The books of experience portray the experiences of the godly saints. With them God encountered another kind of problem. Although they knew the difference between the evil of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the life of the tree of life, they could not discern the difference between the good of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the life of the tree of life. They knew that evil was not life, but they did not know that good was not life. They renounced evil and desired to draw near to God by doing good, supposing that evil was enmity with God but that good was not. They believed that evil was not of the tree of life but that good was of the tree of life. Therefore, while these ones renounced evil, they kept their own goodness.
The book of Job begins with a man who feared God and turned away from evil, who was blameless, perfect, and upright. However, God struck him and consumed him; God wanted to rid him of his goodness. When I was newly saved, I was puzzled when I read the book of Job. I asked, “O God, why would You strike such a good man? Even You testified that Job turned away from evil, feared You, and was perfect and upright. Even Satan could not accuse him of anything. Why would You strike such a good man?” At that time I really defended Job’s case. I felt that it was fitting to punish a person such as myself, but it was a great injustice to punish Job. Some said that all of God’s discipline is for our benefit and that Job was being disciplined by God. When I heard this, I was even less convinced. Discipline is given because someone has done something wrong; but Job had not done anything wrong. So why was he being disciplined? Gradually, God opened my eyes, and I realized that God struck Job, not because he was bad but because he was too good. God did not want to deal with Job’s evil but with his good; Job’s good had replaced God. Job was full of good but he lacked God; he had the good of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil but he lacked the life of the tree of life.
Even Job’s three friends were as confused as Job. They thought that since God could do no wrong and would never be unjust, then surely those who had been struck by God must be at fault. The more they spoke, the more defiant Job became. Job seemed to say, “Surely that is not true! I will find the Almighty and argue with Him in order to see where I am at fault. You are more at fault than I am; yet you are not being punished. Why is this happening?”
More than ten years ago God put me through a very severe trial. At that time I was confused, so I deeply examined my conscience; I truly desired God, loved God, and was willing to live for God, yet the situation was unbearable. In the midst of the trial, I was weak and short of faith, and nothing happened no matter how earnestly I prayed. Like Job’s friends, a few brothers and sisters came to see me and said, “God is never wrong; we should always examine ourselves before God.” I said to myself, “I have been lying sick for a few months, and every day I examine my faults and confess them thousands of times. But the more I confess, the weaker I become. What should I do?”
These friends of Job were truly physicians of no value, waterless clouds who could only speak groundless accusations that were of no help to anyone. None of Job’s three friends could help him. In the end, these men’s words ran out; even Job himself stopped speaking. Then God came in a whirlwind and asked Job many questions. These questions had nothing to do with evil or good, and they could be answered only when God Himself was the answer. After the last question was asked, Job could only prostrate himself in the dust, saying, “I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, / But now my eye has seen You; / Therefore I abhor myself” (42:5-6). He abhorred not his sin but his good self. Here at last was a good man defeated by God, a perfect man fallen to the ground, and a good man bankrupted. He understood that God does not want man to receive either the evil or the good of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; rather, He wants man to receive the life of the tree of life.
In Psalms, the saints’ concept still is not detached from good. Psalm 1:1-2 says, according to the concept of the saint, “Blessed is the man / Who does not walk / In the counsel of the wicked, / Nor stand on the path of sinners, / Nor sit in the seat of mockers; / Rather his delight is in the law of Jehovah, / And in His law he meditates by day and by night.” These words altogether emphasize the matter of good and evil. Immediately after these words in Psalm 1, verses 6 and 12 of Psalm 2 say, “But I have installed My King / Upon Zion, My holy mountain. / ...Kiss the Son / ...Blessed are all those who take refuge in Him.” These verses do not say that those who do good, forsake evil, and keep the law are blessed; it says that those who draw near to the Son of God are blessed. These two psalms are the opposite of each other. The saints’ concept was to keep the law and do good; God’s concept is Christ. The entire book of Psalms is structured in this way. It shows us that the concept of the saints is related to good, but the revelation of God is related to Christ. However, because the saints feared God and lived before God, the Spirit of Christ had a position within them. Therefore, when they uttered something about their goodness and merit, the Holy Spirit took the opportunity to speak forth Christ. This kind of situation continues throughout the five books of poetry.
When we come to Song of Songs, however, we see that it has absolutely nothing to do with good and evil. Instead, it is altogether a story of the fellowship between the beloved and his counterpart. Song of Songs is altogether about a girl pursuing her beloved and taking her beloved as the object and the center.
In the Old Testament, the books of history show us that most people turned away from God and lived in evil; only a small number of people were saved from evil to live in God, taking God as their life. The books of poetry show us that there was a group of saints who were willing to live in good and focus on good. Nevertheless, they did not understand that God desired to be their unique life. Therefore, God came in to strike them and correct them so that they would abandon their own goodness and live in God, taking Him as their unique life, being united with God, being in fellowship with God, and being joined to God as one. This is the second part of the Old Testament.