The Yale expositor., 1917-04-05
GREAT HUMAN DRAMA
Writings in WOndrous Book of
Job Continue to Be Marvel of
All the Centuries.
kkEF A MAN die shall he live
again?" This question is from

kkEF A MAN die shall he live
again? This question is from
the book of job, the oldest spe-
cimen of human literature eXtant. Ho-
mer, one of the earliest specimens of
Green literature, dates back to about
500 b. G. The blind Greek epic poet
is supposed to have been the cOntem-
pOrary of King David, the pOet-king of
Israel. The era Of Moses is about
1900 years Il. c., or about 800 years
before David and Homer. When Job
was written is Il puzzle to all scholars,
as is the question who wrote the book.
Whoever wrote it was a genius sure
ly. The book is not only about the
earliest specimen of the production of
human mind eXtant, but is in the form
of drama, way of presenting intel
lectual thoughts not known elsewhere
until many centuries after this earliest
mise en- scene was put before the world
The writer was not only genius but
a man of broad and varied experience.
He must have been learned in all the
wisdom of the Chaldeans," and of the
early Zoroastrians of Persia.
1t presents a phase of human thought
as old as humanity. The book dwells
upon the whole subject of evil and
good, and presents the author of evil
Offering himself in consultation in the
presence of the author of good. 1t is
the old idea of the Zoroastrians with
their Ormuzd and Ahriman. 1t di.
vides humanity into two classes-one
following the good spirit, the other the
bad. The drama represents the evil
spirit arguing against the virtue Of Job
and obtaining permission to torture
that representative of early religion
to his hearts content in order to test
his faithfulness to God. To the af-
flictions of loss of property and health
is added the solicitation of his friends,
who argue with him to "curse God and
die" Job is proof against all tempta-
ton, and to these arguments of his
friends replies, Though he STAY me,
yet will trust him."
1t Is many ages since this represen-
tation of the struggle between the good
and the evil in man was written. HUI
mainly has made huge strides in knowl-
edge and has added much to its COM
forts in mechanical inventions since
then. Huge cities have been built,
railroads have been constructed, steam
ships have been built, one of which
would hold practically all the CONNER
mercial navies of the world In the time
of job. In psychology and all the
study of the mind vast strides have
been taken, but in the first and great
question we remain today exactly
where humanity was in this far-off
time when this play was penned.
1t is not question of intellectual
knowledge of material science. 1t is
question of faith. Some have this
faculty and some have it not, just as
1t was In the days Of Job. 1t is just
question of which working hypothe-
sis is the best. The materialist who
with alembic and all the paraphernalia
Of chemical laboratory or the scalpel
of the anatomist fails to find any spirit
in man or any God in the world, forms
the working hypothesis that matter is
eternal and varies in its phases, while
as to God there is no such thing. The
man with faith in his soul looks out
upon the universe and as Napoleon on
the desert who stretched his hands
above his head and said to the Voltai-
rian French philosophers around him,
who were all arguing in favor of athe-
ism: "If you are right, who made all
this7" so he forms his work hypothesis
that there must be God, and from
this follows the corollary that man has
an immortal part in him, too. The
least that can be said is that the right
to believe In the eternity Of matter and
the right to deny the existence Of a Gre
ator involves the right to believe In a
spiritual universe and to affirm the ex-
lstence Of God.