Elihu to Job: 4. A sermon on the greatness of God.
I. ABSOLUTE IN HIS SOVEREIGNTY.
1. Ruling by his own power. "Behold, God exalteth" (se. himself), i.e. showeth himself to be exalted, "acteth loftily" (Delitzsch) "in his strength" (verse 22). The universal empire of God is based on his omnipotence. With him might and right are co-ordinate and coextensive. "He ruleth by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves" (Psalms 66:7).
2. Holding dominion from no superior. "Who hath enjoined him his way?" (verse 23). Princes and potentates of earth derive their authority from him (Proverbs 8:16); the ever-blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, derives his from none. "Dominion and fear are with him" (Job 25:2). Yea, saith Jehovah, "I am the Lord, and there is none else" (Isaiah 45:18).
3. Admitting of no inspection. "Who can say, Thou hast wrought iniquity?" (verse 23). As the Almighty brooks no superior or rival on his throne, so admits he of no opposition to his work. "Whatsoever his soul desireth, that he doeth" (Job 23:13). As none can interpose to say, "What doest thou?" (Daniel 4:35), so none can claim a right to subject his work to critical inspection. To pass judgment on it is for a creature to be guilty of the highest arrogance. Substantially this was the sin of Job.
II. INCOMPARABLE IN HIS TEACHING. "Who teacheth like him?" (verse 22). In the judgment of Elihu, one of the principal ends contemplated by God's providential government of the world was the education of men (Job 33:14; Job 35:11; Job 36:9). Hence by Elihu God is styled an Instructor or Teacher—Moreh, translated by the LXX. "Lord." So God represented himself to Moses (Exodus 4:15), to Israel (Exodus 20:1), to David (Psalms 32:8). So is God to his people generally (Isaiah 54:13; Jeremiah 31:33, Jeremiah 31:34; Micah 4:2; John 6:45). As a Teacher of men, God surpasses all other instructors, possessing qualifications never found, unitedly or severally, to perfectly exist except in himself.
1. Ability. Many undertake to instruct others who are wholly destitute of the capacity to understand either their subjects, their pupils, or themselves. But no such deficiency can be with God, who, besides knowing himself, comprehends all things and accurately gauges all men. This qualification was possessed in an eminent degree by Christ.
2. Authority. The Divine authority to teach and the authoritative character of' the Divine teaching are based upon God's Lordship over man, and God's perfect knowledge of that which he teaches. So Christ, for exactly the same reasons, spake with authority, and not as the scribes (Matthew 7:29).
3. Variety. Like every intelligent instructor, God employs different methods in teaching—his works (Job 35:11), his Word (Psalms 94:10), his providential dispensations (Job 33:16), his Spirit (Nehemiah 9:20; Proverbs 1:23). So did Christ instruct his followers, by his works (Matthew 6:26-31), by his Word (Luke 24:27), by his providences (Luke 13:1-5), by his Spirit (Luke 12:12; John 14:26).
4. Suitability. God's teaching is always adapted to the occasion (Psalms 32:8; Isaiah 48:17); and to the capacities of his scholars (Isaiah 28:9, Isaiah 28:10); and so likewise was Christ's. The Holy Spirit also proceeds in the same gradual fashion in the work of illuminating darkened minds.
5. Simplicity. Aiming at the good of those who hear, God always teaches in the plainest and directest manner possible, speaking so clearly, distinctly, and intelligibly, that he requires, as with Adam (Genesis 3:9) and with Noah (Genesis 6:13), with Abimelceh (Genesis 20:3) and with Laban (Genesis 31:24), to speak only once; with such earnestness and eagerness that he often speaks twice, as he did with Abraham (Genesis 22:11), and as Christ did with Saul (Acts 9:4); yea, with a patience and gentleness so admirable that he even condescends to speak thrice, as he did with Samuel (1 Samuel 3:10).
6. Desirability. The teaching God gives is on subjects which it most behoves man to know, in particular on that which maketh wise unto salvation—the Being, character, and purpose of God; the original dignity, present condition, and future destiny of man; the nature, guilt, and penalty of sin; the Person, offices, and work of Christ; the source, means, and end of salvation; the law of life and the rule of duty; the way to die and the path to glory everlasting.
7. Efficiency. Desirable and complete as such a programme of instruction is, no one can learn it by his own unaided powers (1 Corinthians 2:14). But God can guide his people into the understanding of it in all its fulness (Psalms 25:9).
III. IMMACULATE IN HIS HOLINESS. "Who can say, Thou hast wrought iniquity?" (verse 23).
1. Holiness inseparble from the idea of God. A Being who can be charged with iniquity cannot possibly be Divine. Hence God can, in no sense or degree, be the author of sin.
2. Men prone to connect sin with God. The heathen do so when they worship deities like themselves—"gods fierce, rapacious, cruel, and unjust." Philosophers do so when they hold God responsible for everything that exists. Even good people do so when they charge God with inequality or injustice in his ways.
3. God's holiness largely insisted on in scripture. The inveterate tendency of the fallen heart to forget the Divine purity demands that this be frequently held up for contemplation (Exodus 15:11; Deuteronomy 32:4; 1 Samuel 2:2; Job 4:17; Job 34:10; Psalms 92:15; Psalms 111:9; Isaiah 57:15; Revelation 4:8).
IV. UNSEARCHABLE IN HIS BEING. "Behold, God is great, and we know him not" (verse 26).
1. We know him not directly. "No man hath seen God at any time," said Christ (John 1:18); with which agrees God's word to Moses (Exodus 33:20), and John's word to Christians (1 John 4:12). God reveals himself to man in creation (Psalms 19:1; Romans 1:20), in providence (Job 9:11, sqq.), in Christ (John 14:9; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Colossians 1:15), through the Spirit (Matthew 11:27).
2. We know him not completely. It is certain that the infinite God will never be entirely comprehended by a finite creature. But of even such a measure and degree of knowledge as is possible to man, it is likewise true that we have not reached the full measure. "Now we know in part" (1 Corinthians 13:12). Hereafter all that can be known of God by finite creatures will be realized.
3. We know him not clearly. Even what we do apprehend of the Divine Being is involved in much obscurity. "Now we see through a glass darkly" (1 Corinthians 13:12). Hereafter his servants shall behold his face with open vision (Revelation 22:4). Yet for all that, notwithstanding these limitations:
4. We know him not imaginarily, but really. That is, our knowledge of the Divine Being, though neither direct, nor adequate, nor perfectly clear, is real, accurate, and reliable so far as it goes.
V. ETERNAL IN HIS EXISTENCE. "Neither can the number of his years be searched out" (verse 26). The language which ascribes years to God is, of course, anthropomorphic (Psalms 102:24). Both Elihu and the Hebrew bard intend to represent God as "without beginning of days or end of years," as existing "from everlasting to everlasting," as exalted high above all the permutations and vicissitudes of created, life, and therefore as removed completely beyond the sphere of man's judgment or criticism.
VI. WONDERFUL IN HIS WORKING. To this thought Elihu recurs in detail in the ensuing chapter (vide homiletics). In the mean time he alludes to certain natural phenomena as indicative of God's excellent power in working.
1. Rain. "For he maketh small [literally, 'he draweth up,' sc. by evaporation] the small drops of water," after which "they pour down rain [or, 'as rain'], according to the vapour thereof," or "for this mist" (Cook), or "in connection with its mist" (Delitzsch). It is not the understanding of how rain is formed that constitutes either the wonder or the difficulty of the phenomenon; it is the making of rain, the institution and maintenance of those material laws and forces which produce rain. It is here that Divine power is required and seen.
2. Clouds. "Which the clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly" (verse 28). Not the least interesting among those objects which attract the student of nature are the clouds of heaven, which receive the evaporated moisture of earth, and retain it floating in the atmosphere until it is again required by the parched soil. Objects of beauty in themselves, they strikingly attest the almighty power, matchless wisdom, and essential goodness of God.
3. Thunder. "Also can any understand the spreadings of the clouds, or the noise of his tabernacle?" (verse 29). The appearance of the sky in a thunderstorm is what the poet aims at depicting, when the dark clouds spread across the firmament, and the first thunder-crash falls upon the ear (vide homiletics on next chapter).
4. Lightning. "Behold, he spreadeth his light upon it," or over himself (Habakkuk 3:4), "and covereth the bottom [literally, 'the roots '] of the sea" (verse 30); i.e. he lights up the whole heaven, and even illuminates the hidden depths of the ocean by the glare of his lightning.
VII. BENEFICENT IN HIS ADMINISTRATION. "The two ideas of power and goodness are associated closely in Elihu's mind; whereas the three friends dwell more upon the combination of power and justice, and Job upon that of power and wisdom. Goodness, righteousness, wisdom, are one in God; various aspects under which the essential principle of love is manifested" (Canon Cook). The beneficence of the Divine administration in nature is represented in a twofold form.
1. Negatively, as judgment upon the nations. "For by them judgeth he the people" (verse 31). Seemingly severe in themselves, God's judgments upon the wicked men and nations are to righteous men and nations acts of grace and kindness. It is for the benefit of the world that sin should be chastised. Love no less than justice demands that the wicked should be overthrown.
2. Positively, as kindness to his people. "He giveth meat in abundance." In this aspect Elihu thinks of the rain, the clouds, the thunder, the lightning. The beneficent uses of these and other ordinary phenomena of nature are patent to the slightest reflection. The rain is the great fertilizer of the soil; the cloud, besides serving as a screen to moderate the warmth of the sun, operates to prevent the too speedy radiation of the earth's heat, while it also acts as the great rain-collector and distributor for the parched ground; the thunderstorm is the most effective of all atmospheric purifiers and rectifiers.
VIII. GLORIOUS IN HIS MANIFESTATIONS. Taking advantage, as usual, of the extreme obscurity of the last two verses (vide Exposition), and availing ourselves of the more probable of the offered interpretations, we find Elihu suggesting concerning the Divine manifestations that they are:
1. Announced by the elements. Elihu alludes, it is thought, to an approaching theophany, of which the thunderstorm was the herald. "With clouds he covereth the light," etc.; literally, "Upon both hands he spreadeth as a covering the light" (i.e. the lightning), "and commandeth it as one who hitteth the mark" (Delitzsch) against his enemy (Gesenius, Umbreit), in striking (Carey)whom it shall reach (Canon Cook). So was God's approach to Adam after he had fallen announced by a rush of wind through the garden (Genesis 3:8); to Israel by thunders and lightnings and the noise of a trumpet (Exodus 20:18); to Elijah by a wind, an earthquake, and a fire (1 Kings 19:11). So was God's advent to the world at the Incarnation proclaimed by signs and wonders both in heaven and on earth. The descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost was accompanied by a rushing mighty wind. The return of God to judge the world will be attended with alarming prodigies.
2. Recognized by the irrational oration. To the herds the rumble of the thunder is pictured by Elihu as announcing the arrival of God. So when Christ the Son of God came to earth, not only did the winds and the seas obey him (Mark 4:41), but the wild beasts gathered round him and forgot their ferocity (Mark 1:13). Among the signs that shall foretell his second coming will be the lying down of the wolf with the lamb, and of the leopard with the kid (Isaiah 11:6-9).
3. Presented to man. Neither the inanimate creation nor the irrational animals can consciously apprehend the glory of God. Hence the Divine manifestations, though heralded and unconsciously recognized by them, are not specifically meant for them, but for man, the head and crown of the material globe. To man alone of all God's creatures on the earth belongs the power of apprehending the Divine glory. Hence God's self-revelations are always for the sake of man. The one now approaching was for Job's sake. The Incarnation was for the sake of humanity. The second advent will be for the sake of the Church.
4. Directed against unrighteousness. "The sound thereof (i.e. the thunder-crash) announces concerning their fierceness of wrath against unrighteousness" (Cook). Even so the first Divine manifestation in the Incarnation and cross was a revelation of the wrath of God against all unrighteousness of men (Romans 1:18); though of this character much more will the next Divine apocalypse partake.
5. Designed for the salvation of the righteous. According to another rendering (Umbreit), Elihu is understood to say that, while God fills both his hands with light, in the one hand he holds the lightning-shaft wherewith to strike the wicked, but in the other the cheering light of the sun to reveal to his friend, and even unto cattle and to plants. It may remind us again of the double purpose of all God's manifests-tions. The pillar of cloud and fire meant destruction to Egypt, but emancipation to Israel. Even the gospel is a savour of life unto some, but of death unto others. When Christ next comes, it will be not alone to punish his foes, but also to save his friends.
Learn:
1. To magnify the work of God.
2. To celebrate the praise of God.
3. To reverence the Name of God.
4. To delight in the revelation of God.
5. To acquiesce in the purpose of God.
6. To listen to the teaching of God.
7. To accept the salvation of God.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
Verse 1-37:24
Elihu's fourth speech: God the Loving, the Just, and the Holy.
In the preceding discourses of Elihu, be has dwelt chiefly upon the moral relations of man to God, and the view presented of God has been chiefly that obtained through the medium of human feelings and analogies. His present discourse rises to a sublime view of him as the infinitely mighty One, the wise and just Father of mankind. If we suppose that during this address the storm is brewing out of which Jehovah presently speaks, then all Elihu's references to the lightning, the thunder, the storm and rain receive, as he proceeds, their splendid illustration from the sublime scene around, and heighten the force of his appeals.
I. INTRODUCTION. (Job 37:1-4.) The speaker begins by announcing that he has something further of weight to say in justification of the ways of God to man. He has "words for God" to utter. Though God's works are his justification, and he needs no defence at the hands of man, yet it may be said that the free exercise of reason, in setting forth the glory of his goodness and justice, is an acceptable service to him. If he delights in the unconscious testimony of babes and sucklings (Psalms 8:1-9.), still more must he delight in the conscious spontaneous offerings of man's matured thought at his shrine, The great works of Christian theologians and apologists, such as Calvin's 'Institutes' or Butler's 'Analogy,' are the tributes of reason to the honour of God. But they are valueless unless they have that quality which Elihu so emphatically claims, sincerity, truth. He who ventures to speak for God must speak, not with the purpose of temporary expediency, but out of the consciousness of eternity.
II. THE JUSTICE OF GOD REVEALED IN THE HISTORY OF MAN. (Job 37:5-21.) The course of life, argues the speaker, shows that a chastening, a purifying, but at the same time a loving, Power is at work in the world. This is supported:
1. By a general view of human life. (Job 37:6-15.) God is revealed in the different courses of men's lives as Power, but not as arbitrary Power. His greatness is not associated with contempt for the lowliness of man. It is not reckless of right and wrong. It upholds the moral order—the godless sink unsupported into the ruin their own conduct has prepared for them; while those who suffer from the injustice of others are succoured and defended. God's watchful eye is upon all just men, from the king whose throne he establishes, whose dignity he guards, to the captive in his chains, to the beggar in his misery. This, as we have so often seen, is the firm foundation-truth which runs beneath the whole of this book, and through the whole of the Bible. And the seeming exceptions to these principles of the Divine administration are now explained as merely seeming; for they come under the principle of chastisement, which is but another illustration of love. According to this view—never more feelingly set forth than here-suffering may be, not the brand of guilt, but the silent token of love in the form of discipline. Without positive guilt there may be moral stagnation, in which the germs of future evil are discovered by the eye of the Divine Educator. Evil is forming in tendency or thought when it has not blossomed into deeds. Then comes the visit of God in suffering to warn, to hint of danger, to "open the ear" to instructions that were thought unnecessary in the days of perfect peace and self-complacency. And if the mind yields to this gracious leading, and bends itself to docility to this new revelation of the holy will, all shall yet be well. The season of depression and disaster will be passed through, and the sheep who have heard the Shepherd's voice will find themselves led once more into the green pastures of content (Job 37:6-11). But the God who is revealed to us in this tender and gracious aspect in the course el experience, under the condition of obedience, becomes clothed in sternness and severity to those who resist. Those who venture to war with law, to rebel against omnipotence and justice, can but meet an unhappy doom. In wondrous ways, unknown to man, God is able to bring men to their destined goal (Job 37:12-14). The great lesson, then, is to betake one's self to self-examination (the opening of the ear) and to prayer when the visitants of God's chastening love are knocking at the door of our heart. The lesson is expressed by pointing to the sad examples of unsubmissive, prayerless lives! These, like spots where the dew falls not, cannot thrive. Hearts, like bare rocks, that will not melt in the sun, callous, impenitent, heedless, perish for want of knowledge, of faith, of God; but those whose whole nature has been broken up and laid open by suffering are prepared to receive the seed of eternal wisdom which the Divine Husbandman seeks in such times to implant (Job 37:15).
2. By reference to Job's vicissitudes. (Verses 16-21.) In these verses, which are so obscure in meaning in our version, a deduction is made from the foregoing principles in reference to the case of Job. In verse 16 the verb should be taken in the present, "God's leading," or "is for leading" him out of his present straitened and distressed condition; but what if the conditions of submission, penitence, and docility are wanting in Job? Assuming that there is this want, solemn warnings are given—that he cannot, if in a state of sin, escape the judgment of God; that if he allows the fire of suffering to madden him into impiety instead of purifying his spirit, he will find himself in an evil plight, for no cries nor efforts can avail to extricate him from the fangs of doom. Let not Job, then, says the speaker (verse 20), perhaps pointing to the dark warning of the sky, long after the night (of judgment); for whole peoples pass away in that terrible darkness when the wrath of God is outpoured! And to conclude the warnings, let Job beware of the turning of the heart to vanity—the natural thoughtlessness of mankind in presence of the judgments of God. The application is unfair as regards Job; still, we are reminded indirectly that it is not sufficient to hold a true theory of God's moral government in general, without applying it to the facts of our own lives. Men may harshly apply great principles to our character and condition in the world; this cannot absolve us from the duty of applying them truly and honestly for ourselves.
III. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD REVEALED IN NATURE. (Verse 22- Job 37:24.)
1. The wisdom and power of God as seen in nature's wonders. (Verse 22- Job 37:13.) Introduction. (Verses 22-25.) The sublime power of God fills every observer of Nature with awe. Who is a Ruler as he? Who can improve upon Nature? She is the great mechanist, artist, designer, executor. Man may produce new varieties of plants and, to some extent, of animals by the exercise of intelligence, but "o'er that art which men call nature is another art which nature makes." Art is the highest effort of human nature; and what nature can he honour who honours not the human? If, then, you have a quarrel with God, what is this but to dispute the beauty and the good of things, which all men delight to celebrate, on which no eyes are weary of looking with wonder?
2. Look, then, at the grandeur of the phenomena of nature—the rain the clouds' the storms. (Verse 26- Job 37:5.) Read the words of the description, compare them with your own feelings. In the very vagueness and vastness of nature there is a power to impress the imagination. This array of beauty and of grandeur is not only far beyond, but totally unlike, anything that man can conceive or accomplish. No words can better set forth these profound and unutterable impressions than the words of great poets, "thrown out" as it were at a distant, illimitable object which cannot be defined. "God thunders with his voice wondrously, doth great things that we understand not:" this is the sum of all. The indefinite grandeur of images and sounds, which is so impressive in the highest poetry, represents the inarticulate but overwhelming voice of nature which tells of the Being and the goodness of God. Again, these effects point to causes; and the regularity of effects to the regularity of causes; and the whole series of effects and causes resolves itself into the conception of law, high, unerring, unbroken. Even with a very imperfect knowledge of the structure of the cosmos, there is some dim perception of these truths: how much more should consummate science impress them upon the spirit! Every phenomenon that strikes with awe the senses, or that gently excites the wonder and curiosity of the mind, hints at an Intelligence which is ever at work. The snow, the rain-torrents, which give pause to the labours of man, and compel his gaze to the sky; the crouching of the wild beast in his lair before the fury of the storm; the rushing forth of the blasts as from some hidden repository (as the Greeks fabled, the cave of AEelus); the congelation of the waters; the clouds discharging their weight of moisture or flashing forth their lightnings;—all speak of superhuman power, ell-controlling and still guiding the march of nature by a principle of right; now scourging men's folly, and now rewarding and blessing their obedience. In the fearful and beautiful scenes of the storm and of winter we indeed no longer see signs of the personal displeasure of God. We explain them by the "laws of nature." But none the less do these phenomena tell of the power, the wisdom, and the goodness of God, and hint to us the duty and the need of prayer to him who gave to Nature her laws.
3. Inferences; exhortations. (Job 37:14-24.) If this be the view Nature gives us of her God and of our Creator, instead of murmuring at him or disputing his dealings, let Job and all sufferers draw the true conclusions amidst the dark enigmas of their lives. Let the preceding impressions be laid well to heart, and in quiet contemplation let the mystery of the Divine operations be reviewed. Can man explain the secrets of nature? If not, why should he expect to explain fully that which is a part of the same system, under the same rule, controlled by the same God, namely, his own life and its mingled web of weal and woe (verse 14, sqq.)? "We have but faith; we cannot know." "If man is not called by God to his side in other matters of his daily doing, to be as a judge and counsellor, and this can be expected by none, and none presumes to murmur against that order, it is right that man should not demand that the method of God's government should be shown him in this world, but that he should acquiesce in it, whether he understands it or no; that he should believe his Word, and await his good in patience" (Cocceius).
CONCLUSION. find now the speaker—pointing to the rising storm which has been gathering during his discourse, brings his words, in solemn iteration and summing-up, to a close (verses 21-24). The aspect of yonder heaven is a symbol of Job's position in relation to God. The light that flashes in its wonted splendour behind the clouds is not seen just now, but a wind rises and sweeps those clouds away; and so the God who is concealed for a time, and of whom we are in danger of entertaining wrong thoughts, may suddenly, to our surprise and shame, discover himself. Let us, then, humble ourselves in presence of the destiny that just now is full of darkness. From the gloom as of midnight there bursts forth the gleam as of gold—brilliant token of the sublime power of Jehovah. And God remains inaccessible to sense, to knowledge, dwelling in the unapproachable light. But, amidst all the terror and the mystery, the voice of conscience, the moral sense in man, tells him that, though God be incomprehensible, this much concerning him may be known—he is no Perverter of right and justice; he is the infallibly good and wise, just and holy One. This faith is the foundation of reverence, of piety; and as for the "self-wise," the men wise in their own conceits, God holds them in no regard. (On the dazzling light, the symbol of the majesty of God, compare the hymn of Binney, "Eternal Light! Eternal Light!")—J.
HOMILIES BY R. GREEN