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<hr class="sect_35" /> <h3> CHAPTER <abbr title="5">V.</abbr> RISE OF IDOLATRY—THE PATRIARCH JOB. <abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter 10">x.</abbr> 6<abbr title="through">–</abbr>12.   Job.</h3> SACRED History does not record many facts connected with the immediate descendants of Noah. The scene of the Confusion of Tongues continued to attract around it a large number of the early inhabitants of the world, and here was established one of the earliest of the great empires of the earth by Nimrod, a son of Cush, and grandson of Ham. Of great powers and gigantic stature, he first obtained wide-spread renown by his exploits as a mighty hunter, and the services he rendered the surrounding populations by ridding them of the terror of noxious and terrible animals. In process of time, however, he combined with his exploits as a hunter the conquest of men, and founded a great empire on the plains of Shinar, the chief towns of which were Babel, Erech (Edessa), Accad (Nisibis), and Calneh (Ctesiphon). Thence (for such seems to be the meaning of <abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter 10">x.</abbr> 11) he extended his dominions along the course of the Tigris into Assyria, amongst the descendants of Shem, where he founded a second group of cities, Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, and Resen. At a period when men’s lives were prolonged so far beyond the period now allotted them, it is probable that this great conqueror may have carried on his successful invasions for nearly 200 years, and after death was worshipped under the title of Belus, or Bel, the Lord. Certainly the vast ruins that overspread the site of the ancient Babylonian empire seem to tell of the days when there were great heroes in the earth; and to Nimrod the modern Arabs ascribe all the great works of ancient times, the Birs-Nimrûd, near Babylon, Tel Nimrûd, near Baghdad, and the Mount of Nimrûd, near Mosul13. Whether the practice of idolatrous worship was introduced, as some have supposed, by this great hero of the ancient world, or not, certain it is that mankind became more and more addicted to idolatry. Though the knowledge of the one true God, and the promise of salvation, had been handed down by tradition, and though His invisible attributes, even His eternal power and Godhead, were clearly to be discerned in the works of creation (<abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter 1">i.</abbr> 19, 20), yet mankind glorified Him not as God, neither were they thankful. They began to worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator. The sun, moon, and stars, the principle of fire, even the inferior animals and departed heroes, came to be regarded with veneration, and usurped the worship due only to the Supreme. With idolatry came its usual consequences, a deep moral degeneracy, cruelty, tyranny, and licentiousness. One of the earliest allusions to the worship of the heavenly bodies occurs in the Book of Job (<abbr title="chapter 31">xxxi.</abbr> 26<abbr title="through">–</abbr>28). The age and writer of this book are alike unknown; by some it is ascribed to Job himself, by others to Moses, by others to some writer who lived at a still later period. As, however, the scenes therein described had with great probability been referred to a period very little removed from that at which we have now arrived, it may be well to speak of them here. Job was an eminent Eastern chief, dwelling in very early times in the land of Uz (Job <abbr title="chapter 1">i.</abbr> 1), probably Arabia Deserta, or, as some suppose, Mesopotamia. Greatest among “the sons of the East,” endowed with all the riches of his age, he ruled piously and wisely over a happy and numerous household, having seven sons and three daughters. To considerable mental attainments he added a moral uprightness, which preserved him blameless in all the relations of life, and was declared by the Lord Himself to be without his like in all the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feared God, and eschewed evil (Job <abbr title="chapter 1">i.</abbr> 8). With large and liberal hand he distributed to the necessities of the poor, so that whenever the ear heard him then it blessed him, when the eye saw him it gave witness to him; the blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon him, and he caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. But in the midst of this almost perfect temporal happiness he was suddenly overwhelmed with the heaviest misfortunes that can befall the sons of men. He who slandered God to Eve slandered Job before God, and affirmed that he did not fear Him for naught; that if he were stripped of all his possessions he would be as other men, and curse the Lord to His face (<abbr title="chapter 1">i.</abbr> 11). To put, therefore, the patriarch’s faith to the most certain test, the Accuser of mankind received mysterious permission to cast him down, and try him with the most grievous afflictions. Blow after blow descended upon him. From being the lord of a numerous and attached household he suddenly became childless, for the storm of the desert swept over the house where his sons and daughters were assembled, and crushed them all beneath its ruins. From being the richest of the sons of the East he suddenly became a beggar, for the thunderbolt, “the fire of God,” fell and struck down all his sheep, as they were grazing quietly with their shepherds, while his camels were carried off by a band of Chaldean robbers, and his oxen and asses by a horde of Sabeans. And not only did he become a childless, beggared, ruined man, but upon his own body the black leprosy of the East set its awful mark, making him an object hateful and loathsome to look upon. Smitten with sores from the sole of his foot even unto his crown, he sat apart, forsaken by his friends and even by his wife. But amidst these awful trials his faith was not prostrated. When the terrible tidings reached him of the fate of his household he said, in words of sublime resignation, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, and blessed be the name of the Lord; when his wife, utterly unable to bear up, bade him curse his Maker and die, he replied, What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? (Job <abbr title="chapter 1">i.</abbr> 21, <abbr title="chapter 2">ii.</abbr> 10). Before long the news of his terrible affliction was noised abroad, and three of his old friends, Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuah, and Zophar of Naamath, came to mourn with him and to comfort him. In their presence Job at length brake forth into desperate words, and cursed the day of his birth (Job <abbr title="chapter 3">iii.</abbr> 1). The storm of his soul was not calmed by the sympathy of his friends. Instead of pouring in the oil of comfort, they only heightened his griefs by ascribing his calamities to some great sin, some secret guilt, if not committed by himself at least by his children, for which he was now punished. A distinct question was thus propounded, Is great suffering a proof of great guilt? Job’s friends affirmed it was, and exhorted him to repent and confess. Job denied, and at great length laboured to refute this (Job <abbr title="chapter 4">iv.</abbr> 5<abbr title="through">–</abbr><abbr title="chapter 32">xxxii</abbr>). At the close of their dialogue, Elihu, another and younger friend of the patriarch, intervened, to moderate between the disputants. Unable to solve the problem of Job’s calamities, he declared that afflictions, even when not the direct consequences of sin, were intended for good, and he reproved his friend for justifying himself rather than the Almighty, and speaking unadvisedly of His works (Job <abbr title="chapters 32 through 37">xxxii–xxxvii</abbr>). At length the Lord Himself condescended to interpose in the controversy. From the midst of a whirlwind, in words of incomparable grandeur and sublimity, he silenced the murmurs of his servant, bidding him reflect on the glory of creation, and learn from the marvels of the animal kingdom the stupendous power and wisdom of Him with whom it is useless for a created being to contend (Job <abbr title="chapters 38 through 41">xxxviii–xli</abbr>). Thereupon, in deep contrition, Job acknowledged his error and supplicated the Divine pardon for the bitterness and arrogance of his complaints. This penitent acknowledgment was accepted, and Job’s three friends were severely reproved for their uncharitable surmises respecting the origin of his misfortunes. On the intercession, however, of the patriarch they were pardoned; and He who had suffered him to be thus sorely tried, when his trials had served the purpose for which they had been sent, once more showered down upon him the riches of His goodness, restoring him to still greater prosperity than he had even enjoyed before, and made him the father of seven sons and three daughters14, celebrated for their beauty above all the maidens of the East. Job survived his altered fortunes upwards of 140 years, and then, having seen his children to the fourth generation, died in a good old age, an instructive example of integrity (<abbr title="Ezekiel">Ezek.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter 14">xiv.</abbr> 14, 20), and of patience under the most trying calamities (<abbr title="James">Jas.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter 5">v.</abbr> 11). <hr class="chap_50" /> <h2 class="vm_30 h2head"> BOOK <abbr title="2">II.</abbr> THE PATRIARCHAL AGE.</h2> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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