mh_parser/vol_split/18 - Job/Chapter 27.xml

<div2 id="Job.xxviii" n="xxviii" next="Job.xxix" prev="Job.xxvii" progress="13.20%" title="Chapter XXVII">
<h2 id="Job.xxviii-p0.1">J O B</h2>
<h3 id="Job.xxviii-p0.2">CHAP. XXVII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Job.xxviii-p1">Job had sometimes complained of his friends that
they were so eager in disputing that they would scarcely let him
put in a word: "Suffer me that I may speak;" and, "O that you would
hold your peace!" But now, it seems, they were out of breath, and
left him room to say what he would. Either they were themselves
convinced that Job was in the right or they despaired of convincing
him that he was in the wrong; and therefore they threw away their
weapons and gave up the cause. Job was too hard for them, and
forced them to quit the field; for great is the truth and will
prevail. What Job had said (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.1-Job.26.14" parsed="|Job|26|1|26|14" passage="Job 26:1-14"><i>ch.</i> xxvi.</scripRef>) was a sufficient answer
to Bildad's discourse; and now Job paused awhile, to see whether
Zophar would take his turn again; but, he declining it, Job himself
went on, and, without any interruption or vexation given him, said
all he desired to say in this matter. I. He begins with a solemn
protestation of his integrity and of his resolution to hold it
fast, <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.2-Job.27.6" parsed="|Job|27|2|27|6" passage="Job 27:2-6">ver. 2-6</scripRef>. II. He
expresses the dread he had of that hypocrisy which they charged him
with, <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.7-Job.27.10" parsed="|Job|27|7|27|10" passage="Job 27:7-10">ver. 7-10</scripRef>. III. He
shows the miserable end of wicked people, notwithstanding their
long prosperity, and the curse that attends them and is entailed
upon their families, <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.11-Job.27.23" parsed="|Job|27|11|27|23" passage="Job 27:11-23">ver.
11-23</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Job.xxviii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.27" parsed="|Job|27|0|0|0" passage="Job 27" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Job.xxviii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.1-Job.27.6" parsed="|Job|27|1|27|6" passage="Job 27:1-6" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.27.1-Job.27.6">
<h4 id="Job.xxviii-p1.7">Job's Protestation of His
Sincerity. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xxviii-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xxviii-p2">1 Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,
  2 <i>As</i> God liveth, <i>who</i> hath taken away my
judgment; and the Almighty, <i>who</i> hath vexed my soul;   3
All the while my breath <i>is</i> in me, and the spirit of God
<i>is</i> in my nostrils;   4 My lips shall not speak
wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.   5 God forbid that I
should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity
from me.   6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it
go: my heart shall not reproach <i>me</i> so long as I live.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxviii-p3">Job's discourse here is called a <i>parable
(mashal</i>), the title of Solomon's proverbs, because it was grave
and weighty, and very instructive, and he spoke as one having
authority. It comes from a word that signifies <i>to rule,</i> or
<i>have dominion;</i> and some think it intimates that Job now
triumphed over his opponents, and spoke as one that had baffled
them. We say of an excellent preacher that he knows how <i>dominari
in concionibus—to command his hearers.</i> Job did so here. A long
strife there had been between Job and his friends; they seemed
disposed to have the matter compromised; and therefore, since an
<i>oath for confirmation is an end of strife</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.6.16" parsed="|Heb|6|16|0|0" passage="Heb 6:16">Heb. vi. 16</scripRef>), Job here backs all he
had said in maintenance of his own integrity with a solemn oath, to
silence contradiction, and take the blame entirely upon himself if
he prevaricated. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxviii-p4">I. The form of his oath (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.2" parsed="|Job|27|2|0|0" passage="Job 27:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): <i>As God liveth, who hath
taken away my judgment.</i> Here, 1. He speaks highly of God, in
calling him <i>the living God</i> (which means <i>everliving,</i>
the eternal God, that has life in himself) and in appealing to him
as the sole and sovereign Judge. We can swear by no greater, and it
is an affront to him to swear by any other. 2. Yet he speaks hardly
of him, and unbecomingly, in saying that he had taken away his
judgment (that is, refused to do him justice in this controversy
and to appear in defence of him), and that by continuing his
troubles, on which his friends grounded their censures of him, he
had taken from him the opportunity he hoped ere now to have of
clearing himself. Elihu reproved him for this word (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.34.5" parsed="|Job|34|5|0|0" passage="Job 34:5"><i>ch.</i> xxxiv. 5</scripRef>); for God is
righteous in all his ways, and takes away no man's judgment. But
see how apt we are to despair of favour if it be not shown us
immediately, so poor-spirited are we and so soon weary of waiting
God's time. He also charges it upon God that he had <i>vexed his
soul,</i> had not only not appeared for him, but had appeared
against him, and, by laying such grievous afflictions upon him had
quite embittered his life to him and all the comforts of it. We, by
our impatience, vex our own souls and then complain of God that he
has vexed them. Yet see Job's confidence in the goodness both of
his cause and of his God, that though God seemed to be angry with
him, and to act against him for the present, yet he could
cheerfully commit his cause to him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxviii-p5">II. The matter of his oath, <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.3-Job.27.4" parsed="|Job|27|3|27|4" passage="Job 27:3,4"><i>v.</i> 3, 4</scripRef>. 1. That he would
not <i>speak wickedness, nor utter deceit</i>—that, in general, he
would never allow himself in the way of lying, that, as in this
debate he had all along spoken as he thought, so he would never
wrong his conscience by speaking otherwise; he would never maintain
any doctrine, nor assert any matter of fact, but what he believed
to be true; nor would he deny the truth, how much soever it might
make against him: and, whereas his friends charged him with being a
hypocrite, he was ready to answer, upon oath, to all their
interrogatories, if called to do so. On the one hand he would not,
for all the world, deny the charge if he knew himself guilty, but
would declare the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth, and take to himself the shame of his hypocrisy. On the other
hand, since he was conscious to himself of his integrity, and that
he was not such a man as his friends represented him, he would
never betray his integrity, nor charge himself with that which he
was innocent of. He would not be brought, no, not by the rack of
their unjust censures, falsely to accuse himself. If we must not
bear false witness against our neighbour, then not against
ourselves. 2. That he would adhere to this resolution as long as he
lived (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.3" parsed="|Job|27|3|0|0" passage="Job 27:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): <i>All
the while my breath is in me.</i> Our resolutions against sin
should be thus constant, resolutions for life. In things doubtful
and indifferent, it is not safe to be thus peremptory. We know not
what reason we may see to change our mind: God may reveal to us
that which we now are not aware of. But in so plain a thing as this
we cannot be too positive that we will never speak wickedness.
Something of a reason for his resolution is here implied—that our
breath will not be always in us. We must shortly breathe our last,
and therefore, while our breath is in us, we must never breathe
wickedness and deceit, nor allow ourselves to say or do any thing
which will make against us when our breath shall depart. The breath
in us is called <i>the spirit of God,</i> because he breathed it
into us; and this is another reason why we must not speak
wickedness. It is God that gives us life and breath, and therefore,
while we have breath, we must praise him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxviii-p6">III. The explication of his oath (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.5-Job.27.6" parsed="|Job|27|5|27|6" passage="Job 27:5,6"><i>v.</i> 5, 6</scripRef>): "<i>God forbid
that I should justify you</i> in your uncharitable censures of me,
by owning myself a hypocrite: no, <i>until I die I will not remove
my integrity from me; my righteousness I hold fast, and will not
let it go.</i>" 1. He would always be an honest man, would hold
fast his integrity, and not curse God, as Satan, by his wife, urged
him to do, <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.9" parsed="|Job|2|9|0|0" passage="Job 2:9"><i>ch.</i> ii. 9</scripRef>.
Job here thinks of dying, and of getting ready for death, and
therefore resolves never to part with his religion, though he had
lost all he had in the world. Note, The best preparative for death
is perseverance to death in our integrity. "<i>Until I die,</i>"
that is, "though I die by this affliction, I will not thereby be
put out of conceit with my God and my religion. <i>Though he slay
me, yet will I trust in him.</i>" 2. He would always stand to it
that he was an honest man; he would not remove, he would not part
with, the conscience, and comfort, and credit of his integrity; he
was resolved to defend it to the last. "God knows, and my own heart
knows, that I always meant well, and did not allow myself in the
omission of any known duty or the commission of any known sin. This
is my rejoicing, and no man shall rob me of it; I will never lie
against my right." It has often been the lot of upright men to be
censured and condemned as hypocrites; but it well becomes them to
bear up boldly against such censures, and not to be discouraged by
them nor think the worse of themselves for them; as the apostle
(<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.13.18" parsed="|Heb|13|18|0|0" passage="Heb 13:18">Heb. xiii. 18</scripRef>): <i>We
have a good conscience in all things, willing to live
honestly.</i></p>
<verse id="Job.xxviii-p6.4">
<l class="t1" id="Job.xxviii-p6.5">Hic murus aheneus esto, nil conscire sibi.</l>
<l class="t1" id="Job.xxviii-p6.6"/>
<l class="t1" id="Job.xxviii-p6.7">Be this thy brazen bulwark of defence,</l>
<l class="t1" id="Job.xxviii-p6.8">Still to preserve thy conscious innocence.</l>
</verse>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxviii-p7">Job complained much of the reproaches of
his friends; but (says he) <i>my heart shall not reproach me,</i>
that is, "I will never give my heart cause to reproach me, but will
keep a conscience void of offence; and, while I do so, I will not
give my heart leave to reproach me." <i>Who shall lay any thing to
the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies.</i> To resolve
that our hearts shall not reproach us when we give them cause to do
so is to affront God, whose deputy conscience is, and to wrong
ourselves; for it is a good thing, when a man has sinned, to have a
heart within him to smite him for it, <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.24.10" parsed="|2Sam|24|10|0|0" passage="2Sa 24:10">2 Sam. xxiv. 10</scripRef>. But to resolve that our
hearts shall not reproach us while we still hold fast our integrity
is to baffle the designs of the evil spirit (who tempts good
Christians to question their adoption, <i>If thou be the Son of
God</i>) and to concur with the operations of the good Spirit, who
witnesses to their adoption.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.xxviii-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.7-Job.27.10" parsed="|Job|27|7|27|10" passage="Job 27:7-10" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.27.7-Job.27.10">
<h4 id="Job.xxviii-p7.3">Condition of Hypocrites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xxviii-p7.4">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xxviii-p8">7 Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that
riseth up against me as the unrighteous.   8 For what
<i>is</i> the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when
God taketh away his soul?   9 Will God hear his cry when
trouble cometh upon him?   10 Will he delight himself in the
Almighty? will he always call upon God?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxviii-p9">Job having solemnly protested the
satisfaction he had in his integrity, for the further clearing of
himself, here expresses the dread he had of being found a
hypocrite.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxviii-p10">I. He tells us how he startled at the
thought of it, for he looked upon the condition of a hypocrite and
a wicked man to be certainly the most miserable condition that any
man could be in (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.7" parsed="|Job|27|7|0|0" passage="Job 27:7"><i>v.</i>
7</scripRef>): <i>Let my enemy be as the wicked,</i> a proverbial
expression, like that (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.4.19" parsed="|Dan|4|19|0|0" passage="Da 4:19">Dan. iv.
19</scripRef>), <i>The dream be to those that hate thee.</i> Job
was so far from indulging himself in any wicked way, and flattering
himself in it, that, if he might have leave to wish the greatest
evil he could think of to the worst enemy he had in the world, he
would wish him the portion of a wicked man, knowing that worse he
could not wish him. Not that we may lawfully wish any man to be
wicked, or that any man who is not wicked should be treated as
wicked; but we should all choose to be in the condition of a
beggar, an out-law, a galley-slave, any thing, rather that in the
condition of the wicked, though in ever so much pomp and outward
prosperity.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxviii-p11">II. He gives us the reasons of it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxviii-p12">1. Because the hypocrite's hopes will not
be crowned (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.8" parsed="|Job|27|8|0|0" passage="Job 27:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>):
<i>For what is the hope of the hypocrite?</i> Bildad had condemned
it (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.13-Job.8.14" parsed="|Job|8|13|8|14" passage="Job 8:13,14"><i>ch.</i> viii. 13,
14</scripRef>), and Zophar (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.11.20" parsed="|Job|11|20|0|0" passage="Job 11:20"><i>ch.</i> xi. 20</scripRef>), and Job here concurs
with them, and reads the death of the hypocrite's hope with as much
assurance as they had done; and this fitly comes in as a reason why
he would not remove his integrity, but still hold it fast. Note,
The consideration of the miserable condition of wicked people, and
especially hypocrites, should engage us to be upright (for we are
undone, for ever undone, if we be not) and also to get the
comfortable evidence of our uprightness; for how can we be easy if
the great concern lie at uncertainties? Job's friends would
persuade him that all his hope was but the hope of the hypocrite,
<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.4.6" parsed="|Job|4|6|0|0" passage="Job 4:6"><i>ch.</i> iv. 6</scripRef>. "Nay,"
says he, "I would not, for all the world, be so foolish as to build
upon such a rotten foundation; for <i>what is the hope of the
hypocrite?</i>" See here, (1.) The hypocrite deceived. <i>He has
gained,</i> and he has hope; this is his bright side. It is allowed
that he has gained by his hypocrisy, has gained the praise and
applause of men and the wealth of this world. Jehu gained a kingdom
by his hypocrisy and the Pharisees many a widow's house. Upon this
gain he builds his hope, such as it is. He hopes he is in good
circumstances for another world, because he finds he is so for
this, and he blesses himself in his own way. (2.) The hypocrite
undeceived. He will at last see himself wretchedly cheated; for,
[1.] God shall <i>take away his soul,</i> sorely against his will.
<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p12.5" osisRef="Bible:Luke.12.20" parsed="|Luke|12|20|0|0" passage="Lu 12:20">Luke xii. 20</scripRef>, <i>Thy soul
shall be required of thee.</i> God, as the Judge, takes it away to
be tried and determined to its everlasting state. He shall then
fall into the hands of the living God, to be dealt with
immediately. [2.] What will his hope be then? It will be vanity and
a lie; it will stand him in no stead. The wealth of this world,
which he hoped in, he must leave behind him, <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p12.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.49.17" parsed="|Ps|49|17|0|0" passage="Ps 49:17">Ps. xlix. 17</scripRef>. The happiness of the other
world, which he hoped for, he will certainly miss of. He hoped to
go to heaven, but he will be shamefully disappointed; he will plead
his external profession, privileges, and performances, but all his
pleas will be overruled as frivolous: <i>Depart from me, I know you
not.</i> So that, upon the whole, it is certain that a formal
hypocrite, with all his gains and all his hopes, will be miserable
in a dying hour.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxviii-p13">2. Because the hypocrite's prayer will not
be heard (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.9" parsed="|Job|27|9|0|0" passage="Job 27:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>):
<i>Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him?</i> No, he
will not; it cannot be expected he should. If true repentance come
upon him, God will hear his cry and accept him (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.18" parsed="|Isa|1|18|0|0" passage="Isa 1:18">Isa. i. 18</scripRef>); but, if he continue impenitent
and unchanged, let him not think to find favour with God. Observe,
(1.) Trouble will come upon him, certainly it will. Troubles in the
world often surprise those that are most secure of an uninterrupted
prosperity. However, death will come, and trouble with it, when he
must leave the world and all his delights in it. The judgment of
the great day will come; fearfulness will surprise the hypocrites,
<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.33.14" parsed="|Isa|33|14|0|0" passage="Isa 33:14">Isa. xxxiii. 14</scripRef>. (2.) Then
he will cry to God, will pray, and pray earnestly. Those who in
prosperity slighted God, either prayed not at all or were cold and
careless in prayer, when trouble comes will make their application
to him and cry as men in earnest. But, (3.) Will God hear him then?
In the troubles of this life, God has told us that he will not hear
the prayers of those who regard iniquity in their hearts (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.66.19" parsed="|Ps|66|19|0|0" passage="Ps 66:19">Ps. lxvi. 19</scripRef>) and set up their idols
there (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p13.5" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.14.4" parsed="|Ezek|14|4|0|0" passage="Eze 14:4">Ezek. xiv. 4</scripRef>), nor
of those who turn away their ear from hearing the law, <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p13.6" osisRef="Bible:Prov.28.9" parsed="|Prov|28|9|0|0" passage="Pr 28:9">Prov. xxviii. 9</scripRef>. <i>Get you to the
gods whom you have served,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p13.7" osisRef="Bible:Judg.10.14" parsed="|Judg|10|14|0|0" passage="Jdg 10:14">Judg.
x. 14</scripRef>. In the judgment to come, it is certain, God will
not hear the cry of those who lived and died in their hypocrisy.
Their doleful lamentations will all be unpitied. <i>I will laugh at
your calamity.</i> Their importunate petitions will all be thrown
out and their pleas rejected. Inflexible justice cannot be biassed,
nor the irreversible sentence revoked. See <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p13.8" osisRef="Bible:Matt.7.22-Matt.7.23 Bible:Luke.13.26" parsed="|Matt|7|22|7|23;|Luke|13|26|0|0" passage="Mt 7:22,23,Lu 13:26">Matt. vii. 22, 23; Luke xiii. 26</scripRef>,
and the case of the foolish virgins, <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p13.9" osisRef="Bible:Matt.25.11" parsed="|Matt|25|11|0|0" passage="Mt 25:11">Matt. xxv. 11</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxviii-p14">3. Because the hypocrite's religion is
neither comfortable nor constant (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.10" parsed="|Job|27|10|0|0" passage="Job 27:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): <i>Will he delight himself in
the Almighty?</i> No, not at any time (for his delight is in the
profits of the world and the pleasures of the flesh, more than in
God), especially not in the time of trouble. <i>Will he always call
upon God?</i> No, in prosperity he will not call upon God, but
slight him; in adversity he will not call upon God but curse him;
he is weary of his religion when he gets nothing by it, or is in
danger of losing. Note, (1.) Those are hypocrites who, though they
profess religion, neither take pleasure in it nor persevere in it,
who reckon their religion a task and a drudgery, a weariness, and
snuff at it, who make use of it only to serve a turn, and lay it
aside when the turn is served, who will call upon God while it is
in fashion, or while the pang of devotion lasts, but leave it off
when they fall into other company, or when the hot fit is over.
(2.) The reason why hypocrites do not persevere in religion is
because they have no pleasure in it. Those that do not delight in
the Almighty will not always call upon him. The more comfort we
find in our religion the more closely we shall cleave to it. Those
who have no delight in God are easily inveigled by the pleasures of
sense, and so drawn away from their religion; and they are easily
run down by the crosses of this life, and so driven away from their
religion, and will not always call upon God.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.xxviii-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.11-Job.27.23" parsed="|Job|27|11|27|23" passage="Job 27:11-23" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.27.11-Job.27.23">
<h4 id="Job.xxviii-p14.3">Heritage of the Wicked. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xxviii-p14.4">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xxviii-p15">11 I will teach you by the hand of God:
<i>that</i> which <i>is</i> with the Almighty will I not conceal.
  12 Behold, all ye yourselves have seen <i>it;</i> why then
are ye thus altogether vain?   13 This <i>is</i> the portion
of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors,
<i>which</i> they shall receive of the Almighty.   14 If his
children be multiplied, <i>it is</i> for the sword: and his
offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.   15 Those that
remain of him shall be buried in death: and his widows shall not
weep.   16 Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare
raiment as the clay;   17 He may prepare <i>it,</i> but the
just shall put <i>it</i> on, and the innocent shall divide the
silver.   18 He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth
<i>that</i> the keeper maketh.   19 The rich man shall lie
down, but he shall not be gathered: he openeth his eyes, and he
<i>is</i> not.   20 Terrors take hold on him as waters, a
tempest stealeth him away in the night.   21 The east wind
carrieth him away, and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out
of his place.   22 For <i>God</i> shall cast upon him, and not
spare: he would fain flee out of his hand.   23 <i>Men</i>
shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his
place.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxviii-p16">Job's friends had seen a great deal of the
misery and destruction that attend wicked people, especially
oppressors; and Job, while the heat of disputation lasted, had said
as much, and with as much assurance, of their prosperity; but now
that the heat of the battle was nearly over he was willing to own
how far he agreed with them, and where the difference between his
opinion and theirs lay. 1. He agreed with them that wicked people
are miserable people, that God will surely reckon with cruel
oppressors, and one time or other, one way or other, his justice
will make reprisals upon them for all the affronts they have put
upon God and all the wrongs they have done to their neighbours.
This truth is abundantly confirmed by the entire concurrence even
of these angry disputants in it. But, 2. In <i>this</i> they
differed—they held that these deserved judgments are presently and
visibly brought upon wicked oppressors, that <i>they travail with
pain all their days,</i> that in prosperity <i>the destroyer comes
upon them,</i> that they <i>shall not be rich,</i> nor their
<i>branch green,</i> and that <i>their destruction shall be
accomplished before their time</i> (so Eliphaz, <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.15.20-Job.15.21 Bible:Job.15.29 Bible:Job.15.32" parsed="|Job|15|20|15|21;|Job|15|29|0|0;|Job|15|32|0|0" passage="Job 15:20,21,29,32"><i>ch.</i> xv. 20, 21, 29, 32</scripRef>),
that the <i>steps of their strength shall be straitened,</i> that
<i>terrors shall make them afraid on every side</i> (so Bildad,
<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.7 Bible:Job.18.11" parsed="|Job|18|7|0|0;|Job|18|11|0|0" passage="Job 18:7,11"><i>ch.</i> xviii. 7,
11</scripRef>), that he himself <i>shall vomit up his riches,</i>
and that <i>in the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in
straits,</i> so Zophar, <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.15 Bible:Job.20.22" parsed="|Job|20|15|0|0;|Job|20|22|0|0" passage="Job 20:15,22"><i>ch.</i>
xx. 15, 22</scripRef>. Now Job held that, in many cases, judgments
do not fall upon them quickly, but are deferred for some time. That
vengeance strikes slowly he had already shown (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.1-Job.21.34 Bible:Job.24.1-Job.24.25" parsed="|Job|21|1|21|34;|Job|24|1|24|25" passage="Job 21:1-34,24:1-25"><i>ch.</i> xxi. and xxiv.</scripRef>); now he
comes to show that it strikes surely and severely, and that
reprieves are no pardons.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxviii-p17">I. Job here undertakes to set this matter
in a true light (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.11-Job.27.12" parsed="|Job|27|11|27|12" passage="Job 27:11,12"><i>v.</i> 11,
12</scripRef>): <i>I will teach you.</i> We must not disdain to
learn even from those who are sick and poor, yea, and peevish too,
if they deliver what is true and good. Observe, 1. What he would
teach them: "<i>That which is with the Almighty,</i>" that is, "the
counsels and purposes of God concerning wicked people, which are
hidden with him, and which you cannot hastily judge of; and the
usual methods of his providence concerning them." This, says Job,
<i>will I not conceal.</i> What God has not concealed from us we
must not conceal from those we are concerned to teach. <i>Things
revealed belong to us and our children.</i> 2. How he would teach
them: <i>By the hand of God,</i> that is, by his strength and
assistance. Those who undertake to teach others must look to the
hand of God to direct them, to open their ear (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.50.4" parsed="|Isa|50|4|0|0" passage="Isa 50:4">Isa. l. 4</scripRef>), and to open their lips. Those
whom God teaches with a strong hand are best able to teach others,
<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.8.11" parsed="|Isa|8|11|0|0" passage="Isa 8:11">Isa. viii. 11</scripRef>. 3. What
reason they had to learn those things which he was about to teach
them (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p17.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.12" parsed="|Job|27|12|0|0" passage="Job 27:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), that
it was confirmed by their own observation—<i>You yourselves have
seen it</i> (but what we have heard, and seen and known, we have
need to be taught, that we may be perfect in our lesson), and that
it would set them to rights in their judgment concerning
him—"<i>Why then are you thus altogether vain,</i> to condemn me
for a wicked man because I am afflicted?" Truth, rightly understood
and applied, would cure us of that vanity of mind which arises from
our mistakes. That particularly which he offers now to lay before
them is <i>the portion of a wicked man with God,</i> particularly
of <i>oppressors,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p17.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.13" parsed="|Job|27|13|0|0" passage="Job 27:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>. Compare <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p17.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.29" parsed="|Job|20|29|0|0" passage="Job 20:29"><i>ch.</i> xx.
29</scripRef>. Their portion in the world may be wealth and
preferment, but their portion with God is ruin and misery. They are
above the control of any earthly power, it may be, but the Almighty
can deal with them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxviii-p18">II. He does it, by showing that wicked
people may, in some instances, prosper, but that ruin follows them
in those very instances; and that is their portion, that is their
heritage, that is it which they must abide by.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxviii-p19">1. They may prosper in their children, but
ruin attends them. <i>His children</i> perhaps <i>are
multiplied</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.14" parsed="|Job|27|14|0|0" passage="Job 27:14"><i>v.</i>
14</scripRef>) or <i>magnified</i> (so some); they are very
numerous and are raised to honour and great estates. Worldly people
are said to be <i>full of children</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.17.14" parsed="|Ps|17|14|0|0" passage="Ps 17:14">Ps. xvii. 14</scripRef>), and, as it is in the margin
there, <i>their children are full.</i> In them the parents hope to
live and in their preferment to be honoured. But the more children
they leave, and the greater prosperity they leave them in, the more
and the fairer marks do they leave for the arrows of God's
judgments to be levelled at, his three sore judgments, <i>sword,
famine, and pestilence,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.24.13" parsed="|2Sam|24|13|0|0" passage="2Sa 24:13">2 Sam.
xxiv. 13</scripRef>. (1.) Some of them shall die by the sword, the
sword of war perhaps (they brought them up to live by their sword,
as Esau, <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.40" parsed="|Gen|27|40|0|0" passage="Ge 27:40">Gen. xxvii. 40</scripRef>,
and those that do so commonly die by the sword, first or last), or
by the sword of justice for their crimes, or the sword of the
murderer for their estates. (2.) Others of them shall die by famine
(<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p19.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.14" parsed="|Job|27|14|0|0" passage="Job 27:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>): <i>His
offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.</i> He thought he had
secured to them large estates, but it may happen that they may be
reduced to poverty, so as not to have the necessary supports of
life, at least not to live comfortably. They shall be so needy that
they shall not have a competency of necessary food, and so greedy,
or so discontented, that what they have they shall not be satisfied
with, because not so much, or not so dainty, as what they have been
used to. <i>You eat, but you have not enough,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p19.6" osisRef="Bible:Hag.1.6" parsed="|Hag|1|6|0|0" passage="Hag 1:6">Hag. i. 6</scripRef>. (3.) Those that <i>remain
shall be buried in death,</i> that is, shall die of the plague,
which is called <i>death</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p19.7" osisRef="Bible:Rev.6.8" parsed="|Rev|6|8|0|0" passage="Re 6:8">Rev. vi.
8</scripRef>), and be buried privately and in haste, as soon as
they are dead, without any solemnity, <i>buried with the burial of
an ass;</i> and even their <i>widows shall not weep;</i> they shall
not have wherewithal to put them in mourning. Or it denotes that
these wicked men, as they live undesired, so they die unlamented,
and even their widows will think themselves happy that they have
got rid of them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxviii-p20">2. They may prosper in their estates, but
ruin attends <i>them</i> too, <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.16-Job.27.18" parsed="|Job|27|16|27|18" passage="Job 27:16-18"><i>v.</i> 16-18</scripRef>. (1.) We will suppose
them to be rich in money and plate, in clothing and furniture.
<i>They heap up silver</i> in abundance <i>as the dust,</i> and
<i>prepare raiment as the clay;</i> they have heaps of clothes
about them, as plentiful as heaps of clay. Or it intimates that
they have such abundance of clothes that they are even a burden to
them. <i>They lade themselves with thick clay,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Hab.2.6" parsed="|Hab|2|6|0|0" passage="Hab 2:6">Hab. ii. 6</scripRef>. See what is the care and
business of worldly people—to heap up worldly wealth. Much would
have more, until the silver is cankered and the garments are
moth-eaten, <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Jas.5.2-Jas.5.3" parsed="|Jas|5|2|5|3" passage="Jam 5:2,3">Jam. v. 2, 3</scripRef>.
But what comes of it? He shall never be the better for it himself;
death will strip him, death will rob him, if he be not robbed and
stripped sooner, <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p20.4" osisRef="Bible:Luke.12.20" parsed="|Luke|12|20|0|0" passage="Lu 12:20">Luke xii.
20</scripRef>. Nay, God will so order it that <i>the just shall
wear his raiment and the innocent shall divide his silver.</i> [1.]
They shall have it, and divide it among themselves. In some way or
other Providence shall so order it that good men shall come
honestly by that wealth which the wicked man came dishonestly by.
<i>The wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p20.5" osisRef="Bible:Prov.13.22" parsed="|Prov|13|22|0|0" passage="Pr 13:22">Prov. xiii. 22</scripRef>. God disposes of men's
estates as he pleases, and often makes their wills against their
wills. The just, whom he hated and persecuted, shall have rule over
all his labour, and, in due time, recover with interest what was
violently taken from him. The Egyptians' jewels were the
Israelites' pay. Solomon observes (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p20.6" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.2.26" parsed="|Eccl|2|26|0|0" passage="Ec 2:26">Eccl. ii. 26</scripRef>) that God makes the sinners
drudges to the righteous; for the <i>sinner he gives travail to
gather and heap up, that he may give to him that is good before
God.</i> [2.] They shall do good with it. The innocent shall not
hoard the silver, as he did that gathered it, but shall divide it
to the poor, shall <i>give a portion to seven and also to
eight,</i> which is laying up the best securities. Money is like
manure, good for nothing if it be not spread. When God enriches
good men they must remember they are but stewards and must give an
account. What bad men bring a curse upon their families with the
ill-getting of good men bring a blessing upon their families with
the well-using of. <i>He that by unjust gain increaseth his
substance shall gather it for him that will pity the poor,</i>
<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p20.7" osisRef="Bible:Prov.28.8" parsed="|Prov|28|8|0|0" passage="Pr 28:8">Prov. xxviii. 8</scripRef>. (2.) We
will suppose them to have built themselves strong and stately
houses; but they are like the house which the moth makes for
herself in an old garment, out of which she will soon be shaken,
<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p20.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.18" parsed="|Job|27|18|0|0" passage="Job 27:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. He is very
secure in it, as a moth, and has no apprehension of danger; but it
will prove of as short continuance as <i>a booth which the keeper
makes,</i> which will quickly be taken down and gone, and his place
shall know him no more.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxviii-p21">3. Destruction attends their persons,
though they lived long in health and at ease (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.19" parsed="|Job|27|19|0|0" passage="Job 27:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>): <i>The rich man shall lie
down</i> to sleep, to repose himself in the abundance of his wealth
(<i>Soul, take thy ease</i>), shall lie down in it as his strong
city, and seem to others to be very happy and very easy; <i>but he
shall not be gathered,</i> that is, he shall not have his mind
composed, and settled, and gathered in, to enjoy his wealth. He
does not sleep so contentedly as people think he does. He <i>lies
down,</i> but <i>his abundance will not suffer him to sleep,</i> at
least not so sweetly as the <i>labouring man,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.12" parsed="|Eccl|5|12|0|0" passage="Ec 5:12">Eccl. v. 12</scripRef>. He lies down, but he is
full of tossings to and fro till the dawning of the day, and then
<i>he opens his eyes and he is not;</i> he sees himself, and all he
has, hastening away, as it were, in the twinkling of an eye. His
cares increase his fears, and both together make him uneasy, so
that, when we attend him to his bed, we do not find him happy
there. But, in the close, we are called to attend his exit, and see
how miserable he is in death and after death.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxviii-p22">(1.) He is miserable in death. It is to him
the king of terrors, <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.20-Job.27.21" parsed="|Job|27|20|27|21" passage="Job 27:20,21"><i>v.</i> 20,
21</scripRef>. When some mortal disease seizes him what a fright is
he in! <i>Terrors take hold of him as waters,</i> as if he were
surrounded by the flowing tides. He trembles to think of leaving
this world, and much more of removing to another. This mingles
<i>sorrow and wrath with his sickness,</i> as Solomon observes,
<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.17" parsed="|Eccl|5|17|0|0" passage="Ec 5:17">Eccl. v. 17</scripRef>. These terrors
put him either [1.] Into a silent and sullen despair; and then the
tempest of God's wrath, the tempest of death, may be said <i>to
steal him away in the night,</i> when no one is aware or takes any
notice of it. Or, [2.] Into an open and clamorous despair; and then
he is said <i>to be carried away,</i> and hurled out of his place
as with a storm, and with an east wind, violent, and noisy, and
very dreadful. Death, to a godly man, is like a fair gale of wind
to convey him to the heavenly country, but, to a wicked man, it is
like an east wind, a storm, a tempest, that hurries him away in
confusion and amazement, to destruction.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxviii-p23">(2.) He is miserable after death. [1.] His
soul falls under the just indignation of God, and it is the terror
of that indignation which puts him into such amazement at the
approach of death (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.22" parsed="|Job|27|22|0|0" passage="Job 27:22"><i>v.</i>
22</scripRef>): <i>For God shall cast upon him and not spare.</i>
While he lived he had the benefit of sparing mercy; but now the day
of God's patience is over, and he will not spare, but pour out upon
him the full vials of his wrath. What God casts down upon a man
there is no flying from nor bearing up under. We read of his
<i>casting down great stones from heaven</i> upon the Canaanites
(<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Josh.10.11" parsed="|Josh|10|11|0|0" passage="Jos 10:11">Josh. x. 11</scripRef>), which made
terrible execution among them; but what was that to his casting
down his anger in its full weight upon the sinner's conscience,
like the <i>talent of lead?</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p23.3" osisRef="Bible:Zech.5.7-Zech.5.8" parsed="|Zech|5|7|5|8" passage="Zec 5:7,8">Zech.
v. 7, 8</scripRef>. The damned sinner, seeing the wrath of God
break in upon him, would fain flee out of his hand; but he cannot:
the gates of hell are locked and barred, and the great gulf fixed,
and it will be in vain to call for the shelter of rocks and
mountains. Those who will not be persuaded now to fly to the arms
of divine grace, which are stretched out to receive them, will not
be able to flee from the arms of divine wrath, which will shortly
be stretched out to destroy them. [2.] His memory falls under the
just indignation of all mankind (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p23.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.23" parsed="|Job|27|23|0|0" passage="Job 27:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>): <i>Men shall clap their hands
at him,</i> that is, they shall rejoice in the judgments of God, by
which he is cut off, and be well pleased in his fall. <i>When the
wicked perish there is shouting,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p23.5" osisRef="Bible:Prov.11.10" parsed="|Prov|11|10|0|0" passage="Pr 11:10">Prov. xi. 10</scripRef>. When God buries him men shall
hiss him out of his place, and leave on his name perpetual marks of
infamy. In the same place where he has been caressed and cried up
he shall be laughed at (<scripRef id="Job.xxviii-p23.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.52.7" parsed="|Ps|52|7|0|0" passage="Ps 52:7">Ps. lii.
7</scripRef>) and his ashes shall be trampled on.</p>
</div></div2>