mh_parser/vol_split/18 - Job/Chapter 20.xml

<div2 id="Job.xxi" n="xxi" next="Job.xxii" prev="Job.xx" progress="10.30%" title="Chapter XX">
<h2 id="Job.xxi-p0.1">J O B</h2>
<h3 id="Job.xxi-p0.2">CHAP. XX.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Job.xxi-p1">One would have thought that such an excellent
confession of faith as Job made, in the close of the foregoing
chapter, would satisfy his friends, or at least mollify them; but
they do not seem to have taken any notice of it, and therefore
Zophar here takes his turn, enters the lists with Job, and attacks
him with as much vehemence as before. I. His preface is short, but
hot, <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.2-Job.20.3" parsed="|Job|20|2|20|3" passage="Job 20:2,3">ver. 2, 3</scripRef>. II. His
discourse is long, and all upon one subject, the very same that
Bildad was large upon (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.1-Job.18.21" parsed="|Job|18|1|18|21" passage="Job 18:1-21"><i>ch.</i>
xviii.</scripRef>), the certain misery of wicked people and the
ruin that awaits them. 1. He asserts, in general, that the
prosperity of a wicked person is short, and his ruin sure,
<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.4-Job.20.9" parsed="|Job|20|4|20|9" passage="Job 20:4-9">ver. 4-9</scripRef>. 2. He proves
the misery of his condition by many instances—that he should have
a diseased body, a troubled conscience, a ruined estate, a beggared
family, an infamous name and that he himself should perish under
the weight of divine wrath: all this is most curiously described
here in lofty expressions and lively similitudes; and it often
proves true in this world, and always in another, without
repentance, <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.10-Job.20.29" parsed="|Job|20|10|20|29" passage="Job 20:10-29">ver. 10-29</scripRef>.
But the great mistake was, and (as bishop Patrick expresses it) all
the flaw in his discourse (which was common to him with the rest),
that he imagined God never varied from this method, and therefore
Job was, without doubt, a very bad man, though it did not appear
that he was, any other way than by his infelicity.</p>
<scripCom id="Job.xxi-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.20" parsed="|Job|20|0|0|0" passage="Job 20" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Job.xxi-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.1-Job.20.9" parsed="|Job|20|1|20|9" passage="Job 20:1-9" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.20.1-Job.20.9">
<h4 id="Job.xxi-p1.7">Second Address of Zophar; Destruction of the
Wicked. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xxi-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xxi-p2">1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
  2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for
<i>this</i> I make haste.   3 I have heard the check of my
reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.
  4 Knowest thou <i>not</i> this of old, since man was placed
upon earth,   5 That the triumphing of the wicked <i>is</i>
short, and the joy of the hypocrite <i>but</i> for a moment?  
6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach
unto the clouds;   7 <i>Yet</i> he shall perish for ever like
his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where <i>is</i>
he?   8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found:
yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.   9 The
eye also <i>which</i> saw him shall <i>see him</i> no more; neither
shall his place any more behold him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p3">Here, I. Zophar begins very passionately,
and seems to be in a great heat at what Job had said. Being
resolved to condemn Job for a bad man, he was much displeased that
he talked so like a good man, and, as it should seem, broke in upon
him, and began abruptly (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.2" parsed="|Job|20|2|0|0" passage="Job 20:2"><i>v.</i>
2</scripRef>): <i>Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer.</i>
He takes no notice of what Job had said to move their pity, or to
evidence his own integrity, but fastens upon the reproof he gave
them in the close of his discourse, counts that a reproach, and
thinks himself <i>therefore</i> obliged to answer, because Job had
bidden them be afraid of the sword, that he might not seem to be
frightened by his menaces. The best counsel is too often ill taken
from an antagonist, and therefore usually may be well spared.
Zophar seemed more in haste to speak than became a wise man; but he
excuses his haste with two things:—1. That Job had given him
strong provocation (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.3" parsed="|Job|20|3|0|0" passage="Job 20:3"><i>v.</i>
3</scripRef>): "<i>I have heard the check of my reproach,</i> and
cannot bear to hear it any longer." Job's friends, I doubt, had
spirits too high to deal with a man in his low condition; and high
spirits are impatient of contradiction, and think themselves
affronted if all about them do not say as they say; they cannot
bear a check but they call it <i>the check of their reproach,</i>
and then they are bound in honour to return it, if not to draw upon
him that gave it. 2. That his own heart gave him a strong
instigation. His thoughts caused him to answer (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.2" parsed="|Job|20|2|0|0" passage="Job 20:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), for <i>out of the abundance of
the heart the mouth speaks;</i> but he fathers the instigation
(<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.3" parsed="|Job|20|3|0|0" passage="Job 20:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>) upon <i>the
spirit of his understanding:</i> that indeed should cause us to
answer; we should rightly apprehend a thing and duly consider it
before we speak of it; but whether it did so here or no is a
question. Men often mistake the dictates of their passion for the
dictates of their reason, and therefore think they do well to be
angry.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p4">II. Zophar proceeds very plainly to show
the ruin and destruction of wicked people, insinuating that because
Job was destroyed and ruined he was certainly a wicked man and a
hypocrite. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p5">1. How this doctrine is introduced,
<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.4" parsed="|Job|20|4|0|0" passage="Job 20:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>, where he
appeals, (1.) To Job's own knowledge and conviction: "<i>Knowest
thou not this?</i> Canst thou be ignorant of a truth so plain? Or
canst thou doubt of a truth which has been confirmed by the
suffrages of all mankind?" Those know little who do not know that
the wages of sin is death. (2.) To the experience of all ages. It
was known of old, since man was placed upon the earth; that is,
ever since man was made he has had this truth written in his heart,
that the sin of sinners will be their ruin; and ever since there
were instances of wickedness (which there were soon after man was
placed on the earth) there were instances of the punishments of it,
witness the exclusions of Adam and Cain. When sin entered into the
world death entered with it: all the world knows that evil pursues
sinners, whom <i>vengeance suffers not to live</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.28.4" parsed="|Acts|28|4|0|0" passage="Ac 28:4">Acts xxviii. 4</scripRef>), and subscribes to
that (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.3.11" parsed="|Isa|3|11|0|0" passage="Isa 3:11">Isa. iii. 11</scripRef>), <i>Woe
to the wicked; it shall be ill with him,</i> sooner or later.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p6">2. How it is laid down (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.5" parsed="|Job|20|5|0|0" passage="Job 20:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): <i>The triumphing of the wicked
is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment.</i>
Observe, (1.) He asserts the misery, not only of those who are
openly wicked and profane, but of hypocrites, who secretly practice
wickedness under a show and profession of religion, because such a
wicked man he looked upon Job to be; and it is true that a form of
godliness, if it be made use of for a cloak of maliciousness, does
but make bad worse. Dissembled piety is double iniquity, and the
ruin that attends it will be accordingly. The hottest place in hell
will be the portion of hypocrites, as our Saviour intimates,
<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.24.51" parsed="|Matt|24|51|0|0" passage="Mt 24:51">Matt. xxiv. 51</scripRef>. (2.) He
grants that wicked men may for a time prosper, may be secure and
easy, and very merry. You may see them in triumph and joy,
triumphing and rejoicing in their wealth and power, their grandeur
and success, triumphing and rejoicing over their poor honest
neighbours whom they vex and oppress: they feel no evil, they fear
none. Job's friends were loth to own, at first, that wicked people
might prosper at all (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.4.9" parsed="|Job|4|9|0|0" passage="Job 4:9"><i>ch.</i> iv.
9</scripRef>), until Job proved it plainly (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.24 Bible:Job.12.6" parsed="|Job|9|24|0|0;|Job|12|6|0|0" passage="Job 9:24,12:6"><i>ch.</i> ix. 24, xii. 6</scripRef>), and now
Zophar yields it; but, (3.) He lays it down for a certain truth
that they will not prosper long. Their joy is but for a moment, and
will quickly end in endless sorrow. Though he be ever so great, and
rich, and jovial, the hypocrite will be humbled, and mortified, and
made miserable.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p7">3. How it is illustrated, <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.6-Job.20.9" parsed="|Job|20|6|20|9" passage="Job 20:6-9"><i>v.</i> 6-9</scripRef>. (1.) He supposes his
prosperity to be very high, as high as you can imagine, <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.6" parsed="|Job|20|6|0|0" passage="Job 20:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. It is not his wisdom and
virtue, but his worldly wealth or greatness, that he accounts
<i>his excellency,</i> and values himself upon. We will suppose
that <i>to mount up to the heavens,</i> and, since his spirit
always rises with his condition, you may suppose that with it
<i>his head reaches to the clouds.</i> He is every way advanced;
the world has done the utmost it can for him. He looks down upon
all about him with disdain, while they look up to him with
admiration, envy, or fear. We will suppose him to bid fair for a
universal monarchy. And, though he cannot but have made himself
many enemies before he arrived to this pitch of prosperity, yet he
thinks himself as much out of the reach of their darts as if he
were in the clouds. (2.) He is confident that his ruin will
accordingly be very great, and his fall the more dreadful for his
having risen so high: <i>He shall perish for ever,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.7" parsed="|Job|20|7|0|0" passage="Job 20:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. His pride and security
were the certain presages of his misery. This will certainly be
true of all impenitent sinners in the other world; they shall be
undone, for ever undone. But Zophar means his ruin in this world;
and indeed sometimes notorious sinners are remarkably cut off by
present judgments; they have reason enough to fear what Zophar here
threatens even the triumphant sinner with. [1.] A shameful
destruction: <i>He shall perish like his own dung</i> or dunghill,
so loathsome is he to God and all good men, and so willing will the
world be to part with him, <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.119 Bible:Isa.66.24" parsed="|Ps|119|119|0|0;|Isa|66|24|0|0" passage="Ps 119:119,Isa 66:24">Ps. cxix. 119; Isa. lxvi. 24</scripRef>.
[2.] A surprising destruction. He will be brought into desolation
in a moment (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p7.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.19" parsed="|Ps|73|19|0|0" passage="Ps 73:19">Ps. lxxiii.
19</scripRef>), so that those about him, that saw him but just now,
will ask, "<i>Where is he?</i> Could he that made so great a figure
vanish and expire so suddenly?" [3.] A swift destruction, <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p7.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.8" parsed="|Job|20|8|0|0" passage="Job 20:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. <i>He shall fly away</i>
upon the wings of his own terrors, and be <i>chased away</i> by the
just imprecations of all about him, who would gladly get rid of
him. [4.] An utter destruction. It will be total; he shall go away
<i>like a dream,</i> or <i>vision of the night,</i> which was a
mere phantasm, and, whatever in it pleased the fancy, it is quite
gone, and nothing of it remains but what serves us to laugh at the
folly of. It will be final (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p7.7" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.9" parsed="|Job|20|9|0|0" passage="Job 20:9"><i>v.</i>
9</scripRef>): <i>The eye that saw him,</i> and was ready to adore
him, <i>shall see him no more,</i> and the place he filled shall no
more behold him, having given him an eternal farewell when he went
to his own place, as Judas, <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p7.8" osisRef="Bible:Acts.1.25" parsed="|Acts|1|25|0|0" passage="Ac 1:25">Acts i.
25</scripRef>.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.xxi-p7.9" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.10-Job.20.22" parsed="|Job|20|10|20|22" passage="Job 20:10-22" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.20.10-Job.20.22">
<h4 id="Job.xxi-p7.10">Misery of the Wicked. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xxi-p7.11">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xxi-p8">10 His children shall seek to please the poor,
and his hands shall restore their goods.   11 His bones are
full <i>of the sin</i> of his youth, which shall lie down with him
in the dust.   12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth,
<i>though</i> he hide it under his tongue;   13 <i>Though</i>
he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his
mouth:   14 <i>Yet</i> his meat in his bowels is turned, <i>it
is</i> the gall of asps within him.   15 He hath swallowed
down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them
out of his belly.   16 He shall suck the poison of asps: the
viper's tongue shall slay him.   17 He shall not see the
rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.   18 That
which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow
<i>it</i> down: according to <i>his</i> substance <i>shall</i> the
restitution <i>be,</i> and he shall not rejoice <i>therein.</i>
  19 Because he hath oppressed <i>and</i> hath forsaken the
poor; <i>because</i> he hath violently taken away a house which he
builded not;   20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his
belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.   21 There
shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his
goods.   22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in
straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p9">The instances here given of the miserable
condition of the wicked man in this world are expressed with great
fulness and fluency of language, and the same thing returned to
again and repeated in other words. Let us therefore reduce the
particulars to their proper heads, and observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p10">I. What his wickedness is for which he is
punished.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p11">1. The lusts of the flesh, here called
<i>the sins of his youth</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.11" parsed="|Job|20|11|0|0" passage="Job 20:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>); for those are the sins which,
at that age, people are most tempted to. The forbidden pleasures of
sense are said to be <i>sweet in his mouth</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.12" parsed="|Job|20|12|0|0" passage="Job 20:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>); he indulges himself in all
the gratifications of the carnal appetite, and takes an inordinate
complacency in them, as yielding the most agreeable delights. That
is the satisfaction which <i>he hides under his tongue,</i> and
rolls there, as the most dainty delicate thing that can be. <i>He
keeps it still within his mouth</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.13" parsed="|Job|20|13|0|0" passage="Job 20:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>); let him have that, and he
desires no more; he will never part with that for the spiritual and
divine pleasures of religion, which he has no relish or nor
affection for. His keeping it still in his mouth denotes his
obstinately persisting in his sin (<i>he spares it</i> when he
should kill and mortify it, <i>and forsakes it not,</i> but holds
it fast, and goes on frowardly in it), and also his re-acting of
his sin by revolving it and remembering it with pleasure, as that
adulterous woman (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.23.19" parsed="|Ezek|23|19|0|0" passage="Eze 23:19">Ezek. xxiii.
19</scripRef>) who <i>multiplied her whoredoms by calling to
remembrance the days of her youth;</i> so does this wicked man
here. Or his hiding it and keeping it under his tongue denotes his
industrious concealment of his beloved lust. Being a hypocrite, his
haunts of sin are secret, that he may save the credit of his
profession; but he who knows what is in the heart knows what is
under the tongue too, and will discover it shortly.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p12">2. The love of the world and the wealth of
it. It is in worldly wealth that he places his happiness, and
therefore he sets his heart upon it. See here, (1.) How greedy he
is of it (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.15" parsed="|Job|20|15|0|0" passage="Job 20:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>):
<i>He has swallowed down riches</i> as eagerly as ever a hungry man
swallowed down meat; and is still crying, "Give, give." It is that
which he desired (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.20" parsed="|Job|20|20|0|0" passage="Job 20:20"><i>v.</i>
20</scripRef>); it was, in his eye, the best gift, and that which
he coveted earnestly. (2.) What pains he takes for it: It is
<i>that which he laboured for</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.18" parsed="|Job|20|18|0|0" passage="Job 20:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>), not by honest diligence in a
lawful calling, but by an unwearied prosecution of all ways and
methods, <i>per fas, per nefas—right or wrong,</i> to be rich. We
must <i>labour,</i> not <i>to be rich</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Prov.23.4" parsed="|Prov|23|4|0|0" passage="Pr 23:4">Prov. xxiii. 4</scripRef>), but to be charitable, <i>that
we may have to give</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p12.5" osisRef="Bible:Eph.4.28" parsed="|Eph|4|28|0|0" passage="Eph 4:28">Eph. iv.
28</scripRef>), not to spend. (3.) What great things he promises
himself from it, intimated in <i>the rivers, the floods, the brooks
of honey and butter</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p12.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.17" parsed="|Job|20|17|0|0" passage="Job 20:17"><i>v.</i>
17</scripRef>); his being disappointed of them supposes that he had
flattered himself with the hopes of them: he expected rivers of
sensual delights.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p13">3. Violence and oppression, and injustice
in his poor neighbours, <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.19" parsed="|Job|20|19|0|0" passage="Job 20:19"><i>v.</i>
19</scripRef>. This was the sin of the giants of the old world, and
a sin that, as much as any, brings God's judgments upon nations and
families. It is charged upon this wicked man, (1.) That <i>he has
forsaken the poor,</i> taken no care of them, shown no kindness to
them, nor made any provision for them. At first perhaps, for a
pretence, he gave alms like the Pharisees, to gain a reputation;
but, when he had served his turn by this practice, he left it off,
and forsook the poor, whom before he seemed to be concerned for.
Those who do good, but not from a good principle, though they may
abound in it, will not abide in it. (2.) That he has
<i>oppressed</i> them, crushed them, taken all advantages against
them to do them a mischief. To enrich himself, he has robbed the
spital, and made the poor poorer. (3.) That he has <i>violently
taken away their houses,</i> which he had no right to, as Ahab took
Naboth's vineyard, not by secret fraud, by forgery, perjury, or
some trick in law, but avowedly, and by open violence.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p14">II. What his punishment is for this
wickedness.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p15">1. He shall be disappointed in his
expectations, and shall not find that satisfaction in his worldly
wealth which he vainly promised himself (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.17" parsed="|Job|20|17|0|0" passage="Job 20:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>): <i>He shall never see the
rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter,</i> with which
he hoped to glut himself. The world is not that to those who love
it, and court it, and admire it, which they fancy it will be. The
enjoyment sinks far below the raised expectation.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p16">2. He shall be diseased and distempered in
his body; and how little comfort a man has in riches if he has not
health! Sickness and pain, especially it they be in extremity,
embitter all his enjoyments. This wicked man has all the delights
of sense wound up to the height of pleasurableness; but what real
happiness can he enjoy when <i>his bones are full of the sins of
his youth</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.11" parsed="|Job|20|11|0|0" passage="Job 20:11"><i>v.</i>
11</scripRef>), that is, of the effects of those sins? By his
drunkenness and gluttony, his uncleanness and wantonness, when he
was young, he contracted those diseases which are painful to him
long after, and perhaps make his life very miserable, and, as
Solomon speaks, consume his flesh and his body, <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.11" parsed="|Prov|5|11|0|0" passage="Pr 5:11">Prov. v. 11</scripRef>. Perhaps he was given to fight
when he was young, and then made nothing of a cut or a bruise in a
fray; but he feels it in his bones long after. But can he get no
ease, no relief? No, he is likely to carry his pains and diseases
with him to the grave, or rather they are likely to carry him
thither, and so the sins of his youth shall <i>lie down with him in
the dust;</i> the very putrefying of his body in the grave is to
him the effect of sin (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.24.19" parsed="|Job|24|19|0|0" passage="Job 24:19"><i>ch.</i>
xxiv. 19</scripRef>), so that his iniquity is upon his bones there,
<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.32.27" parsed="|Ezek|32|27|0|0" passage="Eze 32:27">Ezek. xxxii. 27</scripRef>. The sin
of sinners follows them to the other side death.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p17">3. He shall be disquieted and troubled in
his mind: <i>Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly,</i>
<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.20" parsed="|Job|20|20|0|0" passage="Job 20:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. He has not
that ease in his own mind that people think he has, but is in
continual agitation. The ill-gotten wealth which he has swallowed
down makes him sick, and, like undigested meat, is always
upbraiding him. Let none expect to enjoy that comfortably which
they have gotten unjustly. The unquietness of his mind arises, (1.)
From his conscience looking back, and filling him with the fear of
the wrath of God against him for his wickedness. Even that
wickedness which was sweet in the commission, and was rolled under
the tongue as a delicate morsel, becomes bitter in the reflection,
and, when it is reviewed, fills him with horror and vexation. <i>In
his bowels it is turned</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.14" parsed="|Job|20|14|0|0" passage="Job 20:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>) like John's book, <i>in his
mouth as sweet as honey,</i> but, <i>when he had eaten it, his
belly was bitter,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Rev.10.10" parsed="|Rev|10|10|0|0" passage="Re 10:10">Rev. x.
10</scripRef>. Such a thing is sin; it is turned into <i>the gall
of asps,</i> than which nothing is more bitter, <i>the poison of
asps</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p17.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.16" parsed="|Job|20|16|0|0" passage="Job 20:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>),
than which nothing more fatal, and so it will be to him; what he
sucked so sweetly, and with so much pleasure, will prove to him the
poison of asps; so will all unlawful gains be. The fawning tongue
will prove the viper's tongue. All the charming graces that are
thought to be in sin will, when conscience is awakened, turn into
so many raging furies. (2.) From his cares, looking forward,
<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p17.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.22" parsed="|Job|20|22|0|0" passage="Job 20:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. <i>In the
fulness of his sufficiency,</i> when he thinks himself most happy,
and most sure of the continuance of his happiness, <i>he shall be
in straits,</i> that is, he shall think himself so, through the
anxieties and perplexities of his own mind, as that rich man who,
when his ground brought forth plentifully, cried out, <i>What shall
I do?</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p17.6" osisRef="Bible:Luke.12.17" parsed="|Luke|12|17|0|0" passage="Lu 12:17">Luke xii. 17</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p18">4. He shall be dispossessed of his estate;
that shall sink and dwindle away to nothing, so that <i>he shall
not rejoice therein,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.18" parsed="|Job|20|18|0|0" passage="Job 20:18"><i>v.</i>
18</scripRef>. He shall not only never rejoice truly, but not long
rejoice at all. (1.) What he has unjustly swallowed he shall be
compelled to disgorge (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.15" parsed="|Job|20|15|0|0" passage="Job 20:15"><i>v.</i>
15</scripRef>): <i>He swallowed down riches,</i> and then thought
himself sure of them, and that they were as much his own as the
meat he had eaten; but he was deceived: <i>he shall vomit them up
again;</i> his own conscience perhaps may make him so uneasy in the
keeping of what he has gotten that, for the quiet of his own mind,
he shall make restitution, and that not with the pleasure of a
virtue, but the pain of a vomit, and with the utmost reluctancy.
Or, if he do not himself refund what he has violently taken away,
God will, by his providence, force him to it, and bring it about,
one way or other, that ill-gotten goods shall return to the right
owners: <i>God shall cast them out of his belly,</i> while yet the
love of the sin is not cast out of his heart. So loud shall the
clamours of the poor, whom he has impoverished, be against him,
that he shall be forced to send his children to them to soothe them
and beg their pardon (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.10" parsed="|Job|20|10|0|0" passage="Job 20:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>): <i>His children shall seek to please the poor,</i>
while his own hands shall restore them their goods with shame
(<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p18.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.18" parsed="|Job|20|18|0|0" passage="Job 20:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>): <i>That
which he laboured for,</i> by all the arts of oppression, <i>shall
he restore,</i> and shall not so swallow it down as to digest it;
it shall not stay with him, but <i>according to his shame shall the
restitution be;</i> having gotten a great deal unjustly, he shall
restore a great deal, so that when every one has his own he will
have but little left for himself. To be made to restore what was
unjustly gotten, by the sanctifying grace of God, as Zaccheus was,
is a great mercy; he voluntarily and cheerfully restored four-fold,
and yet had a great deal left to <i>give to the poor,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p18.5" osisRef="Bible:Luke.19.8" parsed="|Luke|19|8|0|0" passage="Lu 19:8">Luke xix. 8</scripRef>. But to be forced to
restore, as Judas was, merely by the horrors of a despairing
conscience, has none of that benefit and comfort attending it, for
he <i>threw down the pieces of silver and went and hanged
himself.</i> (2.) He shall be stripped of all he has and become a
beggar. He that spoiled others shall himself be spoiled (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p18.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.33.1" parsed="|Isa|33|1|0|0" passage="Isa 33:1">Isa. xxxiii. 1</scripRef>); for <i>every hand of
the wicked shall be upon him.</i> The innocent, whom he has
wronged, sit down by their loss, saying, as David, <i>Wickedness
proceedeth from the wicked, but my hand shall not be upon him,</i>
<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p18.7" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.24.13" parsed="|1Sam|24|13|0|0" passage="1Sa 24:13">1 Sam. xxiv. 13</scripRef>. But
though they have forgiven him, though they will make no reprisals,
divine justice will, and often makes the wicked to avenge the
quarrel of the righteous, and squeezes and crushes one bad man by
the hand of another upon him. Thus, when he is plucked on all
sides, <i>he shall not save of that which he desired</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p18.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.20" parsed="|Job|20|20|0|0" passage="Job 20:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>), not only he shall not
save it all, but he shall save nothing of it. <i>There shall none
of his meat</i> (which he coveted so much, and fed upon with so
much pleasure) <i>be left,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p18.9" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.21" parsed="|Job|20|21|0|0" passage="Job 20:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. All his neighbours and
relations shall look upon him to be in such bad circumstances that,
when he is dead, no man shall look for his goods, none of his
kindred shall expect to be a penny the better for him, nor be
willing to take out letters of administration for what he leaves
behind him. In all this Zophar reflects upon Job, who had lost all
and was reduced to the last extremity.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.xxi-p18.10" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.23-Job.20.29" parsed="|Job|20|23|20|29" passage="Job 20:23-29" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.20.23-Job.20.29">
<p class="passage" id="Job.xxi-p19">23 <i>When</i> he is about to fill his belly,
<i>God</i> shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall
rain <i>it</i> upon him while he is eating.   24 He shall flee
from the iron weapon, <i>and</i> the bow of steel shall strike him
through.   25 It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea,
the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors <i>are</i>
upon him.   26 All darkness <i>shall be</i> hid in his secret
places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with
him that is left in his tabernacle.   27 The heaven shall
reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.
  28 The increase of his house shall depart, <i>and his
goods</i> shall flow away in the day of his wrath.   29 This
<i>is</i> the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage
appointed unto him by God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p20">Zophar, having described the many
embarrassments and vexations which commonly attend the wicked
practices of oppressors and cruel men, here comes to show their
utter ruin at last.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p21">I. Their ruin will take its rise from God's
wrath and vengeance, <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.23" parsed="|Job|20|23|0|0" passage="Job 20:23"><i>v.</i>
23</scripRef>. The hand of the wicked was upon him (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.22" parsed="|Job|20|22|0|0" passage="Job 20:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>), <i>every hand of the
wicked.</i> His hand was against every one, and therefore every
man's hand will be against him. Yet, in grappling with these, he
might go near to make his part good; but his heart cannot endure,
nor his hands be strong, when <i>God shall deal with him</i>
(<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.22.14" parsed="|Ezek|22|14|0|0" passage="Eze 22:14">Ezek. xxii. 14</scripRef>), <i>when
God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him and rain it upon
him.</i> Every word here speaks terror. It is not only the justice
of God that is engaged against him, but his wrath, the deep
resentment of provocations given to himself; it is <i>the fury of
his wrath,</i> incensed to the highest degree; it is cast upon him
with force and fierceness; it is rained upon him in abundance; it
comes on his head like the fire and brimstone upon Sodom, to which
the psalmist also refers, <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p21.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.11.6" parsed="|Ps|11|6|0|0" passage="Ps 11:6">Ps. xi.
6</scripRef>. <i>On the wicked God shall rain fire and
brimstone.</i> There is no fence against this, but in Christ, who
is the only covert from the storm and tempest, <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p21.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.32.2" parsed="|Isa|32|2|0|0" passage="Isa 32:2">Isa. xxxii. 2</scripRef>. This wrath shall be cast upon
him <i>when he is about to fill his belly,</i> just going to glut
himself with what he has gotten and promising himself abundant
satisfaction in it. Then, when he is eating, shall this tempest
surprise him, when he is secure and easy, and in apprehension of no
danger; as the ruin of the old world and Sodom came when they were
in the depth of their security and the height of their sensuality,
as Christ observes, <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p21.6" osisRef="Bible:Luke.17.26-Luke.17.31" parsed="|Luke|17|26|17|31" passage="Lu 17:26-31">Luke xvii.
26</scripRef>, &amp;c. Perhaps Zophar here reflects on the death of
Job's children when they were eating and drinking.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p22">II. Their ruin will be inevitable, and
there will be no possibility of escaping it (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.24" parsed="|Job|20|24|0|0" passage="Job 20:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>): <i>He shall flee from the
iron weapon.</i> Flight argues guilt. He will not humble himself
under the judgments of God, nor seek means to make his peace with
him. All his care is to escape the vengeance that pursues him, but
in vain: if he escape the sword, yet <i>the bow of steel shall
strike him through.</i> God has weapons of all sorts; he has both
<i>whet his sword and bent his bow</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.7.12-Ps.7.13" parsed="|Ps|7|12|7|13" passage="Ps 7:12,13">Ps. vii. 12, 13</scripRef>); he can deal with his
enemies <i>cominus vel eminus—at hand or afar off.</i> He has a
sword for those that think to fight it out with him by their
strength, and a bow for those that think to avoid him by their
craft. See <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p22.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.24.17-Isa.24.18 Bible:Jer.48.43-Jer.48.44" parsed="|Isa|24|17|24|18;|Jer|48|43|48|44" passage="Isa 24:17,18,Jer 48:43,44">Isa. xxiv.
17, 18; Jer. xlviii. 43, 44</scripRef>. He that is marked for ruin,
though he may escape one judgment, will find another ready for
him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p23">III. It will be a total terrible ruin. When
the dart that has struck him through (for when God shoots he is
sure to hit his mark, when he strikes he strikes home) comes to be
<i>drawn out of his body,</i> when <i>the glittering sword</i> (the
<i>lightning,</i> so the word is), the flaming sword, the sword
that is bathed in heaven (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.5" parsed="|Isa|34|5|0|0" passage="Isa 34:5">Isa. xxxiv.
5</scripRef>), <i>comes out of his gall,</i> O what <i>terrors are
upon him!</i> How strong are the convulsions, how violent are the
dying agonies! How terrible are the arrests of death to a wicked
man!</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p24">IV. Sometimes it is a ruin that comes upon
him insensibly, <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.26" parsed="|Job|20|26|0|0" passage="Job 20:26"><i>v.</i>
26</scripRef>. 1. The darkness he is wrapped up in is a hidden
darkness: it is <i>all darkness,</i> utter darkness, without the
least mixture of light, and it is <i>hid in his secret place,</i>
whither he has retreated and where he hopes to shelter himself; he
never retires into his own conscience but he finds himself in the
dark and utterly at a loss. 2. The fire he is consumed by is <i>a
fire not blown,</i> kindled without noise, a consumption which
every body sees the effect of, but nobody sees the cause of. It is
plain that the gourd is withered, but the worm at the root, that
causes it to wither, is out of sight. He is wasted by a soft gentle
fire—surely, but very slowly. When the fuel is very combustible,
the fire needs no blowing, and that is his case; he is ripe for
ruin. <i>The proud, and those that do wickedly, shall be
stubble,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p24.2" osisRef="Bible:Mal.4.1" parsed="|Mal|4|1|0|0" passage="Mal 4:1">Mal. iv. 1</scripRef>.
<i>An unquenchable fire shall consume him</i> (so some read it),
and that is certainly true of hell-fire.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p25">V. It is a ruin, not only to himself, but
to his family: <i>It shall go ill with him that is left in his
tabernacle,</i> for the curse shall reach him, and he shall be cut
off perhaps by the same grievous disease. There is an entail of
wrath upon the family, which will destroy both his heirs and his
inheritance, <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.28" parsed="|Job|20|28|0|0" passage="Job 20:28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>.
1. His posterity will be rooted out: <i>The increase of his house
shall depart,</i> shall either be cut off by untimely deaths or
forced to run their country. Numerous and growing families, if
wicked and vile, are soon reduced, dispersed, and extirpated, by
the judgments of God. 2. His estate will be sunk. <i>His goods
shall flow away</i> from his family as fast as ever they flowed
into it, when <i>the day of God's wrath</i> comes, for which, all
the while his estate was in the getting by fraud and oppression, he
was treasuring up wrath.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p26">VI. It is a ruin which will manifestly
appear to be just and righteous, and what he has brought upon
himself by his own wickedness; for (<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.27" parsed="|Job|20|27|0|0" passage="Job 20:27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>) <i>the heaven shall reveal his
iniquity,</i> that is, the God of heaven, who sees all the secret
wickedness of the wicked, will, by some means or other, let all the
world know what a base man he has been, that they may own the
justice of God in all that is brought upon him. <i>The earth</i>
also <i>shall rise up against him,</i> both to discover his
wickedness and to avenge it. <i>The earth shall disclose her
blood,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxi-p26.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.26.21" parsed="|Isa|26|21|0|0" passage="Isa 26:21">Isa. xxvi. 21</scripRef>.
<i>The earth will rise up against him</i> (as the stomach rises
against that which is loathsome), and will no longer keep him.
<i>The heaven reveals his iniquity,</i> and therefore will not
receive him. Whither then must he go but to hell? If the God of
heaven and earth be his enemy, neither heaven nor earth will show
him any kindness, but all the hosts of both are and will be at war
with him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxi-p27">VII. Zophar concludes like an orator
(<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p27.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.29" parsed="|Job|20|29|0|0" passage="Job 20:29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>): <i>This is
the portion of a wicked man from God;</i> it is allotted him, it is
designed him, as his portion. He will have it at last, as a child
has his portion, and he will have it for a perpetuity; it is what
he must abide by: <i>This is the heritage of his decree from
God;</i> it is the settled rule of his judgment, and fair warning
is given of it. <i>O wicked man! thou shalt surely die,</i>
<scripRef id="Job.xxi-p27.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.33.8" parsed="|Ezek|33|8|0|0" passage="Eze 33:8">Ezek. xxxiii. 8</scripRef>. Though
impenitent sinners do not always fall under such temporal judgments
as are here described (therein Zophar was mistaken), yet the wrath
of God abides upon them, and they are made miserable by spiritual
judgments, which are much worse, their consciences being either, on
the one hand, a terror to them, and then they are in continual
amazement, or, on the other hand, seared and silenced, and then
they are given up to a reprobate sense and bound over to eternal
ruin. Never was any doctrine better explained, or worse applied,
than this by Zophar, who intended by all this to prove Job a
hypocrite. Let us receive the good explication, and make a better
application, for warning to ourselves to stand in awe and not to
sin.</p>
</div></div2>