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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. XXXV.</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 being still silent, Elihu follows his blow, and here, a third time,
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undertakes to show him that he had spoken amiss, and ought to recant.
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Three improper sayings he here charges him with, and returns answer to
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them distinctly:--
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I. He had represented religion as an indifferent unprofitable thing,
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which God enjoins for his own sake, not for ours; Elihu evinces the
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contrary,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+35:1-8">ver. 1-8</A>.
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II. He had complained of God as deaf to the cries of the oppressed,
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against which imputation Elihu here justifies God,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+35:9-13">ver. 9-13</A>.
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III. He had despaired of the return of God's favour to him, because it
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was so long deferred, but Elihu shows him the true cause of the delay,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+35:14-16">ver. 14-16</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Job35_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job35_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job35_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job35_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job35_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job35_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job35_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job35_8"> </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>The Address of Elihu.</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 Elihu spake moreover, and said,
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2 Thinkest thou this to be right, <I>that</I> thou saidst, My
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righteousness <I>is</I> more than God's?
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3 For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee? <I>and,</I>
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What profit shall I have, <I>if I be cleansed</I> from my sin?
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4 I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee.
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5 Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds <I>which</I>
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are higher than thou.
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6 If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or <I>if</I> thy
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transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him?
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7 If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth
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he of thine hand?
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8 Thy wickedness <I>may hurt</I> a man as thou <I>art;</I> and thy
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righteousness <I>may profit</I> the son of man.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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We have here,</P>
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<P>
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I. The bad words which Elihu charges upon Job,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+35:2,3"><I>v.</I> 2, 3</A>.
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To evince the badness of them he appeals to Job himself, and his own
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sober thoughts, in the reflection: <I>Thinkest thou this to be
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right?</I> This intimates Elihu's confidence that the reproof he now
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gave was just, for he could refer the judgment of it even to Job
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himself. Those that have truth and equity on their side sooner or later
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will have every man's conscience on their side. It also intimates his
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good opinion of Job, that he thought better than he spoke, and that,
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though he had spoken amiss, yet, when he perceived his mistake, he
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would not stand to it. When we have said, in our haste, that which was
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not right, it becomes us to own that our second thoughts convince us
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that it was wrong. Two things Elihu here reproves Job for:--
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1. For justifying himself more than God, which was the thing that first
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provoked him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+32:2"><I>ch.</I> xxxii. 2</A>.
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"Thou hast, in effect, said, <I>My righteousness is more than
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God's,</I>" that is, "I have done more for God than ever he did for me;
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so that, when the accounts are balanced, he will be brought in debtor
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to me." As if Job thought his services had been paid less than they
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deserved and his sins punished more than they deserved, which is a most
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unjust and wicked thought for any man to harbour and especially to
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utter. When Job insisted so much upon his own integrity, and the
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severity of God's dealings with him, he did in effect say, <I>My
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righteousness is more than God's;</I> whereas, though we be ever so
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good and our afflictions ever so great, we are chargeable with
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unrighteousness and God is not.
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2. For disowning the benefits and advantages of religion because he
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suffered these things: <I>What profit shall I have if I be cleansed
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from my sin?</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+35:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
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This is gathered from
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:30,31"><I>ch.</I> ix. 30, 31</A>.
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<I>Though I make my hands ever so clean,</I> what the nearer am I?
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<I>Thou shalt plunge me in the ditch.</I> And
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+10:15"><I>ch.</I> x. 15</A>,
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<I>If I be wicked, woe to me;</I> but, if I be righteous, it is all the
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same. The psalmist, when he compared his own afflictions with the
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prosperity of the wicked, was tempted to say, <I>Verily I have cleansed
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my heart in vain,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:13">Ps. lxxiii. 13</A>.
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And, if Job said so, he did in effect say, <I>My righteousness is more
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than God's</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+35:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>);
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for, if he got nothing by his religion, God was more beholden to him
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than he was to God. But, though there might be some colour for it, yet
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it was not fair to charge these words upon Job, when he himself had
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made them the wicked words of prospering sinners
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+21:15"><I>ch.</I> xxi. 15</A>,
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<I>What profit shall we have if we pray to him?</I>) and had
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immediately disclaimed them. <I>The counsel of the wicked is far from
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me,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+21:16"><I>ch.</I> xxi. 16</A>.
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It is not a fair way of disputing to charge men with those consequences
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of their opinions which they expressly renounce.</P>
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<P>
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II. The good answer which Elihu gives to this
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+35:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
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"<I>I will</I> undertake to <I>answer thee, and thy companions with
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thee,</I>" that is, "all those that approve thy sayings and are ready
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to justify thee in them, and all others that say as thou sayest: "I
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have that to offer which will silence them all." To do this he has
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recourse to his old maxim
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+33:12"><I>ch.</I> xxxiii. 12</A>),
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<I>that God is greater than man.</I> This is a truth which, if duly
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improved, will serve many good purposes, and particularly this to prove
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that God is debtor to no man. The greatest of men may be a debtor to
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the meanest; but such is the infinite disproportion between God and man
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that the great God cannot possibly receive any benefit by man, and
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therefore cannot be supposed to lie under any obligation to man; for,
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if he be obliged by his purpose and promise, it is only to himself.
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That is a challenge which no man can take up
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:35">Rom. xi. 35</A>),
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<I>Who hath first given to God,</I> let him prove it, <I>and it shall
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be recompensed to him again.</I> Why should we demand it, as a just
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debt, to gain by our religion (as Job seemed to do), when the God we
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serve does not gain by it?
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1. Elihu needs not prove that God is above man; it is agreed by all;
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but he endeavours to affect Job and us with it, by an ocular
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demonstration of the height of the heavens and the clouds,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+35:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
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They are far above us, and God is far above them; how much then is he
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set out of the reach either of our sins or of our services! <I>Look
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unto the heavens, and behold the clouds.</I> God made man erect,
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<I>coelumque tueri jussit--and bade him look up to heaven.</I> Idolaters
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looked up, and worshipped the hosts of heaven, the sun, moon, and
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stars; but we must look up to heaven, and worship the Lord of those
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hosts. They are higher than we, but God is infinitely above them. His
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<I>glory is above the heavens</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+8:1">Ps. viii. 1</A>)
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and the knowledge of him higher than heaven,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+11:8"><I>ch.</I> xi. 8</A>.
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2. But hence he infers that God is not affected, either one way or
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other, by any thing that we do.
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(1.) He owns that men may be either bettered or damaged by what we do
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+35:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
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<I>Thy wickedness,</I> perhaps, may <I>hurt a man as thou art,</I> may
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occasion him trouble in his outward concerns. A wicked man may wound,
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or rob, or slander his neighbour, or may draw him into sin and so
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prejudice his soul. Thy righteousness, thy justice, thy charity, thy
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wisdom, thy piety, may perhaps <I>profit the son of man.</I> Our
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goodness <I>extends to the saints that are in the earth,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+16:3">Ps. xvi. 3</A>.
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To men like ourselves we are in a capacity either of doing injury or of
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showing kindness; and in both these the sovereign Lord and Judge of all
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will interest himself, will reward those that do good and punish those
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that do hurt to their fellow-creatures and fellow-subjects. But,
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(2.) He utterly denies that God can really be either prejudiced or
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advantaged by what any, even the greatest men of the earth, do, or can
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do.
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[1.] The sins of the worst sinners are no damage to him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+35:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
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"<I>If thou sinnest</I> wilfully, and of malice prepense, against him,
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with a high hand, nay, <I>if thy transgressions be multiplied,</I> and
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the acts of sin be ever so often repeated, yet <I>what doest thou
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against him?</I>" This is a challenge to the carnal mind, and defies
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the most daring sinner to do his worst. It speaks much for the
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greatness and glory of God that it is not in the power of his worst
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enemies to do him any real prejudice. Sin is said to <I>be against
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God</I> because so the sinner intends it and so God takes it, and it is
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an injury to his honour; yet it cannot <I>do any thing against him.</I>
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The malice of sinners is impotent malice: it cannot destroy his being
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or perfections, cannot dethrone him from his power and dominion, cannot
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disturb his peace and repose, cannot defeat his counsels and designs,
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nor can it derogate from his essential glory. Job therefore spoke amiss
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in saying <I>What profit is it that I am cleansed from my sin?</I> God
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was no gainer by his reformation; and who then would gain if he himself
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did not?
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[2.] The services of the best saints are no profit to him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+35:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>):
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<I>If thou be righteous, what givest thou to him?</I> He needs not our
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service; or, if he did want to have the work done, he has better hands
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than ours at command. Our religion brings no accession at all to his
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felicity. He is so far from being beholden to us that we are beholden
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to him for making us righteous and accepting our righteousness; and
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therefore we can demand nothing from him, nor have any reason to
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complain if we have not what we expect, but to be thankful that we have
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better than we deserve.</P>
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<A NAME="Job35_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job35_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job35_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job35_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job35_13"> </A>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>9 By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make <I>the
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oppressed</I> to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the
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mighty.
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10 But none saith, Where <I>is</I> God my maker, who giveth songs in
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the night;
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11 Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and
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maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?
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12 There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride
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of evil men.
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13 Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty
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regard it.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Elihu here returns an answer to another word that Job had said, which,
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he thought, reflected much upon the justice and goodness of God, and
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therefore ought not to pass without a remark. Observe,</P>
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<P>
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I. What it was that Job complained of; it was this, That God did not
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regard the cries of the oppressed against their oppressors
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+35:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
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"<I>By reason of the multitude of oppressions,</I> the many hardships
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which proud tyrants put upon poor people and the barbarous usage they
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give them, <I>they make the oppressed to cry;</I> but it is to no
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purpose: God does not appear to right them. They cry out, they cry on
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still, <I>by reason of the arm of the mighty,</I> which lies heavily
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upon them." This seems to refer to those words of Job
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+24:12"><I>ch.</I> xxiv. 12</A>),
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<I>Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded cries
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out</I> against the oppressors, <I>yet God lays not folly to them,</I>
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does not reckon with them for it. This is a thing that Job knows not
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what to make of, nor how to reconcile to the justice of God and his
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government. <I>Is there a righteous God, and can it be that he should
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so slowly hear, so slowly see?</I></P>
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<P>
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II. How Elihu solves the difficulty. If the cries of the oppressed be
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not heard, the fault is not in God; he is ready to hear and help them.
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But the fault is in themselves; they <I>ask and have not,</I> but it is
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<I>because they ask amiss,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+4:3">James iv. 3</A>.
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<I>They cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty,</I> but it is a
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complaining cry, a wailing cry, not a penitent praying cry, the cry of
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nature and passion, not of grace. See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:14">Hos. vii. 14,</A>,
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<I>They have not cried unto me with their heart when they howled upon
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their beds.</I> How then can we expect that they should be answered and
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relieved?</P>
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<P>
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1. They do not enquire after God, nor seek to acquaint themselves with
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him, under their affliction
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+35:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
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<I>But none saith, Where is God my Maker?</I> Afflictions are sent to
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direct and quicken us to <I>enquire early after God,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+78:34">Ps. lxxxviii. 34</A>.
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But many that groan under great oppressions never mind God, nor take
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notice of his hand in their troubles; if they did, they would bear
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their troubles more patiently and be more benefited by them. Of the
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many that are afflicted and oppressed, few get the good they might get
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by their affliction. It should drive them to God, but how seldom is
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this the case! It is lamentable to see so little religion among the
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poor and miserable part of mankind. Every one complains of his
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troubles; <I>but none saith, Where is God my Maker?</I> that is, none
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repent of their sins, none return to him that smites them, none seek
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the face and favour of God, and that comfort in him which would balance
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their outward afflictions. They are wholly taken up with the
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wretchedness of their condition, as if that would excuse them in living
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without God in the world which should engage them to cleave the more
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closely to him. Observe,
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(1.) God is our Maker, the author of our being, and, under that notion,
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it concerns us to regard and remember him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+12:1">Eccl. xii. 1</A>.
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<I>God my makers,</I> in the plural number, which some think is, if not
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an indication, yet an intimation, of the Trinity of persons in the
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unity of the Godhead. <I>Let us make man.</I>
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(2.) It is our duty therefore to enquire after him. Where is he, that
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we may pay our homage to him, may own our dependence upon him and
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|
obligations to him? Where is he, that we may apply to him for
|
|
maintenance and protection, may receive law from him, and may seek our
|
|
happiness in his favour, from whose power we received our being?
|
|
|
|
(3.) It is to be lamented that he is so little enquired after by the
|
|
children of men. All are asking, Where is mirth? Where is wealth? Where
|
|
is a good bargain? But none ask, <I>Where is God my Maker?</I></P>
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|
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<P>
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|
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|
2. They do not take notice of the mercies they enjoy in and under their
|
|
afflictions, nor are thankful for them, and therefore cannot expect
|
|
that God should deliver them out of their afflictions.
|
|
|
|
(1.) He provides for our inward comfort and joy under our outward
|
|
troubles, and we ought to make use of that, and wait his time for the
|
|
removal of our troubles: He <I>gives songs in the night,</I> that is,
|
|
when our condition is ever so dark, and sad, and melancholy, there is
|
|
that in God, in his providence and promise, which is sufficient, not
|
|
only to support us, but to fill us with joy and consolation, and enable
|
|
us in every thing to give thanks, and even to rejoice in tribulation.
|
|
When we only pore upon the afflictions we are under, and neglect the
|
|
consolations of God which are treasured up for us, it is just with God
|
|
to reject our prayers.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He preserves to us the use of our reason and understanding
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+35:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
|
|
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|
<I>Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth,</I> that is, who
|
|
has endued us with more noble powers and faculties than they are endued
|
|
with and has made us capable of more excellent pleasures and
|
|
employments here and for ever. Now this comes in here,
|
|
|
|
[1.] As that which furnishes us with matter for thanksgiving, even
|
|
under the heaviest burden of affliction. Whatever we are deprived of,
|
|
we have our immortal souls, those jewels of more worth than all the
|
|
world, continued to us; even those that kill the body cannot hurt
|
|
<I>them.</I> And if our affliction prevail not to disturb the exercise
|
|
of their faculties, but we enjoy the use of our reason and the peace of
|
|
our consciences, we have much reason to be thankful, how pressing
|
|
soever our calamities otherwise are.
|
|
|
|
[2.] As a reason why we should, under our afflictions, enquire after
|
|
God our Maker, and seek unto him. This is the greatest excellency of
|
|
reason, that it makes us capable of religion, and it is in that
|
|
especially that we are <I>taught more than the beasts and the
|
|
fowls.</I> They have wonderful instincts and sagacities in seeking out
|
|
their food, their physic, their shelter; but none of them are capable
|
|
of enquiring, <I>Where is God my Maker?</I> Something like logic, and
|
|
philosophy, and politics, has been observed among the brute-creatures,
|
|
but never any thing of divinity or religion; these are peculiar to man.
|
|
If therefore the oppressed only <I>cry by reason of the arm of the
|
|
mighty,</I> and do not look up to God, they do no more than the brutes
|
|
(who complain when they are hurt), and they forget that instruction and
|
|
wisdom by which they are advanced so far above them. God relieves the
|
|
brute-creatures because they cry to him according to the best of their
|
|
capacity,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+38:41,Ps+104:21"><I>ch.</I> xxxviii. 41; Ps. civ. 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
But what reason have men to expect relief, who are capable of enquiring
|
|
after God as their Maker and yet cry to him no otherwise than as brutes
|
|
do?</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. They are proud and unhumbled under their afflictions, which were
|
|
sent to mortify them and to hide pride from them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+35:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>There they cry</I>--there they lie exclaiming against their
|
|
oppressors, and filling the ears of all about them with their
|
|
complaints, not sparing to reflect upon God himself and his
|
|
providence--<I>but none gives answer.</I> God does not work deliverance
|
|
for them, and perhaps men do not much regard them; and why so? It is
|
|
<I>because of the pride of evil men;</I> they are evil men; they
|
|
<I>regard iniquity in their hearts,</I> and therefore God will not hear
|
|
their prayers,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+66:18,Isa+1:15">Ps. lxvi. 18; Isa. i. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>God hears not</I> such <I>sinners.</I> They have, it may be, brought
|
|
themselves into trouble by their own wickedness; they are the devil's
|
|
poor; and then who can pity them? Yet this is not all: they are proud
|
|
still, and <I>therefore</I> they do not seek unto God
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+10:4">Ps. x. 4</A>),
|
|
|
|
or, if they do cry unto him, <I>therefore</I> he does not give answer,
|
|
for he hears only the <I>desire of the humble</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+10:17">Ps. x. 17</A>)
|
|
|
|
and delivers those by his providence whom he has first by his grace
|
|
prepared and made fit for deliverance, which we are not if, under
|
|
humbling afflictions, our hearts remain unhumbled and our pride
|
|
unmortified. The case is plain then, If we cry to God for the removal
|
|
of the oppression and affliction we are under, and it is not removed,
|
|
the reason is not because the Lord's hand is shortened or his ear
|
|
heavy, but because the affliction has not done its work; we are not
|
|
sufficiently humbled, and therefore must thank ourselves that it is
|
|
continued.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
4. They are not sincere, and upright, and inward with God, in their
|
|
supplications to him, and therefore he does not hear and answer them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+35:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>God will not hear vanity,</I> that is, the hypocritical prayer,
|
|
which is a vain prayer, coming out of feigned lips. It is a vanity to
|
|
think that God should hear it, who searches the heart and requires
|
|
<I>truth in the inward part.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Job35_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job35_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job35_16"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>14 Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, <I>yet</I> judgment
|
|
<I>is</I> before him; therefore trust thou in him.
|
|
15 But now, because <I>it is</I> not <I>so,</I> he hath visited in his
|
|
anger; yet he knoweth <I>it</I> not in great extremity:
|
|
16 Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth
|
|
words without knowledge.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Here is,
|
|
|
|
I. Another improper word for which Elihu reproves Job
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+35:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Thou sayest thou shalt not see him;</I> that is,
|
|
|
|
1. "Thou complainest that thou dost not understand the meaning of his
|
|
severe dealings with thee, nor discern the drift and design of them,"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+23:8,9"><I>ch.</I> xxiii. 8, 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
And,
|
|
|
|
2. "Thou despairest of seeing his gracious returns to thee, of seeing
|
|
better days again, and art ready to give up all for gone;" as Hezekiah
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+38:11">Isa. xxxviii. 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>I shall not see the Lord.</I> As, when we are in prosperity, we are
|
|
ready to think our mountain will never be brought low, so when we are
|
|
in adversity we are ready to think our valley will never be filled,
|
|
but, in both, to conclude that <I>to morrow must be as this day,</I>
|
|
which is as absurd as to think, when the weather is either fair or
|
|
foul, that is will be always so, that the flowing tide will always
|
|
flow, or the ebbing tide will always ebb.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The answer which Elihu gives to this despairing word that Job had
|
|
said, which is this,
|
|
|
|
1. That, when he looked up to God, he had no just reason to speak thus
|
|
despairingly: <I>Judgment is before him,</I> that is, "He knows what he
|
|
has to do, and will do all in infinite wisdom and justice; he has the
|
|
entire plan and model of providence before him, and knows what he will
|
|
do, which we do not, and therefore we understand not what he does.
|
|
There is a day of judgment before him, when all the seeming disorders
|
|
of providence will be set to rights and the dark chapters of it will be
|
|
expounded. Then thou shalt see the full meaning of these dark events,
|
|
and the final period of these dismal events; then thou shalt see his
|
|
face with joy; <I>therefore trust in him,</I> depend upon him, wait for
|
|
him, and believe that the issue will be good at last." When we consider
|
|
that God is infinitely wise, and righteous, and faithful, and that he
|
|
is a God of judgment
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+30:18">Isa. xxx. 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
we shall see no reason to despair of relief from him, but all the
|
|
reason in the world to hope in him, that it will come in due time, in
|
|
the best time.
|
|
|
|
2. That if he had not yet seen an end of his troubles, the reason was
|
|
because he did not thus trust in God and wait for him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+35:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Because it is not so,</I> because thou dost not thus trust in him,
|
|
therefore the affliction which came at first from love has now
|
|
displeasure mixed with it. Now God <I>has visited</I> thee <I>in his
|
|
anger,</I> taking it very ill that thou canst not find in thy heart to
|
|
trust him, but harbourest such hard misgiving thoughts of him." If
|
|
there be any mixtures of divine wrath in our afflictions, we may thank
|
|
ourselves; it is because we do not behave aright under them; we quarrel
|
|
with God, and are fretful and impatient, and distrustful of the divine
|
|
Providence. This was Job's case. <I>The foolishness of man perverts his
|
|
way, and</I> then <I>his heart frets against the Lord,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+19:3">Prov. xix. 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
Yet Elihu thinks that Job, being in great extremity, did not know and
|
|
consider this as he should, that it was his own fault that he was not
|
|
yet delivered. He concludes therefore that <I>Job opens his mouth in
|
|
vain</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+35:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>)
|
|
|
|
in complaining of his grievances and crying for redress, or in
|
|
justifying himself and clearing up his own innocency; it is all in
|
|
vain, because he does not trust in God and wait for him, and has not a
|
|
due regard to him in his afflictions. He had said a great deal, had
|
|
<I>multiplied words,</I> but all <I>without knowledge,</I> all to no
|
|
purpose, because he did not encourage himself in God and humble himself
|
|
before him. It is in vain for us either to appeal to God or to acquit
|
|
ourselves if we do not study to answer the end for which affliction is
|
|
sent, and in vain to pray for relief if we do not trust in God; for let
|
|
not that man who distrusts God <I>think that he shall receive any thing
|
|
from him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+1:7">James i. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
Or this may refer to all that Job had said. Having shown the absurdity
|
|
of some passages in his discourse, he concludes that there were many
|
|
other passages which were in like manner the fruits of his ignorance
|
|
and mistake. He did not, as his other friends, condemn him for a
|
|
hypocrite, but charged him only with Moses's sin, <I>speaking
|
|
unadvisedly with his lips</I> when his spirit was provoked. When at any
|
|
time we do so (and who is there that offends not in word?) it is a
|
|
mercy to be told of it, and we must take it patiently and kindly as Job
|
|
did, not repeating, but recanting, what we have said amiss.</P>
|
|
|
|
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