but it has in view 'good at thy latter end' (8:16).  'There is hope in thine

end', said Jeremiah to the captivity of his day (Jer. 31:17).  In every way

the book of Job is seen to take its rightful place in the forefront of

revealed truth.

By the time that Moses had been raised up to be the deliverer and

lawgiver of the chosen people, the testimony of tradition had become

distorted and valueless as may be seen in the vain endeavour of Job's three

friends to solve his problem by appeals to that source.  The testimony

associated with the stars had become corrupted, the day was drawing near when

a great prophet should be raised up to give to Israel, and through them to

the world, a written revelation of Truth.  Moses opens the book of Genesis

with the sublime words 'In the beginning God created the heaven and the

earth'.  If his own mind and that of others in Israel to whom he had shown

the book of Job upon his return from the land of Midian had been prepared by

the lengthy appeal to the wonders of creation that occupy the closing

chapters of the book of Job, the epitome of Genesis 1:1 would come with even

greater force.  To us who read the book of Genesis and have not the knowledge

supplied by the book of Job, the entry of the serpent in Genesis 3 is an

enigma.  Moses and those who had read the book of Job would have been

prepared for such initial intrusion and would have seen the attack upon Adam

and Eve in the light of the subsequent attack upon one of the woman's seed.

The lesson for us who are teachers or students, seems to be that

wherever possible, students and teachers should make themselves acquainted

with the book of Job as a necessary preparation for the greater study of all

Scripture.  Let us rejoice that we not only hear of the patience of Job, but

also that we have 'seen the end of the Lord' wherein we find the solution not

only of Job's problems, but also of the age -long problem concerning all who

pass through the wilderness of this world, and the way which leads to the

goal of the ages, when all tears shall be wiped away, Satan and his seed

destroyed, and God All in all.  Job's experience provides the pattern of all

prophecy.  Even the name 'Job' means 'enmity' or one 'attacked', and occurs

for the first time in Genesis 3:15 (see Enmity1).

The earliest recorded forecast of the last days is found in Genesis 49,

uttered by Jacob on his deathbed.  When Jacob gathered his sons together to

tell them what should befall them in the last days, those sons concerning

whom most is said, and who include in their forecast references to either

Christ or Antichrist, are Judah, Dan and Joseph; this will be most readily

seen if we present the outline of Jacob's prophecy as follows:

A

3 -7.

a

b

c  Levi

B

8 -12.

d  Judah

The Lion.

e

The Sceptre

A

13 -15.

a

b

B

16 -18.

d

Dan

The Serpent and Adder.

e

A

19 -21.

a

b

c  Naphtali

B

22 -26.

d

Fruitful bough.