VIII.

JOB AND HIS FAMILY.

BY REV. M. S. HUTTON, D.D.

THE Book of Job affords one of the most interesting pages of man's history, not only because he himself is one of the most interesting of men, but because the book is of such remote antiquity. It is the single and solitary record of its distant times; the most ancient record in the world. Its author was the first inspired writer of the sacred volume. He lived before the sacred historian Moses was born, and wrote long before the Law was given on Mount Sinai. Indeed there is reason to suppose that the book was written prior to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and, therefore, before the Church of God was formed in the family of Abraham, and only about six hundred years after the Deluge.

In this light alone it is a most interesting book; relating to a man who lived at a period almost beyond church-history, before the age of man was shortened to its present brief span; relating to one who was a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel, out of the ordinary church line, yet surpassed by none in religious devotion; as a fragment-a most beautiful fragment of patriarchal times, and of a patriarchal church-it is unrivalled in interest.

But it possesses also internal properties which make it invaluable. Says a late commentator, in speaking upon this subject, "As a mere specimen of composition, apart from all the questions of its theological bearings, as the oldest book in the world, as

reflecting the manners, habits, and opinions of an ancient generation, as illustrating, more than any other book extant, the state of the sciences, the ancient views of astronomy, geology, geography, natural history, and the advances made in the arts, this book has a higher value than can be attached to any other record of the past, and demands the profound attention of those who would make themselves familiar with the history of the race. The theologian should study it, as an invaluable introduction to the volume of inspired truth; the humble Christian, to obtain elevated views of God; the philosopher, to see how little the human mind can accomplish, on the most important of all subjects, without the aid of Revelation; the child of sorrow, to learn the lessons of patient submission; the man of science, to know what was understood in the far distant periods of the past; the man of taste, as an incomparable specimen of poetic beauty and sublimity. It will teach invaluable lessons to each advancing generation and to the end of time, true piety and taste will find consolation and pleasure in the study of the book of Job."

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To this he might have added, as not the least of its valuable contributions, the picture which it affords of family religion and family union, under circumstances so different from our own; a picture, the light and shade of which exhibit, with great certainty, the error of that theory which advocates the onward progress of society from a supposed infantile state. It would puzzle such theorists exceedingly, to find, even in our day of acknowledged light and civilization, after a lapse of nearly four thousand years, either a man more exalted in mental or moral qualities than Job, or a picture of family religion more delightful and instructive than that which is afforded by this book.

His birth-place and his family connexions are unknown, There are six different places in the East, where, it is said, sleep his ashes; and there are also numerous traditions among the Arabs respecting him. These things corroborate the idea suggested by

the book itself-that the residence of the patriarch poet was in the northern part of Arabia.

In his worldly condition, at the time when his story opens, he was blessed beyond the ordinary lot of men. Says the sacred historian, "This man was the greatest of all the men of the East." He held the station which at the present day is designated by the title of Emir or Sheik, and his mode of life was the natural combination of the pastoral nomadic life of his age and his country with the more settled and permanent manner of living which his wealth would induce.

At the period in which we are contemplating him, Job had probably reached the age of seventy or eighty; and, according to the length of human life at that time, he was in the full vigour of manly strength. To form some estimate of the high esteem which his sincere piety and undoubted worth had produced, you have but to mark his passage through the streets, as he proceeds to the gates of the city, where the people are wont to assemble upon public occasions, and where the ordinary judicial courts are held, in which it was the duty of Job, as Emir or Sheik of his tribe, to preside. He himself thus describes it :

"When I went out to the gate through the city,

When I prepared my seat in the street,

The young men saw me and hid themselves;

And the aged arose and stood up:

The princes refrained talking,

And laid their hands on their mouth;

The nobles held their peace,

And their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.

When the ear heard me, then it blessed me,

And when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me.

Unto me men gave ear and awaited,

And kept silence at my counsel;

After my words they spake not again;

And my speech dropped upon them:
And they waited for me, as for the rain."

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It is not, however, in his public life that we desire to note his character, but in his private relations, as a man, a father, and a head of a family. Let us then endeavour in imagination to follow him, as he retires from the court in the gate, and seeks the repose and enjoyment of his home. His official duties are not allowed to interfere with those which he owes to his family and to his God. Let us suppose the evening sacrifice to have been offered, and the family of the patriarch to be seated in their usual places. The father's eyes rest for a few moments upon the happy group with paternal pride, and then are raised in adoration and thankfulness to Him, whose name is to be blessed whether he gives or takes away.

The momentary silence is broken by the father's effort to teach his children the knowledge of divine things. He speaks to them of God he informs them that there is but one supreme, wise, and glorious Being; that he is almighty, omniscient, inscrutable, invisible, gracious, ready to forgive the truly penitent; indeed, if we are allowed to judge of the extent of Job's knowledge of God, from the language used in this book, we must conclude that in all points, not expressly revealed by the Gospel of Christ, the knowledge of Job was not inferior to our own. Nowhere can we find descriptions of the Most High, which, in grandeur, beauty, and truth, surpass those contained here. Where-in what book, ancient or modern-can we find a better or more sublime description of the impossibility of comprehending the Divine nature than the following?

"Behold, God is great and we know him not,

Neither can the number of his years be searched out.

Canst thou by searching find out God?

Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection?

It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do?

Deeper than hell; what canst thou know?
The measure thereof is longer than the earth,
And broader than the sea."

This great and glorious Being, Job tells his children, was their creator and preserver; that he formed man, and created the earth and the heavens; and that, therefore, it became them to remember him now, in the days of their youth. There is a passage of unequalled beauty and sublimity, which, if it be allowable to consider it as illustrating Job's knowledge of creation, we may quote, as the substance of what he taught his children on this subject:

"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?

Declare, if thou hast understanding,

Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest!

Or who hath stretched the line upon it?

Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened?

Or who laid the corner-stone thereof?

When the morning stars sang together

And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Or who shut up the sea with doors,

When it brake forth, as it had issued out of the womb?

When I made the cloud the garment thereof,

And thick darkness a swaddling band for it,

And brake up for it my decreed place,

And set bars and doors

And said-Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther;

And here shall thy proud waves be stayed?"

Job was also well acquainted with the true history of man and his fall; and he showed his children how impossible it was for man to obtain by his own exertions, a righteousness which would justify him before God. He talked to them of their innate depravity, of the true source and hope of pardon, and made known to them something of the mode of pardon, as he sought to explain and urge the duty of sacrificing to the Lord; he himself, as the officiating priest of his family, setting them a noble example.

From such instructions, gratifying fruits might with reason be expected, nor are we disappointed-a single glimpse is given, but it is such as enables us to form a just estimate of its real value.