mh_parser/vol_split/18 - Job/Chapter 8.xml

<div2 id="Job.ix" n="ix" next="Job.x" prev="Job.viii" progress="4.64%" title="Chapter VIII">
<h2 id="Job.ix-p0.1">J O B</h2>
<h3 id="Job.ix-p0.2">CHAP. VIII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Job.ix-p1">Job's friends are like Job's messengers: the
latter followed one another close with evil tidings, the former
followed him with harsh censures: both, unawares, served Satan's
design; these to drive him from his integrity, those to drive him
from the comfort of it. Eliphaz did not reply to what Job had said
in answer to him, but left it to Bildad, whom he knew to be of the
same mind with himself in this affair. Those are not the wisest of
the company, but the weakest rather, who covet to have all the
talk. Let others speak in their turn, and let the first keep
silence, <scripRef id="Job.ix-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.14.30-1Cor.14.31" parsed="|1Cor|14|30|14|31" passage="1Co 14:30,31">1 Cor. xiv. 30,
31</scripRef>. Eliphaz had undertaken to show that because Job was
sorely afflicted he was certainly a wicked man. Bildad is much of
the same mind, and will conclude Job a wicked man unless God do
speedily appear for his relief. In this chapter he endeavours to
convince Job, I. That he had spoken too passionately, <scripRef id="Job.ix-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.2" parsed="|Job|8|2|0|0" passage="Job 8:2">ver. 2</scripRef>. II. That he and his children
had suffered justly, <scripRef id="Job.ix-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.3-Job.8.4" parsed="|Job|8|3|8|4" passage="Job 8:3,4">ver. 3,
4</scripRef>. III. That, if he were a true penitent, God would soon
turn his captivity, <scripRef id="Job.ix-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.5-Job.8.7" parsed="|Job|8|5|8|7" passage="Job 8:5-7">ver.
5-7</scripRef>. IV. That it was a usual thing for Providence to
extinguish the joys and hopes of wicked men as his were
extinguished; and therefore that they had reason to suspect him for
a hypocrite, <scripRef id="Job.ix-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.8-Job.8.19" parsed="|Job|8|8|8|19" passage="Job 8:8-19">ver. 8-19</scripRef>.
V. That they would be abundantly confirmed in their suspicion
unless God did speedily appear for his relief, <scripRef id="Job.ix-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.20-Job.8.22" parsed="|Job|8|20|8|22" passage="Job 8:20-22">ver. 20-22</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Job.ix-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Job.8" parsed="|Job|8|0|0|0" passage="Job 8" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Job.ix-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.1-Job.8.7" parsed="|Job|8|1|8|7" passage="Job 8:1-7" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.8.1-Job.8.7">
<h4 id="Job.ix-p1.9">The Address of Bildad. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.ix-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.ix-p2">1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
  2 How long wilt thou speak these <i>things?</i> and <i>how
long shall</i> the words of thy mouth <i>be like</i> a strong wind?
  3 Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert
justice?   4 If thy children have sinned against him, and he
have cast them away for their transgression;   5 If thou
wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the
Almighty;   6 If thou <i>wert</i> pure and upright; surely now
he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy
righteousness prosperous.   7 Though thy beginning was small,
yet thy latter end should greatly increase.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.ix-p3">Here, I. Bildad reproves Job for what he
had said (<scripRef id="Job.ix-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.2" parsed="|Job|8|2|0|0" passage="Job 8:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>),
checks his passion, but perhaps (as is too common) with greater
passion. We thought Job spoke a great deal of good sense and much
to the purpose, and that he had reason and right on his side; but
Bildad, like an eager angry disputant, turns it all off with this,
<i>How long wilt thou speak these things?</i> taking it for granted
that Eliphaz had said enough to silence him, and that therefore all
he said was impertinent. Thus (as Caryl observes) reproofs are
often grounded upon mistakes. Men's meaning is not taken aright,
and then they are gravely rebuked as if they were evil-doers.
Bildad compares Job's discourse to a <i>strong wind.</i> Job had
excused himself with this, that his speeches were but <i>as
wind</i> (<scripRef id="Job.ix-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.26" parsed="|Job|6|26|0|0" passage="Job 6:26"><i>ch.</i> vi.
26</scripRef>), and therefore they should not make such ado about
them: "Yea, but" (says Bildad) "they are as strong wind, blustering
and threatening, boisterous and dangerous, and therefore we are
concerned to fence against them."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.ix-p4">II. He justifies God in what he had done.
This he had no occasion to do at this time (for Job did not condemn
God, as he would have it thought he did), or he might at least have
done it without reflecting upon Job's children, as he does here.
Could he not be an advocate for God but he must be an accuser of
the brethren? 1. He is right in general, that <i>God doth not
pervert judgment,</i> nor ever go contrary to any settled rule of
justice, <scripRef id="Job.ix-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.3" parsed="|Job|8|3|0|0" passage="Job 8:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Far be
it from him that he should and from us that we should suspect him.
He never oppresses the innocent, nor lays a greater load on the
guilty than they deserve. He is God, the Judge; and shall not the
Judge of all the earth do right? <scripRef id="Job.ix-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.25" parsed="|Gen|18|25|0|0" passage="Ge 18:25">Gen.
xviii. 25</scripRef>. If there should be unrighteousness with God,
<i>how should he judge the world?</i> <scripRef id="Job.ix-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.5-Rom.3.6" parsed="|Rom|3|5|3|6" passage="Ro 3:5,6">Rom. iii. 5, 6</scripRef>. He is <i>Almighty,
Shaddai—all sufficient.</i> Men pervert justice sometimes for fear
of the power of others (but God is Almighty, and stands in awe of
none), sometimes to obtain the favour of others; but God is
all-sufficient, and cannot be benefited by the favour of any. It is
man's weakness and impotency that he often is unjust; it is God's
omnipotence that he cannot be so. 2. Yet he is not fair and candid
in the application. He takes it for granted that Job's children
(the death of whom was one of the greatest of his afflictions) had
been guilty of some notorious wickedness, and that the unhappy
circumstances of their death were sufficient evidence that they
were sinners above all the children of the east, <scripRef id="Job.ix-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.4" parsed="|Job|8|4|0|0" passage="Job 8:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. Job readily owned that God did
not pervert judgment; and yet it did not therefore follow either
that his children were cast-aways or that they died for some great
transgression. It is true that we and our children have sinned
against God, and we ought to justify him in all he brings upon us
and ours; but extraordinary afflictions are not always the
punishment of extraordinary sins, but sometimes the trial of
extraordinary graces; and, in our judgment of another's case
(unless the contrary appears), we ought to take the more favourable
side, as our Saviour directs, <scripRef id="Job.ix-p4.5" osisRef="Bible:Luke.13.2-Luke.13.4" parsed="|Luke|13|2|13|4" passage="Lu 13:2-4">Luke
xiii. 2-4</scripRef>. Here Bildad missed it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.ix-p5">III. He put Job in hope that, if he were
indeed upright, as he said he was, he should yet see a good issue
of his present troubles: "<i>Although thy children have sinned
against him, and are cast away in their transgression</i> (they
have died in their own sin), yet if thou be pure and upright
thyself, and as an evidence of that wilt now seek unto God and
submit to him, all shall be well yet," <scripRef id="Job.ix-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.5-Job.8.7" parsed="|Job|8|5|8|7" passage="Job 8:5-7"><i>v.</i> 5-7</scripRef>. This may be taken two ways,
either, 1. As designed to prove Job a hypocrite and a wicked man,
though not by the greatness, yet the by the continuance, of his
afflictions. "When thou wast impoverished, and thy children were
killed, if thou hadst been pure and upright, and approved thyself
so in the trial, God would before now have returned in mercy to
thee and comforted thee according to the time of thy affliction;
but, because he does not so, we have reason to conclude thou art
not so <i>pure and upright</i> as thou pretendest to be. If thou
hadst conducted thyself well under the former affliction, thou
wouldst not have been struck with the latter." Herein Bildad was
not in the right; for a good man may be afflicted for his trial,
not only very sorely, but very long, and yet, if for life, it is in
comparison with eternity but for a moment. But, since Bildad put it
to this issue, God was pleased to join issue with him, and proved
his servant Job an honest man by Bildad's own argument; for, soon
after, he blessed his latter end more than his beginning. Or, 2. As
designed to direct and encourage Job, that he might not thus run
himself into despair, and give up all for gone; there might yet be
hope if he would take the right course. I am apt to think Bildad
here intended to condemn Job, yet would be thought to counsel and
comfort him. (1.) He gives him good counsel, yet perhaps not
expecting he would take it, the same that Eliphaz had given him
(<scripRef id="Job.ix-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.5.8" parsed="|Job|5|8|0|0" passage="Job 5:8"><i>ch.</i> v. 8</scripRef>), to
<i>seek unto God,</i> and that <i>betimes</i> (that is, speedily
and seriously), and not to be dilatory and trifling in his return
and repentance. He advises him not to complain, but to petition, to
<i>make</i> his <i>supplication to the Almighty</i> with humility
and faith, and to see that there was (what he feared had hitherto
been wanting) sincerity in his heart ("thou must be <i>pure and
upright</i>") and honesty in his house—"that must be <i>the
habitation of thy righteousness,</i> and not filled with ill-gotten
goods, else God will not hear thy prayers," <scripRef id="Job.ix-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.66.18" parsed="|Ps|66|18|0|0" passage="Ps 66:18">Ps. lxvi. 18</scripRef>. It is only the prayer of the
upright that is the acceptable and prevailing prayer, <scripRef id="Job.ix-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Prov.15.8" parsed="|Prov|15|8|0|0" passage="Pr 15:8">Prov. xv. 8</scripRef>. (2.) He gives him good
hopes that he shall yet again see good days, secretly suspecting,
however, that he was not qualified to see them. He assures him
that, if he would be early in seeking God, God would awake for his
relief, would remember him and return to him, though now he seemed
to forget him and forsake him—that if his habitation were
righteous it should be prosperity. When we return to God in a way
of duty we have reason to hope that he will return to us in a way
of mercy. Let not Job object that he had so little left to being
the world with again that it was impossible he should ever prosper
as he had done; no, "Though thy beginning should be ever so small,
a little meal in the barrel and a little oil in the cruse, God's
blessing shall multiply that to a great increase." This is God's
way of enriching the souls of his people with graces and comforts,
not <i>per saltum—as by a bound,</i> but <i>per gradum—step by
step.</i> The beginning is small, but the progress is to
perfection. Dawning light grows to noonday, a grain of mustard seed
to a great tree. Let us not therefore despise the day of small
things, but hope for the day of great things.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.ix-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.8-Job.8.19" parsed="|Job|8|8|8|19" passage="Job 8:8-19" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.8.8-Job.8.19">
<p class="passage" id="Job.ix-p6">8 For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age,
and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers:   9 (For
we <i>are but of</i> yesterday, and know nothing, because our days
upon earth <i>are</i> a shadow:)   10 Shall not they teach
thee, <i>and</i> tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?
  11 Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow
without water?   12 Whilst it <i>is</i> yet in his greenness,
<i>and</i> not cut down, it withereth before any <i>other</i> herb.
  13 So <i>are</i> the paths of all that forget God; and the
hypocrite's hope shall perish:   14 Whose hope shall be cut
off, and whose trust <i>shall be</i> a spider's web.   15 He
shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it
fast, but it shall not endure.   16 He <i>is</i> green before
the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden.   17 His
roots are wrapped about the heap, <i>and</i> seeth the place of
stones.   18 If he destroy him from his place, then <i>it</i>
shall deny him, <i>saying,</i> I have not seen thee.   19
Behold, this <i>is</i> the joy of his way, and out of the earth
shall others grow.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.ix-p7">Bildad here discourses very well on the sad
catastrophe of hypocrites and evil-doers and the fatal period of
all their hopes and joys. He will not be so bold as to say with
Eliphaz that none that were righteous were ever cut off thus
(<scripRef id="Job.ix-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.4.7" parsed="|Job|4|7|0|0" passage="Job 4:7"><i>ch.</i> iv. 7</scripRef>); yet he
takes it for granted that God, in the course of his providence,
does ordinarily bring wicked men, who seemed pious and were
prosperous, to shame and ruin in this world, and that, by making
their prosperity short, he discovers their piety to be counterfeit.
Whether this will certainly prove that all who are thus ruined must
be concluded to have been hypocrites he will not say, but rather
suspect, and thinks the application is easy.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.ix-p8">I. He proves this truth, of the certain
destruction of all the hopes and joys of hypocrites, by an appeal
to antiquity and the concurring sentiment and observation of all
wise and good men; and an undoubted truth it is, if we take in the
other world, that, if not in this life, yet in the life to come,
hypocrites will be deprived of all their trusts and all their
triumphs: whether Bildad so meant or no, we must so take it. Let us
observe the method of his proof, <scripRef id="Job.ix-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.8-Job.8.10" parsed="|Job|8|8|8|10" passage="Job 8:8-10"><i>v.</i> 8-10</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.ix-p9">1. He insists not on his own judgment and
that of his companions: <i>We are but of yesterday, and know
nothing,</i> <scripRef id="Job.ix-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.9" parsed="|Job|8|9|0|0" passage="Job 8:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. He
perceived that Job had no opinion of their abilities, but thought
they knew little. "We will own," says Bildad, "that we know
nothing, are as ready to confess our ignorance as thou art to
condemn it; for we are but of yesterday in comparison, <i>and our
days upon earth are</i> short and transient, and hastening away as
<i>a shadow.</i> And hence," (1.) "We are not so near the
fountain-head of divine revelation" (which then for aught that
appears, was conveyed by tradition) "as the former age was; and
therefore we must enquire what they said and recount what we have
been told of their sentiments." Blessed be God, now that we have
the word of God in writing, and are directed to search that, we
need not <i>enquire of the former age,</i> nor <i>prepare ourselves
to the search of their fathers;</i> for, though we ourselves are
but of yesterday, the word of God in the scripture is as nigh to us
as it was to them (<scripRef id="Job.ix-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.10.8" parsed="|Rom|10|8|0|0" passage="Ro 10:8">Rom. x.
8</scripRef>), and it is the <i>more sure word of prophecy, to
which we must take heed.</i> If we study and keep God's precepts,
we may by them <i>understand more than the ancients,</i> <scripRef id="Job.ix-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.99-Ps.119.100" parsed="|Ps|119|99|119|100" passage="Ps 119:99,100">Ps. cxix. 99, 100</scripRef>. (2.) "We do
not live so long as those of the former age did, to make
observations upon the methods of divine providence, and therefore
cannot be such competent judges as they in a cause of this nature."
Note, The shortness of our lives is a great hindrance to the
improvement of our knowledge, and so are the frailty and weakness
of our bodies. <i>Vita brevis, ars longa—life is short, the
progress of art boundless.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.ix-p10">2. He refers to the testimony of the
ancients and to the knowledge which Job himself had of their
sentiments. "Do thou <i>enquire of the former age,</i> and let them
tell thee, not only their own judgment in this matter, but the
judgment also of <i>their fathers,</i> <scripRef id="Job.ix-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.8" parsed="|Job|8|8|0|0" passage="Job 8:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. <i>They will teach thee,</i> and
inform thee (<scripRef id="Job.ix-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.10" parsed="|Job|8|10|0|0" passage="Job 8:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>),
that all along, in their time, the judgments of God followed wicked
men. This they will <i>utter out of their hearts,</i> that is, as
that which they firmly believe themselves, which they are greatly
affected with and desirous to acquaint and affect others with."
Note, (1.) For the right understanding of divine Providence, and
the unfolding of the difficulties of it, it will be of use to
compare the observations and experiences of former ages with the
events of our own day; and, in order thereto, to consult history,
especially the sacred history, which is the most ancient,
infallibly true, and written designedly for our learning. (2.)
Those that would fetch knowledge from the former ages must search
diligently, <i>prepare for the search,</i> and take pains for the
search. (3.) Those words are most likely to reach to the hearts of
the learners that come from the hearts of the teachers. <i>Those
shall teach thee</i> best that <i>utter words out of their
heart,</i> that speak by experience, and not by rote, of spiritual
and divine things. The learned bishop Patrick suggests that Bildad
being a Shuhite, descended from Shuah one of Abraham's sons by
Keturah (<scripRef id="Job.ix-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.2" parsed="|Gen|25|2|0|0" passage="Ge 25:2">Gen. xxv. 2</scripRef>), in
this appeal which he makes to history he has a particular respect
to the rewards which the blessing of God secured to the posterity
of faithful Abraham (who hitherto, and long after, continued in his
religion) and to the extirpation of those eastern people,
neighbours to Job (in whose country they were settled), for their
wickedness, whence he infers that it is God's usual way to prosper
the just and root out the wicked, though for a while they may
flourish.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.ix-p11">II. He illustrates this truth by some
similitudes.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.ix-p12">1. The hopes and joys of the hypocrite are
here compared to a rush or flag, <scripRef id="Job.ix-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.11-Job.8.13" parsed="|Job|8|11|8|13" passage="Job 8:11-13"><i>v.</i> 11-13</scripRef>. (1.) It grows up out of
the mire and water. The hypocrite cannot gain his hope without some
false rotten ground or other out of which to raise it, and with
which to support it and keep it alive, any more than the rush can
grow without mire. He grounds it on his worldly prosperity, the
plausible profession he makes of religion, the good opinion of his
neighbours, and his own good conceit of himself, which are no solid
foundation on which to build his confidence. It is all but mire and
water; and the hope that grows out of it is but rush and flag. (2.)
It may look green and gay for a while (the rush outgrows the
grass), but it is light and hollow, and empty, and good for
nothing. It is green for show, but of no use. (3.) It withers
presently, <i>before any other herb,</i> <scripRef id="Job.ix-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.12" parsed="|Job|8|12|0|0" passage="Job 8:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. Even <i>while it is in its
greenness</i> it is dried away and gone in a little time. Note, The
best state of hypocrites and evil-doers borders upon withering;
even when it is green it is going. The grass is <i>cut down and
withers</i> (<scripRef id="Job.ix-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.90.6" parsed="|Ps|90|6|0|0" passage="Ps 90:6">Ps. xc. 6</scripRef>); but
the rush is <i>not cut down</i> and yet <i>withers, withers before
it grows up</i> (<scripRef id="Job.ix-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.129.6" parsed="|Ps|129|6|0|0" passage="Ps 129:6">Ps. cxxix.
6</scripRef>): as it has no use, so it has no continuance. <i>So
are the paths of all that forget God</i> (<scripRef id="Job.ix-p12.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.13" parsed="|Job|8|13|0|0" passage="Job 8:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>); they take the same way that
the rush does, <i>for the hypocrite's hope shall perish.</i> Note,
[1.] Forgetfulness of God is at the bottom of men's hypocrisy, and
of the vain hopes with which they flatter and deceive themselves in
their hypocrisy. Men would not be hypocrites if they did not forget
that the God with whom they have to do searches the heart and
requires truth there, that he is a Spirit and has his eye on our
spirits; and hypocrites would have no hope if they did not forget
that God is righteous, and will not be mocked with the torn and the
lame. [2.] The hope of hypocrites is a great cheat upon themselves,
and, though it may flourish for a while, it will certainly perish
at last, and they with it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.ix-p13">2. They are here compared <i>to a spider's
web,</i> or <i>a spider's house</i> (as it is in the margin), a
cobweb, <scripRef id="Job.ix-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.14-Job.8.15" parsed="|Job|8|14|8|15" passage="Job 8:14,15"><i>v.</i> 14,
15</scripRef>. The hope of the hypocrite, (1.) Is woven out of his
own bowels; it is the creature of his own fancy, and arises merely
from a conceit of his own merit and sufficiency. There is a great
deal of difference between the work of the bee and that of the
spider. A diligent Christian, like the laborious bee, fetches in
all his comfort from the heavenly dews of God's word; but the
hypocrite, like the subtle spider, weaves his out of a false
hypothesis of his own concerning God, as if he were altogether such
a one as himself. (2.) He is very fond of it, as the spider of her
web; pleases himself with it, wraps himself in it, calls it his
house, <i>leans upon it,</i> and <i>holds it fast.</i> It is said
of the spider that <i>she takes hold with her hands, and is in
kings' palaces,</i> <scripRef id="Job.ix-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.30.28" parsed="|Prov|30|28|0|0" passage="Pr 30:28">Prov. xxx.
28</scripRef>. So does a carnal worldling hug himself in the
fulness and firmness of his outward prosperity; he prides himself
in that house as his palace, fortifies himself in it as his castle,
and makes use of it as the spider of her web, to ensnare those he
has a mind to prey upon. So does a formal professor; he flatters
himself in his own eyes, doubts not of his salvation, is secure of
heaven, and cheats the world with his vain confidences. (3.) It
will easily and certainly be swept away, as the cobweb with the
besom, when God shall come to purge his house. The prosperity of
worldly people will fail them when they expect to find safety and
happiness in it. They seek to hold fast their estates, but God is
plucking them out of their hands; and whose shall all those things
be, which they have provided? or what the better they will be for
them? The confidences of hypocrites will fail them. <i>I tell you,
I know you not.</i> The house built on the sand will fall in the
storm, when the builder most needs it and promised himself the
benefit of it. <i>When a wicked man dies his expectation
perishes.</i> The ground of his hopes will prove false; he will be
disappointed of the thing he hoped for, and his foolish hope with
which he buoyed himself up will be turned into endless despair; and
thus his hope will be cut off, his web, that refuge of lies, swept
away, and he crushed in it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.ix-p14">3. The hypocrite is here compared to a
flourishing and well-rooted tree, which, though it do not wither of
itself, yet will easily be cut down and its place know it no more.
The secure and prosperous sinner may think himself wronged when he
is compared to a rush and a flag; he thinks he has a better root.
"We will allow him his conceit," says Bildad, "and give him all the
advantage he can desire, and bring him in suddenly cut off." He is
here represented as Nebuchadnezzar was in his own dream (<scripRef id="Job.ix-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.4.10" parsed="|Dan|4|10|0|0" passage="Da 4:10">Dan. iv. 10</scripRef>) by a great tree. (1.) See
this tree fair and flourishing (<scripRef id="Job.ix-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.16" parsed="|Job|8|16|0|0" passage="Job 8:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>) like a <i>green bay-tree</i>
(<scripRef id="Job.ix-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.37.35" parsed="|Ps|37|35|0|0" passage="Ps 37:35">Ps. xxxvii. 35</scripRef>), <i>green
before the sun,</i> it keeps its greenness in defiance of the
scorching sun-beams, and <i>his branch shoots forth</i> under the
protection of his garden-wall and with the benefit of his
garden-soil. See it fixed, and taking deep root, never likely to be
overthrown by stormy winds, <i>for his roots are interwoven with
the stones</i> (<scripRef id="Job.ix-p14.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.17" parsed="|Job|8|17|0|0" passage="Job 8:17"><i>v.</i>
17</scripRef>); it grows in firm ground, not, as the rush, of mire
and water. Thus does a wicked man, when he prospers in the world,
think himself secure; his wealth is a <i>high wall in his own
conceit.</i> (2.) See this tree felled and forgotten
notwithstanding, <i>destroyed from his place</i> (<scripRef id="Job.ix-p14.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.18" parsed="|Job|8|18|0|0" passage="Job 8:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>), and so entirely
extirpated that there shall remain no sign or token where it grew.
The very place say, <i>I have not seen thee;</i> and the standers
by shall say the same. <i>I sought him, but he could not be
found,</i> <scripRef id="Job.ix-p14.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.36.36" parsed="|Ps|36|36|0|0" passage="Ps 36:36">Ps. xxxvi. 36</scripRef>.
He made a great show and a great noise for a time, but he is gone
of a sudden, and <i>neither root nor branch is left him,</i>
<scripRef id="Job.ix-p14.7" osisRef="Bible:Mal.4.1" parsed="|Mal|4|1|0|0" passage="Mal 4:1">Mal. iv. 1</scripRef>. <i>This is the
joy</i> (that is, this is the end and conclusion) <i>of the wicked
man's way</i> (<scripRef id="Job.ix-p14.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.19" parsed="|Job|8|19|0|0" passage="Job 8:19"><i>v.</i>
19</scripRef>); this is that which all his joy comes to. <i>The way
of the ungodly shall perish,</i> <scripRef id="Job.ix-p14.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.1.6" parsed="|Ps|1|6|0|0" passage="Ps 1:6">Ps. i.
6</scripRef>. His hope, he thought, would in the issue be turned
into joy; but this is the issue, this is the joy. <i>The harvest
shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow,</i>
<scripRef id="Job.ix-p14.10" osisRef="Bible:Isa.17.11" parsed="|Isa|17|11|0|0" passage="Isa 17:11">Isa. xvii. 11</scripRef>. This is the
best of it; and what then is the worst of it? But shall he not
leave a family behind him to enjoy what he has? No, <i>out of the
earth</i> (not out of his roots) <i>shall others grow,</i> that are
nothing akin to him, and shall fill up his place, and rule over
that for which he labored. Others (that is, others of the same
spirit and disposition) shall grow up in his place, and be as
secure as ever he was, not warned by his fall. The way of
worldlings is their folly, and yet there is a race of those that
<i>approve their sayings,</i> <scripRef id="Job.ix-p14.11" osisRef="Bible:Ps.49.13" parsed="|Ps|49|13|0|0" passage="Ps 49:13">Ps.
xlix. 13</scripRef>.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.ix-p14.12" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.20-Job.8.22" parsed="|Job|8|20|8|22" passage="Job 8:20-22" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.8.20-Job.8.22">
<p class="passage" id="Job.ix-p15">20 Behold, God will not cast away a perfect
<i>man,</i> neither will he help the evil doers:   21 Till he
fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing.  
22 They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the
dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.ix-p16">Bildad here, in the close of his discourse,
sums up what he has to say in a few words, setting before Job life
and death, the blessing and the curse, assuring him that as he was
so he should fare, and therefore they might conclude that as he
fared so he was. 1. On the one hand, if he were a perfect upright
man, God would not <i>cast him away,</i> <scripRef id="Job.ix-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.20" parsed="|Job|8|20|0|0" passage="Job 8:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. Though now he seemed forsaken
of God, he would yet return to him, and by degrees would <i>turn
his mourning into dancing</i> (<scripRef id="Job.ix-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.30.11" parsed="|Ps|30|11|0|0" passage="Ps 30:11">Ps.
xxx. 11</scripRef>) and comforts should flow in upon him so
plentifully that his <i>mouth</i> should be <i>filled with
laughing,</i> <scripRef id="Job.ix-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.21" parsed="|Job|8|21|0|0" passage="Job 8:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>.
So affecting should the happy change be, <scripRef id="Job.ix-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.126.2" parsed="|Ps|126|2|0|0" passage="Ps 126:2">Ps. cxxvi. 2</scripRef>. Those that loved him would
rejoice with him; but those that hated him, and had triumphed in
his fall, would be ashamed of their insolence, when they should see
him restored to his former prosperity. Now it is true that <i>God
will not cast away an upright man;</i> he may be cast down for a
time, but he shall not be cast away for ever. It is true that, if
not in this world, yet in another, the mouth of the righteous shall
be <i>filled with rejoicing.</i> Though their sun should set under
a cloud, yet it shall rise again clear, never more to be clouded;
though they go mourning to the grave, that shall not hinder their
entrance into the joy of their Lord. It is true that the enemies of
the saints will be <i>clothed with shame</i> when they see them
crowned with honour. But it does not therefore follow that, if Job
were not perfectly restored to his former prosperity, he would
forfeit the character of a perfect man. 2. On the other hand, if he
were a wicked man and an evil-doer, God would not help him, but
leave him to perish in his present distresses (<scripRef id="Job.ix-p16.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.20" parsed="|Job|8|20|0|0" passage="Job 8:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>), and his <i>dwelling-place</i>
should <i>come to nought,</i> <scripRef id="Job.ix-p16.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.22" parsed="|Job|8|22|0|0" passage="Job 8:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. And here also it is true that
God <i>will not help the evil-doers;</i> they throw themselves out
of his protection, and forfeit his favour. He <i>will not take the
ungodly by the hand</i> (so it is in the margin), will not have
fellowship and communion with them; for <i>what communion</i> can
there be <i>between light and darkness?</i> He will not lend them
his hand to pull them out of the miseries, the eternal miseries,
into which they have plunged themselves; they will then stretch out
their hand to him for help, but it will be too late: he will not
take them by the hand. <i>Between us and you there is a great gulf
fixed.</i> It is true that <i>the dwelling-place of the wicked,</i>
sooner or later, <i>will come to nought.</i> Those only <i>who make
God their dwelling-place</i> are safe for ever, <scripRef id="Job.ix-p16.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.90.1 Bible:Ps.91.1" parsed="|Ps|90|1|0|0;|Ps|91|1|0|0" passage="Ps 90:1,91:1">Ps. xc. 1; xci. 1</scripRef>. Those who make other
things their refuge will be disappointed. Sin brings ruin on
persons and families. Yet to argue (as Bildad, I doubt, slyly does)
that because Job's family was sunk, and he himself at present
seemed helpless, therefore he certainly was an ungodly wicked man,
was neither just nor charitable, as long as there appeared no other
evidence of his wickedness and ungodliness. Let us <i>judge nothing
before the time,</i> but wait till the secrets of all hearts shall
be made manifest, and the present difficulties of Providence be
solved to universal and everlasting satisfaction, when the
<i>mystery of God shall be finished.</i></p>
</div></div2>