The Scene in Heaven

Job_1:6
The sacred writer abruptly takes us away from
the land of Uz, and the contemplation of Jobs
prosperity and his goodness, and translates us
to the court of heaven, and the councils of the
Most High, that we may become acquainted
with the cause of the sudden and lamentable
change that is about to take place in the lot of
this exemplary man.
A day has come round in which the sons of
God, his ministering angels, have returned
from their thousand missions of mercy and
judgment, to render an account of their
proceedings. We behold them standing in
reverent homage around the throne, high and
lifted up, on which the Holy One appears,
Thither also came, but as one apart and alien
therethe great Adversary Note: The meanings
of the word Satan. of manhis Accuser Note:
The meanings of the word Satan.Satan,

scowling aloof, as one there only by strong

constraint, or as one hoping to work evil for
man in that high place.
To him a voice from amid the glories of that
throne speaks, and asks him whence he came.
The answer of the evil one is of awful
significance to man. From going to and fro in
the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
Knowing that the contemplation of human
goodness and of human happiness was hateful
to this being, and that he labored night and day
to spoil and blacken it all, the Lord deigned to
speak to him of Job, as one eminently great and
good; and as such, a living contradiction to the
satanic theory of man, and a standing
justification, if there were but one such, of the
Divine wisdom, in placing him upon the earth,
and in preserving him from utter destruction
even when he had fallen.
But the devil, who appears to have been the first
philosopher of the school of Rochefoucault,
insinuates that all Jobs goodness was mere

selfishnessall his devotion but a quit-rent for

the benefits which had been showered upon
him. He was prosperoustherefore he was
good. Who would not be good on such terms?
He had not been triedand what merit was
there in that virtue which had sustained no
proof? Only try himonly afflict himonly turn
his prosperity from himand he will curse
Thee to thy face. Such is the meaning of
Satans suggestion; and the Lord, to nullify his
argumentto make it plain that goodness may
have other foundations, and affliction other
results, allows him to oppress for a season His
righteous servantto strip him of allto bring
him very low, but only to hold his person
sacred.
Let us learn from this that Satan has no
independent power to distress mankind, but as
the Lord permits, for the trial of our faith, and
for the purification of our soulsand, therefore,
for ultimate good, if we but hold fast that which
we have. It is only by our failure that the enemy
gains any real power over us; and this

convictionthat whatever form our trials take,

they are essentially from the Lord, should teach
us to receive them all as from his handa
Fathers hand.
But the question will occur to the readerIs this
scene to be taken as real, or otherwise? Having
contended for the historical character of the
Book of Job, in so far as regards the human
circumstances, and the reality of the discussion,
some will suppose that we are thereby bound to
maintain the reality of this scene on high. But
this by no means follows. A true history may
contain a parable, an allegory, or a vision, and is
not thereby rendered the less historical. Thus,
the First Book of Kings (1Ki_22:17-23) contains
a vision of heaven very similar, in some
respects, to the present, yet the book which
contains it is not thereby rendered the less real
or historical. That is set forth as a vision, and
this may, from the analogy, be regarded as the
same; or it may be merely a parabolic
representation, like that contained in our Lords
parable of Lazarus.

There is a work which few men possess, and

which, we are assured, that no man alive ever
ventured to read through. It is in two mighty
folios, containing together between 4000 and
5000 pages of closely-printed matter in double
columns. The grandfathers of our grandfathers
liked to write such books as these, and even
liked to read them. With patient diligence the
author returned from day to day, during half a
life, to his taskslowly building, brick by brick,
the vast monument of his industryhis learning
his fameand, it may be, sometimes of his
folly. But the readers were of like sort. They had
none of the modern fancy for small books,
which one may hold in the hand without
wearying it, as he lounges in his easy chair.
They liked to see a great book, which required
an effort of strength to lift, and which,
therefore, remained a fixture upon their tables
for months or years, while, with strong powers
of digestion, they returned, day by day, to take
in a fresh morsel of the ponderous meal. There
belongs to those days a story of this very book

that the son of a reverend divine left his father

engaged thereon, when he departed on a voyage
to India, and on his return, found him still
engaged on the first volume, though the pile of
leaves to the left of the reader had, indeed,
considerably increased, and that to the right
diminished.
All this work is upon the Book of Jobwhose
patience the author seemed bent on affording
the world an opportunity of exemplifying. It is
by Joseph Caryl, sometime Preacher to the
Honorable Society of Lincolns Inn, and more
lately of St. Magnus, near London Bridge. It
was published in 1672, Printed by Samuel
Simmons, and to be sold at his house, next door
to the Golden Lion in Aldergate Street.
The sarcastic Warburton says that Job was
strangled by Caryl; and Orme calls this
process of exposition a mode of treating the
word of God, which partakes more of
entombing than of exhibiting it. Nevertheless,
the patience which the work exacts, will, in the

end, be rewarded, as well as that of Job. It is not

only an elaborate, but a most learned, sound,
and pious worka mine from which he who has
courage to explore it, will come back laden with
precious things.
As this is in one sense; and perhaps in two
senses, the greatest of all the numerous
commentaries on Job, we gave been induced to
mention it to oar readers thus particularly, as
few of them will ever find an opportunity of
becoming acquainted with it, as it is both scarce
and costly, or rather costly because it, is scarce.
Note: How is it that such books ever do become
scarce? Why should not all the copies have
lasted as well as our own, which is in a perfectly
fresh and sound condition? People do not
willingly destroy such books as these. What
becomes of them? We also mention it as
introductory to Caryls view of the point before
us, which seems to us well worthy of attention,
and in which we are strongly inclined to concur.

All this is here set forth and described unto us

after the manner of men, by an Anthropopathy;
which is, when God expresses himself in his
actions and dispensations with and towards the
world, as if He were a man. So God here: He
presents himself in the business after the
manner of some great king sitting upon his
throne, having his servants attending him, and
taking an account of them, what they have
done, or giving instructions and commissions to
them, what they shall do. This, I say, God doth
here, after the manner of men; for, otherwise,
we are not to conceive that God doth make
certain days of session with his creatures,
wherein He doth call the good and bad angels
together about the affairs of the world. We must
not have such gross conceits of God; for He
needs receive no information from them,
neither doth He give them or Satan any formal
commission; neither is Satan admitted into the
presence of God, to come so near God at any
time; neither is God moved at all by the
slanders of Satan, or by his accusations, to

deliver up His children and servants into his

hands for a moment; but only the Scripture
speaks thus to teach us how God carries himself
in the affairs of the world, even as if He sat
upon his throne, and called every creature
before Him, and gave each directions what, and
when, and where to work, how far, and which
way to move in every action.