experience of a relatively simple state of society, reproduces on the whole the general principles which had been inculcated by the Mosaic discipline. The authors of the Proverbs have a naïve confidence in their belief that sin and suffering, righteousness and earthly prosperity, are causally connected. This optimism, says Professor Cheyne, is 'just what we might expect in a simple and stationary condition of society. The strange thing is that it should have lasted on when oppression from within or hostile attacks from without brought manifold causes of sorrow upon both bad and good. ... There must have been circles of Jewish moralists averse to speculation who would continue to repeat the older view of providential government even at a time when the social state had completely exposed its shallowness 1.' There are, however, hints here and there in the Proverbs that suggest a more profound moral insight; in some passages, at least, there is a consciousness expressed that suffering may fulfil a probationary and disciplinary function even in the case of the righteous. For instance, in Prov. iii. 11, 12 we discover a view of suffering different from that of the traditional theory: My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction; for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. Then follows an 'era of difficulties 2'-such a period as included the decay and ruin of the Jewish monarchy, the great cataclysm of the exile, and the difficulties of life in Palestine after the restoration. The age of Solomon appeared, in retrospect at least, as a golden age: at any rate, it was believed to have been a period of generally diffused prosperity. Probably there had been in Solomon's reign a strong consciousness of national unity, a fair administration of justice, and 1 Job and Solomon, p. 122. 2 See Dean Farrar's introduction to the Book of Wisdom in the Speaker's Commentary. a sense of order, stability, and security in the conditions of life. But towards the close of the monarchical period, when pastoral habits had to a great extent disappeared and given way to those of commerce and trade, inequalities of social condition became more apparent; the prosperity of wicked men was a patent fact, and the social troubles of a decaying civilization forced the question of retribution again into notice. The miseries of life in Palestine during the time of the Persian domination seem to be reflected in the book of Ecclesiastes. The prevalent evils were 'unrighteous judgment, despotic oppression, riotous court-life, the raising of mean men to the highest dignities, the inexorable severity of the law of military service, the prudence required by the organized system of espionage 1.' But above all, the captivity itself was the crowning example of the undeserved sufferings of the righteous 2. The figure of the patriarch Job is, as we have noticed elsewhere, a type of the righteous servant of God overwhelmed by unmerited affliction, and there is some reason to connect the composition. of the book with the period of the exile 3. It may be intended to impress upon the godly in Israel a new view of suffering as not merely penal but probationary and disciplinary, testing fidelity and patience. It may be remarked in passing that this was an idea which we find already suggested in the book of Deuteronomy and in some passages of the prophetic writings, and that the author of Isaiah liii carries the thought further. He points to the possibility of vicarious or substitutionary suffering; and the traits common to the sublime figure of that chapter, and the representation of Job, make it probable that the same idea is hinted at in the 1 Delitzsch, quoted by Cheyne, Job and Solomon, p. 258. See Eccl. iii. 16; iv. 1; v. 8; viii. 9; x. 16 foll. Possibly the book of Joel also illustrates the condition of Palestine during the Persian period. Cp. Hunter, op. cit. pp. 238 foll.; Cornill, Einleitung in das A. T. § 28. 2 Cp. Habak. ii. 3 Cp. Driver, Introduction, &c., p. 405. * See Deut. viii. 2; Hos. ii. 8 foll.; Jer. xxxv. 13; Isa. xxvii. 8; Ps. lxvi. 10 foll. book of Job itself, which teaches that Job's sufferings give him intercessory power 1. The problem discussed however remains, as Professor Cheyne observes, unsolved in the book itself. Indeed the older doctrine of retribution is expressly confirmed by the issue, according to which Job's fidelity is rewarded with an enlarged measure of earthly blessedness. The net result of the book then is the proved insufficiency of the traditional opinion that all suffering can be accounted for by personal sin. In chapters xiv-xix, however, we find a further advance towards a solution of the difficulty, in the hints there given of a supra-mundane justice manifesting itself, if not in this life, then beyond its boundary. It is difficult to determine exactly the significance of the main passage (xix. 26, 27) that bears upon the point in question 2, and it is manifest that the suggestion is left undeveloped, whatever be its precise import. Job himself falls back on the lower standpoint and presses for a solution of his unexplained sufferings on this side of death. And the great lesson of the book is that of patient waiting. The book of Ecclesiastes, reflecting the sad experience of days when the bulk of the nation was in danger of losing its higher hopes and sinking into listless and sullen despondency, marks an era of quiescence.' In the book of Job an appeal is made to the divine omnipotence, the thought being that supreme power implies a supreme righteousness in which the pledge of a further revelation is involved. But in Ecclesiastes the problem of retribution is virtually abandoned as insoluble. The writer is led through the many-sided experience of life, which for him ends only in satiety and despair, to give up his fruitless efforts to comprehend the principles of God's moral government. He evidently realizes keenly the 1 Job xlii. 8. 2 See Riehm, ATI. Theologie, pp. 360, 361. The idea of Job seems to be that God as a Goel or Avenger of blood will some day stand over his grave and vindicate his character. Cp. Schultz, ii. 329 foll. 3 Renan, L'Ecclésiaste, p. 40: 'Cohélet a sa place définie dans cette untenableness of the traditional view of retribution : but he ultimately arrives at the negative conclusion that trustful obedience, submission to God's known will for man, and steadfast fulfilment of moral duty can alone make life tolerable. There is, however, a suggestion peculiar to the book: it ends with the presage of a judgment, involving a new self-manifestation of God, by which the riddle of the present world will be solved1. Moreover, it is noticeable that the writer of Ecclesiastes still clings to that sense of personal relationship to God which differentiates man from the brute 2, and points to a possible continuation of existence after death. On the whole, then, the last word of the Old Testament is one of resignation not unhopeful. The tendency was already manifesting itself to push the solution of the moral problems of human life beyond the limits of life itself, and to base the justification of God's ways on eschatological doctrine 3. It is true that in some passages of an apocalyptic character we find a doctrine of resurrection, though still confined within nationalistic limits. The idea of a resurrection of Israel as a nation from its grave is found in Hosea and in Ezekiel1. But the author of Isaiah xxiv-xxvii foretells a divine victory over death in the Messianic age, and the awakening to new life of the godly members of the elect nation who have perished. The purport of Daniel xii. 2 is similar. histoire du long combat de la conscience juive contre l'iniquité du monde. Il représente une pause dans la lutte.' Cp. Kuenen, Religion of Israel, ch. x. 1 Observe this is a point common to the Old and the New Testament. Cp. Ritschl, Unterricht in der Christlichen Religion, § 18, note d: 'Die Dichter im A. T. sehen sich durchgehend in ihrer natürlichen Erwartung getäuscht dass es den Gerechten gut, den Gottlosen übel ergehen müsse. Sie müssen sich begnügen, die Auflösung des umgekehrten Thatbestandes für die Zukunft von Gott zu erbitten. Deshalb wird die Herstellung der richtigen Ordnung auf die Erwartung des zukünftigen Gerichtes Gottes fixirt, sowohl im A. wie im N. T.' 3 2 Eccl. iii. 21; xii. 7. Cp. Farrar, ubi supra, p. 417; Cheyne, Job and Solomon, p. 201. p. 346. This passage does not imply a general resurrection from the dead, but a rising again of all Israel's dead, good and bad alike, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt1. The doctrine of a general resurrection first makes its appearance in some post-canonical literature, e. g. the Apocalypse of Baruch, and the book of Enoch 2. Only in the New Testament is it proclaimed with such clearness that St. Paul can declare that life and immortality have been brought to light through the gospel3. II. A presage then, rather than any definite or clear anticipation of a future life, was the outcome of the long period of discipline which began with the legislation of Moses. But, at any rate, the foundation of a true spiritual life was laid; the soul of the godly Israelite learned to possess itself. Conscious of its high calling, Hebrew faith strove to apprehend the significance and privileges of that close relationship with God to which it felt itself summoned. We see the fruit of its endeavours in the book of Psalms. We shall best understand the true function of this book if we consider the real meaning of religion. The question what in its essence religion is, is an old one, and the history of human thought on the subject is full of solemn pathos, mainly because it is the story of fundamental and most disastrous misconceptions. There was, for instance, an age, and a condition of human speculation about God, when it could be said in bitter earnest 'Tantum relligio potuit suadere malorum *.' And there are those even in the present day whose confidence in their power to survey the whole field of 1 Cp. 2 Macc. vii. 9; xii. 43; and see Nicolas, Des doctrines religieuses des Juifs, partie ii. ch. 6. 2 See Apoc. of Baruch, chh. xlix-li, with Mr. Charles' notes. Cp. the same writer's edition of the Book of Enoch, p. 52. 3 2 Tim. i. 10. 4 Lucr. de Rer. Nat. i. 10I. |