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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. XIII.</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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Job here comes to make application of what he had said in the foregoing
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chapter; and now we have him not in so good a temper as he was in then:
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for,
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I. He is very bold with his friends, comparing himself with them,
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notwithstanding the mortifications he was under,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:1,2">ver. 1, 2</A>.
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Condemning them for their falsehood, their forwardness to judge, their
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partiality and deceitfulness under colour of pleading God's cause
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:4-8">ver. 4-8</A>),
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and threatening them with the judgments of God for their so doing
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:9-12">ver. 9-12</A>),
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desiring them to be silent
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:5,13,17">ver. 5, 13, 17</A>),
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and turning from them to God,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:3">ver. 3</A>.
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II. He is very bold with his God.
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1. In some expressions his faith is very bold, yet that is not more
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bold than welcome,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:15,16,18">ver. 15, 16, 18</A>.
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But,
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2. In other expressions his passion is rather too bold in
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expostulations with God concerning the deplorable condition he was in
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:14,19">ver. 14, 19</A>,
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&c.), complaining of the confusion he was in
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:20-22">ver. 20-22</A>),
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and the loss he was at to find out the sin that provoked God thus to
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afflict him, and in short of the rigour of God's proceedings against
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him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:23-28">ver. 23-28</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Job13_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job13_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job13_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job13_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job13_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job13_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job13_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job13_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job13_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job13_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job13_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job13_12"> </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 Lo, mine eye hath seen all <I>this,</I> mine ear hath heard and
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understood it.
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2 What ye know, <I>the same</I> do I know also: I <I>am</I> not inferior
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unto you.
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3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason
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with God.
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4 But ye <I>are</I> forgers of lies, ye <I>are</I> all physicians of no
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value.
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5 O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be
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your wisdom.
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6 Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my
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lips.
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7 Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?
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8 Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God?
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9 Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man
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mocketh another, do ye <I>so</I> mock him?
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10 He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept
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persons.
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11 Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall
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upon you?
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12 Your remembrances <I>are</I> like unto ashes, your bodies to
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bodies of clay.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Job here warmly expresses his resentment of the unkindness of his
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friends.</P>
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<P>
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I. He comes up with them as one that understood the matter in dispute
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as well as they, and did not need to be taught by them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:1,2"><I>v.</I> 1, 2</A>.
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They compelled him, as the Corinthians did Paul, to commend himself and
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his own knowledge, yet not in a way of self-applause, but of
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self-justification. All he had before said his eye had seen confirmed
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by many instances, and his ear had heard seconded by many authorities,
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and he well understood it and what use to make of it. Happy are those
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who not only see and hear, but understand, the greatness, glory, and
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sovereignty of God. This, he thought, would justify what he had said
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before
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:3"><I>ch.</I> xii. 3</A>),
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which he repeats here
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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"<I>What you know, the same do I know also,</I> so that I need not come
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to you to be taught; <I>I am not inferior unto you</I> in wisdom."
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Note, Those who enter into disputation enter into temptation to magnify
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themselves and vilify their brethren more than is fit, and therefore
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ought to watch and pray against the workings of pride.</P>
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<P>
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II. He turns from them to God
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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<I>Surely I would speak to the Almighty;</I> as if he had said, "I can
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promise myself no satisfaction in talking to you. O that I might have
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liberty to <I>reason with God!</I> He would not be so hard upon me as
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you are." The prince himself will perhaps give audience to a poor
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petitioner with more mildness, patience, and condescension, than the
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servants will. Job would rather argue with God himself than with his
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friends. See here,
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1. What confidence those have towards God whose hearts condemn them
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not of reigning hypocrisy: they can, with humble boldness, appear
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before him and appeal to him.
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2. What comfort those have in God whose neighbours unjustly condemn
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them: if they may not speak to them with any hopes of a fair hearing,
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yet they may speak to the Almighty; they have easy access to him and
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shall find acceptance with him.</P>
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<P>
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III. He condemns them for their unjust and uncharitable treatment of
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him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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1. They falsely accused him, and that was unjust: <I>You are forgers of
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lies.</I> They framed a wrong hypothesis concerning the divine
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Providence, and misrepresented it, as if it did never remarkably
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afflict any but wicked men in this world, and thence they drew a false
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judgment concerning Job, that he was certainly a hypocrite. For this
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gross mistake, both in doctrine and application, he thinks an
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indictment of forgery lies against them. To speak lies is bad enough,
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though but at second hand, but to forge them with contrivance and
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deliberation is much worse; yet against this wrong neither innocency
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nor excellency will be a fence.
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2. They basely deceived him, and that was unkind. They undertook his
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cure, and pretended to be his physicians; but they were all
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<I>physicians of no value,</I> "idol-physicians, who can do me no more
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good than an idol can." They were worthless physicians, who neither
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understood his case nor knew how to prescribe to him--mere empirics,
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who pretended to great things, but in conference added nothing to him:
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he was never the wiser for all they said. Thus to broken hearts and
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wounded consciences all creatures, without Christ, are physicians of no
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value, on which one may spend all and be never the better, but rather
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grow worse,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mk+5:26">Mark v. 26</A>.</P>
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<P>
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IV. He begs they would be silent and give him a patient hearing,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:5,6"><I>v.</I> 5, 6</A>.
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1. He thinks it would be a credit to them if they would say no more,
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having said too much already: "<I>Hold your peace, and it shall be your
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wisdom,</I> for thereby you will conceal your ignorance and ill-nature,
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which now appear in all you say." They pleaded that they could not
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forbear speaking
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+4:2,11:2,3"><I>ch.</I> iv. 2, xi. 2, 3</A>);
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but he tells them that they would better have consulted their own
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reputation if they had enjoined themselves silence. Better say nothing
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than nothing to the purpose or that which tends to the dishonour of God
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and the grief of our brethren. <I>Even a fool, when he holds his
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peace, is accounted wise,</I> because nothing appears to the contrary,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+17:28">Prov. xvii. 28</A>.
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And, as silence is an evidence of wisdom, so it is a means of it, as it
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gives time to think and hear.
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2. He thinks it would be a piece of justice to him to hear what he had
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to say: <I>Hear now my reasoning.</I> Perhaps, though they did not
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interrupt him in his discourse, yet they seemed careless, and did not
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much heed what he said. He therefore begged that they would not only
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hear, but hearken. Note, We should be very willing and glad to hear
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what those have to say for themselves whom, upon any account, we are
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tempted to have hard thoughts of. Many a man, if he could but be fairly
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heard, would be fairly acquitted, even in the consciences of those that
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run him down.</P>
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<P>
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V. He endeavours to convince them of the wrong they did to God's
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honour, while they pretended to plead for him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:7,8"><I>v.</I> 7, 8</A>.
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They valued themselves upon it that they spoke for God, were advocates
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for him, and had undertaken to justify him and his proceedings against
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Job; and, being (as they thought) of counsel for the sovereign, they
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expected not only the ear of the court and the last word, but judgment
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on their side. But Job tells them plainly,
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1. That God and his cause did not need such advocates: "<I>Will you</I>
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think to <I>contend for God,</I> as if his justice were clouded and
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wanted to be cleared up, or as if he were at a loss what to say and
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wanted you to speak for him? Will you, who are so weak and passionate,
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put in for the honour of pleading God's cause?" Good work ought not to
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be put into bad hands. <I>Will you accept his person?</I> If those who
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have not right on their side carry their cause, it is by the partiality
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of the judge in favour of their persons; but God's cause is so just
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that it needs no such methods for the support of it. He is a God, and
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can plead for himself
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+6:31">Judg. vi. 31</A>);
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and, if you were for ever silent, the heavens would declare his
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righteousness.
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2. That God's cause suffered by such management. Under pretence of
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justifying God in afflicting Job they magisterially condemned him as a
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hypocrite and a bad man. "This" (says he) "<I>is speaking wickedly</I>"
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(for uncharitableness and censoriousness are wickedness, great
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wickedness; it is an offence to God to wrong our brethren); "it is
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talking <I>deceitfully,</I> for you condemn one whom yet perhaps your
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own consciences, at the same time, cannot but acquit. Your principles
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are false and your arguings fallacious, and will it excuse you to say,
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<I>It is for God?</I>" No, for a good intention will not justify, much
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less will it sanctify, a bad word or action. God's truth needs not our
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lie, nor God's cause either our sinful policies or our sinful passions.
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The wrath of man works not the righteousness of God, nor may we <I>do
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evil that good may come,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+3:7,8">Rom. iii. 7, 8</A>.
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Pious frauds (as they call them) are impious cheats; and devout
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persecutions are horrid profanations of the name of God, as theirs who
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<I>hated their brethren,</I> and <I>cast them out, saying, Let the Lord
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be glorified,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+66:5,Joh+16:2">Isa. lxvi. 5; John xvi. 2</A>.</P>
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<P>
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VI. He endeavours to possess them with a fear of God's judgment, and so
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to bring them to a better temper. Let them not think to impose upon God
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as they might upon a man like themselves, nor expect to gain his
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countenance in their bad practices by pretending a zeal for him and his
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honour. "As one man mocks another by flattering him, do you think so to
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mock him and deceive him?" Assuredly those who think to put a cheat
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upon God will prove to have put a cheat upon themselves. <I>Be not
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deceived, God is not mocked.</I> That they might not think thus to jest
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with God, and affront him, Job would have them to consider both God and
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themselves, and then they would find themselves unable to enter into
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judgment with him.</P>
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<P>
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1. Let them consider what a God he is into whose service they had thus
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thrust themselves, and to whom they really did so much disservice, and
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enquire whether they could give him a good account of what they did.
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Consider,
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(1.) The strictness of his scrutiny and enquiries concerning them
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>)
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"<I>Is it good that he should search you out?</I> Can you bear to have
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the principles looked into which you go upon in your censures, and to
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have the bottom of the matter found out?" Note, It concerns us all
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seriously to consider whether it will be to our advantage or no that
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God searches the heart. It is good to an upright man who means honestly
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that God should search him; therefore he prays for it: <I>Search me, O
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God! and know my heart.</I> God's omniscience is a witness of his
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sincerity. But it is bad to him who looks one way and rows another that
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God should search him out, and lay him open to his confusion.
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(2.) The severity of his rebukes and displeasure against them
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
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"<I>If you do accept persons,</I> though but secretly and in heart,
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<I>he will surely reprove you;</I> he will be so far from being pleased
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with your censures of me, though under colour of vindicating him, that
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he will resent them as a great provocation, as any prince or great man
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would if a base action were done under the sanction of his name and
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under the colour of advancing his interest." Note, What we do amiss we
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shall certainly be reproved for, one way or other, one time or other,
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though it be done ever so secretly.
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(3.) The terror of his majesty, which if they would duly stand in awe
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of they would not do that which would make them obnoxious to his wrath
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
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"<I>Shall not his excellency make you afraid?</I> You that have great
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knowledge of God, and profess religion and a fear of him, how dare you
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talk at this rate and give yourselves so great a liberty of speech?
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<I>Ought you not to walk</I> and talk <I>in the fear of God?</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+5:9">Neh. v. 9</A>.
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<I>Should not his dread fall upon you,</I> and give a check to your
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passions?" Methinks Job speaks this as one that did himself know the
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terror of the Lord, and lived in a holy fear of him, whatever his
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friends suggested to the contrary. Note,
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[1.] There is in God a dreadful excellency. He is the most excellent
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Being, has all excellencies in himself and in each infinitely excels
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any creature. His excellencies in themselves are amiable and lovely. He
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is the most beautiful Being; but considering man's distance from God by
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nature, and his defection and degeneracy by sin, his excellencies are
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dreadful. His power, holiness, justice, yea, and his goodness too, are
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dreadful excellencies. They shall fear the Lord and his goodness.
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[2.] A holy awe of this dreadful excellency should fall upon us and
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make us afraid. This would awaken impenitent sinners and bring them to
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repentance, and would influence all to be careful to please him and
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afraid of offending him.</P>
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<P>
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2. Let them consider themselves, and what an unequal match they were
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for this great God
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
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"<I>Your remembrances</I> (all that in you for which you hope to be
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remembered when you are gone) <I>are like unto ashes,</I> worthless and
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weak, and easily trampled on and blown away. <I>Your bodies are like
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bodies of clay,</I> mouldering and coming to nothing. Your memories,
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you think, will survive your bodies, but, alas! they are like ashes
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which will be shovelled up with your dust." Note, the consideration of
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our own meanness and mortality should make us afraid of offending God,
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and furnishes a good reason why we should not despise and trample upon
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our brethren. Bishop Patrick gives another sense of this verse: "Your
|
|
remonstrances on God's behalf are no better than dust, and the
|
|
arguments you accumulate but like so many heaps of dirt."</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Job13_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job13_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job13_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job13_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job13_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job13_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job13_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job13_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job13_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job13_22"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>13 Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let
|
|
come on me what <I>will.</I>
|
|
14 Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in
|
|
mine hand?
|
|
15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will
|
|
maintain mine own ways before him.
|
|
16 He also <I>shall be</I> my salvation: for a hypocrite shall not
|
|
come before him.
|
|
17 Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your
|
|
ears.
|
|
18 Behold now, I have ordered <I>my</I> cause; I know that I shall
|
|
be justified.
|
|
19 Who <I>is</I> he <I>that</I> will plead with me? for now, if I hold my
|
|
tongue, I shall give up the ghost.
|
|
20 Only do not two <I>things</I> unto me: then will I not hide
|
|
myself from thee.
|
|
21 Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make
|
|
me afraid.
|
|
22 Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and
|
|
answer thou me.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Job here takes fresh hold, fast hold, of his integrity, as one that was
|
|
resolved not to let it go, nor suffer it to be wrested from him. His
|
|
firmness in this matter is commendable and his warmth excusable.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. He entreats his friends and all the company to let him alone, and
|
|
not interrupt him in what he was about to say
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>),
|
|
|
|
but diligently to hearken to it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
He would have his own protestation to be decisive, for none but God and
|
|
himself knew his heart. "Be silent therefore, and let me hear no more
|
|
of you, but hearken diligently to what I say, and let my own oath for
|
|
confirmation be an end of the strife."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. He resolves to adhere to the testimony his own conscience gave of
|
|
his integrity; and though his friends called it obstinacy that should
|
|
not shake his constancy: "I will speak in my own defence, and <I>let
|
|
come on me what will,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
Let my friends put what construction they please upon it, and think the
|
|
worse of me for it; I hope God will not make my necessary defence to be
|
|
my offence, as you do. He will justify me
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>)
|
|
|
|
and then nothing can come amiss to me." Note, Those that are upright,
|
|
and have the assurance of their uprightness, may cheerfully welcome
|
|
every event. Come what will, <I>bene præparatum pectus--they are ready
|
|
for it.</I> He resolves
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>)
|
|
|
|
that he will <I>maintain his own ways.</I> He would never part with the
|
|
satisfaction he had in having walked uprightly with God; for, though he
|
|
could not justify every word he had spoken, yet, in the general, his
|
|
ways were good, and he would maintain his uprightness; and why should
|
|
he not, since that was his great support under his present exercises,
|
|
as it was Hezekiah's, <I>Now, Lord, remember how I have walked before
|
|
thee?</I> Nay, he would not only not betray his own cause, or give it
|
|
up, but he would openly avow his sincerity; for
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>)
|
|
|
|
"<I>If hold my tongue,</I> and do not speak for myself, my silence now
|
|
will for ever silence me, for <I>I shall</I> certainly <I>give up the
|
|
ghost,</I>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
"If I cannot be cleared, yet let me be eased, by what I say," as Elihu,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+32:17,20"><I>ch.</I> xxxii. 17, 20</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. He complains of the extremity of pain and misery he was in
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth?</I> That is,
|
|
|
|
1. "Why do I suffer such agonies? I cannot but wonder that God should
|
|
lay so much upon me when he knows I am not a wicked man." He was ready,
|
|
not only to rend his clothes, but even to tear his flesh, through the
|
|
greatness of his affliction, and saw himself at the brink of death, and
|
|
his life in his hand, yet his friends could not charge him with any
|
|
enormous crime, nor could he himself discover any; no marvel then that
|
|
he was in such confusion.
|
|
|
|
2. "Why do I stifle and smother the protestations of my innocency?"
|
|
When a man with great difficulty keeps in what he would say, he bites
|
|
his lips. "Now," says he, "why may not I take liberty to speak, since I
|
|
do but vex myself, add to my torment, and endanger my life, by
|
|
refraining?" Note, It would vex the most patient man, when he has lost
|
|
every thing else, to be denied the comfort (if he deserves it) of a
|
|
good conscience and a good name.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. He comforts himself in God, and still keeps hold of his confidence
|
|
in him. Observe here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. What he depends upon God for--justification and salvation, the two
|
|
great things we hope for through Christ.
|
|
|
|
(1.) Justification
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>I have ordered my cause, and,</I> upon the whole matter, <I>I know
|
|
that I shall be justified.</I> This he knew because he knew that his
|
|
Redeemer lived,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+19:25"><I>ch.</I> xix. 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
Those whose hearts are upright with God, in walking not after the flesh
|
|
but after the Spirit, may be sure that through Christ there shall be no
|
|
condemnation to them, but that, whoever lays any thing to their charge,
|
|
they shall be justified: they may know that they shall.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Salvation
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>He also shall be my salvation.</I> He means it not of temporal
|
|
salvation (he had little expectation of that); but concerning his
|
|
eternal salvation he was very confident that God would not only be his
|
|
Saviour to make him happy, but his salvation, in the vision and
|
|
fruition of whom he should be happy. And the reason why he depended on
|
|
God for salvation was because <I>a hypocrite shall not come before
|
|
him.</I> He knew himself not to be a hypocrite, and that none but
|
|
hypocrites are rejected of God, and therefore concluded he should not
|
|
be rejected. Sincerity is our evangelical perfection; nothing will ruin
|
|
us but the want of that.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. With what constancy he depends upon him: <I>Though he slay me, yet
|
|
will I trust in him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
This is a high expression of faith, and what we should all labour to
|
|
come up to--to trust in God, though he slay us, that is, we must be
|
|
well pleased with God as a friend even when he seems to come forth
|
|
against us as an enemy,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+23:8-10"><I>ch.</I> xxiii. 8-10</A>.
|
|
|
|
We must believe that all shall work for good to us even when all seems
|
|
to make against us,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+24:5">Jer. xxiv. 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
We must proceed and persevere in the way of our duty, though it cost us
|
|
all that is dear to us in this world, even life itself,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:35">Heb. xi. 35</A>.
|
|
|
|
We must depend upon the performance of the promise when all the ways
|
|
leading to it are shut up,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+4:18">Rom. iv. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
We must rejoice in God when we have nothing else to rejoice in, and
|
|
cleave to him, yea, though we cannot for the present find comfort in
|
|
him. In a dying hour we must derive from him living comforts; and this
|
|
is to trust in him though he slay us.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
V. He wishes to argue the case even with God himself, if he might but
|
|
have leave to settle the preliminaries of the treaty,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:20-22"><I>v.</I> 20-22</A>.
|
|
|
|
He had desired
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>)
|
|
|
|
to <I>reason with God,</I> and is still of the same mind. He <I>will
|
|
not hide himself,</I> that is, he will not decline the trial, nor dread
|
|
the issue of it, but under two provisos:--
|
|
|
|
1. That his body might not be tortured with this exquisite pain:
|
|
"<I>Withdraw thy hand far from me;</I> for, while I am in this
|
|
extremity, I am fit for nothing. I can make a shift to talk with my
|
|
friends, but I know not how to address myself to thee." When we are to
|
|
converse with God we have need to be composed, and as free as possible
|
|
from every thing that may make us uneasy.
|
|
|
|
2. That his mind might not be terrified with the tremendous majesty of
|
|
God: "<I>Let not thy dread make me afraid;</I> either let the
|
|
manifestations of thy presence be familiar or let me be enabled to bear
|
|
them without disorder and disturbance." Moses himself trembled before
|
|
God, so did Isaiah and Habakkuk. <I>O God! thou art terrible even in
|
|
thy holy places.</I> "Lord," says Job, "let me not be put into such a
|
|
consternation of spirit, together with this bodily affliction; for then
|
|
I must certainly drop the cause, and shall make nothing of it." See
|
|
what a folly it is for men to put off their repentance and conversion
|
|
to a sick-bed and a death-bed. How can even a good man, much less a bad
|
|
man, reason with God, so as to be justified before him, when he is upon
|
|
the rack of pain and under the terror of the arrests of death? At such
|
|
a time it is very bad to have the great work to do, but very
|
|
comfortable to have it done, as it was to Job, who, if he might but
|
|
have a little breathing-time, was ready either,
|
|
|
|
(1.) To hear God speaking to him by his word, and return an answer:
|
|
<I>Call thou, and I will answer;</I> or,
|
|
|
|
(2.) To speak to him by prayer, and expect an answer: <I>Let me speak,
|
|
and answer thou me,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
Compare this with
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:34,35"><I>ch.</I> ix. 34, 35</A>,
|
|
|
|
where he speaks to the same purport. In short, the badness of his case
|
|
was at present such a damp upon him as he could not get over; otherwise
|
|
he was well assured of the goodness of his cause, and doubted not but
|
|
to have the comfort of it at last, when the present cloud was over.
|
|
With such holy boldness may the upright come to the throne of grace,
|
|
not doubting but to find mercy there.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Job13_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job13_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job13_25"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job13_26"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job13_27"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job13_28"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>23 How many <I>are</I> mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my
|
|
transgression and my sin.
|
|
24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine
|
|
enemy?
|
|
25 Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou
|
|
pursue the dry stubble?
|
|
26 For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to
|
|
possess the iniquities of my youth.
|
|
27 Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest
|
|
narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels
|
|
of my feet.
|
|
28 And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is
|
|
moth eaten.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Here,
|
|
|
|
I. Job enquires after his sins, and begs to have them discovered to
|
|
him. He looks up to God, and asks him what was the number of them
|
|
(<I>How many are my iniquities?</I>) and what were the particulars of
|
|
them: <I>Make me to know my transgressions,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
His friends were ready enough to tell him how numerous and how heinous
|
|
they were,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+22:5"><I>ch.</I> xxii. 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
"But, Lord," says he, "let me know them from thee; <I>for thy judgment
|
|
is according to truth,</I> theirs is not." This may be taken either,
|
|
|
|
1. As a passionate complaint of hard usage, that he was punished for
|
|
his faults and yet was not told what his faults were. Or,
|
|
|
|
2. As a prudent appeal to God from the censures of his friends. He
|
|
desired that all his sins might be brought to light, as knowing they
|
|
would then appear not so many, nor so mighty, as his friends suspected
|
|
him to be guilty of. Or,
|
|
|
|
3. As a pious request, to the same purport with that which Elihu
|
|
directed him to,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+34:32"><I>ch.</I> xxxiv. 32</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>That which I see not, teach thou me.</I> Note, A true penitent is
|
|
willing to know the worst of himself; and we should all desire to know
|
|
what our transgressions are, that we may be particular in the
|
|
confession of them and on our guard against them for the future.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. He bitterly complains of God's withdrawings from him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Wherefore hidest thou thy face?</I> This must be meant of something
|
|
more than his outward afflictions; for the loss of estate, children,
|
|
health, might well consist with God's love; when that was all, he
|
|
blessed the name of the Lord; but <I>his soul was also sorely
|
|
vexed,</I> and that is it which he here laments.
|
|
|
|
1. That the favours of the Almighty were suspended. God hid his face as
|
|
one strange to him, displeased with him, shy and regardless of him.
|
|
|
|
2. That the terrors of the Almighty were inflicted and impressed upon
|
|
him. God held him for his enemy, shot his arrows at him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+6:4"><I>ch.</I> vi. 4</A>),
|
|
|
|
and set him as a mark,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+7:20"><I>ch.</I> vii. 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, The Holy Ghost sometimes denies his favours and discovers his
|
|
terrors to the best and dearest of his saints and servants in this
|
|
world. This case occurs, not only in the production, but sometimes in
|
|
the progress of the divine life. Evidences for heaven are eclipsed,
|
|
sensible communications interrupted, dread of divine wrath impressed,
|
|
and the returns of comfort, for the present, despaired of,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+77:7-9,88:7,15,16">Ps. lxxvii. 7-9; lxxxviii. 7, 15, 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
These are grievous burdens to a gracious soul, that values God's
|
|
loving-kindness as better than life,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+18:14">Prov. xviii. 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>A wounded spirit who can bear?</I> Job, by asking here, <I>Why
|
|
hidest thou thy face?</I> teaches us that, when at any time we are
|
|
under the sense of God's withdrawings, we are concerned to enquire into
|
|
the reason of them--what is the sin for which he corrects us and what
|
|
the good he designs us. Job's sufferings were typical of the sufferings
|
|
of Christ, from whom not only men hid their faces
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+53:3">Isa. liii. 3</A>),
|
|
|
|
but God hid his, witness the darkness which surrounded him on the cross
|
|
when he cried out, <I>My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?</I> If
|
|
this were done to these green trees, what shall be done to the dry?
|
|
They will for ever be forsaken.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. He humbly pleads with God his own utter inability to stand before
|
|
him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Wilt thou break a leaf, pursue the dry stubble?</I> Lord, is it for
|
|
thy honour to trample upon one that is down already, or to crush one
|
|
that neither has nor pretends to any power to resist thee?" Note, We
|
|
ought to have such an apprehension of the goodness and compassion of
|
|
God as to believe that he will not <I>break the bruised reed,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+12:20">Matt. xii. 20</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. He sadly complains of God's severe dealings with him. He owns it
|
|
was for his sins that God thus contended with him, but thinks it
|
|
hard,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. That his former sins, long since committed, should now be remembered
|
|
against him, and he should he reckoned with for the old scores
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Thou writest bitter things against me.</I> Afflictions are bitter
|
|
things. Writing them denotes deliberation and determination, written as
|
|
a warrant for execution; it denotes also the continuance of his
|
|
affliction, for that which is written remains, and, "Herein <I>thou
|
|
makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth,</I>" that is, "thou
|
|
punishest me for them, and thereby puttest me in mind of them, and
|
|
obligest me to renew my repentance for them." Note,
|
|
|
|
(1.) God sometimes writes very bitter things against the best and
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dearest of his saints and servants, both in outward afflictions and
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inward disquiet; trouble in body and trouble in mind, that he may
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humble them, and prove them, and do them good in their latter end.
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(2.) That the sins of youth are often the smart of age both in respect
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of sorrow within
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:18,19">Jer. xxxi. 18, 19</A>)
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and suffering without,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:11"><I>ch.</I> xx. 11</A>.
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Time does not wear out the guilt of sin.
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(3.) That when God writes bitter things against us his design therein
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is to make us possess our iniquities, to bring forgotten sins to mind,
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and so to bring us to remorse for them as to break us off from them.
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<I>This is all the fruit, to take away our sin.</I></P>
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<P>
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2. That his present mistakes and miscarriages should be so strictly
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taken notice of, and so severely animadverted upon
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>):
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"<I>Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks,</I> not only to afflict me
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and expose me to shame, not only to keep me from escaping the strokes
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of thy wrath, but that thou mayest critically remark all my motions and
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look narrowly to all my paths, to correct me for every false step, nay,
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for but a look awry or a word misapplied; nay, thou <I>settest a print
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upon the heels of my feet,</I> scorest down every thing I do amiss, to
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reckon for it; or no sooner have I trodden wrong, though ever so
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little, than immediately I smart for it; the punishment treads upon the
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very heels of the sin. Guilt, both of the oldest and of the freshest
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date, is put together to make up the cause of my calamity." Now,
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(1.) It was not true that God did thus seek advantages against him. He
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is not thus extreme to mark what we do amiss; if he were, there were no
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abiding for us,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+130:3">Ps. cxxx. 3</A>.
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But he is so far from this that he deals not with us according to the
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desert, no, not of our manifest sins, which are not <I>found by secret
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search,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:34">Jer. ii.34</A>.
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This therefore was the language of Job's melancholy; his sober thoughts
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never represented God thus as a hard Master.
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(2.) But we should keep such a strict and jealous eye as this upon
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ourselves and our own steps, both for the discovery of sin past and the
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prevention of it for the future. It is good for us all to <I>ponder the
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path of our feet.</I></P>
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<P>
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V. He finds himself wasting away apace under the heavy hand of God,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>.
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<I>He</I> (that is, man) <I>as a rotten thing,</I> the principle of
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whose putrefaction is in itself, <I>consumes, even like a moth-eaten
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garment,</I> which becomes continually worse and worse. Or, <I>He</I>
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(that is, God) <I>like rottenness, and like a moth, consumes me.</I>
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Compare this with
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+5:12">Hos. v. 12</A>,
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<I>I will be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as
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rottenness;</I> and see
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+39:11">Ps. xxxix. 11</A>.
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Note, Man, at the best, wears fast; but, under God's rebukes
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especially, he is soon gone. While there is so little soundness in the
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soul, no marvel there is so little soundness in the flesh,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+38:3">Ps. xxxviii. 3</A>.</P>
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