of the Hebrews, is religion, namely, the theocracy. (2.) Bridal and nuptial terms, intended to describe the relation of the Lord to his Church, continually occur in the Old and New Testaments, sometimes employed in an indefinite manner, and sometimes with full details. (See, for instance, Jer. 2: 2; Hos. 2: 19, 20; Isa. 54:5; 62:4, 5; Ezek. 16: 8-14; John 3: 29; Matt. 9: 15; 2 Cor. 11 : 2; Eph. 5: 25-27; Rev. 19: 7; 21: 2; 22: 17, &c.) (3.) A direct and literal application of the details, in the interpretation of the poem, cannot be sustained. The images which are employed, would often be very inappropriate and awkward (as 6: 4; 8: 5, &c.), unless another ideal existed in the recesses of the soul of the poet, to which they are better suited; easy transitions from the sign to the thing signified, often occur, &c. (4.) This poem was regarded in the earliest times already, and, in particular, by those who fixed the Canon, as an allegory, &c.-The forty-fifth psalm is analogous to it.

$87. The Book of Job.

The book of Job is occupied in solving a problem which deeply interested the theocratical mind: it investigates the relation or connection between the afflictions of the righteous and the justice of God. As a poetic composition, it claims the highest rank. The topics which it selects, and which it illustrates as fully as that era of revelation admitted, are the following: the connection between sin and misery; the nature of divine retribution, and the divine mode of educating man; the necessity of adopting, in the kingdom of God, the fundamental law, that the path to greatness and glory should always lead through humiliation and affliction as a preparatory discipline. It also gives prominence to the problem of the righteous man who suffers affliction, of which both the complete sketch and the solution are prophetically exhibited in Ps. 22 and Isa. ch. 53, and the actual solution of which, on Golgotha, brought salvation to the whole human race.—The poet employs, as the foundation of the whole work, the ancient tradition of the accumulated misfortunes of a devout nomadic prince, named Job (see Ezek. 14: 14, 20, in which chapter Job, Noah and Daniel, are extolled as models of human righteousness). The book consists of three parts: the prologue (ch. 1, 2); the dialogue (ch. 3-41); and the epilogue (ch. 42). The prologue and epilogue are written in prose, the former fur

nishing an introduction of the whole, and the latter relating the issue. The remaining portion, constituting the body of the work, is written in poetry, in the form of a dialogue; the main subject is first viewed in the light of reason, and then decided by the interposition and words of the Lord. The composition of the book, in point of time, has been assigned by many to the age of Moses, or to one still earlier, and some have even designated Moses himself as the author. These views are confirmed, as it has been alleged, by the patriarchal aspect of the persons and circumstances described in the book, and by the absence of any reference to the Law and the theocracy. The great abilities of the poet, however, who was able to reproduce the language and circumstances of that early age with entire success, easily account for these features. On the other hand, the language and style, the great intelligence and highly cultivated mind of the author, his acquaintance with other countries, the highly developed form of the poetry, the design and tendency of the matter, &c., conclusively show, that the poem belongs to the most flourishing period of the Hebrew state, with respect to public affairs, popular life, and the state of the arts and sciences, and that it was, consequently, composed during the age of Solomon.

OBS. 1.- The contents of the poem are the following: Job, a nomadic prince in the land of Uz (north-east of the mountains of Edom), is wealthy, enjoys the blessing of the Lord, and is highly esteemed by men. Satan, the accuser (Rev. 12: 10), endeavors to render his uprightness suspicious in the eyes of God. The Lord designs to convince the accuser that, in this case also, his plans will fail; he likewise intends to prove Job, and cleanse his heart, in which a refined self-love, together with self-righteousness and self-confidence still dwelt, sustained by a course of prosperity. He consequently permits the accuser to take the lives of Job's sons and daughters, and to destroy all his possessions. After messengers of evil tidings had appeared in rapid succession, Job, nevertheless, said: "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord." Satan now obtains permission to touch Job's person, but not to destroy his life. The terrible disease termed elephantiasis (the most horrible species of the leprosy), covered Job's body with sore biles from the sole of his foot unto the crown of his head; even his wife mocks him on account of his integrity, and tells him to re

nounce God. But he says: "Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this did not Job sin with his lips. Three friends visit him, named Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar; they had intended to speak words of comfort, but when they approach and see his utter wretchedness, they are speechless. After seven days of painful silence, Job opens his mouth and curses the day of his birth. His friends feel impelled to contradict him; they desire to justify God, and proceed to accuse Job of secret sins and base hypocrisy. Job is conscious that such accusations are unjust, and, provoked by the injudicious zeal of his friends, he even begins to contend with God. Thus his secret self-love and self-righteousness, which are to be overcome, are plainly revealed; nevertheless, his trust in God and his righteousness still predominate. On more than one occasion a gleam of truth irradiates his soul, and conducts him nearer to the true solution of the problem. His friends are at length silenced, and he remains the last speaker. Another interlocutor, named Elihu, now comes forward (ch. 32), whom the reverence due to age had hitherto restrained, but whom the impetuosity of youth no longer allowed to suppress his own clearer views. His wrath was kindled against the three friends, on account of their unskilful defence of God, and their unjust condemnation of Job, and also against Job, who declared himself to be pure and guiltless in the presence of God. The leading principle developed in his argumentation, which essentially furnishes a solution of the problem, as far as man is able to fathom it, is the following: that the afflictions of the righteous are not necessarily or absolutely an indication of divine wrath, but much rather of his chastening, disciplinary and purifying grace, and are designed to convince them of subtile and deeply-hidden sins, and to heal them. Job is silent, for he is already subdued by human wisdom. At the conclusion of the address of Elihu, the Lord himself appears in a whirlwind, and completes the work of humbling Job, who had attempted to contend with God. "Gird up now thy loins like a man;" he says, "for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me." And his questions, which refer only to the most obvious of his ways and wonders in nature, nevertheless put all human wisdom to shame. With how much less propriety may that wisdom presume to judge the wonderful ways of his justice and grace among men! Job repents and condemns himself alone. The Lord rebukes the folly of the three friends, acquits Job of the charges which they had made against him, and restores to him twofold all that he had lost.

OBS. 2.-The book of Job is not an ordinary theodicy, intended

to justify God in reference to the existence in this world of the misery and the evils, which often oppress the righteous, while the wicked appear to be spared. It rather ascribes these to the creature in heaven and on earth, and suppresses the whole question, as far as idle curiosity asks for an answer, by furnishing the evidence of the short-sightedness of man. The three friends devise a theodicy which puts them to shame in the end. Diseases, death and misery, entered the world by sin; all men are sinners, and even the most righteous among them cannot complain, although accumulated temporal afflictions may overwhelm them, for they have deserved still more severe chastisements. The error of Job's friends consisted in the inference which they drew, that he was a greater sinner than other men, because he suffered afflictions which were unusually severe. Their sin consisted in their belief that, in comparison with Job, they were pure themselves, because they were exempted from similar calamities, while in truth, they were, like all men, worthy of the same curse. Affliction is the punishment and curse of unbelief, but is the chastisement and the blessing appropriated to faith, and, in the hands of God, the means of disciplining and purifying the soul.

SIXTH PERIOD.

FROM THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE TO THE CESSATION OF

PROPHECY.

(A Period of about 600 years.)

§ 88. Characteristic Features of this Period.

1. In consequence of David's victories, the theocratic state had attained the whole extent which God had originally assigned to it. It did not maintain its lofty position; the faults which the kings and the people committed, caused it henceforth to approach its dissolution. The latter portion of the reign of Solomon already contained all the germs of the subsequent decay and ruin. kingdom was divided, and the two independent kingdoms which succeeded, assumed a hostile attitude towards each other; alliances and wars with other nations, both equally ungodly, then followed; and, above all, the tendency to renounce Jehovah and to establish worship in high places, the worship of calves, and the worship of nature, continually gained strength. The inward vigor of the

state was necessarily impaired by the operation of these causes, and the divine judgment, which was long delayed, but which was unerring and sure, ultimately overwhelmed the state and abandoned it as a prey to the heathen. Numerous prophets, full of courage and holy zeal, endeavored to counteract the untheocratic degeneracy of the kings and the people, but their labors produced no permanent results (§ 99).

OBS.-The worship offered in high places (as the worship of Jehovah) was a wilful and untheocratic renewal of the patriarchal forms. These were appropriate in the earliest ages, for the elevation, hill or high place, is an altar of nature; but in this more advanced period, when the kingdom of God had been already further developed, such worship was a sinful opposition to the divinelyappointed worship at the tabernacle, and the temple. This worship in high places possibly received a new impulse after David's days, originating in a spirit of hostility towards the temple of Solomon. It appears, however, in a less unfavorable aspect in the kingdom of Israel than in the kingdom of Judah. In the former, it might be regarded with indulgence and even approbation, since the interest of the people in the temple had been politically destroyed. Israel was, indeed, brought back, by the violent measures of Jeroboam, to the original position of the patriarchs with respect to the public worship of God; eminent prophets, accordingly, in the kingdom of Israel, like Elijah and Elisha, worshipped in high places. The worship of calves, which had once been seen in the wilderness, but which was suppressed by the vigorous measures of Moses, was designed to be a worship of Jehovah, but assumed a form allied to the Egyptian mode of adoring animals; its ungodly character appears in its transgression of the commandment: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness, &c." (Exodus 20: 4.) — For the worship of nature, see ? 64. 2, OBS. 1.

2. The worship peculiar to the Old Testament appeared in its most perfect form, when the Temple was completed. But Prophecy now passes beyond the sphere of this worship, and indicates that the present particular and symbolic form of the kingdom of God will necessarily undergo a change and become a universal form, presenting the reality announced by any previous symbol; thus Prophecy leads by preparatory steps to the dissolution of the form of the Old Testament worship, and to the ful