JOB AND HIS FRIENDS by w.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 29, 1887

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 13, No. 50.

JOB AND HIS FRIENDS.

By w.

Human nature in the days of Job was just the same as it is now. We have proof of it in the way that Job was treated by his friends. He himself tells how he was regarded in the days when he was "the greatest of all the men of the East," when the rock poured him out rivers of oil. He says: "The young men saw me, and hid themselves; and the aged arose, and stood up. The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth." Still further he shows how ready men were to fawn upon him, and how glad to be noticed by him: "Unto me men gave ear, and waited, 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; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain. If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down."

That was when he was wealthy; but now that he had lost everything, and was afflicted, his friends had changed. He says: "But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock." The friends of his prosperity had gone, and the vilest men heaped contempt upon him. More than this, he says, "My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me." But this state of things did not always last, for "the Lord turned the captivity of Job;" "also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before." Now read what happened when this turn had taken place in Job's fortunes:—

"Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house; and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him; every man also gave him a piece of money, and everyone an ear-ring of gold."

Plenty of friends now. "All they that had been of his acquaintance before" came to see him, "and did eat bread in his house." They had no doubt eaten bread in his house before; they knew how hospitable he was, and what a good table he always set, and so they were wonderfully rejoiced to learn of the restoration of his fortune. "And they bemoaned him." Yes, they were very ready to bemoan him then; but if they had come when Job was suffering the greatest poverty and affliction, their comfort would no doubt have been more acceptable. Doubtless they had a plausible excuse for not coming to his aid when he was in distress; they were "very sorry that circumstances made it impossible for them to come," etc., but they would now show that their affection for him had not waned in the least, by everyone giving him a piece of money, when he had no earthly need of it.

The story of Job and his friends is true to the life. Job must have known more of human nature after his affliction than he did before. The friends of his prosperity do not commend themselves to us any more than do those of his adversity. But we do not read that Job became sour and cynical over this revelation of human fickleness. He didn't jump at the conclusion that there was "not an honest man in the world." Many people say that or its equivalent; yet there never was a man who said it, who believed it. Every man who said so mentally excepted himself. But while Job learned much of human nature he had also learned much of the divine nature, and he knew there were many in whom the image of God was not wholly obliterated. So we can believe that since Job had seen that "the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy," he had learned to have charity for the failings of others. The man who allows affliction to make him sour and morose, fails to learn the great lesson which affliction is designed to teach. If the love of God is shed abroad in the heart, tribulation works only patience.