mh_parser/vol_split/18 - Job/Chapter 21.xml

<div2 id="Job.xxii" n="xxii" next="Job.xxiii" prev="Job.xxi" progress="10.77%" title="Chapter XXI">
<h2 id="Job.xxii-p0.1">J O B</h2>
<h3 id="Job.xxii-p0.2">CHAP. XXI.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Job.xxii-p1">This is Job's reply to Zophar's discourse, in
which he complains less of his own miseries than he had done in his
former discourses (finding that his friends were not moved by his
complaints to pity him in the least), and comes closer to the
general question that was in dispute between him and them, Whether
outward prosperity, and the continuance of it, were a mark of the
true church and the true members of it, so that the ruin of a man's
prosperity is sufficient to prove him a hypocrite, though no other
evidence appear against him: this they asserted, but Job denied. I.
His preface here is designed for the moving of their affections,
that he might gain their attention, <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.1-Job.21.6" parsed="|Job|21|1|21|6" passage="Job 21:1-6">ver. 1-6</scripRef>. II. His discourse is designed for
the convincing of their judgments and the rectifying of their
mistakes. He owns that God does sometimes hang up a wicked man as
it were in chains, <i>in terrorem</i>—as a terror to others, by
some visible remarkable judgment in this life, but denies that he
always does so; nay, he maintains that commonly he does otherwise,
suffering even the worst of sinners to live all their days in
prosperity and to go out of the world without any visible mark of
his wrath upon them. 1. He describes the great prosperity of wicked
people, <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.7-Job.21.13" parsed="|Job|21|7|21|13" passage="Job 21:7-13">ver. 7-13</scripRef>. 2. He
shows their great impiety, in which they are hardened by their
prosperity, <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.14-Job.21.16" parsed="|Job|21|14|21|16" passage="Job 21:14-16">ver. 14-16</scripRef>.
3. He foretels their ruin at length, but after a long reprieve,
<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.17-Job.21.21" parsed="|Job|21|17|21|21" passage="Job 21:17-21">ver. 17-21</scripRef>. 4. He
observes a very great variety in the ways of God's providence
towards men, even towards bad men, <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.22-Job.21.26" parsed="|Job|21|22|21|26" passage="Job 21:22-26">ver. 22-26</scripRef>. 5. He overthrows the ground
of their severe censures of him, by showing that the destruction of
the wicked is reserved for the other world, and that they often
escape to the last in this world (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.27-Job.21.34" parsed="|Job|21|27|21|34" passage="Job 21:27-34"><i>v.</i> 27, to the end</scripRef>), and in this
Job was clearly in the right.</p>
<scripCom id="Job.xxii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Job.21" parsed="|Job|21|0|0|0" passage="Job 21" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Job.xxii-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.1-Job.21.6" parsed="|Job|21|1|21|6" passage="Job 21:1-6" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.21.1-Job.21.6">
<h4 id="Job.xxii-p1.9">The Reply of Job to Zophar. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xxii-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xxii-p2">1 But Job answered and said,   2 Hear
diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations.   3
Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.
  4 As for me, <i>is</i> my complaint to man? and if <i>it
were so,</i> why should not my spirit be troubled?   5 Mark
me, and be astonished, and lay <i>your</i> hand upon <i>your</i>
mouth.   6 Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling
taketh hold on my flesh.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p3">Job here recommends himself, both his case
and his discourse, both what he suffered and what he said, to the
compassionate consideration of his friends. 1. That which he
entreats of them is very fair, that they would suffer him to speak
(<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.3" parsed="|Job|21|3|0|0" passage="Job 21:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>) and not break
in upon him, as Zophar had done, in the midst of his discourse.
Losers, of all men, may have leave to speak; and, if those that are
accused and censured are not allowed to speak for themselves, they
are wronged without remedy, and have no way to come at their right.
He entreats that they would hear diligently his speech (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.2" parsed="|Job|21|2|0|0" passage="Job 21:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>) as those that were
willing to understand him, and, if they were under a mistake, to
have it rectified; and that they would <i>mark him</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.5" parsed="|Job|21|5|0|0" passage="Job 21:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), for we may as well not
hear as not heed and observe what we hear. 2. That which he urges
for this is very reasonable. (1.) They came to comfort him. "No,"
says he, "<i>let this be your consolations</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.2" parsed="|Job|21|2|0|0" passage="Job 21:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>); if you have no other comforts
to administer to me, yet deny me not this; be so kind, so just, as
to give me a patient hearing, and that shall pass for your
consolations of me." Nay, they could not know how to comfort him if
they would not give him leave to open his case and tell his own
story. Or, "It will be a consolation to yourselves, in reflection,
to have dealt tenderly with your afflicted friend, and not
harshly." (2.) He would hear them speak when it came to their turn.
"After I have spoken you may go on with what you have to say, and I
will not hinder you, no, though you go on to mock me." Those that
engage in controversy must reckon upon having hard words given
them, and resolve to bear reproach patiently; for, generally, those
that mock will mock on, whatever is said to them. (3.) He hoped to
convince them. "If you will but give me a fair hearing, mock on if
you can, but I believe I shall say that which will change your note
and make you pity me rather than mock me." (4.) They were not his
judges (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p3.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.4" parsed="|Job|21|4|0|0" passage="Job 21:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>):
"<i>Is my complaint to man?</i> No, if it were I see it would be to
little purpose to complain. But my complaint is to God, and to him
do I appeal. Let him be Judge between you and me. Before him we
stand upon even terms, and therefore I have the privilege of being
heard as well as you. If my complaint were to men, my spirit would
be troubled, for they would not regard me, nor rightly understand
me; but my complaint is to God, who will suffer me to speak, though
you will not." It would be sad if God should deal as unkindly with
us as our friends sometimes do. (5.) There was that in his case
which was very surprising and astonishing, and therefore both
needed and deserved their most serious consideration. It was not a
common case, but a very extraordinary one. [1.] He himself was
amazed at it, at the troubles God had laid upon him and the
censures of his friends concerning him (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p3.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.6" parsed="|Job|21|6|0|0" passage="Job 21:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): "<i>When I remember</i> that
terrible day in which I was on a sudden stripped of all my
comforts, that day in which I was stricken with sore boils,—when I
remember all the hard speeches with which you have grieved me,—I
confess <i>I am afraid, and trembling takes hold of my flesh,</i>
especially when I compare this with the prosperous condition of
many wicked people, and the applauses of their neighbours, with
which they pass through the world." Note, The providences of God,
in the government of the world, are sometimes very astonishing even
to wise and good men, and bring them to their wits' end. [2.] He
would have them wonder at it (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p3.7" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.5" parsed="|Job|21|5|0|0" passage="Job 21:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): "<i>Mark me, and be
astonished.</i> Instead of expounding my troubles, you should
awfully adore the unsearchable mysteries of Providence in
afflicting one thus of whom you know no evil; you should therefore
<i>lay your hand upon your mouth,</i> silently wait the issue, and
judge nothing before the time. <i>God's way is in the sea, and his
path in the great waters.</i> When we cannot account for what he
does, in suffering the wicked to prosper and the godly to be
afflicted, nor fathom the depth of those proceedings, it becomes us
to sit down and admire them. <i>Upright men shall be astonished at
this,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p3.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.17.8" parsed="|Job|17|8|0|0" passage="Job 17:8"><i>ch.</i> xvii.
8</scripRef>. Be you so."</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.xxii-p3.9" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.7-Job.21.16" parsed="|Job|21|7|21|16" passage="Job 21:7-16" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.21.7-Job.21.16">
<h4 id="Job.xxii-p3.10">Prosperity of the Wicked; Abuse of Earthly
Prosperity. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xxii-p3.11">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xxii-p4">7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea,
are mighty in power?   8 Their seed is established in their
sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.   9
Their houses <i>are</i> safe from fear, neither <i>is</i> the rod
of God upon them.   10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not;
their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.   11 They send
forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
  12 They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound
of the organ.   13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a
moment go down to the grave.   14 Therefore they say unto God,
Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.  
15 What <i>is</i> the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what
profit should we have, if we pray unto him?   16 Lo, their
good <i>is</i> not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far
from me.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p5">All Job's three friends, in their last
discourses, had been very copious in describing the miserable
condition of a wicked man in this world. "It is true," says Job,
"remarkable judgments are sometimes brought upon notorious sinners,
but not always; for we have many instances of the great and long
prosperity of those that are openly and avowedly wicked; though
they are hardened in their wickedness by their prosperity, yet they
are still suffered to prosper."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p6">I. He here describes their prosperity in
the height, and breadth, and length of it. "If this be true, as you
say, pray tell me <i>wherefore do the wicked live?</i>" <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.7" parsed="|Job|21|7|0|0" passage="Job 21:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p7">1. The matter of fact is taken for granted,
for we see instances of it every day. (1.) They live, and are not
suddenly cut off by the strokes of divine vengeance. Those yet
speak who have set their mouths against the heavens. Those yet act
who have stretched out their hands against God. Not only they live
(that is, they are reprieved), but they <i>live in prosperity,</i>
<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.25.6" parsed="|1Sam|25|6|0|0" passage="1Sa 25:6">1 Sam. xxv. 6</scripRef>. Nay, (2.)
They <i>become old;</i> they have the honour, satisfaction, and
advantage of living long, long enough to raise their families and
estates. We read of a <i>sinner a hundred years old,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.20" parsed="|Isa|65|20|0|0" passage="Isa 65:20">Isa. lxv. 20</scripRef>. But this is not all.
(3.) They are <i>mighty in power,</i> are preferred to places of
authority and trust, and not only make a great figure, but bear a
great sway. <i>Vivit imo, et in senatum venit—He not only lives,
but appears in the senate.</i> Now wherefore is it so? Note, It is
worth while to enquire into the reasons of the outward prosperity
of wicked people. It is not because God has forsaken the earth,
because he does not see, or does not hate, or cannot punish their
wickedness; but it is because the measure of their iniquities is
not full. This is the day of God's patience, and, in some way or
other, he makes use of them and their prosperity to serve his own
counsels, while it ripens them for ruin; but the chief reason is
because he will make it to appear there is another world which is
the world of retribution, and not this.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p8">2. The prosperity of the wicked is here
described to be,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p9">(1.) Complete and consummate. [1.] They are
multiplied, and their family is built up, and they have the
satisfaction of seeing it (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.8" parsed="|Job|21|8|0|0" passage="Job 21:8"><i>v.</i>
8</scripRef>): <i>Their seed is established in their sight.</i>
This is put first, as that which gives both a pleasant enjoyment
and a pleasing prospect. [2.] They are easy and quiet, <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.9" parsed="|Job|21|9|0|0" passage="Job 21:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Whereas Zophar had
spoken of their continual frights and terrors, Job says, <i>Their
houses are safe</i> both from danger and from the fear of it
(<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.9" parsed="|Job|21|9|0|0" passage="Job 21:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), and so far
are they from the killing wounds of God's sword or arrows that they
do not feel the smart of so much as <i>the rod of God upon
them.</i> [3.] They are rich and thrive in their estates. Of this
he gives only one instance, <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.10" parsed="|Job|21|10|0|0" passage="Job 21:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>. Their cattle increase, and they meet with no
disappointment in them; not so much as a cow casts her calf, and
then their much must needs grow more. This is promised, <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p9.5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.26 Bible:Deut.7.14" parsed="|Exod|23|26|0|0;|Deut|7|14|0|0" passage="Ex 23:26,De 7:14">Exod. xxiii. 26; Deut. vii.
14</scripRef>. [4.] They are merry and live a jovial life
(<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p9.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.11-Job.21.12" parsed="|Job|21|11|21|12" passage="Job 21:11,12"><i>v.</i> 11, 12</scripRef>):
<i>They send forth their little ones</i> abroad among their
neighbours, <i>like a flock,</i> in great numbers, to sport
themselves. They have their balls and music-meetings, at which
<i>their children dance;</i> and dancing is fittest for children,
who know not better how to spend their time and whose innocency
guards them against the mischiefs that commonly attend it. Though
the parents are not so very youthful and frolicsome as to dance
themselves, yet <i>they take the timbrel and harp;</i> they pipe,
and their children dance after their pipe, and they know no grief
to put their instruments out of tune or to withhold their hearts
from any joy. Some observe that this is an instance of their
vanity, as well as of their prosperity. Here is none of that care
taken of their children which Abraham took of his, to <i>teach them
the way of the Lord,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p9.7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.19" parsed="|Gen|18|19|0|0" passage="Ge 18:19">Gen. xviii.
19</scripRef>. Their children do not pray, or say their catechism,
but dance, and sing, and <i>rejoice at the sound of the organ.</i>
Sensual pleasures are all the delights of carnal people, and as men
are themselves so they breed their children.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p10">(2.) Continuing and constant (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.13" parsed="|Job|21|13|0|0" passage="Job 21:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>): <i>They spend their
days,</i> all their days, <i>in wealth,</i> and never know what it
is to want—in mirth, and never know what sadness means; and at
last, without any previous alarms to frighten them, without any
anguish or agony, <i>in a moment they go down to the grave,</i> and
there are no bands in their death. If there were not another life
after this, it were most desirable to die by the quickest shortest
strokes of death. Since we must <i>go down to the grave,</i> if
that were the furthest of our journey, we should wish to <i>go down
in a moment,</i> to swallow the bitter pill, and not chew it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p11">II. He shows how they abuse their
prosperity and are confirmed and hardened by it in their impiety,
<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.14-Job.21.15" parsed="|Job|21|14|21|15" passage="Job 21:14,15"><i>v.</i> 14, 15</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p12">1. Their gold and silver serve to steel
them, to make them more insolent, and more impudent, in their
wickedness. Now he mentions this either, (1.) To increase the
difficulty. It is strange that any wicked people should prosper
thus, but especially that those should prosper who have arrived at
such a pitch of wickedness as openly to bid defiance to God
himself, and tell him to his face that they care not for him; nay,
and that their prosperity should be continued, though they bear up
themselves upon that, in their opposition to God; with that weapon
they fight against him, and yet are not disarmed. Or, (2.) To
lessen the difficulty. God suffers them to prosper; but let us not
wonder at it, for <i>the prosperity of fools destroys them,</i> by
hardening them in sin, <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.1.32 Bible:Ps.73.7-Ps.73.9" parsed="|Prov|1|32|0|0;|Ps|73|7|73|9" passage="Pr 1:32,Ps 73:7-9">Prov.
i. 32; Ps. lxxiii. 7-9</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p13">2. See how light these prospering sinners
make of God and religion, as if because they have so much of this
world they had no need to look after another.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p14">(1.) See how ill affected they are to God
and religion; they abandon them, and cast off the thoughts of them.
[1.] They dread the presence of God; they <i>say unto him, "Depart
from us;</i> let us never be troubled with the apprehension of our
being under God's eye nor be restrained by the fear of him." Or
they bid him depart as one they do not need, nor have any occasion
to make use of. The world is the portion they have chosen, and take
up with, and think themselves happy in; while they have that they
can live without God. Justly will God say <i>Depart</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.25.41" parsed="|Matt|25|41|0|0" passage="Mt 25:41">Matt. xxv. 41</scripRef>) to those who have
bidden him depart; and justly does he now take them at their word.
[2.] They dread the knowledge of God, and of his will, and of their
duty to him: <i>We desire not the knowledge of thy ways.</i> Those
that are resolved not to walk in God's ways desire not to know
them, because their knowledge will be a continual reproach to their
disobedience, <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:John.3.19" parsed="|John|3|19|0|0" passage="John 3:19">John iii.
19</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p15">(2.) See how they argue against God and
religion (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.15" parsed="|Job|21|15|0|0" passage="Job 21:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>):
<i>What is the Almighty?</i> Strange that ever creatures should
speak so insolently, that ever reasonable creatures should speak so
absurdly and unreasonably. The two great bonds by which we are
drawn and held to religion are those of duty and interest; now they
here endeavour to break both these bonds asunder. [1.] They will
not believe it is their duty to be religious: <i>What is the
Almighty, that we should serve him?</i> Like Pharaoh (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.2" parsed="|Exod|5|2|0|0" passage="Ex 5:2">Exod. v. 2</scripRef>), <i>Who is the Lord, that I
should obey his voice?</i> Observe, <i>First,</i> How slightly they
speak of God: <i>What is the Almighty?</i> As if he were a mere
name, a mere cipher, or one they have nothing to do with and that
has nothing to do with them. <i>Secondly,</i> How hardly they speak
of religion. They call it a <i>service,</i> and mean a hard
service. Is it not enough, they think, to keep up a fair
correspondence with the Almighty, but they must serve him, which
they look upon as a task and drudgery. <i>Thirdly,</i> How highly
they speak of themselves: "<i>That we should serve him;</i> we who
are rich and mighty in power, shall we be subject and accountable
to him? No, we are lords," <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.2.31" parsed="|Jer|2|31|0|0" passage="Jer 2:31">Jer. ii.
31</scripRef>. [2.] They will not believe it is their interest to
be religious: <i>What profit shall we have if we pray unto him?</i>
All the world are for what they can get, and <i>therefore</i>
wisdom's merchandise is neglected, because they think there is
nothing to be got by it. <i>It is vain to serve God,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p15.4" osisRef="Bible:Mal.3.13-Mal.3.14" parsed="|Mal|3|13|3|14" passage="Mal 3:13,14">Mal. iii. 13, 14</scripRef>. Praying will not
pay debts nor portion children; nay, perhaps serious godliness may
hinder a man's preferment and expose him to losses; and what then?
Is nothing to be called gain but the wealth and honour of this
world? If we obtain the favour of God, and spiritual and eternal
blessings, we have no reason to complain of losing by our religion.
But, if we have not profit by prayer, it is our own fault
(<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p15.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.58.3-Isa.58.4" parsed="|Isa|58|3|58|4" passage="Isa 58:3,4">Isa. lviii. 3, 4</scripRef>), it is
because we ask amiss, <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p15.6" osisRef="Bible:Jas.4.3" parsed="|Jas|4|3|0|0" passage="Jam 4:3">Jam. iv.
3</scripRef>. Religion itself is not a vain thing; if it be so to
us, we may thank ourselves for resting in the outside of it,
<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p15.7" osisRef="Bible:Jas.1.26" parsed="|Jas|1|26|0|0" passage="Jam 1:26">Jam. i. 26</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p16">III. He shows their folly herein, and
utterly disclaims all concurrence with them (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.19" parsed="|Job|21|19|0|0" passage="Job 21:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>): <i>Lo, their good is not in
their hand,</i> that is, they did not get it without God, and
therefore they are very ungrateful to slight him thus. It was
<i>not their might, nor the power of their hand,</i> that got them
this wealth, and therefore they ought to remember God who gave it
them. Nor can they keep it without God, and therefore they are very
unwise to lose their interest in him and bid him to depart from
them. Some give this sense of it: "Their good is in their barns and
their bags, hoarded up there; it is not in their hand, to do good
to others with it; and then what good does it do them?"
"Therefore," says Job, "<i>the counsel of the wicked is far from
me.</i> Far be it from me that I should be of their mind, say as
they say, do as they do, and take my measures from them. Their
<i>posterity approve their sayings,</i> though <i>their way</i> be
<i>their folly</i> ( <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.49.13" parsed="|Ps|49|13|0|0" passage="Ps 49:13">Ps. xlix.
13</scripRef>); but I know better things than to walk in their
counsel."</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.xxii-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.17-Job.21.26" parsed="|Job|21|17|21|26" passage="Job 21:17-26" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.21.17-Job.21.26">
<h4 id="Job.xxii-p16.4">Certain Punishments of the Wicked; Divine
Sovereignty. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xxii-p16.5">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xxii-p17">17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out!
and <i>how oft</i> cometh their destruction upon them! <i>God</i>
distributeth sorrows in his anger.   18 They are as stubble
before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.  
19 God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him,
and he shall know <i>it.</i>   20 His eyes shall see his
destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
  21 For what pleasure <i>hath</i> he in his house after him,
when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?   22
Shall <i>any</i> teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that
are high.   23 One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at
ease and quiet.   24 His breasts are full of milk, and his
bones are moistened with marrow.   25 And another dieth in the
bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.   26
They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover
them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p18">Job had largely described the prosperity of
wicked people; now, in these verses,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p19">I. He opposes this to what his friends had
maintained concerning their certain ruin in this life. "Tell me
<i>how often</i> do you see <i>the candle of the wicked put
out?</i> Do you not as often see it burnt down to the socket, until
it goes out of itself? <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.17" parsed="|Job|21|17|0|0" passage="Job 21:17"><i>v.</i>
17</scripRef>. How often do you see <i>their destruction come upon
them,</i> or <i>God distributing sorrows in his anger</i> among
them? Do you not as often see their mirth and prosperity continuing
to the last?" Perhaps there are as many instances of notorious
sinners ending their days in pomp as ending them in misery, which
observation is sufficient to invalidate their arguments against Job
and to show that no certain judgment can be made of men's character
by their outward condition.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p20">II. He reconciles this to the holiness and
justice of God. Though wicked people prosper thus all their days,
yet we are not therefore to think that God will let their
wickedness always go unpunished. No, 1. Even while they prosper
thus they are <i>as stubble and chaff before the stormy wind,</i>
<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.18" parsed="|Job|21|18|0|0" passage="Job 21:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. They are
light and worthless, and of no account either with God or with wise
and good men. They are fitted to destruction, and continually lie
exposed to it, and in the height of their pomp and power there is
but a step between them and ruin. 2. Though they spend all their
days in wealth God is <i>laying up their iniquity for their
children</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.19" parsed="|Job|21|19|0|0" passage="Job 21:19"><i>v.</i>
19</scripRef>), and he will visit it upon their posterity when they
are gone. The oppressor lays up his goods for his children, to make
them gentlemen, but God lays up his iniquity for them, to make them
beggars. He keeps an exact account of the fathers' sins, <i>seals
them up among his treasures</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.34" parsed="|Deut|32|34|0|0" passage="De 32:34">Deut.
xxxii. 34</scripRef>), and will justly punish the children, while
the riches, to which the curse cleaves, are found as assets in
their hands. 3. Though they prosper in this world, yet they shall
be reckoned with in another world. God <i>rewards him</i> according
to his deeds at last (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p20.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.19" parsed="|Job|21|19|0|0" passage="Job 21:19"><i>v.</i>
19</scripRef>), though the sentence passed against his evil works
be not executed speedily. Perhaps he may not now be made to fear
the wrath to come, but he may flatter himself with hopes that he
shall have peace though he go on; but he shall be made to feel it
in the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. He
shall know it (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p20.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.20" parsed="|Job|21|20|0|0" passage="Job 21:20"><i>v.</i>
20</scripRef>): <i>His eyes shall see his destruction</i> which he
would not be persuaded to believe. They <i>will not see, but they
shall see,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p20.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.26.11" parsed="|Isa|26|11|0|0" passage="Isa 26:11">Isa. xxvi.
11</scripRef>. The eyes that have been wilfully shut against the
grace of God shall be opened to see his destruction. <i>He shall
drink of the wrath of the Almighty;</i> that shall be the portion
of his cup. Compare <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p20.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.11.6 Bible:Rev.14.10" parsed="|Ps|11|6|0|0;|Rev|14|10|0|0" passage="Ps 11:6,Re 14:10">Ps. xi. 6
with Rev. xiv. 10</scripRef>. The misery of damned sinners is here
set forth in a few words, but very terrible ones. They lie under
the wrath of an Almighty God, who, in their destruction, both shows
his wrath and makes known his power; and, if this will be his
condition in the other world, what good will his prosperity in this
world do him? <i>What pleasure has he in his house after him?</i>
<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p20.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.21" parsed="|Job|21|21|0|0" passage="Job 21:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. Our Saviour
has let us know how little pleasure the rich man in hell had in his
house after him, when the remembrance of the good things he had
received in his life-time would not cool his tongue, but added much
to his misery, as did also the sorrow he was in lest his five
brethren, whom he left in his house after him, should follow him to
that place of torment, <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p20.9" osisRef="Bible:Luke.16.25-Luke.16.28" parsed="|Luke|16|25|16|28" passage="Lu 16:25-28">Luke xvi.
25-28</scripRef>. So little will the gain of the world profit him
that has lost his soul.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p21">III. He resolves this difference which
Providence makes between one wicked man and another into the wisdom
and sovereignty of God (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.22" parsed="|Job|21|22|0|0" passage="Job 21:22"><i>v.</i>
22</scripRef>): <i>Shall any pretend to teach God knowledge?</i>
Dare we arraign God's proceedings or blame his conduct? Shall we
take upon us to tell God how he should govern the world, what
sinner he should spare and whom he should punish? He has both
authority and ability to judge those that are high. Angels in
heaven, princes and magistrates on earth, are accountable to God,
and must receive their doom from him. He manages them, and makes
what use he pleases of them. Shall he then be accountable to us, or
receive advice from us? He is the Judge of all the earth, and
therefore no doubt he will do right (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.25 Bible:Rom.3.6" parsed="|Gen|18|25|0|0;|Rom|3|6|0|0" passage="Ge 18:25,Ro 3:6">Gen. xviii. 25, Rom. iii. 6</scripRef>), and
those proceedings of his providence which seem to contradict one
another he can make, not only mutually to agree, but jointly to
serve his own purposes. The little difference there is between one
wicked man's dying so in pain and misery, when both will at last
meet in hell, he illustrates by the little difference there is
between one man's dying suddenly and another's dying slowly, when
they will both meet shortly in the grave. So vast is the
disproportion between time and eternity that, if hell be the lot of
every sinner at last, it makes little difference if one goes
singing thither and another sighing. See,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p22">1. How various the circumstances of
people's dying are. There is one way into the world, we say, but
many out; yet, as some are born by quick and easy labour, others by
that which is hard and lingering, so dying is to some much more
terrible than to others; and, since the death of the body is the
birth of the soul into another world, death-bed agonies may not
unfitly be compared to child-bed throes. Observe the difference.
(1.) One dies suddenly, <i>in his full strength,</i> not weakened
by age or sickness (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.23" parsed="|Job|21|23|0|0" passage="Job 21:23"><i>v.</i>
23</scripRef>), <i>being wholly at ease and quiet,</i> under no
apprehension at all of the approach of death, nor in any fear of
it; but, on the contrary, because <i>his breasts are full of milk
and his bones moistened with marrow</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.24" parsed="|Job|21|24|0|0" passage="Job 21:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>), that is, he is healthful and
vigorous, and of a good constitution (like a milch cow that is fat
and in good liking), he counts upon nothing but to live many years
in mirth and pleasure. Thus fair does he bid for life, and yet he
is cut off in a moment by the stroke of death. Note, It is a common
thing for persons to be taken away by death when they are in their
full strength, in the highest degree of health, when they least
expect death, and think themselves best armed against it, and are
ready not only to set death at a distance, but to set it at
defiance. Let us therefore never be secure; for we have known many
well and dead in the same week, the same day, the same hour, nay,
perhaps, the same minute. Let us therefore be always ready. (2.)
Another dies slowly, and with a great deal of previous pain and
misery (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p22.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.25" parsed="|Job|21|25|0|0" passage="Job 21:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>),
<i>in the betterness of his soul,</i> such as poor Job was himself
now in, <i>and never eats with pleasure,</i> has no appetite to his
food nor any relish of it, through sickness, or age, or sorrow of
mind. What great reason have those to be thankful that are in
health and always eat with pleasure! And what little reason have
those to complain who sometimes do not eat thus, when they hear of
many that never do!</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p23">2. How undiscernible this difference is in
the grave. As rich and poor, so healthful and unhealthful, meet
there (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.26" parsed="|Job|21|26|0|0" passage="Job 21:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>):
<i>They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover
them,</i> and feed sweetly on them. Thus, if one wicked man die in
a palace and another in a dungeon, they will meet in the
congregation of the dead and damned, and the worm that dies not,
and the fire that is not quenched, will be the same to them, which
makes those differences inconsiderable and not worth perplexing
ourselves about.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.xxii-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.27-Job.21.34" parsed="|Job|21|27|21|34" passage="Job 21:27-34" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.21.27-Job.21.34">
<h4 id="Job.xxii-p23.3">Punishment of the Wicked. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xxii-p23.4">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xxii-p24">27 Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices
<i>which</i> ye wrongfully imagine against me.   28 For ye
say, Where <i>is</i> the house of the prince? and where <i>are</i>
the dwelling places of the wicked?   29 Have ye not asked them
that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,   30 That
the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be
brought forth to the day of wrath.   31 Who shall declare his
way to his face? and who shall repay him <i>what</i> he hath done?
  32 Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in
the tomb.   33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto
him, and every man shall draw after him, as <i>there are</i>
innumerable before him.   34 How then comfort ye me in vain,
seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p25">In these verses,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p26">I. Job opposes the opinion of his friends,
which he saw they still adhered to, that the wicked are sure to
fall into such visible and remarkable ruin as Job had now fallen
into, and none but the wicked, upon which principle they condemned
Job as a wicked man. "<i>I know your thoughts,</i>" says Job
(<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.27" parsed="|Job|21|27|0|0" passage="Job 21:27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>); "I know
you will not agree with me; for your judgments are tinctured and
biassed by your piques and prejudices against me, <i>and the
devices which you wrongfully imagine against</i> my comfort and
honour: and how can such men be convinced?" Job's friends were
ready to say, in answer to his discourse concerning the prosperity
of the wicked, "<i>Where is the house of the prince?</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p26.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.28" parsed="|Job|21|28|0|0" passage="Job 21:28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. Where is Job's house,
or the house of his eldest son, in which his children were
feasting? Enquire into the circumstances of Job's house and family,
and then ask, <i>Where are the dwelling-places of the wicked?</i>
and compare them together, and you will soon see that Job's house
is in the same predicament with the houses of tyrants and
oppressors, and may therefore conclude that doubtless he was such a
one."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p27">II. He lays down his own judgment to the
contrary, and, for proof of it, appeals to the sentiments and
observations of all mankind. So confident is he that he is in the
right that he is willing to refer the cause to the next man that
comes by (<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p27.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.29" parsed="|Job|21|29|0|0" passage="Job 21:29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>):
"<i>Have you not asked those that go by the way</i>—any
indifferent person, any that will answer you? I say not, as Eliphaz
(<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p27.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.5.1" parsed="|Job|5|1|0|0" passage="Job 5:1"><i>ch.</i> v. 1</scripRef>), to which
of the <i>saints,</i> but to which of <i>the children of men</i>
will you turn? Turn to which you will, and you will find them all
of my mind, that the punishment of sinners is designed more for the
other world than for this, according to the prophecy of Enoch, the
seventh from Adam, <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p27.3" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.14" parsed="|Jude|1|14|0|0" passage="Jude 1:14">Jude
14</scripRef>. <i>Do you not know the tokens</i> of this truth,
which all that have made any observations upon the providences of
God concerning mankind in this world can furnish you with?"
Now,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p28">1. What is it that Job here asserts? Two
things:—(1.) That impenitent sinners will certainly be punished
in the other world, and, usually, their punishment is put off until
then. (2.) That therefore we are not to think it strange if they
prosper greatly in this world and fall under no visible token of
God's wrath. <i>Therefore</i> they are spared now, because they are
to be punished then; <i>therefore</i> the <i>workers of iniquity
flourish, that they may be destroyed for ever,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p28.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.92.7" parsed="|Ps|92|7|0|0" passage="Ps 92:7">Ps. xcii. 7</scripRef>. The sinner is here
supposed, [1.] To live in a great deal of power, so as to be not
only <i>the terror of the mighty in the land of the living</i>
(<scripRef id="Job.xxii-p28.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.32.27" parsed="|Ezek|32|27|0|0" passage="Eze 32:27">Ezek. xxxii. 27</scripRef>), but the
terror of the wise and good too, whom he keeps in such awe that
none dares <i>declare his way to his face,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p28.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.31" parsed="|Job|21|31|0|0" passage="Job 21:31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>. None will take the liberty to
reprove him, to tell him of the wickedness of his way, and what
will be in the end thereof; so that he sins securely, and is not
made to know either shame or fear. <i>The prosperity of fools
destroys them,</i> by setting them (in their own conceit) above
reproofs, by which they might be brought to that repentance which
alone will prevent their ruin. Those are marked for destruction
that are let alone in sin, <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p28.4" osisRef="Bible:Hos.4.17" parsed="|Hos|4|17|0|0" passage="Ho 4:17">Hos. iv.
17</scripRef>. And, if none dares declare his way to his face, much
less dare any repay him what he has done and make him refund what
he has obtained by injustice. He is one of those great flies which
break through the cobwebs of the law, that hold only the little
ones. This emboldens sinners in their sinful ways that they can
brow-beat justice and make it afraid to meddle with them. But there
is a day coming when those shall be told of their faults who now
would not bear to hear of them, those shall have their sins set in
order before them, and their way declared to their face, to their
everlasting confusion, who would not have it done here, to their
conviction, and those who would not repay the wrongs they had done
shall have them repaid to them. [2.] To die, and be buried in a
great deal of pomp and magnificence, <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p28.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.32-Job.21.33" parsed="|Job|21|32|21|33" passage="Job 21:32,33"><i>v.</i> 32, 33</scripRef>. There is no remedy; he
must die; that is the lot of all men; but every thing you can think
of shall be done to take off the reproach of death. <i>First,</i>
He shall have a splendid funeral—a poor thing for any man to be
proud of the prospect of; yet with some it passes for a mighty
thing. Well, <i>he shall be brought to the grave</i> in state,
surrounded with all the honours of the heralds' office and all the
respect his friends can then pay to his remains. <i>The rich man
died, and was buried,</i> but no mention is made of the poor man's
burial, <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p28.6" osisRef="Bible:Luke.16.22" parsed="|Luke|16|22|0|0" passage="Lu 16:22">Luke xvi. 22</scripRef>.
<i>Secondly,</i> He shall have a stately monument erected over him.
<i>He shall remain in the tomb</i> with a <i>Hic jacet—Here
lies,</i> over him, and a large encomium. Perhaps it is meant of
the embalming of his body to preserve it, which was a piece of
honour anciently done by the Egyptians to their great men. He
<i>shall watch in the tomb</i> (so the word is), shall abide
solitary and quiet there, as a watchman in his tower. <i>Thirdly,
The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him;</i> there shall be
as much done as can be with rich odours to take off the noisomeness
of the grave, as by lamps to set aside the darkness of it, which
perhaps was referred to in the foregoing phrase of <i>watching in
the tomb.</i> But it is all a jest; what is the light, or what the
perfume, to a man that is dead? <i>Fourthly,</i> It shall be
alleged, for the lessening of the disgrace of death, that it is the
common lot: He has only yielded to fate, <i>and every man shall
draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.</i> Note,
Death is the way of all the earth: when we are to cross that
darksome valley we must consider, 1. That there are innumerable
before us; it is a tracked road, which may help to take off the
terror of it. To die is <i>ire ad plures—to go to the great
majority.</i> 2. That every man shall draw after us. As there is a
plain track before, so there is a long train behind; we are neither
the first nor the last that pass through that dark entry. Every one
must go in his own order, the order appointed of God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxii-p29">2. From all this Job infers the
impertinency of their discourses, <scripRef id="Job.xxii-p29.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.34" parsed="|Job|21|34|0|0" passage="Job 21:34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>. (1.) Their foundation is
rotten, and they went upon a wrong hypothesis: "<i>In your answers
there remains falsehood;</i> what you have said stands not only
unproved but disproved, and lies under such an imputation of
falsehood as you cannot clear it from." (2.) Their building was
therefore weak and tottering: "<i>You comfort me in vain.</i> All
you have said gives me no relief; you tell me that I shall prosper
again if I turn to God, but you go upon this presumption, that
piety shall certainly be crowned with prosperity, which is false;
and therefore how can your inference from it yield me any comfort?"
Note, Where there is not truth there is little comfort to be
expected.</p>
</div></div2>