Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1900-11-17

y
him to death.
Jobs Comforters.
After these three friends had com.
pleted their Infamous silence Of a week
they began to lecture Job. First ELI.
phaz the Temanitc opens with a long
story about a dream which he had In
the night and irritates the sufferer
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 and practically
tells him that he deserved all that he
had got and that II he had behaved
himself Alright he would not have lost
his house or his children or his estate.
! He practically said: Job. | will tell
are bad. You are hypocrite. You
are now getting paid for your wicked
ness" No wonder that there came
from Job an outburst of indignation.
which calls out the other quondam
friend, Zophar the Naamathite. who
begins denouncing Job by calling him
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 pray
ed, and was 1t not a religious triumph
for him so to do? Would you. the
very best Of you, be In very devout
mood and capable Of making lnterces-
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 eternal
justice. II you had behaved yourself
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 hagellation by the
three friends was premedltated. They
did not merely happen in and come
suddenly upon trouble for which they
could not offer compound. The Bible
says, "They had made an appointment
together" The interview was prear-
ranged. They had agreed as to what
they would say to the sick man. You
can see that their remarks were not ex-
temporaneous. What they said was
sublmely 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 disorder. He
was not dying for lack of a paragraph
In blank verse. He was not so much
in need of a didactic lecture about the
justice of God as an assurance of the
divine mercy. Some pious rustic of the
land of Uz. not able to put three gram
matical sentences together could have
said something more consolatory.
Worthy of Emulation.
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 i'll
to get up and go away. First he en-
dured the seven days and seven nights
Of silence, and then he endured their
arraignment of his motives and char
acter, and after their cruel campaign
was ended, by sublime effort Of soul.
which | this day uphold for imitation,
he triumphed in prayer for his tantallz-
ers. In all history there Is nothing
equal to it except the memorable i'm
ploration by Christ for his enemies.
No wonder that after that prayer Of
Job was once uttered thrill Of recov-
cry shot through every nerve and vein
of his tortured body and every passion
of his great soul, and God answered it
by adding nearly century and half
to his lifetime and whitened the hills
with focks Of sheep and filled the air
with the lowing Of cattle and wakened
the silent nursery of his home with the
swift feet and the laughing voices Of
childhood-seven sons and three daugh-
ters celebrated for their beauty, the
daughters to refine the sons, the sons
to defend the daughters. There Is moth
ing that pays so well as prayer, and
the more difficult the prayer to make
the greater the reward for making it.
Let us all make similar attempt to
pray for those who vex and misrepre-
sent and tantalize us. You may be very
popular In the city or neighborhood
where you live, but | warrant If you
are in active life there are those who |
wish you the opposite of wishing you
well. Are you benevolent? They say 1t J
Is on your part a matter of personal
display. Are you eloquent or learned? |
They declare you are overrated and |
that what you say or write Is of no i'm !
portance. Do you try to make yourself !
effective in church or hospital or board
of directors? They call you officious. |
Are you well dressed? They say you !
are proud Does false report start In |
the community against ) char
acter? They believe it all and add an
other story to the fabrication. Some OF |
them pretend to be friends, but they |
have the cudgels all ready for you-Eli- |
phaz the Temanite. Bildad the Shu-
hite, Zophar the Naamathite. Now.
pray for them. "Oh!' you say, 81 can !
not do that" | thought you could not.
But you will grow in grace until you
IAN do 1t as easily and as well as did
Job pray for his exasperators. You
ought to pity them, for defamers and
detractors and the envious and jealous
are not happy. They hurt themselves
more than they hurt you. Better be