LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

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THE
AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS



THE AFFLICTIONS OF
THE RIGHTEOUS

AS DISCUSSED IN THE BOOK OF JOB AND y-<^"{ OF Pfl/iS?
IN THE NEW LIGHT OF THE GOSPEL

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BY

W. B. MACLEOD

MINISTER OF THE CANOLISH UNITED FREE CHURCH
EDINBURGH



" Many are the afflictions of the righteous ;
But the Lord deHvereth him out of them all "
Psalm xxxiv. 19



HODDER AND STOUGHTON

LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO



To my Friend

HUGH BLACK,

whose Friendship

has been,

and is,

an Inspiration



PREFACE

Notwithstanding its great antiquity the book
of Job is probably the most intensely modern of
all the books in the Bible. Among others, which
need not be named, this is one chief reason why
it deserves the special attention of the present
generation.

Many books have been written on this great
book ; but of course that is no reason why it should
not be made the subject of a fresh course of study.
Each successive generation of men will claim the
privilege and exercise the right of studying anew
these sacred wi'itings which constitute the Bible
in the light of such new knowledge and opportunity
as may come to them in the progressive providence
of God.

So far as I am aware the present work endeavours
to conduct the study of this ancient book along
lines which have never been followed by any
previous writer on the subject. Hitherto it has
been the usual practice to examine each speech in
detail in the order in which they occur, a method



viii AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS

which is admirably adapted to the minute exe-
getical study of the text, but which has several
obvious disadvantages when the object in view
is to obtain a comprehensive grasp of the great
questions discussed, and to make a just and
true estimate of the comparative value of the
opposing arguments as a whole.

Now the chief feature in the new method which
is introduced in the following pages consists in
this, that while due consideration is given to the
individual characteristics of each speaker, and to
the original elements which he contributes to the
debate, and while the difference between Job's
method of arguing vnth. his friends and his remark-
able way of expostulating with God concerning
the same high themes is brought into clear relief
by separate treatment, yet the different groups of
arguments which represent the different positions
discussed with reference to the problems of human
suffering and the moral government of the world
are each focussed into a unity, and finally con-
densed into a series of propositions.

Further, in this twentieth century of the Chris-
tian era, it is, I believe, a grave error to discuss
the great problems with which this book of Job
is concerned as if they ought to be still as perplex-



PREFACE ix

ing to us as they were to Job, and as if Christ had
not come and brought life and immortality to
light. Therefore, throughout the successive chap-
ters of the present work, an earnest effort is made
to show the supreme worth of the Christian inter-
pretation of those otherwise inexplicable problems
— an intrepretation which really, according to the
promise, " turneth the shadow of death into the
morning."

I venture to entertain the hope that this new
method of treating this remarkable and con-
fessedly difficult book will be found to possess
some important advantages, and in particular
that it may be useful to some readers in helping
them to bring the great questions with which the
debate is concerned more clearly to an issue before
their own minds.

W. B. MACLEOD.

Candlish Manse,
Edinburgh.



CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

THE BOOK AND ITS PROBLEM

PAOIS

Preliminary diflSculties — Authorship — Date — Historicity —
Structure of the Book — Its central problem — Its super-
natural element — Its conception of God — Its doctrine of
Satan — The character of Job ..... 1-21

CHAPTER II

TRIAL BY SUFFERING LOVE

The two stages of Job's trial — Initial problem of destruction
of life and property — Poetic idealism of the Book —
Moral significance of material loss to Job — ^^Contrast
between bereavement in Job's day and bereavement
to the Christian — Job's behaviour under trial — Bereave-
ment as discipline — ^As the t6st of faith — The praise of
sorrow ......... 22-42

CHAPTER III

TRIAL BY PHYSICAL PAIN

The second scene in heaven — Job's " Integrity " — The two
divine ends in Job's suffering — Satan's new insinuation
against Job — His new challenge to God — The divine
restriction of Satan's power — The problem of pain — •_
Job's extreme case — Its bearing on traditional doctrine
— Modern interest of the problem — The function of
human pain ........ 43-63



xii AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS



CHAPTER IV

job's wife and friends

PAGES

Character of Job's wife — Why her attitude differs from that
of the friends — ^Why Job's attitude differs from that of
both his wife and friends — Characteristics of the three
friends — Their similarity and individuality — Their
virtues and faults — Their function in the debate — White-
washing God's providence — Mystery and presumption
— The Christian explanation ..... 64^85



CHAPTER V

job's lament of life

Job's failure and its cause — The silent behaviour of the
friends — Need of just discrimination — Sympathy and
accusation — The tragic passion of Job's lament — The
faults of his pessimism — ^False optimism and true —
Job's contempt of suicide — The new light on Job's dark
problem ......... 86-106



CHAPTER VI

THE ORTHODOX ARGUMENT AGAINST JOB

The arguments of the friends compared and contrasted —
Elements of sameness and repetition — Elements of in-
dividual originality — The arguments considered as a
unity and condensed into six propositions — Criticism of
the argument — Its high aim and points of strength and
beauty — Its cruelty towards Job — Its false champion-
ship of God 107-142



CONTENTS xiii



CHAPTER VII

job's reply to his friends

PAGES

The heterodoxy of Job — His complaint of injustice — His
defence of himseK — ^His reply to the argument from
God's greatness — His problem of personal justification —
The crux of the debate — The justification of God — Job's
" Sanctuaries of darkness " — Characteristics of his
darkest moods — The quality of his faith — The crisis of
the whole book — The diflficulty of Job's last speech —
Condensation of Job's argument . . . 143-179

CHAPTER VIII

job's expostulations with god

Job's appeal from men to God — His complaint against God
— Its amazing boldness — Its frank honesty — The re-
sponsibilities of the Creator in relation to His creatures
■ — The master minds of literature and Job's problem —
Superiority of Job's treatment of it — The grounds of
Job's prayers for death — The silence of God — Contrast
between Old Testament and New Testament saints in
suffering — Job's expostulations with God in regard to
his own sin — His questions answered in Christ . 180-207

CHAPTER IX

THE INTERVENTION OF ELIHU

Characteristics of Elihu — The purpose of his intervention —
The integrity of the book discussed — Elihu 's method of
argument — ^His criticism of Job's argument — His appeal
to the " Wise men " — ^His attack on Job's character —
His answer to Job's complaints — His original contribu-
tion to the discussion — Criticism of Elihu's speech 208-241



xiv AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS

CHAPTER X

THE DIVINE INTERPRETATION

PAOIS

The great speech of Jehovah — Its supreme poetic power —
Impressiveness of its argument — Its central pxirpose —
Its combination of majesty and gentleness — A series of
impressive contrasts — Significance of Job's response to
the divine challenge — Job's silence not enough for God
— What Job's criticism of God's providence involved —
The divine seK-revelation and its end — Job's unreserved
confession — The undeniable incompleteness of Jehovah's
speech — Its remarkable omissions — What it leaves to
be added by Christ 242-274



CHAPTER Xr

THE EPILOOUE

The great value of the epilogue — Grounds of the divine anger
against the three friends — Job made priest and inter-
cessor for his critics — His intercession the opening of the
gates of his captivity — " Poetic justice " — The ideality
of Job's rewards — Summary of the principal teachings
of the book 275-297



CHAPTER I

THE BOOK AND ITS PROBLEM

In entering upon a series of studies in the book
of Job I am very sensible of the difficulty of the
task which I thus attempt to undertake. But
the great central questions which are discussed
with such amazing penetration and power in this
book are full of an ever-fresh and commanding
interest to every earnest mind ; and we can never
gain anything, but on the contrary must lose
much, by turning aside and neglecting such ques-
tions on the ground that they are deep and diificult.
Life is difficult, although we are constantly trying
in unworthy ways to make it easy ; and life is
deep, however we may do our poor best to make
it shallow enough. And the great questions with
which this book is concerned are among the deepest
and most real we know, because they deal with
man's relation to God, and with God's relation to
man, in connection with that mystery of human
pain which is ever with us, and which at times

A »



2 AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS

presses upon all human hearts with a terrible
weight, and even strains the faith of religious
men to the very uttermost.

I am therefore hopeful that the difficulties of
dealing with this book in such a series of studies
may be so far overcome as to amply reward us
for our search after the truth by a clearer apprehen-
sion of these great principles of God's Providence
which it discusses, and by the acquisition of some
profound practical lessons, which may well be of
the greatest service to us in the most critical
seasons and the most trying experiences of life.

The manner in which I propose to conduct
these studies may be briefly stated thus : — I will
endeavour, on the one hand, to get at and to set
forth the original meaning of the teaching, in rela-
tion to the men who occupied the actual historical
situation of those to whom it was first addressed.
And, on the other hand, I will steadily endeavour
to show how deep a meaning many parts of that
ancient teaching have for us to-day, and how
clearly that teaching reveals to us the immensity
of our debt to the fuller, fairer light that has come
to us through Jesus Christ our Lord. In this
opening study I will make some introductory
remarks concerning some more or less important



THE BOOK AND ITS PROBLEM 3

preliminary questions, and consider broadly the
central problem of the book, and the character-
istics of the three principal figures, God, Satan, and
Job, as presented here.

First, a word about authorship. Very little
need be said of this, for the minimum of information
required to make a discussion on this point either
useful or effective simply does not exist. Some
have suggested that the book was written by
Moses ; and others that its author was Job himself.
Lightfoot thinks that it might have been written
by Elihu, the fifth speaker in the debate. Some
of our best Biblical scholars, such as Delitzsch and
Godet, think it very probable that it was written
by one of the wise men of Solomon's"* brilliant
court, and Godet suggests Heman, the author of
the eighty-eighth psalm.

But the simple truth is that we have no reliable
information as to who wrote the book ; and I
like well the remark of Dr A. B. Davidson in this
connection. He says : — " There are some minds
that cannot put up with uncertainty and are under
the necessity of deluding themselves into quietude
by fixing some known name. There are others to
whom it is a comfort to think that in this omni-
scient age a few things still remain mysterious."



4 AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS

The fact is that we know just as little about who
wrote the book of Job as we do about who wrote
the Epistle to the Hebrews ; and yet there are no
parts of the Bible whose high function in the
organic unity of God's revelation to men, from
mtrinsic evidence, will less bear to be questioned
than these.

Then much has also been written about the
date of this book ; but it will be well to say even
less here about the date than has been said about
the authorship. Widely differing scholars have
filled up the whole period between Moses and the
end of the Babylonian captivity with their un-
wearied speculations. Godet argues with consider-
able plausibility, that its date might be the golden
age of Solomon. Davidson says that it was
written not earlier than the seventh century B.C. ;
and Dr Watson that it was produced between
the first and second of the Isaian oracles. But it
would be unprofitable to enter into any exhaustive
discussion of this question here. Professor Peake
thinks that the date might perhaps be near the
close of the fifth century b.c. ; but every serious
student of the book will agree with him when he
adds — " while it may take some of its colour
from the dark experiences of its time it really



THE BOOK AND ITS PROBLEM 5

contributes little to our understanding of it to
connect it closely with any set of historical con-
ditions." In any case it is quite clear that the
story itself refers to a much earlier time than the
earliest date that can reasonably be suggested
for the authorship of the book.

The next preliminary question is much more
important. It is whether the story is history
or allegory. About this, too, there has been much
discussion, and on this point we have reasonable
grounds for having something more definite to
say than we had in connection with the two pre-
ceding points. The real answer seems to be that
it is neither history, as we understand history,
nor is it mere allegory alone, but it is partly both.
The opening scene in heaven, the free use of the
symbolical numbers three and seven in describing
Job's flocks and children, the dramatic and ideal
account of Job's calamities, and especially the
highly wrought poetic and philosophical discussion,
show beyond all reasonable doubt that the book
is not intended to be ordinary history as we now
understand it. On the other hand it is impossible
to doubt that Job was a real person without doing
violence both to the text of the book itself, and also
to the testimony of other Bible authors. The



6 AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS

book opens with the words — " There dwelt a man
in the land of Uz, whose name was Job ; and that
man was perfect and upright, and one that feared
God, and eschewed evil." Ezekiel speaks of Job
together with Enoch and Noah, and he has no
more doubt of the historical personality of the
one than he has of the others. The reference of
James in the new Testament is to the same effect.
The idea that Job represents the Jewish Church
is so purely fanciful as not to merit serious notice.
Luther, as he very often did, strikes the golden
mean here also when he says — " I hold the book
of Job to be a record of facts ; but that everything
happened just as it is recorded I do not believe."

The truth seems to be that we have here a series
of well-known facts in a certain life story divinely
used by an inspired prophet as the basis of some
of the greatest lessons which were ever taught to
mankind. And the fact that everything did not
happen just as it is recorded in no way affects
the worth or divine authority of the work as an
instrument of spiritual education. This is attested
by Ezekiel, by Paul, by Peter, and by James ;
but most of all this is assured by the internal
evidence of the work. Carlyle well says in his
" Heroes and Hero Worship " — " I call the book



THE BOOK AND ITS PROBLEM 7

of Job one of the greatest things ever written with
pen. There is nothing written in the Bible or out
of it of equal literary merit." Froude, also a
very high authority on such a question, calls it —
" A book which will one day perhaps, when it is
allowed to stand on its own merits, be seen towering
up alone, far above all the poetry of the world."
Such a book well merits the earnest study of all
intelligent minds, not only as standing at the
head of the world's literature, but as being an
invaluable guide to all seekers after truth.

As to the structure of the book it is a dramatic
poem. The prose prologue occupies the first two
chapters. This introduces the highly poetic dis-
cussion which is carried on by Job on the one side
and by his friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar
on the other, who each reply alternately to the
arguments of Job. This goes on till the close of
the thirty-first chapter. There is then a short
prose passage consisting of the first five verses of
the thirty-second chapter, introducing the prolonged
speech of the young man Elihu, who criticises
both Job on the one hand, and his three friends
on the other hand, and to whom they all four listen
without interiTiption.

This young speaker prophetically intimates that



8 AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS

God will answer for Himself. And so, in the
thirty-eighth chapter, in which God Himself
answers Job out of the whirlwind, the wonderful
majesty both of thought and expression exhibited
in the book reach a climax which is almost oppres-
sive in its amazing power and beauty. This
is immediately followed by Job's humble confes-
sion of his own sin and foolish presumption. Then
the last eleven verses of the book form the brief
prose epilogue, in which Job is ideally blessed,
and becomes also the divinely appointed priest
to intercede for his three erring friends.

Readers of Browning's " Rabbi Ben Ezra,"
" A Death in the Desert," and " Easter Day," are
forcibly reminded of the Book of Job ; but it is
only to see with what a lonely majesty the author
of this book towers above even so great a genius
as that of Robert Browning. ^Vhatever we may
not be able to say as to the date, or the authorship,
or the historicity of this book, we are able to say
this of it at least, and to say it with an untroubled
confidence, that if there be any writing in all the
world which is in the truest sense inspired of God
this book of Job most certainly is.

AVhat, then, is the central problem of the book ?
Briefly, it is to reconcile the justice of an almighty



THE BOOK AND ITS PROBLEM 9

and good God with the actual sufferings, not of
bad men, nor even with the sufferings of the human
race in general, but with the actual sufferings of
good men in this world. It is impossible for us
to suppose that God tortures good men as some
men torture inferior animals, for what they call
their amusement or sport. And we must observe
that there is no hint of vicarious suffering in the
book, such as we have in the later prophecies of
Isaiah and subsequent Hebrew prophets, and the
meaning of which is fully unfolded to us in the
experience of Jesus Christ. That is not the ques-
tion which is discussed in this book at all. It is
a wholly different question, namely : Why do good
men suffer, as we see they do suffer, under the
reign of omnipotent goodness ? This is surely
a question of intensest interest and of deepest
importance to every son of man and every daughter
of woman to-day.

We must observe at the outset that the key to
the whole book is to be found in Satan's question —
" Doth Job fear God for naught ? " and in the
combined answer of God and of Job to that question.
For we must note that this is not a question which
God can answer fully alone. He needs the co-opera-
tion of His servant to answer it ; and He also



10 AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS

needs the co-operation of His servant undergoing
the experience of mysterious suffering to answer
it conclusively. Hence the book is absolutely
opposed to all sordid materialism. It shows that
the deepest roots of man's life are in the unseen :
that a good man's life is most closely, and even
inseparably related to the invisible God. Surely
this also is a truth for to-day.

This book shows, even as Christ's parables show,
that there is a power of goodness and a power of
evil that strive concerning man's life ; and that
the human will is free, and is the umpire for itself,
and for its own fate, whether for goodness and
against evil, or for evil and against goodness.
These facts are concentrated for us in the question
of Satan — " Doth Job fear God for naught ? "
Observe that it is not enough that a man serve
God, nor even that he serve Him freely. It is
required also, and not merely by any arbitrary
divine command but by the highest laws of a
man's own life and well-being, that he serve God
unselfishly, that is, from love of God Himself, and
from love of His service for its own sake.

Any other kind of service, whatever superficial
and transient gain it might bring to the creature,
could certainly bring no glory to the Creator.



THE BOOK AND ITS PROBLEM 11

This is the very point of Satan's challenge. This
also is why God accepts the challenge. This is
why Job is called to suffering, and such suffering.
It is that his suffering in the true spirit of God's
servant, amid the most fearful perplexity as to
the cause of his suffering, so utterly misconceived
and misrepresented by his friends, should be the
demonstration of his love for God, and of his faith
in God.

Now what are the chief characteristics of the
three central figures, God, Job, and Satan, as pre-
sented to us in this book ? In the first place God
is conceived as of the One absolutely omnipotent
Sovereign. This characteristic of the divine Being
appears again and again, and in every part of the
book ; in the prologue, in the speeches of Job and
of his opponents alike, in the great speech of God
most of all, and even in the brief epilogue, where
God finally apportions the praise and the blame.
The names by which God is called throughout the
book also emphasise the idea. He is Eloah, the
Lofty One ; Shaddai, the Almighty One ; Jehovah,
the Lord.

But in the book God is not only the absolute
Sovereign ; He is also absolutely just, and He is
so notwithstanding all appearances to the contrary.



12 AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS

In the prologue Satan's power over Job is strictly
limited, not only because God is Sovereign, but
because He is a just Sovereign ; and therefore
there is already a hint of the happy end in the evil
beginning. But because of appearances there is
need of humble faith and patience. This is still
the situation in our own time. As the New
Testament expresses it — " Without faith it is
impossible to please Him." There are still present
with us the mysterious, inexplicable facts which
raise strange questionings and give opportunity to
the play of testing doubts and fears ; and from
these there is no refuge save in the exercise of a
reasonable faith which rests itself upon the character
of God, and believes, notwithstanding all appear-
ances to the contrary, that He is just.

But further, the God of this book is a supremely
benevolent Being. He takes pleasure in His good
creature, because he is good, and makes His boast
of him, and ever behind all the machinations of
Satan, works for his good. And yet, observe,
God's wish for Job's good is more evidently set
forth than His work for that end in the book.
The author has no such glorious idea as that in
the New Testament — God as incarnate love serving
His creatures for His creatures' good. This was a



THE BOOK AND ITS PROBLEM 13

further revelation of the divine nature which was
reserved for the work of His Son.

The last characteristic of God revealed in this
book is mystery. He is the hidden God. His ways
and His wisdom are inscrutable. Man cannot judge
Him, but can only wait upon Him with becoming
humility ; for the mind of man is so far below the
mind of God that his only wisdom is to recognise
that his times are in God's hand, and to bow before
Him as his Maker and ultimate Vindicator in
reverent and adoring awe. This also is a lesson
that is profoundly needed in this present time,
when impatient boldness and irreverence are so
prominent in the thoughts and in the conduct of
men, and even of children.

But this revelation also has been richly supple-
mented by the Son of God, who has shown us God's