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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. XXX.</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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It is a melancholy "But now" which this chapter begins with. Adversity
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is here described as much to the life as prosperity was in the
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foregoing chapter, and the height of that did but increase the depth of
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this. God sets the one over-against the other, and so did Job, that his
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afflictions might appear the more grievous, and consequently his case
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the more pitiable.
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I. He had lived in great honour, but now he had fallen into disgrace,
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and was as much vilified, even by the meanest, as ever he had been
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magnified by the greatest; this he insists much on,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:1-14">ver. 1-14</A>.
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II. He had had much inward comfort and delight, but now he was a terror
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and burden to himself
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:15,16">ver. 15, 16</A>)
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and overwhelmed with sorrow,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:28-31">ver. 28-31</A>.
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III. He had long enjoyed a good state of health, but now he was sick
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and in pain,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:17-19,29,30">
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ver. 17-19, 29, 30</A>.
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IV. Time was when the secret of God was with him, but now his
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communication with heaven was cut off,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:20-22">ver. 20-22</A>.
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V. He had promised himself a long life, but now he saw death at the
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door,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:23">ver. 23</A>.
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One thing he mentions, which aggravated his affliction, that it
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surprised him when he looked for peace. But two things gave him some
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relief:--
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1. That his troubles would not follow him to the grave,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:24">ver. 24</A>.
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2. That his conscience witnessed for him that, in his prosperity, he
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had sympathized with those that were in misery,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:25">ver. 25</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Job30_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_14"> </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 Humbled Condition.</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 But now <I>they that are</I> younger than I have me in derision,
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whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of
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my flock.
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2 Yea, whereto <I>might</I> the strength of their hands <I>profit</I> me,
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in whom old age was perished?
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3 For want and famine <I>they were</I> solitary; fleeing into the
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wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
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4 Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots <I>for</I>
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their meat.
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5 They were driven forth from among <I>men,</I> (they cried after
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them as <I>after</I> a thief;)
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6 To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, <I>in</I> caves of the
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earth, and <I>in</I> the rocks.
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7 Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were
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gathered together.
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8 <I>They were</I> children of fools, yea, children of base men:
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they were viler than the earth.
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9 And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.
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10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit
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in my face.
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11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have
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also let loose the bridle before me.
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12 Upon <I>my</I> right <I>hand</I> rise the youth; they push away my
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feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
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13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no
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helper.
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14 They came <I>upon me</I> as a wide breaking in <I>of waters:</I> in
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the desolation they rolled themselves <I>upon me.</I>
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Here Job makes a very large and sad complaint of the great disgrace he
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had fallen into, from the height of honour and reputation, which was
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exceedingly grievous and cutting to such an ingenuous spirit as Job's
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was. Two things he insists upon as greatly aggravating his
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affliction:--</P>
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<P>
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I. The meanness of the persons that affronted him. As it added much to
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his honour, in the day of his prosperity, that princes and nobles
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showed him respect and paid a deference to him, so it added no less to
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his disgrace in his adversity that he was spurned by the footmen, and
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trampled upon by those that were not only every way his inferiors, but
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were the meanest and most contemptible of all mankind. None can be
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represented as more base than those are here represented who insulted
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Job, upon all accounts.
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1. They were young, younger than he
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>),
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<I>the youth</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
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who ought to have behaved themselves respectfully towards him for his
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age and gravity. Even the children, in their play, played upon him, as
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the children of Bethel upon the prophet, <I>Go up, thou bald-head.</I>
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Children soon learn to be scornful when they see their parents so.
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2. They were of a mean extraction. Their fathers were so very
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despicable that such a man as Job would have disdained to take them
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into the lowest service about his house, as that of tending the sheep
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and attending the shepherds with the dogs of his flock,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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They were so shabby that they were not fit to be seen among his
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servants, so silly that they were not fit to be employed, and so false
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that they were not fit to be trusted in the meanest post. Job here
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speaks of what he might have done, not of what he did: he was not of
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such a spirit as to set any of the children of men with the dogs of his
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flock; he knew the dignity of human nature better than to do so.
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3. They and their families were the unprofitable burdens of the earth,
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and good for nothing. Job himself, with all his prudence and patience,
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could make nothing of them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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The young were not fit for labour, they were so lazy, and went about
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their work so awkwardly: <I>Whereto might the strength of their hands
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profit me?</I> The old were not to be advised with in the smallest
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matters, for in them was old age indeed, but their <I>old age was
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perished,</I> they were twice children.
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4. They were extremely poor,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
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They were ready to starve, for they would not dig, and to beg they were
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ashamed. Had they been brought to necessity by the providence of God,
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their neighbours would have sought them out as proper objects of
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charity and would have relieved them; but, being brought into straits
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by their own slothfulness and wastefulness, nobody was forward to
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relieve them. Hence they were forced to flee into the deserts both for
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shelter and sustenance, and were put to sorry shifts indeed, when they
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<I>cut up mallows by the bushes,</I> and were glad to eat them, for
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want of food that was fit for them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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See what hunger will bring men to: one half of the world does not know
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how the other half lives; yet those that have abundance ought to think
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sometimes of those whose fare is very coarse and who are brought to a
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short allowance of that too. But we must own the righteousness of God,
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and not think it strange, if slothfulness clothe men with rags and the
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idle soul be made to suffer hunger. This beggarly world is full of the
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devil's poor.
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5. They were very scandalous wicked people, not only the burdens, but
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the plagues, of the places where they lived, arrant scoundrels, the
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scum of the country: <I>They were driven forth from among men,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
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They were such lying, thieving, lurking, mischievous people, that the
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best service the magistrates could do was to rid the country of them,
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while the very mob cried after them as after a thief. <I>Away with such
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fellows from the earth; it is not fit they should live.</I> They were
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lazy and would not work, and therefore they were exclaimed against as
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thieves, and justly; for those that do not earn their own bread by
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honest labour do, in effect, steal the bread out of other people's
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mouths. An idle fellow is a public nuisance; but it is better to drive
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such into a workhouse than, as here, into a wilderness, which will
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punish them indeed, but never reform them. They were forced to dwell in
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<I>caves of the earth,</I> and <I>they brayed</I> like asses <I>among
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the bushes,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:6,7"><I>v.</I> 6, 7</A>.
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See what is the lot of those that have the cry of the country, the cry
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of their own conscience, against them; they cannot but be in a
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continual terror and confusion. <I>They groan among the trees</I> (so
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Broughton) <I>and smart among the nettles;</I> they are stung and
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scratched there, where they hoped to be sheltered and protected. See
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what miseries wicked people bring themselves to in this world; yet this
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is nothing to what is in reserve for them in the other world.
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8. They had nothing at all in them to recommend them to any man's
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esteem. They were a vile kind; yea, a kind without fame, people that
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nobody could give a good word to nor had a good wish for; they were
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banished from the earth as being <I>viler than the earth.</I> One would
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not think it possible that ever the human nature should sink so low,
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and degenerate so far, as it did in these people. When we thank God
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that we are men we have reason to thank him that we are not such men.
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But such as these were abusive to Job,
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(1.) In revenge, because when he was in prosperity and power, like a
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good magistrate, he put in execution the laws which were in force
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against vagabonds, and rogues, and sturdy beggars, which these base
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people now remembered against him.
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(2.) In triumph over him, because they thought he had now become like
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one of them.
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+14:10,11">Isa. xiv. 10, 11</A>.
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The abjects, men of mean spirits, insult over the miserable,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+35:15">Ps. xxxv. 15</A>.</P>
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<P>
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II. The greatness of the affronts that were given him. It cannot be
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imagined how abusive they were.</P>
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<P>
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1. They made ballads on him, with which they made themselves and their
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companions merry
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
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<I>I am their song and their byword.</I> Those have a very base spirit
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that turn the calamities of their honest neighbours into a jest, and
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can sport themselves with their griefs.</P>
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<P>
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2. They shunned him as a loathsome spectacle, abhorred him, fled far
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from him,
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>),
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as an ugly monster or as one infected. Those that were themselves
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driven out from among men would have had him driven out. For,</P>
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<P>
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3. They expressed the greatest scorn and indignation against him. They
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spat in his face, or were ready to do so; they tripped up his heels,
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pushed away his feet
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
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kicked him, either in wrath, because they hated him, or in sport, to
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make themselves merry with him, as they did with their companions at
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foot-ball. The best of saints have sometimes received the worst of
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injuries and indignities from a spiteful, scornful, wicked world, and
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must not think it strange; our Master himself was thus abused.</P>
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<P>
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4. They were very malicious against him, and not only made a jest of
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him, but made a prey of him--not only affronted him, but set themselves
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to do him all the real mischief they could devise: <I>They raise up
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against me the ways of their destruction;</I> or (as some read it),
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<I>They cast upon me the cause of their woe;</I> that is, "They lay the
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blame of their being driven out upon me;" and it is common for
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criminals to hate the judges and laws by which they are punished. But
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under this pretence,
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(1.) They accused him falsely, and misrepresented his former
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conversation, which is here called <I>marring his path.</I> They
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reflected upon him as a tyrant and an oppressor because he had done
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justice upon them; and perhaps Job's friends grounded their
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uncharitable censures of him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+22:6-10"><I>ch.</I> xxii. 6</A>,
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&c.) upon the unjust and
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unreasonable clamours of these sorry people; and it was an instance of
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their great weakness and inconsideration, for who can be innocent if
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the accusations of such persons may be heeded?
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(2.) They not only triumphed in his calamity, but set it forward, and
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did all they could to add to his miseries and make them more grievous
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to him. It is a great sin to forward the calamity of any, especially of
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good people. In this <I>they have no helper,</I> nobody to set them on
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or to countenance them in it, nobody to bear them out or to protect
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them, but they do it of their own accord; they are fools in other
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things, but wise enough to do mischief, and need no help in inventing
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that. Some read it thus, <I>They hold my heaviness a profit, though
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they be never the better.</I> Wicked people, though they get nothing by
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the calamities of others, yet rejoice in them.</P>
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<P>
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5. Those that did him all this mischief were numerous, unanimous, and
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violent
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
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<I>They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters,</I> when the dam
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is broken; or, "They came as soldiers into a broad breach which they
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have made in the wall of a besieged city, pouring in upon me with the
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utmost fury;" and in this they took a pride and a pleasure: <I>They
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rolled themselves in the desolation</I> as a man rolls himself in a
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soft and easy bed, and they rolled themselves upon him with all the
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weight of their malice.</P>
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<P>
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III. All this contempt put upon him was caused by the troubles he was
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in
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
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"<I>Because he has loosed my cord,</I> has taken away the honour and
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power with which I was girded
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:18"><I>ch.</I> xii. 18</A>),
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has scattered what I had got together and untwisted all my
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affairs--because he has afflicted me, therefore <I>they have let loose
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the bridle before me,</I>" that is, "have given themselves a liberty to
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say and do what they please against me." Those that by Providence are
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stripped of their honour may expect to be loaded with contempt by
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inconsiderate ill-natured people. "Because he hath loosed <I>his</I>
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cord" (the original has that reading also), that is, "because he has
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taken off his bridle of restraint from off their malice, they cast away
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the bridle from me," that is, "they make no account of my authority,
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nor stand in any awe of me." It is owing to the hold God has of the
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consciences even of bad men, and the restraints he lays upon them, that
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we are not continually thus insulted and abused; and, if at any time we
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meet with such ill treatment, we must acknowledge the hand of God in
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taking off those restraints, as David did when Shimei cursed him: <I>So
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let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden him.</I> Now in all this,
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1. We may see the uncertainty of worldly honour, and particularly of
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popular applause, how suddenly a man may fail from the height of
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dignity into the depth of disgrace. What little cause therefore have
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men to be ambitious or proud of that which may be so easily lost, and
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what little confidence is to be put in it! Those that to-day cry
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<I>Hosannah</I> may to-morrow cry <I>Crucify.</I> But there is an
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honour which comes from God, which if we secure, we shall find it not
|
|
thus changeable and loseable.
|
|
|
|
2. We may see that it has often been the lot of very wise and good men
|
|
to be trampled upon and abused. And,
|
|
|
|
3. That those who look only at the things that are seen despise those
|
|
whom the world frowns upon, though they are ever so much the favourites
|
|
of Heaven. Nothing is more grievous in poverty than that it renders men
|
|
contemptible. <I>Turba Remi sequitur fortunam, ut semper odit
|
|
damnatos--The Roman populace, faithful to the turns of fortune, still
|
|
persecute the fallen.</I>
|
|
|
|
4. We may see in Job a type of Christ, who was thus made a <I>reproach
|
|
of men</I> and <I>despised of the people</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+22:6,Isa:53:3">Ps. xxii. 6; Isa. liii. 3</A>),
|
|
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|
and who hid not his face from shame and spitting, but bore the
|
|
indignity better than Job did.</P>
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<A NAME="Job30_15"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_16"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_17"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_18"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_19"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_20"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_21"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_22"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_23"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_24"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_25"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_26"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_27"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_28"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_29"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_30"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job30_31"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Job Complains of His Affliction.</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>15 Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind:
|
|
and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
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|
16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of
|
|
affliction have taken hold upon me.
|
|
17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my
|
|
sinews take no rest.
|
|
18 By the great force <I>of my disease</I> is my garment changed: it
|
|
bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
|
|
19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and
|
|
ashes.
|
|
20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and
|
|
thou regardest me <I>not.</I>
|
|
21 Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou
|
|
opposest thyself against me.
|
|
22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride
|
|
<I>upon it,</I> and dissolvest my substance.
|
|
23 For I know <I>that</I> thou wilt bring me <I>to</I> death, and <I>to</I>
|
|
the house appointed for all living.
|
|
24 Howbeit he will not stretch out <I>his</I> hand to the grave,
|
|
though they cry in his destruction.
|
|
25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was <I>not</I> my
|
|
soul grieved for the poor?
|
|
26 When I looked for good, then evil came <I>unto me:</I> and when I
|
|
waited for light, there came darkness.
|
|
27 My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction
|
|
prevented me.
|
|
28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, <I>and</I> I cried
|
|
in the congregation.
|
|
29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
|
|
30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
|
|
31 My harp also is <I>turned</I> to mourning, and my organ into the
|
|
voice of them that weep.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
In this second part of Job's complaint, which is very bitter, and has a
|
|
great many sorrowful accents in it, we may observe a great deal that he
|
|
complains of and some little that he comforts himself with.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. Here is much that he complains of.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. In general, it was a day of great affliction and sorrow.
|
|
|
|
(1.) Affliction seized him, and surprised him. It seized him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The days of affliction have taken hold upon me, have caught me</I>
|
|
(so some); <I>they have arrested me,</I> as the bailiff arrests the
|
|
debtor, claps him on the back, and secures him. When trouble comes with
|
|
commission it will take fast hold, and not lose its hold. It surprised
|
|
him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>The days of affliction prevented me,</I>" that is, "they came upon
|
|
me without giving me any previous warning. I did not expect them, nor
|
|
make any provision for such an evil day." Observe, He reckons his
|
|
affliction by days, which will soon be numbered and finished, and are
|
|
nothing to the ages of eternity,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+4:17">2 Cor. iv. 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He was in great sorrow by reason of it. His <I>bowels boiled</I>
|
|
with grief, <I>and rested not,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>.
|
|
|
|
The sense of his calamities was continually preying upon his spirits
|
|
without any intermission. He <I>went mourning</I> from day to day,
|
|
always sighing, always weeping; and such cloud was constantly upon his
|
|
mind that he went, in effect, <I>without the sun,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>.
|
|
|
|
He had nothing that he could take any comfort in. He abandoned himself
|
|
to perpetual sorrow, as one that, like Jacob, resolved to go to the
|
|
grave mourning. He walked out of the sun (so some) in dark shady
|
|
places, as melancholy people use to do. If he went into the
|
|
congregation, to join with them in solemn worship, instead of standing
|
|
up calmly to desire their prayers, he <I>stood up and cried</I> aloud,
|
|
through pain of body, or anguish of mind, like one half distracted. If
|
|
he appeared in public, to receive visits, when the fit came upon him he
|
|
could not contain himself, nor preserve due decorum, but stood up and
|
|
shrieked aloud. Thus he was <I>a brother to dragons and owls</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>),
|
|
|
|
both in choosing solitude and retirement, as they do
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:13">Isa. xxxiv. 13</A>),
|
|
|
|
and in making a fearful hideous noise as they do; his inconsiderate
|
|
complaints were fitly compared to their inarticulate ones.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The terror and trouble that seized his soul were the sorest part of
|
|
his calamity,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:15,16"><I>v.</I> 15, 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
(1.) If he looked forward, he saw every thing frightful before him: if
|
|
he endeavoured to shake off his terrors, they turned furiously upon
|
|
him: if he endeavoured to escape from them, they pursued his soul as
|
|
swiftly and violently as the wind. He complained, at first, of the
|
|
<I>terrors of God setting themselves in array against him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+6:4"><I>ch.</I> vi. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
And still, which way soever he looked, they turned upon him; which way
|
|
soever he fled, they pursued him. <I>My soul</I> (Heb., <I>my principal
|
|
one, my princess</I>); the soul is the principal part of the man; it is
|
|
our glory; it is every way more excellent than the body, and therefore
|
|
that which pursues the soul, and threatens that, should be most
|
|
dreaded.
|
|
|
|
(2.) If he looked back, he saw all the good he had formerly enjoyed
|
|
removed from him, and nothing left him but the bitter remembrance of
|
|
it: <I>My welfare</I> and prosperity <I>pass away,</I> as suddenly,
|
|
swiftly, and irrecoverably, <I>as a cloud.</I>
|
|
|
|
(3.) If he looked within, he found his spirit quite sunk and unable to
|
|
bear his infirmity, not only wounded, but <I>poured out upon him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
He was not only weak as water, but, in his own apprehension, lost as
|
|
water spilt upon the ground. Compare
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+22:14">Ps. xxii. 14</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>My heart is melted like wax.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. His bodily diseases were very grievous; for,
|
|
|
|
(1.) He was full of pain, piercing pain, pain that went to the bone, to
|
|
all his bones,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was a <I>sword in his bones,</I> which <I>pierced him in the night
|
|
season,</I> when he should have been refreshed with sleep. His nerves
|
|
were affected with strong convulsions; his <I>sinews took no rest.</I>
|
|
By reason of his pain, he could take no rest, but sleep departed from
|
|
his eyes. <I>His bones were burnt with heat,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:30"><I>v.</I> 30</A>.
|
|
|
|
He was in a constant fever, which dried up the radical moisture and
|
|
even consumed the marrow in his bones. See how frail our bodies are,
|
|
which carry in themselves the seeds of our own disease and death.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He was full of sores. Some that are pained in their bones, yet
|
|
sleep in a whole skin, but, Satan's commission against Job extending
|
|
both to his bone and to his flesh, he spared neither. His <I>skin was
|
|
black upon him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:30"><I>v.</I> 30</A>.
|
|
|
|
The blood settled, and the sores suppurated and by degrees scabbed
|
|
over, which made his skin look black. Even his garment had its colour
|
|
changed with the continual running of his boils, and the soft clothing
|
|
he used to wear had now grown so stiff that all his garments were
|
|
<I>like his collar,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
It would be noisome to describe what a condition poor Job was in for
|
|
want of clean linen and good attendance, and what filthy rags all his
|
|
clothes were. Some think that, among other diseases, Job was ill of a
|
|
quinsy or swelling in his throat, and that it was this which bound him
|
|
about like a stiff collar. Thus was he <I>cast into the mire</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>compared to mire</I> (so some); his body looked more like a heap of
|
|
dirt than any thing else. Let none be proud of their clothing nor proud
|
|
of their cleanness; they know not but some disease or other may
|
|
<I>change their garments,</I> and even <I>throw them into the mire,</I>
|
|
and make them noisome both to themselves and others. <I>Instead of
|
|
sweet smell, there shall be a stench,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+3:24">Isa. iii. 24</A>.
|
|
|
|
We are but dust and ashes at the best, and our bodies are vile bodies;
|
|
but we are apt to forget it, till God, by some sore disease, makes us
|
|
sensibly to feel and own what we are. "<I>I have become already
|
|
like</I> that <I>dust and ashes</I> into which I must shortly be
|
|
resolved: wherever I go I carry my grave about with me."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
4. That which afflicted him most of all was that God seemed to be his
|
|
enemy and to fight against him. It was <I>he</I> that <I>cast him into
|
|
the mire</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>),
|
|
|
|
and seemed to trample on him when he had him there. This cut him to the
|
|
heart more than any thing else,
|
|
|
|
(1.) That God did not appear for him. He addressed himself to him, but
|
|
gained no grant--appealed to him, but gained no sentence; he was very
|
|
importunate in his applications, but in vain
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>I cry unto thee,</I> as one in earnest, <I>I stand up,</I> and cry,
|
|
as one waiting for an answer, but thou hearest not, <I>thou regardest
|
|
not,</I> for any thing I can perceive." If our most fervent prayers
|
|
bring not in speedy and sensible returns, we must not think it strange.
|
|
Though the seed of Jacob did never seek in vain, yet they have often
|
|
thought that they did and that God has not only been deaf, but angry,
|
|
at the prayers of his people,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+80:4">Ps. lxxx. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
(2.) That God did appear against him. That which he here says of God is
|
|
one of the worst words that ever Job spoke
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Thou hast become cruel to me.</I> Far be it from the God of mercy
|
|
and grace that he should be cruel to any (his compassions fail not),
|
|
but especially that he should be so to his own children. Job was unjust
|
|
and ungrateful when he said so of him: but harbouring hard thoughts of
|
|
God was the sin which did, at this time, most easily beset him. Here,
|
|
|
|
[1.] He thought God fought against him and stirred up his whole
|
|
strength to ruin him: <I>With thy strong hand thou opposest
|
|
thyself,</I> or art an adversary against me. He had better thoughts of
|
|
God
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+23:6"><I>ch.</I> xxiii. 6</A>)
|
|
|
|
when he concluded he would <I>not plead against him with his great
|
|
power.</I> God has an absolute sovereignty and an irresistible
|
|
strength, but he never uses either the one or the other for the
|
|
crushing or oppressing of any.
|
|
|
|
[2.] He thought he insulted over him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Thou lifted me up to the wind,</I> as a feather or the chaff which
|
|
the wind plays with; so unequal a match did Job think himself for
|
|
Omnipotence, and so unable was he to help himself when he was made to
|
|
ride, not in triumph, but in terror, upon the wings of the wind, and
|
|
the judgments of God did even <I>dissolve his substance,</I> as a cloud
|
|
is dissolved and dispersed by the wind. Man's substance, take him in
|
|
his best estate, is nothing before the power of God; it is soon
|
|
dissolved.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
5. He expected no other now than that God, by these troubles, would
|
|
shortly make an end of him: "If I be made to ride upon the wind, I can
|
|
count upon no other than to break my neck shortly;" and he speaks as if
|
|
God had no other design upon him than that in all his dealings with
|
|
him: "<I>I know that thou wilt bring me,</I> with so much the more
|
|
terror, <I>to death,</I> though I might have been brought thither
|
|
without all this ado, for it is <I>the house appointed for all
|
|
living,</I>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
The grave is a house, a narrow, dark, cold, ill-furnished house, but it
|
|
will be our residence, where we shall rest and be safe. It is our long
|
|
home, our own home; for it is our mother's lap, and in it we are
|
|
gathered to our fathers. It is a house appointed for us by him that has
|
|
appointed us the bounds of all our habitations. It is appointed for
|
|
all the living. It is the common receptacle, where rich and poor meet;
|
|
it is appointed for the general rendezvous. We must all be brought
|
|
thither shortly. It is God that brings us to it, for the keys of death
|
|
and the grave are in his hand, and we may all know that, sooner or
|
|
later, he will bring us thither. It would be well for us if we would
|
|
duly consider it. <I>The living know that they shall die;</I> let us,
|
|
each of us, know it with application.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
6. There were two things that aggravated his trouble, and made it the
|
|
less tolerable:--
|
|
|
|
(1.) That it was a very great disappointment to his expectation
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>When I looked for good,</I> for more good, or at least for the
|
|
continuance of what I had, <I>then evil came</I>"--such uncertain
|
|
things are all our worldly enjoyments, and such a folly is it to feed
|
|
ourselves with great expectations from them. Those that wait for light
|
|
from the sparks of their creature comforts will be wretchedly
|
|
disappointed and will <I>make their bed in the darkness.</I>
|
|
|
|
(2.) That is was a very great change in his condition
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:31"><I>v.</I> 31</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>My harp is</I> not only laid by, and hung upon the willow-trees,
|
|
but it is <I>turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of those
|
|
that weep.</I>" Job, in his prosperity, had taken <I>the timbrel and
|
|
harp,</I> and <I>rejoiced at the sound of the organ,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+21:12"><I>ch.</I> xxi. 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
Notwithstanding his gravity and grace, he had found time to be
|
|
cheerful; but now his tune was altered. Let those therefore that
|
|
rejoice be <I>as though they rejoiced not,</I> for they know not how
|
|
soon their <I>laughter</I> will be <I>turned into mourning and their
|
|
joy into heaviness.</I> Thus we see how much Job complains of; but,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. Here is something in the midst of all with which he comforts
|
|
himself, and it is but a little.
|
|
|
|
1. He foresees, with comfort, that death will be the period of all his
|
|
calamities
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>):
|
|
|
|
Though God now, with a strong hand, opposed himself against him, "yet,"
|
|
says he, "<I>he will not stretch out his hand to the grave.</I>" The
|
|
hand of God's wrath would bring him to death, but would not follow him
|
|
beyond death; his soul would be safe and happy in the world of spirits,
|
|
his body safe and easy in the dust. Though men <I>cry in his
|
|
destruction</I> (though, when they are dying, there is a great deal of
|
|
agony and out-cry, many a sigh, and groan, and complaint), yet in the
|
|
grave they feel nothing, they fear nothing, but all is quiet there.
|
|
"Though in hell, which is called <I>destruction,</I> they cry, yet not
|
|
in the grave; and, being delivered from the second death, the first to
|
|
me will be an effectual relief." Therefore he wished he might be
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<I>hidden in the grave,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:13"><I>ch.</I> xiv. 13</A>.
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2. He reflects with comfort upon the concern he always had for the
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calamities of others when he was himself at ease
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>):
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<I>Did not I weep for him that was in trouble?</I> Some think he herein
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complains of God, thinking it very hard that he who had shown mercy to
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others should not himself find mercy. I would rather take it as a
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quieting consideration to himself; his conscience witnessed for him
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that he had always sympathized with persons in misery and done what he
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could to help them, and therefore he had reason to expect that, at
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length, both God and his friends would pity him. Those who mourn with
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them that mourn will bear their own sorrows the better when it comes to
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their turn to drink of the bitter cup. <I>Did not my soul burn for the
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poor?</I> so some read it, comparing it with that of St. Paul,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+11:29">2 Cor. xi. 29</A>,
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<I>Who is offended, and I burn not?</I> As those who have been
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unmerciful and hard-hearted to others may expect to hear of it from
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their own consciences, when they are themselves in trouble, so those
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who have considered the poor and succoured them shall have the
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remembrance thereof to make their bed easy in their sickness,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+41:1,3">Ps. xli. 1, 3</A>.</P>
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