CHAPTER IX.

Narrative concerning Job.

In the narrative concerning Job, who is supposed to have lived in the age preceding that of Abraham, we read, chapter i., that he from time to time offered burnt offerings continually; and that "there was a day when the sons of (the) Elohim came to present themselves before Jehovah, and Satan came also among them. And Jehovah said unto Satan, Whence comest thou?--And Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah." A statement in the same words is made in relation to another day, chapter ii.; from which passages it appears that Job, as priest of his family, offered typical sacrifices according to the custom of that age; and that there was a place to which the true worshippers came to present themselves before Jehovah--a place doubtless of customary resort for worship, and, from the analogy of the patriarchal history, of visible manifestation. They came there to present themselves before Jehovah, implying that he was personally and locally present; which is also strongly implied in the statement, on both occasions, that Satan went forth from _the presence_ of Jehovah. That adversary and accuser of the sons of Elohim was literally present, and it is not perceived how he could be said to go forth from the spiritual presence of Jehovah. It is probable that he was not visible to the worshippers, and that neither the words addressed to him, nor his replies, were audible to them. But those words proceeded from Him from whose presence he went forth.

However this may be, it is evident from subsequent passages that Job had clear apprehensions of the person and office of the Redeemer, and recognized him as Jehovah in the administration of providence. To that official person he doubtless refers under the designation _Shadai_, translated Almighty, which he employs more than thirty times; which appears from Exod. vi. to have been familiar to the patriarchs, and which, from a comparison of passages from the Old and New Testaments, signified the same divine Person as Melach Jehovah. In one instance only he employs the term Adonai as a Divine designation--namely, in the passage concerning Wisdom, chap. xxviii.: "Elohim understandeth the way thereof. When he made a decree for the rain, then did he see it. And unto man he said, Behold the fear of Adonai, that is wisdom." In chapter xix. he refers to the same Person under an official designation of frequent occurrence. "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and ... in my flesh shall I see Eloah." The word _Goel_, translated _Redeemer_, is employed with the same reference in the following among other passages. "Melach the Messenger, which _redeemed_ me from all evil." Gen. xlviii. "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Jehovah, my strength and my _Redeemer_." Ps. xix. "And they remembered that Elohim was their rock, and El, their _Redeemer_." Ps. lxxviii. "Thus saith Jehovah your _Redeemer_, and the Holy One of Israel." Isa. xliii. 14. "Thus saith Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his _Redeemer_, Jehovah Zebaoth." Ibid. xliv. 6. "Thus saith Jehovah thy _Redeemer_, and he that formed thee, I am Jehovah that maketh all things, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone," &c. Isa. xliv. 24. "All flesh shall know that I Jehovah am thy Saviour, and thy _Redeemer_, the Mighty One of Jacob." Isa. xlix. 26.

The original word, as a verb, signifies to redeem, to ransom; and as a noun, a kinsman, blood relation, one having a right, or to whom it pertained, to redeem; redeemer, kinsman-redeemer. Hence, when employed as in the passages above cited, it includes a reference to the complex person of Christ, and to Eloah in human nature, as spoken of prospectively by Job.

At the close of his appointed trial, when the integrity of Job had been vindicated, and the imputations and predictions of the adversary confuted, a different and more glorious manifestation of Jehovah was made to him, a manifestation adapted and designed--like that to Ezekiel, chap. i., in the likeness of _a man_ on a throne in the midst of fire and cloud, moving as in a whirlwind, and like that to Isaiah, chap. vi., and that to the disciples on the holy mount--to impart to him new and more exalted apprehensions of the perfections, prerogatives, and works of Jehovah; to fit the humbled and penitent beholder for the gifts and honors he was to receive, the duties he was to perform, and the conspicuous station he was to occupy as one whose righteousness had been publicly tried and divinely attested. "Jehovah answered Job out of _the whirlwind_, and said, Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?" &c.; adding a prolonged detail of his works of creation and providence, and contrasting the ignorance and nothingness of man with the operations of his wisdom and power. Job answered: "Behold, I am vile, what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth." He confesses his sinfulness, the ignorance and errors which had marked his replies to his friends, and adds: "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." He saw him in that ineffable and, to mortals, all but insupportable splendor of glory, which caused such an impression of his deity and his holiness, as in contrast to make him conscious of his own vileness as a sinner, and induce in him the utmost self-abasement; as in the parallel instance of Ezekiel, it is said that "he fell upon his face;" and in that of Isaiah, that he exclaimed, on seeing Adonai Jehovah Zebaoth, "Woe is me! for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips;" and of Daniel, in an analogous instance of his vision of the same glorified Person in the likeness of man, chap. x., that he fell with his face to the ground, that there remained no strength in him, that his comeliness was turned into corruption. So at the Transfiguration on the mount, the disciples fell on their faces and were sore afraid. Paul, on witnessing a like personal manifestation, fell to the earth; and John, in Patmos, seeing that glorified Person, fell at his feet as dead.

There was prevalent, at a very early period, a sentiment that to see God would occasion or be followed by the death of the beholder; which probably arose, not from simple appearances in the likeness of man, on occasions which called for no exhibitions of Divine majesty and glory, but from manifestations of overpowering, insupportable radiance, comparable only to that of lightning, or that of the unclouded sun. Such a manifestation we may well suppose to have been made on the expulsion of Adam from Eden, in conjunction with the cherubic forms, as in repeated instances afterwards. It was demanded by the occasion and the end to be accomplished. There were sword-like flames, or lightnings, as when Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with (the) Elohim, when he descended on mount Sinai; and they, terrified by the lightnings, said, "Let not Elohim speak with us, lest we die;" and as in the vision of Ezekiel, "out of the fire went forth lightning." So when the seventy elders ascended mount Sinai with Moses, "and saw the Elohe of Israel, the sight of the glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire."

The sentiment or apprehension above referred to is indicated by Jacob, after wrestling with the Messenger Jehovah: "I have seen Elohim face to face, and _my life is preserved_." Also in the words addressed to Gideon after he had exclaimed, "Alas, O Adonai Jehovah! for because I have seen the Messenger Jehovah face to face. And Jehovah said unto him, Fear not, thou shalt not die." And, "Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen Elohim." Such an inference is very likely to have been drawn from the declaration of Jehovah to Moses, Exod. xxxiii. 20: "Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man _see me_ and live;" that is, _see me_ unveiled by the human form, or by a dark or luminous cloud-like envelope, as in the burning bush, on mount Sinai, and in the tabernacle; for in these modes of appearance Moses had repeatedly seen him, and in the chapter above referred to, vs. 9, we read that, "As Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle; and Jehovah spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend." But, owing to the defection of Aaron and the people in making and worshipping a molten image, he had, to the consternation of Moses, intimated a purpose to withdraw from among them; and after he had, upon the earnest entreaty of Moses, signified that his presence should continue with them, Moses, in his anxiety and perturbation, and perhaps fearing that he would not visibly manifest himself, (see vs. 16,) besought that he would show him his glory, the unclouded glory of his person. This was denied, as certain to be fatal. But as far as he could endure the sight and live, the request was granted. "And Jehovah descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Jehovah. And Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped."