"
We have here the record of a great convulsion. Fire fell from heaven;
the fire of God. It was not lightning, for it killed the seven
thousand sheep, (see chap. i, 3,) belonging to Job, and all his
shepherds; and not only killed but consumed them--burned them up. A
fire falling from heaven great enough to kill seven thousand sheep
must have been an extensive conflagration, extending over a large
area of country. And it seems to have been accompanied by a great
wind--a cyclone--which killed all Job's sons and daughters.
Has the book of Job anything to do with that great event which we
have been discussing? Did it originate out of it? Let us see.
In the first place it is, I believe, conceded by the foremost
{p. 277}
scholars that the book of Job is not a Hebrew work; it was not
written by Moses; it far antedates even the time of Abraham.
That very high orthodox authority, George Smith, F. S. A., in his
work shows that--
"Everything relating to this patriarch has been violently
controverted. His country; the age in which he lived; the author of
the book that bears his name; have all been fruitful themes of
discord, and, as if to confound confusion, these disputants are
interrupted by others, who would maintain that no such person ever
existed; that the whole tale is a poetic fiction, an allegory!"[1]
Job lived to be two hundred years old, or, according to the
Septuagint, four hundred.
Pages:
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395