Job 29:16

I was a father to the poor.

A father to the poor

The text is part of Job’s noble vindication of himself from a charge of hypocrisy and impiety. So far was Job from considering the poor as made for him, so far from neglecting and oppressing them, that his wealth and its attendant influence prompted him to become their advocate, to befriend the friendless, and to attempt the relief of every species of human distress.

I. The paternal character, as it respects the poor. It includes--

1. A real and an affectionate concern for the poor. So far was Job from considering the poor as made for his aggrandisement, to do him homage, to wait his nod, that he saw and respected himself in them; made their cause his own, entered into their afflictions, and had a heart to feel for all their wants and sorrows.

2. Well-digested schemes, and well-directed endeavours, to promote, under God, their temporal and eternal good. There can be no true charity, among the affluent, without liberality. This fallen world opens a widely extended field for the exercise of every compassionate and benevolent principle in the heart. The paternal character has a relation to the bodies of the poor, as that of a father to the bodies of his immediate offspring. More important are the souls of the poor.

II. Recommend and urge the paternal character, as it respects the poor. An argument might be brought from the very constitution of human nature. A principle of self-love is common to us all. The paternal character is more Divine, more Godlike, than anything else within the reach and ability of man. It makes that very use of talents and advantages which God designed. The character enters into the main and substantial part of Christianity. Solid comfort and felicity will ever result from it. (N. Hill.)

A father to the poor

Such a man is surely one of the most useful friends to virtue, to religion, and to society. The two principal branches of paternal care are provision and instruction. A serious and benevolent attention to the cause of the poor is a necessary part of the character of everyone who acts upon principle, either as a Christian or a man, of everyone who values either the civil or religious constitution of this country. “The righteous considereth the cause of the poor,” because he considereth them as partakers of the same nature, and children of the same Father with himself. The righteous looks into himself, and from thence learns to show compassion to others. His nature prompts him to this benevolent office; his reason inculcates it; his conscience approves it; his condition of life empowers him to fulfil it. What is led to by the principles of reason and morality, is brought home to his bosom by the declarations of the Gospel. The infirm, the industrious, and the lazy, make up the great body of the poor. The infirm claim our pity to relieve our attention to employ them; the lazy our resolution to them; the industrious force them to labour. Difficulties occur in the modelling of all schemes for the provision of the poor, from that discretionary power which must unavoidably be allowed in the execution of them. Difficulty again arises from that prevalence of luxury which we see tempts all persons to live above the rank which they hold in the society. Instruction is the second part of a father’s care. The subject of instruction for the poor is the Christian religion as established in this kingdom. The principles of the Gospel cultivate the general interests of civil society. (Archbishop Hay Drummond.)

On beneficence

1. By the exercise of compassion and kindness to our fellow creatures, we fulfil the intention of providence. The blessings of life are distributed in very different proportions to different classes of men. The division of mankind into rich and poor is not the effect of any particular political institution. It is altogether unavoidable in the course of human affairs. All that society has to do is to secure to the industrious the fruits of their virtuous labours. This division of mankind into rich and poor ought not to be considered as a subject of regret. There are many salutary effects which it seems well fitted to produce. It furnishes an opportunity for the exercise of human virtue, in an infinite variety of situations; it keeps alive the spirit of industry, by holding out to the industrious the hope of rising to distinction; it improves the human condition, by rendering the exertions of every individual, in his own particular sphere, more conducive than they would otherwise be to the general happiness of society. But, in this imperfect state, inequalities frequently appear, which call for the interposition of the generous. Disasters sometimes arise, which no prudence or industry can prevent. The pressure of bodily distress often makes the hands of the diligent to hang down. Hence arises a new relation; a relation between the fortunate and the miserable. Let both parties be instructed in their duty. Whatever you possess, you owe to the bounty of your Maker. You are the depositaries of His bounty, not absolute disposers. You are not at liberty to squander His gifts, as your own caprice or passion may dictate; but are required to fulfil the purpose of the Giver. In few situations are men destitute of the means of contributing to the happiness of their fellow creatures. God has not left the wretched without resource. He has ordained that compassion should be the balm of misery. The selfish, indeed, seem to behold in the whole world no being but themselves. For them alone the sun arises, the dews descend, and the earth yields its increase. Such were the sentiments of the hard-hearted Nabal.

2. The exercise of our compassion and kindness to our brethren is one of the best expressions of our piety to God. What shall we render to the Lord for all His mercies? God is Himself exalted above the reach of our most perfect services; our goodness doth not extend to Him. Our brethren are placed within the reach of our beneficence, and our charity to them is piety to our Maker. No fervours of religious affection will atone for the want of charity. Your alms must ascend with your prayers as a memorial before God.

3. By the exercise of compassion and kindness to our fellow creatures, we promote our own happiness. Benevolence is a source of pleasure. Compare the benevolent with the selfish in every situation of life. Place them in affluence, and observe how they differ. Place them in adversity, and see how they differ. Let disease come to the man who has shown no compassion to his brethren. How ill is he prepared for the evil day. Let sickness increase, let death approach; where now is the joy of the selfish? (W. Moodie, D. D.)

Home and Sunday school

Here is a matchless picture of a great and beautiful human life in that grand, calm, and stately patriarchal time, which presents a refreshing contrast to these eager, rapid, rushing days, in which God has east our lot. Each age has its own form of dignity and nobleness, and its own field of Divine service. This grand old sheikh, who was the Christus consolator of his people, was not even a member of the elect line. Job saw into the heart of the great social question of all ages when he declared himself a father to the poor. It is just the father’s wisdom, firmness, and tenderness which poverty and ignorance need. It is just this which law cannot proffer to them. This explains the reason why in all ages the true help of the poor comes from the life-warm hand of the Christian Church. It is a large subject, and one full of interest, the fatherly ministry of the Church to the poor and helpless. We dwell on one feature only. The foremost duty of a father is the nurture and culture of the children. Let us see how, when the father wholly or partially fails, the Church steps forward with its Divinely helpful hand in his room. Plato, in his conception of the ideal republic, makes the children the charge of the State from the first. He makes their culture its most sacred duty, seeing that on their wisdom, industry, and moral habits so much of the health and wealth of the community in successive generations inevitably depends. It is practically impossible on any scheme of government to get a full representation of the highest wisdom of the community in the governing powers; and the training of all the children of the community in one type elaborated by human wisdom, however, admirable, contradicts and does its best to frustrate the benignant purpose of God in the varied natural endowments of mankind. He has not made men in one type. Think of a Christian household of a lofty Christian type, where the children are trained to a noble manhood and womanhood by parents whom they both reverence and love; where the hand of authority is firm but never capricious; where God’s statutes and judgments are maintained in absolute supremacy; but where the children are never suffered to question for a moment that the motive of their maintenance is love. And whence the children are sent forth at length into the theatre of life with this deepest conviction in their hearts--that the only life worth the living is a life of service and ministry to mankind. Multiply such a home by all the homes of the community, and what a millennium of peace, and joy, and wealth would they bring in. But look at it on the other side. Think of thousands of homes, in which the children from the very first grow up in an atmosphere which taints at the spring their physical, mental, and moral life; in which they never hear the name of God or of Christ but in blasphemy. Multiply such homes by all the homes of the community, and then measure the dire and deadly ruin in which they would plunge themselves and the State at last. How does Christianity solve this question of the education of the children of a generation, with due regard to freedom of individual development on the one hand, and the need of bringing to bear on it the highest wisdom on the other? The Gospel establishes on the firmest and most lasting foundations the institution of the home. It deepens parental responsibility; it enlarges parental functions; it enhances the estimate of the momentous issues which are hanging on the due and Christian fulfilment of parental duty. The home is the ultimate unit of society. God sets the parent the pattern; God helps the parent in the task; God holds forth to the parent the prize. God attends the progress of humanity with an institution in which His truth is enshrined, in which His Spirit dwells, and which is the living and ever-present organ of His counsel and influence--the Christian Church. And here comes into the field the Sunday School. It would be wrong to say that the parental institution, the home, had failed; but a great mass of human parents are utterly unequal to the task that is laid upon them. The Church steps in with her helping hand, and sends forth from her bosom a great army of earnest, loving, and self-devoted teachers, to be as fathers to the children whose souls are fatherless, and to surround the shivering, homeless outcasts with the warm atmosphere of Christian love. This word, “I was a father to the poor,” is the key to the teacher’s position and work. Not to supersede the parent, but in every way to stimulate and help him, are teachers sent forth by the Church and by the world. Three things he must keep constantly in sight.

1. Instruction. To impart knowledge is his first and most important work. The Christian teacher mostly confines himself to the highest knowledge.

2. The teacher is to be a shepherd, a pastor to the children. Sunday school teaching is pastoral work.

3. The teacher should follow the children to their homes, and do what he can to sweeten and purify the atmosphere of their lives. I honour the Sabbath School because--

(1) It has opened a very noble field for that passion of ministry which is the Divine endowment of the Christian Church.

(2) It maintains so nobly the Christian tradition of self-denying service, draws forth so richly and trains so effectively the self-denying, self-devoted spirit.

(3) The teacher and teaching have formed a nexus, a link of connection of incalculable strength and importance, between jealous and often hostile classes of society.

(4) The Sunday School is the nursery of the Christian Church. To train the child for Christ and for His service is the great object of the teacher. (J. Baldwin Brown, B. A.)