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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Job, Chapter III].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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<h3><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank">Back to Biblesnet.com Home Page</a>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>J O B</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. III.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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"You have heard of the patience of Job," says the apostle,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:11">
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Jam. v. 11</A>.
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So we have, and of his impatience too. We wondered that a man should be
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so patient as he was
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+1:1-2:13"><I>ch.</I> i. and ii.</A>),
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but we wonder also that a good man should be so impatient as he is in
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this chapter, where we find him cursing his day, and, in passion,
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I. Complaining that he was born,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:1-10">ver. 1-10</A>.
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II. Complaining that he did not die as soon as he was born,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:11-19">ver. 11-19</A>.
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III. Complaining that his life was now continued when he was in misery,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:20-26">ver. 20-26</A>.
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In this it must be owned that Job sinned with his lips, and it is
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written, not for our imitation, but our admonition, that he who things
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he stands may take heed lest he fall.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Job3_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job3_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job3_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job3_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job3_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job3_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job3_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job3_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job3_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job3_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Job Curses His Day.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1520.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
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2 And Job spake, and said,
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3 Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night <I>in
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which</I> it was said, There is a man child conceived.
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4 Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above,
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neither let the light shine upon it.
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5 Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud
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dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
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6 As <I>for</I> that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not
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be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the
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number of the months.
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7 Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come
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therein.
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8 Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise
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up their mourning.
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9 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look
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for light, but <I>have</I> none; neither let it see the dawning of the
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day:
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10 Because it shut not up the doors of my <I>mother's</I> womb, nor
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hid sorrow from mine eyes.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Long was Job's heart hot within him; and, while he was musing, the fire
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burned, and the more for being stifled and suppressed. At length he
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spoke with his tongue, but not such a good word as David spoke after a
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long pause: <I>Lord, make me to know my end,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+39:3,4">Ps. xxxix. 3, 4</A>.
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Seven days the prophet Ezekiel sat down astonished with the captives,
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and then (probably on the sabbath day) <I>the word of the Lord came to
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him,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+3:15,16">Ezek. iii. 15, 16</A>.
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So long Job and his friends sat thinking, but said nothing; <I>they</I>
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were afraid of speaking what they thought, lest they should grieve him,
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and <I>he</I> durst not give vent to his thoughts, lest he should
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offend them. They came to comfort him, but, finding his afflictions
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very extraordinary, they began to think comfort did not belong to him,
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suspecting him to be a hypocrite, and therefore they said nothing. But
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losers think they may have leave to speak, and therefore Job first
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gives vent to his thoughts. Unless they had been better, it would
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however have been well if he had kept them to himself. In short, he
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cursed his day, the day of his birth, wished he had never been born,
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could not think or speak of his own birth without regret and vexation.
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Whereas men usually observe the annual return of their birth-day with
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rejoicing, he looked upon it as the unhappiest day of the year, because
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the unhappiest of his life, being the inlet into all his woe. Now,</P>
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<P>
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I. This was bad enough. The extremity of his trouble and the
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discomposure of his spirits may excuse it in part, but he can by no
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means be justified in it. Now he has forgotten the good he was born to,
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the lean kine have eaten up the fat ones, and he is filled with
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thoughts of the evil only, and wishes he had never been born. The
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prophet Jeremiah himself expressed his painful sense of his calamities
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in language not much unlike this: <I>Woe is me, my mother, that thou
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hast borne me!</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+15:10">Jer. xv. 10</A>.
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<I>Cursed be the day wherein I was born,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+20:14">Jer. xx. 14</A>,
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&c. We may suppose that Job in his prosperity had
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many a time blessed God for the day of his birth, and reckoned it a
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happy day; yet now he brands it with all possible marks of infamy. When
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we consider the iniquity in which we were conceived and born we have
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reason enough to reflect with sorrow and shame upon the day of our
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birth, and to say that the <I>day of our death,</I> by which we are
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<I>freed from sin</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:7">Rom. vi. 7</A>),
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is far <I>better.</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+7:1">Eccl. vii. 1</A>.
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But to curse the day of our birth because then we entered upon the
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calamitous scene of life is to quarrel with the God of nature, to
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despise the dignity of our being, and to indulge a passion which our
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own calm and sober thoughts will make us ashamed of. Certainly there is
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no condition of life a man can be in in this world but he may in it (if
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it be not his own fault) so honour God, and work out his own salvation,
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and make sure a happiness for himself in a better world, that he will
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have no reason at all to wish he had never been born, but a great deal
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of reason to say that he had his being to good purpose. Yet it must be
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owned, if there were not another life after this, and divine
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consolations to support us in the prospect of it, so many are the
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sorrows and troubles of this that we might sometimes be tempted to say
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that we were <I>made in vain</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+89:47">Ps. lxxxix. 47</A>),
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and to wish we had never been. There are those in hell who with good
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reason wish they had never been born, as Judas,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+26:24">Matt. xxvi. 24</A>.
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But, on this side hell, there can be no reason for so vain and
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ungrateful a wish. It was Job's folly and weakness to curse his day. We
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must say of it, This was his infirmity; but good men have sometimes
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failed in the exercise of those graces which they have been most
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eminent for, that we may understand that when they are said to be
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<I>perfect</I> it is meant that they were upright, not that they were
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sinless. <I>Lastly,</I> Let us observe it, to the honour of the
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spiritual life above the natural, that though many have cursed the day
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of their first birth, never any cursed the day of their new-birth, nor
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wished they never had had grace, and the Spirit of grace, given them.
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Those are the most excellent gifts, above life and being itself, and
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which will never be a burden.</P>
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<P>
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II. Yet it was not so bad as Satan promised himself. Job cursed his
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day, but he did not curse his God--was weary of his life, and would
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gladly have parted with that, but not weary of his religion; he
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resolutely cleaves to that, and will never let it go. The dispute
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between God and Satan concerning Job was not whether Job had his
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infirmities, and whether he was subject to like passions as we are
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(that was granted), but whether he was a hypocrite, who secretly hated
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God, and if he were provoked, would show his hatred; and, upon trial,
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it proved that he was no such man. Nay, all this may consist with his
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being a pattern of patience; for, though he did thus speak unadvisedly
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with his lips, yet both before and after he expressed great submission
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and resignation to the holy will of God and repented of his impatience;
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he condemned himself for it, and therefore God did not condemn him, nor
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must we, but watch the more carefully over ourselves, lest we sin after
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the similitude of this transgression.</P>
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<P>
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1. The particular expressions which Job used in cursing his day are
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full of poetical fancy, flame, and rapture, and create as much
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difficulty to the critics as the thing itself does to the divines: we
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need not be particular in our observations upon them. When he would
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express his passionate wish that he had never been, he falls foul upon
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the day, and wishes,</P>
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<P>
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(1.) That earth might forget it: <I>Let it perish</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>);
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<I>let it not be joined to the days of the year,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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"Let it be not only not inserted in the calendar in red letters, as the
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day of the king's nativity useth to be" (and Job was a king,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+29:25"><I>ch.</I> xxix. 25</A>),
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"but let it be erased and blotted out, and buried in oblivion. Let not
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the world know that ever such a man as I was born into it, and lived in
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it, who am made such a spectacle of misery."</P>
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<P>
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(2.) That Heaven might frown upon it: <I>Let not God regard it from
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above,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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"Every thing is indeed as it is with God; that day is honourable on
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which he puts honour, and which he distinguishes and crowns with his
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favour and blessing, as he did the seventh day of the week; but let my
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birthday never be so honoured; let it be <I>nigro carbone
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notandus--marked as with a black coal</I> for an evil day by him that
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determines the times before appointed. The father and fountain of light
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appointed the greater light to rule the day and the less lights to rule
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the night; but let that want the benefit of both."
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[1.] <I>Let that day be darkness</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>);
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and, if the light of the day be darkness, <I>how great is that
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darkness!</I> how terrible! because then we look for light. Let the
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gloominess of the day represent Job's condition, whose sun went down at
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noon.
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[2.] As for that night too, let it want the benefit of moon and stars,
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and <I>let darkness seize upon it,</I> thick darkness, darkness that
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may be felt, which will not befriend the repose of the night by its
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silence, but rather disturb it with its terrors.</P>
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<P>
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(3.) That all joy might forsake it: "Let it be a melancholy night,
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solitary, and not a merry night of music and dancing. <I>Let no joyful
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voice come therein</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>);
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let it be a long night, and not <I>see the eye-lids of the morning</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>),
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which bring joy with them."</P>
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<P>
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(4.) That all curses might follow it
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
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"Let none ever desire to see it, or bid it welcome when it comes, but,
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on the contrary, <I>let those curse it that curse the day.</I> Whatever
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day any are tempted to curse, let them at the same time bestow one
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curse upon my birth-day, particularly those that make it their trade to
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raise up mourning at funerals with their ditties of lamentation. Let
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those that curse the day of the death of others in the same breath
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curse the day of my birth." Or those who are so fierce and daring as to
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be ready to raise up the <I>Leviathan</I> (for that is the word here),
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who, being about to strike the whale or crocodile, curse it with the
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bitterest curse they can invent, hoping by their incantations to weaken
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it, and so to make themselves master of it. Probably some such custom
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might there be used, to which our divine poet alludes. "Let it be as
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odious as <I>the day wherein men bewail the greatest misfortune,</I> or
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the time <I>wherein they see the most dreadful apparition;</I>" so
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bishop Patrick, I suppose taking the Leviathan here to signify the
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devil, as others do, who understand it of the curses used by conjurors
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and magicians in raising the devil, or when they have raised a devil
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that they cannot lay.</P>
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<P>
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2. But what is the ground of Job's quarrel with the day and night of
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his birth? It is <I>because it shut not up the doors of his mother's
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womb,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
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See the folly and madness of a passionate discontent, and how absurdly
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and extravagantly it talks when the reins are laid on the neck of it.
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Is this Job, who was so much admired for his wisdom that <I>unto him
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men gave ear, and kept silence at his counsel,</I> and <I>after his
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words they spoke not again?</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+29:21,22"><I>ch.</I> xxix. 21, 11</A>.
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Surely his wisdom failed him,
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(1.) When he took so much pains to express his desire that he had never
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been born, which, at the best was a vain wish, for it is impossible to
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make that which has been not to have been.
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(2.) When he was so liberal of his curses upon a day and a night that
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could not be hurt, or made any the worse for his curses.
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(3.) When he wished a thing so very barbarous to his own mother as that
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she had not brought him forth when her full time had come, which must
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inevitably have been her death, and a miserable death.
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(4.) When he despised the goodness of God to him in giving him a being
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(such a being, so noble and excellent a life, such a life, so far above
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that of any other creature in this lower world), and undervalued the
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gift, as not worth the acceptance, only because <I>transit cum
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onere--it was clogged with a proviso of trouble,</I> which now at
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length came upon him, after many years' enjoyment of its pleasures.
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What a foolish thing it was to wish that his eyes had never seen the
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light, that so they might not have seen sorrow, which yet he might hope
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to see through, and beyond which he might see joy! Did Job believe and
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hope that he should <I>in his flesh see God at the latter day</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+19:26"><I>ch.</I> xix. 26</A>),
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and yet would he wish he had never had a being capable of such a bliss,
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only because, for the present, he had sorrow in the flesh? God by his
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grace arm us against this foolish and hurtful lust of impatience.</P>
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<A NAME="Job3_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job3_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job3_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job3_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job3_15"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job3_16"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job3_17"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job3_18"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job3_19"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Job's Complaint of Life.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1520.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
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</TABLE>
|
|
|
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<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>11 Why died I not from the womb? <I>why</I> did I <I>not</I> give up the
|
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ghost when I came out of the belly?
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12 Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I
|
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should suck?
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13 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should
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|
have slept: then had I been at rest,
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|
14 With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built
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desolate places for themselves;
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15 Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with
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silver:
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16 Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants
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<I>which</I> never saw light.
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17 There the wicked cease <I>from</I> troubling; and there the weary
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be at rest.
|
|
18 <I>There</I> the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice
|
|
of the oppressor.
|
|
19 The small and great are there; and the servant <I>is</I> free
|
|
from his master.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Job, perhaps reflecting upon himself for his folly in wishing he had
|
|
never been born, follows it, and thinks to mend it, with another,
|
|
little better, that he had died as soon as he was born, which he
|
|
enlarges upon in these verses. When our Saviour would set forth a very
|
|
calamitous state of things he seems to allow such a saying as this,
|
|
<I>Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the paps
|
|
which never gave suck</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+23:29">Luke xxiii. 29</A>);
|
|
|
|
but blessing the barren womb is one thing and cursing the fruitful womb
|
|
is another! It is good to make the best of afflictions, but it is not
|
|
good to make the worst of mercies. Our rule is, <I>Bless, and curse
|
|
not.</I> Life is often put for all good, and death for all evil; yet
|
|
Job here very absurdly complains of life and its supports as a curse
|
|
and plague to him, and covets death and the grave as the greatest and
|
|
most desirable bliss. Surely Satan was deceived in Job when he applied
|
|
that maxim to him, <I>All that a man hath will he give for his
|
|
life;</I> for never any man valued life at a lower rate than he
|
|
did.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. He ungratefully quarrels with life, and is angry that it was not
|
|
taken from him as soon as it was given him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:11,12"><I>v.</I> 11, 12</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Why died not I from the womb?</I> See here,
|
|
|
|
1. What a weak and helpless creature man is when he comes into the
|
|
world, and how slender the thread of life is when it is first drawn. We
|
|
are ready to die from the womb, and to breathe our last as soon as we
|
|
begin to breathe at all. We can do nothing for ourselves, as other
|
|
creatures can, but should drop into the grave if the knees did not
|
|
prevent us; and the lamp of life, when first lighted, would go out of
|
|
itself if the breasts given us, that we should suck, did not supply it
|
|
with fresh oil.
|
|
|
|
2. What a merciful and tender care divine Providence took of us at our
|
|
entrance into the world. It was owing to this that we <I>died not from
|
|
the womb</I> and did not <I>give up the ghost when we came out of the
|
|
belly.</I> Why were we not cut off as soon as we were born? Not because
|
|
we did not deserve it. Justly might such weeds have been plucked up as
|
|
soon as they appeared; justly might such cockatrices have been crushed
|
|
in the egg. Nor was it because we did, or could, take any care of
|
|
ourselves and our own safety: no creature comes into the world so
|
|
shiftless as man. It was not our might, or the power of our hand, that
|
|
preserved us these beings, but God's power and providence upheld our
|
|
frail lives, and his pity and patience spared our forfeited lives. It
|
|
was owing to this that the knees prevented us. Natural affection is put
|
|
into parents' he arts by the hand of the God of nature: and hence it
|
|
was that the blessings of the breast attended those of the womb.
|
|
|
|
3. What a great deal of vanity and vexation of spirit attends human
|
|
life. If we had not a God to serve in this world, and better things to
|
|
hope for in another world, considering the faculties we are endued with
|
|
and the troubles we are surrounded with, we should be strongly tempted
|
|
to wish that we had <I>died from the womb,</I> which would have
|
|
prevented a great deal both of sin and misery.</P>
|
|
|
|
<CENTER>
|
|
<TABLE BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD>He that is born to-day, and dies to-morrow,
|
|
<BR>Loses some hours of joy, but months of sorrow.
|
|
</TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
</CENTER>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
4. The evil of impatience, fretfulness, and discontent. When they thus
|
|
prevail they are unreasonable and absurd, impious and ungrateful. To
|
|
indulge them is a slighting and undervaluing of God's favour. How much
|
|
soever life is embittered, we must say, "It was of the Lord's mercies
|
|
that we died not from the womb, that we were not consumed." Hatred of
|
|
life is a contradiction to the common sense and sentiments of mankind,
|
|
and to our own at any other time. Let discontented people declaim ever
|
|
so much against life, they will be loth to part with it when it comes
|
|
to the point. When the old man in the fable, being tired with his
|
|
burden, threw it down with discontent and called for Death, and Death
|
|
came to him and asked him what he would have with him, he then
|
|
answered, "Nothing, but to help me up with my burden."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. He passionately applauds death and the grave, and seems quite in
|
|
love with them. To desire to die that we may be with Christ, that we
|
|
may be free from sin, and that we may be <I>clothed upon with our house
|
|
which is from heaven,</I> is the effect and evidence of grace; but to
|
|
desire to die only that we may be quiet in the grave, and delivered
|
|
from the troubles of this life, savours of corruption. Job's
|
|
considerations here may be of good use to reconcile us to death when it
|
|
comes, and to make us easy under the arrest of it; but they ought not
|
|
to be made use of as a pretence to quarrel with life while it is
|
|
continued, or to make us uneasy under the burdens of it. It is our
|
|
wisdom and duty to make the best of that which is, be it living or
|
|
dying, and so to <I>live to the Lord</I> and <I>die to the Lord,</I>
|
|
and to be his in both,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+14:8">Rom. xiv. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
Job here frets himself with thinking that if he had but died as soon as
|
|
he was born, and been carried from the womb to the grave,
|
|
|
|
1. His condition would have been as good as that of the best: I would
|
|
have been (says he,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>)
|
|
|
|
<I>with kings and counsellors of the earth,</I> whose pomp, power, and
|
|
policy, cannot set them out of the reach of death, nor secure them from
|
|
the grave, nor distinguish theirs from common dust in the grave. Even
|
|
princes, who had gold in abundance, could not with it bribe Death to
|
|
overlook them when he came with commission; and, though they filled
|
|
their houses with silver, yet they were forced to leave it all behind
|
|
them, no more to return to it. Some, by the <I>desolate places</I>
|
|
which the kings and counsellors are here said <I>to build for
|
|
themselves,</I> understand the sepulchres or monuments they prepared
|
|
for themselves in their life-time; as Shebna
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+22:16">Isa. xxii. 16</A>)
|
|
|
|
<I>hewed himself out a sepulchre;</I> and by the gold which the princes
|
|
had, and the silver with which they filled their houses, they
|
|
understand the treasures which, they say, it was usual to deposit in
|
|
the graves of great men. Such arts have been used to preserve their
|
|
dignity, if possible, on the other side death, and to keep themselves
|
|
from lying even with those of inferior rank; but it will not do: death
|
|
is, and will be, an irresistible leveller. <I>Mors sceptra ligonibus
|
|
æquat--Death mingles sceptres with spades. Rich and poor meet
|
|
together</I> in the grave; and there a <I>hidden untimely birth</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>),
|
|
|
|
a child that either never saw light or but just opened its eyes and
|
|
peeped into the world, and, not liking it, closed them again and
|
|
hastened out of it, lies as soft and easy, lies as high and safe, as
|
|
kings and counsellors, and princes, that had gold. "And therefore,"
|
|
says Job, "would I had lain there in the dust, rather than to lie here
|
|
in the ashes!"
|
|
|
|
2. His condition would have been much better than now it was
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Then should I have lain still, and been quiet,</I> which now I
|
|
cannot do, I cannot be, but am still tossing and unquiet; then <I>I
|
|
should have slept,</I> whereas now sleep departeth from my eyes;
|
|
<I>then had I been at rest,</I> whereas now I am restless." Now that
|
|
life and immortality are brought to a much clearer light by the gospel
|
|
than before they were placed in good Christians can give a better
|
|
account than this of the gain of death: "Then should I have been
|
|
present with the Lord; then should I have seen his glory face to face,
|
|
and no longer through a glass darkly." But all that poor Job dreamed of
|
|
was rest and quietness in the grave out of the fear of evil tidings and
|
|
out of the feeling of sore boils. <I>Then should I have been quiet;</I>
|
|
and had he kept his temper, his even easy temper still, which he was in
|
|
as recorded in the two foregoing chapters, entirely resigned to the
|
|
holy will of God and acquiescing in it, he might have been quiet now;
|
|
his soul, at least, might have dwelt at ease, even when his body lay in
|
|
pain,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+25:13">Ps. xxv. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
Observe how finely he describes the repose of the grave, which
|
|
(provided the soul also be at rest in God) may much assist our triumphs
|
|
over it.
|
|
|
|
(1.) Those that now are troubled will there be out of the reach of
|
|
trouble
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>There the wicked cease from troubling.</I> When persecutors die they
|
|
can no longer persecute; their <I>hatred and envy</I> will then
|
|
<I>perish.</I> Herod had vexed the church, but, when he became a prey
|
|
for worms, he ceased from troubling. When the persecuted die they are
|
|
out of the danger of being any further troubled. Had Job been at rest
|
|
in his grave, he would have had no disturbance from the Sabeans and
|
|
Chaldeans, none of all his enemies would have created him any trouble.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Those that are now toiled will there see the period of their
|
|
toils. <I>There the weary are at rest.</I> Heaven is more than a rest
|
|
to the souls of the saints, but the grave is a rest to their bodies.
|
|
Their pilgrimage is a weary pilgrimage; sin and the world they are
|
|
weary of; their services, sufferings, and expectations, they are
|
|
wearied with; but in the grave they <I>rest from all their labours,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+14:13,Isa+57:23">Rev. xiv. 13; Isa. lvii. 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
They are easy there, and make no complaints; there believers sleep in
|
|
Jesus.
|
|
|
|
(3.) Those that were here enslaved are there at liberty. Death is the
|
|
prisoner's discharge, the relief of the oppressed, and the servant's
|
|
manumission
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>There the prisoners,</I> though they walk not at large, yet they
|
|
<I>rest together,</I> and are not put to work, to grind in that
|
|
prison-house. They are no more insulted and trampled upon, menaced and
|
|
terrified, by their cruel task-masters: <I>They hear not the voice of
|
|
the oppressor.</I> Those that were here doomed to perpetual servitude,
|
|
that could call nothing their own, no, not their own bodies, are there
|
|
no longer under command or control: <I>There the servant is free from
|
|
his master,</I> which is a good reason why those that have power should
|
|
use it moderately, and those that are in subjection should bear it
|
|
patiently, yet a little while.
|
|
|
|
(4.) Those that were at a vast distance from others are there upon a
|
|
level
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The small and great are there,</I> there the same, there all one,
|
|
all alike free among the dead. The tedious pomp and state which attend
|
|
the great are at an end there. All the inconveniences of a poor and low
|
|
condition are likewise over; death and the grave know no
|
|
difference.</P>
|
|
|
|
<CENTER>
|
|
<TABLE BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD>Levelled by death, the conqueror and the slave,
|
|
<BR>The wise and foolish, cowards and the brave,
|
|
<BR>Lie mixed and undistinguished in the grave.--Sir R. B<FONT SIZE=-1>LACKMORE</FONT>.
|
|
</TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
</CENTER>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Job3_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job3_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job3_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job3_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job3_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job3_25"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job3_26"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life
|
|
unto the bitter <I>in</I> soul;
|
|
21 Which long for death, but it <I>cometh</I> not; and dig for it
|
|
more than for hid treasures;
|
|
22 Which rejoice exceedingly, <I>and</I> are glad, when they can
|
|
find the grave?
|
|
23 <I>Why is light given</I> to a man whose way is hid, and whom God
|
|
hath hedged in?
|
|
24 For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are
|
|
poured out like the waters.
|
|
25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and
|
|
that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
|
|
26 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I
|
|
quiet; yet trouble came.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Job, finding it to no purpose to wish either that he had not been born
|
|
or had died as soon as he was born, here complains that his life was
|
|
now continued and not cut off. When men are set on quarrelling there is
|
|
no end of it; the corrupt heart will carry on the humour. Having cursed
|
|
the day of his birth, here he courts the day of his death. The
|
|
beginning of this strife and impatience is as the letting forth of
|
|
water.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. He thinks it hard, in general, that miserable lives should be
|
|
prolonged
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:20-22"><I>v.</I> 20-22</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Wherefore is light in life given to those that are bitter in
|
|
soul?</I> Bitterness of soul, through spiritual grievances, makes life
|
|
itself bitter. <I>Why doth he give light?</I> (so it is in the
|
|
original): he means <I>God,</I> yet does not name him, though the devil
|
|
had said, "He will curse thee to thy face;" but he tacitly reflects on
|
|
the divine Providence as unjust and unkind in continuing life when the
|
|
comforts of life are removed. Life is called <I>light,</I> because
|
|
pleasant and serviceable for walking and working. It is candle-light;
|
|
the longer it burns the shorter it is, and the nearer to the socket.
|
|
This light is said to be given us; for, if it were not daily renewed to
|
|
us by a fresh gift, it would be lost. But Job reckons that to those who
|
|
are in misery it is <B><I>doron adoron</I></B>--<I>gift and no
|
|
gift,</I> a gift that they had better be without, while the light only
|
|
serves them to see their own misery by. Such is the vanity of human
|
|
life that it sometimes becomes a vexation of spirit; and so alterable
|
|
is the property of death that, though dreadful to nature, it may become
|
|
desirable even to nature itself. He here speaks of those,
|
|
|
|
1. Who long for death, when they have out-lived their comforts and
|
|
usefulness, are burdened with age and infirmities, with pain or
|
|
sickness, poverty or disgrace, and yet it comes not; while, at the same
|
|
time, it comes to many who dread it and would put it far from them. The
|
|
continuance and period of life must be according to God's will, not
|
|
according to ours. It is not fit that we should be consulted how long
|
|
we would live and when we would die; our times are in a better hand
|
|
than our own.
|
|
|
|
2. Who <I>dig for it as for hidden treasures,</I> that is, would give
|
|
any thing for a fair dismission out of this world, which supposes that
|
|
<I>then</I> the thought of men's being their own executioners was not
|
|
so much as entertained or suggested, else those who longed for it
|
|
needed not take much pains for it, they might soon come at it (as
|
|
Seneca tells them) if they are pleased.
|
|
|
|
3. Who bid it welcome, and <I>are glad</I> when they can find the grave
|
|
and see themselves stepping into it. If the miseries of this life can
|
|
prevail, contrary to nature, to make death itself desirable, shall not
|
|
much more the hopes and prospects of a better life, to which death is
|
|
our passage, make it so, and set us quite above the fear of it? It may
|
|
be a sin to long for death, but I am sure it is no sin to long for
|
|
heaven.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. He thinks himself, in particular, hardly dealt with, that he might
|
|
not be eased of his pain and misery by death when he could not get ease
|
|
in any other way. To be thus impatient of life for the sake of the
|
|
troubles we meet with is not only unnatural in itself, but ungrateful
|
|
to the giver of life, and argues a sinful indulgence of our own passion
|
|
and a sinful inconsideration of our future state. Let it be our great
|
|
and constant care to get ready for another world, and then let us leave
|
|
it to God to order the circumstances of our removal thither as he
|
|
thinks fit: "Lord, when and how thou pleasest;" and this with such an
|
|
indifference that, if he should refer it to us, we would refer it to
|
|
him again. Grace teaches us, in the midst of life's greatest comforts,
|
|
to be willing to die, and, in the midst of its greatest crosses, to be
|
|
willing to live. Job, to excuse himself in this earnest desire which he
|
|
had to die, pleads the little comfort and satisfaction he had in
|
|
life.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. In his present afflicted state troubles were continually felt, and
|
|
were likely to be so. He thought he had cause enough to be weary of
|
|
living, for,
|
|
|
|
(1.) He had no comfort of his life: <I>My sighing comes before I
|
|
eat,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>.
|
|
|
|
The sorrows of life prevented and anticipated the supports of life;
|
|
nay, they took away his appetite for his necessary food. His griefs
|
|
returned as duly as his meals, and affliction was his daily bread. Nay,
|
|
so great was the extremity of his pain and anguish that he did not only
|
|
sigh, but roar, and his <I>roarings were poured out like the waters</I>
|
|
in a full and constant stream. Our Master was acquainted with grief,
|
|
and we must expect to be so too.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He had no prospect of bettering his condition: <I>His way was
|
|
hidden,</I> and God had <I>hedged him in,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
He saw no way open of deliverance, nor knew he what course to take; his
|
|
way was <I>hedged up with thorns,</I> that he could not find his path.
|
|
See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+23:8,La+3:7"><I>ch.</I> xxiii. 8; Lam. iii. 7</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. Even in his former prosperous state troubles were continually
|
|
feared; so that <I>then</I> he was never easy,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:25,26"><I>v.</I> 25, 26</A>.
|
|
|
|
He knew so much of the vanity of the world, and the troubles to which,
|
|
of course, he was born, that he was <I>not in safety, neither had he
|
|
rest</I> then. That which made his grief now the more grievous was that
|
|
he was not conscious to himself of any great degree either of
|
|
negligence or security in the day of his prosperity, which might
|
|
provoke God thus to chastise him.
|
|
|
|
(1.) He had not been negligent and unmindful of his affairs, but kept
|
|
up such a fear of trouble as was necessary to the maintaining of his
|
|
guard. He was afraid for his children when they were feasting, lest
|
|
they should offend God
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+1:5"><I>ch.</I> i. 5</A>),
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afraid for his servants lest they should offend his neighbours; he took
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all the care he could of his own health, and managed himself and his
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affairs with all possible precaution; yet all would not do.
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(2.) He had not been secure, nor indulged himself in ease and softness,
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had not trusted in his wealth, nor flattered himself with the hopes of
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the perpetuity of his mirth; yet trouble came, to convince and remind
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him of the vanity of the world, which yet he had not forgotten when he
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lived at ease. Thus his way was hidden, for he knew not wherefore God
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contended with him. Now this consideration, instead of aggravating his
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grief, might rather serve to alleviate it. Nothing will make trouble
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easy so much as the testimony of our consciences for us, that, in some
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measure, we did our duty in a day of prosperity; and an expectation of
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trouble will make it sit the lighter when it comes. The less it is a
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surprise the less it is a terror.</P>
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