Job 5:17

Fifth double strophe THE BLESSED RESULTS OF SUBMISSION, Job 5:17-27.

First strophe The happiness of him who willingly yields himself to the loving chastisements of the Almighty, Job 5:17-21.

17. Behold, happy Behold, blessed is the man. One of the earliest beatitudes; so important, that our attention is specially invited. It appears again in the Psalms, (94,) the Proverbs, (3,) and Hebrews, (12.) “The world,” says A.H. Hallam, “was loved in Christ alone. The brethren were members of his mystical body. All the other bonds that had fastened down the spirit of the universe to our narrow round of earth were as nothing in comparison to this golden chain of suffering and self-sacrifice, which at once riveted the heart of man to one who, like himself, was acquainted with grief. Pain is the deepest thing we have in our nature, and union [with God] through pain has always seemed more real and more holy than any other.”