mh_parser/vol_split/18 - Job/Chapter 9.xml

<div2 id="Job.x" n="x" next="Job.xi" prev="Job.ix" progress="5.03%" title="Chapter IX">
<h2 id="Job.x-p0.1">J O B</h2>
<h3 id="Job.x-p0.2">CHAP. IX.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Job.x-p1">In this and the following chapter we have Job's
answer to Bildad's discourse, wherein he speaks honourably of God,
humbly of himself, and feelingly of his troubles; but not one word
by way of reflection upon his friends, or their unkindness to him,
nor in direct reply to what Bildad had said. He wisely keeps to the
merits of the cause, and makes no remarks upon the person that
managed it, nor seeks occasion against him. In this chapter we
have, I. The doctrine of God's justice laid down, <scripRef id="Job.x-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.2" parsed="|Job|9|2|0|0" passage="Job 9:2">ver. 2</scripRef>. II. The proof of it, from his
wisdom, and power, and sovereign dominion, <scripRef id="Job.x-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.3-Job.9.13" parsed="|Job|9|3|9|13" passage="Job 9:3-13">ver. 3-13</scripRef>. III. The application of it, in
which, 1. He condemns himself, as not able to contend with God
either in law or battle, <scripRef id="Job.x-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.14-Job.9.21" parsed="|Job|9|14|9|21" passage="Job 9:14-21">ver.
14-21</scripRef>. 2. He maintains his point, that we cannot judge
of men's character by their outward condition, <scripRef id="Job.x-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.22-Job.9.24" parsed="|Job|9|22|9|24" passage="Job 9:22-24">ver. 22-24</scripRef>. 3. He complains of the
greatness of his troubles, the confusion he was in, and the loss he
was at what to say or do, <scripRef id="Job.x-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.25-Job.9.35" parsed="|Job|9|25|9|35" passage="Job 9:25-35">ver.
25-35</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Job.x-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.9" parsed="|Job|9|0|0|0" passage="Job 9" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Job.x-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.1-Job.9.13" parsed="|Job|9|1|9|13" passage="Job 9:1-13" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.9.1-Job.9.13">
<h4 id="Job.x-p1.8">Job's Reply to Bildad. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.x-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.x-p2">1 Then Job answered and said,   2 I know
<i>it is</i> so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?
  3 If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a
thousand.   4 <i>He is</i> wise in heart, and mighty in
strength: who hath hardened <i>himself</i> against him, and hath
prospered?   5 Which removeth the mountains, and they know
not: which overturneth them in his anger.   6 Which shaketh
the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.  
7 Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the
stars.   8 Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth
upon the waves of the sea.   9 Which maketh Arcturus, Orion,
and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.   10 Which doeth
great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number.
  11 Lo, he goeth by me, and I see <i>him</i> not: he passeth
on also, but I perceive him not.   12 Behold, he taketh away,
who can hinder him? who will say unto him, What doest thou?  
13 <i>If</i> God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do
stoop under him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.x-p3">Bildad began with a rebuke to Job for
talking so much, <scripRef id="Job.x-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.2" parsed="|Job|8|2|0|0" passage="Job 8:2"><i>ch.</i> viii.
2</scripRef>. Job makes no answer to that, though it would have
been easy enough to retort it upon himself; but in what he next
lays down as his principle, that God never perverts judgment, Job
agrees with him: <i>I know it is so of a truth,</i> <scripRef id="Job.x-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.2" parsed="|Job|9|2|0|0" passage="Job 9:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Note, We should be ready
to own how far we agree with those with whom we dispute, and should
not slight, much less resist, a truth, though produced by an
adversary and urged against us, but receive it in the light and
love of it, though it may have been misapplied. "<i>It is so of a
truth,</i> that wickedness brings men to ruin and the godly are
taken under God's special protection. These are truths which I
subscribe to; but how can any man make good his part with God?"
<i>In his sight shall no flesh living be justified,</i> <scripRef id="Job.x-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.143.2" parsed="|Ps|143|2|0|0" passage="Ps 143:2">Ps. cxliii. 2</scripRef>. <i>How should man be
just with God?</i> Some understand this as a passionate complaint
of God's strictness and severity, that he is a God whom there is no
dealing with; and it cannot be denied that there are, in this
chapter, some peevish expressions, which seem to speak such
language as this. But I take this rather as a pious confession of
man's sinfulness, and his own in particular, that, if God should
deal with any of us according to the desert of our iniquities, we
should certainly be undone.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.x-p4">I. He lays this down for a truth, that man
is an unequal match for his Maker, either in dispute or combat.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.x-p5">1. In dispute (<scripRef id="Job.x-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.3" parsed="|Job|9|3|0|0" passage="Job 9:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): <i>If he will contend with
him,</i> either at law or at an argument, <i>he cannot answer him
one of a thousand.</i> (1.) God can ask a thousand puzzling
questions which those that quarrel with him, and arraign his
proceedings, cannot give an answer to. When God spoke to Job out of
the whirlwind he asked him a great many questions (<i>Dost thou
know</i> this? <i>Canst thou do</i> that?) to none of which Job
could give an answer, <scripRef id="Job.x-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.1-Job.39.30" parsed="|Job|38|1|39|30" passage="Job 38:1-39:30"><i>ch.</i>
xxxviii., xxxix.</scripRef> God can easily manifest the folly of
the greatest pretenders to wisdom. (2.) God can lay to our charge a
thousand offences, can draw up against us a thousand articles of
impeachment, and we cannot answer him so as to acquit ourselves
from the imputation of any of them, but must, by silence, give
consent that they are all true. We cannot set aside one as foreign,
another as frivolous, and another as false. We cannot, as to one,
deny the fact, and plead not guilty, and, as to another, deny the
fault, confess and justify. No, we are not able to answer him, but
must <i>lay our hand upon our mouth,</i> as Job did (<scripRef id="Job.x-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.40.4-Job.40.5" parsed="|Job|40|4|40|5" passage="Job 40:4,5"><i>ch.</i> xl. 4, 5</scripRef>), and cry,
<i>Guilty, guilty.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.x-p6">2. In combat (<scripRef id="Job.x-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.4" parsed="|Job|9|4|0|0" passage="Job 9:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): "<i>Who hath hardened himself
against him and hath prospered?</i>" The answer is very easy. You
cannot produce any instance, from the beginning of the world to
this day, of any daring sinner who has <i>hardened himself against
God,</i> has obstinately persisted in rebellion against him, who
did not find God too hard for him and pay dearly for his folly.
Such transgressors have not prospered or had peace; they have had
no comfort in their way nor any success. What did ever man get by
trials of skill, or trials of titles, with his Maker? All the
opposition given to God is but setting briers and thorns before a
consuming fire; so foolish, so fruitless, so destructive, is the
attempt, <scripRef id="Job.x-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.27.4 Bible:Ezek.28.24 Bible:1Cor.10.22" parsed="|Isa|27|4|0|0;|Ezek|28|24|0|0;|1Cor|10|22|0|0" passage="Isa 27:4,Eze 28:24,1Co 10:22">Isa.
xxvii. 4; Ezek. xxviii. 24; 1 Cor. x. 22</scripRef>. Apostate
angels hardened themselves against God, but did not prosper,
<scripRef id="Job.x-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.2.4" parsed="|2Pet|2|4|0|0" passage="2Pe 2:4">2 Pet. ii. 4</scripRef>. The dragon
fights, but is cast out, <scripRef id="Job.x-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Rev.12.9" parsed="|Rev|12|9|0|0" passage="Re 12:9">Rev. xii.
9</scripRef>. Wicked men harden themselves against God, dispute his
wisdom, disobey his laws, are impenitent for their sins and
incorrigible under their afflictions; they reject the offers of his
grace, and resist the strivings of his Spirit; they make nothing of
his threatenings, and make head against his interest in the world.
But have they prospered? Can they prosper? No; they are but
<i>treasuring up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath.</i>
Those that roll this will find it return upon them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.x-p7">II. He proves it by showing what a God he
is with whom we have to do: <i>He is wise in heart,</i> and
therefore we cannot answer him at law; he is <i>mighty in
strength,</i> and therefore we cannot fight it out with him. It is
the greatest madness that can be to think to contend with a God of
infinite wisdom and power, who knows every thing and can do every
thing, who can be neither outwitted nor overpowered. The devil
promised himself that Job, in the day of his affliction, would
curse God and speak ill of him, but, instead of that, he sets
himself to honour God and to speak highly of him. As much pained as
he is, and as much taken up with his own miseries, when he has
occasion to mention the wisdom and power of God he forgets his
complaints, dwells with delight, and expatiates with a flood of
eloquence, upon that noble useful subject. Evidences of the wisdom
and power of God he fetches,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.x-p8">1. From the kingdom of nature, in which the
God of nature acts with an uncontrollable power and does what he
pleases; for all the orders and all the powers of nature are
derived from him and depend upon him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.x-p9">(1.) When he pleases he alters the course
of nature, and turns back its streams, <scripRef id="Job.x-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.5-Job.9.7" parsed="|Job|9|5|9|7" passage="Job 9:5-7"><i>v.</i> 5-7</scripRef>. By the common law of nature
the mountains are settled and are therefore called <i>everlasting
mountains,</i> the earth is established and cannot be removed
(<scripRef id="Job.x-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.93.1" parsed="|Ps|93|1|0|0" passage="Ps 93:1">Ps. xciii. 1</scripRef>) and the
pillars there of are immovably fixed, the sun rises in its season,
and the stars shed their influences on this lower world; but when
God pleases he can not only drive out of the common track, but
invert the order and change the law of nature. [1.] Nothing more
firm than the mountains. When we speak of removing mountains we
mean that which is impossible; yet the divine power can make them
change their seat: <i>He removes them and they know not,</i>
removes them whether they will or no; he can make them lower their
heads; he can level them, and overturn them in his anger; he can
spread the mountains as easily as the husbandman spreads the
molehills, be they ever so high, and large, and rocky. Men have
much ado to pass over them, but God, when he pleases, can make them
pass away. He made Sinai shake, <scripRef id="Job.x-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.68.8" parsed="|Ps|68|8|0|0" passage="Ps 68:8">Ps.
lxviii. 8</scripRef>. <i>The hills skipped,</i> <scripRef id="Job.x-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114.4" parsed="|Ps|114|4|0|0" passage="Ps 114:4">Ps. cxiv. 4</scripRef>. <i>The everlasting mountains
were scattered,</i> <scripRef id="Job.x-p9.5" osisRef="Bible:Hab.3.6" parsed="|Hab|3|6|0|0" passage="Hab 3:6">Hab. iii.
6</scripRef>. [2.] Nothing more fixed than the earth on its
axletree; yet God can, when he pleases, <i>shake the earth out of
its place,</i> heave it off its centre, and make even <i>its
pillars to tremble;</i> what seemed to support it will itself need
support when God gives it a shock. See how much we are indebted to
God's patience. God has power enough to shake the earth from under
that guilty race of mankind which makes it groan under the burden
of sin, and so to <i>shake the wicked out of it</i> (<scripRef id="Job.x-p9.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.13" parsed="|Job|38|13|0|0" passage="Job 38:13">Job xxxviii. 13</scripRef>); yet he continues
the earth, and man upon it, and does not make it, as once, to
swallow up the rebels. [3.] Nothing more constant than the rising
sun, it never misses its appointed time; yet God, when he pleases,
can suspend it. He that at first commanded it to rise can
countermand it. Once the sun was told to stand, and another time to
retreat, to show that it is still under the check of its great
Creator. Thus great is God's power; and how great then is his
goodness, which causes his sun to shine even upon the evil and
unthankful, though he could withhold it! He that made the stars
also, can, if he pleases, seal them up, and hide them from our
eyes. By earthquakes and subterraneous fires mountains have
sometimes been removed and the earth shaken: in very dark and
cloudy days and nights it seems to us as if the sun were forbidden
to rise and the stars were sealed up, <scripRef id="Job.x-p9.7" osisRef="Bible:Acts.27.20" parsed="|Acts|27|20|0|0" passage="Ac 27:20">Acts xxvii. 20</scripRef>. It is sufficient to say that
Job here speaks of what God can do; but, if we must understand it
of what he has done in fact, all these verses may perhaps be
applied to Noah's flood, when the mountains of the earth were
shaken, and the sun and stars were darkened; and the world that now
is we believe to be reserved for that fire which will consume the
mountains, and melt the earth, with its fervent heat, and which
will turn the sun into darkness.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.x-p10">(2.) As long as he pleases he preserves the
settled course and order of nature; and this is a continued
creation. He himself alone, by his own power, and without the
assistance of any other, [1.] <i>Spreads out the heaven</i>
(<scripRef id="Job.x-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.8" parsed="|Job|9|8|0|0" passage="Job 9:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), not only did
spread them out at first, but still spreads them out (that is,
keeps them spread out), for otherwise they would of themselves roll
together like a scroll of parchment. [2.] <i>He treads upon the
waves of the sea;</i> that is, he suppresses them and keeps them
under, that they return not to deluge the earth (<scripRef id="Job.x-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.104.9" parsed="|Ps|104|9|0|0" passage="Ps 104:9">Ps. civ. 9</scripRef>), which is given as a reason why
we should all fear God and stand in awe of him, <scripRef id="Job.x-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.5.22" parsed="|Jer|5|22|0|0" passage="Jer 5:22">Jer. v. 22</scripRef>. He is mightier than the proud
waves <scripRef id="Job.x-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.93.4 Bible:Ps.65.7" parsed="|Ps|93|4|0|0;|Ps|65|7|0|0" passage="Ps 93:4,Ps 65:7">Ps. xciii. 4; lxv.
7</scripRef>. [3.] He makes the constellations; three are named for
all the rest (<scripRef id="Job.x-p10.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.9" parsed="|Job|9|9|0|0" passage="Job 9:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>),
<i>Arcturus, Orion,</i> and <i>Pleiades,</i> and in general <i>the
chambers of the south.</i> The stars of which these are composed he
made at first, and put into that order, and he still makes them,
preserves them in being, and guides their motions; he makes them to
be what they are to man, and inclines the hearts of man to observe
them, which the beasts are not capable of doing. Not only those
stars which we see and give names to, but those also in the other
hemisphere, about the antarctic pole, which never come in our
sight, called here <i>the chambers of the south,</i> are under the
divine direction and dominion. How wise is he then, and how
mighty!</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.x-p11">2. From the kingdom of Providence, that
special Providence which is conversant about the affairs of the
children of men. Consider what God does in the government of the
world, and you will say, He is <i>wise in heart</i> and <i>mighty
in strength.</i> (1.) He does many things and great, many and great
to admiration, <scripRef id="Job.x-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.10" parsed="|Job|9|10|0|0" passage="Job 9:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>. Job here says the same that Eliphaz had said
(<scripRef id="Job.x-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.5.9" parsed="|Job|5|9|0|0" passage="Job 5:9"><i>ch.</i> v. 9</scripRef>), and in
the original in the very same words, not declining to speak after
him, though now his antagonist. God is a great God, and <i>doeth
great things,</i> a wonder-working God; his works of wonder are so
many that we cannot number them and so mysterious that we cannot
find them out. O the depth of his counsels! (2.) He acts invisibly
and undiscerned, <scripRef id="Job.x-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.11" parsed="|Job|9|11|0|0" passage="Job 9:11"><i>v.</i>
11</scripRef>. "<i>He goes by me</i> in his operations, <i>and I
see him not, I perceive him not.</i> His <i>way is in the sea,</i>"
<scripRef id="Job.x-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.77.19" parsed="|Ps|77|19|0|0" passage="Ps 77:19">Ps. lxxvii. 19</scripRef>. The
operations of second causes are commonly obvious to sense, but God
does all about us and yet <i>we see him not,</i> <scripRef id="Job.x-p11.5" osisRef="Bible:Acts.17.23" parsed="|Acts|17|23|0|0" passage="Ac 17:23">Acts xvii. 23</scripRef>. Our finite understandings
cannot fathom his counsels, apprehend his motions, or comprehend
the measures he takes; we are therefore incompetent judges of God's
proceedings, because we know not what he does or what he designs.
The <i>arcana imperii—secrets of government,</i> are things above
us, which therefore we must not pretend to expound or comment upon.
(3.) He acts with an incontestable sovereignty, <scripRef id="Job.x-p11.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.12" parsed="|Job|9|12|0|0" passage="Job 9:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. He takes away our
creature-comforts and confidences when and as he pleases, takes
away health, estate, relations, friends, takes away life itself;
whatever goes, it is he that takes it; by what hand so ever it is
removed, his hand must be acknowledged in its removal. The Lord
<i>takes away,</i> and <i>who can hinder him? Who can turn him
away?</i> (Margin, <i>Who shall make him restore?</i>) Who can
dissuade him or alter his counsels? Who can resist him or oppose
his operations? Who can control him or call him to an account? What
action can be brought against him? Or <i>who will say unto him,
What doest thou?</i> Or, Why doest thou so? <scripRef id="Job.x-p11.7" osisRef="Bible:Dan.4.35" parsed="|Dan|4|35|0|0" passage="Da 4:35">Dan. iv. 35</scripRef>. God is not obliged to give us a
reason of what he does. The meanings of his proceedings we know not
now; it will be time enough to know hereafter, when it will appear
that what seemed now to be done by prerogative was done in infinite
wisdom and for the best. (4.) He acts with an irresistible power,
which no creature can resist, <scripRef id="Job.x-p11.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.13" parsed="|Job|9|13|0|0" passage="Job 9:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. <i>If God will not withdraw his
anger</i> (which he can do when he pleases, for he is <i>Lord of
his anger,</i> lets it out or calls it in according to his will),
<i>the proud helpers do stoop under him;</i> that is, He certainly
breaks and crushes those that proudly help one another against him.
Proud men set themselves against God and his proceedings. In this
opposition they join hand in hand. <i>The kings of the earth set
themselves, and the rulers take counsel together,</i> to throw off
his yoke, to run down his truths, and to persecute his people.
<i>Men of Israel, help,</i> <scripRef id="Job.x-p11.9" osisRef="Bible:Acts.21.28 Bible:Ps.83.8" parsed="|Acts|21|28|0|0;|Ps|83|8|0|0" passage="Ac 21:28,Ps 83:8">Acts xxi. 28; Ps. lxxxiii. 8</scripRef>. If one
enemy of God's kingdom fall under his judgment, the rest come
proudly to help that, and think to deliver that out of his hand:
but in vain; unless he pleases to withdraw his anger (which he
often does, for it is the day of his patience) the proud helpers
stoop under him, and fall with those whom they designed to help.
<i>Who knows the power of God's anger?</i> Those who think they
have strength enough to help others will not be able to help
themselves against it.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.x-p11.10" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.14-Job.9.21" parsed="|Job|9|14|9|21" passage="Job 9:14-21" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.9.14-Job.9.21">
<p class="passage" id="Job.x-p12">14 How much less shall I answer him, <i>and</i>
choose out my words <i>to reason</i> with him?   15 Whom,
though I were righteous, <i>yet</i> would I not answer, <i>but</i>
I would make supplication to my judge.   16 If I had called,
and he had answered me; <i>yet</i> would I not believe that he had
hearkened unto my voice.   17 For he breaketh me with a
tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.   18 He will
not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness.
  19 If <i>I speak</i> of strength, lo, <i>he is</i> strong:
and if of judgment, who shall set me a time <i>to plead?</i>  
20 If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: <i>if I
say,</i> I <i>am</i> perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.
  21 <i>Though</i> I <i>were</i> perfect, <i>yet</i> would I
not know my soul: I would despise my life.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.x-p13">What Job had said of man's utter inability
to contend with God he here applies to himself, and in effect
despairs of gaining his favour, which (some think) arises from the
hard thoughts he had of God, as one who, having set himself against
him, right or wrong, would be too hard for him. I rather think it
arises from the sense he had of the imperfection of his own
righteousness, and the dark and cloudy apprehensions which at
present he had of God's displeasure against him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.x-p14">I. He durst not dispute with God (<scripRef id="Job.x-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.14" parsed="|Job|9|14|0|0" passage="Job 9:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>): "<i>If the proud
helpers do stoop under him, how much less shall I</i> (a poor weak
creature, so far from being a helper that I am very helpless)
<i>answer him?</i> What can I say against that which God does? If I
go about to reason with him, he will certainly be too hard for me."
If the potter make the clay into a vessel of dishonour, or break in
pieces the vessel he has made, shall the clay or the broken vessel
reason with him? So absurd is the man who replies against God, or
thinks to talk the matter out with him. No, let all flesh be silent
before him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.x-p15">II. He durst not insist upon his own
justification before God. Though he vindicated his own integrity to
his friends, and would not yield that he was a hypocrite and a
wicked man, as they suggested, yet he would never plead it as his
righteousness before God. "I will never venture upon the covenant
of innocency, nor think to come off by virtue of that." Job knew so
much of God, and knew so much of himself, that he durst not insist
upon his own justification before God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.x-p16">1. He knew so much of God that he durst not
stand a trial with him, <scripRef id="Job.x-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.15-Job.9.19" parsed="|Job|9|15|9|19" passage="Job 9:15-19"><i>v.</i>
15-19</scripRef>. He knew how to make his part good with his
friends, and thought himself able to deal with them; but, though
his cause had been better than it was, he knew it was to no purpose
to debate it with God. (1.) God knew him better than he knew
himself and therefore (<scripRef id="Job.x-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.15" parsed="|Job|9|15|0|0" passage="Job 9:15"><i>v.</i>
15</scripRef>), "<i>Though I were righteous</i> in my own
apprehension, and my own heart did not condemn me, <i>yet God is
greater than my heart,</i> and knows those secret faults and errors
of mine which I do not and cannot understand, and is able to charge
me with them, and therefore <i>I would not answer.</i>" St. Paul
speaks to the same purport: <i>I know nothing by myself,</i> am not
conscious to myself of any reigning wickedness, and <i>yet I am not
hereby justified,</i> <scripRef id="Job.x-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.4.4" parsed="|1Cor|4|4|0|0" passage="1Co 4:4">1 Cor. iv.
4</scripRef>. "I dare not put myself upon that issue, lest God
should charge that upon me which I did not discover in myself." Job
will therefore wave that plea, and <i>make supplication to his
Judge,</i> that is, will cast himself upon God's mercy, and not
think come off by his own merit. (2.) He had no reason to think
that there was anything in his prayers to recommend them to the
divine acceptance, or to fetch in an answer of peace, no worth or
worthiness at all to which to ascribe their success, but it must be
attributed purely to the grace and compassion of God, who answers
before we call and not because we call, and gives gracious answers
to our prayers, but not for our prayers (<scripRef id="Job.x-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.16" parsed="|Job|9|16|0|0" passage="Job 9:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): "<i>If I had called, and he
had answered,</i> had given the thing I called to him for, yet, so
weak and defective are my best prayers, that <i>I would not believe
he had</i> therein <i>hearkened to my voice;</i> I could not say
that he had <i>saved with his right hand and answered me</i>"
(<scripRef id="Job.x-p16.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.60.5" parsed="|Ps|60|5|0|0" passage="Ps 60:5">Ps. lx. 5</scripRef>), "but that he
did it purely for his own name's sake." Bishop Patrick expounds it
thus: "If I had made supplication, and he had granted my desire, I
would not think my prayer had done the business." <i>Not for your
sakes, be it known to you.</i> (3.) His present miseries, which God
had brought him into notwithstanding his integrity, gave him too
sensible a conviction that, in the ordering and disposing of men's
outward condition in this world, God acts by sovereignty, and,
though he never does wrong to any, yet he does not ever give full
right to all (that is, the best do not always fare best, nor the
worst fare worst) in this life, because he reserves the full and
exact distribution of rewards and punishments for the future state.
Job was not conscious to himself of any extraordinary guilt, and
yet fell under extraordinary afflictions, <scripRef id="Job.x-p16.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.17-Job.9.18" parsed="|Job|9|17|9|18" passage="Job 9:17,18"><i>v.</i> 17, 18</scripRef>. Every man must expect
the wind to blow upon him and ruffle him, but Job was <i>broken
with a tempest.</i> Every man, in the midst of these thorns and
briers, must expect to be scratched; but Job was wounded, and his
wounds were multiplied. Every man must expect a cross daily, and to
taste sometimes of the bitter cup; but poor Job's troubles came so
thickly upon him that he had no breathing time, and he was filled
with bitterness. And he presumes to say that all this was
<i>without cause,</i> without any great provocation given. We have
made the best of what Job said hitherto, though contrary to the
judgment of many good interpreters; but here, no doubt, <i>he spoke
unadvisedly with his lips;</i> he reflected on God's goodness in
saying that he was not suffered <i>to take his breath</i> (while
yet he had such good use of his reason and speech as to be able to
talk thus) and on his justice in saying that it was without cause.
Yet it is true that as, on the one hand, there are many who are
chargeable with more sin than the common infirmities of human
nature, and yet feel no more sorrow than that of the common
calamities of human life, so, on the other hand, there are many who
feel more than the common calamities of human life and yet are
conscious to themselves of no more than the common infirmities of
human nature. (4.) He was in no capacity at all to make his part
good with God, <scripRef id="Job.x-p16.7" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.19" parsed="|Job|9|19|0|0" passage="Job 9:19"><i>v.</i>
19</scripRef>. [1.] Not by force of arms. "I dare not enter the
lists with the Almighty; for <i>if I speak of strength,</i> and
think to come off by that, <i>lo, he is strong,</i> stronger than
I, and will certainly overpower me." There is no disputing (said
one once to Cæsar) with him that commands legions. Much less is
there any with him that has legions of angels at command. <i>Can
thy heart endure</i> (thy courage and presence of mind) <i>or can
thy hands be strong</i> to defend thyself, <i>in the days that I
shall deal with thee?</i> <scripRef id="Job.x-p16.8" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.22.14" parsed="|Ezek|22|14|0|0" passage="Eze 22:14">Ezek. xxii.
14</scripRef>. [2.] Not by force of arguments. "I dare not try the
merits of the cause. <i>If I speak of judgment,</i> and insist upon
my right, <i>who will set me a time to plead?</i> There is no
higher power to which I may appeal, no superior court to appoint a
hearing of the cause; for he is supreme and from him proceeds every
man's judgment, which he must abide by."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.x-p17">2. He knew so much of himself the he durst
not stand a trial, <scripRef id="Job.x-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.20-Job.9.21" parsed="|Job|9|20|9|21" passage="Job 9:20,21"><i>v.</i> 20,
21</scripRef>. "<i>If I</i> go about to <i>justify myself,</i> and
to plead a righteousness of my own, my defence will be my offence,
and <i>my own mouth shall condemn me</i> even when it goes about to
acquit me." A good man, who knows the deceitfulness of his own
heart, and is jealous over it with a godly jealousy, and has often
discovered that amiss there which had long lain undiscovered, is
suspicious of more evil in himself than he is really conscious of,
and therefore will by no means think of justifying himself before
God. <i>If we say we have no sin, we</i> not only <i>deceive
ourselves,</i> but we affront God; for we sin in saying so, and
give the lie to the scripture, which has <i>concluded all under
sin. "If I say, I am perfect,</i> I am sinless, God has nothing to
lay to my charge, my very saying so shall <i>prove me perverse,</i>
proud, ignorant, and presumptuous. Nay, <i>though I were
perfect,</i> though God should pronounce me just, <i>yet would I
not know my soul,</i> I would not be in care about the prolonging
of my life while it is loaded with all these miseries." Or, "Though
I were free from gross sin, though my conscience should not charge
me with any enormous crime, yet would I not believe my own heart so
far as to insist upon my innocency nor think my life worth striving
for with God." In short, it is folly to contend with God, and our
wisdom, as well as duty, to submit to him and throw ourselves at
his feet.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.x-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.22-Job.9.24" parsed="|Job|9|22|9|24" passage="Job 9:22-24" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.9.22-Job.9.24">
<p class="passage" id="Job.x-p18">22 This <i>is</i> one <i>thing,</i> therefore I
said <i>it,</i> He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.   23
If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the
innocent.   24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked:
he covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where,
<i>and</i> who <i>is</i> he?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.x-p19">Here Job touches briefly upon the main
point now in dispute between him and his friends. They maintained
that those who are righteous and good always prosper in this world,
and none but the wicked are in misery and distress; he asserted, on
the contrary, that it is a common thing for the wicked to prosper
and the righteous to be greatly afflicted. This is the one thing,
the chief thing, wherein he and his friends differed; and they had
not proved their assertion, therefore he abides by his: "I said it,
and say it again, that all things come alike to all." Now, 1. It
must be owned that there is very much truth in what Job here means,
that temporal judgments, when they are sent abroad, fall both upon
good and bad, and the destroying angel seldom distinguishes (though
once he did) between the houses of Israelites and the houses of
Egyptians. In the judgment of Sodom indeed, which is called <i>the
vengeance of eternal fire</i> (<scripRef id="Job.x-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.7" parsed="|Jude|1|7|0|0" passage="Jude 1:7">Jude
7</scripRef>), <i>far be it from</i> God to <i>slay the righteous
with the wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked</i>
(<scripRef id="Job.x-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.25" parsed="|Gen|18|25|0|0" passage="Ge 18:25">Gen. xviii. 25</scripRef>); but, in
judgments merely temporal, the righteous have their share, and
sometimes the greatest share. <i>The sword devours one as well as
another,</i> Josiah as well as Ahab. Thus God <i>destroys the
perfect and the wicked,</i> involves them both in the same common
ruin; good and bad were sent together into Babylon, <scripRef id="Job.x-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.24.5 Bible:Jer.24.9" parsed="|Jer|24|5|0|0;|Jer|24|9|0|0" passage="Jer 24:5,9">Jer. xxiv. 5, 9</scripRef>. <i>If the scourge
slay suddenly,</i> and sweep down all before it, God will be well
pleased to see how the same scourge which is the perdition of the
wicked is the trial of the innocent and of their faith, which
<i>will be found unto praise, and honour, and glory,</i> <scripRef id="Job.x-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.1.7 Bible:Ps.66.10" parsed="|1Pet|1|7|0|0;|Ps|66|10|0|0" passage="1Pe 1:7,Ps 66:10">1 Pet. i. 7; Ps. lxvi.
10</scripRef>.</p>
<verse id="Job.x-p19.5">
<l class="t1" id="Job.x-p19.6">Against the just th' Almighty's arrows fly,</l>
<l class="t1" id="Job.x-p19.7">For he delights the innocent to try,</l>
<l class="t1" id="Job.x-p19.8">To show their constant and their Godlike mind,</l>
<l class="t1" id="Job.x-p19.9">Not by afflictions broken, but refined.</l>
</verse>
<attr id="Job.x-p19.10">Sir <span class="smallcaps" id="Job.x-p19.11">R. Blackmore</span>.</attr>
<p class="indent" id="Job.x-p20">Let this reconcile God's children to their
troubles; they are but trials, designed for their honour and
benefit, and, if God be pleased with them, let not them be
displeased; if he <i>laugh at the trial of the innocent,</i>
knowing how glorious the issue of it will be, at destruction and
famine let them also laugh (<scripRef id="Job.x-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.5.22" parsed="|Job|5|22|0|0" passage="Job 5:22"><i>ch.</i>
v. 22</scripRef>), and triumph over them, saying, <i>O death! where
is thy sting?</i> On the other hand, the wicked are so far from
being made the marks of God's judgments that <i>the earth is given
into their hand,</i> <scripRef id="Job.x-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.24" parsed="|Job|9|24|0|0" passage="Job 9:24"><i>v.</i>
24</scripRef> (they enjoy large possessions and great power, have
what they will and do what they will), <i>into the hand of the
wicked one</i> (in the original, the word is singular); the devil,
that wicked one, is called <i>the god of this world,</i> and boasts
that into his hands it is delivered, <scripRef id="Job.x-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Luke.4.6" parsed="|Luke|4|6|0|0" passage="Lu 4:6">Luke iv. 6</scripRef>. Or <i>into the hand of a wicked
man,</i> meaning (as bishop Patrick and the Assembly's Annotations
conjecture) some noted tyrant then living in those parts, whose
great wickedness and great prosperity were well known both to Job
and his friends. The wicked have the earth given them, but the
righteous have heaven given them, and which is better—heaven
without earth or earth without heaven? God, in his providence,
advances wicked men, while he <i>covers the faces of</i> those who
are fit to be <i>judges,</i> who are wise and good, and qualified
for government, and buries them alive in obscurity, perhaps suffers
them to be run down and condemned, and to have their faces covered
as criminals by those wicked ones into whose hand the earth is
given. We daily see that this is done; <i>if</i> it be <i>not</i>
God that does it, <i>where and who is he</i> that does it? To whom
can it be ascribed but to him that rules in the kingdoms of men,
and gives them to whom he will? <scripRef id="Job.x-p20.4" osisRef="Bible:Dan.4.32" parsed="|Dan|4|32|0|0" passage="Da 4:32">Dan.
iv. 32</scripRef>. Yet, 2. It must be owned that there is too much
passion in what Job here says. The manner of expression is peevish.
When he meant that God afflicts he ought not to have said, <i>He
destroys</i> both <i>the perfect and the wicked;</i> when he meant
that God pleases himself with the trial of the innocent he ought
not to have said, <i>He laughs at it,</i> for he doth not afflict
willingly. When the spirit is heated, either with dispute or with
discontent, we have need to set a watch before the door of our
lips, that we may observe a due decorum in speaking of divine
things.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.x-p20.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.25-Job.9.35" parsed="|Job|9|25|9|35" passage="Job 9:25-35" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.9.25-Job.9.35">
<p class="passage" id="Job.x-p21">25 Now my days are swifter than a post: they
flee away, they see no good.   26 They are passed away as the
swift ships: as the eagle <i>that</i> hasteth to the prey.  
27 If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my
heaviness, and comfort <i>myself:</i>   28 I am afraid of all
my sorrows, I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.   29
<i>If</i> I be wicked, why then labour I in vain?   30 If I
wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean;
  31 Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own
clothes shall abhor me.   32 For <i>he is</i> not a man, as I
<i>am, that</i> I should answer him, <i>and</i> we should come
together in judgment.   33 Neither is there any daysman
betwixt us, <i>that</i> might lay his hand upon us both.   34
Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me:
  35 <i>Then</i> would I speak, and not fear him; but <i>it
is</i> not so with me.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.x-p22">Job here grows more and more querulous, and
does not conclude this chapter with such reverent expressions of
God's wisdom and justice as he began with. Those that indulge a
complaining humour know not to what indecencies, nay, to what
impieties, it will hurry them. <i>The beginning of</i> that
<i>strife</i> with God <i>is as the letting forth of water;
therefore leave it off before it be meddled with.</i> When we are
in trouble we are allowed to complain to God, as the Psalmist
often, but must by no means complain of God, as Job here.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.x-p23">I. His complaint here of the passing away
of the days of his prosperity is proper enough (<scripRef id="Job.x-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.25-Job.9.26" parsed="|Job|9|25|9|26" passage="Job 9:25,26"><i>v.</i> 25, 26</scripRef>): "<i>My days</i> (that
is, all my good days) are gone, never to return, gone of a sudden,
gone ere I was aware. Never did any courier that went express"
(like Cushi and Ahimaaz) "with good tidings make such haste as all
my comforts did from me. Never did ship sail to its port, never did
eagle fly upon its prey, with such incredible swiftness; nor does
there remain any trace of my prosperity, any more than there does
of an eagle in the air or a ship in the sea," <scripRef id="Job.x-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.30.19" parsed="|Prov|30|19|0|0" passage="Pr 30:19">Prov. xxx. 19</scripRef>. See here, 1. How swift the
motion of time is. It is always upon the wing, hastening to its
period; it stays for no man. What little need have we of pastimes,
and what great need to redeem time, when time runs out, runs on so
fast towards eternity, which comes as time goes! 2. How vain the
enjoyments of time are, which we may be quite deprived of while yet
time continues. Our day may be longer than the sun-shine of our
prosperity; and, when that is gone, it is as if it had not been.
The remembrance of having done our duty will be pleasing
afterwards; so will not the remembrance of our having got a great
deal of worldly wealth when it is all lost and gone. "<i>They flee
away,</i> past recall; <i>they see no good,</i> and leave none
behind them."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.x-p24">II. His complaint of his present uneasiness
is excusable, <scripRef id="Job.x-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.27-Job.9.28" parsed="|Job|9|27|9|28" passage="Job 9:27,28"><i>v.</i> 27,
28</scripRef>. 1. It should seem, he did his endeavour to quiet and
compose himself as his friends advised him. That was the good he
would do: he would fain <i>forget his complaints</i> and praise
God, would <i>leave off his heaviness and comfort himself,</i> that
he might be fit for converse both with God and man; but, 2. He
found he could not do it: "<i>I am afraid of all my sorrows.</i>
When I strive most against my trouble it prevails most over me and
proves too hard for me!" It is easier, in such a case, to know what
we should do than to do it, to know what temper we should be in
than to get into that temper and keep in it. It is easy to preach
patience to those that are in trouble, and to tell them they must
forget their complaints and comfort themselves; but it is not so
soon done as said. Fear and sorrow are tyrannizing things, not
easily brought into the subjection they ought to be kept in to
religion and right reason. But,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.x-p25">III. His complaint of God as implacable and
inexorable was by no means to be excused. It was the language of
his corruption. He knew better, and, at another time, would have
been far from harbouring any such hard thoughts of God as now broke
in upon his spirit and broke out in these passionate complaints.
Good men do not always speak like themselves; but God, who
considers their frame and the strength of their temptations, gives
them leave afterwards to unsay what was amiss by repentance and
will not lay it to their charge.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.x-p26">1. Job seems to speak here, (1.) As if he
despaired of obtaining from God any relief or redress of his
grievances, though he should produce ever so good proofs of his
integrity: "<i>I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.</i> My
afflictions have continued so long upon me, and increased so fast,
that I do not expect thou wilt ever clear up my innocency by
delivering me out of them and restoring me to a prosperous
condition. Right or wrong, I must be treated as a wicked man; my
friends will continue to think so of me, and God will continue upon
me the afflictions which give them occasion to think so. <i>Why
then do I labour in vain</i> to clear myself and maintain my own
integrity?" <scripRef id="Job.x-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.29" parsed="|Job|9|29|0|0" passage="Job 9:29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>.
It is to no purpose to speak in a cause that is already prejudged.
With men it is often labour in vain for the most innocent to go
about to clear themselves; they must be adjudged guilty, though the
evidence be ever so plain for them. But it is not so in our
dealings with God, who is the patron of oppressed innocency and to
whom it was never in vain to commit a righteous cause. Nay, he not
only despairs of relief, but expects that his endeavour to clear
himself will render him yet more obnoxious (<scripRef id="Job.x-p26.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.30-Job.9.31" parsed="|Job|9|30|9|31" passage="Job 9:30,31"><i>v.</i> 30, 31</scripRef>): "<i>If I wash myself
with snow-water,</i> and make my integrity ever so evident, it will
be all to no purpose; judgment must go against me. <i>Thou shalt
plunge me in the ditch</i>" (the pit of destruction, so some, or
rather the filthy kennel, or sewer), "which will make me so
offensive in the nostrils of all about me that <i>my own clothes
shall abhor me</i> and I shall even loathe to touch myself." He saw
his afflictions coming from God. Those were the things that
blackened him in the eye of his friends; and, upon that score, he
complained of them, and of the continuance of them, as the ruin,
not only of his comfort, but of his reputation. Yet these words are
capable of a good construction. If we be ever so industrious to
justify ourselves before men, and to preserve our credit with
them,—if we keep our hands ever so clean from the pollutions of
gross sin, which fall under the eye of the world,—yet God, who
knows our hearts, can charge us with so much secret sin as will for
ever take off all our pretensions to purity and innocency, and make
us see ourselves odious in the sight of the holy God. Paul, while a
Pharisee, made his hands very clean; but when the commandment came
and discovered to him his heart-sins, made him know lust, that
<i>plunged him in the ditch.</i> (2.) As if he despaired to have a
fair hearing with God, and that were hard indeed. [1.] He complains
that he was not upon even terms with God (<scripRef id="Job.x-p26.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.32" parsed="|Job|9|32|0|0" passage="Job 9:32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>): "<i>He is not a man, as I
am.</i> I could venture to dispute with a man like myself (the
potsherds may strive with the potsherds of the earth), but he is
infinitely above me, and therefore I dare not enter the lists with
him; I shall certainly be cast if I contend with him." Note,
<i>First,</i> God is not a man as we are. Of the greatest princes
we may say, "They are men as we are," but not of the great God. His
thoughts and ways are infinitely above ours, and we must not
measure him by ourselves. Man is foolish and weak, frail and
fickle, but God is not. We are depending dying creatures; he is the
independent an immortal Creator. <i>Secondly,</i> The consideration
of this should keep us very humble and very silent before God. Let
us not make ourselves equal with God, but always eye him as
infinitely above us. [2.] That there was no arbitrator or umpire to
adjust the differences between him and God and to determine the
controversy (<scripRef id="Job.x-p26.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.33" parsed="|Job|9|33|0|0" passage="Job 9:33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>):
<i>Neither is there any days-man between us.</i> This complaint
that there was not is in effect a wish that there were, and so the
LXX. reads it: <i>O that there were a mediator between us!</i> Job
would gladly refer the matter, but no creature was capable of being
a referee, and therefore he must even refer it still to God himself
and resolve to acquiesce in his judgment. Our Lord Jesus is the
blessed days-man, who has mediated between heaven and earth, has
laid his hand upon us both; to him the Father has committed all
judgment, and we must. But this matter was not then brought to so
clear a light as it is now by the gospel, which leaves no room for
such a complaint as this. [3.] That the terrors of God, which set
themselves in array against him, put him into such confusion that
he knew not how to address God with the confidence with which he
was formerly wont to approach him, <scripRef id="Job.x-p26.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.34-Job.9.35" parsed="|Job|9|34|9|35" passage="Job 9:34,35"><i>v.</i> 34, 35</scripRef>. "Besides the distance
which I am kept at by his infinite transcendency, his present
dealings with me are very discouraging: <i>Let him take his rod
away from me.</i>" He means not so much his outward afflictions as
the load which lay upon his spirit from the apprehensions of God's
wrath; that was <i>his fear</i> which <i>terrified him.</i> "Let
that be removed; let me recover the sight of his mercy, and not be
amazed with the sight of nothing but his terrors, and <i>then I
would speak</i> and order my cause before him. <i>But it is not so
with me;</i> the cloud is not at all dissipated; the wrath of God
still fastens upon me, and preys on my spirits, as much as ever;
and what to do I know not."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.x-p27">2. From all this let us take occasion, (1.)
To stand in awe of God, and to fear the power of his wrath. If good
men have been put into such consternation by it, <i>where shall the
ungodly and the sinner appear?</i> (2.) To pity those that are
wounded in spirit, and pray earnestly for them, because in that
condition they know not how to pray for themselves. (3.) Carefully
to keep up good thoughts of God in our minds, for hard thoughts of
him are the inlets of much mischief. (4.) To bless God that we are
not in such a disconsolate condition as poor Job was here in, but
that we walk in the light of the Lord; let us rejoice therein, but
<i>rejoice with trembling.</i></p>
</div></div2>