CHAPTER XIX.

THE HISTORY OF JOB.

BEFORE resuming our account of the Israelites at the close of their long sojourn in the desert, we propose to give a slight sketch of the history of Job, such as it is related in the Bible, and without entering into the various opinions of the learned regarding its author, or the exact date of its composition.*

The Patriarch Job was a man eminent for his piety and integrity, who lived in the land of Uz, the same as Edom, or Idumea. The time when he lived is unknown; but one opinion generally adopted is, that it was shortly previous to, or contemporary with Moses: some commentators, however, are of opinion that he lived in the time of Abraham; and others, as late as Solomon. Following the former of these dates, Job was a

On this much controverted subject we refer our readers to Bishop Lowth's Lectures on Hebrew Poetry, translated from the Latin by G. Gregory, F.A.S., with notes, by which we have been principally guided in drawing up the above abstract. The question is too intricate to admit of the arguments being adverted to here it is only important to observe that it has been variously contended that Moses was the author of the Book of Job, while some writers assign to it as late a date as the time of Solomon. Against both these opinions able commentators have maintained, that it bears marks of being of an earlier date than the Exodus of the Israelites; and that the style is different from that of the Hebrew lawgiver.

prince of Edom, a descendant of the great patriarch Abraham, through Esau; a man of wealth and consideration, blessed with a numerous family of sons and daughters, all prosperous and held in esteem, and himself regarded with feelings of veneration, gratitude, and respect by the surrounding princes and tribes. In the midst of this prosperity and happiness, it pleased God to permit his faith and patience to be tried by sudden and overwhelming calamities. First, an inroad of the Sabeans and Chaldeans carried off his oxen and his sheep, and slew his servants; "And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking in their elder brother's house. And there came a messenger to Job and said, The oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them; And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking there came also another and said, the fire of God is fallen from heaven and hath burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee." Next followed a heavier trial. "While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their elder brother's house; And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men and they are dead: And I only am escaped alone to tell

thee." These dreadful tidings did not alter the pious resignation of Job: he fell down and worshipped, and exclaimed with devout humility, "the LORD gave and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."

The next affliction was yet more grievous, and harder to bear with uncomplaining patience. The Patriarch was suddenly afflicted with a painful and loathsome disorder; a species of leprosy, which covered his body with sores, from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. To add bitterness to his sufferings, his wife, who should have been his comforter and support, cast reproaches on him for trusting in the goodness of Jehovah, and his own faithfulness. "Dost thou," said she upbraidingly, "still retain thine integrity? curse God and die!" But the Patriarch preserved his resignation and trust, and replied, "What! shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.'

This forms the first part of the history, and is written in the original Hebrew in prose, as are also the introductions to the speeches and replies which follow; the speeches themselves being in the loftiest and sublimest strain of poetry, unequalled in any poem extant, whether sacred or profane. Job's misfortunes called for the sympathy of his friends; and accordingly, three neighbouring princes who called themselves such, came to offer him their consolation. These were Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite,

and Zophan the Naamathite, "for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him, and to comfort him. And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not," (he was so changed by the loathsome disease) “they lifted up their voice and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him, for they saw that his grief was very great."

There is something singularly touching, and peculiarly characteristic of Eastern habits, in the conduct of Job's friends. They saw that his affliction was too great to admit of consolation from words, though they should be words of kindness; and that the best comfort they could bestow in the first moments of his anguish, was that of sorrowing with him in silence. In this they showed a refined delicacy of feeling, often observable in the manners of Oriental nations: but this sympathy and kindness was soon changed for harshness and rebuke; and now properly begins the poem. Job, mourning over his afflictions, pours forth a bitter lamentation, and earnestly desires he had never been born. This is answered by his friends, who assert that no man ever perished who was innocent, and that he must have been guilty in the sight of God, or He would not have thus afflicted him. Job refuses to allow that he has deserved his sufferings; he justifies his former life, and accuses his

friends of triumphing over him, only because he is now reduced to a state of degradation, while in the days of his prosperity "men gave ear, and waited and kept silence at his counsel, and after his words they spake not again." Three times the friends renew their argument, and three times does Job reply; sometimes bewailing his sufferings as unexampled in severity, sometimes relating the virtuous actions of his past life, and again reproaching his friends with their desertion and unkindness; but always refusing to acknowledge that he suffers for any peculiar sinfulness in himself; the language throughout being in the highest degree poetical, and the descriptions of the might and majesty of Jehovah most sublime. At this period of the dispute a fourth person joins in the argument; this is Elihu, who, being younger than the other friends of the aged Patriarch, had hitherto listened in respectful attention to their discourses. He is angry with both parties; with the three friends, because they accused Job unjustly without answering his statement, and with Job, because " he was righteous in his own eyes," "and justified himself rather than God." The contest appears to have been carried on in the open air, in the presence probably of many chance spectators, such as is represented to be still the practice with Orientals, who are peculiarly fond of this sort of disputation and trial of mental acuteness. Elihu, after excusing his entering into the debate, (he being so much younger than Job and his friends) proceeds in

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