The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1900-11-16

NCCR eucy D~&~4 Lo 1cGIuEc 0OD. II II ~
Eliphaz the Temanite opens with Q
long story about a dream which ht
had in the night and irritates the suf
ferer with words that make things
worse instead of better and sets him
in an attitude of defense against the
lecturer. Then comes Bildad the
Shuttle, who gives the invalid a round
scolding and calls him garrulous anc
practically tells him that he deserved
all that he got, and that if he had be-
haved himself Alright he would not
have lost his house or his children OF
his estate. He practically says: JOB
/ will tell you what is the matter with
you. You are bad; you are a hypo-
critic; you are now getting paid for
your wickedness." No wonder that
there came from Job an outburst OF
Indignation which calls out the other
quondam friend, Zophar the Naa-
mathite, who begins denouncing job
by calling him a liar, and keeps on
the discourse until Job responds to all
three of them in the sarcastic words:
mo doubt but We are the people, and
wisdom shall die with you"
Oh, what friends Job had! Heaven
deliver US from having one such
friend, to say nothing of having three
of them. 1t was for such friends that
Job prayed, and was it religious tri-
umph for him to do so? Would you,
the very best of you, be in very devout
mood and capable of making interces-
sion for people who had come to you
in a day of trouble and said: Good
for you. You ought to be chastised.
You are being taken in hand by eter-
nal justice. If you had behaved your
self Alright you would not have been
sick or prosecuted or impoverished or
made childless." Oh, no, my friend,
you would not have felt like Job when
he prayed for his friends, but more
like Job when he cursed the day of his
nativity!
Notice that this fiagellation by the
three friends was premeditated. They
did not merely happen in and come
suddenly upon the trouble for which
they could not offer a compound. The
Bible says: They had made an ap-
pointment together" The interview
was prearranged. They had agreed
as to what they would say to the sick
man. You can see that their remarks
were not extemporaneous. What they
said was sublimely poetic. They rose
in style into what in later times we
would call the Homeric or Dantesque.
But Job was not in need of poetry so
much as salve for his eruptive dis
order. He was not dying for lack of
a paragraph in blank verse. He was
not so much in need of a didactic lee
ture about the justice of God as an
assurance CT the Divine mercy. Some
pious rustic of the land of Uz not able
to put three grammatical sentences
together could have said something
more consolatory.
The meanness of the attack of these
religious critics was augmented by
the fact that they had the sufferer in
their power. When we are well and
we do not like what one is saying we
can get up and go away. But Job
was too ill to get up and go away.
First he endured the seven days and
seven nights of silence, and then he
endured their arraignment of his mo-
tives and character, and after their
cruel campaign was ended by a sub
lime effort of soul, which this day up
hold for imitation, he triumphed in
for his tantalizers. In all his
tory there is nothing equal to it ex-
cept the memorable imploration by
Christ of His enemies. No wonder
that after that prayer of Job was
once uttered thrill of recovery shot
every nerve and vein of his
tortured body and every passion of his
great soul, and God answered it by
adding nearly a century and half to
his lifetime, and whitened the hills
with fiocks of sheep, and filled the air
with the lowing of cattle, and wax
aned the silent nursery of his home
with the swift feet and the laughing
voices of childhood-aeven sons and
three daughters celebrated for their
beauty, the daughters to refine the
sons, the sons to defend the daugh-
.ers. There is nothing that pays so
we'll as prayer, and the more difficult
he prayer to make the greater the re-
ward for making it.
Let US all make a similar attempt to
pray for those who vex and misrep- !
'esent and tantalize us. You may be
-ery popular in the city or neighbor
rood where you live, but l warrant |
( you are in active life there are those |
Who wish you the opposite of wishing |
'ou well. Are you benevolent? They |
ay it is on your part matter of per-
onal display. Are you eloquent or
earned? They declare you are
,verrated and that what you soy
II write is Of no Importance. Do
-ou try to make yourself effect
We in church or hospital or board
f directors? They call you officious.
IRE you we'll dressed? They say you
re proud. Does a false report start
n the community against your char
cter? They believe it all and add an
ther story to the fabrication. Some
f them pretend to be friends, but
hey have the cudgels all ready for
the Temanite, Bildad the
huhite, Zophar the Naamathite.
low, pray for them. "Oh," you say,
/ cannot do that" / thought you
ould not. But you will grow in grace
ntil you can do it as easily and as
7ell as did Job pray for his exas-
orators. You ought to pity them, for
efamers and detractors and the en-
ious and jealous are not happy. They
urt themselves more than they hurt
on. Better be the pursued than the
ursuer. Better be the infant Christ
han Herod, the robber of the Beth
.hem cradles. You want to be bet
ar man. You want to be a better
oman. Then scale this height of tri-
mphant prayer, and you will 30 ifl
r /