Lessons from the Book of Job
Six days more we linger in patriarchal times with Job, his three friends, Elihu, and God. Besides the lessons of last week regarding human suffering, we have noted the wonderful knowledge of God possessed by these men; their hope in a future life through the resurrection and the coming Redeemer; God's providence over all His tested and tried ones; for He is no respecter of persons. What a wonderful poem on wisdom is chapter 28: 12-28! What a conception of the sidereal world had the old patriarchs! All that the eye could see of the garnishing of the celestial dome by the Spirit were but parts of God's ways, but the faintest whisper of the thunder of His power. In chapter 38 is the expression of a truth which men have learned by science during the generation just passing; namely, that Arcturus is so large that he holds by his attraction suns in his thrall, captives in his train as he sweeps on his course, that he does not seem to be regulated by law as do other suns. "Canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?" Verse 32. God guides, holds, controls. The "sweet influences" of the Pleiades ought to be "the cluster," and the bands of Orion show that the suns and nebulæ of that mighty constellation are held and bound in relative position. These, with other expressions, such as the weight of the winds, witness to the divine inspiration of the book.