ascent of passionate argument, disembarrassed of the interruptings, the wranglings, the risings and fallings proper to the dramatic element of the poem. In the same way the position taken up by his friends may be shown as follows

Should not the multitude of words be answered?
And should a man full of talk be justified ?
Should thy boastings make men hold their peace?
And when thou mockest, shall no man make
thee ashamed?

For thou sayest, My doctrine is pure,

And I am clean in thine eyes.

But Oh that God would speak,

And open his lips against thee;

And that he would show thee the secrets of

wisdom;

For sound wisdom is manifold.

Know therefore that God exacteth of thee

Less than thine iniquity deserveth.

Canst thou by searching find out God?

Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?

It is high as heaven;

What canst thou do?

Deeper than Sheol;

What canst thou know?

The measure thereof is longer than the earth,

And broader than the sea.

Is not God in the height of heaven?

And behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
And thou sayest, "What doth God know?
Can he judge through the thick darkness?

Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he
seeth not,

And he walketh in the circuit of heaven."
Wilt thou keep the old way,

Which wicked men have trodden?

Who were snatched away before their time,
Whose foundation was poured out as a stream;
Who said unto God, Depart from us,
And, What can the Almighty do for us?
Whence then cometh wisdom?

And where is the place of understanding?
Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living,
And kept close from the fowls of the air.
Destruction and Death say,

We have heard a rumour thereof with our ears.
GOD understandeth the
way thereof,

And he knoweth the place thereof.

Art thou the first man that was born?

Or wast thou brought forth before the hills? Hast thou heard the secret counsel of God?

And dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?

What knowest thou, that we know not?

What understandest thou, which is not in us? With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged

1 The

men,

Much elder than thy father.1

passages, in order as quoted, are as follows:-XI, 2-9; XXII, 12-17; XXVIII, 20-23; XV, 7–10.

Eliphaz is very subtle in the passage beginning, Is not God in the height of Heaven? "With the artifice and insincerity of a mere controversialist bent on victory, he puts into the mouth of Job himself the very words which Job has put into the mouth of the wicked, who say unto God, Depart from us, and what can the Almighty do for us?"1 It is an attempt to prove that by not accepting the revelation of tradition regarding suffering, Job, in effect, relegates God to a state of indifference towards human affairs. What it really amounts to is this: that Job's rejection of his friend's authoritative knowledge of God's ways is tantamount to a rejection of God himself. What understandest thou, says Eliphaz, which is not in us ? No wonder the afflicted patriarch cries scornfully—

No doubt but ye are the people,

And wisdom shall die with you.2

1 Cox's Commentary, p. 321.

2

XII, 2.

Renan's Translation reads: "Truly you are

the whole world,” p. 27. You think you are everybody is

our colloquial phrase.

We have now come to the core of the disputation. No doubt the sufferings of Job in particular and of the human race in general were the occasion of it, but within that tangled controversy lies another more important. Eliphaz and his companions claim that the authority of tradition must outweigh all experience; that the revelation once made by God respecting his dealings with man is sufficient; and that it is the height of impiety to desire to know more. To their own question, Where is the place of understanding? they

answer

With us are both the gray-headed and the very ancient

men,

Much elder than thy father;

that is to say, that Authority is the place of understanding; that Authority supplies a complete theoretic scheme of the world, and to that scheme every one must give his adhesion or undergo the penalty.

But Job perceives plainly enough that they never would uphold this theory unless they believed that God sanctioned it. They

will not use the faculties that God has bestowed upon them to investigate the phenomena of Man's existence. They simply repeat the formula that they think is pleasing to God. They regard themselves as God's advocates, and have no notion of the absurdity of their office. They hold a brief for Omnipotence, for of what use is it to hold one against it? They feel that God's eyes are upon them, observing whether they are on his side; ready to punish them, if they are not, and to reward them, if they are.

To the mind of Job this is impiety, this is blasphemy

Will ye speak unrighteously for God (he cries),
And talk deceitfully for him ?

Will ye respect his person?

Will ye contend for God? 1

There is nothing surely in the whole range of literature of deeper insight, of more wonderful penetration into the divine character than that sentence