AT the present time as never before the Bible is being explored by eager searchers for truth, those who desire to acquaint themselves with reality, and who seek to learn from its pages how God has dealt with those who have sought after Him in all ages. In spite, however, of a sincere desire to know God, many of these seekers are troubled by apparent contradictions in the sacred record, and it is important for us to know that these seeming discrepancies are only apparent, for when we grasp the spiritual facts we are bound to agree with Mrs. Eddy when she says that "the Scriptures . . . grow in beauty and consistency from one grand root"(Science and Health, p. 341)Those who really desire to know the truth should remember St. John's words, "It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth;" and in Science and Health we read, "Take away the spiritual signification of Scripture, and that compilation can do no more for mortals than can moonbeams to melt a river of ice" (p. 241).
If we take the book of Job, which is characterized by a famous writer as a "masterpiece of Semitic genius," we are quickly confronted with seemingly serious difficulties in the matter of consistency; that is, if we attempt to interpret the book from a material or personal standpoint. The average reader is apt to overlook the fact that in this great religious drama we have, in the first place, a presentation of human belief which attempts to show that there are two powers at work in the government of the universe, viz., God and the devil, a belief which seems to be held more or less by all of the dramatis personœ who figure in the controversy. It is not necessary to follow in detail the various arguments of the speakers, but it is well to note carefully that at the conclusion,—the summing up, as it were,—God speaks for Himself and for His own idea, and rebukes those who have blindly attempted to interpret His nature and judgments. We have been accustomed to read the utterances of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, and to think that, being in the Bible, these statements must of necessity be inspired, therefore true; but God says to these men, "Ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath."
Now Job had actually seemed to question both the justice and the love of God, but what he questioned was the false concept which he had probably held unquestioningly up to the time of his great affliction, and to this personal and limited concept Job's friends appeared determined to hold him; but at length the light of spiritual revelation broke his fetters and showed him the ever-living Redeemer, who is Truth and Love. This revelation of Truth dispelled the darkness of doubt and dogma, and it not only healed Job, but it also overcame his sense of poverty. His friends doubtless were famous theologians, but they were blind to the power of prayer, as are some theologians today. Not so Job—after his illumination! We read that he was divinely directed to pray for the friends who had done nothing but condemn him, and we are told that God accepted his prayer, which was the prayer of spiritual understanding and of demonstration. Job had demanded a just God or none, and when the scales of false belief fell from his eyes he saw that God was not only just but infinitely just. He also had a glimpse of the eternal fact that God shares not His omnipotence with evil, and even a glimpse of this great truth saved Job from his afflictions and will save every one in any age who honestly accepts it.
