Job 4:12-21 - Homiletics

Eliphaz to Job: 2. A message from the spirit-world.

I. THE DEVOUT SEER .

1 . Reposing on his couch. A modern poet (Robert Buchanan, 'Book of Orm.,' 1.), depicting how "in the beginning, ere time grew," the beautiful Maker of all things drew around his face, which has ever since been invisible to mortal eye, the wondrous veil of the firmament, represents that face as closest pressed in the daytime, when the sky is clearest, adding that at nightfall, when the darkness deepens and the stars swim out, and the evening wind begins to blow like the breath of God, that veil is backward drawn. It more, however, accords with universal experience that the unseen world seems in closest proximity to the human soul when it looks down through "the star-inwrought luminous folds of the wondrous veil." That the light of garish day has a tendency, by shutting man into his own little world, to shut out from his apprehension the infinitudes above, is not more certain than it is that the finite spirit becomes more quickly conscious of the supernatural amidst the darkness and silence of night, than when these have been succeeded by the radiance and turmoil of day.

2 . Wrapt in meditation . If day be the season for labour, unquestionably night is the time most congenial for the exercise of thought, especially for revolving the great problems of religion. As David meditated on God in the night-watches ( Psalms 63:6 ), and Asaph communed with his heart in the night, his wakeful spirit making diligent search into those brooding mysteries which oppressed his waking hours ( Psalms 77:6 ), and as a Greater than either spent whole nights among the Galilaean hills in prayer to God ( Luke 6:12 ), so Eliphaz had "thoughts from the visions of the night."

3 . Raised into ecstasy . Disengaged from the activities and disturbances of waking existence, and soothed by the calming influences of night, the meditative prophet fell into a deep sleep, not simply such a profound slumber as steeps the senses in oblivion to all outward things, but such a supernatural repose as Adam was cast in before the creation of Eve ( Genesis 2:21 ), and Abraham at the making of the covenant ( Genesis 15:12 ). and Daniel on the banks of the Ulai ( Daniel 8:18 ), in which, while for the time the human spirit is severed from its physically conditioned life, it is yet in the innermost depths of its being possessed of a conscious existence—a mode of being perhaps as nearly approaching what man's disembodied state will be as anything we can think of.

4 . Visited by revelations. The deep sleep just described having been that into which prophets and others were east when about to receive Divine communications (cf. Abraham, Genesis 15:12 ; Jacob, Genesis 28:12 ; Daniel 2:19 ; Peter, Acts 10:10 ; Paul, 2 Corinthians 12:2 , 2 Corinthians 12:3 ). Eliphaz the entranced was honoured by a visitation from the unseen world of ghosts.

II. THE FORMLESS SPECTRE .

1 . The premonition of its coming. "Fear came upon me, and trembling" (verse 14). Even good men are not always able to contemplate the supernatural with self-possession (cf. Matthew 14:26 ; Luke 24:37 ). That man should evince a horror of visitors from the spirit-world is a melancholy proof of his fall, Innocence would not be discomposed by knowing that "millions of spirits walk this air, both when we wake and when we sleep" (Milton). But sinful man, being out of harmony with the Supreme Spirit and the entire circle of creation, universally feels afraid of the unseen world by which he is surrounded (cf. 'Macbeth,' act 3. sc. 4).

2 . The manner of its coming. Gliding suddenly out of the darkness in which the entranced seer lay, flitting softly and noiselessly along upon the still, supernatural atmosphere with which the chamber was filled, moving steadily up till it came in full view of the dreamer's open eye, it stood! The sleeper saw and was perfectly conscious of its presence, could discern there was an image, a dim shadowy nebulous appearance, but felt altogether incompetent to analyze its features. Yet there is no reason to suppose that, like Macbeth's sword, this formless spectre was "a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain" ('Macbeth,' act 2. sc. 1). The Sadducees denied the existence of spirits ( Acts 23:8 ); but the language of Christ ( Luke 24:39 ) implies that they were wrong, though, of course, it does not sanction either the ancient superstitious belief in ghost-stories or the modern delusion of spirit-rapping.

3 . The effect of its coming. The terror of anticipation felt by Eliphaz deepened rote a nameless horror, in which "the hair of his flesh stood up" (verse 15), "like quills upon the fretful porcupine" ('Hamlet,' act 1. sc. 5), or rather like nails or spikes upon a wall, each individual bristle stiffening itself into a cold and chilling isolation.

4 . The accompaniment of its coming. A still, small voice fell upon his ear, like a dead and stealthy whisper (cf. 1 Kings 19:12 ).

III. THE SHADOWY VOICE .

1 . A clear demonstration of the sinfulness of man.

(a) searching, going down into the foundations of man's being, inquiring into the ideas he possesses of moral excellence and spiritual integrity, as well as the measures and degrees in which those ideas have been realized in his own personal existence;

(b) elevating, lifting man up into the serene altitudes of absolute purity in which God dwells, and setting him down with the dimmed lustre of his imperfect goodness beside the clear white light of God's ineffable rectitude;

(c) discriminating, neither confounding the two things, man's righteousness and God's, as if they were one and the same, nor mistaking the one for the other, as if they almost rivalled one another in their splendour, but distinguishing each from the other as essentially diverse and apart, God's righteousness and holiness being inherent, perfect, eternal, while that of man is derived, immature, capable of increase and diminution, mutable, and subject to decay; and

(d) challenging, demanding of sinful man whether he would dare to exalt himself, in respect of justice and purity, above the supreme God, his Maker? Formally, perhaps, no one would be guilty of the immeasurable presumption implied in asserting that he was equal to this; yet practically ever), sinner makes the claim of having stricter ideas of moral and spiritual integrity than God, when he impeaches either the equity of the Divine dealings with, Or the justness of the Divine sentence of condemnation against, himself.

2 . An affecting representation of human frailty. Contrasted with the angelic race, man is depicted as a creature

Learn:

1 . That heaven is never far removed from the pious.

2 . That those who think most about God obtain most communications from God.

3 . That even good men may long remain, through fear of death and the unseen world, subject to bondage

4 . That Divine voices seldom speak in tempests and hurricanes, but mostly in still, small voices.

5 . That God, being higher than the highest, should be regarded by all his creatures with reverence and fear.

6 . That man, even at his best state, is altogether vanity.

7 . That, in the judgment of Heaven, no life is successful that terminates without having attained to wisdom.