_Then Job answered and said._ JOB’S ANSWER TO BILDAD Job was utterly unaware of the circumstances under which he was suffering. If Job had known that he was to be an example, that a great battle was being fought over him, that the worlds were gathered round him to see how he would take the loss of... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who hath hardened himself against God, and prospered?_ HARDENED AGAINST GOD This passage intimates-- I. That appeals are addressed by God to men in order to bring them into allegiance to Him. The conduct which is imputed to men is susceptible of explanation only as the existence of such appeals... [ Continue Reading ]
_Which removeth the mountains._ GOD IN NATURE I. Its almightiness is overwhelmingly grand in its manifestations. “Removeth the mountains,” etc. The whole passage impresses one with the unbounded energy of God. 1. His almightiness should impress all with a sense of their utter insignificance. 2.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Which doeth great things past finding out._ JOB’S IDEA OF WHAT GOD IS TO MANKIND He regards the Eternal as-- I. Inscrutable. 1. In His works. “Which doeth great things past finding out.” How great are His works! great in their nature, minuteness, magnitude, variety, number. Ask the chemist, the... [ Continue Reading ]
_So He goeth by me._ GOD PASSING BY These mighty saints of old may have had fewer books to read than we have in our day, but they had one glorious book, the volume of nature, whose ever-open pages, written within and without by the finger of God, were spread out before their wondering eyes. And the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, He taketh away._ THE CONDUCT TO WHICH ADVERSE DISPENSATIONS SHOULD LEAD Job was a sufferer. Of his property he was deprived; of his children he was bereaved; in his own person he was sorely afflicted. It would not have been strange had Job given way to murmuring and repining. Unsupported... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yet would I not believe that He had hearkened unto my voice._ PREREQUISITES TO BELIEF It is hard to believe in that, some faint earnest of which we do not find in our own souls. A man cannot believe facts which are in the very teeth of his instinctive affinities and dispositions. The head hunters... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I justify myself._ THE FOLLY OF SELF-JUSTIFICATION One of Rev. Murray M’Cheyne’s elders was in deep darkness and distress for a few weeks, but one Sunday after the pastor’s faithful preaching he found his way to the Lord. At the close of the service, he told Mr. M’Cheyne, who knew of his spiri... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now my days are swifter than a post. .. as the swift ships._ ILLUSTRATIONS OF LIFE I. The text teaches us the brevity of human life. “My days are swifter than a post.” They are as swift-footed messengers, as couriers, as the medium of communication from one province to another. They are “swifter t... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I say, I will forget my complaint._ CONCERNING JOB’S SUFFERINGS I. As too great to render any efforts of self-consolation effective. Three things are suggested. 1. A valuable power of mind. The power to alleviate sufferings. “If I say, I will forget my complaint.” Herein is the implied power.... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I wash myself with snow water._ AN ESTIMATE OF THE MORALITY THAT IS WITHOUT GODLINESS In the eyes of the pure God, the man who has made the most copious application in his power of snow water to the visible conduct, may still be an object of abhorrence; and that if God enter into judgment with... [ Continue Reading ]
_Neither is there any daysman._ THE DAYSMAN At this point of the poem we are seeing Job at his worst. He has become desperate under his accumulated miseries. In this chapter Job answers Bildad. He admits that God is just; but from His infinite justice, holiness, and power, he concludes that the bes... [ Continue Reading ]