mh_parser/vol_split/18 - Job/Chapter 6.xml

<div2 id="Job.vii" n="vii" next="Job.viii" prev="Job.vi" progress="3.65%" title="Chapter VI">
<h2 id="Job.vii-p0.1">J O B</h2>
<h3 id="Job.vii-p0.2">CHAP. VI.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Job.vii-p1">Eliphaz concluded his discourse with an air of
assurance; very confident he was that what he had said was so plain
and so pertinent that nothing could be objected in answer to it.
But, though he that is first in his own cause seems just, yet his
neighbour comes and searches him. Job is not convinced by all he
had said, but still justifies himself in his complaints and
condemns him for the weakness of his arguing. I. He shows that he
had just cause to complain as he did of his troubles, and so it
would appear to any impartial judge, <scripRef id="Job.vii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.2-Job.6.7" parsed="|Job|6|2|6|7" passage="Job 6:2-7">ver. 2-7</scripRef>. II. He continues his passionate
wish that he might speedily be cut off by the stroke of death, and
so be eased of all his miseries, <scripRef id="Job.vii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.8-Job.6.13" parsed="|Job|6|8|6|13" passage="Job 6:8-13">ver. 8-13</scripRef>. III. He reproves his friends for
their uncharitable censures of him and their unkind treatment,
<scripRef id="Job.vii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.14-Job.6.30" parsed="|Job|6|14|6|30" passage="Job 6:14-30">ver. 14-30</scripRef>. It must be
owned that Job, in all this, spoke much that was reasonable, but
with a mixture of passion and human infirmity. And in this contest,
as indeed in most contests, there was fault on both sides.</p>
<scripCom id="Job.vii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.6" parsed="|Job|6|0|0|0" passage="Job 6" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Job.vii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.1-Job.6.7" parsed="|Job|6|1|6|7" passage="Job 6:1-7" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.6.1-Job.6.7">
<h4 id="Job.vii-p1.6">Job's Reply to Eliphaz. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.vii-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.vii-p2">1 But Job answered and said,   2 Oh that my
grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances
together!   3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the
sea: therefore my words are swallowed up.   4 For the arrows
of the Almighty <i>are</i> within me, the poison whereof drinketh
up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against
me.   5 Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth
the ox over his fodder?   6 Can that which is unsavoury be
eaten without salt? or is there <i>any</i> taste in the white of an
egg?   7 The things <i>that</i> my soul refused to touch
<i>are</i> as my sorrowful meat.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.vii-p3">Eliphaz, in the beginning of his discourse,
had been very sharp upon Job, and yet it does not appear that Job
gave him any interruption, but heard him patiently till he had said
all he had to say. Those that would make an impartial judgment of a
discourse must hear it out, and take it entire. But, when he had
concluded, he makes his reply, in which he speaks very
feelingly.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.vii-p4">I. He represents his calamity, in general,
as much heavier than either he had expressed it or they had
apprehended it, <scripRef id="Job.vii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.2-Job.6.3" parsed="|Job|6|2|6|3" passage="Job 6:2,3"><i>v.</i> 2,
3</scripRef>. He could not fully describe it; they would not fully
apprehend it, or at least would not own that they did; and
therefore he would gladly appeal to a third person, who had just
weights and just balances with which to weigh his grief and
calamity, and would do it with an impartial hand. He wished that
they would set his grief and all the expressions of it in one
scale, his calamity and all the particulars of it in the other, and
(though he would not altogether justify himself in his grief) they
would find (as he says, <scripRef id="Job.vii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.23.2" parsed="|Job|23|2|0|0" passage="Job 23:2"><i>ch.</i>
xxiii. 2</scripRef>) that <i>his stroke was heavier than his
groaning;</i> for, whatever his grief was, his calamity was
<i>heavier than the sand of the sea:</i> it was complicated, it was
aggravated, every grievance weighty, and all together numerous as
the sand. "Therefore (says he) <i>my words are swallowed up;</i>"
that is, "Therefore you must excuse both the brokenness and the
bitterness of my expressions. Do not think it strange if my speech
be not so fine and polite as that of an eloquent orator, or so
grave and regular as that of a morose philosopher: no, in these
circumstances I can pretend neither to the one nor to the other; my
words are, as I am, quite swallowed up." Now, 1. He hereby
complains of it as his unhappiness that his friends undertook to
administer spiritual physic to him before they thoroughly
understood his case and knew the worst of it. It is seldom that
those who are at ease themselves rightly weigh the afflictions of
the afflicted. Every one feels most from his own burden; few feel
from other people's. 2. He excuses the passionate expressions he
had used when he cursed his day. Though he could not himself
justify all he had said, yet he thought his friends should not thus
violently condemn it, for really the case was extraordinary, and
that might be connived at in such a man of sorrows as he now was
which in any common grief would by no means be allowed. 3. He
bespeaks the charitable and compassionate sympathy of his friends
with him, and hopes, by representing the greatness of his calamity,
to bring them to a better temper towards him. To those that are
pained it is some ease to be pitied.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.vii-p5">II. He complains of the trouble and terror
of mind he was in as the sorest part of his calamity, <scripRef id="Job.vii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.4" parsed="|Job|6|4|0|0" passage="Job 6:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. Herein he was a type of
Christ, who, in his sufferings, complained most of the sufferings
of his soul. <i>Now is my soul troubled,</i> <scripRef id="Job.vii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:John.12.27" parsed="|John|12|27|0|0" passage="Joh 12:27">John xii. 27</scripRef>. <i>My soul is exceedingly
sorrowful,</i> <scripRef id="Job.vii-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.26.38" parsed="|Matt|26|38|0|0" passage="Mt 26:38">Matt. xxvi.
38</scripRef>. <i>My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?</i>
<scripRef id="Job.vii-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.27.46" parsed="|Matt|27|46|0|0" passage="Mt 27:46">Matt. xxvii. 46</scripRef>. Poor Job
sadly complains here, 1. Of what he felt <i>The arrows of the
Almighty are within me.</i> It was not so much the troubles
themselves he was under that put him into this confusion, his
poverty, disgrace, and bodily pain; but that which cut him to the
heart and put him into this agitation, was to think that the God he
loved and served had brought all this upon him and laid him under
these marks of his displeasure. Note, Trouble of mind is the sorest
trouble. <i>A wounded spirit who can bear!</i> Whatever burden of
affliction, in body or estate, God is pleased to lay upon us, we
may well afford to submit to it as long as he continues to the use
of our reason and the peace of our consciences; but, if in either
of these we be disturbed, our case is sad indeed and very pitiable.
The way to prevent God's fiery darts of trouble is with the shield
of faith to quench Satan's fiery darts of temptation. Observe, He
calls them the <i>arrows of the Almighty;</i> for it is an instance
of the power of God above that of any man that he can with his
arrows reach the soul. He that made the soul can make his sword to
approach to it. The poison or heat of these arrows is said to drink
up his spirit, because it disturbed his reason, shook his
resolution, exhausted his vigour, and threatened his life; and
therefore his passionate expressions, though they could not be
justified, might be excused. 2. Of what he feared. He saw himself
charged by <i>the terrors of God,</i> as by an army set in
battle-array, and surrounded by them. God, by his terrors, fought
against him. As he had no comfort when he retired inward into his
own bosom, so he had none when he looked upward towards Heaven. He
that used to be encouraged with the consolations of God not only
wanted those, but was amazed with the terrors of God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.vii-p6">III. He reflects upon his friends for their
severe censures of his complaints and their unskilful management of
his case. 1. Their reproofs were causeless. He complained, it is
true, now that he was in this affliction, but he never used to
complain, as those do who are of a fretful unquiet spirit, when he
was in prosperity: he did not <i>bray when he had grass,</i> nor
<i>low over his fodder,</i> <scripRef id="Job.vii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.5" parsed="|Job|6|5|0|0" passage="Job 6:5"><i>v.</i>
5</scripRef>. But, now that he was utterly deprived of all his
comforts, he must be a stock or a stone, and not have the sense of
an ox or a wild ass, if he did not give some vent to his grief. He
was forced to eat unsavoury meats, and was so poor that he had not
a grain of salt wherewith to season them, nor to give a little
taste to the white of an egg, which was now the choicest dish he
had at his table, <scripRef id="Job.vii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.6" parsed="|Job|6|6|0|0" passage="Job 6:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>. Even that food which once he would have scorned to
touch he was now glad of, and it was his <i>sorrowful meat,</i>
<scripRef id="Job.vii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.7" parsed="|Job|6|7|0|0" passage="Job 6:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. Note, It is
wisdom not to use ourselves or our children to be nice and dainty
about meat and drink, because we know not how we or they may be
reduced, nor how that which we now disdain may be made acceptable
by necessity. 2. Their comforts were sapless and insipid; so some
understand <scripRef id="Job.vii-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.6-Job.6.7" parsed="|Job|6|6|6|7" passage="Job 6:6,7"><i>v.</i> 6, 7</scripRef>.
He complains he had nothing now offered to him for his relief that
was proper for him, no cordial, nothing to revive and cheer his
spirits; what they had afforded was in itself as tasteless as the
white of an egg, and, when applied to him, as loathsome and
burdensome as the most sorrowful meat. I am sorry he should say
thus of what Eliphaz had excellently well said, <scripRef id="Job.vii-p6.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.5.8-Job.5.13" parsed="|Job|5|8|5|13" passage="Job 5:8-13"><i>ch.</i> v. 8</scripRef>, &amp;c. But peevish
spirits are too apt thus to abuse their comforters.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.vii-p6.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.8-Job.6.13" parsed="|Job|6|8|6|13" passage="Job 6:8-13" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.6.8-Job.6.13">
<p class="passage" id="Job.vii-p7">8 Oh that I might have my request; and that God
would grant <i>me</i> the thing that I long for!   9 Even that
it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his
hand, and cut me off!   10 Then should I yet have comfort;
yea, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have
not concealed the words of the Holy One.   11 What <i>is</i>
my strength, that I should hope? and what <i>is</i> mine end, that
I should prolong my life?   12 <i>Is</i> my strength the
strength of stones? or <i>is</i> my flesh of brass?   13
<i>Is</i> not my help in me? and is wisdom driven quite from
me?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.vii-p8">Ungoverned passion often grows more violent
when it meets with some rebuke and check. The troubled sea rages
most when it dashes against a rock. Job had been courting death, as
that which would be the happy period of his miseries, <scripRef id="Job.vii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.3.1-Job.3.26" parsed="|Job|3|1|3|26" passage="Job 3:1-26"><i>ch.</i> iii</scripRef>. For this Eliphaz
had gravely reproved him, but he, instead of unsaying what he had
said, says it here again with more vehemence than before; and it is
as ill said as almost any thing we meet with in all his discourses,
and is recorded for our admonition, not our imitation.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.vii-p9">I. He is still most passionately desirous
to die, as if it were not possible that he should ever see good
days again in this world, or that, by the exercise of grace and
devotion, he might make even these days of affliction good days. He
could see no end of his trouble but death, and had not patience to
wait the time appointed for that. He has a request to make; there
is a thing he longs for (<scripRef id="Job.vii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.8" parsed="|Job|6|8|0|0" passage="Job 6:8"><i>v.</i>
8</scripRef>); and what is that? One would think it should be,
"That it would please God to deliver me, and restore me to my
prosperity again;" no, <i>That it would please God to destroy
me,</i> <scripRef id="Job.vii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.9" parsed="|Job|6|9|0|0" passage="Job 6:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. "As
once he let loose his hand to make me poor, and then to make me
sick, let him loose it once more to put an end to my life. Let him
give the fatal stroke; it shall be to me the <i>coup de grace—the
stroke of favour,</i>" as, in France, they call the last blow which
dispatches those that are broken on the wheel. There was a time
when <i>destruction from the Almighty was a terror</i> to Job
(<scripRef id="Job.vii-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.23" parsed="|Job|31|23|0|0" passage="Job 31:23"><i>ch.</i> xxxi. 23</scripRef>), yet
now he courts the destruction of the flesh, but in hopes that the
spirit should be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Observe,
Though Job was extremely desirous of death, and very angry at its
delays, yet he did not offer to destroy himself, nor to take away
his own life, only he begged <i>that it would please God to destroy
him.</i> Seneca's morals, which recommend self-murder as the lawful
redress of insupportable grievances, were not then known, nor will
ever be entertained by any that have the least regard to the law of
God and nature. How uneasy soever the soul's confinement in the
body may be, it must by no means break prison, but wait for a fair
discharge.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.vii-p10">II. He puts this desire into a prayer, that
God would grant him this request, that it would please God to do
this for him. It was his sin so passionately to desire the
hastening of his own death, and offering up that desire to God made
it no better; nay, what looked ill in his wish looked worse in his
prayer, for we ought not to ask any thing of God but what we can
ask in faith, and we cannot ask any thing in faith but what is
agreeable to the will of God. Passionate prayers are the worst of
passionate expressions, for we should <i>lift up pure hands without
wrath.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.vii-p11">III. He promises himself effectual relief,
and the redress of all his grievances, by the stroke of death
(<scripRef id="Job.vii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.10" parsed="|Job|6|10|0|0" passage="Job 6:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): "<i>Then
should I yet have comfort,</i> which now I have not, nor ever
expect till then." See, 1. The vanity of human life; so uncertain a
good is it that it often proves men's greatest burden and nothing
is so desirable as to get clear of it. Let grace make us willing to
part with it whenever God calls; for it may so happen that even
sense may make us desirous to part with it before he calls. 2. The
hope which the righteous have in their death. If Job had not had a
good conscience, he could not have spoken with this assurance of
comfort on the other side death, which turns the tables between the
rich man and Lazarus. <i>Now he is comforted, and thou art
tormented.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.vii-p12">IV. He challenges death to do its worst. If
he could not die without the dreadful prefaces of bitter pains and
agonies, and strong convulsions, if he must be racked before he be
executed, yet, in prospect of dying at last, he would make nothing
of dying pangs: "<i>I would harden myself in sorrow,</i> would open
my breast to receive death's darts, and not shrink from them.
<i>Let him not spare;</i> I desire no mitigation of that pain which
will put a happy period to all my pains. Rather than not die, let
me die so as to feel myself die." These are passionate words, which
might better have been spared. We should soften ourselves in
sorrow, that we may receive the good impressions of it, and by the
sadness of the countenance our hearts, being made tender, may be
made better; but, if we harden ourselves, we provoke God to proceed
in his controversy; <i>for when he judgeth he will overcome.</i> It
is great presumption to dare the Almighty, and to say, <i>Let him
not spare;</i> for <i>are we stronger than he?</i> <scripRef id="Job.vii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.22" parsed="|1Cor|10|22|0|0" passage="1Co 10:22">1 Cor. x. 22</scripRef>. We are much indebted
to sparing mercy; it is bad indeed with us when we are weary of
that. Let us rather say with David, <i>O spare me a little.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.vii-p13">V. He grounds his comfort upon the
testimony of his conscience for him that he had been faithful and
firm to his profession of religion, and in some degree useful and
serviceable to the glory of God in his generation: <i>I have not
concealed the words of the Holy One.</i> Observe, 1. Job had the
words of the Holy One committed to him. The people of God were at
that time blessed with divine revelation. 2. It was his comfort
that he had not concealed them, had not received the grace of God
therein in vain. (1.) He had not kept them from himself, but had
given them full scope to operate upon him, and in every thing to
guide and govern him. He had not stifled his convictions,
<i>imprisoned the truth in unrighteousness,</i> nor done any thing
to hinder the digestion of this spiritual food and the operation of
this spiritual physic. Let us never conceal God's word from
ourselves, but always receive it in the light of it. (2.) He had
not kept them to himself, but had been ready, on all occasions, to
communicate his knowledge for the good of others, was never ashamed
nor afraid to own the word of God to be his rule, nor remiss in his
endeavours to bring others into an acquaintance with it. Note
Those, and those only, may promise themselves comfort in death who
are good, and do good, while they live.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.vii-p14">VI. He justifies himself, in this extreme
desire of death, from the deplorable condition he was now in,
<scripRef id="Job.vii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.11-Job.6.12" parsed="|Job|6|11|6|12" passage="Job 6:11,12"><i>v.</i> 11, 12</scripRef>.
Eliphaz, in the close of his discourse, had put him in hopes that
he should yet see a good issue of his troubles; but poor Job puts
these cordials away from him, refuses to be comforted, abandons
himself to despair, and very ingeniously, yet perversely, argues
against the encouragements that were given him. Disconsolate
spirits will reason strangely against themselves. In answer to the
pleasing prospects Eliphaz had flattered him with, he here
intimates, 1. That he had no reason to expect any such thing:
"<i>What is my strength, that I should hope?</i> You see how I am
weakened and brought low, how unable I am to grapple with my
distempers, and therefore what reason have I to hope that I should
out-live them, and see better days? <i>Is my strength the strength
of stones?</i> Are my muscles brass and my sinews steel? No, they
are not, and therefore I cannot hold out always in this pain and
misery, but must needs sink under the load. Had I strength to
grapple with my distemper, I might hope to look through it; but,
alas! I have not. The <i>weakening of my strength in the way</i>
will certainly be the <i>shortening of my days,</i>" <scripRef id="Job.vii-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.23" parsed="|Ps|102|23|0|0" passage="Ps 102:23">Ps. cii. 23</scripRef>. Note, All things
considered, we have no reason to reckon upon the long continuance
of life in this world. <i>What is our strength?</i> It is depending
strength. We have no more strength than God gives us; for in him we
live and move. It is decaying strength; we are daily spending the
stock, and by degrees it will be exhausted. It is disproportionable
to the encounters we may meet with; what is our strength to be
depended upon, when two or three days' sickness will make us weak
as water? Instead of expecting a long life, we have reason to
wonder that we have lived hitherto and to feel that we are
hastening off apace. 2. That he had no reason to desire any such
thing: "<i>What is my end, that I should desire to prolong my
life?</i> What comfort can I promise myself in life, comparable to
the comfort I promise myself in death?" Note, Those who, through
grace, are ready for another world, cannot see much to invite their
stay in this world, or to make them fond of it. That, if it be
God's will, we may do him more service and may get to be fitter and
riper for heaven, is an end for which we may wish the prolonging of
life, in subservience to our chief end; but, otherwise, what can we
propose to ourselves in desiring to tarry here? The longer life is
the more grievous will its burdens be (<scripRef id="Job.vii-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.12.1" parsed="|Eccl|12|1|0|0" passage="Ec 12:1">Eccl. xii. 1</scripRef>), and the longer life is the less
pleasant will be its delights, <scripRef id="Job.vii-p14.4" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.19.34-2Sam.19.35" parsed="|2Sam|19|34|19|35" passage="2Sa 19:34,35">2
Sam. xix. 34, 35</scripRef>. We have already seen the best of this
world, but we are not sure that we have seen the worst of it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.vii-p15">VII. He obviates the suspicion of his being
delirious (<scripRef id="Job.vii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.13" parsed="|Job|6|13|0|0" passage="Job 6:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>):
<i>Is not my help in me?</i> that is, "Have I not the use of my
reason, with which, I thank God, I can help myself, though you do
not help me? Do you think wisdom is driven quite from me, and that
I am gone distracted? No, I am not mad, most noble Eliphaz, but
<i>speak the words of truth and soberness.</i>" Note, Those who
have grace in them, who have the evidence of it and have it in
exercise, have wisdom in them, which will be their help in the
worst of times. <i>Sat lucis intus—They have light within.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.vii-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.14-Job.6.21" parsed="|Job|6|14|6|21" passage="Job 6:14-21" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.6.14-Job.6.21">
<p class="passage" id="Job.vii-p16">14 To him that is afflicted pity <i>should be
showed</i> from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the
Almighty.   15 My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook,
<i>and</i> as the stream of brooks they pass away;   16 Which
are blackish by reason of the ice, <i>and</i> wherein the snow is
hid:   17 What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is
hot, they are consumed out of their place.   18 The paths of
their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish.  
19 The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for
them.   20 They were confounded because they had hoped; they
came thither, and were ashamed.   21 For now ye are nothing;
ye see <i>my</i> casting down, and are afraid.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.vii-p17">Eliphaz had been very severe in his
censures of Job; and his companions, though as yet they had said
little, yet had intimated their concurrence with him. Their
unkindness therein poor Job here complains of, as an aggravation of
his calamity and a further excuse of his desire to die; for what
satisfaction could he ever expect in this world when those that
should have been his comforters thus proved his tormentors?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.vii-p18">I. He shows what reason he had to expect
kindness from them. His expectation was grounded upon the common
principles of humanity (<scripRef id="Job.vii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.14" parsed="|Job|6|14|0|0" passage="Job 6:14"><i>v.</i>
14</scripRef>): "<i>To him that is afflicted,</i> and that is
wasting and melting under his affliction, <i>pity should be shown
from his friend;</i> and he that does not show that pity
<i>forsakes the fear of the Almighty.</i>" Note, 1. Compassion is a
debt owing to those that are in affliction. The least which those
that are at ease can do for those that are pained and in anguish is
to pity them,—to manifest the sincerity of a tender concern for
them, and to sympathize with them,—to take cognizance of their
case, enquire into their grievances, hear their complaints, and
mingle their tears with theirs,—to comfort them, and to do all
they can to help and relieve them: this well becomes the members of
the same body, who should feel for the grievances of their
fellow-members, not knowing how soon the same may be their own. 2.
Inhumanity is impiety and irreligion. <i>He that withholds
compassion from his friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.</i>
So the Chaldee. <i>How dwells the love of God in that man?</i>
<scripRef id="Job.vii-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.3.17" parsed="|1John|3|17|0|0" passage="1Jo 3:17">1 John iii. 17</scripRef>. Surely
those have no fear of the rod of God upon themselves who have no
compassion for those that feel the smart of it. See <scripRef id="Job.vii-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Jas.1.27" parsed="|Jas|1|27|0|0" passage="Jam 1:27">Jam. i. 27</scripRef>. 3. Troubles are the
trials of friendship. When a man is afflicted he will see who are
his friends indeed and who are but pretenders; for <i>a brother is
born for adversity,</i> <scripRef id="Job.vii-p18.4" passage="Pr 17:17,18:24">Prov.
xvii. 17; xviii. 24</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.vii-p19">II. He shows how wretchedly he was
disappointed in his expectations from them (<scripRef id="Job.vii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.15" parsed="|Job|6|15|0|0" passage="Job 6:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>): "<i>My brethren,</i> who
should have helped me, <i>have dealt deceitfully as a brook.</i>"
They came by appointment, with a great deal of ceremony, to mourn
with him and to comfort him (<scripRef id="Job.vii-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.11" parsed="|Job|2|11|0|0" passage="Job 2:11"><i>ch.</i> ii. 11</scripRef>); and some extraordinary
things were expected from such wise, learned, knowing men, and
Job's particular friends. None questioned but that the drift of
their discourses would be to comfort Job with the remembrance of
his former piety, the assurance of God's favour to him, and the
prospect of a glorious issue; but, instead of this, they most
barbarously fall upon him with their reproaches and censures,
condemn him as a hypocrite, insult over his calamities, and pour
vinegar, instead of oil, into his wounds, and thus they deal
deceitfully with him. Note, It is fraud and deceit not only to
violate our engagements to our friends, but to frustrate their just
expectations from us, especially the expectations we have raised.
Note, further, It is our wisdom to cease from man. We cannot expect
too little from the creature nor too much from the Creator. It is
no new thing even for brethren to <i>deal deceitfully</i>
(<scripRef id="Job.vii-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.4-Jer.9.5 Bible:Mic.7.5" parsed="|Jer|9|4|9|5;|Mic|7|5|0|0" passage="Jer 9:4,5,Mic 7:5">Jer. ix. 4, 5; Mic. vii.
5</scripRef>); let us therefore put our confidence in the rock of
ages, not in broken reeds-in the fountain of life, not in broken
cisterns. God will out-do our hopes as much as men come short of
them. This disappointment which Job met with he here illustrates by
the failing of brooks in summer.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.vii-p20">1. The similitude is very elegant,
<scripRef id="Job.vii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.15-Job.6.20" parsed="|Job|6|15|6|20" passage="Job 6:15-20"><i>v.</i> 15-20</scripRef>. (1.)
Their pretensions are fitly compared to the great show which the
brooks make when they are swollen with the waters of a land flood,
by the melting of the ice and snow, which make them blackish or
muddy, <scripRef id="Job.vii-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.16" parsed="|Job|6|16|0|0" passage="Job 6:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. (2.)
His expectations from them, which their coming so solemnly to
comfort him had raised, he compares to the expectation which the
weary thirsty travellers have of finding water in the summer where
they have often seen it in great abundance in the winter, <scripRef id="Job.vii-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.19" parsed="|Job|6|19|0|0" passage="Job 6:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. <i>The troops of Tema
and Sheba,</i> the caravans of the merchants of those countries,
whose road lay through the deserts of Arabia, looked and waited for
supply of water from those brooks. "Hard by here," says one, "A
little further," says another, "when I last travelled this way,
there was water enough; we shall have that to refresh us." Where we
have met with relief or comfort we are apt to expect it again; and
yet it does not follow; for, (3.) The disappointment of his
expectation is here compared to the confusion which seizes the poor
travellers when they find heaps of sand where they expected floods
of water. In the winter, when they were not thirsty, there was
water enough. Every one will applaud and admire those that are full
and in prosperity. But in the heat of summer, when they needed
water, then it failed them; it was consumed (<scripRef id="Job.vii-p20.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.17" parsed="|Job|6|17|0|0" passage="Job 6:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>); it was turned aside, <scripRef id="Job.vii-p20.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.18" parsed="|Job|6|18|0|0" passage="Job 6:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. When those who are rich
and high are sunk and impoverished, and stand in need of comfort,
then those who before gathered about them stand aloof from them,
those who before commended them are forward to run them down. Thus
those who raise their expectations high from the creature will find
it fail them when it should help them; whereas those who make God
their confidence have help <i>in the time of need,</i> <scripRef id="Job.vii-p20.6" osisRef="Bible:Heb.4.16" parsed="|Heb|4|16|0|0" passage="Heb 4:16">Heb. iv. 16</scripRef>. Those who make gold
their hope will sooner or later be ashamed of it, and of their
confidence in it (<scripRef id="Job.vii-p20.7" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.7.19" parsed="|Ezek|7|19|0|0" passage="Eze 7:19">Ezek. vii.
19</scripRef>); and the greater their confidence was the greater
their shame will be: <i>They were confounded because they had
hoped,</i> <scripRef id="Job.vii-p20.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.20" parsed="|Job|6|20|0|0" passage="Job 6:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. We
prepare confusion for ourselves by our vain hopes: the reeds break
under us because we lean upon them. If we build a house upon the
sand, we shall certainly be confounded, for it will fall in the
storm, and we must thank ourselves for being such fools as to
expect it would stand. We are not deceived unless we deceive
ourselves.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.vii-p21">2. The application is very close (<scripRef id="Job.vii-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.21" parsed="|Job|6|21|0|0" passage="Job 6:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>): <i>For now you are
nothing.</i> They seemed to be somewhat, but in conference they
added nothing to him. Allude to <scripRef id="Job.vii-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Gal.2.6" parsed="|Gal|2|6|0|0" passage="Ga 2:6">Gal. ii.
6</scripRef>. He was never the wiser, never the better, for the
visit they made him. Note, Whatever complacency we may take, or
whatever confidence we may put, in creatures, how great soever they
may seem and how dear soever they may be to us, one time or other
we shall say of them, <i>Now you are nothing.</i> When Job was in
prosperity his friends were something to him, he took complacency
in them and their society; but "<i>Now you are nothing,</i> now I
can find no comfort but in God." It were well for us if we had
always such convictions of the vanity of the creature, and its
insufficiency to make us happy, as we have sometimes had, or shall
have on a sick-bed, a death-bed, or in trouble of conscience:
"<i>Now you are nothing.</i> You are not what you have been, what
you should be, what you pretend to be, what I thought you would
have been; <i>for you see my casting down and are afraid.</i> When
you saw me in my elevation you caressed me; but now that you see me
in my dejection you are shy of me, are afraid of showing yourselves
kind, lest I should thereby be emboldened to beg something of you,
or to borrow" (compare <scripRef id="Job.vii-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.22" parsed="|Job|6|22|0|0" passage="Job 6:22"><i>v.</i>
22</scripRef>); "you are afraid lest, if you own me, you should be
obliged to keep me." Perhaps they were afraid of catching his
distemper or of coming within smell of the noisomeness of it. It is
not good, either out of pride or niceness, for love of our purses
or of our bodies, to be shy of those who are in distress and afraid
of coming near them. Their case may soon be our own.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.vii-p21.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.22-Job.6.30" parsed="|Job|6|22|6|30" passage="Job 6:22-30" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.6.22-Job.6.30">
<p class="passage" id="Job.vii-p22">22 Did I say, Bring unto me? or, Give a reward
for me of your substance?   23 Or, Deliver me from the enemy's
hand? or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty?   24 Teach
me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I
have erred.   25 How forcible are right words! but what doth
your arguing reprove?   26 Do ye imagine to reprove words, and
the speeches of one that is desperate, <i>which are</i> as wind?
  27 Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig <i>a pit</i>
for your friend.   28 Now therefore be content, look upon me;
for <i>it is</i> evident unto you if I lie.   29 Return, I
pray you, let it not be iniquity; yea, return again, my
righteousness <i>is</i> in it.   30 Is there iniquity in my
tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.vii-p23">Poor Job goes on here to upbraid his
friends with their unkindness and the hard usage they gave him. He
here appeals to themselves concerning several things which tended
both to justify him and to condemn them. If they would but think
impartially, and speak as they thought, they could not but own,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.vii-p24">I. That, though he was necessitous, yet he
was not craving, nor burdensome to his friends. Those that are so,
whose troubles serve them to beg by, are commonly less pitied than
the silent poor. Job would be glad to see his friends, but he did
not say, <i>Bring unto me</i> (<scripRef id="Job.vii-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.22" parsed="|Job|6|22|0|0" passage="Job 6:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>), or, <i>Deliver me,</i>
<scripRef id="Job.vii-p24.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.23" parsed="|Job|6|23|0|0" passage="Job 6:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. He did not
desire to put them to any expense, did not urge his friends either,
1. To make a collection for him, to set him up again in the world.
Though he could plead that his losses came upon him by the hand of
God and not by any fault or folly of his own,—that he was utterly
ruined and impoverished,—that he had lived in good condition, and
that when he had wherewithal he was charitable and ready to help
those that were in distress,—that his friends were rich, and able
to help him, yet he did not say, <i>Give me of your substance.</i>
Note, A good man, when troubled himself, is afraid of being
troublesome to his friends. Or, 2. To raise the country for him, to
help him to recover his cattle out of the hands of the Sabeans and
Chaldeans, or to make reprisals upon them: "Did I send for you to
<i>deliver me out of the hand of the mighty?</i> No, I never
expected you should either expose yourselves to any danger or put
yourselves to any charge upon my account. I will rather sit down
content under my affliction, and make the best of it, than sponge
upon my friends." St. Paul worked with his hands, that he might not
be burdensome to any. Job's not asking their help did not excuse
them from offering it when he needed it and it was in the power of
their hands to give it; but it much aggravated their unkindness
when he desired no more from them than a good look, and a good
word, and yet could not obtain them. It often happens that from
man, even when we expect little, we have less, but from God, even
when we expect much, we have more, <scripRef id="Job.vii-p24.3" osisRef="Bible:Eph.3.20" parsed="|Eph|3|20|0|0" passage="Eph 3:20">Eph. iii. 20</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.vii-p25">II. That, though he differed in opinion
from them, yet he was not obstinate, but ready to yield to
conviction, and to strike sail to truth as soon as ever it was made
to appear to him that he was in an error (<scripRef id="Job.vii-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.24-Job.6.25" parsed="|Job|6|24|6|25" passage="Job 6:24,25"><i>v.</i> 24, 25</scripRef>): "If, instead of
invidious reflections and uncharitable insinuations, you will give
me plain instructions and solid arguments, which shall carry their
own evidence along with them, I am ready to acknowledge my error
and own myself in a fault: <i>Teach me, and I will hold my
tongue;</i> for I have often found, with pleasure and wonder,
<i>how forcible right words are.</i> But the method you take will
never make proselytes: <i>What doth your arguing reprove?</i> Your
hypothesis is false, your surmises are groundless, your management
is weak, and your application peevish and uncharitable." Note, 1.
Fair reasoning has a commanding power, and it is a wonder if men
are not conquered by it; but railing and foul language are impotent
and foolish, and it is no wonder if men are exasperated and
hardened by them. 2. It is the undoubted character of every honest
man that he is truly desirous to have his mistakes rectified, and
to be made to understand wherein he has erred; and he will
acknowledge that right words, when they appear to him to be so,
though contrary to his former sentiments, are both forcible and
acceptable.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.vii-p26">III. That, though he had been indeed in a
fault, yet they ought not to have given him such hard usage
(<scripRef id="Job.vii-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.26-Job.6.27" parsed="|Job|6|26|6|27" passage="Job 6:26,27"><i>v.</i> 26, 27</scripRef>):
"<i>Do you imagine,</i> or contrive with a great deal of art" (for
so the word signifies), "<i>to reprove words,</i> some passionate
expressions of mine in this desperate condition, as if they were
certain indications of reigning impiety and atheism? A little
candour and charity would have served to excuse them, and to put a
better construction upon them. Shall a man's spiritual state be
judged of by some rash and hasty words, which a surprising trouble
extorts from him? Is it fair, is it kind, is it just, to criticize
in such a case? Would you yourselves be served thus?" Two things
aggravated their unkind treatment of him:—1. That they took
advantage of his weakness and the helpless condition he was in:
<i>You overwhelm the fatherless,</i> a proverbial expression,
denoting that which is most barbarous and inhuman. "The fatherless
cannot secure themselves from insults, which emboldens men of base
and sordid spirits to insult them and trample upon them; and you do
so by me." Job, being a childless father, thought himself as much
exposed to injury as a fatherless child (<scripRef id="Job.vii-p26.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.127.5" parsed="|Ps|127|5|0|0" passage="Ps 127:5">Ps. cxxvii. 5</scripRef>) and had reason to be offended
with those who therefore triumphed over him. Let those who
overwhelm and overpower such as upon any account may be looked upon
as fatherless know that therein they not only put off the
compassions of man, but fight against the compassions of God, who
is, and will be, a Father of the fatherless and a helper of the
helpless. 2. That they made a pretence of kindness: "<i>You dig a
pit for your friend;</i> not only you are unkind to me, who am your
friend, but, under colour of friendship, you ensnare me." When they
came to see and sit with him he thought he might speak his mind
freely to them, and that the more bitter his complaints to them
were the more they would endeavour to comfort him. This made him
take a greater liberty than otherwise he would have done. David,
though he smothered his resentments when the wicked were before
him, would probably have given vent to them if none had been by but
friends, <scripRef id="Job.vii-p26.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.39.1" parsed="|Ps|39|1|0|0" passage="Ps 39:1">Ps. xxxix. 1</scripRef>. But
this freedom of speech, which their professions of concern for him
made him use, had exposed him to their censures, and so they might
be said to dig a pit for him. Thus, when our hearts are hot within
us, what is ill done we are apt to misrepresent as if done
designedly.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.vii-p27">IV. That, though he had let fall some
passionate expressions, yet in the main he was in the right, and
that his afflictions, though very extraordinary, did not prove him
to be a hypocrite or a wicked man. His righteousness he holds fast,
and will not let it go. For the evincing of it he here appeals, 1.
To what they saw in him (<scripRef id="Job.vii-p27.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.28" parsed="|Job|6|28|0|0" passage="Job 6:28"><i>v.</i>
28</scripRef>): "<i>Be content,</i> and <i>look upon me;</i> what
do you see in me that bespeaks me either a madman or a wicked man?
Nay, look in my face, and you may discern there the indications of
a patient and submissive spirit, for all this. Let the show of my
countenance witness for me that, though I have cursed my day, I do
not curse my God." Or rather, "Look upon my ulcers and sore boils,
and by them it will be evident to you that I do not lie," that is,
"that I do not complain without cause. Let your own eyes convince
you that my condition is very sad, and that I do not quarrel with
God by making it worse than it is." 2. To what they heard from him,
<scripRef id="Job.vii-p27.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.30" parsed="|Job|6|30|0|0" passage="Job 6:30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. "You hear
what I have to say: <i>Is there iniquity in my tongue?</i> that
iniquity that you charge me with? Have I blasphemed God or
renounced him? Are not my present arguings right? Do not you
perceive, by what I say, that I can discern perverse things? I can
discover your fallacies and mistakes, and, if I were myself in an
error, I could perceive it. Whatever you think of me, I know what I
say." 3. To their own second and sober thoughts (<scripRef id="Job.vii-p27.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.29" parsed="|Job|6|29|0|0" passage="Job 6:29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>): "<i>Return, I pray you,</i>
consider the thing over again without prejudice and partiality, and
let not the result be iniquity, let it not be an unrighteous
sentence; and you will find <i>my righteousness is in it,</i>" that
is, "I am in the right in this matter; and, though I cannot keep my
temper as I should, I keep my integrity, and have not said, nor
done, nor suffered, any thing which will prove me other than an
honest man." A just cause desires nothing more than a just hearing,
and if need be a re-hearing.</p>
</div></div2>