presence, and the trembling cattle declare that He is near! "At the brightness that was before Him, His thick clouds passed . . . The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave His voice. Yea, He sent out His arrows and scattered them; and He shot out lightnings and discomfited them. Then the channels of the waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered" (Ps. 18:10-15).

(4) The storm is upon them now, and Elihu trembles. He calls upon Job to hear God's voice in it-all; and, may we not well believe, also to hear His voice in the storm of sorrow that has fallen upon him. Breach upon breach it has come, the sharp lightning stroke of affliction, the awful thunder of God's chastening. God has been doing marvelously, things beyond our comprehension, but it is God. " Be still, and know that I am God."

"The storm may roar without me,
My heart may low be laid,
But God is round about me,
And can I be dismayed?"

(5) And if the fall of snow cover the earth as a winding sheet, and the icy hand of winter be laid upon man, checking all his activities-it is His snow, His hand, to teach man His supreme power. The beast retires into its shelter; let us too enter into the "cleft of the rock," until these calamities be over past. Whether the. storm come in the whirlwind of the south, or from the frozen north, it is but His breath. How good then to humble ourselves under His mighty hand!

(6) All this exhibition of divine power is to accomplish His will. "Praise the Lord .. . fire and hail; snow and vapors; stormy wind fulfilling His word" (Ps. 148:7, 8). Sometimes it is as an "overflowing scourge,"sometimes, "Thou visitest the earth and waterest it; Thou greatly enrichest it" (Ps. 65:9), but always it is God whose actions, plans and purposes are before the eye of faith. Let Job forget himself, his troubles, his " friends;" let him " stand still and consider the wonderful works of God." Can he explain these purposes ? Does he realize the light that shines behind the clouds ? Does he understand the balancing of these clouds ? How amazingly simple is such a statement. All nature is thus balanced, one force against another; and so too there is divine equilibrium in the clouds of life. He will "with the temptation provide the way of escape." All things work-but they work together for good to them that love God. There are the balancing of the clouds.

(7) And so we pass on to "the conclusion of the whole matter." Who or what is Job, but a frail man whose garments oppress him in the blast of the sirocco ? Can he spread out the expanse which like a shining mirror arches over our heads ? As he proceeds, Elihu himself becomes spokesman for all the lowly. We have undertaken to speak, who are but dust and ashes. " We cannot order our speech by reason of darkness." Let us hush our voices and listen to Him!

If we do not see the sunlight behind the clouds, it is still there, and in due time the mists will be blown away. Here comes an awful presence, a golden glow from the unknown hidden north. "Behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire unfolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the color of amber" (Ezek. i:4). It is the Almighty, we cannot fathom His greatness, but we know His uprightness is as great as His power. Let us bow in worship before Him:He listens not to those wise in their own conceits.

" Let us hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints." He is here ! S. R.

(To be continued.)