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himself; and here we find him feeling out for the only key to the enigma, "The
Daysman", the One Mediator the Man Christ Jesus. In the margin of his own translation
of Job the running comment of Carey is suggestive, and we hope every reader will "open
the book" and read the following with the test beside him. Commencing at Job 8: 20,
therefore, let us read Carey's paraphrase:
"Let Job then observe, for his own satisfaction (if the case can apply), that God will
not cast away, but will bless the upright; and, so far from helping, will destroy the
ungodly. Then Job answered and said Bildad has said nothing new, and has shown how
any man can dare insist with God upon his own righteousness--(with God!)--God is that
all-wise and Almighty Being Who in His answer dislodges mountains, and continents,
obscures the sun and stars, lowers the heavens, governs the sea, causes the constellations
to appear, and does what is beyond all search and computation, a Being invisible and
incomprehensible, Sovereign in His will, and irresistible and implacable till proud man
submits. How then could he (Job), even if he were righteous, venture to justify himself
with such a Being, or suppose that God would condescend to argue with him; and the
more so, as God was treating him with great severity. Whether he had recourse to force
or to law would be equally vain; for however guiltless, he would only condemn himself
if he set up a plea of innocence, and which in point of fact, he could not do: and in any
case (innocent or guilty) instances showed that the position is not tenable, that the good
always escape trouble; man may be innocent, but injustice often reigns, and the innocent
suffer. In his own case, his days had sped rapidly, without realizing true happiness; if
he determined upon banishing his anxieties, then, the conviction that God would hold
him guilty overwhelmed him with fear, and made him feel the folly of an attempt at
self-justification with God, Who could, if He pleased, soon prove him, however generally
innocent, to be guilty: indeed, God's divine nature rendered a controversy between Him
and man ill-matched, and he (Job) regrets that there is no arbitrator to act between them,
as in that case he would be able to speak without fear".
- The comment of Cartaret Priaul Carey, M.A.,
written to accompany his translation of Job 8: 20-9: 35).
We observe that in spite of his further relapses and abortive attempts at self
vindication as the book proceeds, Job recognizes, as here in chapter 9:, that no man can
claim complete exemption from trial and affliction, nor to be so innocent as to be free
from the sorrows and afflictions of this mortal life. He sees, moreover, that affliction and
trial do not necessarily follow wickedness, but that the wicked may actually prosper
sometimes while the godly suffer.
At the close of this chapter we see Job groping for the one great solution, the
Daysman, the One Whom all who believe God to-day acclaim as "the Power of God, and
the Wisdom of God", the One Who in His own good time will make all crooked places
straight and rough places plain, wipe away all tears, give a complete and harmonious
explanation of the wilderness journey of every one of His redeemed children; the Son of
God, the One Mediator between God and men the Man Christ Jesus.