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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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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. XII.</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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In this and the two following chapters we have Job's answer to Zophar's
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discourse, in which, as before, he first reasons with his friends (see
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:19"><I>ch.</I> xiii. 19</A>)
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and then turns to his God, and directs his expostulations to him, from
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thence to the end of his discourse. In this chapter he addresses
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himself to his friends, and,
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I. He condemns what they had said of him, and the judgment they had
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given of his character,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:1-5">ver. 1-5</A>.
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II. He contradicts and confronts what they had said of the destruction
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of wicked people in this world, showing that they often prosper,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:6-11">ver. 6-11</A>.
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III. He consents to what they had said of the wisdom, power, and
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sovereignty of God, and the dominion of his providence over the
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children of men and all their affairs; he confirms this, and enlarges
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upon it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:12-25">ver. 12-25</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Job12_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job12_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job12_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job12_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job12_5"> </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 Zophar.</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 And Job answered and said,
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2 No doubt but ye <I>are</I> the people, and wisdom shall die with
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you.
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3 But I have understanding as well as you; I <I>am</I> not inferior
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to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these?
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4 I am <I>as</I> one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God,
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and he answereth him: the just upright <I>man is</I> laughed to scorn.
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5 He that is ready to slip with <I>his</I> feet <I>is as</I> a lamp
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despised in the thought of him that is at ease.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The reproofs Job here gives to his friends, whether they were just or
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no, were very sharp, and may serve for a rebuke to all that are proud
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and scornful, and an exposure of their folly.</P>
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<P>
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I. He upbraids them with their conceitedness of themselves, and the
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good opinion they seemed to have of their own wisdom in comparison with
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him, than which nothing is more weak and unbecoming, nor better
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deserves to be ridiculed, as it is here.
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1. He represents them as claiming the monopoly of wisdom,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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He speaks ironically: "<I>No doubt you are the people;</I> you think
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yourselves fit to dictate and give law to all mankind, and your own
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judgment to be the standard by which every man's opinion must be
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measured and tried, as if nobody could discern between truth and
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falsehood, good and evil, but you only; and therefore every top-sail
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must lower to you, and, right or wrong, we must all say as you say, and
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you three must be the people, the majority, to have the casting vote."
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Note, It is a very foolish and sinful thing for any to think themselves
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wiser than all mankind besides, or to speak and act confidently and
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imperiously, as if they thought so. Nay, he goes further: "You not only
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think there are none, but that there will be none, as wise as you, and
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therefore that <I>wisdom must die with you,</I> that all the world must
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be fools when you are gone, and in the dark when your sun has set."
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Note, It is folly for us to think that there will be any great
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irreparable loss of us when we are gone, or that we can be ill spared,
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since God has the residue of the Spirit, and can raise up others, more
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fit than we are, to do his work. When wise men and good men die it is a
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comfort to think that wisdom and goodness shall not die with them. Some
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think Job here reflects upon Zophar's comparing him (as he thought) and
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others to the wild ass's colt,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+11:12"><I>ch.</I> xi. 12</A>.
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"Yes," says he, "we must be asses; you are the only men."
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2. He does himself the justice to put in his claim as a sharer in the
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gifts of wisdom
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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"<I>But I have understanding (a heart) as well as you;</I> nay, <I>I
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fall not lower than you;</I>" as it is in the margin. "I am as well
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able to judge of the methods and meanings of the divine providence, and
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to construe the hard chapters of it, as you are." He says not this to
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magnify himself. It was no great applause of himself to say, <I>I have
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understanding as well as you;</I> no, nor to say, "I understand this
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matter as well as you;" for what reason had either he or they to be
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proud of understanding that which was obvious and level to the capacity
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of the meanest? "<I>Yea, who knows not such things as these?</I> What
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things you have said that are true are plain truths, and common themes,
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which there are many that can talk as excellently of as either you or
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I." But he says it to humble them, and check the value they had for
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themselves as doctors of the chair. Note,
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(1.) It may justly keep us from being proud of our knowledge to
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consider how many there are that know as much as we do, and perhaps
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much more and to better purpose.
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(2.) When we are tempted to be harsh in our censures of those we differ
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from and dispute with we ought to consider that they also have
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understanding as well as we, a capacity of judging, and a right of
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judging for themselves; nay, perhaps they are not inferior to us, but
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superior, and it is possible that they may be in the right and we in
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the wrong; and therefore we ought not to judge or despise them
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+14:3">Rom. xiv. 3</A>),
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nor pretend to be masters
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+3:1">Jam. iii. 1</A>),
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while <I>all we are brethren,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+23:8">Matt. xxiii. 8</A>.
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It is a very reasonable allowance to be made to all we converse with,
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all we contend with, that they are rational creatures as well as
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we.</P>
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<P>
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II. He complains of the great contempt with which they had treated him.
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Those that are haughty and think too well of themselves are commonly
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scornful and ready to trample upon all about them. Job found it so, at
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least he thought he did
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
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<I>I am as one mocked.</I> I cannot say there was cause for this
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charge; we will not think Job's friends designed him any abuse, nor
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aimed at any thing but to convince him, and so, in the right method, to
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comfort him; yet he cries out, <I>I am as one mocked.</I> Note, We are
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apt to call reproofs reproaches, and to think ourselves mocked when we
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are but advised and admonished; this peevishness is our folly, and a
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great wrong to ourselves and to our friends. Yet we cannot but say
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there was colour for this charge; they came to comfort him, but they
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vexed him, gave him counsels and encouragements, but with no great
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opinion that either the one or the other would take effect; and
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therefore he thought they mocked him, and this added much to his grief.
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Nothing is more grievous to those that have fallen from the height of
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prosperity into the depth of adversity than to be trodden on, and
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insulted over, when they are down; and on this head they are too apt to
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be suspicious. Observe,</P>
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<P>
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1. What aggravated this grievance to him. Two things:--
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(1.) That they were his <I>neighbours,</I> his friends, his companions
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(so the word signifies), and the scoffs of such are often most
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spitefully given, and always most indignantly received.
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+55:12,13">Ps. lv. 12, 13</A>,
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<I>It was not an enemy that reproached me; then I would have</I>
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slighted it, and <I>so borne it; but it was thou, a man, my equal.</I>
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(2.) That they were professors of religion, such as <I>called upon
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God,</I> and said that he <I>answered them:</I> for some understand
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that of the persons mocking. "They are such as have a regard to heaven,
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and an interest in heaven, whose prayers I would therefore be glad of
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and thankful for, whose good opinion I cannot but covet, and therefore
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whose censures are the more grievous." Note, It is sad that any who
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call upon God should mock their brethren
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+3:9,10">Jam. iii. 9, 10</A>),
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and it cannot but lie heavily on a good man to be thought ill of by
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those whom he thinks well of, yet this is no new thing.</P>
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<P>
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2. What supported him under it.
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(1.) That he had a God to go to, with whom he could lodge his appeal;
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for some understand those words of the person mocked, that he <I>calls
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upon God and he answers him;</I> and so it agrees with
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+16:20"><I>ch.</I> xvi. 20</A>.
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<I>My friends scorn me, but my eye poureth out tears to God.</I> If our
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friends be deaf to our complaints, God is not; if they condemn us, God
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knows our integrity; if they make the worst of us, he will make the
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best of us; if they give us cross answers, he will give us kind ones.
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(2.) That his case was not singular, but very common: <I>The just
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upright man is laughed to scorn.</I> By many he is laughed at even for
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his justice and his uprightness, his honesty towards men and his piety
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towards God; these are derided as foolish things, which silly people
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needlessly hamper themselves with, as if religion were a jest and
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therefore to be made a jest of. By most he is laughed at for any little
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infirmity or weakness, notwithstanding his justice and uprightness,
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without any consideration had of that which is so much his honour.
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Note, It was of old the lot of honest good people to be despised and
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derided; we are not therefore to think it strange
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+4:12">1 Pet. iv. 12</A>),
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no, nor to think it hard, if it be our lot; <I>so persecuted they</I>
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not only <I>the prophets,</I> but even the saints of the patriarchal
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age
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+5:12">Matt. v. 12</A>),
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and can we expect to fare better than they?</P>
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<P>
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3. What he suspected to be the true cause of it, and that was, in
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short, this: they were themselves rich and at ease, and therefore they
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despised him who had fallen into poverty. It is the way of the world;
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we see instances of it daily. Those that prosper are praised, but of
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those that are going down it is said, "Down with them." <I>He that is
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ready to slip with his feet</I> and fall into trouble, though he has
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formerly shone as a lamp, is then looked upon as a lamp going out like
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the snuff of a candle, which we throw to the ground and tread upon, and
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is accordingly <I>despised in the thought of him that is at ease,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
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Even the just upright man, that is in his generation as a burning and
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shining light, if he enter into temptation
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:2">Ps. lxxiii. 2</A>)
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or come under a cloud, is looked upon with contempt. See here,
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(1.) What is the common fault of those that live in prosperity. Being
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full, and easy, and merry themselves, they look scornfully upon those
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that are in want, pain, and sorrow; they overlook them, take no notice
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of them, and study to forget them. See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+123:4">Ps. cxxiii. 4</A>.
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The chief butler drinks wine in bowls, but makes nothing of the
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afflictions of Joseph. Wealth without grace often makes men thus
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haughty, thus careless of their poor neighbours.
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(2.) What is the common fate of those that fall into adversity. Poverty
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serves to eclipse all their lustre; though they are lamps, yet, if
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taken out of golden candlesticks, and put, like Gideon's, into earthen
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pitchers, nobody values them as formerly, but those that live at ease
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despise them.</P>
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<A NAME="Job12_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job12_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job12_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job12_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job12_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job12_11"> </A>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>6 The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God
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are secure; into whose hand God bringeth <I>abundantly.</I>
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7 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the
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fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:
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8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the
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fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
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9 Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath
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wrought this?
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10 In whose hand <I>is</I> the soul of every living thing, and the
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breath of all mankind.
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11 Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat?
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Job's friends all of them went upon this principle, that wicked people
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cannot prosper long in this world, but some remarkable judgment or
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other will suddenly light on them: Zophar had concluded with it, that
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<I>the eyes of the wicked shall fail,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+11:20"><I>ch.</I> xi. 20</A>.
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This principle Job here opposes, and maintains that God, in disposing
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men's outward affairs, acts as a sovereign, reserving the exact
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distribution of rewards and punishments for the future state.</P>
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<P>
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I. He asserts it as an undoubted truth that wicked people may, and
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often do, prosper long in this world,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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Even great sinners may enjoy great prosperity. Observe,
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1. How he describes the sinners. They are <I>robbers,</I> and such as
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provoke God, the worst kind of sinners, blasphemers and persecutors.
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Perhaps he refers to the Sabeans and Chaldeans, who had robbed him, and
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had always lived by spoil and rapine, and yet they prospered; all the
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world saw they did, and there is no disputing against sense; one
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observation built upon matter of fact is worth twenty notions framed by
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an hypothesis. Or more generally, All proud oppressors are robbers and
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pirates. It is supposed that what is injurious to men is provoking to
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God, the patron of right and the protector of mankind. It is not
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strange if those that violate the bonds of justice break through the
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obligations of all religion, bid defiance even to God himself, and make
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nothing of provoking him.
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2. How he describes their prosperity. It is very great; for,
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(1.) Even <I>their tabernacles prosper,</I> those that live with them
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and those that come after them and descend from them. It seems as if a
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blessing were entailed upon their families; and that is sometimes
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preserved to succeeding generations which was got by fraud.
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(2.) They <I>are secure,</I> and not only feel no hurt, but fear none,
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are under no apprehensions of danger either from threatening
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providences or an awakened conscience. But those <I>that provoke
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God</I> are never the more safe for their being secure.
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(3.) <I>Into their hand God brings abundantly. They have more than
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heart could wish</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:7">Ps. lxxiii. 7</A>),
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not for necessity only, but for delight--not for themselves only, but
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for others--not for the present only, but for hereafter; and this from
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the hand of Providence too. God brings plentifully to them. We cannot
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therefore judge of men's piety by their plenty, nor of what they have
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in their heart by what they have in their hand.</P>
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<P>
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II. He appeals even to the inferior creatures for the proof of this--the
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beasts, and fowls, and trees, and even the earth itself; consult these,
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and they shall tell thee,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:7,8"><I>v.</I> 7, 8</A>.
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Many a good lesson we may learn from them, but what are they here to
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teach us?</P>
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<P>
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1. We may from them learn that <I>the tabernacles of robbers
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prosper</I> (so some); for,
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(1.) Even among the brute creatures the greater devour the less and the
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stronger prey upon the weaker, and men are as the fishes of the sea,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+1:14">Hab. i. 14</A>.
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If sin had not entered, we may suppose there would have been no such
|
|
disorder among the creatures, but the wolf and the lamb would have lain
|
|
down together.
|
|
|
|
(2.) These creatures are serviceable to wicked men, and so they declare
|
|
their prosperity. Ask the herds and the flocks to whom they belong, and
|
|
they will tell you that such a robber, such an oppressor, is their
|
|
owner: the fishes and fowls will tell you that they are served up to
|
|
the tables, and feed the luxury, of proud sinners. The earth brings
|
|
forth her fruits to them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:24"><I>ch.</I> ix. 24</A>),
|
|
|
|
and the whole creation groans under the burden of their tyranny,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+8:20,22">Rom. viii. 20, 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, All the creatures which wicked men abuse, by making them the food
|
|
and fuel of their lusts, will witness against them another day,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:3,4">Jam. v. 3, 4</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. We may from them learn the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, and
|
|
that sovereign dominion of his into which plain and self-evident truth
|
|
all these difficult dispensations must be resolved. Zophar had made a
|
|
vast mystery of it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+11:7"><I>ch.</I> xi. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
"So far from that," says Job, "that what we are concerned to know we
|
|
may learn even from the inferior creatures; for <I>who knows not from
|
|
all these?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
Any one may easily gather from the book of the creatures that <I>the
|
|
hand of the Lord has wrought this,</I>" that is, "that there is a wise
|
|
Providence which guides and governs all these things by rules which we
|
|
are neither acquainted with nor are competent judges of." Note, From
|
|
God's sovereign dominion over the inferior creatures we should learn to
|
|
acquiesce in all his disposals of the affairs of the children of men,
|
|
though contrary to our measures.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. He resolves all into the absolute propriety which God has in all
|
|
the creatures
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>In whose hand is the soul of every living thing.</I> All the
|
|
creatures, and mankind particularly, derive their being from him, owe
|
|
their being to him, depend upon him for the support of it, lie at his
|
|
mercy, are under his direction and dominion and entirely at his
|
|
disposal, and at his summons must resign their lives. All souls are
|
|
his; and may he not do what he will with his own? The name
|
|
<I>Jehovah</I> is used here
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
and it is the only time that we meet with it in all the discourses
|
|
between Job and his friends; for God was, in that age, more known by
|
|
the name of <I>Shaddai--the Almighty.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. Those words--
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Doth not the ear try words, as the mouth tastes meat?</I> may be
|
|
taken either as the conclusion to the foregoing discourse or the
|
|
preface to what follows. The mind of man has as good a faculty of
|
|
discerning between truth and error, when duly stated, as the palate has
|
|
of discerning between what is sweet and what is bitter. Job therefore
|
|
demands from his friends a liberty to judge for himself of what they
|
|
had said, and desires them to use the same liberty in judging of what
|
|
he had said; nay, he seems to appeal to any man's impartial judgment in
|
|
this controversy; let the ear try the words on both sides, and it would
|
|
be found that he was in the right. Note, The ear must try words before
|
|
it receives them so as to subscribe to them. As by the taste we judge
|
|
what food is wholesome to the body and what not, so by the spirit of
|
|
discerning we must judge what doctrine is sound, and savoury, and
|
|
wholesome, and what not,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+10:15,11:13">1 Cor. x. 15; xi. 13</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Job12_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job12_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job12_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job12_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job12_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job12_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job12_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job12_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job12_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job12_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job12_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job12_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job12_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job12_25"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>12 With the ancient <I>is</I> wisdom; and in length of days
|
|
understanding.
|
|
13 With him <I>is</I> wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and
|
|
understanding.
|
|
14 Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he
|
|
shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.
|
|
15 Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he
|
|
sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
|
|
16 With him <I>is</I> strength and wisdom: the deceived and the
|
|
deceiver <I>are</I> his.
|
|
17 He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges
|
|
fools.
|
|
18 He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a
|
|
girdle.
|
|
19 He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the
|
|
mighty.
|
|
20 He removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away
|
|
the understanding of the aged.
|
|
21 He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength
|
|
of the mighty.
|
|
22 He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out
|
|
to light the shadow of death.
|
|
23 He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth
|
|
the nations, and straiteneth them <I>again.</I>
|
|
24 He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the
|
|
earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness <I>where there
|
|
is</I> no way.
|
|
25 They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to
|
|
stagger like <I>a</I> drunken <I>man.</I>
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
This is a noble discourse of Job's concerning the wisdom, power, and
|
|
sovereignty of God, in ordering and disposing of all the affairs of the
|
|
children of men, according to the counsel of his own will, which none
|
|
dares gainsay or can resist. Take both him and them out of the
|
|
controversy in which they were so warmly engaged, and they all spoke
|
|
admirably well; but, in <I>that,</I> we sometimes scarcely know what to
|
|
make of them. It were well if wise and good men, that differ in their
|
|
apprehensions about minor things, would see it to be for their honour
|
|
and comfort, and the edification of others, to dwell most upon those
|
|
great things in which they are agreed. On this subject Job speaks like
|
|
himself. Here are no passionate complaints, no peevish reflections, but
|
|
every thing masculine and great.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. He asserts the unsearchable wisdom and irresistible power of God. It
|
|
is allowed that among men there is <I>wisdom and understanding,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
But it is to be found only with some few, <I>with the ancient,</I> and
|
|
those who are blessed with length of days, who get it by long
|
|
experience and constant experience; and, when they have got the wisdom,
|
|
they have lost their strength and are unable to execute the results of
|
|
their wisdom. But now <I>with God there are</I> both <I>wisdom and
|
|
strength,</I> wisdom to design the best and strength to accomplish what
|
|
is designed. He does not get counsel or understanding, as we do, by
|
|
observation, but he has it essentially and eternally in himself,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
What is the wisdom of ancient men compared with the wisdom of the
|
|
ancient of days! It is but little that we know, and less that we can
|
|
do; but God can do every thing, and <I>no thought can be withheld from
|
|
him.</I> Happy are those who have this God for their God, for they have
|
|
infinite wisdom and strength engaged for them. Foolish and fruitless
|
|
are all the attempts of men against him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>He breaketh down, and it cannot be built again.</I> Note, There is
|
|
no contending with the divine providence, nor breaking the measures of
|
|
it. As he had said before
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:12"><I>ch.</I> ix. 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>He takes away, and who can hinder him?</I> so he says again. What
|
|
God says cannot be gainsaid, nor what he does undone. There is no
|
|
rebuilding what God will have to lie in ruins; witness the tower of
|
|
Babel, which the undertakers could not go on with, and the desolations
|
|
of Sodom and Gomorrah, which could never be repaired. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+25:2,Eze+26:14,Re+18:21">Isa. xxv. 2;
|
|
Ezek. xxvi. 14; Rev. xviii. 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
There is no releasing those whom God has condemned to a perpetual
|
|
imprisonment; if <I>he shut up</I> a man by sickness, reduce him to
|
|
straits, and embarrass him in his affairs, <I>there can be no
|
|
opening.</I> He shuts up in the grave, and none can break open those
|
|
sealed doors--shuts up in hell, in chains of darkness, and none can
|
|
pass that great gulf fixed.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. He gives an instance, for the proof of this doctrine in nature,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
God has the command of <I>the waters, binds them as in a garment</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:4">Prov. xxx. 4</A>),
|
|
|
|
holds them <I>in the hollow of his hand</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+40:12">Isa. xl. 12</A>);
|
|
|
|
and he can punish the children of men either by the defect or by the
|
|
excess of them. As men break the laws of virtue by extremes on each
|
|
hand, both defects and excesses, while virtue is in the mean, so God
|
|
corrects them by extremes, and denies them the mercy which is in the
|
|
mean.
|
|
|
|
1. Great droughts are sometimes great judgments: <I>He withholds the
|
|
waters, and they dry up;</I> if the heaven be as brass, the earth is as
|
|
iron; if the rain be denied, fountains dry up and their streams are
|
|
wanted, fields are parched and their fruits are wanted,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+4:7">Amos iv. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
2. Great wet is sometimes a great judgment. He raises the waters, and
|
|
<I>overturns the earth,</I> the productions of it, the buildings upon
|
|
it. A sweeping rain is said to <I>leave no food,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+28:3">Prov. xxviii. 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
See how many ways God has of contending with a sinful people and taking
|
|
from them abused, forfeited, mercies; and how utterly unable we are to
|
|
contend with him. If we might invert the order,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:15">this verse</A>
|
|
|
|
would fitly refer to Noah's flood, that ever memorable instance of the
|
|
divine power. God then, in wrath, sent the waters out, and they
|
|
overturned the earth; but in mercy he withheld them, shut the windows
|
|
of heaven and the fountains of the great deep, and then, in a little
|
|
time, they dried up.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. He gives many instances of it in God's powerful management of the
|
|
children of men, crossing their purposes and serving his own by them
|
|
and upon them, overruling all their counsels, overpowering all their
|
|
attempts, and overcoming all their oppositions. What changes does God
|
|
make with men! what turns does he give them! how easily, how
|
|
surprisingly!</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. In general
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>With him are strength and reason</I> (so some translate it),
|
|
strength and consistency with himself: it is an elegant word in the
|
|
original. With him are the very quintessence and extract of wisdom.
|
|
<I>With him are power and all that is;</I> so some read it. He is what
|
|
he is of himself, and by him and in him all things subsist. Having
|
|
this strength and wisdom, he knows how to make use, not only of those
|
|
who are wise and good, who willingly and designedly serve him, but even
|
|
of those who are foolish and bad, who, one would think, could be made
|
|
no way serviceable to the designs of his providence: <I>The deceived
|
|
and the deceiver are his;</I> the simplest men that are deceived are
|
|
not below his notice; the subtlest men that deceive cannot with all
|
|
their subtlety escape his cognizance. The world is full of deceit; the
|
|
one half of mankind cheats the other, and God suffers it to be so, and
|
|
from both will at last bring glory to himself. The deceivers make tools
|
|
of the deceived, but the great God makes tools of them both, wherewith
|
|
he works, and none can hinder him. He has wisdom and might enough to
|
|
manage all the fools and knaves in the world, and knows how to serve
|
|
his own purposes by them, notwithstanding the weakness of the one and
|
|
the wickedness of the other. When Jacob by a fraud got the blessing the
|
|
design of God's grace was served; when Ahab was drawn by a false
|
|
prophecy into an expedition that was his ruin the design of God's
|
|
justice was served; and in both <I>the deceived and the deceiver</I>
|
|
were at his disposal. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:9">Ezek. xiv. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
God would not suffer the sin of the deceiver, nor the misery of the
|
|
deceived, if he knew not how to set bounds to both and bring glory to
|
|
himself out of both. <I>Hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent</I> thus
|
|
reigns; and it is well he does, for otherwise there is so little wisdom
|
|
and so little honesty in the world that it would all have been in
|
|
confusion and ruin long ago.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. He next descends to the particular instances of the wisdom and power
|
|
of God in the revolutions of states and kingdoms; for thence he fetches
|
|
his proofs, rather than from the like operations of Providence
|
|
concerning private persons and families, because the more high and
|
|
public the station is in which men are placed the more the changes that
|
|
befal them are taken notice of, and consequently the more illustriously
|
|
does Providence shine forth in them. And it is easy to argue, If God
|
|
can thus turn and toss the great ones of the earth, like a ball in a
|
|
large place (as the prophet speaks,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+22:18">Isa. xxii. 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
much more the little ones; and with him to whom states and kingdoms
|
|
must submit it is surely the greatest madness for us to contend. Some
|
|
think that Job here refers to the extirpation of those powerful
|
|
nations, the Rephaim, the Zuzim, the Emim, and the Horites (mentioned
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+14:5,6,De+2:10,20">Gen. xiv. 5, 6; Deut. ii. 10, 20</A>),
|
|
|
|
|
|
in which perhaps it was particularly noticed how strangely they were
|
|
infatuated and enfeebled: if so, it is designed to show that whenever
|
|
the like is done in the affairs of nations it is God that does it, and
|
|
we must therein observe his sovereign dominion, even over those that
|
|
think themselves most powerful, politic, and absolute. Compare this
|
|
with that of Eliphaz,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+5:12-14"><I>ch.</I> v. 12</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c. Let us gather up the particular
|
|
changes here specified, which God makes upon persons, either for the
|
|
destruction of nations and the planting of others in their room or for
|
|
the turning out of a particular government and ministry and the
|
|
elevation of another in its room, which may be a blessing to the
|
|
kingdom; witness the glorious Revolution in our own land twenty years
|
|
ago, in which we saw as happy an exposition as ever was given of this
|
|
discourse of Job's.
|
|
|
|
(1.) Those that were wise are sometimes strangely infatuated, and in
|
|
this the hand of God must be acknowledged
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>He leadeth counsellors away spoiled,</I> as trophies of his victory
|
|
over them, spoiled of all the honour and wealth they have got by their
|
|
policy, nay, spoiled of the wisdom itself for which they have been
|
|
celebrated and the success they promised themselves in their projects.
|
|
His counsel stands, while all their devices are brought to nought and
|
|
their designs baffled, and so they are spoiled both of the satisfaction
|
|
and of the reputation of their wisdom. <I>He maketh the judges
|
|
fools.</I> By a work on their minds he deprives them of their
|
|
qualifications for business, and so they become really fools; and by
|
|
his disposal of their affairs he makes the issue and event of their
|
|
projects to be quite contrary to what they themselves intended, and so
|
|
he makes them look like fools. The counsel of Ahithophel, one in whom
|
|
this scripture was remarkably fulfilled, became foolishness, and he,
|
|
according to his name, <I>the brother of a fool.</I> See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+19:13">Isa. xix. 13</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>The princes of Zoan have become fools; they have seduced Egypt, even
|
|
those that are the stay of the tribes thereof.</I> Let not the wise man
|
|
therefore glory in his wisdom, nor the ablest counsellors and judges be
|
|
proud of their station, but humbly depend upon God for the continuance
|
|
of their abilities. Even the aged, who seem to hold their wisdom by
|
|
prescription, and think they have got it by their own industry and
|
|
therefore have an indefeasible title to it, may yet be deprived of it,
|
|
and often are, by the infirmities of age, which make them twice
|
|
children: He <I>taketh away the understanding of the aged,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
The aged, who were most depended on for advice, fail those that
|
|
depended on them. We read of an old and yet foolish king,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:13">Eccl. iv. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Those that were high and in authority are strangely brought down,
|
|
impoverished, and enslaved, and it is God that humbles them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>He looseth the bond of kings,</I> and taketh from them the power
|
|
wherewith they ruled their subjects, perhaps enslaved them and ruled
|
|
them with rigour; he strips them of all the ensigns of their honour and
|
|
authority, and all the supports of their tyranny, unbuckles their
|
|
belts, so that the sword drops from their side, and then no marvel if
|
|
the crown quickly drops from their head, on which immediately follows
|
|
the <I>girding of their loins with a girdle,</I> a badge of servitude,
|
|
for servants went with their loins girt. Thus <I>he leads</I> great
|
|
<I>princes away spoiled</I> of all their power and wealth, and that in
|
|
which they pleased and prided themselves,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
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Note, Kings are not exempt from God's jurisdiction. To us they are
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gods, but men to him, and subject to more than the common changes of
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human life.
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(3.) Those that were strong are strangely weakened, and it is God that
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weakens them
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>)
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and <I>overthrows the mighty.</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
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Strong bodies are weakened by age and sickness; powerful armies
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moulder and come to nothing, and their strength will not secure them
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|
from a fatal overthrow. No force can stand before Omnipotence, no, not
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that of Goliath.
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(4.) Those that were famed for eloquence, and entrusted with public
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|
business, are strangely silenced, and have nothing to say
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>):
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<I>He removeth away the speech of the trusty,</I> so that they cannot
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speak as they intended and as they used to do, with freedom and
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|
clearness, but blunder, and falter, and make nothing of it. Or they
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cannot speak what they intended, but the contrary, as Balaam, who
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|
blessed those whom he was called to curse. Let not the orator therefore
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|
be proud of his rhetoric, nor use it to any bad purposes, lest God take
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it away, who made man's mouth.
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(5.) Those that were honoured and admired strangely fall into disgrace
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>):
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He <I>poureth contempt upon princes.</I> He leaves them to themselves
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to do mean things, or alters the opinions of men concerning them. If
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princes themselves dishonour God and despise him, if they offer
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indignities to the people of God and trample upon them, they shall be
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|
lightly esteemed, and God will pour contempt upon them. See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+107:40">Ps. cvii. 40</A>.
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Commonly none more abject in themselves, nor more abused by others when
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they are down, than those who were haughty and insolent when they were
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|
in power.
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(6.) That which was secret, and lay hidden, is strangely brought to
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light and laid open
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>):
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<I>He discovers deep things out of darkness.</I> Plots closely laid are
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discovered and defeated; wickedness closely committed and artfully
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concealed is discovered, and the guilty are brought to condign
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punishment--secret treasons
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+10:20">Eccl. x. 20</A>),
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secret murders, secret whoredoms. The cabinet-councils of princes are
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before God's eye,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+6:11">2 Kings vi. 11</A>.
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(7.) Kingdoms have their ebbings and flowings, their waxings and
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wanings; and both are from God
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>):
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He sometimes <I>increases their numbers,</I> and enlarges their bounds,
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|
so that they make a figure among the nations and become formidable; but
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|
after a while, by some undiscerned cause perhaps, they are destroyed
|
|
and straitened, made few and poor, cut short and many of them cut off,
|
|
and so they are rendered despicable among their neighbours, and those
|
|
that were the head become the tail of the nations. See
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+107:38,39">Ps. cvii. 38, 39</A>.
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(8.) Those that were bold and courageous, and made nothing of dangers,
|
|
are strangely cowed and dispirited; and this also is the Lord's doing
|
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|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>):
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<I>He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people,</I> that were
|
|
their leaders and commanders, and were most famed for their martial
|
|
fire and great achievements; when any thing is to be done they are
|
|
heartless, and ready to flee at the shaking of a leaf.
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+76:5">Ps. lxvi. 5</A>.
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(9.) Those that were driving on their projects with full speed are
|
|
strangely bewildered and at a loss; they know not where they are nor
|
|
what they do, are unsteady in their counsels and uncertain in their
|
|
motions, off and on, this way and that way, wandering like men in a
|
|
desert
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>),
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|
|
groping like men in the dark, and staggering like men in drink,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:25,Isa+59:10"><I>v.</I> 25. Isa. lix. 10</A>.
|
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|
Note, God can soon nonplus the deepest politicians and bring the
|
|
greatest wits to their wits' end, to show that wherein they deal
|
|
proudly he is above them.</P>
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<P>
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Thus are the revolutions of kingdoms wonderfully brought about by an
|
|
overruling Providence. Heaven and earth are shaken, but the Lord sits
|
|
King for ever, and with him we look for <I>a kingdom that cannot be
|
|
shaken.</I></P>
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