Ethiopia, and he is thought to allude to the Pyramids of Egypt when he speaks of the "kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves." (Chap. iii. 14.)

And now let us mark the events and peoples of which Job does not speak. There is no mention in this ancient book of God's dealings with Abraham or his children, neither of the patriarch's call, nor of the Exodus of Israel from Egypt, nor of any of the miracles that marked their going forth, which must have been heard of far and wide. Neither is there any allusion to the previous destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, which must have terrified all the dwellers east and west of the Jordan; although each history would so greatly have magnified the mighty power of God, and the converse of Job and his friends seems to be such a summing up of all that was known of Jehovah.

By the testimony of God Himself, there was not n all the earth such a perfect and upright man as Job; and very much more of his wisdom and knowledge is placed on record than of any other of the patriarchs. He seems to have been famous both in heaven and earth. We have in Genesis the narrative of noble facts and deeds, and short and vivid sketches of character; yet where shall we find such an introduction as in Job to the majestic current of thoughts and memories handed down through the families of Shem?

How these spiritual giants of earth's first 2,500 years towered above their fellows, when God kept them, by His grace, from worship of the heavenly bodies, forgetting the Creator in the works of His hands!

"If I beheld the sun when it shined (says Job), or the moon walking in brightness;

"And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand; I should have denied the God that is above." (Job. xxxi. 26-28.)

There is no other species of idolatry mentioned in the Book of Job than the first and most ancient, the worship of the sun and moon.

Job makes no reference to the fleshly mind of Egypt, which took the bull appointed for sacrifice, and lifted it into an idol, by the same species of delusion with which a modern school of error looks for salvation in the sacraments, and mistakes the sign for the thing signified. Neither does he refer to the first idolatries of Chaldea, to the symbol of the Presence and the Cherubic beasts. "The religious practices of Arabia," says Mr. Palgrave, "have always been remarkable for the absence of visible symbols and sculptured imagery; but their devotion was still misdirected; for the fourth king of Yemen was called Abd esh Shems, 'the servant of the sun,' and immemorial honours have been paid by the Arabs to Zahra, the morning star."

This writer also mentions that in Oman the people to this day still mutter their prayers with prostrations quite different to those of the Mahomedans, turning to the north star, which they worship by the same mysterious title, YAH, that is assumed by the Almighty to Himself in the Book of Exodus. He attributes their worship of this star to the idea of its always remaining fixed in the same place. This is a curious new light which the last five years of our century bring us in illustration of the Book of Job.

Job speaks of judgment as administered in the gate of cities; and that he was himself a patriarchal king, may be argued from his twenty-ninth chapter.

"When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street!

"The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose and stood up.

"The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.

"The nobles held their peace."

He adds

"I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem." (Job. xxix. 14.)

To the all-seeing eye it was known how true it was that he had been a man of peace, a judge, and father to the poor, eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame, bountiful and hospitable, "the greatest of all the men of the east." Before any part of our Bible was written, he had "esteemed the words of God more than his necessary food." He was diligent in all appointed sacrifices for sin; a man of prayer; a priest in his own household-which, it is said, marks his early era-and, in common with Enoch, he had enjoyed the patriarchal prevision of a Redeemer "to stand in the latter day upon the earth."

The manner in which his wealth is estimated, viz., by cattle, and the probable length of his life, is thought to prove the early age in which he lived; for as everything he had before is doubled when the Lord turned his captivity, it is supposed his age was doubled also, and that the years added being 140, those previous to his affliction had been 70, making his total age 210, whereas Abraham is said to have been an old man at 100.

Another great evidence of the remote antiquity of the book is that the friends, being Arabians of various districts, yet apparently continued to speak some common language, while there was evident need of an interpreter in Egypt at the time that Joseph's brethren came down there; but then Egypt was peopled from a Hamite stock, as were also early Chaldea and Canaan.

Having now placed before you the reasons for supposing that Job lived before Abraham, we must return to the subject of the peopling of Arabia; and having recognised the modern descendants of the Joktanites in the south, we must observe the rise of the race of ISHMAEL, whose history we have found interwoven in the twelve chapters that relate to his father Abraham.

You can follow out Ishmael's story in the 25th chapter of Genesis, after he had assisted Isaac to bury Abraham in the cave of Macphelah. In the 12th verse of that chapter begins the calendar of Ishmael's own sons, "twelve princes according to their nations." In the first generation after their father they are spoken of as possessing towns and castles; therefore they must have found their way to the green oases of the burning land. And, as it is recorded that Ishmael dwelt in the presence all his brethren, so it is particularly mentioned that he died in their presence (Gen. xxv. 18) at the age of 137 years, half a century after his father.

of

The wilderness of Shur is in Stony Arabia, where the Israelites wandered; and Havilah is mentioned in connection with Eden. The Ishmaelites dwelt from Havilah to Shur. They settled all over the Peninsula, and chiefly in its central oases; where their race is still to be found distinct from the Joktanites. It was in the lower Nejd that Mr. Palgrave declares he saw the beginning of the mixture of the Ishmael and Kahtan races, which yet in general dwell apart, and are very different.

The Ishmaelites are otherwise named Hagarenes. Hagar, when cast forth by Abraham, dwelt with her son in the wilderness of Paran, north of Arabia. The promise of temporal prosperity to his seed (Gen. xvii. 20) was faithfully fulfilled. His fruit

ful twelve tribes extended along the frontier of Arabia, from the northern extremity of the Red Sea towards the mouth of the Euphrates.

They had towers and towns, but many of them also followed a wandering life in moveable camps, as they do to this day; they also conveyed merchandize, and became wealthy and powerful. We hear of them in Joseph's time, about seventy years after their father's death, as on the way from Gilead to Egypt with camels, bearing spicery and balm, and myrrh (Gen. xxxvii. 25). They are also here called Midianites, and so associated with those who sprung from Abraham's son Midian, by his second wife Keturah.

You can look at Gilead and Midian on the map of Eastern Palestine (p. 44), and then turn to our picture of the castle of Salcah, or Salkadh, with its very old history, situate on the southern border of the land of Bashan.

Mr. Cyril Graham, a recent traveller, made various journeys from this castle occupying so commanding a position on the very edge of the desert, whence any foe could be seen almost a day's journey off. From its height he beheld the black towns and cities, the "giant cities of Bashan," all now unpeopled save by the birds of the air, the wolf, the hyæna, and the jackal. A stone door of one of these cities is found in the British Museum; but of this we shall have more to say when the children of Israel conquer the land after their wilderness journey.

We have brought you to Salcah to look forth on the wide plains of Ishmael's habitation beyond it. Moses says to Israel, when he is giving them the sum total of their conquests (Deut. iii. 8)—

"We took at that time from the kings of the Amorites the