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the righteous, can scarcely be mistaken. First, the Psalmist begins with a promise to all men, high and low, rich and poor, that he will clear up a mystery. Whatever his theme and the lesson he is going to teach may be, it is no more a truth which he is wringing out of circumstances; it is no more a thing reached only by a struggle, and attained only as a necessity of faith. It is an objective doctrine, an assured principle. Again, though he speaks in the first person, what he says applies to all men. His proposition is, 'Why should I fear in the evil day?' He has no reason to fear;

and this feeling of security arises from his contemplation of mankind. He sees that all men die; this is the universal fate wise men die, the brutish and foolish perish together. So far as this is concerned, the lot of men is the same, and common to all. Thirdly, the question to which he presents a solution is that of the prosperity and riches of the wicked; and also, on the other hand, the misery of the good, the calamities of the evil day. The riches of the wicked cannot deliver them from death. None can redeem his brother, or give unto God a ransom for him so that he should live and not see the pit. die. And none can carry his riches to the grave with him. Thus the riches and prosperity of the wicked do not avail the wicked; he as well as poorer men comes to the grave at last. Still, if this were all that could be said, there would be an advantage in riches-in this life, at least. If all die, and if this were the end, the wicked, if rich, would be better than the righteous, if poor.

He shall see it; for all men

But it is just at the point when death intervenes that the difference appears. Man, being in honour, without understanding is like the beasts that perish. Like sheep, the ungodly are laid in Sheol, and Death shepherds them. their end is to be for the consumption of Sheol. It is probable that there may be a transference to Sheol of that which takes place in the grave. There is no likelihood that the passage teaches that the deceased persons in Sheol are consumed, so as to cease absolutely to subsist. But the point, on the one hand, is that at death the wicked, however

prosperous in life, really become the prey of death-they may be compared to the lower creatures; while, on the other hand, the righteous live: "God shall redeem me from the hand of Sheol: for He will take me." Sheol, the place of the dead, is escaped; the hand of God takes the righteous soul across its gulf to Himself.

Now, these points in this passage are remarkable: first, what the author teaches is put forward as an objective principle, no more a mere demand of faith, but a dogma of religious belief; second, it is a doctrine which assumes and is based upon the acknowledged fact that death is universal, wise and foolish alike falling a prey to it; third, the doctrine itself touches the point of the prosperity of the wicked in this life, and the evils that befall the righteous; and, fourth, the solution is thrown entirely into the region beyond death. The destiny of men is looked at as a whole, both in this life and as extending beyond death. And this destiny depends on their relation to God. The wicked's prosperity in this life cannot save him from death; and death to him remains death. The evil are gathered like a flock into Sheol; death is their shepherd. The Old Testament teaches no aggravations in death. Death is itself the highest aggravation,-i.e. death and continuance in the state of death, according to the popular notions of what this was,-Death shepherds them. But God redeems the righteous from the hand of Sheol; for He takes him.

The phrase he will take me' looks like a reminiscence of the language used of Enoch,-" He was not; for God took him" (Gen. v. 24). The date and the authorship of the xlixth Psalm is doubtful. It might be supposed that this remarkable conception would scarcely be early. The passage belongs to the writings of the Wisdom, as the introduction shows. And it is quite conceivable that in certain circles of the people a more advanced faith might have prevailed than was to be found among the bulk of the nation. At all events, the plain sense of a passage ought not to be made dependent on questions of date or authorship.

It is possible that Ps. xvii. may have the same mean

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ing. It draws the same kind of distinction between two classes of men: those whom it calls men of the world, whose portion is in this life, whom God loads with earthly joys and blessings; and another class, whose portion God is Himself. This character of the two classes furnishes the key to their destiny. The Psalmist, though he appears to regard the prosperity of the wicked in life as a thing natural and of course, their portion being in this life, anticipates their destruction eventually at the hand of God. But for himself, he will "see God's face in righteousness." The language in which the Psalmist expresses his hope is remarkable, though of somewhat uncertain meaning: "I shall behold Thy face in righteousness: when I awake, I shall be satisfied with Thine image." The phrase 'in righteousness' might mean through righteousness,' more probably in the element of righteousness.' The expression thine image,' no, is remarkable. The word is used to express what we call the species or genus of a thing: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any generic likeness of anything in the heavens" (Ex. xx. 4). When such a thing is seen, the beholder must be face to face with it-in its very presence, and looking on it. The language is thus in favour of an immediate vision of God; as in Deuteronony it is denied that any 'n of God was seen in His manifestations of Himself on earth (Ex. iv. 12). In the xixth chapter of Job, too, the assurance of Job, that he shall see God, is one having reference to a state after death.

זין

If this sense be adopted, then the expression when I awake' would have a quite natural sense, though a very large one. It is very improbable that the word should mean merely when I awake out of sleep in the morning,' or every morning'; as if the meaning were that each morning, as soon as consciousness returned, his joy in God would return; and he would realise God's image, and be satisfied with it. Neither is the sense very natural, when I awake out of this night of darkness and calamity now lying on me, in the morning of prosperity' (Riehm). On the other hand, if the word refer to the history

of man after death, the passage seems to go further than even Ps. xlix., and to refer to the awakening out of death, when God has brought in His perfect kingdom, which departed saints would live again to share. This doctrine is certainly found in Daniel; and from the date of that book onward it is the faith, at least, of the Pharisees. It is quite probable that it may have been cherished in Israel long before the age of Daniel, if that book be of the late date to which it is now usually assigned. It is certainly also found in Isa. xxvi. 19. a passage the age of which is very obscure"Thy dead shall live, my dead ones shall arise. Awake and cry for joy, ye dwellers in the dust: for a dew of light is thy dew, and the earth shall bring forth the dead." The heading of the present Psalm ascribes it to David. Such headings are not very good evidence; though, being in the first book, this Psalm is probably not a very late one. But again our duty is to accept the natural sense of words, leaving questions of date and authorship to take care of themselves.

9. The Idea of an After-Life in Job.

In endeavouring to ascertain what hopes of immortality were entertained by Old Testament saints, how these hopes arose, and on what they were grounded, special attention must be given to the Book of Job. Something might be said even for the propriety of beginning with it. For the opinion that once prevailed, that the book was of Arabic origin, or, at least, not of native Israelitish extraction, is now altogether obsolete. The work has every mark of a genuine Jewish authorship. And though the belief that once also held the field regarding the extreme antiquity of the book cannot now be maintained in face of modern criticism, yet even if we admit the actual authorship to be pretty late, the scene and the circumstances are those of very early times. Job himself is represented as living in the patriarchal age; and it is the author's aim to exhibit events and opinions as they existed then. It is, no

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doubt, quite possible that the beliefs and the condition of society in his own days may sometimes form the background of his picture, or even give some of its colour to the light which he throws over it. But probably such a thing, if it be the case, will very little interfere with the truth of the representation of the ideas; for we find substantially the same views expressed on this subject in such Psalms as the xvith and xviith, and in the very late prophet Malachi. It is difficult to know how far to distinguish between the author of Job and his hero. For, on the one hand, as we must take very much of the speeches and opinions put into the mouths of Job and his friends to be due altogether to the author, and certainly to be sympathised with by him, while yet, on the other, he shows very great power in giving objectivity to his personages and maintaining very distinctly their individualities, it will always remain somewhat doubtful how far he shared in the views which he makes his characters express.

In order to realise fully the meaning of the passages bearing on this subject in Job, it will be of use to refer to the general contents and the problem of the book.

(1) As it now lies before us, the book consists of five parts. First, the prologue, in prose, chaps. i-ii. This describes in rapid and dramatic steps the history of Job, his piety and the prosperity and greatness corresponding to it; then how his life is drawn in under the operation of the trying, sifting providence of God, through the suspicions. suggested by the Satan, the minister of God's providence in this aspect of it, that his godliness is but selfish ("Does Job serve God for nought?"), and only the natural return for the unexampled prosperity bestowed on him. If stripped of his prosperity, he will renounce God to His face. These suspicions bring down two severe calamities on Job, one depriving him of all external blessings, children and possessions alike; and the other throwing the man himself under a loathsome and painful malady. In spite of these afflictions, Job retains his integrity, and imputes no wrong to God.

Then the advent of Job's three friends