mh_parser/vol_split/18 - Job/Chapter 7.xml

<div2 id="Job.viii" n="viii" next="Job.ix" prev="Job.vii" progress="4.20%" title="Chapter VII">
<h2 id="Job.viii-p0.1">J O B</h2>
<h3 id="Job.viii-p0.2">CHAP. VII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Job.viii-p1">Job, in this chapter, goes on to express the
bitter sense he had of his calamities and to justify himself in his
desire of death. I. He complains to himself and his friends of his
troubles, and the constant agitation he was in, <scripRef id="Job.viii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.1-Job.7.6" parsed="|Job|7|1|7|6" passage="Job 7:1-6">ver. 1-6</scripRef>. II. He turns to God, and
expostulates with him (<scripRef id="Job.viii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.7-Job.7.21" parsed="|Job|7|7|7|21" passage="Job 7:7-21">ver.
7</scripRef>, to the end), in which, 1. He pleads the final period
which death puts to our present state, <scripRef id="Job.viii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.7-Job.7.10" parsed="|Job|7|7|7|10" passage="Job 7:7-10">ver. 7-10</scripRef>. 2. He passionately complains of
the miserable condition he was now in, <scripRef id="Job.viii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.11-Job.7.16" parsed="|Job|7|11|7|16" passage="Job 7:11-16">ver. 11-16</scripRef>. 3. He wonders that God will
thus contend with him, and begs for the pardon of his sins and a
speedy release out of his miseries, <scripRef id="Job.viii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.17-Job.7.21" parsed="|Job|7|17|7|21" passage="Job 7:17-21">ver. 17-21</scripRef>. It is hard to methodize the
speeches of one who owned himself almost desperate, <scripRef id="Job.viii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.26" parsed="|Job|6|26|0|0" passage="Job 6:26"><i>ch.</i> vi. 26</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Job.viii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Job.7" parsed="|Job|7|0|0|0" passage="Job 7" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Job.viii-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.1-Job.7.6" parsed="|Job|7|1|7|6" passage="Job 7:1-6" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.7.1-Job.7.6">
<h4 id="Job.viii-p1.9">Job's Reply to Eliphaz. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.viii-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.viii-p2">1 <i>Is there</i> not an appointed time to man
upon earth? <i>are not</i> his days also like the days of a
hireling?   2 As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and
as an hireling looketh for <i>the reward of</i> his work:   3
So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are
appointed to me.   4 When I lie down, I say, When shall I
arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro
unto the dawning of the day.   5 My flesh is clothed with
worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.
  6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent
without hope.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.viii-p3">Job is here excusing what he could not
justify, even his inordinate desire of death. Why should he not
wish for the termination of life, which would be the termination of
his miseries? To enforce this reason he argues,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.viii-p4">I. From the general condition of man upon
earth (<scripRef id="Job.viii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.1" parsed="|Job|7|1|0|0" passage="Job 7:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): "He
<i>is of few days, and full of trouble.</i> Every man must die
shortly, and every man has some reason (more or less) to desire to
die shortly; and therefore why should you impute it to me as so
heinous a crime that I wish to die shortly?" Or thus: "Pray mistake
not my desires of death, as if I thought the time appointed of God
could be anticipated: no, I know very well that that is fixed; only
in such language as this I take the liberty to express my present
uneasiness: <i>Is there not an appointed time (a warfare,</i> so
the word is) to <i>man upon earth?</i> and <i>are not his days</i>
here <i>like the days of a hireling?</i>" Observe, 1. Man's present
place. He is upon earth, which God <i>has given to the children of
men,</i> <scripRef id="Job.viii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.16" parsed="|Ps|115|16|0|0" passage="Ps 115:16">Ps. cxv. 16</scripRef>. This
bespeaks man's meanness and inferiority. How much below the
inhabitants of yonder elevated and refined regions is he situated!
It also bespeaks God's mercy to him. He is yet upon the earth, not
under it; on earth, not in hell. Our time on earth is limited and
short, according to the narrow bounds of this earth; but heaven
cannot be measured, nor the days of heaven numbered. 2. His
continuance in that place. Is there not a time appointed for his
abode here? Yes, certainly there is, and it is easy to say by whom
the appointment is made, even by him that made us and set us here.
We are not to be on this earth always, nor long, but for a certain
time, which is determined by him in whose hand our times are. We
are not to think that we are governed by the blind fortune of the
Epicureans, but by the wise, holy, and sovereign counsel of God. 3.
His condition during that continuance. Man's life is <i>a
warfare,</i> and <i>as the days of a hireling.</i> We are every one
of us to look upon ourselves in this world, (1.) As soldiers,
exposed to hardship and in the midst of enemies; we must serve and
be under command; and, when our warfare is accomplished, we must be
disbanded, dismissed with either shame or honour, according to what
we have done in the body. (2.) As day-labourers, that have the work
of the day to do in its day and must make up their account at
night.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.viii-p5">II. From his own condition at this time. He
had as much reason, he thought, to wish for death, as a poor
servant or hireling that is tired with his work has to wish for the
shadows of the evening, when he shall receive his penny and go to
rest, <scripRef id="Job.viii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.2" parsed="|Job|7|2|0|0" passage="Job 7:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. The
darkness of the night is as welcome to the labourer as the light of
the morning is to the watchman, <scripRef id="Job.viii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.130.6" parsed="|Ps|130|6|0|0" passage="Ps 130:6">Ps.
cxxx. 6</scripRef>. The God of nature has provided for the repose
of labourers, and no wonder that they desire it. <i>The sleep of
the labouring man is sweet,</i> <scripRef id="Job.viii-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.12" parsed="|Eccl|5|12|0|0" passage="Ec 5:12">Eccl.
v. 12</scripRef>. No pleasure more grateful, more relishing, to the
luxurious than rest to the laborious; nor can any rich man take so
much satisfaction in the return of his rent-days as the hireling in
his day's wages. The comparison is plain, the application is
concise and somewhat obscure, but we must supply a word or two, and
then it is easy: exactness of language is not to be expected from
one in Job's condition. "<i>As a servant earnestly desires the
shadow, so</i> and for the same reason I earnestly desire death;
for <i>I am made to possess,</i> &amp;c." Hear his complaint.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.viii-p6">1. His days were useless, and had been so a
great while. He was wholly taken off from business, and utterly
unfit for it. Every day was a burden to him, because he was in no
capacity of doing good, or of spending it to any purpose. <i>Et
vitæ partem non attigit ullam—He could not fill up his time with
any thing that would turn to account.</i> This he calls
<i>possessing months of vanity,</i> <scripRef id="Job.viii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.3" parsed="|Job|7|3|0|0" passage="Job 7:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. It very much increases the
affliction of sickness and age, to a good man, that he is thereby
forced from his usefulness. He insists not so much upon it that
they are days in which he has no pleasure as that they are days in
which he does not good; on that account they are months of vanity.
But when we are disabled to work for God, if we will but sit still
quietly for him, it is all one; we shall be accepted.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.viii-p7">2. His nights were restless, <scripRef id="Job.viii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.3-Job.7.4" parsed="|Job|7|3|7|4" passage="Job 7:3,4"><i>v.</i> 3, 4</scripRef>. The night relieves
the toil and fatigue of the day, not only to the labourers, but to
the sufferers: if a sick man can but get a little sleep in the
night, it helps nature, and it is hoped that he will do well,
<scripRef id="Job.viii-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:John.11.12" parsed="|John|11|12|0|0" passage="Joh 11:12">John xi. 12</scripRef>. However, be
the trouble what it will, sleep gives some intermission to the
cares, and pains, and griefs, that afflict us; it is the
parenthesis of our sorrows. But poor Job could not gain this
relief. (1.) His nights were wearisome, and, instead of taking any
rest, he did but tire himself more with tossing to and fro until
morning. Those that are in great uneasiness, through pain of body
or anguish of mind, think by changing sides, changing places,
changing postures, to get some ease; but, while the cause is the
same within, it is all to no purpose; it is but a resemblance of a
fretful discontented spirit, that is ever shifting, but never easy.
This made him dread the night as much as the servant desires it,
and, when he lay down, to say, <i>When will the night be gone?</i>
(2.) These <i>wearisome nights</i> were <i>appointed</i> to him.
God, who determines the times before appointed, had allotted him
such nights as these. Whatever is at any time grievous to us, it is
good to see it appointed for us, that we may acquiesce in the
event, not only as unavoidable because appointed, but as therefore
designed for some holy end. When we have comfortable nights we must
see them also appointed to us and be thankful for them; many better
than we have wearisome nights.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.viii-p8">3. His body was noisome, <scripRef id="Job.viii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.5" parsed="|Job|7|5|0|0" passage="Job 7:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. His sores bred worms, the scabs
were like clods of dust, and his skin was broken; so evil was the
disease which cleaved fast to him. See what vile bodies we have,
and what little reason we have to pamper them or be proud of them;
they have in themselves the principles of their own corruption: as
fond as we are of them now, the time may come when we may loathe
them and long to get rid of them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.viii-p9">4. His life was hastening apace towards a
period, <scripRef id="Job.viii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.6" parsed="|Job|7|6|0|0" passage="Job 7:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. He
thought he had no reason to expect a long life, for he found
himself declining fast (<scripRef id="Job.viii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.6" parsed="|Job|7|6|0|0" passage="Job 7:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>): <i>My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle,</i>
that is, "My time is now but short, and there are but a few sands
more in my glass, which will speedily run out." Natural motions are
more swift near the centre. Job thought his days ran swiftly
because he thought he should soon be at his journey's end; he
looked upon them as good as spent already, and he was therefore
without hope of being restored to his former prosperity. It is
applicable to man's life in general. Our days are like a weaver's
shuttle, thrown from one side of the web to the other in the
twinkling of an eye, and then back again, to and fro, until at
length it is quite exhausted of the thread it carried, and then we
<i>cut off, like a weaver, our life,</i> <scripRef id="Job.viii-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.12" parsed="|Isa|38|12|0|0" passage="Isa 38:12">Isa. xxxviii. 12</scripRef>. Time hastens on apace; the
motion of it cannot be stopped, and, when it is past, it cannot be
recalled. While we are living, as we are sowing (<scripRef id="Job.viii-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Gal.6.8" parsed="|Gal|6|8|0|0" passage="Ga 6:8">Gal. vi. 8</scripRef>), so we are weaving. Every day, like
the shuttle, leaves a thread behind it. Many weave the spider's
web, which will fail them, <scripRef id="Job.viii-p9.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.14" parsed="|Job|8|14|0|0" passage="Job 8:14"><i>ch.</i>
viii. 14</scripRef>. If we are weaving to ourselves holy garments
and robes of righteousness, we shall have the benefit of them when
our work comes to be reviewed and every man shall reap as he sowed
and wear as he wove.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.viii-p9.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.7-Job.7.16" parsed="|Job|7|7|7|16" passage="Job 7:7-16" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.7.7-Job.7.16">
<p class="passage" id="Job.viii-p10">7 O remember that my life <i>is</i> wind: mine
eye shall no more see good.   8 The eye of him that hath seen
me shall see me no <i>more:</i> thine eyes <i>are</i> upon me, and
I <i>am</i> not.   9 <i>As</i> the cloud is consumed and
vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no
<i>more.</i>   10 He shall return no more to his house,
neither shall his place know him any more.   11 Therefore I
will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my
spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.   12
<i>Am</i> I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?
  13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease
my complaint;   14 Then thou scarest me with dreams, and
terrifiest me through visions:   15 So that my soul chooseth
strangling, <i>and</i> death rather than my life.   16 I
loathe <i>it;</i> I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days
<i>are</i> vanity.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.viii-p11">Job, observing perhaps that his friends,
though they would not interrupt him in his discourse, yet began to
grow weary, and not to heed much what he said, here turns to God,
and speaks to him. If men will not hear us, God will; if men cannot
help us, he can; for his arm is not shortened, neither is his ear
heavy. Yet we must not go to school to Job here to learn how to
speak to God; for, it must be confessed, there is a great mixture
of passion and corruption in what he here says. But, if God be not
extreme to mark what his people say amiss, let us also make the
best of it. Job is here begging of God either to ease him or to end
him. He here represents himself to God,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.viii-p12">I. As a dying man, surely and speedily
dying. It is good for us, when we are sick, to think and speak of
death, for sickness is sent on purpose to put us in mind of it;
and, if we be duly mindful of it ourselves, we may in faith put God
in mind of it, as Job does here (<scripRef id="Job.viii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.7" parsed="|Job|7|7|0|0" passage="Job 7:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>O remember that my life is
wind.</i> He recommends himself to God as an object of his pity and
compassion, with this consideration, that he was a very weak frail
creature, his abode in this world short and uncertain, his removal
out of it sure and speedy, and his return to it again impossible
and never to be expected—that his life was wind, as the lives of
all men are, noisy perhaps and blustering, like the wind, but vain
and empty, soon gone, and, when gone, past recall. God had
compassion on Israel, <i>remembering that they were but flesh, a
wind that passeth away and cometh not again,</i> <scripRef id="Job.viii-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.38-Ps.78.39" parsed="|Ps|78|38|78|39" passage="Ps 78:38,39">Ps. lxxviii. 38, 39</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.viii-p13">1. The pious reflections Job makes upon his
own life and death. Such plain truths as these concerning the
shortness and vanity of life, the unavoidableness and
irrecoverableness of death, <i>then</i> do us good when we think
and speak of them with application to ourselves. Let us consider
then, (1.) That we must shortly take our leave of all the things
that are seen, that are temporal. The eye of the body must be
closed, and shall no more see good, the good which most men set
their hearts upon; for their cry is, <i>Who will make us to see
good?</i> <scripRef id="Job.viii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.4.6" parsed="|Ps|4|6|0|0" passage="Ps 4:6">Ps. iv. 6</scripRef>. If we be
such fools as to place our happiness in visible good things, what
will become of us when they shall be for ever hidden from our eyes,
and we shall no more see good? Let us therefore live by that faith
which is the substance and evidence of things not seen. (2.) That
we must then remove to an invisible world: <i>The eye of him that
hath</i> here <i>seen me shall see me no more</i> there. It is
<b><i>hades</i></b>—<i>an unseen state,</i> <scripRef id="Job.viii-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.8" parsed="|Job|7|8|0|0" passage="Job 7:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. Death removes our lovers and
friends into darkness (<scripRef id="Job.viii-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.88.18" parsed="|Ps|88|18|0|0" passage="Ps 88:18">Ps. lxxxviii.
18</scripRef>), and will shortly remove us out of their sight; when
we <i>go hence we shall be seen no more</i> (<scripRef id="Job.viii-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.39.13" parsed="|Ps|39|13|0|0" passage="Ps 39:13">Ps. xxxix. 13</scripRef>), but go to converse with the
things that are not seen, that are eternal. (3.) That God can
easily, and in a moment, put an end to our lives, and send us to
another world (<scripRef id="Job.viii-p13.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.8" parsed="|Job|7|8|0|0" passage="Job 7:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>):
"<i>Thy eyes are upon me and I am not;</i> thou canst look me into
eternity, frown me into the grave, when thou pleasest."</p>
<verse id="Job.viii-p13.6">
<l class="t1" id="Job.viii-p13.7">Shouldst thou, displeased, give me a frowning look,</l>
<l class="t1" id="Job.viii-p13.8">I sink, I die, as if with lightning struck.</l>
</verse>
<attr id="Job.viii-p13.9">Sir <span class="smallcaps" id="Job.viii-p13.10">R. Blackmore</span>.</attr>
<p class="indent" id="Job.viii-p14">He takes away our breath, and we die; nay,
he but <i>looks on the earth</i> and it <i>trembles,</i> <scripRef id="Job.viii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.14.29-Ps.14.30" parsed="|Ps|14|29|14|30" passage="Ps 14:29,30">Ps. xiv. 29, 30</scripRef>. (4.) That, when
we are once removed to another world, we must never return to this.
There is constant passing from this world to the other, but
<i>vestigia nulla retrorsum—there is no repassing.</i> "Therefore,
Lord, kindly ease me by death, for that will be a perpetual ease. I
shall return no more to the calamities of this life." When we are
dead we are gone, to return no more, [1.] From our house under
ground (<scripRef id="Job.viii-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.9" parsed="|Job|7|9|0|0" passage="Job 7:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): <i>He
that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more</i> until the
general resurrection, shall come up no more to his place in this
world. Dying is work that is to be done but once, and therefore it
had need be well done: an error there is past retrieve. This is
illustrated by the blotting out and scattering of a cloud. It is
consumed and vanisheth away, is resolved into air and never knits
again. Other clouds arise, but the same cloud never returns: so a
new generation of the children of men is raised up, but the former
generation is quite consumed and vanishes away. When we see a cloud
which looks great, as if it would eclipse the sun and drawn the
earth, of a sudden dispersed and disappearing, let us say, "Just
such a thing is the life of man; it is <i>a vapour that appears for
a little while and then vanishes away.</i>" [2.] To return no more
to our house above ground (<scripRef id="Job.viii-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.10" parsed="|Job|7|10|0|0" passage="Job 7:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>): <i>He shall return no more to his house,</i> to the
possession and enjoyment of it, to the business and delights of it.
Others will take possession, and keep it till they also resign to
another generation. The rich man in hell desired that Lazarus might
be sent to his house, knowing it was to no purpose to ask that he
might have leave to go himself. Glorified saints shall return no
more to the cares, and burdens, and sorrows of their house; nor
damned sinners to the gaieties and pleasures of their house. Their
place shall no more know them, no more own them, have no more
acquaintance with them, nor be any more under their influence. It
concerns us to secure a better place when we die, for this will no
more own us.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.viii-p15">2. The passionate inference he draws from
it. From these premises he might have drawn a better conclusion
that this (<scripRef id="Job.viii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.11" parsed="|Job|7|11|0|0" passage="Job 7:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>):
<i>Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak; I will
complain.</i> Holy David, when he had been meditating on the
frailty of human life, made a contrary use of it (<scripRef id="Job.viii-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.39.3" parsed="|Ps|39|3|0|0" passage="Ps 39:3">Ps. xxxix. 9</scripRef>, <i>I was dumb, and
opened not my mouth</i>); but Job, finding himself near expiring,
hastens as much to make his complaint as if he had been to make his
last will and testament or as if he could not die in peace until he
had given vent to his passion. When we have but a few breaths to
draw we should spend them in the holy gracious breathings of faith
and prayer, not in the noisome noxious breathings of sin and
corruption. Better die praying and praising than die complaining
and quarrelling.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.viii-p16">II. As a distempered man, sorely and
grievously distempered both in body and mind. In this part of his
representation is he is very peevish, as if God dealt hardly with
him and laid upon him more than was meet: "<i>Am I a sea, or a
whale</i> (<scripRef id="Job.viii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.12" parsed="|Job|7|12|0|0" passage="Job 7:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), a
raging sea, that must be kept within bounds, to check its proud
waves, or an unruly whale, that must be restrained by force from
devouring all the fishes of the sea? Am I so strong that there
needs so much ado to hold me? so boisterous that no less than all
these mighty bonds of affliction will serve to tame me and keep me
within compass?" We are very apt, when we are in affliction, to
complain of God and his providence, as if he laid more restraints
upon us that there is occasion for; whereas we are never in
heaviness but when there is need, nor more than the necessity
demands. 1. He complains that he could not rest in his bed,
<scripRef id="Job.viii-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.13-Job.7.14" parsed="|Job|7|13|7|14" passage="Job 7:13,14"><i>v.</i> 13, 14</scripRef>. There
we promise ourselves some repose, when we are fatigued with labour,
pain, or traveling: "<i>My bed shall comfort me, and my couch shall
ease my complaint.</i> Sleep will for a time give me some relief;"
it usually does so; it is appointed for that end; many a time it
has eased us, and we have awaked refreshed, and with new vigour.
When it is so we have great reason to be thankful; but it was not
so with poor Job: his bed, instead of comforting him, terrified
him; and his couch, instead of easing his complaint, added to it;
for if he dropped asleep, he was disturbed with frightful dreams,
and when those awaked him still he was haunted with dreadful
apparitions. This was it that made the night so unwelcome and
wearisome to him as it was (<scripRef id="Job.viii-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.4" parsed="|Job|7|4|0|0" passage="Job 7:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>): When <i>shall I arise?</i> Note, God can, when he
pleases, meet us with terror even where we promise ourselves ease
and repose; nay, he can make us a terror to ourselves, and, as we
have often contracted guilt by the rovings of an unsanctified
fancy, he can likewise, by the power of our own imagination, create
us much grief, and so make that our punishment which has often been
our sin. In Job's dreams, though they might partly arise from his
distemper (in fevers, or small pox, when the body is all over sore,
it is common for the sleep to be unquiet), yet we have reason to
think Satan had a hand, for he delights to terrify those whom it is
out of his reach to destroy; but Job looked up to God, who
permitted Satan to do this (<i>thou scarest me</i>), and mistook
Satan's representations for the <i>terror of God setting themselves
in array against him.</i> We have reason to pray to God that our
dreams may neither defile nor disquiet us, neither tempt us to sin
nor torment us with fear, that he who keeps Israel, and neither
slumbers nor sleeps, may keep us when we slumber and sleep, that
the devil may not then do us a mischief, either as an insinuating
serpent or as a roaring lion, and to bless God if we lie down and
our sleep is sweet and we are not thus scared. 2. He covets to rest
in his grave, that bed where there are no tossings to and fro, nor
any frightful dreams, <scripRef id="Job.viii-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.15-Job.7.16" parsed="|Job|7|15|7|16" passage="Job 7:15,16"><i>v.</i> 15,
16</scripRef>. (1.) He was sick of life, and hated the thoughts of
it: "<i>I loathe it;</i> I have had enough of it. <i>I would not
live always,</i> not only not live always in this condition, in
pain and misery, but not live always in the most easy and
prosperous condition, to be continually in danger of being thus
reduced. <i>My days are vanity</i> at the best, empty of solid
comfort, exposed to real griefs; and I would not be for ever tied
to such uncertainty." Note, A good man would not (if he might) live
always in this world, no, not though it smile upon him, because it
is a world of sin and temptation and he has a better world in
prospect. (2.) He was fond of death, and pleased himself with the
thoughts of it: his <i>soul</i> (his judgment, he thought, but
really it was his passion) <i>chose strangling and death rather
than life;</i> any death rather than such a life as this. Doubtless
this was Job's infirmity; for though a good man would not wish to
live always in this world, and would choose strangling and death
rather than sin, as the martyrs did, yet he will be content to live
as long as pleases God, not choose death rather than life, because
life is our opportunity of glorifying God and getting ready for
heaven.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.viii-p16.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.17-Job.7.21" parsed="|Job|7|17|7|21" passage="Job 7:17-21" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.7.17-Job.7.21">
<p class="passage" id="Job.viii-p17">17 What <i>is</i> man, that thou shouldest
magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?
  18 And <i>that</i> thou shouldest visit him every morning,
<i>and</i> try him every moment?   19 How long wilt thou not
depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?
  20 I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou
preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so
that I am a burden to myself?   21 And why dost thou not
pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall
I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I
<i>shall</i> not <i>be.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.viii-p18">Job here reasons with God,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.viii-p19">I. Concerning his dealings with man in
general (<scripRef id="Job.viii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.17-Job.7.18" parsed="|Job|7|17|7|18" passage="Job 7:17,18"><i>v.</i> 17,
18</scripRef>): <i>What is man, that thou shouldst magnify him?</i>
This may be looked upon either, 1. As a passionate reflection upon
the proceedings of divine justice; as if the great God did diminish
and disparage himself in contending with man. "Great men think it
below them to take cognizance of those who are much their inferiors
so far as to reprove and correct their follies and indecencies; why
then does God magnify man, by visiting him, and trying him, and
making so much ado about him? Why will he thus pour all his forces
upon one that is such an unequal match for him? Why will he visit
him with afflictions, which, like a quotidian ague, return as duly
and constantly as the morning light, and try, every moment, what he
can bear?" We mistake God, and the nature of his providence, if we
think it any lessening to him to take notice of the meanest of his
creatures. Or, 2. As a pious admiration of the condescensions of
divine grace, like that, <scripRef id="Job.viii-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.8.4 Bible:Ps.144.3" parsed="|Ps|8|4|0|0;|Ps|144|3|0|0" passage="Ps 8:4,144:3">Ps. viii.
4; cxliv. 3</scripRef>. He owns God's favour to man in general,
even when he complains of his own particular troubles. "<i>What is
man,</i> miserable man, a poor, mean, weak creature, <i>that
thou,</i> the great and glorious God, shouldst deal with him as
thou dost? What is man," (1.) "That thou shouldst put such honour
upon him, <i>shouldst magnify him,</i> by taking him into covenant
and communion with thyself?" (2.) "That thou shouldst concern
thyself so much about him, <i>shouldst set thy heart upon him,</i>
as dear to thee, and one that thou hast a kindness for?" (3.)
"<i>That thou shouldst visit him</i> with thy compassions <i>every
morning,</i> as we daily visit a particular friend, or as the
physician visits his patients every morning to help them?" (4.)
"That thou shouldst <i>try him,</i> shouldst feel his pulse and
observe his looks, <i>every moment,</i> as in care about him and
jealous over him?" That such a worm of the earth as man is should
be the darling and favourite of heaven is what we have reason for
ever to admire.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.viii-p20">II. Concerning his dealings with him in
particular. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.viii-p21">1. The complaint he makes of his
afflictions, which he here aggravates, and (as we are all too apt
to do) makes the worst of, in three expressions:—(1.) That he was
the butt to God's arrows: "<i>Thou hast set me as a mark against
thee,</i>" <scripRef id="Job.viii-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.20" parsed="|Job|7|20|0|0" passage="Job 7:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>.
"My case is singular, and none is shot at as I am." (2.) That he
was a <i>burden to himself,</i> ready to sink under the load of his
own life. How much delight soever we take in ourselves God can,
when he pleases, make us burdens to ourselves. What comfort can we
take in ourselves if God appear against us as an enemy and we have
not comfort in him. (3.) That he had no intermission of his griefs
(<scripRef id="Job.viii-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.19" parsed="|Job|7|19|0|0" passage="Job 7:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>): "<i>How
long</i> will it be ere thou cause thy rod to <i>depart from
me,</i> or abate the rigour of the correction, at least for so long
as that I may <i>swallow down my spittle?</i>" It should seem,
Job's distemper lay much in his throat, and almost choked him, so
that he could not swallow his spittle. He complains (<scripRef id="Job.viii-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.30.18" parsed="|Job|30|18|0|0" passage="Job 30:18"><i>ch.</i> xxx. 18</scripRef>) that it <i>bound
him about like the collar of his coat.</i> "Lord," says he, "wilt
not thou give me some respite, some breathing time?" <scripRef id="Job.viii-p21.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.18" parsed="|Job|9|18|0|0" passage="Job 9:18"><i>ch.</i> ix. 18</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.viii-p22">2. The concern he is in about his sins. The
best men have sin to complain of, and the better they are the more
they will complain of it. (1.) He ingenuously owns himself guilty
before God: <i>I have sinned.</i> God had said of him that he was a
<i>perfect and an upright man;</i> yet he says of himself, <i>I
have sinned.</i> Those may be upright who yet are not sinless; and
those who are sincerely penitent are accepted, through a Mediator,
as evangelically perfect. Job maintained, against his friends, that
he was not a hypocrite, not a wicked man; and yet he owned to his
God that he had sinned. If we have been kept from gross acts of
sin, it does not therefore follow that we are innocent. The best
must acknowledge, before God, that they have sinned. His calling
God the <i>observer,</i> or <i>preserver,</i> of men, may be looked
upon as designed for an aggravation of his sin: "Though God has had
his eye upon me, his eye upon me for good, yet I have sinned
against him." When we are in affliction it is seasonable to confess
sin, as the procuring cause of our affliction. Penitent confessions
would drown and silence passionate complaints. (2.) He seriously
enquires how he may make his peace with God: "<i>What shall I do
unto thee,</i> having done so much against thee?" Are we convinced
that we have sinned, and are we brought to own it? We cannot but
conclude that something must be done to prevent the fatal
consequences of it. The matter must not rest as it is, but some
course must be taken to undo what has been ill done. And, if we are
truly sensible of the danger we have run ourselves into, we shall
be willing to do any thing, to take a pardon upon any terms; and
therefore shall be <i>inquisitive as to what we shall do</i>
(<scripRef id="Job.viii-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Mic.6.6-Mic.6.7" parsed="|Mic|6|6|6|7" passage="Mic 6:6,7">Mic. vi. 6, 7</scripRef>), what we
shall do to God, not to satisfy the demands of his justice (that is
done only by the Mediator), but to qualify ourselves for the tokens
of his favour, according to the tenour of the gospel-covenant. In
making this enquiry it is good to eye God as the preserver or
Saviour of men, not their destroyer. In our repentance we must keep
up good thoughts of God, as one that delights not in the ruin of
his creatures, but would rather they should return and live. "Thou
art the Saviour of men; be my Saviour, for I cast myself upon thy
mercy." (3.) He earnestly begs for the forgiveness of his sins,
<scripRef id="Job.viii-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.21" parsed="|Job|7|21|0|0" passage="Job 7:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. The heat of
his spirit, as, on the one hand, it made his complaints the more
bitter, so, on the other hand, it made his prayers the more lively
and importunate; as here: <i>"Why dost thou not pardon my
transgression?</i> Art thou not a God of infinite mercy, that art
ready to forgive? Hast not thou wrought repentance in me? Why then
dost thou not give me the pardon of my sin, and make me to hear the
voice of that joy and gladness?" Surely he means more than barely
the removing of his outward trouble, and is herein earnest for the
return of God's favour, which he complained of the want of,
<scripRef id="Job.viii-p22.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.4" parsed="|Job|6|4|0|0" passage="Job 6:4"><i>ch.</i> vi. 4</scripRef>. "Lord,
pardon my sins, and give me the comfort of that pardon, and then I
can easily bear my afflictions," <scripRef id="Job.viii-p22.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.9.2 Bible:Isa.33.24" parsed="|Matt|9|2|0|0;|Isa|33|24|0|0" passage="Mt 9:2,Isa 33:24">Matt. ix. 2; Isa. xxxiii. 24</scripRef>. When
the mercy of God pardons the transgression that is committed by us
the grace of God takes away the iniquity that reigns in us.
Wherever God removes the guilt of sin he breaks the power of sin.
(4.) To enforce his prayer for pardon he pleads the prospect he had
of dying quickly: <i>For now shall I sleep in the dust.</i> Death
will lay us in the dust, will lay us to sleep there, and perhaps
presently, now in a little time. Job had been complaining of
restless nights, and that sleep departed from his eyes (<scripRef id="Job.viii-p22.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.3-Job.7.4 Bible:Job.7.13 Bible:Job.7.14" parsed="|Job|7|3|7|4;|Job|7|13|0|0;|Job|7|14|0|0" passage="Job 7:3,4,13,14"><i>v.</i> 3, 4, 13, 14</scripRef>); but
those who cannot sleep on a bed of down will shortly sleep in a bed
of dust, and not be scared with dreams nor tossed to and fro:
"<i>Thou shalt seek me in the morning,</i> to show me favour, but
<i>I shall not be;</i> it will be too late then. If my sins be not
pardoned while I live, I am lost and undone for ever." Note, The
consideration of this, that we must shortly die, and perhaps may
die suddenly, should make us all very solicitous to get our sins
pardoned and our iniquity taken away.</p>
</div></div2>