mh_parser/vol_split/18 - Job/Chapter 19.xml

<div2 id="Job.xx" n="xx" next="Job.xxi" prev="Job.xix" progress="9.69%" title="Chapter XIX">
<h2 id="Job.xx-p0.1">J O B</h2>
<h3 id="Job.xx-p0.2">CHAP. XIX.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Job.xx-p1">This chapter is Job's answer to Bildad's discourse
in the foregoing chapter. Though his spirit was grieved and much
heated, and Bildad was very peevish, yet he gave him leave to say
all he designed to say, and did not break in upon him in the midst
of his argument; but, when he had done, he gave him a fair answer,
in which, I. He complains of unkind usage. And very unkindly he
takes it. 1. That his comforters added to his affliction, <scripRef id="Job.xx-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.2-Job.19.7" parsed="|Job|19|2|19|7" passage="Job 19:2-7">ver. 2-7</scripRef>. 2. That his God was the
author of his affliction, <scripRef id="Job.xx-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.8-Job.19.12" parsed="|Job|19|8|19|12" passage="Job 19:8-12">ver.
8-12</scripRef>. 3. That his relations and friends were strange to
him, and shy of him, in his affliction, <scripRef id="Job.xx-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.20-Job.19.22" parsed="|Job|19|20|19|22" passage="Job 19:20-22">ver. 20-22</scripRef>. II. He comforts himself with
the believing hopes of happiness in the other world, though he had
so little comfort in this, making a very solemn confession of his
faith, with a desire that it might be recorded as an evidence of
his sincerity, <scripRef id="Job.xx-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.23-Job.19.27" parsed="|Job|19|23|19|27" passage="Job 19:23-27">ver.
23-27</scripRef>. III. He concludes with a caution to his friends
not to persist in their hard censures of him, <scripRef id="Job.xx-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.28-Job.19.29" parsed="|Job|19|28|19|29" passage="Job 19:28,29">ver. 28, 29</scripRef>. If the remonstrance Job here
makes of his grievances may serve sometimes to justify our
complaints, yet his cheerful views of the future state, at the same
time, may shame us Christians, and may serve to silence our
complaints, or at least to balance them.</p>
<scripCom id="Job.xx-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.19" parsed="|Job|19|0|0|0" passage="Job 19" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Job.xx-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.1-Job.19.7" parsed="|Job|19|1|19|7" passage="Job 19:1-7" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.19.1-Job.19.7">
<h4 id="Job.xx-p1.8">The Reply of Job to Bildad. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xx-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xx-p2">1 Then Job answered and said,   2 How long
will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?   3
These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed
<i>that</i> ye make yourselves strange to me.   4 And be it
indeed <i>that</i> I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.
  5 If indeed ye will magnify <i>yourselves</i> against me,
and plead against me my reproach:   6 Know now that God hath
overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.   7 Behold,
I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but <i>there
is</i> no judgment.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xx-p3">Job's friends had passed a very severe
censure upon him as a wicked man because he was so grievously
afflicted; now here he tells them how ill he took it to be so
censured. Bildad had twice begun with a <i>How long</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xx-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.2 Bible:Job.18.2" parsed="|Job|8|2|0|0;|Job|18|2|0|0" passage="Job 8:2,18:2"><i>ch.</i> viii. 2, xviii. 2</scripRef>),
and therefore Job, being now to answer him particularly, begins
with a <i>How long</i> too, <scripRef id="Job.xx-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.2" parsed="|Job|19|2|0|0" passage="Job 19:2"><i>v.</i>
2</scripRef>. What is not liked is commonly thought long; but Job
had more reason to think those long who assaulted him than they had
to think him long who only vindicated himself. Better cause may be
shown for defending ourselves, if we have right on our side, than
for offending our brethren, though we have right on our side. Now
observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xx-p4">I. How he describes their unkindness to him
and what account he gives of it. 1. They <i>vexed his soul,</i> and
that is more grievous than the vexation of the bones, <scripRef id="Job.xx-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.6.2-Ps.6.3" parsed="|Ps|6|2|6|3" passage="Ps 6:2,3">Ps. vi. 2, 3</scripRef>. They were his friends;
they came to comfort him, pretended to counsel him for the best;
but with a great deal of gravity, and affectation of wisdom and
piety, they set themselves to rob him of the only comfort he had
now left him in a good God, a good conscience, and a good name; and
this vexed him to his heart. 2. They <i>broke him in pieces with
words,</i> and those were surely hard and very cruel words that
would break a man to pieces: they grieved him, and so broke him;
and therefore there will be a reckoning hereafter for all the hard
speeches spoken against Christ and his people, <scripRef id="Job.xx-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.15" parsed="|Jude|1|15|0|0" passage="Jude 1:15">Jude 15</scripRef>. 3. They <i>reproached him,</i>
(<scripRef id="Job.xx-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.3" parsed="|Job|19|3|0|0" passage="Job 19:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), gave him a
bad character and laid to his charge things that he knew not. To an
ingenuous mind reproach is a cutting thing. 4. They <i>made
themselves strange to him,</i> were shy of him now that he was in
his troubles, and seemed as if they did not know him (<scripRef id="Job.xx-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.12" parsed="|Job|2|12|0|0" passage="Job 2:12"><i>ch.</i> ii. 12</scripRef>), were not free
with him as they used to be when he was in his prosperity. Those
are governed by the spirit of the world, and not by any principles
of true honour or love, who make themselves strange to their
friends, or God's friends, when they are in trouble. <i>A friend
loves at all times.</i> 5. They not only estranged themselves from
him, but <i>magnified themselves against him</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xx-p4.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.5" parsed="|Job|19|5|0|0" passage="Job 19:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), not only looked shy of
him, but looked big upon him, and insulted over him, magnifying
themselves to depress him. It is a mean thing, it is a base thing,
thus to trample upon those that are down. 6. <i>They pleaded
against him his reproach,</i> that is, they made use of his
affliction as an argument against him to prove him a wicked man.
They should have pleaded for him his integrity, and helped him to
take the comfort of that under his affliction, and so have pleaded
that against his reproach (as St. Paul, <scripRef id="Job.xx-p4.6" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.1.12" parsed="|2Cor|1|12|0|0" passage="2Co 1:12">2 Cor. i. 12</scripRef>); but, instead of that, they
pleaded his reproach against his integrity, which was not only
unkind, but very unjust; for where shall we find an honest man if
reproach may be admitted for a plea against him?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xx-p5">II. How he aggravates their unkindness. 1.
They had thus abused him often (<scripRef id="Job.xx-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.3" parsed="|Job|19|3|0|0" passage="Job 19:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): <i>These ten times you have
reproached me,</i> that is, very often, as <scripRef id="Job.xx-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.7 Bible:Num.14.22" parsed="|Gen|31|7|0|0;|Num|14|22|0|0" passage="Ge 31:7,Nu 14:22">Gen. xxxi. 7; Num. xiv. 22</scripRef>. Five
times they had spoken, and every speech was a double reproach. He
spoke as if he had kept a particular account of their reproaches,
and could tell just how many they were. It is but a peevish and
unfriendly thing to do so, and looks like a design of retaliation
and revenge. We better befriend our own peace by forgetting
injuries and unkindnesses than by remembering them and scoring them
up. 2. They continued still to abuse him, and seemed resolved to
persist in it: "How long will you do it?" <scripRef id="Job.xx-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.2 Bible:Job.19.5" parsed="|Job|19|2|0|0;|Job|19|5|0|0" passage="Job 19:2,5"><i>v.</i> 2, 5</scripRef>. "I see you will magnify
yourselves against me, notwithstanding all I have said in my own
justification." Those that speak too much seldom think they have
said enough; and, when the mouth is opened in passion, the ear is
shut to reason. 3. They were not ashamed of what they did,
<scripRef id="Job.xx-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.3" parsed="|Job|19|3|0|0" passage="Job 19:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. They had
reason to be ashamed of their hard-heartedness, so ill becoming
men, of their uncharitableness, so ill becoming good men, and of
their deceitfulness, so ill becoming friends: but were they
ashamed? No, though they were told of it again and again, yet they
could not blush.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xx-p6">III. How he answers their harsh censures,
by showing them that what they condemned was capable of excuse,
which they ought to have considered. 1. The errors of his judgment
were excusable (<scripRef id="Job.xx-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.4" parsed="|Job|19|4|0|0" passage="Job 19:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>): "<i>Be it indeed that I have erred,</i> that I am in
the wrong through ignorance or mistake," which may well be supposed
concerning men, concerning good men. <i>Humanum est
errare</i>—<i>Error cleaves to humanity;</i> and we must be
willing to suppose it concerning ourselves. It is folly to think
ourselves infallible. "But be it so," said Job, "<i>my error
remaineth with myself,</i>" that is, "I speak according to the best
of my judgment, with all sincerity, and not from a spirit of
contradiction." Or, "If I be in an error, I keep it to myself, and
do not impose it upon others as you do. I only prove myself and my
own work by it. I meddle not with other people, either to teach
them or to judge them." Men's errors are the more excusable if they
keep them to themselves, and do not disturb others with them.
<i>Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself.</i> Some give this sense of
these words: "If I be in an error, it is I that must smart for it;
and therefore you need not concern yourselves: nay, it is I that do
smart, and smart severely, for it; and therefore you need not add
to my misery by your reproaches." 2. The breakings out of his
passion, though not justifiable, yet were excusable, considering
the vastness of his grief and the extremity of his misery. "If you
will go on to cavil at every complaining word I speak, will make
the worst of it and improve it against me, yet take the cause of
the complaint along with you, and weigh that, before you pass a
judgment upon the complaint, and turn it to my reproach: <i>Know
then that God has overthrown me,</i>" <scripRef id="Job.xx-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.6" parsed="|Job|19|6|0|0" passage="Job 19:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. Three things he would have them
consider:—(1.) That his trouble was very great. He was
overthrown, and could not help himself, enclosed as in a net, and
could not get out. (2.) That God was the author of it, and that, in
it, he fought against him: "It was his hand that overthrew me; it
is in his net that I am enclosed; and therefore you need not appear
against me thus. I have enough to do to grapple with God's
displeasure; let me not have yours also. Let God's controversy with
me be ended before you begin yours." It is barbarous to
<i>persecute him whom God hath smitten and to talk to the grief of
one whom he hath wounded,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xx-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.26" parsed="|Ps|69|26|0|0" passage="Ps 69:26">Ps.
lxix. 26</scripRef>. (3.) That he could not obtain any hope of the
redress of his grievances, <scripRef id="Job.xx-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.7" parsed="|Job|19|7|0|0" passage="Job 19:7"><i>v.</i>
7</scripRef>. He complained of his pain, but got no ease—begged to
know the cause of his affliction, but could not discover
it—appealed to God's tribunal for the clearing of his innocency,
but could not obtain a hearing, much less a judgment, upon his
appeal: <i>I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard.</i> God, for a
time, may seem to turn away his ear from his people, to be angry at
their prayers and overlook their appeals to him, and they must be
excused if, in that case, they complain bitterly. Woe unto us if
God be against us!</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.xx-p6.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.8-Job.19.22" parsed="|Job|19|8|19|22" passage="Job 19:8-22" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.19.8-Job.19.22">
<h4 id="Job.xx-p6.6">Job Complains of God's Displeasure; Job
Complains of His Friends. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xx-p6.7">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xx-p7">8 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass,
and he hath set darkness in my paths.   9 He hath stripped me
of my glory, and taken the crown <i>from</i> my head.   10 He
hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath
he removed like a tree.   11 He hath also kindled his wrath
against me, and he counteth me unto him as <i>one of</i> his
enemies.   12 His troops come together, and raise up their way
against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.   13 He hath
put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily
estranged from me.   14 My kinsfolk have failed, and my
familiar friends have forgotten me.   15 They that dwell in
mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in
their sight.   16 I called my servant, and he gave <i>me</i>
no answer; I intreated him with my mouth.   17 My breath is
strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children's
<i>sake</i> of mine own body.   18 Yea, young children
despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.   19 All my
inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned
against me.   20 My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh,
and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.   21 Have pity
upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God
hath touched me.   22 Why do ye persecute me as God, and are
not satisfied with my flesh?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xx-p8">Bildad had very disingenuously perverted
Job's complaints by making them the description of the miserable
condition of a wicked man; and yet he repeats them here, to move
their pity, and to work upon their good nature, if they had any
left in them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xx-p9">I. He complains of the tokens of God's
displeasure which he was under, and which infused the wormwood and
gall into the affliction and misery. How doleful are the accents of
his complaints! "<i>He hath kindled his wrath against me,</i> which
flames and terrifies me, which burns and pains me," <scripRef id="Job.xx-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.11" parsed="|Job|19|11|0|0" passage="Job 19:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. What is the fire of
hell but the wrath of God? Seared consciences will feel it
hereafter, but do not fear it now. Enlightened consciences fear it
now, but shall not feel it hereafter. Job's present apprehension
was that <i>God counted him as one of his enemies;</i> and yet, at
the same time, God loved him, and gloried in him, as his faithful
friend. It is a gross mistake, but a very common one, to think that
whom God afflicts he treats as his enemies; whereas, on the
contrary, <i>as many as he loves he rebukes and chastens;</i> it is
the discipline of his sons. Which way soever Job looked he thought
he saw the tokens of God's displeasure against him. 1. Did he look
back upon his former prosperity? He saw God's hand putting an end
to that (<scripRef id="Job.xx-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.9" parsed="|Job|19|9|0|0" passage="Job 19:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>):
"<i>He has stripped me of my glory,</i> my wealth, honour, power,
and all the opportunity I had of doing good. My children were my
glory, but I have lost them; and whatever was a crown to my head he
has taken it from me, and has laid all my honour in the dust." See
the vanity of worldly glory: it is what we may be soon stripped of;
and, whatever strips us, we must see and own God's hand in it and
comply with his design. 2. Did he look down upon his present
troubles? He saw God giving them their commission, and their orders
to attack him. They are <i>his troops,</i> that act by his
direction, which <i>encamp against me,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xx-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.12" parsed="|Job|19|12|0|0" passage="Job 19:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. It did not so much trouble him
that his miseries came upon him in troops as that they were
<i>God's</i> troops, in whom it seemed as if God fought against him
and intended his destruction. God's troops <i>encamped around his
tabernacle,</i> as soldiers lay siege to a strong city, cutting off
all provisions from being brought into it and battering it
continually; thus was Job's tabernacle besieged. Time was when
God's hosts encamped round him for safety: <i>Hast thou not made a
hedge about him?</i> Now, on the contrary, they surrounded him, to
his terror, and <i>destroyed him on every side,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xx-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.10" parsed="|Job|19|10|0|0" passage="Job 19:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. 3. Did he look forward
for deliverance? He saw the hand of God cutting off all hopes of
that (<scripRef id="Job.xx-p9.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.8" parsed="|Job|19|8|0|0" passage="Job 19:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): "<i>He
hath fenced up my way, that I cannot pass.</i> I have now no way
left to help myself, either to extricate myself out of my troubles
or to ease myself under them. Would I make any motion, take any
steps towards deliverance? I find <i>my way hedged up;</i> I cannot
do what I would; nay, if I would please myself with the prospect of
a deliverance hereafter, I cannot do it; it is not only out of my
reach, but out of my sight: God <i>hath set darkness in my
paths,</i> and there is none to tell me how long," <scripRef id="Job.xx-p9.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.74.9" parsed="|Ps|74|9|0|0" passage="Ps 74:9">Ps. lxxiv. 9</scripRef>. He concludes (<scripRef id="Job.xx-p9.7" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.10" parsed="|Job|19|10|0|0" passage="Job 19:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), "I am gone, quite
lost and undone for this world; <i>my hope hath he removed like a
tree</i> cut down, or plucked up by the roots, which will never
grow again." Hope in this life is a perishing thing, but the hope
of good men, when it is cut off from this world, is but removed
like a tree, transplanted from this nursery to the garden of the
Lord. We shall have no reason to complain if God thus remove our
hopes from the sand to the rock, from things temporal to things
eternal.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xx-p10">II. He complains of the unkindness of his
relations and of all his old acquaintance. In this also he owns the
hand of God (<scripRef id="Job.xx-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.13" parsed="|Job|19|13|0|0" passage="Job 19:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>): <i>He has put my brethren far from me,</i> that is,
"He has laid those afflictions upon me which frighten them from me,
and make them stand aloof from my sores." As it was their sin God
was not the author of it; it is Satan that alienates men's minds
from their brethren in affliction. But, as it was Job's trouble,
God ordered it for the completing of his trial. As we must eye the
hand of God in all the injuries we receive from our enemies ("the
Lord has bidden Shimei curse David"), so also in all the slights
and unkindnesses we receive from our friends, which will help us to
bear them the more patiently. Every creature is that to us (kind or
unkind, comfortable or uncomfortable) which God makes it to be. Yet
this does not excuse Job's relations and friends from the guilt of
horrid ingratitude and injustice to him, which he had reason to
complain of; few could have borne it so well as he did. He takes
notice of the unkindness, 1. Of his kindred and acquaintance, his
neighbours, and such as he had formerly been familiar with, who
were bound by all the laws of friendship and civility to concern
themselves for him, to visit him, to enquire after him, and to be
ready to do him all the good offices that lay in their power; yet
these were <i>estranged from him,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xx-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.13" parsed="|Job|19|13|0|0" passage="Job 19:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. They took no more care about
him than if he had been a stranger whom they never knew. His
kinsfolk, who claimed relation to him when he was in prosperity,
now failed him; they came short of their former professions of
friendship to him and his present expectations of kindness from
them. Even his familiar friends, whom he was mindful of, had now
forgotten him, had forgotten both his former friendliness to them
and his present miseries: they had heard of his troubles, and
designed him a visit; but truly they forgot it, so little affected
were they with it. Nay, his inward friends, the men of his secret,
whom he was most intimate with and laid in his bosom, not only
forgot him, but abhorred him, kept as far off from him as they
could, because he was poor and could not entertain them as he used
to do, and because he was sore and a loathsome spectacle. Those
whom he loved, and who therefore were worse than publicans if they
did not love him now that he was in distress, not only turned from
him, but were turned against him, and did all they could to make
him odious, so to justify themselves in being so strange to him,
<scripRef id="Job.xx-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.19" parsed="|Job|19|19|0|0" passage="Job 19:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. So uncertain
is the friendship of men; but, if God be our friend, he will not
fail us in a time of need. But let none that pretend either to
humanity or Christianity ever use their friends as Job's friends
used him: adversity is the proof of friendship. 2. Of his domestics
and family relations. Sometimes indeed we find that, beyond our
expectation, there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother;
but the master of a family ordinarily expects to be attended on and
taken care of by those of his family, even when, through weakness
of body or mind, he has become despicable to others. But poor Job
was misused by his own family, and some of his worst foes were
those of his own house. He mentions not his children; they were all
dead, and we may suppose that the unkindness of his surviving
relations made him lament the death of his children so much the
more: "If they had been alive," would he think, "I should have had
comfort in them." As for those that were now about him, (1.) His
own servants slighted him. His maids did not attend him in his
illness, but <i>counted him for a stranger and an alien,</i>
<scripRef id="Job.xx-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.15" parsed="|Job|19|15|0|0" passage="Job 19:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. His other
servants never heeded him; if he called to them they would not come
at his call, but pretended that they did not hear him. If he asked
them a question, they would not vouchsafe to <i>give him an
answer,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xx-p10.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.16" parsed="|Job|19|16|0|0" passage="Job 19:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>.
Job had been a good master to them, and did not <i>despise their
cause when they pleaded with him</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xx-p10.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.13" parsed="|Job|31|13|0|0" passage="Job 31:13"><i>ch.</i> xxxi. 13</scripRef>), and yet they were rude
to him now, and despised his cause when he pleaded with them. We
must not think it strange if we receive evil at the hand of those
from whom we have deserved well. Though he was now sickly, yet he
was not cross with his servants, and imperious, as is too common,
but he entreated his servants with his mouth, when he had authority
to command; and yet they would not be civil to him, neither kind
nor just. Note, Those that are sick and in sorrow are apt to take
things ill, and be jealous of a slight, and to lay to heart the
least unkindness done to them: when Job was in affliction even his
servants' neglect of him troubled him. (2.) But, one would think,
when all forsook him, the wife of his bosom should have been tender
of him: no, because he would not curse God and die, as she
persuaded him, his breath was strange to her too; she did not care
for coming near him, nor took any notice of what he said, <scripRef id="Job.xx-p10.7" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.17" parsed="|Job|19|17|0|0" passage="Job 19:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. Though he spoke to
her, not with the authority, but with the tenderness of a husband,
did not command, but entreated her by that conjugal love which
their children were the pledges of, yet she regarded him not. Some
read it, "Though I lamented, or bemoaned myself, for the children,"
that is, "for the death of the children of my own body," an
affliction in which she was equally concerned with him. Now, it
appeared, the devil spared her to him, not only to be his tempter,
but to be his tormentor. By what she said to him at first, <i>Curse
God and die,</i> it appeared that she had little religion in her;
and what can one expect that is kind and good from those that have
not the fear of God before their eyes and are not governed by
conscience? (3.) Even the little children who were born in his
house, the children of his own servants, who were his servants by
birth, despised him, and spoke against him (<scripRef id="Job.xx-p10.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.18" parsed="|Job|19|18|0|0" passage="Job 19:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>); though he arose in civility
to speak friendly to them, or with authority to check them, they
let him know that they neither feared him nor loved him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xx-p11">III. He complains of the decay of his body;
all the beauty and strength of that were gone. When those about him
slighted him, if he had been in health, and at ease, he might have
enjoyed himself. But he could take as little pleasure in himself as
others took in him (<scripRef id="Job.xx-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.20" parsed="|Job|19|20|0|0" passage="Job 19:20"><i>v.</i>
20</scripRef>): <i>My bone cleaves now to my skin,</i> as formerly
it did to my flesh; it was this that filled <i>him with
wrinkles</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xx-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.16.8" parsed="|Job|16|8|0|0" passage="Job 16:8"><i>ch.</i> xvi.
8</scripRef>); he was a perfect skeleton, nothing but skin and
bones. Nay, his skin too was almost gone, little remained unbroken
but the <i>skin of his teeth,</i> his gums and perhaps his lips;
all the rest was fetched off by his sore boils. See what little
reason we have to indulge the body, which, after all our care, may
be thus consumed by the diseases which it has in itself the seeds
of.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xx-p12">IV. Upon all these accounts he recommends
himself to the compassion of his friends, and justly blames their
harshness with him. From this representation of his deplorable
case, it was easy to infer, 1. That they ought to pity him,
<scripRef id="Job.xx-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.21" parsed="|Job|19|21|0|0" passage="Job 19:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. This he begs
in the most moving melting language that could be, enough (one
would think) to break a heart of stone: "<i>Have pity upon me, have
pity upon me, O you my friends!</i> if you will do nothing else for
me, be sorry for me, and show some concern for me; <i>have pity
upon me, for the hand of God hath touched me.</i> My case is sad
indeed, for I have fallen into the hands of the living God, my
spirit is touched with the sense of his wrath, a calamity of all
other the most piteous." Note, It becomes friends to pity one
another when they are in trouble, and not to shut up the bowels of
compassion. 2. That, however, they ought not to persecute him; if
they would not ease his affliction by their pity, yet they must not
be so barbarous as to add to it by their censures and reproaches
(<scripRef id="Job.xx-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.22" parsed="|Job|19|22|0|0" passage="Job 19:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>): "<i>Why do
you persecute me as God?</i> Surely his rebukes are enough for one
man to bear; you need not add your wormwood and gall to the cup of
affliction he puts into my hand, it is bitter enough without that:
God has a sovereign power over me, and may do what he pleases with
me; but do you think that you may do so too?" No, we must aim to be
like the Most Holy and the Most Merciful, but not like the Most
High and Most Mighty. God gives not account of any of his matters,
but we must give account of ours. If they did delight in his
calamity, let them be satisfied with his flesh, which was wasted
and gone, but let them not, as if that were too little, wound his
spirit, and ruin his good name. Great tenderness is due to those
that are in affliction, especially to those that are troubled in
mind.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.xx-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.23-Job.19.29" parsed="|Job|19|23|19|29" passage="Job 19:23-29" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.19.23-Job.19.29">
<h4 id="Job.xx-p12.4">Job's Confession of Faith; Happiness of the
Redeemed. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xx-p12.5">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xx-p13">23 Oh that my words were now written! oh that
they were printed in a book!   24 That they were graven with
an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!   25 For I know
<i>that</i> my redeemer liveth, and <i>that</i> he shall stand at
the latter <i>day</i> upon the earth:   26 And <i>though</i>
after my skin <i>worms</i> destroy this <i>body,</i> yet in my
flesh shall I see God:   27 Whom I shall see for myself, and
mine eyes shall behold, and not another; <i>though</i> my reins be
consumed within me.   28 But ye should say, Why persecute we
him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me?   29 Be ye
afraid of the sword: for wrath <i>bringeth</i> the punishments of
the sword, that ye may know <i>there is</i> a judgment.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xx-p14">In all the conferences between Job and his
friends we do not find any more weighty and considerable lines than
these; would one have expected it? Here is much both of Christ and
heaven in these verses: and he that said such things as these
<i>declared plainly that he sought the better country, that is, the
heavenly;</i> as the patriarchs of that age did, <scripRef id="Job.xx-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.14" parsed="|Heb|11|14|0|0" passage="Heb 11:14">Heb. xi. 14</scripRef>. We have here Job's creed, or
confession of faith. His belief in God the Father Almighty, the
Maker of heaven and earth, and the principles of natural religion,
he had often professed: but here we find him no stranger to
revealed religion; though the revelation of the promised Seed, and
the promised inheritance, was then discerned only like the dawning
of the day, yet Job was taught of God to believe in a living
Redeemer, and to <i>look for the resurrection of the dead and the
life of the world to come,</i> for of these, doubtless, he must be
understood to speak. These were the things he comforted himself
with the expectation of, and not a deliverance from his trouble or
a revival of his happiness in this world, as some would understand
him; for besides that the expressions he here uses, of the
Redeemer's <i>standing at the latter day upon the earth,</i> of his
seeing God, and <i>seeing him for himself,</i> are wretchedly
forced if they be understood of any temporal deliverance, it is
very plain that he had no expectation at all of his return to a
prosperous condition in this world. He had just now said that
<i>his way was fenced up,</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xx-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.8" parsed="|Job|19|8|0|0" passage="Job 19:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>) and his <i>hope removed like a
tree,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xx-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.10" parsed="|Job|19|10|0|0" passage="Job 19:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>.
Nay, and after this he expressed his despair of any comfort in this
life, <scripRef id="Job.xx-p14.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.23.8-Job.23.9 Bible:Job.30.23" parsed="|Job|23|8|23|9;|Job|30|23|0|0" passage="Job 23:8,9,30:23"><i>ch.</i> xxiii. 8, 9;
xxx. 23</scripRef>. So that we must necessarily understand him of
the redemption of his soul from the power of the grave, and his
reception to glory, which is spoken of, <scripRef id="Job.xx-p14.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.49.15" parsed="|Ps|49|15|0|0" passage="Ps 49:15">Ps. xlix. 15</scripRef>. We have reason to think that
Job was just now under an extraordinary impulse of the blessed
Spirit, which raised him above himself, gave him light, and gave
him utterance, even to his own surprise. And some observe that,
after this, we do not find Job's discourses such passionate,
peevish, unbecoming, complaints of God and his providence as we
have before met with: this hope quieted his spirit, stilled the
storm and, having here cast anchor within the veil, his mind was
kept steady from this time forward. Let us observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xx-p15">I. To what intent Job makes this confession
of his faith here. Never did any thing come in more pertinently, or
to better purpose. 1. Job was now accused, and this was his appeal.
His friends reproached him as a hypocrite and contemned him as a
wicked man; but he appeals to his creed, to his faith, to his hope,
and to his own conscience, which not only acquitted him from
reigning sin, but comforted him with the expectation of a blessed
resurrection. <i>These are not the words of him that has a
devil.</i> He appeals to the coming of the Redeemer, from this
wrangle at the bar to the judgment of the bench, even to him to
whom all judgment is committed, who he knew would right him. The
consideration of God's day coming will make it a <i>very small
thing with us to be judged of man's judgment,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xx-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.4.3-1Cor.4.4" parsed="|1Cor|4|3|4|4" passage="1Co 4:3,4">1 Cor. iv. 3, 4</scripRef>. How easily may we
bear the unjust calumnies and reproaches of men while we expect the
glorious appearance of our Redeemer, and his redeemed, at the last
day, and that there will then be a resurrection of names, as well
as bodies! 2. Job was now afflicted, and this was his cordial; when
he was pressed above measure this kept him from fainting—he
believed that he should <i>see the goodness of the Lord in the land
of the living;</i> not in this world, for that is the land of the
dying.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xx-p16">II. With what a solemn preface he
introduces it, <scripRef id="Job.xx-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.23-Job.19.24" parsed="|Job|19|23|19|24" passage="Job 19:23,24"><i>v.</i> 23,
24</scripRef>. He breaks off his complaints abruptly, to triumph
his comforts, which he does, not only for his own satisfaction, but
for the edification of others. Those now about him, he feared,
would little regard what he said, and so it proved, He therefore
wished it might be recorded for the generations to come. <i>O that
my words were now written,</i> the words I am now about to say! As
if he had said, "I own I have spoken many unadvised words, which I
could wish might be forgotten, for they will neither do me credit
nor do others good. But I am now going to speak deliberately, and
that which I desire may be published to all the world and preserved
for the generations to come, <i>in perpetuam rei
memoriam</i>—<i>for an abiding memorial,</i> and therefore that it
may be written plainly and <i>printed,</i> or drawn out in large
and legible characters, so that he that runs may read it; and that
it may not be left in loose papers, but put into <i>a book;</i> or,
if that should perish, that it may be <i>engraven</i> like an
inscription upon a monument, <i>with an iron pen in lead, or in the
stone;</i> let the engraver use all his art to make it a durable
appeal to posterity." That which Job here somewhat passionately
wished for God graciously granted him. His words are written; they
are printed in God's book; so that, wherever that book is read,
there shall this be told for a memorial concerning Job. He
believed, therefore he spoke.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xx-p17">III. What his confession itself is; what
are the words which he would have to be written; we here have them
written, <scripRef id="Job.xx-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.25-Job.19.27" parsed="|Job|19|25|19|27" passage="Job 19:25-27"><i>v.</i>
25-27</scripRef>. Let us observe them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xx-p18">1. He believes the glory of the Redeemer
and his own interest in him (<scripRef id="Job.xx-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.25" parsed="|Job|19|25|0|0" passage="Job 19:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>): <i>I know that my Redeemer
liveth,</i> that he is in being and is my life, <i>and that he
shall stand at last,</i> or stand the last, or at the latter day,
<i>upon</i> (or above) <i>the earth.</i> He shall be raised up, or,
He shall be, at the latter day, (that is, in the fulness of time:
the gospel day is called <i>the last time</i> because that is the
last dispensation) upon the earth: so it points at his incarnation;
or, He shall be lifted up from the earth (so it points at his
crucifixion), or raised up out of the earth (so it is applicable to
his resurrection), or, as we commonly understand it, At the end of
time he shall appear over the earth, for <i>he shall come in the
clouds, and every eye shall see him,</i> so close shall he come to
this earth. He shall stand <i>upon the dust</i> (so the word is),
upon all his enemies, which shall be put a dust under his feet; and
he shall tread upon them and triumph over them. Observe here, (1.)
That there is a Redeemer provided for fallen man, and Jesus Christ
is that Redeemer. The word is <i>Goël</i> which is used for the
next of kin, to whom, by the law of Moses, the right of redeeming a
mortgaged estate did belong, <scripRef id="Job.xx-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.25" parsed="|Lev|25|25|0|0" passage="Le 25:25">Lev. xxv.
25</scripRef>. Our heavenly inheritance was mortgaged by sin; we
are ourselves utterly unable to redeem it; Christ is near of kin to
us, the next kinsman that is able to redeem; he has paid our debt,
satisfied God's justice for sin, and so has taken off the mortgage
and made a new settlement of the inheritance. Our persons also want
a Redeemer; we are sold for sin, and sold under sin; our Lord Jesus
has wrought out a redemption for us, and proclaims redemption for
us, and proclaims redemption to us, and so he is truly the
Redeemer. (2.) He is a living Redeemer. As we are made by a living
God, so we are saved by a living Redeemer, who is both almighty and
eternal, and is therefore able to save to the uttermost. <i>Of him
it is witnessed that he liveth,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xx-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.8 Bible:Rev.1.18" parsed="|Heb|7|8|0|0;|Rev|1|18|0|0" passage="Heb 7:8,Re 1:18">Heb. vii. 8; Rev. i. 18</scripRef>. We are dying,
but he liveth, and hath assured us that <i>because he lives we
shall live also,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xx-p18.4" osisRef="Bible:John.14.19" parsed="|John|14|19|0|0" passage="Joh 14:19">John xiv.
19</scripRef>. (3.) There are those that through grace have an
interest in this Redeemer, and can, upon good grounds, call him
theirs. When Job had lost all his wealth and all his friends, yet
he was not separated from Christ, nor cut off from his relation to
him: "Still he is my Redeemer." That next kinsman adhered to him
when all his other kindred forsook him, and he had the comfort of
it. (4.) Our interest in the Redeemer is a thing that may be known;
and, where it is known, it may be triumphed in, as sufficient to
balance all our griefs: <i>I know</i> (observe with what an air of
assurance he speaks it, as one confident of this very thing), <i>I
know that my Redeemer lives.</i> His friends have often charged him
with ignorance or vain knowledge; but he knows enough, and knows to
good purpose, who knows Christ to be his Redeemer. (5.) There will
be a latter day, a last day, a day when <i>time shall be no
more,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xx-p18.5" osisRef="Bible:Rev.10.6" parsed="|Rev|10|6|0|0" passage="Re 10:6">Rev. x. 6</scripRef>. That is
a day we are concerned to think of every day. (6.) Our Redeemer
will at that day stand upon the earth, or over the earth, to summon
the dead out of their graves, and determine them to an unchangeable
state; for to him all judgment is committed. He shall stand, at the
last, on the dust to which this earth will be reduced by the
conflagration.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xx-p19">2. He believes the happiness of the
redeemed, and his own title to that happiness, that, at Christ's
second coming, believers shall be raised up in glory and so made
perfectly blessed in the vision and fruition of God; and this he
believes with application to himself. (1.) He counts upon the
corrupting of his body in the grave, and speaks of it with a holy
carelessness and unconcernedness: <i>Though, after my skin</i>
(which is already wasted and gone, none of it remaining but <i>the
skin of my teeth,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xx-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.20" parsed="|Job|19|20|0|0" passage="Job 19:20"><i>v.</i>
20</scripRef>) <i>they destroy</i> (those that are appointed to
destroy it, the grave and the worms in it of which he had spoken,
<scripRef id="Job.xx-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.17.14" parsed="|Job|17|14|0|0" passage="Job 17:14"><i>ch.</i> xvii. 14</scripRef>)
<i>this body.</i> The word <i>body</i> is added: "Though they
destroy this, this skeleton, this shadow (<scripRef id="Job.xx-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.17.7" parsed="|Job|17|7|0|0" passage="Job 17:7"><i>ch.</i> xvii. 7</scripRef>), this that I lay my hand
upon," or (pointing perhaps to his weak and withered limbs) "this
that you see, call it what you will; I expect that shortly it will
be a feast for the worms." Christ's body saw not corruption, but
ours must. And Job mentions this, that the glory of the
resurrection he believed and hoped for might shine the more
brightly. Note, It is good for us often to think, not only of the
approaching death of our bodies, but of their destruction and
dissolution in the grave; yet let not that discourage our hope of
their resurrection, for the same power that made man's body at
first, out of common dust, can raise it out of its own dust. This
body which we now take such care about, and make such provision
for, will in a little time be destroyed. Even <i>my reins</i> (says
Job) <i>shall be consumed within me</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xx-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.27" parsed="|Job|19|27|0|0" passage="Job 19:27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>); the innermost part of the
body, which perhaps putrefies first. (2.) He comforts himself with
the hopes of happiness on the other side death and the grave:
<i>After I shall awake</i> (so the margin reads it), <i>though this
body be destroyed, yet out of my flesh shall I see God.</i> [1.]
Soul and body shall come together again. That body which must be
destroyed in the grave shall be raised again, a glorious body:
<i>Yet in my flesh I shall see God.</i> The separate soul has eyes
wherewith to see God, eyes of the mind; but Job speaks of seeing
him with eyes of flesh, <i>in my flesh, with my eyes;</i> the same
body that died shall rise again, a true body, but a glorified body,
fit for the employments and entertainments of that world, and
therefore a <i>spiritual body,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xx-p19.5" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.15.44" parsed="|1Cor|15|44|0|0" passage="1Co 15:44">1
Cor. xv. 44</scripRef>. Let us <i>therefore</i> glorify God with
our bodies because there is such a glory designed for them. [2.]
Job and God shall come together again: <i>In my flesh shall I see
God,</i> that is, the glorified Redeemer, who is God. <i>I shall
see God in my flesh</i> (so some read it), the Son of God clothed
with a body which will be visible even to eyes of flesh. Though the
body, in the grave, seem despicable and miserable, yet it shall be
dignified and made happy in the vision of God. Job now complained
that he could not get a sight of God (<scripRef id="Job.xx-p19.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.23.8-Job.23.9" parsed="|Job|23|8|23|9" passage="Job 23:8,9"><i>ch.</i> xxiii. 8, 9</scripRef>), but hoped to see
him shortly, never more to lose the sight of him, and that sight of
him will be the more welcome after the present darkness and
distance. Note, It is the blessedness of the blessed that they
shall see God, shall see him as he is, see him face to face, and no
longer through a glass darkly. See with what pleasure holy Job
enlarges upon this (<scripRef id="Job.xx-p19.7" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.27" parsed="|Job|19|27|0|0" passage="Job 19:27"><i>v.</i>
27</scripRef>): "<i>Whom I shall see for myself,</i>" that is, "see
and enjoy, see to my own unspeakable comfort and satisfaction. I
shall see him as mine, as mine with an appropriating sight,"
<scripRef id="Job.xx-p19.8" osisRef="Bible:Rev.21.3" parsed="|Rev|21|3|0|0" passage="Re 21:3">Rev. xxi. 3</scripRef>. <i>God himself
shall be with them and be their God;</i> they shall be <i>like him,
for they shall see him as he is,</i> that is seeing for themselves,
<scripRef id="Job.xx-p19.9" osisRef="Bible:1John.3.2" parsed="|1John|3|2|0|0" passage="1Jo 3:2">1 John iii. 2</scripRef>. <i>My eyes
shall behold him, and not another. First,</i> "He, and not another
for him, shall be seen, not a type or figure of him, but he
himself." Glorified saints are perfectly sure that they are not
imposed upon; it is no <i>deceptio visus—illusion of the senses.
Secondly,</i> "I, and not another for me, shall see him. Though my
flesh and body be consumed, yet I shall not need a proxy; I shall
see him with my own eyes." This was what Job hoped for, and what he
earnestly desired, which, some think, is the meaning of the last
clause: <i>My reins are spent in my bosom,</i> that is, "all my
desires are summed up and concluded in this; this will crown and
complete them all; let me have this, and I shall have nothing more
to desire; it is enough; it is all." With this the prayers of
David, the son of Jesse, are ended.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xx-p20">IV. The application of this to his friends.
His creed spoke comfort to himself, but warning and terror to those
that set themselves against him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xx-p21">1. It was a word of caution to them not to
proceed and persist in their unkind usage of him, <scripRef id="Job.xx-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.28" parsed="|Job|19|28|0|0" passage="Job 19:28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. He had reproved them
for what they had said, and now tells them what they should say for
the reducing of themselves and one another to a better temper.
"<i>Why persecute we him</i> thus? Why do we grieve him and vex
him, by censuring and condemning him, <i>seeing the root of the
matter,</i> or the root of the word, <i>is found in him?</i>" Let
this direct us, (1.) In our care concerning ourselves. We are all
concerned to see to it that the root of the matter be found in us.
A living, quickening, commanding, principle of grace in the heart,
is the root of the matter, as necessary to our religion as the root
to the tree, to which it owes both its fixedness and its
fruitfulness. Love to God and our brethren, faith in Christ, hatred
of sin—these are the root of the matter; other things are but
leaves in comparison with these. Serious godliness is the one thing
needful. (2.) In our conduct towards our brethren. We are to
believe that many have the root of the matter in them who are not
in every thing of our mind—who have their follies, and weaknesses,
and mistakes—and to conclude that it is at our peril if we
persecute any such. Woe be to him that offends one of those little
ones! God will resent and revenge it. Job and his friends differed
in some notions concerning the methods of Providence, but they
agreed in the root of the matter, the belief of another world, and
therefore should not persecute one another for these
differences.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xx-p22">2. It was a word of terror to them.
Christ's second coming will be very dreadful to those that are
found <i>smiting their fellow servants</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xx-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.24.49" parsed="|Matt|24|49|0|0" passage="Mt 24:49">Matt. xxiv. 49</scripRef>), and therefore (<scripRef id="Job.xx-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.29" parsed="|Job|19|29|0|0" passage="Job 19:29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>), "<i>Be you afraid of
the sword,</i> the flaming sword of God's justice, which turns
every way; fear, lest you make yourselves obnoxious to it." Good
men need to be frightened from sin by the terrors of the Almighty,
particularly from the sin of rashly judging their brethren,
<scripRef id="Job.xx-p22.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.7.1 Bible:Jas.3.1" parsed="|Matt|7|1|0|0;|Jas|3|1|0|0" passage="Mt 7:1,Jam 3:1">Matt. vii. 1; Jam. iii.
1</scripRef>. Those that are peevish and passionate with their
brethren, censorious of them and malicious towards them, should
know, not only that their wrath, whatever it pretends, works not
the righteousness of God, but that, (1.) They may expect to smart
for it in this world: <i>It brings the punishments of the
sword.</i> Wrath leads to such crimes as expose men to the sword of
the magistrate. God himself often takes vengeance for it, and those
that showed no mercy shall find no mercy. (2.) If they repent not,
that will be an earnest of worse. By these you may know there is a
judgment, not only a present government, but a future judgment, in
which hard speeches must be accounted for.</p>
</div></div2>