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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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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. IX.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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In this and the following chapter we have Job's answer to Bildad's
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discourse, wherein he speaks honourably of God, humbly of himself, and
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feelingly of his troubles; but not one word by way of reflection upon
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his friends, or their unkindness to him, nor in direct reply to what
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Bildad had said. He wisely keeps to the merits of the cause, and makes
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no remarks upon the person that managed it, nor seeks occasion against
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him. In this chapter we have,
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I. The doctrine of God's justice laid down,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:2">ver. 2</A>.
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II. The proof of it, from his wisdom, and power, and sovereign
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dominion,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:3-13">ver. 3-13</A>.
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III. The application of it, in which,
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1. He condemns himself, as not able to contend with God either in law
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or battle,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:14-21">ver. 14-21</A>.
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2. He maintains his point, that we cannot judge of men's character by
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their outward condition,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:22-24">ver. 22-24</A>.
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3. He complains of the greatness of his troubles, the confusion he was
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in, and the loss he was at what to say or do,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:25-35">ver. 25-35</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Job9_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job9_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job9_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job9_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job9_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job9_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job9_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job9_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job9_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job9_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job9_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job9_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job9_13"> </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's Reply to Bildad.</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 Then Job answered and said,
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2 I know <I>it is</I> so of a truth: but how should man be just with
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God?
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3 If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a
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thousand.
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4 <I>He is</I> wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath
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hardened <I>himself</I> against him, and hath prospered?
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5 Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which
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overturneth them in his anger.
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6 Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars
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thereof tremble.
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7 Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up
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the stars.
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8 Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the
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waves of the sea.
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9 Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers
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of the south.
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10 Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders
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without number.
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11 Lo, he goeth by me, and I see <I>him</I> not: he passeth on also,
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but I perceive him not.
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12 Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say
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unto him, What doest thou?
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13 <I>If</I> God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do
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stoop under him.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Bildad began with a rebuke to Job for talking so much,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+8:2"><I>ch.</I> viii. 2</A>.
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Job makes no answer to that, though it would have been easy enough to
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retort it upon himself; but in what he next lays down as his principle,
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that God never perverts judgment, Job agrees with him: <I>I know it is
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so of a truth,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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Note, We should be ready to own how far we agree with those with whom
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we dispute, and should not slight, much less resist, a truth, though
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produced by an adversary and urged against us, but receive it in the
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light and love of it, though it may have been misapplied. "<I>It is so
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of a truth,</I> that wickedness brings men to ruin and the godly are
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taken under God's special protection. These are truths which I
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subscribe to; but how can any man make good his part with God?" <I>In
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his sight shall no flesh living be justified,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+143:2">Ps. cxliii. 2</A>.
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<I>How should man be just with God?</I> Some understand this as a
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passionate complaint of God's strictness and severity, that he is a God
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whom there is no dealing with; and it cannot be denied that there are,
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in this chapter, some peevish expressions, which seem to speak such
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language as this. But I take this rather as a pious confession of man's
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sinfulness, and his own in particular, that, if God should deal with
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any of us according to the desert of our iniquities, we should
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certainly be undone.</P>
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<P>
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I. He lays this down for a truth, that man is an unequal match for his
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Maker, either in dispute or combat.</P>
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<P>
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1. In dispute
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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<I>If he will contend with him,</I> either at law or at an argument,
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<I>he cannot answer him one of a thousand.</I>
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(1.) God can ask a thousand puzzling questions which those that quarrel
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with him, and arraign his proceedings, cannot give an answer to. When
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God spoke to Job out of the whirlwind he asked him a great many
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questions (<I>Dost thou know</I> this? <I>Canst thou do</I> that?) to
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none of which Job could give an answer,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+38:1-39:30"><I>ch.</I> xxxviii., xxxix.</A>
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God can easily manifest the folly of the greatest pretenders to wisdom.
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(2.) God can lay to our charge a thousand offences, can draw up against
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us a thousand articles of impeachment, and we cannot answer him so as
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to acquit ourselves from the imputation of any of them, but must, by
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silence, give consent that they are all true. We cannot set aside one
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as foreign, another as frivolous, and another as false. We cannot, as
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to one, deny the fact, and plead not guilty, and, as to another, deny
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the fault, confess and justify. No, we are not able to answer him, but
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must <I>lay our hand upon our mouth,</I> as Job did
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+40:4,5"><I>ch.</I> xl. 4, 5</A>),
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and cry, <I>Guilty, guilty.</I></P>
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<P>
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2. In combat
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
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"<I>Who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered?</I>" The
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answer is very easy. You cannot produce any instance, from the
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beginning of the world to this day, of any daring sinner who has
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<I>hardened himself against God,</I> has obstinately persisted in
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rebellion against him, who did not find God too hard for him and pay
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dearly for his folly. Such transgressors have not prospered or had
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peace; they have had no comfort in their way nor any success. What did
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ever man get by trials of skill, or trials of titles, with his Maker?
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All the opposition given to God is but setting briers and thorns before
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a consuming fire; so foolish, so fruitless, so destructive, is the
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attempt,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+27:4,Eze+28:24,1Co+10:22">Isa. xxvii. 4;
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Ezek. xxviii. 24; 1 Cor. x. 22</A>.
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Apostate angels hardened themselves against God, but did not prosper,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Pe+2:4">2 Pet. ii. 4</A>.
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The dragon fights, but is cast out,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+12:9">Rev. xii. 9</A>.
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Wicked men harden themselves against God, dispute his wisdom, disobey
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his laws, are impenitent for their sins and incorrigible under their
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afflictions; they reject the offers of his grace, and resist the
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strivings of his Spirit; they make nothing of his threatenings, and
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make head against his interest in the world. But have they prospered?
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Can they prosper? No; they are but <I>treasuring up for themselves
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wrath against the day of wrath.</I> Those that roll this will find it
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return upon them.</P>
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<P>
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II. He proves it by showing what a God he is with whom we have to do:
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<I>He is wise in heart,</I> and therefore we cannot answer him at law;
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he is <I>mighty in strength,</I> and therefore we cannot fight it out
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with him. It is the greatest madness that can be to think to contend
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with a God of infinite wisdom and power, who knows every thing and can
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do every thing, who can be neither outwitted nor overpowered. The devil
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promised himself that Job, in the day of his affliction, would curse
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God and speak ill of him, but, instead of that, he sets himself to
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honour God and to speak highly of him. As much pained as he is, and as
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much taken up with his own miseries, when he has occasion to mention
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the wisdom and power of God he forgets his complaints, dwells with
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delight, and expatiates with a flood of eloquence, upon that noble
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useful subject. Evidences of the wisdom and power of God he
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fetches,</P>
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<P>
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1. From the kingdom of nature, in which the God of nature acts with an
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uncontrollable power and does what he pleases; for all the orders and
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all the powers of nature are derived from him and depend upon him.</P>
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<P>
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(1.) When he pleases he alters the course of nature, and turns back its
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streams,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:5-7"><I>v.</I> 5-7</A>.
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By the common law of nature the mountains are settled and are therefore
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called <I>everlasting mountains,</I> the earth is established and
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cannot be removed
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+93:1">Ps. xciii. 1</A>)
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and the pillars there of are immovably fixed, the sun rises in its
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season, and the stars shed their influences on this lower world; but
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when God pleases he can not only drive out of the common track, but
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invert the order and change the law of nature.
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[1.] Nothing more firm than the mountains. When we speak of removing
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mountains we mean that which is impossible; yet the divine power can
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make them change their seat: <I>He removes them and they know not,</I>
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removes them whether they will or no; he can make them lower their
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heads; he can level them, and overturn them in his anger; he can spread
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the mountains as easily as the husbandman spreads the molehills, be
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they ever so high, and large, and rocky. Men have much ado to pass over
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them, but God, when he pleases, can make them pass away. He made Sinai
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shake,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+68:8">Ps. lxviii. 8</A>.
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<I>The hills skipped,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+114:4">Ps. cxiv. 4</A>.
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<I>The everlasting mountains were scattered,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+3:6">Hab. iii. 6</A>.
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[2.] Nothing more fixed than the earth on its axletree; yet God can,
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when he pleases, <I>shake the earth out of its place,</I> heave it off
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its centre, and make even <I>its pillars to tremble;</I> what seemed to
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support it will itself need support when God gives it a shock. See how
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much we are indebted to God's patience. God has power enough to shake
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the earth from under that guilty race of mankind which makes it groan
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under the burden of sin, and so to <I>shake the wicked out of it</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+38:13">Job xxxviii. 13</A>);
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yet he continues the earth, and man upon it, and does not make it, as
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once, to swallow up the rebels.
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[3.] Nothing more constant than the rising sun, it never misses its
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appointed time; yet God, when he pleases, can suspend it. He that at
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first commanded it to rise can countermand it. Once the sun was told to
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stand, and another time to retreat, to show that it is still under the
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check of its great Creator. Thus great is God's power; and how great
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then is his goodness, which causes his sun to shine even upon the evil
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and unthankful, though he could withhold it! He that made the stars
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also, can, if he pleases, seal them up, and hide them from our eyes. By
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earthquakes and subterraneous fires mountains have sometimes been
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removed and the earth shaken: in very dark and cloudy days and nights
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it seems to us as if the sun were forbidden to rise and the stars were
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sealed up,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+27:20">Acts xxvii. 20</A>.
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It is sufficient to say that Job here speaks of what God can do; but,
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if we must understand it of what he has done in fact, all these verses
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may perhaps be applied to Noah's flood, when the mountains of the earth
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were shaken, and the sun and stars were darkened; and the world that
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now is we believe to be reserved for that fire which will consume the
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mountains, and melt the earth, with its fervent heat, and which will
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turn the sun into darkness.</P>
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<P>
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(2.) As long as he pleases he preserves the settled course and order of
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nature; and this is a continued creation. He himself alone, by his own
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power, and without the assistance of any other,
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[1.] <I>Spreads out the heaven</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
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not only did spread them out at first, but still spreads them out (that
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is, keeps them spread out), for otherwise they would of themselves roll
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together like a scroll of parchment.
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[2.] <I>He treads upon the waves of the sea;</I> that is, he suppresses
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them and keeps them under, that they return not to deluge the earth
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+104:9">Ps. civ. 9</A>),
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which is given as a reason why we should all fear God and stand in awe
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of him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:22">Jer. v. 22</A>.
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He is mightier than the proud waves
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+93:4,Ps+65:7">Ps. xciii. 4; lxv. 7</A>.
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[3.] He makes the constellations; three are named for all the rest
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>),
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<I>Arcturus, Orion,</I> and <I>Pleiades,</I> and in general <I>the
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chambers of the south.</I> The stars of which these are composed he
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made at first, and put into that order, and he still makes them,
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preserves them in being, and guides their motions; he makes them to be
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what they are to man, and inclines the hearts of man to observe them,
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which the beasts are not capable of doing. Not only those stars which
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we see and give names to, but those also in the other hemisphere, about
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the antarctic pole, which never come in our sight, called here <I>the
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chambers of the south,</I> are under the divine direction and dominion.
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How wise is he then, and how mighty!</P>
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<P>
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2. From the kingdom of Providence, that special Providence which is
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conversant about the affairs of the children of men. Consider what God
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does in the government of the world, and you will say, He is <I>wise in
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heart</I> and <I>mighty in strength.</I>
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(1.) He does many things and great, many and great to admiration,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
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Job here says the same that Eliphaz had said
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+5:9"><I>ch.</I> v. 9</A>),
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and in the original in the very same words, not declining to speak
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after him, though now his antagonist. God is a great God, and <I>doeth
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great things,</I> a wonder-working God; his works of wonder are so many
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|
that we cannot number them and so mysterious that we cannot find them
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out. O the depth of his counsels!
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(2.) He acts invisibly and undiscerned,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
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"<I>He goes by me</I> in his operations, <I>and I see him not, I
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perceive him not.</I> His <I>way is in the sea,</I>"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+77:19">Ps. lxxvii. 19</A>.
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The operations of second causes are commonly obvious to sense, but God
|
|
does all about us and yet <I>we see him not,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+17:23">Acts xvii. 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
Our finite understandings cannot fathom his counsels, apprehend his
|
|
motions, or comprehend the measures he takes; we are therefore
|
|
incompetent judges of God's proceedings, because we know not what he
|
|
does or what he designs. The <I>arcana imperii--secrets of
|
|
government,</I> are things above us, which therefore we must not
|
|
pretend to expound or comment upon.
|
|
|
|
(3.) He acts with an incontestable sovereignty,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
He takes away our creature-comforts and confidences when and as he
|
|
pleases, takes away health, estate, relations, friends, takes away life
|
|
itself; whatever goes, it is he that takes it; by what hand so ever it
|
|
is removed, his hand must be acknowledged in its removal. The Lord
|
|
<I>takes away,</I> and <I>who can hinder him? Who can turn him
|
|
away?</I> (Margin, <I>Who shall make him restore?</I>) Who can dissuade
|
|
him or alter his counsels? Who can resist him or oppose his operations?
|
|
Who can control him or call him to an account? What action can be
|
|
brought against him? Or <I>who will say unto him, What doest thou?</I>
|
|
Or, Why doest thou so?
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+4:35">Dan. iv. 35</A>.
|
|
|
|
God is not obliged to give us a reason of what he does. The meanings
|
|
of his proceedings we know no now; it will be time enough to know
|
|
hereafter, when it will appear that what seemed now to be done by
|
|
prerogative was done in infinite wisdom and for the best.
|
|
|
|
(4.) He acts with an irresistible power, which no creature can resist,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>If God will not withdraw his anger</I> (which he can do when he
|
|
pleases, for he is <I>Lord of his anger,</I> lets it out or calls it in
|
|
according to his will), <I>the proud helpers do stoop under him;</I>
|
|
that is, He certainly breaks and crushes those that proudly help one
|
|
another against him. Proud men set themselves against God and his
|
|
proceedings. In this opposition they join hand in hand. <I>The kings
|
|
of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together,</I>
|
|
to throw off his yoke, to run down his truths, and to persecute his
|
|
people. <I>Men of Israel, help,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+21:28,Ps+83:8">Acts xxi. 28; Ps. lxxxiii. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
If one enemy of God's kingdom fall under his judgment, the rest come
|
|
proudly to help that, and think to deliver that out of his hand: but in
|
|
vain; unless he pleases to withdraw his anger (which he often does, for
|
|
it is the day of his patience) the proud helpers stoop under him, and
|
|
fall with those whom they designed to help. <I>Who knows the power of
|
|
God's anger?</I> Those who think they have strength enough to help
|
|
others will not be able to help themselves against it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Job9_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job9_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job9_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job9_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job9_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job9_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job9_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job9_21"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>14 How much less shall I answer him, <I>and</I> choose out my words
|
|
<I>to reason</I> with him?
|
|
15 Whom, though I were righteous, <I>yet</I> would I not answer,
|
|
<I>but</I> I would make supplication to my judge.
|
|
16 If I had called, and he had answered me; <I>yet</I> would I not
|
|
believe that he had hearkened unto my voice.
|
|
17 For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds
|
|
without cause.
|
|
18 He will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with
|
|
bitterness.
|
|
19 If <I>I speak</I> of strength, lo, <I>he is</I> strong: and if of
|
|
judgment, who shall set me a time <I>to plead?</I>
|
|
20 If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: <I>if I
|
|
say,</I> I <I>am</I> perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.
|
|
21 <I>Though</I> I <I>were</I> perfect, <I>yet</I> would I not know my soul: I
|
|
would despise my life.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
What Job had said of man's utter inability to contend with God he here
|
|
applies to himself, and in effect despairs of gaining his favour, which
|
|
(some think) arises from the hard thoughts he had of God, as one who,
|
|
having set himself against him, right or wrong, would be too hard for
|
|
him. I rather think it arises from the sense he had of the imperfection
|
|
of his own righteousness, and the dark and cloudy apprehensions which
|
|
at present he had of God's displeasure against him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. He durst not dispute with God
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>If the proud helpers do stoop under him, how much less shall I</I>
|
|
(a poor weak creature, so far from being a helper that I am very
|
|
helpless) <I>answer him?</I> What can I say against that which God
|
|
does? If I go about to reason with him, he will certainly be too hard
|
|
for me." If the potter make the clay into a vessel of dishonour, or
|
|
break in pieces the vessel he has made, shall the clay or the broken
|
|
vessel reason with him? So absurd is the man who replies against God,
|
|
or thinks to talk the matter out with him. No, let all flesh be silent
|
|
before him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. He durst not insist upon his own justification before God. Though
|
|
he vindicated his own integrity to his friends, and would not yield
|
|
that he was a hypocrite and a wicked man, as they suggested, yet he
|
|
would never plead it as his righteousness before God. "I will never
|
|
venture upon the covenant of innocency, nor think to come off by virtue
|
|
of that." Job knew so much of God, and knew so much of himself, that he
|
|
durst not insist upon his own justification before God.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. He knew so much of God that he durst not stand a trial with him,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:15-19"><I>v.</I> 15-19</A>.
|
|
|
|
He knew how to make his part good with his friends, and thought himself
|
|
able to deal with them; but, though his cause had been better than it
|
|
was, he knew it was to no purpose to debate it with God.
|
|
|
|
(1.) God knew him better than he knew himself and therefore
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>),
|
|
|
|
"<I>Though I were righteous</I> in my own apprehension, and my own
|
|
heart did not condemn me, <I>yet God is greater than my heart,</I> and
|
|
knows those secret faults and errors of mine which I do not and cannot
|
|
understand, and is able to charge me with them, and therefore <I>I
|
|
would not answer.</I>" St. Paul speaks to the same purport: <I>I know
|
|
nothing by myself,</I> am not conscious to myself of any reigning
|
|
wickedness, and <I>yet I am not hereby justified,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+4:4">1 Cor. iv. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
"I dare not put myself upon that issue, lest God should charge that
|
|
upon me which I did not discover in myself." Job will therefore wave
|
|
that plea, and <I>make supplication to his Judge,</I> that is, will
|
|
cast himself upon God's mercy, and not think come off by his own merit.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He had no reason to think that there was anything in his prayers
|
|
to recommend them to the divine acceptance, or to fetch in an answer of
|
|
peace, no worth or worthiness at all to which to ascribe their success,
|
|
but it must be attributed purely to the grace and compassion of God,
|
|
who answers before we call and not because we call, and gives gracious
|
|
answers to our prayers, but not for our prayers
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>If I had called, and he had answered,</I> had given the thing I
|
|
called to him for, yet, so weak and defective are my best prayers, that
|
|
<I>I would not believe he had</I> therein <I>hearkened to my voice;</I>
|
|
I could not say that he had <I>saved with his right hand and answered
|
|
me</I>"
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+60:5">Ps. lx. 5</A>),
|
|
|
|
"but that he did it purely for his own name's sake." Bishop Patrick
|
|
expounds it thus: "If I had made supplication, and he had granted my
|
|
desire, I would not think my prayer had done the business." <I>Not for
|
|
your sakes, be it known to you.</I>
|
|
|
|
(3.) His present miseries, which God had brought him into
|
|
notwithstanding his integrity, gave him too sensible a conviction that,
|
|
in the ordering and disposing of men's outward condition in this world,
|
|
God acts by sovereignty, and, though he never does wrong to any, yet he
|
|
does not ever give full right to all (that is, the best do not always
|
|
fare best, nor the worst fare worst) in this life, because he reserves
|
|
the full and exact distribution of rewards and punishments for the
|
|
future state. Job was not conscious to himself of any extraordinary
|
|
guilt, and yet fell under extraordinary afflictions,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:17,18"><I>v.</I> 17, 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
Every man must expect the wind to blow upon him and ruffle him, but Job
|
|
was <I>broken with a tempest.</I> Every man, in the midst of these
|
|
thorns and briers, must expect to be scratched; but Job was wounded,
|
|
and his wounds were multiplied. Every man must expect a cross daily,
|
|
and to taste sometimes of the bitter cup; but poor Job's troubles came
|
|
so thickly upon him that he had no breathing time, and he was filled
|
|
with bitterness. And he presumes to say that all this was <I>without
|
|
cause,</I> without any great provocation given. We have made the best
|
|
of what Job said hitherto, though contrary to the judgment of many good
|
|
interpreters; but here, no doubt, <I>he spoke unadvisedly with his
|
|
lips;</I> he reflected on God's goodness in saying that he was not
|
|
suffered <I>to take his breath</I> (while yet he had such good use of
|
|
his reason and speech as to be able to talk thus) and on his justice in
|
|
saying that it was without cause. Yet it is true that as, on the one
|
|
hand, there are many who are chargeable with more sin than the common
|
|
infirmities of human nature, and yet feel no more sorrow than that of
|
|
the common calamities of human life, so, on the other hand, there are
|
|
many who feel more than the common calamities of human life and yet are
|
|
conscious to themselves of no more than the common infirmities of human
|
|
nature.
|
|
|
|
(4.) He was in no capacity at all to make his part good with God,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
[1.] Not by force of arms. "I dare not enter the lists with the
|
|
Almighty; for <I>if I speak of strength,</I> and think to come off by
|
|
that, <I>lo, he is strong,</I> stronger than I, and will certainly
|
|
overpower me." There is no disputing (said one once to Cæsar)
|
|
with him that commands legions. Much less is there any with him that
|
|
has legions of angels at command. <I>Can thy heart endure</I> (thy
|
|
courage and presence of mind) <I>or can thy hands be strong</I> to
|
|
defend thyself, <I>in the days that I shall deal with thee?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+22:14">Ezek. xxii. 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
[2.] Not by force of arguments. "I dare not try the merits of the
|
|
cause. <I>If I speak of judgment,</I> and insist upon my right, <I>who
|
|
will set me a time to plead?</I> There is no higher power to which I
|
|
may appeal, no superior court to appoint a hearing of the cause; for he
|
|
is supreme and from him proceeds every man's judgment, which he must
|
|
abide by."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. He knew so much of himself the he durst not stand a trial,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:20,21"><I>v.</I> 20, 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
"<I>If I</I> go about to <I>justify myself,</I> and to plead a
|
|
righteousness of my own, my defence will be my offence, and <I>my own
|
|
mouth shall condemn me</I> even when it goes about to acquit me." A
|
|
good man, who knows the deceitfulness of his own heart, and is jealous
|
|
over it with a godly jealousy, and has often discovered that amiss
|
|
there which had long lain undiscovered, is suspicious of more evil in
|
|
himself than he is really conscious of, and therefore will by no means
|
|
think of justifying himself before God. <I>If we say we have no sin,
|
|
we</I> not only <I>deceive ourselves,</I> but we affront God; for we
|
|
sin in saying so, and give the lie to the scripture, which has
|
|
<I>concluded all under sin. "If I say, I am perfect,</I> I am sinless,
|
|
God has nothing to lay to my charge, my very saying so shall <I>prove
|
|
me perverse,</I> proud, ignorant, and presumptuous. Nay, <I>though I
|
|
were perfect,</I> though God should pronounce me just, <I>yet would I
|
|
not know my soul,</I> I would not be in care about the prolonging of my
|
|
life while it is loaded with all these miseries." Or, "Though I were
|
|
free from gross sin, though my conscience should not charge me with any
|
|
enormous crime, yet would I not believe my own heart so far as to
|
|
insist upon my innocency nor think my life worth striving for with
|
|
God." In short, it is folly to contend with God, and our wisdom, as
|
|
well as duty, to submit to him and throw ourselves at his feet.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Job9_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job9_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job9_24"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>22 This <I>is</I> one <I>thing,</I> therefore I said <I>it,</I> He destroyeth
|
|
the perfect and the wicked.
|
|
23 If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of
|
|
the innocent.
|
|
24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covereth
|
|
the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, <I>and</I> who <I>is</I>
|
|
he?
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Here Job touches briefly upon the main point now in dispute between him
|
|
and his friends. They maintained that those who are righteous and good
|
|
always prosper in this world, and none but the wicked are in misery and
|
|
distress; he asserted, on the contrary, that it is a common thing for
|
|
the wicked to prosper and the righteous to be greatly afflicted. This
|
|
is the one thing, the chief thing, wherein he and his friends differed;
|
|
and they had not proved their assertion, therefore he abides by his: "I
|
|
said it, and day it again, that all things come alike to all." Now,
|
|
|
|
1. It must be owned that there is very much truth in what Job here
|
|
means, that temporal judgments, when they are sent abroad, fall both
|
|
upon good and bad, and the destroying angel seldom distinguishes
|
|
(though once he did) between the houses of Israelites and the houses of
|
|
Egyptians. In the judgment of Sodom indeed, which is called <I>the
|
|
vengeance of eternal fire</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jude+1:7">Jude 7</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>far be it from</I> God to <I>slay the righteous with the wicked, and
|
|
that the righteous should be as the wicked</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+18:25">Gen. xviii. 25</A>);
|
|
|
|
but, in judgments merely temporal, the righteous have their share, and
|
|
sometimes the greatest share. <I>The sword devours one as well as
|
|
another,</I> Josiah as well as Ahab. Thus God <I>destroys the perfect
|
|
and the wicked,</I> involves them both in the same common ruin; good
|
|
and bad were sent together into Babylon,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+24:5,9">Jer. xxiv. 5, 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>If the scourge slay suddenly,</I> and sweep down all before it, God
|
|
will be well pleased to see how the same scourge which is the perdition
|
|
of the wicked is the trial of the innocent and of their faith, which
|
|
<I>will be found unto praise, and honour, and glory,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+1:7,Ps+66:10">1 Pet. i. 7; Ps. lxvi. 10</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<CENTER>
|
|
<TABLE BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD>Against the just th' Almighty's arrows fly,
|
|
<BR>For he delights the innocent to try,
|
|
<BR>To show their constant and their Godlike mind,
|
|
<BR>Not by afflictions broken, but refined.--Sir R. B<FONT SIZE=-1>LACKMORE</FONT>.
|
|
</TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
</CENTER>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Let this reconcile God's children to their troubles; they are but
|
|
trials, designed for their honour and benefit, and, if God be pleased
|
|
with them, let not them be displeased; if he <I>laugh at the trial of
|
|
the innocent,</I> knowing how glorious the issue of it will be, at
|
|
destruction and famine let them also laugh
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+5:22"><I>ch.</I> v. 22</A>),
|
|
|
|
and triumph over them, saying, <I>O death! where is thy sting?</I> On
|
|
the other hand, the wicked are so far from being made the marks of
|
|
God's judgments that <I>the earth is given into their hand,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>
|
|
|
|
(they enjoy large possessions and great power, have what they will and
|
|
do what they will), <I>into the hand of the wicked one</I> (in the
|
|
original, the word is singular); the devil, that wicked one, is called
|
|
<I>the god of this world,</I> and boasts that into his hands it is
|
|
delivered,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+4:6">Luke iv. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
Or <I>into the hand of a wicked man,</I> meaning (as bishop Patrick and
|
|
the Assembly's Annotations conjecture) some noted tyrant then living in
|
|
those parts, whose great wickedness and great prosperity were well
|
|
known both to Job and his friends. The wicked have the earth given
|
|
them, but the righteous have heaven given them, and which is
|
|
better--heaven without earth or earth without heaven? God, in his
|
|
providence, advances wicked men, while he <I>covers the faces of</I>
|
|
those who are fit to be <I>judges,</I> who are wise and good, and
|
|
qualified for government, and buries them alive in obscurity, perhaps
|
|
suffers them to be run down and condemned, and to have their faces
|
|
covered as criminals by those wicked ones into whose hand the earth is
|
|
given. We daily see that this is done; <I>if</I> it be <I>not</I> God
|
|
that does it, <I>where and who is he</I> that does it? To whom can it
|
|
be ascribed but to him that rules in the kingdoms of men, and gives
|
|
them to whom he will?
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+4:32">Dan. iv. 32</A>.
|
|
|
|
Yet,
|
|
|
|
2. It must be owned that there is too much passion in what Job here
|
|
says. The manner of expression is peevish. When he meant that God
|
|
afflicts he ought not to have said, <I>He destroys</I> both <I>the
|
|
perfect and the wicked;</I> when he meant that God pleases himself with
|
|
the trial of the innocent he ought not to have said, <I>He laughs at
|
|
it,</I> for he doth not afflict willingly. When the spirit is heated,
|
|
either with dispute or with discontent, we have need to set a watch
|
|
before the door of our lips, that we may observe a due decorum in
|
|
speaking of divine things.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Job9_25"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job9_26"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job9_27"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job9_28"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job9_29"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job9_30"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job9_31"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job9_32"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job9_33"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job9_34"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job9_35"> </A>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>25 Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they
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see no good.
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26 They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle <I>that</I>
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hasteth to the prey.
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27 If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my
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heaviness, and comfort <I>myself:</I>
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28 I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that thou wilt not
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hold me innocent.
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29 <I>If</I> I be wicked, why then labour I in vain?
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30 If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so
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clean;
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31 Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes
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shall abhor me.
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32 For <I>he is</I> not a man, as I <I>am, that</I> I should answer him,
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<I>and</I> we should come together in judgment.
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33 Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, <I>that</I> might lay
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his hand upon us both.
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34 Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear
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terrify me:
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35 <I>Then</I> would I speak, and not fear him; but <I>it is</I> not so
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with me.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Job here grows more and more querulous, and does not conclude this
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chapter with such reverent expressions of God's wisdom and justice as
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he began with. Those that indulge a complaining humour know not to what
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indecencies, nay, to what impieties, it will hurry them. <I>The
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beginning of</I> that <I>strife</I> with God <I>is as the letting forth
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of water; therefore leave it off before it be meddled with.</I> When we
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are in trouble we are allowed to complain to God, as the Psalmist
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often, but must by no means complain of God, as Job here.</P>
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<P>
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I. His complaint here of the passing away of the days of his prosperity
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is proper enough
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:25,26"><I>v.</I> 25, 26</A>):
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"<I>My days</I> (that is, all my good days) are gone, never to return,
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gone of a sudden, gone ere I was aware. Never did any courier that went
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express" (like Cushi and Ahimaaz) "with good tidings make such haste as
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all my comforts did from me. Never did ship sail to its port, never did
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eagle fly upon its prey, with such incredible swiftness; nor does there
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remain any trace of my prosperity, any more than there does of an eagle
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in the air or a ship in the sea,"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:19">Prov. xxx. 19</A>.
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See here,
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1. How swift the motion of time is. It is always upon the wing,
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hastening to its period; it stays for no man. What little need have we
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|
of pastimes, and what great need to redeem time, when time runs out,
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|
runs on so fast towards eternity, which comes as time goes!
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|
2. How vain the enjoyments of time are, which we may be quite deprived
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|
of while yet time continues. Our day may be longer than the sun-shine
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|
of our prosperity; and, when that is gone, it is as if it had not been.
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|
The remembrance of having done our duty will be pleasing afterwards; so
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|
will not the remembrance of our having got a great deal of worldly
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|
wealth when it is all lost and gone. "<I>They flee away,</I> past
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|
recall; <I>they see no good,</I> and leave none behind them."</P>
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|
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<P>
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|
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|
II. His complaint of his present uneasiness is excusable,
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:27,28"><I>v.</I> 27, 28</A>.
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|
1. It should seem, he did his endeavour to quiet and compose himself
|
|
as his friends advised him. That was the good he would do: he would
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|
fain <I>forget his complaints</I> and praise God, would <I>leave off
|
|
his heaviness and comfort himself,</I> that he might be fit for
|
|
converse both with God and man; but,
|
|
|
|
2. He found he could not do it: "<I>I am afraid of all my sorrows.</I>
|
|
When I strive most against my trouble it prevails most over me and
|
|
proves too hard for me!" It is easier, in such a case, to know what we
|
|
should do than to do it, to know what temper we should be in than to
|
|
get into that temper and keep in it. It is easy to preach patience to
|
|
those that are in trouble, and to tell them they must forget their
|
|
complaints and comfort themselves; but it is not so soon done as said.
|
|
Fear and sorrow are tyrannizing things, not easily brought into the
|
|
subjection they ought to be kept in to religion and right reason.
|
|
But,</P>
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|
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|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. His complaint of God as implacable and inexorable was by no means
|
|
to be excused. It was the language of his corruption. He knew better,
|
|
and, at another time, would have been far from harbouring any such hard
|
|
thoughts of God as now broke in upon his spirit and broke out in these
|
|
passionate complaints. Good men do not always speak like themselves;
|
|
but God, who considers their frame and the strength of their
|
|
temptations, gives them leave afterwards to unsay what was amiss by
|
|
repentance and will not lay it to their charge.</P>
|
|
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|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. Job seems to speak here,
|
|
|
|
(1.) As if he despaired of obtaining from God any relief or redress of
|
|
his grievances, though he should produce ever so good proofs of his
|
|
integrity: "<I>I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.</I> My
|
|
afflictions have continued so long upon me, and increased so fast, that
|
|
I do not expect thou wilt ever clear up my innocency by delivering me
|
|
out of them and restoring me to a prosperous condition. Right or wrong,
|
|
I must be treated as a wicked man; my friends will continue to think so
|
|
of me, and God will continue upon me the afflictions which give them
|
|
occasion to think so. <I>Why then do I labour in vain</I> to clear
|
|
myself and maintain my own integrity?"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is to no purpose to speak in a cause that is already prejudged.
|
|
With men it is often labour in vain for the most innocent to go about
|
|
to clear themselves; they must be adjudged guilty, though the evidence
|
|
be ever so plain for them. But it is not so in our dealings with God,
|
|
who is the patron of oppressed innocency and to whom it was never in
|
|
vain to commit a righteous cause. Nay, he not only despairs of relief,
|
|
but expects that his endeavour to clear himself will render him yet
|
|
more obnoxious
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:30,31"><I>v.</I> 30, 31</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>If I wash myself with snow-water,</I> and make my integrity ever so
|
|
evident, it will be all to no purpose; judgment must go against me.
|
|
<I>Thou shalt plunge me in the ditch</I>" (the pit of destruction, so
|
|
some, or rather the filthy kennel, or sewer), "which will make me so
|
|
offensive in the nostrils of all about me that <I>my own clothes shall
|
|
abhor me</I> and I shall even loathe to touch myself." He saw his
|
|
afflictions coming from God. Those were the things that blackened him
|
|
in the eye of his friends; and, upon that score, he complained of them,
|
|
and of the continuance of them, as the ruin, not only of his comfort,
|
|
but of his reputation. Yet these words are capable of a good
|
|
construction. If we be ever so industrious to justify ourselves before
|
|
men, and to preserve our credit with them,--if we keep our hands ever
|
|
so clean from the pollutions of gross sin, which fall under the eye of
|
|
the world,--yet God, who knows our hearts, can charge us with so much
|
|
secret sin as will for ever take off all our pretensions to purity and
|
|
innocency, and make us see ourselves odious in the sight of the holy
|
|
God. Paul, while a Pharisee, made his hands very clean; but when the
|
|
commandment came and discovered to him his heart-sins, made him know
|
|
lust, that <I>plunged him in the ditch.</I>
|
|
|
|
(2.) As if he despaired to have a fair hearing with God, and that were
|
|
hard indeed.
|
|
|
|
[1.] He complains that he was not upon even terms with God
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:32"><I>v.</I> 32</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>He is not a man, as I am.</I> I could venture to dispute with a man
|
|
like myself (the potsherds may strive with the potsherds of the earth),
|
|
but he is infinitely above me, and therefore I dare not enter the lists
|
|
with him; I shall certainly be cast if I contend with him." Note,
|
|
<I>First,</I> God is not a man as we are. Of the greatest princes we
|
|
may say, "They are men as we are," but not of the great God. His
|
|
thoughts and ways are infinitely above ours, and we must not measure
|
|
him by ourselves. Man is foolish and weak, frail and fickle, but God is
|
|
not. We are depending dying creatures; he is the independent an
|
|
immortal Creator. <I>Secondly,</I> The consideration of this should
|
|
keep us very humble and very silent before God. Let us not make
|
|
ourselves equal with God, but always eye him as infinitely above us.
|
|
|
|
[2.] That there was no arbitrator or umpire to adjust the differences
|
|
between him and God and to determine the controversy
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:33"><I>v.</I> 33</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Neither is there any days-man between us.</I> This complaint that
|
|
there was not is in effect a wish that there were, and so the LXX.
|
|
reads it: <I>O that there were a mediator between us!</I> Job would
|
|
gladly refer the matter, but no creature was capable of being a
|
|
referee, and therefore he must even refer it still to God himself and
|
|
resolve to acquiesce in his judgment. Our Lord Jesus is the blessed
|
|
days-man, who has mediated between heaven and earth, has laid his hand
|
|
upon us both; to him the Father has committed all judgment, and we
|
|
must. But this matter was not then brought to so clear a light as it is
|
|
now by the gospel, which leaves no room for such a complaint as this.
|
|
|
|
[3.] That the terrors of God, which set themselves in array against
|
|
him, put him into such confusion that he knew not how to address God
|
|
with the confidence with which he was formerly wont to approach him,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:34,35"><I>v.</I> 34, 35</A>.
|
|
|
|
"Besides the distance which I am kept at by his infinite transcendency,
|
|
his present dealings with me are very discouraging: <I>Let him take his
|
|
rod away from me.</I>" He means not so much his outward afflictions as
|
|
the load which lay upon his spirit from the apprehensions of God's
|
|
wrath; that was <I>his fear</I> which <I>terrified him.</I> "Let that
|
|
be removed; let me recover the sight of his mercy, and not be amazed
|
|
with the sight of nothing but his terrors, and <I>then I would
|
|
speak</I> and order my cause before him. <I>But it is not so with
|
|
me;</I> the cloud is not at all dissipated; the wrath of God still
|
|
fastens upon me, and preys on my spirits, as much as ever; and what to
|
|
do I know not."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. From all this let us take occasion,
|
|
|
|
(1.) To stand in awe of God, and to fear the power of his wrath. If
|
|
good men have been put into such consternation by it, <I>where shall
|
|
the ungodly and the sinner appear?</I>
|
|
|
|
(2.) To pity those that are wounded in spirit, and pray earnestly for
|
|
them, because in that condition they know not how to pray for
|
|
themselves.
|
|
|
|
(3.) Carefully to keep up good thoughts of God in our minds, for hard
|
|
thoughts of him are the inlets of much mischief.
|
|
|
|
(4.) To bless God that we are not in such a disconsolate condition as
|
|
poor Job was here in, but that we walk in the light of the Lord; let us
|
|
rejoice therein, but <I>rejoice with trembling.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
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