ERRATUM.-Part I., 6, and page 7, for "bruise her heel," read "lie in wait for."

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THE HISTORY OF JOB.

§ 36. The history of Job the Idumean.

ALTHOUGH God had revealed Himself in an especial manner to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and had given to them the especial promise, that in their seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed, His holy name was still known and feared by many holy persons among the other nations of the world, who had not fallen away to the worship of idols and false gods.

Of this there is a remarkable proof in the life and history of Job the Idumean. Between the death of Joseph and the birth of Moses, there lived in Hus, in the land of Edom, a man named Job, who was simple and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil. He was exceeding rich in sheep, and camels, and oxen, and was looked upon as a prince among all the people of the East. He had sons and daughters, who feasted with each other, each in their turn; and Job their father, when the days of their feasting were over, would rise up early in the morning and offer holocausts for every one of them, for he said: "Lest perhaps my sons have sinned, and have cursed God in their hearts."

But this prosperity was not to last; evil days were to come, and the holy Job was to be tried. On a certain day, when the sons of God came to stand before the Lord, Satan was among them, and the Lord said to

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him: “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a simple and upright man, fearing God and avoiding evil?" Satan answering said: "Doth Job serve God in vain? Hast thou not blessed the works of his hands, and increased his possessions upon the earth? But put forth thine hand and touch all that he hath, and see if he will not curse thee to thy face." And the Lord said to Satan: "Behold, all that he hath is in thy hand, only touch not thou his life." And Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.

Upon a certain day, when his sons and daughters were feasting in the house of their eldest brother, there came a messenger to Job, and said: "The oxen were ploughing and the asses feeding beside them, and the Sabæans rushed in and took all away, slaying the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell thee." As he was speaking, another came and said: "The fire of God is fallen upon the sheep, and hath consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell thee." A third messenger came and said that the Chaldeans. had come and fallen upon the camels and the servants, and that he alone had escaped to bring word. As he was still speaking, a fourth came and said: "Thy sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their elder brother, and a violent wind came on a sudden from the side of the desert, and shook the four corners of the house, and it fell upon thy children, and they are dead."

Then Job rose up, and rent his garments, and having shaven his head, fell down upon the ground and worshipped, and said:-"Naked came I out of my

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mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: as it hath pleased the Lord so is it done: blessed be the name of the Lord!"

Job's trials were not over: Satan was permitted to strike Job with a very grievous ulcer, from the sole of the feet even to the top of his head, so that he took a potsherd and scraped himself, sitting on a

dunghill. And his wife said to him: "Dost thou continue in thy simplicity? Curse God, and die!" And Job said to her: "Thou hast spoken like one of the foolish women; if we have received good things at the hands of God, why should we not receive evil ?"

Job had three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Baldad the Shuhite, and Sophar the Naamathite, who, hearing of the evil that had befallen him, made an appointment to come together to visit him and comfort him. And when they had lifted up their eyes afar off, they knew him not, and crying out they wept, and rending their garments they sprinkled dust upon their heads towards heaven. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no man spoke to him a word: for they saw that his grief was very great.

Job at length gave utterance to his grief: "Let the day perish wherein I was born; let it be turned into darkness: let not God regard it from above, and let not the light shine upon it. Why did I not die in the womb? Why was I nursed upon the knees? And why was I suckled at the breast? for now I should have been asleep and still. Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life to them that are in bitterness of soul?"

Job's friends, instead of consoling him and helping him to bear his calamity, each in succession attempt to prove to him, that afflictions and sufferings are always the punishment of sins; and they insist in a most harsh and unfeeling manner, that he should confess himself to have been guilty, and to have brought all his suffer