Jehovah to Job: the first answer-the examination: 3. Concerning the light.
I. THE LIGHT OF THE MORNING THE SERVANT OF GOD.
1. The light of the morning is a servant to some one. It is under the commandment of a Superior. Every movement that it makes proclaims it to be under law. Modern science is even able with much precision to formulate the laws to which it renders obedience. And these operate with such unfailing regularity and such irresistible potency, that even this subtlest, nimblest, and most powerful of creatures is unable to elude their grasp or repel their sway. Morning after morning does the dawn appear like a sentinel returning to his place. Day after day does the golden sun push his disc above the horizon, never mistaking the time when or the exact spot where he should first begin to tip the mountain-tops with roseate hues. From whatever source the laws emanate it is clear that the sun yields them submission.
2. The light of the morning is not the servant of man. "Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days? hast thou caused the day-spring to know its place?" inquires Jehovah of Job, as if he meant ironically to suggest that, although Job could have had no hand in either the first formation of the globe or the production of the sea, inasmuch as he was not then in existence, perhaps since he had arrived on earth he had been the lord paramount, to whom the powerful king of day did obeisance, and from whom the roseate dawn received its daily charge. At the same time, the interrogation is so phrased as to point to the appropriate reply that not only was Job not the director-general of the solar movements, but throughout the entire course of his career he had not been able to impose his authority on the morning light for so much as a single day. And, of course, what was true of Job is likewise true of all. The student of the heavens may contemplate the beauty and investigate the laws of the solar beam; but he cannot hinder it on its mission or turn it aside from its path. He can neither instruct nor direct it as to when, where, or how it is to shine. It may serve him in obedience to the Divine command which has made all creatures wait on man; but man cannot make of it his servant in the sense of subjecting it to his ordinances. Hence the inference that follows is inevitable.
3. The light of the morning is exclusively the servant of God. The voice it obeys is that which addressed Job from the whirlwind. The rule it follows is that prescribed for it by him who at the first said, "Let light be," and light was. The law it recognizes and fulfils is that of him who set the sun in the heavens to give light upon the earth.
II. THE LIGHT OF THE MORNING THE ENEMY OF EVIL-DOERS.
1. The expressive metaphor. The light, personified as a powerful servant or minister of God, is represented as coming forth every morning from the chambers of the dawn, as seizing the broad and beautifully variegated carpet of the earth by the edges, as forcibly lifting it up, and as effectively shaking from it the evil-doers who, under cover of darkness, had laid themselves down to rest, or had gone forth on errands of wickedness, upon its surface.
2. The authorized interpretation. So completely does the dawn of day surprise the night-birds, or workers of iniquity, who prey upon society that their outstretched arms are broken, i.e. are arrested in the very act of perpetrating their nefarious deeds. When the darkness vanishes, the light in which they work is removed from them; and, shunning the dawn of day as if it were the shadow of death (Job 24:17), they slink away into their dens, disappearing as effectually from the world of light as if they had been shaken violently from the surface of the earth.
III. THE LIGHT OF THE MORNING THE BEAUTIFIER OF THE EARTH.
1. The imprinting seal. Analyzing the Divine metaphor, one may say that the spreading of the dawn is compared to the rolling of a cylindrical seal across the surface of a prepared sheet of clay. The figure indicates the gradual and progressive opening of the dawn, the silent and onward march of the light, the continually widening diffusion of day, the uprising of objects on the earth's surface into clearness and distinctness of outline.
2. The printed clay. As the seal when it passes over the smooth clay ]eaves behind it an impression winch seems to start up from the clay, so the sweeping of the dawn across the plains of earth causes object after object, mountain, rock, tree, grass, flower, everything that earth supports on its bosom, to start up in succession into prominence of vision.
3. The radiant garment. The result is expressed by a change of figure. The illuminated earth is compared to a richly embroidered garment, whose variegated hues and deftly woven figures, concealed by the preceding darkness, are now brought to light by the effulgent day.
Learn:
1. That the constitution and course of nature in all its parts and details rest upon the command of God.
2. That apart from this Divine commandment the sons of men could not enjoy so much as a single day.
3. That the power of man can interfere with little things no more than with great things in nature.
4. That man has many servants who obey not his command.
5. That light plays an important part in the moral administration of earth.
6. That the main source of beauty in material things is the light of day.
7. That evil-doers generally and instinctively hate the light.