storms in Palestine are far more sudden, violent, and impressive than in western countries. The Hebrews believed that thunder was the voice of Jehovah. And so the theme of this poem is that the Lord is present in the destructive thunderstorm and will protect his people from the power of the tempest.

Form. The first two verses are an introduction to the poem and call upon the mighty ones to praise Jehovah because of the power and majesty he shows in the guidance of the storm and because of the protection he gives to his people. The remainder of the poem is devoted to an account of the geographical progress of the storm. There are no figures of speech except metaphors and parallelisms.

Line of thought. Let us imagine the spectator-psalmist standing with the awe-struck multitude in the Temple porch at Jerusalem, where they have been driven for refuge from the coming storm, and watching the march of the thunderstorm as it rises out of the Mediterranean, the "mighty sea," and sweeps eastward, strikes the cedars on the mountains, breaks them, and causes the mountains to quake. They see the storm continue its way across the plains, frightening the wild animals, and amid flashes of lightning burst in a water flood upon the Temple. There are touches of terror in the description of the geographical progress of the tornado, and it derives a sacred power from the presence of Jehovah in each successive peal of thunder.

The storm arises out of the sea and the poet cries:

"The voice of the Lord is on the sea;

The God of glory thundereth;

The Lord is on the mighty sea!

The voice of the Lord is powerful,

The voice of the Lord is full of majesty!"

The

Now the tempest has swept from the sea and struck Lebanon with majestic power and a mighty roar. people look toward Lebanon and the poet again speaks:

"The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars;
Yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon;
He maketh them to skip like a calf,

Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn."

Then with flashes of lightning and peals of thunder the tornado sweeps across the plain toward the Temple, and the poet cries:

"The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire,
The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness,
The Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.

The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve

And discovereth the forests:

And in his Temple doth every one speak of his glory!"

-For there has gone up from the multitude in the Temple porch a shout of praise and admiration for the power and magnificence of this great manifestation of the mighty Jehovah.

Now the fury of the storm is spent and showers of water begin to fall, and the poet cries again:

"The Lord sitteth upon the water torrent!"

Then thinking of the majesty of the storm, of the powerful King who commands the tempests, and of their safety in the midst of this spectacular display of destructive forces, he cries out:

"Yea, the Lord sitteth king forever,

The Lord will give strength unto his people!"

-Here the sun breaks forth in magnificent glory and the poet utters the closing line:

"The Lord will bless his people with peace."

Explanation of words and phrases. O ye mighty, sons of the mighty, or sons of God, or sons of the gods. In the beauty of holiness, in holy array. Sirion, Mount Hermon. Divideth the flames of fire, display of forked lightning. Maketh the hinds to calve, prematurely, through fear. Discovereth the forests, uncovereth or maketh visible, or as in Revised Version, strippeth the forests bare.

CHAPTER XIII

A STUDY OF THE BOOK OF JOB

The author of the Book of Job is unknown. The date of its composition is supposed to be between the time of King Solomon and of the Exile, about 600 B.C. In form it is a dramatic poem framed in an epic setting. The prologue, the epilogue, and the explanatory introduction to Elihu's speech are prose, the remainder of the book is poetry. There is plainly a unity pervading the book, though many scholars declare that it is a composite work and has been supplemented by successive additions.

The Book of Job ranks with the great poems of literature. Indeed there are many readers who regard it as the greatest masterpiece of all literature. It has been well classed with the three greatest dramas of the world, the Prometheus Bound of Eschylus, Shakespeare's Hamlet, and Goethe's Faust. In spiritual insight, in strength, in a certain audacity of courage in dealing with truth, the author of Job may be said to surpass even Eschylus, or Goethe, or Shakespeare.

Carlyle says of this book, "I call the Book of Job, apart from all theories about it, one of the grandest things ever written with pen. One feels indeed as if it were not Hebrew, such a noble universality, different from patriotism and sectarianism, reigns in it. A noble book; all men's book! It is our first, oldest statement of the never-ending Problem-man's destiny and God's way with him here in the earth. And all in such free flowing outlines, grand in its sincerity, in its simplicity, in its epic melody, and repose of reconcilement. Such living likenesses were never since drawn. Sublime sorrow, sublime reconciliation, oldest choral melody as of the heart of mankind. There is nothing written, I think, in the Bible or out of it, of equal literary merit."

Job has been called the problem drama. According to Professor Conant's view, the subject of the book is "The mystery of God's providential government of men. Professor Delitzsch declares that the problem is, "Why does suffering on suffering befall the righteous?" Professor Genung in his most excellent study of Job, "The Epic of The Inner Life," argues that the chief problem is not the mystery of suffering in the world, but is expressed in Satan's sneering words, "Does Job serve God for naught?" There is no doubt that the book discusses all these problems. Indeed it would be difficult to state the problem or the teaching of the book in one abstract proposition. It is a true picture of real life, and in such a picture good and evil, and wisdom and error, are too much interwoven to say that they are all working to a certain well-defined pattern. Characters of the Drama:

Jehovah. He has a majestic part; is fittingly introduced in a thunder storm; his words are full of power and sublimity; he is kind, just, and forgiving; gives even the devil his due.

Satan. Not a very powerful or bad character; a sort of prosecuting attorney for the world.

Job. A wealthy sheik; the hero of the drama; of magnificent courage, humble patience, strong faith, and Promethean independence.

Eliphaz. Prince and scholar of Teman; the oldest and wisest of the three friends; a dignified and noble character; is firm in his opinion; of plain, common sense; a seer of visions and a dreamer of dreams; a venerable theologian.

Bildad. Prince of Shuah; a sage and a treasure house of the wisdom of the ancients; his philosophy not broad, but clear and definite; his fundamental creed-God's justice; a traditionalist.

Zophar. Prince and scholar of Naamah; is dogmatic and bigoted; commonplace, sharp, and bitter; prides himself on being "a plain, blunt man.'

Elihu. A young prince and scholar of Buz; of the family of Ram. Is egotistic, though he dwells on his modesty; shows the confidence of youth; seems to think

himself the vehicle of absolute truth; but makes a strong and eloquent plea. This is a clever bit of characterization.

Job's Wife. She appears but once; can not understand Job's attitude; has been too much maligned by the commentators.

Four Messengers. Field hand, shepherd, drover, household servant.

Sons of God. Angels, or possibly human worshipers. Job's brethren, sisters, acquaintances, and a miscellaneous company of people from the village.

Divisions of the Drama:

The Pro

There are five definite divisions of the book: logue, the Debate, Interposition of Elihu, the Voice out of the Whirlwind, and the Epilogue.

The Prologue. This presents the preliminary story, introduces the chief characters and lays the basis for the rest of the drama. This is written in prose except a few lines in which the messengers dramatically make their reports.

The Debate. Job driven from the city on account of his loathsome disease, sits on the ash-mound at the city gate seven days in silence; then he begins his complaint and is answered by his three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. The debate continues through three cycles of speeches, the friends speaking to Job in turn and Job answering each one.

The Speech of Elihu. A young man, Elihu, has listened impatiently to the efforts of the three friends to refute Job's arguments and as soon as he has the opportunity he takes the place of the friends and tries to convince Job of the error of his opinions and ways.

The Voice of Jehovah. A great storm arises, and out of the whirlwind the voice of Jehovah speaks to Job to reprimand him for his impatience, and bitterness, and presumption, and to convince him that he little understands the ways of Jehovah in the world. Job repents of his rebellious spirit and speeches and submits himself to Jehovah.

The Epilogue. In the prose conclusion of the book Job is vindicated and restored to his former glory and great