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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Job, Chapter XIV].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
<CENTER>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>J O B</B></FONT>
<BR>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XIV.</FONT>
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
</CENTER>
<FONT SIZE=-1>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Job had turned from speaking to his friends, finding it to no purpose
to reason with them, and here he goes on to speak to God and himself.
He had reminded his friends of their frailty and mortality
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:12"><I>ch.</I> xiii. 12</A>);
here he reminds himself of his own, and pleads it with God for some
mitigation of his miseries. We have here an account,
I. Of man's life, that it is,
1. Short,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:1">ver. 1</A>.
2. Sorrowful,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:1">ver. 1</A>.
3. Sinful,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:4">ver. 4</A>.
4. Stinted,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:5,14">ver. 5, 14</A>.
II. Of man's death, that it puts a final period to our present life, to
which we shall not again return
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:7-12">ver. 7-12</A>),
that it hides us from the calamities of life
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:13">ver. 13</A>),
destroys the hopes of life
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:18,19">ver. 18, 19</A>),
sends us away from the business of life
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:20">ver. 20</A>),
and keeps us in the dark concerning our relations in this life, how
much soever we have formerly been in care about them
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:21,22">ver. 21, 22</A>.
III. The use Job makes of all this.
1. He pleads it with God, who, he thought, was too strict and severe
with him
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:16,17">ver. 16, 17</A>),
begging that, in consideration of his frailty, he would not contend
with him
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:3">ver. 3</A>),
but grant him some respite,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:6">ver. 6</A>.
2. He engages himself to prepare for death
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:14">ver. 14</A>),
and encourages himself to hope that it would be comfortable to him,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:15">ver. 15</A>.
This chapter is proper for funeral solemnities; and serious meditations
on it will help us both to get good by the death of others and to get
ready for our own.</P>
</FONT>
<A NAME="Job14_1"> </A>
<A NAME="Job14_2"> </A>
<A NAME="Job14_3"> </A>
<A NAME="Job14_4"> </A>
<A NAME="Job14_5"> </A>
<A NAME="Job14_6"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Brevity and Frailty of Human Life.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1520.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Man <I>that is</I> born of a woman <I>is</I> of few days, and full of
trouble.
&nbsp; 2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth
also as a shadow, and continueth not.
&nbsp; 3 And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest
me into judgment with thee?
&nbsp; 4 Who can bring a clean <I>thing</I> out of an unclean? not one.
&nbsp; 5 Seeing his days <I>are</I> determined, the number of his months
<I>are</I> with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot
pass;
&nbsp; 6 Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as
a hireling, his day.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
We are here led to think,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. Of the original of human life. God is indeed its great original, for
he <I>breathed into man the breath of life</I> and in him we live; but
we date it from our birth, and thence we must date both its frailty and
its pollution.
1. Its frailty: <I>Man, that is born of a woman, is</I> therefore <I>of
few days,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
This may refer to the first woman, who was called <I>Eve,</I> because
she was the mother of all living. Of her, who being deceived by the
tempter was first in the transgression, we are all born, and
consequently derive from her that sin and corruption which both shorten
our days and sadden them. Or it may refer to every man's immediate
mother. The woman is the weaker vessel, and we know that <I>partus
sequitur ventrem--the child takes after the mother.</I> Let not the
strong man therefore glory in his strength, or in the strength of his
father, but remember that he is born of a woman, and that, when God
pleases, the <I>mighty men become as women,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:30">Jer. li. 30</A>.
2. Its pollution
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
<I>Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?</I> If man be born of
a woman that is a sinner, how can it be otherwise than that he should
be a sinner? See
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+25:4"><I>ch.</I> xxv. 4</A>.
<I>How can he be clean that is born of a woman?</I> Clean children
cannot come from unclean parents any more than pure streams from an
impure spring or grapes from thorns. Our habitual corruption is derived
with our nature from our parents, and is therefore bred in the bone.
Our blood is not only attainted by a legal conviction, but tainted with
an hereditary disease. Our Lord Jesus, being made sin for us, is said
to be <I>made of a woman,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+4:4">Gal. iv. 4</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. Of the nature of human life: it is <I>a flower,</I> it is a
<I>shadow,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
The flower is fading, and all its beauty soon withers and is gone. The
shadow is fleeting, and its very being will soon be lost and drowned in
the shadows of the night. Of neither do we make any account; in neither
do we put any confidence.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. Of the shortness and uncertainty of human life: Man is <I>of few
days.</I> Life is here computed, not by months or years, but by days,
for we cannot be sure of any day but that it may be our last. These
days are few, fewer than we think of, few at the most, in comparison
with the days of the first patriarchs, much more in comparison with the
days of eternity, but much fewer to most, who come short of what we
call <I>the age of man.</I> Man sometimes no sooner comes forth than he
<I>is cut down</I>--comes forth out of the womb than he dies in the
cradle--comes forth into the world and enters into the business of it
than he is hurried away as soon as he has laid his hand to the plough.
If not cut down immediately, yet <I>he flees as a shadow,</I> and never
continues in one stay, in one shape, but the fashion of it passes away;
so does this world, and our life in it,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+7:31">1 Cor. vii. 31</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
IV. Of the calamitous state of human life. Man, as he is short-lived,
so he is sad-lived. Though he had but a few days to spend here, yet, if
he might rejoice in those few, it were well (a short life and a merry
one is the boast of some); but it is not so. During these few days he
is <I>full of trouble,</I> not only troubled, but full of trouble,
either toiling or fretting, grieving or fearing. No day passes without
some vexation, some hurry, some disorder or other. Those that are fond
of the world shall have enough of it. He is <I>satur tremore--full of
commotion.</I> The fewness of his days creates him a continual trouble
and uneasiness in expectation of the period of them, and he always
hangs in doubt of his life. Yet, since man's days are so full of
trouble, it is well that they are few, that the soul's imprisonment in
the body, and banishment from the Lord, are not perpetual, are not
long. When we come to heaven our days will be many, and perfectly free
from trouble, and in the mean time faith, hope, and love, balance the
present grievances.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
V. Of the sinfulness of human life, arising from the sinfulness of the
human nature. So some understand that question
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>),
<I>Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?</I>--a clean
performance from an unclean principle? Note, Actual transgressions are
the natural product of habitual corruption, which is <I>therefore</I>
called <I>original</I> sin, because it is the original of all our sins.
This holy Job here laments, as all that are sanctified do, running up
the streams to the fountain
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+51:5">Ps. li. 5</A>);
and some think he intends it as a plea with God for compassion: "Lord,
be not extreme to mark my sins of human frailty and infirmity, for thou
knowest my weakness. <I>O remember that I am flesh!</I>" The Chaldee
paraphrase has an observable reading of this verse: <I>Who can make a
man clean that is polluted with sin? Cannot one? that is, God. Or who
but God, who is one, and will spare him?</I> God, by his almighty
grace, can change the skin of the Ethiopian, the skin of Job, though
clothed with worms.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
VI. Of the settled period of human life,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. Three things we are here assured of:--
(1.) That our life will come to an end; our days upon earth are not
numberless, are not endless, no, they are numbered, and will soon be
finished,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+5:26">Dan. v. 26</A>.
(2.) That it is determined, in the counsel and decree of God, how long
we shall live and when we shall die. The number of our months is with
God, at the disposal of his power, which cannot be controlled, and
under the view of his omniscience, which cannot be deceived. It is
certain that God's providence has the ordering of the period of our
lives; our times are in his hand. The powers of nature depend upon him,
and act under him. In him we live and move. Diseases are his servants;
he kills and makes alive. Nothing comes to pass by chance, no, not the
execution done by a bow drawn at a venture. It is therefore certain
that God's prescience has determined it before; for <I>known unto God
are all his works.</I> Whatever he does he determined, yet with a
regard partly to the settled course of nature (the end and the means
are determined together) and to the settled rules of moral government,
punishing evil and rewarding good in this life. We are no more governed
by the Stoic's blind fate than by the Epicurean's blind fortune.
(3.) That the bounds God has fixed we cannot pass; for his counsels are
unalterable, his foresight being infallible.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. These considerations Job here urges as reasons,
(1.) Why God should not be so strict in taking cognizance of him and of
his slips and failings
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
"Since I have such a corrupt nature within, and am liable to so much
trouble, which is a constant temptation from without, <I>dost thou open
thy eyes</I> and fasten them <I>upon such a one,</I> extremely to mark
what I do amiss?
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:27"><I>ch.</I> xiii. 27</A>.
And dost thou <I>bring me,</I> such a worthless worm as I am, <I>into
judgment with thee</I> who art so quick sighted to discover the least
failing, so holy to hate it, so just to condemn it, and so mighty to
punish it?" The consideration of our own inability to contend with God,
of our own sinfulness and weakness, should engage us to pray, <I>Lord,
enter not into judgment with thy servant.</I>
(2.) Why he should not be so severe in his dealings with him: "Lord, I
have but a little time to live. I must certainly and shortly go hence,
and the few days I have to spend here are, at the best, full of
trouble. O let me have a little respite!
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
Turn from afflicting a poor creature thus, and let him rest awhile;
allow him some breathing time, <I>until he shall accomplish as a
hireling his day.</I> It is appointed to me once to die; let that one
day suffice me, and let me not thus be continually dying, dying a
thousand deaths. Let it suffice that my life, at best, is <I>as the day
of a hireling,</I> a day of toil and labour. I am content to accomplish
that, and will make the best of the common hardships of human life, the
burden and heat of the day; but let me not feel those uncommon
tortures, let not my life be as the day of a malefactor, all
execution-day." Thus may we find some relief under great troubles by
recommending ourselves to the compassion of that God who knows our
frame and will consider it, and our being out of frame too.</P>
<A NAME="Job14_7"> </A>
<A NAME="Job14_8"> </A>
<A NAME="Job14_9"> </A>
<A NAME="Job14_10"> </A>
<A NAME="Job14_11"> </A>
<A NAME="Job14_12"> </A>
<A NAME="Job14_13"> </A>
<A NAME="Job14_14"> </A>
<A NAME="Job14_15"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Death Anticipated.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1520.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>7 For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will
sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.
&nbsp; 8 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock
thereof die in the ground;
&nbsp; 9 <I>Yet</I> through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth
boughs like a plant.
&nbsp; 10 But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the
ghost, and where <I>is</I> he?
&nbsp; 11 <I>As</I> the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth
and drieth up:
&nbsp; 12 So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens <I>be</I> no
more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
&nbsp; 13 O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou
wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou
wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!
&nbsp; 14 If a man die, shall he live <I>again?</I> all the days of my
appointed time will I wait, till my change come.
&nbsp; 15 Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a
desire to the work of thine hands.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
We have seen what Job has to say concerning life; let us now see what
he has to say concerning death, which his thoughts were very much
conversant with, now that he was sick and sore. It is not unseasonable,
when we are in health, to think of dying; but it is an inexcusable
incogitancy if, when we are already taken into the custody of death's
messengers, we look upon it as a thing at a distance. Job had already
shown that death will come, and that its hour is already fixed. Now
here he shows,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. That death is a removal for ever out of this world. This he had
spoken of before
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+7:9,10"><I>ch.</I> vii. 9, 10</A>),
and now he mentions it again; for, though it be a truth that needs not
be proved, yet it needs to be much considered, that it may be duly
improved.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. A man cut down by death will not revive again, as a tree cut down
will. What hope there is of a tree he shows very elegantly,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:7-9"><I>v.</I> 7-9</A>.
If the body of the tree be cut down, and only the stem or stump left in
the ground, though it seem dead and dry, yet it will shoot out young
boughs again, as if it were but newly planted. The moisture of the
earth and the rain of heaven are, as it were, scented and perceived by
the stump of a tree, and they have an influence upon it to revive it;
but the dead body of a man would not perceive them, nor be in the least
affected by them. In Nebuchadnezzar's dream, when his being deprived of
the use of his reason was signified by the cutting down of a tree, his
return to it again was signified by the leaving of the stump in the
earth with a band of iron and brass to be <I>wet with the dew of
heaven,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+4:15">Dan. iv. 15</A>.
But man has no such prospect of a return to life. The vegetable life is
a cheap and easy thing: the scent of water will recover it. The animal
life, in some insects and fowls, is so: the heat of the sun retrieves
it. But the rational soul, when once retired, is too great, too noble,
a thing to be recalled by any of the powers of nature; it is out of the
reach of sun or rain, and cannot be restored but by the immediate
operations of Omnipotence itself; for
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>)
<I>man dieth and wasteth, away, yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where
is he?</I> Two words are here used for man:--<I>Geber, a mighty
man,</I> though mighty, dies; <I>Adam, a man of the earth,</I> because
earthy, gives up the ghost. Note, Man is a dying creature. He is here
described by what occurs,
(1.) Before death: he <I>wastes away;</I> he is continually wasting,
dying daily, spending upon the quick stock of life. Sickness and old
age are wasting things to the flesh, the strength, the beauty.
(2.) In death: <I>he gives up the ghost;</I> the soul leaves the body,
and returns to God who gave it, the Father of spirits.
(3.) After death: <I>Where is he?</I> He is not where he was; his place
knows him no more; but <I>is he nowhere?</I> So some read it. Yes, he
is somewhere; and it is a very awful consideration to think where those
are that have given up the ghost, and where we shall be when we give it
up. It has gone to the world of spirits, gone into eternity, gone to
return no more to this world.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. A man laid down in the grave will not rise up again,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:11,12"><I>v.</I> 11, 12</A>.
Every night we lie down to sleep, and in the morning we awake and rise
again; but at death we must lie down in the grave, not to awake or rise
again to such a world, such a state, as we are now in, never to awake
or arise <I>until the heavens,</I> the faithful measures of time, shall
<I>be no more,</I> and consequently time itself shall come to an end
and be swallowed up in eternity; so that the life of man may fitly be
compared to the waters of a land-flood, which spread far and make a
great show, but they are shallow, and when they are cut off from the
sea or river, the swelling and overflowing of which was the cause of
them, they soon decay and dry up, and their place knows them no more.
The waters of life are soon exhaled and disappear. The body, like some
of those waters, sinks and soaks into the earth, and is buried there;
the soul, like others of them, is drawn upwards, to mingle with the
waters above the firmament. The learned Sir Richard Blackmore makes
this also to be a dissimilitude. If the waters decay and be dried up in
the summer, yet they will return again in the winter; but it is not so
with the life of man. Take part of his paraphrase in his own
words:--</P>
<CENTER>
<TABLE BORDER=0>
<TR><TD>A flowing river, or a standing lake,
<BR>May their dry banks and naked shores forsake;
<BR>Their waters may exhale and upward move,
<BR>Their channel leave to roll in clouds above;
<BR>But the returning water will restore
<BR>What in the summer they had lost before:
<BR>But if, O man! thy vital streams desert
<BR>Their purple channels and defraud the heart,
<BR>With fresh recruits they ne'er will be supplied,
<BR>Nor feel their leaping life's returning tide.
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
</CENTER>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. That yet there will be a return of man to life again in another
world, at the end of time, when <I>the heavens</I> are <I>no more.</I>
Then <I>they shall awake and be raised out of their sleep.</I> The
resurrection of the dead was doubtless an article of Job's creed, as
appears,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+19:26"><I>ch.</I> xix. 26</A>,
and to that, it should seem, he has an eye here, where, in the belief
of that, we have three things:--</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. A humble petition for a hiding-place in the grave,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
It was not only a passionate weariness of this life that he wished to
die, but in a pious assurance of a better life, to which at length he
should arise. <I>O that thou wouldst hide me in the grave!</I> The
grave is not only a resting-place, but a hiding-place, to the people of
God. God has the key of the grave, to let in now and to let out at the
resurrection. He <I>hides men in the grave,</I> as we hide our treasure
in a place of secresy and safety; and he who hides will find, and
nothing shall be lost. "O that thou wouldst hide me, not only from the
storms and troubles of this life, but for the bliss and glory of a
better life! Let me lie in the grave, reserved for immortality, in
secret from all the world, but not from thee, not from those eyes which
saw my substance when first curiously wrought in <I>the lowest parts of
the earth,</I>"
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+139:15,16">Ps. cxxxix. 15, 16</A>.
There let me lie,
(1.) <I>Until thy wrath be past.</I> As long as the bodies of the
saints lie in the grave, so long there are some remains of that wrath
which they were by nature children of, so long they are under some of
the effects of sin; but, when the body is raised, it is wholly
past--death, the last enemy, will then be totally destroyed.
(2.) Until the <I>set time</I> comes for my being remembered, as Noah
was remembered in the ark
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+8:1">Gen. viii. 1</A>),
where God not only hid him from the destruction of the old world, but
reserved him for the reparation of a new world. The bodies of the
saints shall not be forgotten in the grave. There is a time appointed,
a time set, for their being enquired after. We cannot be sure that we
shall look through the darkness of our present troubles and see good
days after them in this world; but, if we can but get well to the
grave, we may with an eye of faith look through the darkness of that,
as Job here, and see better days on the other side of it, in a better
world.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. A holy resolution patiently to attend the will of God both in his
death and his resurrection
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
<I>If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time
will I wait until my change come.</I> Job's friends proving miserable
comforters, he set himself to be the more his own comforter. His case
was now bad, but he pleases himself with the expectation of a change. I
think it cannot be meant of his return to a prosperous condition in
this world. His friends indeed flattered him with the hopes of that,
but he himself all along despaired of it. Comforts founded upon
uncertainties at best must needs be uncertain comforts; and therefore,
no doubt, it is something more sure than that which he here bears up
himself with the expectation of. The change he waits for must
therefore be understood either,
(1.) Of the change of the resurrection, when the vile body shall be
changed
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+3:21">Phil. iii. 21</A>),
and a great and glorious change it will be; and then that question,
<I>If a man die, shall he live again?</I> must be taken by way of
admiration. "Strange! Shall these dry bones live! If so, all the time
appointed for the continuance of the separation between soul and body
my separate soul shall wait until that change comes, when it shall be
united again to the body, <I>and my flesh also shall rest in hope.</I>"
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+16:9">Ps. xvi. 9</A>.
Or,
(2.) Of the change at death. "<I>If a man die, shall he live
again?</I> No, not such a life as he now lives; and therefore I will
patiently wait until that change comes which will put a period to my
calamities, and not impatiently wish for the anticipation of it, as I
have done." Observe here,
[1.] That it is a serious thing to die; it is a work by itself. It is a
change; there is a visible change in the body, its appearance altered,
its actions brought to an end, but a greater change with the soul,
which quits the body, and removes to the world of spirits, finishes its
state of probation and enters upon that of retribution. This change
will come, and it will be a final change, not like the transmutations
of the elements, which return to their former state. No, we must die,
not thus to live again. It is but once to die, and that had need be
well done that is to be done but once. An error here is fatal,
conclusive, and not again to be rectified.
[2.] That therefore it is the duty of every one of us to wait for that
change, and to continue waiting all the days of our appointed time. The
time of life is an appointed time; that time is to be reckoned by days;
and those days are to be spent in waiting for our change. That is,
<I>First,</I> We must expect that it will come, and think much of it.
<I>Secondly,</I> We must desire that it would come, as those that long
to be with Christ. <I>Thirdly,</I> We must be willing to tarry until it
does come, as those that believe God's time to be the best.
<I>Fourthly,</I> We must give diligence to get ready against it comes,
that it may be a blessed change to us.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
3. A joyful expectation of bliss and satisfaction in this
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>):
Then <I>thou shalt call, and I will answer thee.</I> Now, he was under
such a cloud that he could not, he durst not, answer
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:15,35,13:22"><I>ch.</I> ix. 15, 35; xiii. 22</A>);
but he comforted himself with this, that there would come a time when
God would call and he should answer. Then, that is,
(1.) At the resurrection, "Thou shalt call me out of the grave, by the
voice of the archangel, and I will answer and come at the call." The
body is the <I>work of God's hands,</I> and he will have a desire to
that, having prepared a glory for it. Or,
(2.) At death: "Thou shalt call my body to the grave, and my soul to
thyself, and I will answer, Ready, Lord, ready--Coming, coming; here I
am." Gracious souls can cheerfully answer death's summons, and appear
to his writ. Their spirits are not forcibly required from them (as
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+12:20">Luke xii. 20</A>),
but willingly resigned by them, and the earthly tabernacle not
violently pulled down, but voluntarily laid down, with this assurance,
"Thou <I>wilt have a desire to the work of thy hands.</I> Thou hast
mercy in store for me, not only as made by thy providence, but new-made
by thy grace;" otherwise <I>he that made them will not save them.</I>
Note, Grace in the soul is the work of God's own hands, and therefore
he will not forsake it in this world
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+138:8">Ps. cxxxviii. 8</A>),
but will have a desire to it, to perfect it in the other, and to crown
it with endless glory.</P>
<A NAME="Job14_16"> </A>
<A NAME="Job14_17"> </A>
<A NAME="Job14_18"> </A>
<A NAME="Job14_19"> </A>
<A NAME="Job14_20"> </A>
<A NAME="Job14_21"> </A>
<A NAME="Job14_22"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Complainings of Job.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1520.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>16 For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my
sin?
&nbsp; 17 My transgression <I>is</I> sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up
mine iniquity.
&nbsp; 18 And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the
rock is removed out of his place.
&nbsp; 19 The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things
which grow <I>out</I> of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest
the hope of man.
&nbsp; 20 Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou
changest his countenance, and sendest him away.
&nbsp; 21 His sons come to honour, and he knoweth <I>it</I> not; and they
are brought low, but he perceiveth <I>it</I> not of them.
&nbsp; 22 But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within
him shall mourn.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Job here returns to his complaints; and, though he is not without hope
of future bliss, he finds it very hard to get over his present
grievances.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. He complains of the particular hardships he apprehended himself
under from the strictness of God's justice,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:16,17"><I>v.</I> 16, 17</A>.
<I>Therefore</I> he longed to go hence to that world where God's wrath
will be past, because now he was under the continual tokens of it, as a
child, under the severe discipline of the rod, longs to be of age.
"When shall my change come? <I>For now thou</I> seemest to me to
<I>number my steps,</I> and <I>watch over my sin,</I> and <I>seal it up
in a bag,</I> as bills of indictment are kept safely, to be produced
against the prisoner." See
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+32:34">Deut. xxxii. 34</A>.
"Thou takest all advantages against me; old scores are called over,
every infirmity is animadverted upon, and no sooner is a false step
taken than I am beaten for it." Now,
1. Job does right to the divine justice in owning that he smarted for
his sins and transgressions, that he had done enough to deserve all
that was laid upon him; for there was sin in all his steps, and he was
guilty of transgression enough to bring all this ruin upon him, if it
were strictly enquired into: he is far from saying that he perishes
being innocent. But,
2. He does wrong to the divine goodness in suggesting that God was
extreme to mark what he did amiss, and made the worst of every thing.
He spoke to this purport,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:27"><I>ch.</I> xiii. 27</A>.
It was unadvisedly said, and therefore we will not dwell too much upon
it. God does indeed see all our sins; he sees sin in his own people;
but he is not severe in reckoning with us, nor is the law ever
stretched against us, but we are punished less than our iniquities
deserve. God does indeed seal and sew up, against the day of wrath, the
transgression of the impenitent, but the sins of his people he blots
out as a cloud.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. He complains of the wasting condition of mankind in general. We
live in a dying world. <I>Who knows the power of God's anger, by which
we are consumed and troubled, and in which all our days are passed
away?</I> See
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+90:7-9,11">Ps. xc. 7-9, 11</A>.
And who can bear up against his rebukes?
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+39:11">Ps. xxxix. 11</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. We see the decays of the earth itself.
(1.) Of the strongest parts of it,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
Nothing will last always, for we see even mountains moulder and come to
nought; they wither and fall as a leaf; rocks wax old and pass away by
the continual beating of the sea against them. <I>The waters wear the
stones</I> with constant dropping, <I>non vi, sed s&aelig;pe cadendo--not by
the violence, but by the constancy with which they fall.</I> On this
earth every thing is the worse for the wearing. <I>Tempus edax
rerum--Time devours all things.</I> It is not so with the heavenly
bodies.
(2.) Of the natural products of it. The things which grow out of the
earth, and seem to be firmly rooted in it, are sometimes by an excess
of rain washed away,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
Some think he pleads this for relief: "Lord, my patience will not hold
out always; even rocks and mountains will fail at last; therefore cease
the controversy."</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. No marvel then if we see the decays of man upon the earth, for he is
of the earth, earthy. Job begins to think his case is not singular, and
therefore he ought to reconcile himself to the common lot. We perceive
by many instances,
(1.) How vain it is to expect much from the enjoyments of life:
"<I>Thou destroyest the hope of man,</I>" that is, "puttest an end to
all the projects he had framed and all the prospects of satisfaction he
had flattered himself with." Death will be the destruction of all those
hopes which are built upon worldly confidences and confined to worldly
comforts. Hope in Christ, and hope in heaven, death will consummate and
not destroy.
(2.) How vain it is to struggle against the assaults of death
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>):
<I>Thou prevailest for ever against him.</I> Note, Man is an unequal
match for God. Whom God contends with he will certainly prevail
against, prevail for ever against so that they shall never be able to
make head again. Note further, The stroke of death is irresistible; it
is to no purpose to dispute its summons. God prevails against man and
he passes away, and lo he is not. Look upon a dying man, and see,
[1.] How his looks are altered: <I>Thou changest his countenance,</I>
and this in two ways:--<I>First,</I> By the disease of his body. When a
man has been a few days sick what a change is there in his countenance!
How much more when he has been a few minutes dead! The countenance
which was majestic and awful becomes mean and despicable--that was
lovely and amiable becomes ghastly and frightful. <I>Bury my dead out
of my sight.</I> Where then is the admired beauty? Death changes the
countenance, and then sends us away out of this world, gives us one
dismission hence, never to return. <I>Secondly,</I> By the discomposure
of his mind. Note, The approach of death will make the strongest and
stoutest to change countenance; it will make the most merry smiling
countenance to look grave and serious, and the most bold daring
countenance to look pale and timorous.
[2.] How little he is concerned in the affairs of his family, which
once lay so near his heart. When he is in the hands of the harbingers
of death, suppose struck with a palsy or apoplexy, or delirious in a
fever, or in conflict with death, tell him then the most agreeable
news, or the most painful, concerning his children, it is all alike, he
knows it not, he perceives it not,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>.
He is going to that world where he will be a perfect stranger to all
those things which here filled and affected him. The consideration of
this should moderate our cares concerning our children and families.
God will know what comes of them when we are gone. To him therefore let
us commit them, with him let us leave them, and not burden ourselves
with needless fruitless cares concerning them.
[3.] How dreadful the agonies of death are
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>):
<I>While his flesh is upon him</I> (so it may be read), that is, the
body he is so loth to lay down,: <I>it shall have pain; and while his
soul is within him,</I> that is, the spirit he is so loth to resign, it
shall mourn. Note, Dying work is hard work; dying pangs are, commonly,
sore pangs. It is folly therefore for men to defer their repentance to
a death-bed, and to have that to do which is the one thing needful when
they are really unfit to do any thing: but it is true wisdom by making
our peace with God in Christ and keeping a good conscience, to treasure
up comforts which will support and relieve us against the pains and
sorrows of a dying hour.</P>
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