Bibliotheca Sacra 97 (386)(Apr 1940) 211-16. Copyright © 1940 by Dallas Theological Seminary. Cited with permission. Job and the Nation Israel 211 JOB AND THE NATION ISRAEL Third Study: Face To Face With The Lord By CHARLES LEE FEINBERG, TH.D. (Concluded from the January-March Number, 1940)The Book of Job reveals a victory but it is not the vic-tory of man's remarkable reasoning, nor the victory of su-perior argumentation, but the blessed victory of faith (13:15).This triumph was not won in a moment nor by one leap, but in definite and progressive stages. When the last words of Job are given in chapter 31, his friends are still of theiropinion and Job is still of his conviction. The problem isdeadlocked, as it were. The argument of the book is sum-marized in 32:1-3. "So these three men ceased to answerJob, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then waskindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite,of the family of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled,because he justified himself rather than God. Also againsthis three friends was his wrath kindled, because they hadfound no answer, and yet had condemned Job." Then Elihucomes preparing the way for the words of the Lord whichfollow. We take his words as appropriate because the Lordutters no rebuke of him later. In a sense he is the answerto Job's burning desire that he might have a Daysman(mochiach, lit. an umpire, arbiter) to stand between God andhimself (9:33).The burden of Elihu's several addresses is : (1) God isinfinitely and eternally greater than man in power. In viewof this it behooves man to be in a place of submission beforehis Creator. (2) God is infinitely greater than man in wis-dom. He has no need to detail His ways and plans to man,even if man could understand them (33:13 ). Man does best(when he awaits God's solution which He alone can give andwill give when it pleases him. (3) God is infinitely greaterthan man in righteousness. "Far be it from God, that heshould do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that he should212 Bibliotheca Sacracommit iniquity. . . Yea, of a surety, God will not do wick-edly, neither will the Almighty pervert justice" (34:10, 12).It is impossible for us fully to conceive how sinful it is forus to condemn the righteous and just God, or seek to maintainour righteousness at the expense of His. (4) God is infinitelygreater than man in His tender mercy (Jas. 5:11). If wecould understand the heart of God, we should be convincedthat even in Our afflictions which He permits, His heart ismost tender and compassionate toward us. After theseaddresses, God Himself appears. But He is not on the de-fensive, for He is responsible and amenable to none of His creatures.JOB IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD Neither the enemy nor the critics dealt properly with Joband his problem; that remains for God alone to do. Job hadbeen afflicted inwardly and outwardly; now God intends tobless him inwardly and outwardly. God does this by askingJob well-nigh one hundred questions. (If one is ever in-clined to feel quite exalted in his own mind, we suggest that he read through these questions. It is a most beneficial and deflating experience.) Suffice it to say, that Job failed inall his examination questions. But the result. was blessed,nevertheless. God revealed to Job the omnipotence andomniscience which are God's alone. Nowhere in the Bible have we a more marvellous delineation of the majesty and greatness of God. This revealed to Job his own ignorance (and of earthly, temporal things at that). Then God setsforth the impotence of Job. This was not done to show Jobthat His ways are totally inscrutable. If so, then why appearat all in this problem if not to solve it Himself? No, theportrayal of the frailty and weakness of Job is meant to given him a clearer conception of the glorious nature of hisCreator.Job's arguments showed that he had an imperfect, orrather an incomplete, view of God. The pivot and climaxof the book are verses 5 and 6 of chapter 42. Job says: "IJob and the Nation Israel 213had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mineeye seeth thee: Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent indust and ashes." This is the height of the piety and faithof the afflicted one when brought to repentance. Job's right-eousness was real, for God had boasted of it to Satan. Butin the light of God it appeared as nothing. Such is the re-pentance of the righteous. He might try to clear himselfbefore men; before God this was impossible. The vision ofGod had turned hearsay into clear vision. Hearsay is thatwhich is taught us, what we receive by tradition or instruc- tion, what might be termed the letter of the truth. (We dare not press this out of bounds, for Job did utter words of faith and truth in chapters 13 and 19). Vision, on the other hand, is that view which is unclouded, undimmed, un-I trammeled sight, having the eye filled to overflowing with the knowledge of God. That Job did not know God in all the perfection of His Being is clear from the view of God thathe now expresses. It is direct and soul-searching experiencestogether with the realization of God's power, majesty, holi-ness, love, and goodness that turn hearsay into vision. Hesees clearly now that what he had mistaken for the seizureof an enemy was the firm grasp of a friend, and what hethought was the weapon of a foe was the careful and skill-ful physician who only cuts to heal. The skilled physicianmay hurt, but he does not injure. Is this not true of ourGod?By God's appearing to Job he learnt himself. Once hav-ing seen God he sees himself. He sees himself in all his im-purity. When the seraphim stand before God they veil theirfaces before His holiness. When Isaiah saw the Lord hesaw his own unclean lips and said, "Woe is me!" WhenPaul saw Christ he fell to the ground as dead. When Petersaw Christ he said, "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man,O Lord." When John saw the Lord he said, "I fell at hisfeet as dead." In God's sight all our comeliness is turnedjnto corruption; in His purity and whiteness all on earth ispolluted and blackness of darkness. To see God as infinite214 Bibliotheca Sacrais to see ourselves as finite. To see Him as perfect is tobring us forcibly to our imperfection. To know Him as all-knowing, the summation of all wisdom, is to realize ourignorance. To acknowledge Him as right is to own our-selves as wrong. To view His holiness