A few words on Elijah

1 Kings 17-20.

 

J. N. Darby.

 

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These chapters set before us several important principles; and we see there pointed out several very different characters; we learn in them also the ways of God.

Ahab and Jezebel appear on the scene; Elijah prophesies; Obadiah is seen and the seven thousand men of God mentioned in 1 Kings 19: 18.

The character of Ahab is presented to us in 1 Kings 16: 29-33. Ahab, Jezebel, and the four hundred and fifty prophets were at the head of the apostates of Israel, who at that time worshipped Baal. And Obadiah and the seven thousand were mixed up with the people (1 Kings 18); not that they served the idol, but they were friends of Ahab. As for Elijah, he was the friend of God, and, separated entirely from the apostasy, he was the only witness of the truth in the midst of all the evil.

Let us distinguish then these three different classes of persons: Ahab and Israel, apostates on one side; Elijah, on the other, the faithful servant of God and again, somewhat different, Obadiah and the seven thousand connected always with the evil. Now let us examine the different characters of these persons.

What were the circumstances of Elijah? This feeble and poor man had no force and strength save what he found in the Lord, his only support (1 Kings 17: 1-9). He was a man of faith and prayer; and, keeping before the Lord, he could boldly testify against the apostasy of Israel and announce the judgments of God.

It is said to him (1 Kings 17: 3), "Get thee hence and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith that is before Jordan"; then in verse 5 we read that he obeyed this command. We see already then that Elijah had no power, but had faith in God and knew that all blessing is in obedience. Also from the moment that the word was addressed to him, he submitted to it and went to the brook Cherith where he learnt to depend on God.

Ahab and all Israel were the enemies of Elijah (1 Kings 18: 10); but God was his friend, and in each step that he took in fidelity to the Lord he learnt the fidelity of the Lord to him. By this means he was more and more strengthened for the mission on which he was about to be employed (1 Kings 18: 1). God sent him to be with a poor widow who entertained him during the famine, after he was fed by the ravens at Cherith. During all the time that he was cared for by the ravens at the brook, and by the widow at Sarepta, he learnt to know the riches of the love and grace of God. It is there precisely that we learn to know ourselves also in all the circumstances in which we are placed by the Lord.

2 We see then in 1 Kings 17 the simple and entire obedience of Elijah. Whether the Lord sent him to a brook to be fed by ravens; whether he was sent to a widow during the famine; whether he was sent before his real enemy Ahab (1 Kings 18), he made no objection, but counting on the Lord he did that which he was ordered. He was nevertheless a man subject to the same passions and to the same infirmities as ourselves (James 5: 17, 18); but he had much of that faith the power of which is infinite. By it he could say that there should be no rain, and there was none; by it he could raise the son of the widow, and overcome Ahab the king and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. These circumstances shew us clearly that Elijah was in the place where one is blessed, namely, in that of obedience. Men were his enemies; Ahab had sent everywhere persons to find him out: but the Lord was his refuge, and he had learnt to trust in Him.

Let us examine now what concerns Obadiah (1 Kings 18: 3, etc.). He feared the Lord greatly, but, spite of this, he was in the service of Ahab's house and did not bear testimony against its evil. He did not suffer the reproach of Christ. He was not like Elijah, pursued and chased from country to country. He did not know what it was to be fed by the ravens or the widow; that is to say, he lived little by faith, and knew little of the ways of God. He lived at his ease in the world. Ahab was his lord. But who was Elijah's? Jehovah. Compare 1 Kings 18: 10 and 15. Oh what a difference! Obadiah knew the good things of the earth; Elijah, the good things of heaven.

Let us read now verses 7-11. All the thoughts of Obadiah were about his master, whom he dreaded; but all the thoughts of Elijah were centred on the Lord, his only Master. The superiority of his position to that of Obadiah is further indicated by this circumstance, that the latter fell on his face before Elijah when he met him (v. 7). And when Elijah tells him to go and announce to Ahab, Obadiah is all frightened. Yet Obadiah was a child of God; he had even hid the prophets; but he had no strength whatever to bear testimony to the Lord, because he was associated with evil. As to Elijah, he could say fearlessly to Ahab and to all the people, "If the Lord be God, follow him," v. 21. Whence did, therefore, this boldness and power come, as seen in Elijah, a poor and weak man, who had been straitened to this point, that he depended upon ravens and upon a widow for his food? From the fact that he stood aloof from the apostasy, that he lived by faith and had a single eye fixed upon his God. Oh how far better his position was than that of Obadiah!

3 There is in these things an application for us to make to ourselves. Let us gather from them this lesson, that since the Lord is God, it is He whom we must serve, and that, in order to be faithful to Him, we have to separate ourselves from all the principles of the apostasy by which we are surrounded.

We know how Elijah triumphed over his enemies: there is therefore no need of repeating the issue of the scene on Carmel. But let us observe that, when Elijah prayed the Lord that He might give him the victory, what he asked was, that it might be known that the Lord was God (v. 37). All the desire of his heart consisted in these two things, that the Lord might be glorified, and that His people might know Him. There was not in him the least desire to lift himself up, to exalt himself; it mattered not to him if he was nothing, provided that God might be glorified and His people brought to know Him. Oh that the same desire may be in us, and that all thought of vainglory may be cast far, far away!

Let us now read 1 Kings 19. Poor Elijah! he had a lesson to learn, which we ourselves, weak and poor as we are, need to learn also. When Elijah stood before the Lord, he could by the Lord's power stop or send rain to the earth, raise up the widow's son, etc. But when he stood, not now before the Lord, but before Jezebel, he was then without strength, and this ungodly woman was able to cause him to fear. Downcast, Elijah therefore goes into the wilderness, sits down under a juniper-tree and asks the Lord to take away his life (v. 4). How different he is here from what he was in the chapter before! How little did he remember what the Lord had done for him; how little did he enter into the mind of God, and expect that chariot of fire which would shortly take him up to heaven! (2 Kings 2: 11).

So is it with us. We are downcast, discouraged and weak in ourselves as soon as we fail to live in faith and prayer, and then we cannot say, as Elijah in chapter 18, "The Lord before whom I stand."

4 In 1 Kings 17 Elijah by faith could make the widow's oil and meal last; but here he is weak, and needs that an angel come to strengthen him and give him some food. (Read 1 Kings 19: 5-8.) He eats, drinks, and like a man without strength lies down. But the Lord sends the angel back again, for He is plentiful in grace and mercy; He watches over all our ways and feeds our souls according to a our wants and according to all our circumstances. The Lord therefore bore with Elijah and succoured him, and it is also what He is with respect to us. As He was afflicted in all the affliction of His people (Isa. 63: 9), so is He with us in ours now.

In 1 Kings 17 God was leading Elijah and telling him where to go, and Elijah obeyed. But in 1 Kings 19 Elijah, fearing Jezebel, flees away and does not wait for the Lord's commandment to go into the wilderness. See therefore what a sad message is sent to him, as recorded in verse 13, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" In verses 11 and 12 we read that a wind, an earthquake, and a fire are sent; but Elijah did not find. the Lord in these things, and they could not bring comfort nor strength to his soul. God was appearing in His grandeur and power; but what Elijah needed was the still small voice, what he wanted was the manifestation of grace and communion with his God. When, therefore, Elijah had heard the still small voice, he wrapped his face in his mantle and stood ready to obey the Lord. By the power and strength that he had found in this voice he was once again enabled to obey the commandment of the Lord.

What we have said on these chapters is very incomplete but we believe that the chief thing is to bring out of them the principles calculated to give the intelligence of what the chapters contain. Let us therefore be mindful of avoiding the position of Obadiah and the seven thousand, who were taking their ease in the midst of apostasy, but who were without strength to bear testimony against evil. Let us also remember that, though Elijah was despised and rejected of men, he was nevertheless in the place of blessing. And if like himself we are brought to realise our weakness, let us remember that communion with the Lord can alone give us afresh zeal and devotedness and joy.

Brief Thoughts on 1 Chronicles

1 Chronicles 11-17

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There is a great difference between the David of Chronicles and that of Samuel. The king in 1 Chronicles is the David of grace and blessing according to the counsels of God. The king in Samuel is the historical David exercised in responsibility.

In Chronicles we do not find the matter of Uriah nor that of Absalom. Even Joab with all his crimes, who is not cited in 2 Samuel 23, is here mentioned because he took the stronghold of Zion. This makes us understand what value Zion has in the eyes of God, and in what way the Chronicles regard the history. There is absolutely no evil reported, save that which is necessary to make us understand the history. In the book of Kings it is the history of Israel and the conduct of the kings under responsibility. In the books of Chronicles it is a question of God's mind, and in chapters 11 to 17 of the first book as to placing David in Jerusalem, chapter 10 having given us the fall of Saul.

1 Chronicles 11.

David begins to reign over all Israel with the desires of the people; he begins at Zion. Afterward we have his valiant men, and their joy at installing him as king.

1 Chronicles 12.

Here we see the heart of Israel returning to David, as it will return to Christ when He shall have established the throne in Zion. It is the heart of Israel which concentrates itself round the Beloved of God. Certain persons came when he was a stranger; now it is all Israel.

1 Chronicles 13.

Then it is a question of putting the ark of God in its place. Before this the ark had been taken. (See Ps. 78: 59-72.) It is sovereign grace which returns. He chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which He loved.

1st. God was wroth and greatly abhorred Israel, so that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, and delivered His strength into captivity, and His glory into the enemy's hand.

2nd. With David God takes up His people and sanctuary. David re-commences all the history of Israel.

6 Then, if Psalm 132 be looked at, this feature will be seen as to the ark: it was the sign of the covenant finally, and a new thing to be set in Zion. When Moses in Numbers 10 said, "Rise up, LORD," he did not add "into thy rest." The tabernacle in the wilderness could not be the rest of God. But Zion is the place that Jehovah chose for His rest. He desired it for His habitation (v. 13). And David enters into the mind of God. Compare verse 4. ("I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until," etc.) We see in the Psalms generally all the deep feelings in the heart of David for God. on the other hand God makes Himself respected, as we see in His dealing with Uzza.

We have thus as a summary of all this: first, that God had rejected His tabernacle, Shiloh; and, secondly, that meanwhile He gives prophets to sustain sovereign relations with His people till Messiah comes. Samuel had truly begun prophecy, which is not anything established, but only serves meanwhile. See the song of Hannah who figures the remnant there. Prophecy declares that God is all, come what may, and that He sustains all things till He have raised the house of His anointed. Thirdly, at last in His anointed He accomplishes His mind. The people no more wished to have God working by prophecy than when He wrought by priesthood. They demand a king, and God gives Saul. Meanwhile God prepares His anointed by affliction. Hebrews 2 is just the counterpart of David's history. So, too, Jesus will reign over Judah before reigning over all Israel. In the Chronicles we have no history of David's reign in Hebron.

1 Chronicles 14.

David king over all Israel renders himself terrible to the nations (v. 17), as the Lord will in due time (Zech. 9; Micah 5). Victory follows dependence and obedience; and as the blessing of Jehovah comes, the fame of David goes out everywhere. Psalm 18 finds its place here: in taking it all, one must place it a little later.

1 Chronicles 15.

David now has no rest till he has prepared a resting-place for the ark of Jehovah; even as the Lord also, in the midst of conflicts, will have no rest till He establishes the tie between God and His people.

7 Knowing that the tabernacle was abandoned, David did not dream of putting the ark in the tabernacle. This would have been to restore things on the spoilt footing of the law. The external routine had quite fallen short of God's glory. The king takes the lead, as priesthood had failed; and the ark is put in the seat of kingly power; as Christ the deliverer in grace will order all by-and-by in Zion, whence the rod of His power is to go forth.

Then (v. 16) David institutes choral worship or psalmody: Heman, Asaph, and even David himself in an ephod of linen danced and played. It was he that recalled the due place of the Levites, and summoned the priests in their due order, who also had the singers appointed with instruments of music, psalteries, and harps, and cymbals sounding by lifting up the voice with joy. All is new here and in relation to David's mind touching Zion, the centre chosen, after having left aside the tabernacle at Gibeon and all the order established primitively by Moses. "So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the house of Obed-edom with joy. And it came to pass, when God helped the Levites that bare the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, that they offered seven bullocks and seven rams. And David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that bare the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song with the singers: David also had upon him an ephod of linen. Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah with shouting, and with the sound of the cornet and with trumpets, and with cymbals, making a noise with psalteries and harps, And it came to pass, as the ark of the covenant of Jehovah came to the city of David, that Michal the daughter of Saul looking out at a window saw king David dancing and playing; and she despised him in her heart," v. 25-29. Nevertheless David was not king and priest like Solomon, though it be true that his faith made all the joy of the people of God. It is a sort of anticipation of the true Melchizedek.

1 Chronicles 16.

This song is composed of several Psalms. We find here all the principles on which God founds the blessing of His people for the last day. But there is a remarkable difference - that He does not put them in the definitive blessing. There is, to begin, a part of Psalm 105. He shews how He kept Abraham. He recalls the faithfulness of God toward them until then and bids them recollect it. only He bids Israel be mindful always of His covenant without saying yet that He remembers it, because it is not yet the full blessing.

8 From verse 23 we have Psalm 96. It is always an invitation. It is not yet Psalm 98 where all is accomplished. The temple is wanting. From verse 34 we have the beginning of the Psalms which celebrate the faithfulness of God, 106, 107, 118, and 136. Psalm 106 is His goodness, faithful for ever, in presence of all the unfaithfulness of Israel. Psalm 107 is that which He has done to gather at the last day. Psalm 98 is the celebration of the Messiah come back. It is the psalm in which it is said that the stone rejected by the builders is become the head of the corner. Psalm 136 is the celebration of God's goodness which begins from the creation, and goes through to the millennium. In this psalm mercy occupies the place from one end to the other. After this (in verses 35, 36) he cites still the end of Psalm 106. one sees by verse 35 that at this moment, as in Psalm 106, all Israel is not yet brought back and everything not yet restored. only the pledge of the covenant is there. All the scene of the re-commencement of the relations of God with Israel is found in the Chronicles.

In verses 39-43 the altar was still with the tabernacle at Gibeon. It was a high place which one had to condemn in following David who had the fresh truth. Faith did so, though Solomon did not, but clung to the altar. However, David with the priests to offer burnt-offerings established Heman and Jeduthun, etc., to give thanks to Jehovah because His mercy endures for ever. It is thus that one can judge what is old system in the church; though we can also say, His mercy endures for ever. The altar there was a testimony to the fallen state of the people, for the ark was not in the tabernacle.

It is touching to see that the Chronicles were written in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. At that time it was less necessary to tell all the sins of the people than to say, His mercy endures for ever. A basis is laid for all in Christ's death, and by His resurrection all are sure mercies to be displayed at His coming and kingdom.

1 Chronicles 17.

9 Here the condition laid upon the seed of David is not found as in 2 Samuel 7. God did not allow David to build the temple; because, when He would glorify Himself in the midst of the people, it was necessary that it should be in peace and that there be no more enemies. The warrior was the character of David, though at that moment there was rest all around. Because of that David could not build the house of Jehovah. Nevertheless as depositary of promises he learns that Jehovah will build him a house (v. 10), and that his son should build Jehovah a house, as He would establish David's house for evermore (v. 12-14). How touching is the prayer of David on this occasion! (v. 16-27).

Notes on 1 Chronicles 13-17

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God is graciously pleased to reveal Himself in different ways and at different times. He formerly made Himself known by prophets, but in these last times He has manifested Himself in His Son; and in whatever way He has chosen to reveal Himself, He has been rejected in them all.

For instance, the ark was the sign of the presence of Jehovah in the midst of His people. Well, the ark was abandoned (1 Sam. 7: 2); just as today the Holy Spirit, by which God is in the midst of His people, is despised. God was then present by the ark as He is today by the Holy Ghost, and as He was rejected by the abandonment of the ark, He is rejected today in as far as the Spirit is not honoured.

But although the people might thus have forgotten and despised Jehovah, David could have no joy nor rest until the ark was brought back, and the presence of the Lord recognised. He knew that peace and blessing are only to be had where God is, and longed ardently for His presence. We have the cry of David's soul in Psalm 63. "And let us bring again the ark of our God to us; for we inquired not at it in the days of Saul," 1 Chr. 13: 3.

The king's great occupation was to seek how he could accomplish that which he had in his heart; and we see in verses 1 and 4 that he consulted all the people, and that they agreed to his proposal. But although it was a holy desire in David and in Israel for the return of the ark, it ought only to have been accomplished according to the will of God, who alone could teach them how they ought to set about it in order that His name might be glorified. But David's having consulted the people, instead of consulting the Lord, caused the ark of God to be brought upon a new cart from the house of Abinadab, "and Uzza and Ahio drave the cart," v. 7.

All this was bad, for it was against the commandment of the Lord, and God could neither recognise nor bless this act. He had said that the ark ought to be borne by the children of Kohath, that is to say, by the Levites (Num. 4: 15); and if David had consulted the Lord, he would have been taught about this, and the ark would have been neither placed on a cart nor conducted by Uzza and Ahio. But David took counsel with the people and they executed their holy desire according to their own thoughts, and not according to God's. Uzza acted also on the same principle; he was not led by the Lord to hold the ark, but by his own judgment. He was not a man who felt his weakness and who allowed himself to be ruled and guided by the Lord; and consequently he put forth his hand and touched the ark. Thus every child of God who puts his hand to the Lord's work, presuming that he is able to act in his own strength, resembles Uzza. It is God alone who is to be glorified, and it is He alone who can say how He wishes to be glorified; and if David had inquired of Him, he would have learnt that God would glorify Himself.

11 We see in verse 10 what were the sad consequences of Uzza's conduct, and in verse 11 we see that David was greatly afflicted at the breach the Lord made upon Uzza; but it was needful for him in this way to learn, that we have to wait and let the Lord do His work in His own way. May we also keep this instruction, of which we all have need, and not act in our own strength! Let us remember that Uzza drew upon himself the wrath of God by putting his hand to the ark. All the work was spoilt by his folly: the ark instead of being brought in triumph was put aside and placed in the house of Obed-edom; and all this because in the first place David had not consulted the Lord, and secondly Uzza acted himself instead of letting the Lord act. These circumstances were calculated to humble David greatly: he was first afflicted, then afraid of God (v. 11, 12); but all that happened taught him wherein he had failed.

Thus we see in the following chapter (1 Chronicles 14) that he acted very differently. The Philistines having spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim (v. 9), did David assemble all his army and prepare immediately for battle? No, he consulted God, saying, "Shall I shew myself against the Philistines, and wilt thou deliver them into my hand?" Now it is no more the people that David consults, it is the Lord; thus the consequence is very different from that of the first circumstance. In 1 Chronicles 13: 11 the breach is made in the midst of David's people; but here it is made in the midst of his enemies, for God acts for him (1 Chr. 14: 11).

We may be very zealous for the glory of God; but the greater our zeal is, the more harm it will do if it is not according to knowledge; we shall spoil everything, like David in chapter 13, if we do not understand our incapacity and dependence; and we can only acquire the knowledge that we need, in order that our zeal be not destructive, by consulting the Lord.

12 A remarkable thing is, that trials and chastisement are always needed to bring us back to God's order: it was in the midst of much affliction that David learned God's intention, and these afflictions served to make the lesson he had received penetrate deeply into his soul. In 1 Chronicles 14: 13, 14, we see that, the Philistines having again returned, David again consults the Lord. This time the Lord does not tell David to go up to the Philistines and that he will have the victory, for God wished to prove him still more. God told him not to go up to his enemies, but to wait for a noise in the tops of the mulberry-trees. What had the mulberry-trees to do with the battle? Nothing, but God wanted to be recognised: this was the lesson that David further learnt. He obeyed the Lord; and we see the consequence was, that the Lord was glorified and David's reputation spread abroad. David having owned the Lord, the Lord could everywhere own David.

What magnificent instruction is found in these chapters? May we keep it and be led by it every day in order that God may be glorified in us. Let us remember to leave God to do His own work, and if He wish to use us for something, what we have to do is to consult Him about it, and not so-and-so. Thus, instead of putting obstacles in the way of His work, we shall be blessed in that which He will do through us.

In 1 Chronicles 15: 2 David says, "None ought to carry the ark of the Lord but the Levites." He remembers his fall, and the lesson is learned; he applies himself now to act according to God's intention. Thus we see, the work of man no longer spoils that of God, and God is glorified, the people are joyful, the ark of the Lord has again taken its place in their midst, and the blessing is so great that the psalms which they sing are those which will be sung in the millennium, when the Lord will return to Israel (v. 25-29). In 1 Chronicles 16: 8-22 they sing Psalm 105 and from verses 23 to 33 they sing Psalm 96. How different are the results which we find in chapter 13, where David acts by himself without consulting the Lord, and he and all his people are plunged into affliction! But, here, where it is God who acts, the blessing is so great that David and all his people call on the heavens and earth to rejoice at it.

13 In 1 Chronicles 17 we again see a holy desire in David: he wished to build a house for the ark, but was this the will of God? Nathan told David to do all that was in his heart (v. 2). Ah, Nathan had not learned the lesson, for he answered without learning from Jehovah His intention, and in the same night God charged him to go and tell David, "Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in." David wished to give something to Jehovah, but Jehovah was going to give to him. David wanted to build a house for Jehovah, but Jehovah was going to build one for David (v. 10). "For it is more blessed to give than to receive," Acts 20: 35, and giving is God's part. This is another lesson that David learnt. The Lord does not need us to bless Him, but He is pleased to bless us: what He asks of us is to sit at Jesus' feet and receive the abundant grace He bestows on us. From verse 16 to 21 one sees that David has understood this lesson; his thoughts are no more, as at the beginning of the chapter, occupied with the construction of a house, but with God Himself (v. 20); and he is humble and grateful before Jehovah. All that he says in these verses shews that he has learnt of God he thinks n more of himself, nor his zeal, nor his projects, he has forgotten all that is of himself in thinking of Jehovah. Oh let us imitate David in this! May our thoughts centre in God and we shall no longer be occupied with ourselves, nor with what we wish to do (v. 5, 6-8).

Let us remark another very touching truth in these verses. So long as Jehovah's people crossed the desert and had enemies to fight, Jehovah had no resting-place on the earth, and journeyed in the tabernacle with His people, "In all their affliction he was afflicted," Isa. 63: 9. And it was only then His people could rest that God allowed them to build Him a house wherein He might rest.

Notes on 2 Chronicles 18-20

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We have seen in 1 Kings 17, 18, that Ahab and Jezebel worshipped the idol Baal, and now we read the judgments of God on Ahab and apostate Israel.

It is necessary for us to know the circumstances mentioned in this chapter, as they are of grave importance. Let us consider in it especially the characters of Jehoshaphat and Micaiah. This last was separated from Ahab and apostate Israel; he entered into God's thoughts and was declaring to Ahab and Israel the judgments which were ready to come upon them. Read verses 16-23. In verse 26 we see the consequences of his fidelity: Ahab and Israel are his enemies, and he is put into the place of affliction. Jehoshaphat's circumstances were very different; he was a child of God as well as Micaiah, but he was rich and great, and had made alliance with one of God's enemies - with Ahab. Ahab knew him to be a child of God, and, in order to tranquillise his conscience, caused sheep and oxen to be killed for him in abundance. It mattered not to Ahab what he did if he succeeded in persuading Jehoshaphat to go with him to Ramoth-Gilead. But Jehoshaphat's conscience was not satisfied by the sacrifice of all these sheep and oxen; and he said to the king of Israel, "Inquire, I pray thee at the word of Jehovah to-day." Ahab then assembled the four hundred and fifty prophets who cried, "Peace, peace," although God's judgment was ready to break over him and apostate Israel; but the words of these false prophets did not satisfy Jehoshaphat's conscience any more than the sacrifices. Thus it is ever so when the child of God is found in the midst of evil of any kind: although four hundred and fifty prophets and the whole world would seek to satisfy his conscience, they could not attain this end. See what is said of false prophets in Ezekiel 13: 1-16.

But the king of Israel was satisfied with what the lying prophets said; and, as God punished Pharaoh by giving him up to a delusion, He did the same to Ahab. And the same thing will happen to many others at the end of this dispensation; men will preach "peace, peace," and judgment will break forth upon them (Rev. 16: 14; 2 Thess. 2: 7-13). Here is a solemn truth. This is why we ought first to be very grateful because the Lord has revealed Himself to us; then we ought to take care not to become like Jehoshaphat who "joined affinity with Ahab." How good the Lord was to put it into the king of Judah's heart to seek counsel of a prophet of Jehovah! It was a means by which he might have been instructed about the judgments which were going to happen, and have been able to warn his people. But alliance with evil blinds to such a degree, that Jehoshaphat did not discern that Micaiah was a true prophet of Jehovah; and he did not believe his word, but went in spite of it all up to the battle in which Ahab was to meet with the judgment of God. Oh may we be separated from evil in order to be capable of judging all things and to hold fast that which is truth!

15 We have also to remark Micaiah's faithfulness: although he was engaged by the messenger to speak the same words as the false prophets, he replied, "What my God saith, that will I speak," v. 12, 13. Micaiah told Ahab that he should be killed in the battle; but the latter, thinking to escape by his own prudence, disguised himself, and told Jehoshaphat to wear his robes (v. 27-30). Oh what a magnificent proof we have of the love of God in these verses! Jehoshaphat is surrounded by the Syrians on all sides, but he was a child of God; and although he had joined with Ahab, nothing could separate him from the Lord whose faithfulness to His own endures notwithstanding their unfaithfulness. Jehoshaphat cried to the Lord who became his protector; and although, humanly speaking, it seemed all over with him, nevertheless his enemies were not allowed to touch him.

But as surely as the child of God will be preserved by the love of his Father, so sure is it that the judgment of God will fall on those who reject His mercy. We see this in a remarkable manner in this chapter. Ahab, notwithstanding His precautions, could not escape; he might have disguised himself from the Syrians, but he was not able to hide himself from God (v. 33). Thus it is with poor sinners: even if they should succeed in not being seen by man, the eye of God will find them. May the Lord make this example of use to us!

It is well to consider how much more advantageous Micaiah's position was than that of Jehoshaphat. It is true he was afflicted and persecuted by Ahab and the false prophets, but he was not like Jehoshaphat to be found in the midst of God's judgments. The latter was as ignorant as Ahab of what was going to take place; be it that even Micaiah had announced it to them, and that these judgments were, as it were, suspended over their heads, yet Jehoshaphat did not expect them. And why? For he was a child of God as well as Micaiah. Had he. not the Lord's thought and a clear view of His intention? It was because he had joined himself to God's enemies and that his affections were with the things of the world, whilst Micaiah had separated himself to the service of God. Oh how ashamed Jehoshaphat ought to have been, to be thus found amongst the Lord's enemies! and how grateful he ought to have been for the gracious help which he so little merited!

16 We see in 2 Chronicles 19: 2, that, although Jehoshaphat had been delivered by the compassion and love of God, he was spoken to in words of reproach, after which the Lord encouraged him by adding, "Nevertheless there are good things found in thee"; which shews us, that if God disapprove that which is evil, He owns the good which He has put into His own people. In Jude's Epistle, which speaks of the apostasy of the present dispensation, we see at verse 23 something similar to that which happened to Jehoshaphat. Like Lot, he was saved so as by fire.

All these circumstances in Jehoshaphat's life were calculated to humble him deeply and teach him the incomprehensible fulness of God's mercy. He ought to have drawn from these experiences deep instruction both about God and himself. Let us read in 2 Chronicles 20: 2-13 what were the fruits of these instructions. Jehoshaphat is here very different; he is not now in affinity with Ahab, he is depending on God alone in whom is his strength and his joy. "Our eyes are on thee," he says to Jehovah. Will Micaiah be now separated from him as he was in the preceding chapter? Let us read from verse 15 to 18 of chapter 20. In the preceding chapter Jehoshaphat is found in the ranks of God's enemies, and he is only saved by the intervention of Jehovah; but here we see him dependent upon God and blessed, not afraid, and knowing that Jehovah is with him. He goes to the battle, and God orders it all in such a way that he has no anxiety (v. 17). What a precious lesson he had received in all this! And should we not be disposed to think that from this time forth he would keep near to God and in separation from His enemies? He had learnt by experience the grief there is in sin, and it seems impossible that he should fall again into the same fault which had brought him into such trouble; but we see in verses 35-38 that it was not so.

17 The lesson which we may take from the second fall of Jehoshaphat is that, although we may have been punished, we fall again into the very same sins if we do not keep in communion with the Lord.

The Work of the House of God and the Workmen therein

Ezra 3.

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The books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, and Zechariah hang together. In Ezra, we get the temple built and worship restored; in Nehemiah, the restoration of the city; Haggai opens out the secret of the hindrances to the work; in Zechariah we have truth presented by which God strengthened the hearts of the remnant.

Truth meets persons in our days in external things; it is common to see Christians opening the scriptures and being struck with the fact of how unlike the things there presented are to what they see around them. Man would set to work to put things in order, God's remedy is to meet practical departure in oneself, to begin with self, We have "the word of the Lord,"* are we bringing our consciences to it - not asking for increase of light, increase of power, but more honest, holy obedience to what we know, just doing that, in all our weakness, which God teaches us to be right? I read Philippians 2: 13, "It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure"; if I am waiting for more power, before I work out that which it is His will I should do, I am denying that He is working in me to accomplish it by His power - to will and to do.

{*There was a moral appeal to conscience in the Jew - "you know what Moses says, and, you have departed from it" - "how came you Jews out of the land?"}

We are to walk, step by step, as God gives the light. Some will say, "Yes, when the door is opened, as it was for the Jews - when power is put forth, as it was for the Jews, then we will go forth, not seeing that, when the Jews walked disobediently, God raised up enemies from without, standing by to sanction their captivity." The Jew could say, "We must be in bondage until the years of the captivity be ended." Not so the Christian. God has set him free from all captivity, in Christ. If he get into bondage, through the lust of the flesh, the Just of the eye, or the pride of life, the moment God gives him light to see where he is, that moment the word to him is, "Cease to de evil, learn to do) well." The question at the Reformation (and so now), was, "Is the word of God to be obeyed or not? - the Lord hath spoken, and shall not we obey?" It is for God to see in us obedience to His word, so far as we know it, and more knowledge will be given - "to him that hath shall more be given."

19 But, here, it is necessary for us to see that conduct may go beyond faith. If it does, it will break down. Right conduct on a wrong motive must fail. In Ezra 3, we have the Jews working for God, and that from the written word; for what Moses commanded, they observed (v. 2), and what David did, they set themselves to do (v. 10). But they failed. The adversaries of Judah came and stopped the work (chap. 4). Looking at the outward form, we should have said, "Now here is obedience." But God's eye saw through it all. Self-complacency was there; the corrupt heart was there, Haggai furnishes the key. The heart was unpurged. These adversaries, what were they? The remnant had escaped, had got into the land, had begun to build - and why did they not go on? God was using the adversaries of Judah, as the occasion, to shew the cause of their failure. Circumstances bring out the cause of failure; but occasion and cause are constantly confounded. The cause of failure was not in the adversaries of Judah, but in the hearts of the people which were set upon their own things and not upon the things of God, upon their own ceiled houses, and not upon the house of the Lord. And so, we find, through the whole of the word of God, the occasion one thing, the cause another. That which is not done to the Lord, is not done in faith.

Have we a purpose? - Jesus had a purpose to which He ever turned. Oh how little purpose of soul have we for God! The Jews had plenty of thoughts; but, when difficulties sprang up, they had no purpose. God, therefore, had to teach them purpose, to teach them whether it was His energy, or their own, they were walking in, to teach them to trust in Himself. Action, in the time of difficulty, is what God expects from us, as knowing and acting in the strength we have in Him - to go forward in the purpose of God, as the channels for His energy to flow in, to shew that there is strength and energy in Him, far beyond all the hindering circumstances, which may come to try our purpose.

Divine energy will never lose its purpose for God. Human energy will say, "the time is not come, the time that the LORD'S house should be built," (Hag. 1: 2), and will be amusing itself with its vineyards and fields and houses, squandering the time, instead of carrying on with untiring energy, the settled purpose of the soul, amidst all the difficulties and dangers which may, threaten or oppose.

20 In Haggai, I find God acting; and there, I get a lesson for myself, for I have to do with God. I see the hypocrisy of man, doing a right thing, but not doing it to God, doing it from a wrong motive. Whatever is not done in faith, to God, will fail. As soon as there is confession, "when the people did fear before the Lord," there is the gracious answer, "I am with you, saith the Lord." Thus, we have three great points brought out: -

1st. - Are we walking in what we know, up to the light we have

2ndly. - The course of the conduct the light brings into, not do for the flesh to walk in, but the energy of faith alone.

3rdly. - Whatever connection the circumstances of providence may have with the things of God, they are not of power in the work of God. The providence of God may open the prison-door, lead the people out, raise up Cyrus, Zerubbabel, etc.; 'but, when they want power for action, we find the Spirit of prophecy opening their eyes to see their departure from God, telling them what was in their own hearts, and then telling of the grace in God's heart towards them, and the glory that awaited them. (See Ezra 5: 1, 2.)

By the mercy of God, the government of this country is favourable; the quietness we enjoy, the privilege of meeting together without fear of interruption or violence has been the boon 'under God) of the government. This, to us, is a great responsibility. But there is nothing of real power in service, but a "thus saith the Lord." There is no power in the floating topics of religion, it must be the truth of God in our own souls - knowing the truth of God, as God's truth, and then our action, action for God. Are we searching the word of God to find God there? What is the value of seeing all the scenes pointed out in scripture - things past, or things to come - and not seeing God in them? There are two marks of spiritual experience in scripture. First, having studied such a portion, have you seen God as presented in those circumstances? have you met God there? If so, you have been bowed down and humbled; and, if humbled, you have got rest. Secondly, a spiritual reception of scripture will ever produce corresponding action, a going forth, a "Here am I." If one say, I cannot understand - when the Spirit is teaching, He takes us to what we can understand. Power for service is learned in the presence of God, and there alone; for, in the presence of God, we get humbled and rest in His grace.

20 Is my study of scripture a drawing out of God's word of what I am, and of what God is?

On the Book of Job.

Especially  Job 9.

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I suppose every reader is aware of the circumstances of this book, of the trials of Job, sent him of God for his good, under which his faith broke down at last.

It just teaches us how good is to be got, how blessing comes and must come, that is, in the real knowledge of self Men speak of God's goodness; but their only thought of God's goodness is His passing over sin. Were half the people around us put into heaven, they would get out as fast as they could. What is in heaven is not in accordance with them: nothing they like is there, and nothing is there that they like. Not one of us naturally would find a single thing according to our mind in heaven. So that the Lord says, "Ye must be born again."

The goodness of God does not pass over iniquity, but brings us to the distinct definite knowledge of what we are and of what we have done. Hence being good, He is above all the evil and can bless us in Christ. Here we are walking in a vain show, and are aware that everything around will not last. Everybody knows that the fashion of this world passes away, and yet people are occupied with it.

"While we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things which are not seen." What is "seen," everybody knows, will all go to nothing. They must leave it any way (1 Tim. 6); and then their whole life and objects will be entirely done with. Their conduct they will not have done with, unless it be put away by the blood of Christ. You think God has given a revelation; but do we want a revelation of this world? According to our intelligence and ability we know the world ourselves; but when we pass beyond this world, we want God to tell us, to bring down to us, a sure and certain testimony of what will become of us. This He has done. He has given a full revelation of what our state is and what His holiness is; and He has given a sure, settled and certain foundation for blessing so that there can be no doubt about it.

God would not have us walking in uncertainty; for uncertainty is misery. "We have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Believing in Jesus we know our relationship with God, we are "joint-heirs with Christ." "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." God was dealing with Job; but he had to learn himself. What makes Job so interesting is that the book comes before all dispensations.

23 When I find what I am and cannot tell what God is, of course, I am in misery. When God is ploughing up the ground, this is not a crop. Ploughing comes before harvest. "In all this Job sinned not." There was none like Job in all the earth, but he did not know himself: a spirit of self-righteousness had been creeping over him.

Supposing God had stopped there, what would have come of it? Job might have said, "In prosperity I was eyes to the blind; in adversity I was patient": and the whole case would have been worse. He goes on till his friends come, and then, perhaps from pride, or because he could not bear their sympathy, he breaks down. The process was a trying humbling one. "Oh if I could meet God," Job says, "He is not like you: there is goodness in Him." His friends stood on utterly false ground; they took this world as the adequate witness of the government of God. This only makes Job the more angry: the world is no adequate testimony of the government of God.

There you see a soul rising under that which is upon him, striving and wrestling, the flesh breaking out so that he should know himself Job, having been thus wrought in and exercised and ploughed up, passes through all the various considerations as to how he could meet God. Throughout there are certain true sayings, as "The righteous Lord loveth righteousness"; but are we righteous? This is another story. Are you in a condition, if you had to do with God this moment, to say "I am righteous" before Him? Many a one looks at the cross and says "I am a poor sinner, and I have no hope but the cross." But can you say, "I am a poor sinner, and the judgment-seat just suits me"?

When we have really known Christ as our righteousness, there is no place where the soul is so clear and bright and certain about the matter as for the day of judgment: we shall be in glory then. Where the heart has not been broken up, the soul does not understand as a present thing what it is to be before God now. You will find in this chapter naughty ｅxpressions, but in the main what Job says is true. There was a mixture, that his wrong thoughts might be judged.

24 "How should man be just with God?" The instant the soul is awakened, it sees with God's eye: and this is the only way of seeing right. When this is the case, the soul in the light of the judgment of God says, "I could not answer him one of a thousand." God is infinitely good; but His way of goodness is not that of allowing evil. Could you answer for yourself in the day of judgment for everything you have ever said or done?

We were all living in a vain show. I may have a character, which God cares nothing about; but He cares about conscience. Before the day of judgment He says "There is none righteous, no, not one," "that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." Job goes through several of these cases; then his wrong feeling breaks out. "He . . . filleth me with bitterness." Then he gets more right, "If I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me." Can you justify yourself in God's presence? If you cannot justify yourself there, what is the good of doing so anywhere else? You could not stand in the light as God is in the light, and you know it. How comes it that the thought of God makes a man melancholy? He finds out that he is not walking with God. Then, it is impossible to go on longer in that way: we all naturally have got a conscience of good and evil. The crust of the heart has to be ploughed up - the "fallow ground," as Jeremiah calls it.

Then comes another case: "If I wash myself with snow water and make my hands never so clean, yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me." Thus, if a man had been brought up in a dirty cabin, he does not feel it to be so. Thus men have habits of thinking according to men, not according to God. You will find that sins against man are thought a great deal of, such as murder and robbery: suppose a man commits sins like these, he is intolerable, not fit for society; but suppose he hates God, men say, Oh, that is his own affair.

Go through the history of all religions: do you see a Mohammedan ashamed of His religion? Do you find a follower of juggernaut ashamed of his religion? Where is it ever seen, when a man has a false religion, that he is ashamed of it? But take a Christian, a real Christian, and he is ashamed of it. How comes it? What a tale it tells of the world! Man may sing songs in the street, but hymns - that will not do.

25 If I talk of washing myself "with snow water, my own clothes shall abhor me." This is where we are brought, all of us. "There is none righteous, no, not one." If that were all, I could not stand here and speak to you, for we are all the same.

You see Job could not answer God, and he is struggling under this: what does he say he wants? "Neither is there any daysman betwixt us that might lay his hand upon both." Oh, I have got no daysman! "Let him take his rod away from me and let not his fear terrify me." What Job said he had not got is exactly what we have now in Christ. Was Christ a terror in this world? The law was this exactly; there were thunderings and lightnings: even Moses said, "I exceedingly fear and quake," and the people, "Do not let God speak to us." The law struck with terror, but it produced no real change in man, and no confidence in God.

The law does not give life, it does not take away sins, nor does it give an object for the heart. The man in Romans 7 says, "I hate sin." "So do I," says the law, "and this is the reason that I curse you." Does this inspire confidence? The law is very useful, it brings the knowledge of sin - what Job was getting here, not that it was law but the same principle). There was no peace, no rest, but it was sin brought upon the conscience, which never gave confidence.

In Cain we see utter insensibility to man's having been driven out of paradise, to sin, to the curse: he brought to God the very sign of the curse. Cain left God and listened to Satan; therefore he is under judgment. People talk as if God had made man as he is. Suppose I make a desk and then judge that desk, what do I judge? Myself. By our sin we turned God into a Judge instead of a Blesser. Abel comes to God, and brings his victim, offering the fat of the lamb. He felt, If I do not get something between me and God, I cannot come near God.

If we look at Christ, we shall find that He exactly meets the need that Job felt. I cannot answer God one in a thousand but what do I find in Christ? God in His person came to me in this world because I could not do anything. The blessed Lord did not wait up in heaven, but came to these unrighteous people. He never said "Come to me," until He had come Himself.

26 I see in this Daysman God shewing me that He is above all my sin. He is light to make everything manifest now; but when He has done that in man's heart and conscience, He puts it all away. In the world, where men were sinners, "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself." I have God that visited me, but not to hide my sins. God came to me, to the woman in the city that was a sinner, to Mary Magdalene. I get Him coming and talking to the Samaritan about a fountain of water springing up unto everlasting life. I have Him saying to the woman, "Thy sins are forgiven thee."

It is God Himself in this world, not terrifying us, but in perfect blessed love as Man amongst men; the holy one, the undefiled that used the undefilableness of His nature to carry the blessed love of God to us. This blessed one is the Daysman. God has visited me just as I am; He came to me just as I am: I know God is for me. But if He comes to the sinner, He lets him feel his sins; "You are so bad you have nobody you can trust; you cannot shew your face to a decent person; then come and shew it to Me," says Christ. This is the way of God's dealing. Will He wait for the day of judgment?

The beginning of all sin was losing confidence in God: "He is keeping back that tree." If I do not trust God, I must do the best I can for myself: then follows lust, transgression, ruin. Christ comes into the world of sinners and says, "Now you can have confidence in Me."

How blessed it is to trace Christ's life in this world! He says to the woman at the well, "If thou knewest the gift of God!" and He came to bring the blessing. These two things I get hold of: that God is giving, and who it is that has come down so low as to be dependent on a poor woman for a drink of water. Instead of waiting for the day of judgment He has come down into this world to say, "Now if you just trust Me! You cannot answer in the day of judgment, but I am come in the day of grace." Did you ever see any terror in Him? Terror to the Pharisees you might in a certain sense see; but did you ever see, when God was in the world (Christ was God in this world), anything but love to sinners? Never. This is what I find in that blessed one, divine love. Who put it into God's heart? Did you? Nobody but Himself; His own heart was the source of it. I get to know God far better than I know myself; the moment I receive the true blessed testimony of His love, I know Him; I have my Daysman ("I and the Father are one"), who has come into the world of sinners just as they were, passing through this world of sin to meet every want.

27 Well, He goes on, In the cross it is not God before men in this world, but Man before God made sin. In the perfectness of this same love He offered Himself to God: He stands before God made sin for us that He might be dealt with according as it deserved. This was the reason He prayed, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me." He did not speak this of outrages and insults from man, but He could not take the wrath of God thus. If any of us was to be saved, this cup must be drunk. Just as God came out in love to us down here, so Christ has gone up as Man to God up there.

I find all these people that He had met in blessing saying, "Crucify him, crucify him"; the priests, who ought to have pleaded for weakness, crying out against Him; the judge condemning the innocent Man; and His friends who had been with Him continually - one betraying, another denying, and all deserting Him! I find Him setting His face as a flint, bowing to His Father's will. I find Him, if my faith follow Him there, drinking the cup on the cross there: I brought Him: my sin, my wickedness, my neglect of Him for years, brought Him there. What of my sins now? They are all gone. What is there like that atonement? People talk of Him as an example, which we know He was; but if you take Him only as an example, what do you find? The one righteous Man in the world declaring He was forsaken of God at the end! What sort of testimony is that?

The moment I see Christ there, and all the darkness around, and Him made sin for us, the work done alone between Him and God; there only was obedience fully tested, there was the one spotless victim, the blessed Son of God. There is no glorifying God perfectly except in the cross. There I find the whole righteous judgment of God against sin, no patience, no gentleness; Christ was really drinking the cup, If God could pass over sins, where would be His righteousness? Here I find God's perfect righteousness against sin and His perfect love; I get the whole enmity of man rising up against God, and, where it carries out its purpose, God's perfect grace. You never get positive sin dealt with outright before God except in the cross, and perfect love doing it. I find Christ there alone with God. I see Him in infinite unutterable love. He is in the presence of God for me, always in the value of what He has wrought; and when I go up to God now, I go into the holiest as white as snow, because I could not go in there except by the work of Christ.

28 I go on to the day of judgment: whom do I find there? The very person who put away all my sins. It gives this blessed rest to the heart now; and, when I stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, there is the Man who bore away my sins! How do we get there? When Christ appears, what will He do with me, with you? He comes and changes this vile body: "It is sown in corruption, raised again in glory." To get before the judgment-seat we must be raised or changed: Christ comes Himself, and He raises or changes us, and takes us to Himself

The first coming of Christ was about the putting away of sin. "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." What you want is God-given faith in the person of our Daysman. He brings out love to me where I am, and He has gone in as Man in righteousness to God. The question with me is, whether in that dark hour when all were shut out He finished the work God gave Him to do, and gave His life a ransom for many; and I believe He finished it: do you believe? Now He is sitting there, having finished the work, and God has raised Him from the dead; and I know, not only that He has accomplished the work, but that God has accepted it. Like Abel I come to God with His Lamb in my hand.

"If I wash myself with snow water . . . yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch"; I shall be like a man come out of a ditch. But I have got my Daysman, and God rests in Him; and we are in Him, the Holy Ghost being sent down that we may know it. "At that day ye shall know that I am in the Father and ye in me and I in you." Then I learn what the Lord Jesus says in John 17: "That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them." If I look at my Daysman, I have got to the very spring of God's heart. He has given His Son. Glory is but a natural consequence. And if I find He is a righteous God who cannot look at sin: well, I say, He has looked at it on the cross and judged it fully.

29 Christ has accomplished the work: God has accepted it and Christ sits there at His right hand till His enemies are made His footstool. When I say I am in Christ, there is this other blessed truth that Christ is in me. If Christ is in you, walk worthy of Him; being reconciled to God, Christ being your life, you are to glorify God in everything: "Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." You are not you own at all; if you want to be your own, you are not Christ's. What we have to do is to detect the evil in the heart, and thus not dishonour Christ before the world. I am no longer my own at all, but the epistle of Christ. People are to read Christ in you as the ten commandments in the tables of stone.

Redemption is perfect; Christ is our righteousness; I have got my Daysman. The Holy Ghost coming down and dwelling in me, my soul is in the consciousness of the value of what Christ has done, and I am waiting in earnest desire for Christ to come and take me there. It is a perfect finished work, and the only part I had in it was my sin.

The Lord open your hearts and turn your eyes on that blessed one; and if you have your heart open, if you are struggling like Job to lay your hands on the head of the Lamb, the Lord give you in this day of salvation not to neglect so great a salvation.

How the Lord accepted Job

Job 42.

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We see in Job's history the workings of God in the soul in bringing it to Himself, and the exercises the heart passes through when learning itself in the presence of Satan and in the presence of God Himself.

"The Lord accepted Job." It does not say that the Lord accepted his acts, or his works, or anything connected with him; but that He accepted himself And that is just what we want. The moment our souls are really awakened to a sense of what God is and of what we are, we then want to know that we are accepted of God. Till that is known, we may try to bring our acts and our works to clothe ourselves with them; but when we have really come into God's presence, we clothe ourselves with nothing, and then we get the sense of the divine favour.

The converse of this is also true. We know that our works are unholy; and when our souls are truly awakened, we look at ourselves as being the spring of these unholy works; and thus we learn that in heart and spirit and nature we are far from God. Then I am grieved, not only for my sins, but because it is I who committed them. And this is a present thing. If I am looking at my works, I may put them off till the day of judgment; but for myself, personally, I cannot be satisfied without the sense of the present and immediate acceptance of God. I must know that I am at this moment standing in His favour.

It is not said that God accepted Job till the end of his trials. And what had his friends done for him during the sifting through which he was passing? Well might he say, "Miserable comforters are ye all." They had no true apprehension of God's character, and so were unable to understand His dealings with a soul. They had no proper sense of sin, and therefore knew not that, if God would deal in blessing with man, it must be entirely on the ground of grace. They did not know how to meet his case; and though they had said many true things, yet they had not said one single right thing in its application to Job, for they did not understand him.

Job had never really been brought into the presence of God. There had been a certain work in his soul, which produced fruits. But in chapter 29 we evidently see that he had been walking in the sense of blessings from God, and in a measure in the sense of the fruits of grace produced in his heart. He was resting in what he was to others, and not in the favour of God Himself. He owned God, it is true, and bowed under His hand; but notwithstanding he had never been truly in His presence, and consequently his heart had never been searched out. It was not a question of fruits, but a question of what he was. So God goes on dealing with job, till in the very thing in which Job was most famous he is brought to nothing. Job, the most patient man, curses the day of his birth. Why is this? Because we must be broken down - we must be brought to the sense of what we are, as well as of what we have done; and then God can deal with us out of His own heart. Thus God's dealings with us are intended to bring out really what we are before our own eyes in His presence, in the presence of that eye which looks on while we see what sinners we are. Thus God went on dealing with Job till Job was brought to say, "I am vile, I abhor myself."

31 In chapter 23, we see Job's confidence in God, and his desire for God, although the stroke was bitter. He said, "Oh! that I knew where I might find him!" He did not attempt to keep away from God. He had that kind of sense of what God was that he wanted to get to Him, "even to his seat." It is true he speaks of "ordering his cause before him"; but in chapter 9 where he is speaking of man being justified before God, he says, "If he contend with me, I cannot answer him one of a thousand"; and again, "If I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me," Here we find that Job was thinking of being in God's sight. There was not the wretched hypocritical attempt to keep away from God; there was the consciousness of having to do with God; and in heart he desired to get to Him, though his conscience kept him away. Thus there was much more truth in Job than in the see-saw truths of his friends; for conscience was in full exercise in him, and not at all in them.

There was also more grace in Job's heart now than when he was floating along in prosperous circumstances. It was, in truth, trying and miserable work; but still he was finding out what was in him. And what grace it is in God that He should take up a heart, and thus wring it out, that the soul might be brought, such as it is, into immediate dependence on Himself!

32 The sinfulness of Job was brought out, so that he could not say it was not there. The sinfulness of his heart was brought upon his conscience; it had come fully out; and a terrible thing that is. We know what it is to the unconverted man; it makes him reckless in iniquity. Let a man think that he has lost his character, and he will then run loose in wickedness. When a man comes to this, it thoroughly breaks him down. It is one thing for a man to lose his character with himself, but it is another and a very different thing to lose it with his neighbour. But when Job has lost his character, when it is entirely gone, then God comes in.

After all the sifting, Job is brought into God's presence, and then "Jehovah accepted Job." In God's presence his mouth is stopped; then he said, "I am vile"; "I will lay my hand on my mouth." But Job must be brought farther, because God is to bring him to Himself; he must be brought to confess not only that there is no good in him, but that there is a great deal of evil. And this he does, as in verse 3, "I have uttered that I understood not." For now it is not a question of condemnation but of sin. When the sinner has judged himself, the fear of condemnation has passed away. "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee: wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Thus Job takes God's side against himself. He laid himself before God, and abhorred himself; and then he repents in dust and ashes; for it is only in the presence of God that we learn repentance. In its fullest sense true repentance is, when our sin is so thoroughly brought out that we are taking God's side of the question in judging ourselves, and in justifying Him. Then it is that He justifies us, and makes us accepted in the Beloved. Then it was that "Jehovah accepted Job." And blessed is the man whom the Lord accepteth. May we indeed feel the need of Him, and not rest in the hypocritical quiet of keeping out of His presence!