mh_parser/vol_split/18 - Job/Chapter 2.xml

<div2 id="Job.iii" n="iii" next="Job.iv" prev="Job.ii" progress="1.44%" title="Chapter II">
<h2 id="Job.iii-p0.1">J O B</h2>
<h3 id="Job.iii-p0.2">CHAP. II.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Job.iii-p1">We left Job honourably acquitted upon a fair trial
between God and Satan concerning him. Satan had leave to touch, to
touch and take, all he had, and was confident that he would then
curse God to his face; but, on the contrary, he blessed him, and so
he was proved an honest man and Satan a false accuser. Now, one
would have thought, this would be conclusive, and that Job would
never have his reputation called in question again; but Job is
known to be armour of proof, and therefore is here set up for a
mark, and brought upon his trial, a second time. I. Satan moves for
another trial, which should touch his bone and his flesh, <scripRef id="Job.iii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.1-Job.2.5" parsed="|Job|2|1|2|5" passage="Job 2:1-5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. II. God, for holy ends,
permits it, <scripRef id="Job.iii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.6" parsed="|Job|2|6|0|0" passage="Job 2:6">ver. 6</scripRef>. III.
Satan smites him with a very painful and loathsome disease,
<scripRef id="Job.iii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.7-Job.2.8" parsed="|Job|2|7|2|8" passage="Job 2:7,8">ver. 7, 8</scripRef>. IV. His wife
tempts him to curse God, but he resists the temptation, <scripRef id="Job.iii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.9-Job.2.10" parsed="|Job|2|9|2|10" passage="Job 2:9,10">ver. 9, 10</scripRef>. V. His friends come to
condole with him and to comfort him, <scripRef id="Job.iii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.11-Job.2.13" parsed="|Job|2|11|2|13" passage="Job 2:11-13">ver. 11-13</scripRef>. And in this that good man is
set forth for an example of suffering affliction and of
patience.</p>
<scripCom id="Job.iii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.2" parsed="|Job|2|0|0|0" passage="Job 2" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Job.iii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.1-Job.2.6" parsed="|Job|2|1|2|6" passage="Job 2:1-6" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.2.1-Job.2.6">
<h4 id="Job.iii-p1.8">Satan Again Permitted to Afflict
Job. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.iii-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.iii-p2">1 Again there was a day when the sons of God
came to present themselves before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Job.iii-p2.1">Lord</span>, and Satan came also among them to present
himself before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Job.iii-p2.2">Lord</span>.   2
And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Job.iii-p2.3">Lord</span> said unto Satan, From
whence comest thou? And Satan answered the <span class="smallcaps" id="Job.iii-p2.4">Lord</span>, and said, From going to and fro in the
earth, and from walking up and down in it.   3 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Job.iii-p2.5">Lord</span> said unto Satan, Hast thou considered
my servant Job, that <i>there is</i> none like him in the earth, a
perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth
evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou
movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.   4 And
Satan answered the <span class="smallcaps" id="Job.iii-p2.6">Lord</span>, and said,
Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
  5 But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his
flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.   6 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Job.iii-p2.7">Lord</span> said unto Satan, Behold, he <i>is</i>
in thine hand; but save his life.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p3">Satan, that sworn enemy to God and all good
men, is here pushing forward his malicious prosecution of Job, whom
he hated because God loved him, and did all he could to separate
between him and his God, to sow discord and make mischief between
them, urging God to afflict him and then urging him to blaspheme
God. One would have thought that he had enough of his former
attempt upon Job, in which he was so shamefully baffled and
disappointed; but malice is restless: the devil and his instruments
are so. Those that calumniate good people, and accuse them falsely,
will have their saying, though the evidence to the contrary be ever
so plain and full and they have been cast in the issue which they
themselves have put it upon. Satan will have Job's cause called
over again. The malicious, unreasonable, importunity of that great
persecutor of the saints is represented (<scripRef id="Job.iii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Rev.12.10" parsed="|Rev|12|10|0|0" passage="Re 12:10">Rev. xii. 10</scripRef>) by his accusing them before our
God day and night, still repeating and urging that against them
which has been many a time answered: so did Satan here accuse Job
day after day. Here is,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p4">I. The court set, and the prosecutor, or
accuser, making his appearance (<scripRef id="Job.iii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.1-Job.2.2" parsed="|Job|2|1|2|2" passage="Job 2:1,2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>), as before, <scripRef id="Job.iii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.1.6-Job.1.7" parsed="|Job|1|6|1|7" passage="Job 1:6,7"><i>ch.</i> i. 6, 7</scripRef>. The angels
attended God's throne and Satan among them. One would have expected
him to come and confess his malice against Job and his mistake
concerning him, to cry, <i>Pecavi—I have done wrong,</i> for
belying one whom God spoke well of, and to beg pardon; but, instead
of that, he comes with a further design against Job. He is asked
the same question as before, <i>Whence comest thou?</i> and answers
as before, <i>From going to and fro in the earth;</i> as if he had
been doing no harm, though he had been abusing that good man.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p5">II. The judge himself of counsel for the
accused, and pleading for him (<scripRef id="Job.iii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.3" parsed="|Job|2|3|0|0" passage="Job 2:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): "<i>Hast thou considered my
servant Job</i> better than thou didst, and art thou now at length
convinced that he is a faithful servant of mine, <i>a perfect and
an upright man;</i> for thou seest he <i>still holds fast his
integrity?</i>" This is now added to his character, as a further
achievement; instead of letting go his religion, and cursing God,
he holds it faster than ever, as that which he has now more than
ordinary occasion for. He is the same in adversity that he was in
prosperity, and rather better, and more hearty and lively in
blessing God than ever he was, and takes root the faster for being
thus shaken. See, 1. How Satan is condemned for his allegations
against Job: "<i>Thou movedst me against him,</i> as an accuser,
<i>to destroy him without cause.</i>" Or, "Thou in vain movedst me
to destroy him, for I will never do that." Good men, when they are
<i>cast down,</i> are <i>not destroyed,</i> <scripRef id="Job.iii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.4.9" parsed="|2Cor|4|9|0|0" passage="2Co 4:9">2 Cor. iv. 9</scripRef>. How well is it for us that
neither men nor devils are to be our judges, for perhaps they would
destroy us, right or wrong; but our judgment proceeds from the
Lord, whose judgment never errs nor is biassed. 2. How Job is
commended for his constancy notwithstanding the attacks made upon
him: "Still he holds fast his integrity, as his weapon, and thou
canst not disarm him—as his treasure, and thou canst not rob him
of that; nay, thy endeavours to do it make him hold it the faster;
instead of losing ground by the temptation, he gets ground." God
speaks of it with wonder, and pleasure, and something of triumph in
the power of his own grace; <i>Still he holds fast his
integrity.</i> Thus the trial of Job's faith was found to his
<i>praise and honour,</i> <scripRef id="Job.iii-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.1.7" parsed="|1Pet|1|7|0|0" passage="1Pe 1:7">1 Pet. i.
7</scripRef>. Constancy crowns integrity.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p6">III. The accusation further prosecuted,
<scripRef id="Job.iii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.4" parsed="|Job|2|4|0|0" passage="Job 2:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. What excuse can
Satan make for the failure of his former attempt? What can he say
to palliate it, when he had been so very confident that he should
gain his point? Why, truly, he has this to say, <i>Skin for skin,
and all that a man has, will he give for his life.</i> Something of
truth there is in this, that self-love and self-preservation are
very powerful commanding principles in the hearts of men. Men love
themselves better than their nearest relations, even their
children, that are parts of themselves, will not only venture, but
give, their estates to save their lives. All account life sweet and
precious, and, while they are themselves in health and at ease,
they can keep trouble from their hearts, whatever they lose. We
ought to make a good use of this consideration, and, while God
continues to us our life and health and the use of our limbs and
senses, we should the more patiently bear the loss of other
comforts. See <scripRef id="Job.iii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.6.25" parsed="|Matt|6|25|0|0" passage="Mt 6:25">Matt. vi. 25</scripRef>.
But Satan grounds upon this an accusation of Job, slyly
representing him, 1. As unnatural to those about him, and one that
laid not to heart the death of his children and servants, nor cared
how many of them had their skins (as I may say) stripped over their
ears, so long as he slept in a whole skin himself; as if he that
was so tender of his children's souls could be careless of their
bodies, and, like the ostrich, hardened against his young ones, as
though they were not his. 2. As wholly selfish, and minding nothing
but his own ease and safety; as if his religion made him sour, and
morose, and ill-natured. Thus are the ways and people of God often
misrepresented by the devil and his agents.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p7">IV. A challenge given to make a further
trial of Job's integrity (<scripRef id="Job.iii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.5" parsed="|Job|2|5|0|0" passage="Job 2:5"><i>v.</i>
5</scripRef>): "<i>Put forth thy hand now</i> (for I find my hand
too short to reach him, and too weak to hurt him) <i>and touch his
bone and his flesh</i> (that is with him the only tender part,
<i>make him sick with smiting him,</i> <scripRef id="Job.iii-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Mic.6.13" parsed="|Mic|6|13|0|0" passage="Mic 6:13">Mic. vi. 13</scripRef>), and then, I dare say, <i>he
will curse thee to thy face,</i> and let go his integrity." Satan
knew it, and we find it by experience, that nothing is more likely
to ruffle the thoughts and put the mind into disorder than acute
pain and distemper of body. There is no disputing against sense.
St. Paul himself had much ado to bear a thorn in the flesh, nor
could he have borne it without special grace from Christ, <scripRef id="Job.iii-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.12.7 Bible:2Cor.12.9" parsed="|2Cor|12|7|0|0;|2Cor|12|9|0|0" passage="2Co 12:7,9">2 Cor. xii. 7, 9</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p8">V. A permission granted to Satan to make
this trial, <scripRef id="Job.iii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.6" parsed="|Job|2|6|0|0" passage="Job 2:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>.
Satan would have had God put forth his hand and do it; but he
<i>afflicts not willingly,</i> nor takes any pleasure in
<i>grieving the children of men,</i> much less his own children
(<scripRef id="Job.iii-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.33" parsed="|Lam|3|33|0|0" passage="La 3:33">Lam. iii. 33</scripRef>), and
therefore, if it must be done, let Satan do it, who delights in
such work: "<i>He is in thy hand,</i> do thy worst with him; but
with a proviso and limitation, <i>only save his life,</i> or his
soul. Afflict him, but not to death." Satan hunted for the precious
life, would have taken that if he might, in hopes that dying
agonies would force Job to curse his God; but God had mercy in
store for Job after this trial, and therefore he must survive it,
and, however he is afflicted, must have his life given him for a
prey. If God did not chain up the roaring lion, how soon would he
devour us! As far as he permits the wrath of Satan and wicked men
to proceed against his people he will make it turn to his praise
and theirs, and <i>the remainder thereof he will restrain,</i>
<scripRef id="Job.iii-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.76.10" parsed="|Ps|76|10|0|0" passage="Ps 76:10">Ps. lxxvi. 10</scripRef>. "Save his
soul," that is, "his reason" (so some), "preserve to him the use of
that, for otherwise it will be no fair trial; if, in his delirium,
he should curse God, that will be no disproof of his integrity. It
would be the language not of his heart, but of his distemper." Job,
in being thus maligned by Satan, was a type of Christ, the first
prophecy of whom was that Satan should <i>bruise his heel</i>
(<scripRef id="Job.iii-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.15" parsed="|Gen|3|15|0|0" passage="Ge 3:15">Gen. iii. 15</scripRef>), and so he
was foiled, as in Job's case. Satan tempted him to let go his
integrity, his adoption (<scripRef id="Job.iii-p8.5" osisRef="Bible:Matt.4.6" parsed="|Matt|4|6|0|0" passage="Mt 4:6">Matt. iv.
6</scripRef>): <i>If thou be the Son of God.</i> He entered into
the heart of Judas who betrayed Christ, and (some think) with his
terrors put Christ into his agony in the garden. He had permission
to touch his bone and his flesh without exception of his life,
because by dying he was to do that which Job could not
do—<i>destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the
devil.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.iii-p8.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.7-Job.2.10" parsed="|Job|2|7|2|10" passage="Job 2:7-10" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.2.7-Job.2.10">
<h4 id="Job.iii-p8.7">Job Smitten with Disease; The Affliction of
Job. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.iii-p8.8">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.iii-p9">7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.iii-p9.1">Lord</span>, and smote Job with sore boils
from the sole of his foot unto his crown.   8 And he took him
a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the
ashes.   9 Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain
thine integrity? curse God, and die.   10 But he said unto
her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What?
shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive
evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p10">The devil, having got leave to tear and
worry poor Job, presently fell to work with him, as a tormentor
first and then as a tempter. His own children he tempts first, and
draws them to sin, and afterwards torments, when thereby he has
brought them to ruin; but this child of God he tormented with an
affliction, and then tempted to make a bad use of his affliction.
That which he aimed at was to make Job curse God; now here we are
told what course he took both to move him to it and move it to him,
both to give him the provocation, else he would not have thought of
it: thus artfully in the temptation managed with all the subtlety
of the old serpent, who is here playing the same game against Job
that he played against our first parents (<scripRef id="Job.iii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.1-Gen.3.24" parsed="|Gen|3|1|3|24" passage="Ge 3:1-24">Gen. iii.</scripRef>), aiming to seduce him from his
allegiance to his God and to rob him of his integrity.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p11">I. He provokes him to curse God by smiting
him with sore boils, and so making him a burden to himself,
<scripRef id="Job.iii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.7-Job.2.8" parsed="|Job|2|7|2|8" passage="Job 2:7,8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>. The former
attack was extremely violent, but Job kept his ground, bravely made
good the pass and carried the day. Yet he is still but girding on
the harness; there is worse behind. The clouds return after the
rain. Satan, by the divine permission, follows his blow, and now
<i>deep calls unto deep.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p12">1. The disease with which Job was seized
was very grievous: Satan <i>smote him with boils, sore boils,</i>
all over him, from head to foot, with <i>an evil inflammation</i>
(so some render it), an erysipelas, perhaps, in a higher degree.
One boil, when it is gathering, is torment enough, and gives a man
abundance of pain and uneasiness. What a condition was Job then in,
that had boils all over him, and no part free, and those as of
raging a heat as the devil could make them, and, as it were, <i>set
on fire of hell!</i> The small-pox is a very grievous and painful
disease, and would be much more terrible than it is but that we
know the extremity of it ordinarily lasts but a few days; how
grievous then was the disease of Job, who was smitten all over with
sore boils or grievous ulcers, which made him sick at heart, put
him to exquisite torture, and so spread themselves over him that he
could lie down no way for any ease. If at any time we be exercised
with sore and grievous distempers, let us not think ourselves dealt
with any otherwise than as God has sometimes dealt with the best of
his saints and servants. We know not how much Satan may have a hand
(by divine permission) in the diseases with which the children of
men, and especially the children of God, are afflicted, what
infections that prince of the air may spread, what inflammations
may come from that fiery serpent. We read of one whom Satan had
bound many years, <scripRef id="Job.iii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Luke.13.16" parsed="|Luke|13|16|0|0" passage="Lu 13:16">Luke xiii.
16</scripRef>. Should God suffer that roaring lion to have his will
against any of us, how miserable would he soon make us!</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p13">2. His management of himself, in this
distemper, was very strange, <scripRef id="Job.iii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.8" parsed="|Job|2|8|0|0" passage="Job 2:8"><i>v.</i>
8</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p14">(1.) Instead of healing salves, <i>he took
a potsherd,</i> a piece of a broken pitcher, <i>to scrape himself
withal.</i> A very sad pass this poor man had come to. When a man
is sick and sore he may bear it the better if he be well tended and
carefully looked after. Many rich people have with a soft and
tender hand charitably ministered to the poor in such a condition
as this; even Lazarus had some ease from the tongues of the dogs
that came and <i>licked his sores;</i> but poor Job has no help
afforded him. [1.] Nothing is done to his sore but what he does
himself, with his own hands. His children and servants are all
dead, his wife unkind, <scripRef id="Job.iii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.17" parsed="|Job|19|17|0|0" passage="Job 19:17"><i>ch.</i>
xix. 17</scripRef>. He has not wherewithal to fee a physician or
surgeon; and, which is most sad of all, none of those he had
formerly been kind to had so much sense of honour and gratitude as
to minister to him in his distress, and lend him a hand to dress or
wipe his running sores, either because the disease was loathsome
and noisome or because they apprehended it to be infectious. Thus
it was in the former days, as it will be in the last days, men were
<i>lovers of their own selves, unthankful, and without natural
affection.</i> [2.] All that he does to his sores is to <i>scrape
them;</i> they are not bound up with soft rags, not mollified with
ointment, not washed or kept clean, no healing plasters laid on
them, no opiates, no anodynes, ministered to the poor patient, to
alleviate the pain and compose him to rest, nor any cordials to
support his spirits; all the operation is the scraping of the
ulcers, which, when they had come to a head and began to die, made
his body all over like a scurf, as is usual in the end of the
small-pox. It would have been an endless thing to dress his boils
one by one; he therefore resolves thus to do it by wholesale—a
remedy which one would think as bad as the disease. [3.] He has
nothing to do this with but a <i>potsherd,</i> no surgeon's
instrument proper for the purpose, but that which would rather rake
into his wounds, and add to his pain, than give him any ease.
People that are sick and sore have need to be under the discipline
and direction of others, for they are often but bad managers of
themselves.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p15">(2.) Instead of reposing in a soft and warm
bed, he <i>sat down among the ashes.</i> Probably he had a bed left
him (for, though his fields were stripped, we do not find that his
house was burnt or plundered), but he chose to sit in the ashes,
either because he was weary of his bed or because he would put
himself into the place and posture of a penitent, who, in token of
his self-abhorrence, lay in dust and ashes, <scripRef id="Job.iii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.6 Bible:Isa.58.5 Bible:Jonah.3.6" parsed="|Job|42|6|0|0;|Isa|58|5|0|0;|Jonah|3|6|0|0" passage="Job 42:6,Isa 58:5,Jon 3:6"><i>ch.</i> xlii. 6; Isa. lviii. 5;
Jonah iii. 6</scripRef>. Thus did he humble himself under the
mighty hand of God, and bring his mind to the meanness and poverty
of his condition. He complains (<scripRef id="Job.iii-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.5" parsed="|Job|7|5|0|0" passage="Job 7:5"><i>ch.</i> vii. 5</scripRef>) that his flesh was
<i>clothed with worms</i> and <i>clods of dust;</i> and therefore
<i>dust to dust, ashes to ashes.</i> If God lay him among the
ashes, there he will contentedly sit down. A low spirit becomes low
circumstances, and will help to reconcile us to them. The LXX.
reads it, He sat <i>down upon a dunghill without the city</i>
(which is commonly said, in mentioning this story); but the
original says no more than that he sat <i>in the midst of the
ashes,</i> which he might do in his own house.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p16">II. He urges him, by the persuasions of his
own wife, to curse God, <scripRef id="Job.iii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.9" parsed="|Job|2|9|0|0" passage="Job 2:9"><i>v.</i>
9</scripRef>. The Jews (who covet much to be wise above what is
written) say that Job's wife was Dinah, Jacob's daughter: so the
Chaldee paraphrase. It is not likely that she was; but, whoever it
was, she was to him like Michal to David, a scoffer at his piety.
She was spared to him, when the rest of his comforts were taken
away, for this purpose, to be a troubler and tempter to him. If
Satan leaves any thing that he has permission to take away, it is
with a design of mischief. It is his policy to send his temptations
by the hand of those that are dear to us, as he tempted Adam by Eve
and Christ by Peter. We must therefore carefully watch that we be
not drawn to say or do a wrong thing by the influence, interest, or
entreaty, of any, no, not those for whose opinion and favour we
have ever so great a value. Observe how strong this temptation was.
1. She banters Job for his constancy in his religion: "<i>Dost thou
still retain thy integrity?</i> Art thou so very obstinate in thy
religion that nothing will cure thee of it? so tame and sheepish as
thus to truckle to a God who is so far from rewarding thy services
with marks of his favour that he seems to take a pleasure in making
thee miserable, strips thee, and scourges thee, without any
provocation given? Is this a God to be still loved, and blessed,
and served?"</p>
<verse id="Job.iii-p16.2">
<l class="t1" id="Job.iii-p16.3">Dost thou not see that thy devotion's vain?</l>
<l class="t1" id="Job.iii-p16.4">What have thy prayers procured but woe and pain?</l>
<l class="t1" id="Job.iii-p16.5">Hast thou not yet thy int'rest understood?</l>
<l class="t1" id="Job.iii-p16.6">Perversely righteous, and absurdly good?</l>
<l class="t1" id="Job.iii-p16.7">Those painful sores, and all thy losses, show</l>
<l class="t1" id="Job.iii-p16.8">How Heaven regards the foolish saint below.</l>
<l class="t1" id="Job.iii-p16.9">Incorrigibly pious! Can't thy God</l>
<l class="t1" id="Job.iii-p16.10">Reform thy stupid virtue with his rod?</l>
</verse>
<attr id="Job.iii-p16.11">Sir <span class="smallcaps" id="Job.iii-p16.12">R. Blackmore</span>.</attr>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p17">Thus Satan still endeavours to draw men
from God, as he did our first parents, by suggesting hard thoughts
of him, as one that envies the happiness and delights in the misery
of his creatures, than which nothing is more false. Another
artifice he uses is to drive men from their religion by loading
them with scoffs and reproaches for their adherence to it. We have
reason to expect it, but we are fools if we heed it. Our Master
himself has undergone it, we shall be abundantly recompensed for
it, and with much more reason may we retort it upon the scoffers,
"Are you such fools as still to retain your impiety, when you might
<i>bless God and live?</i>" 2. She urges him to renounce his
religion, to blaspheme God, set him at defiance, and dare him to do
his worst: "<i>Curse God and die;</i> live no longer in dependence
upon God, wait not for relief from him, but be thy own deliverer by
being thy own executioner; end thy troubles by ending thy life;
better die once than be always dying thus; thou mayest now despair
of having any help from thy God, even curse him, and hang thyself."
These are two of the blackest and most horrid of all Satan's
temptations, and yet such as good men have sometimes been violently
assaulted with. Nothing is more contrary to natural conscience than
blaspheming God, nor to natural sense than self-murder; therefore
the suggestion of either of these may well be suspected to come
immediately from Satan. Lord, <i>lead us not into temptation,</i>
not into such, not into any temptation, but <i>deliver us from the
evil one.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p18">III. He bravely resists and overcomes the
temptation, <scripRef id="Job.iii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.10" parsed="|Job|2|10|0|0" passage="Job 2:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>.
He soon gave her an answer (for Satan spared him the use of his
tongue, in hopes he would curse God with it), which showed his
constant resolution to cleave to God, to keep his good thoughts of
him, and not to let go his integrity. See,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p19">1. How he resented the temptation. He was
very indignant at having such a thing mentioned to him: "What!
Curse God? I abhor the thought of it. <i>Get thee behind me,
Satan.</i>" In other cases Job reasoned with his wife with a great
deal of mildness, even when she was unkind to him (<scripRef id="Job.iii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.17" parsed="|Job|19|17|0|0" passage="Job 19:17"><i>ch.</i> xix. 17</scripRef>): <i>I entreated
her for the children's sake of my own body.</i> But, when she
persuaded him to curse God, he was much displeased: <i>Thou
speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh.</i> He does not call
her <i>a fool</i> and <i>an atheist,</i> nor does he break out into
any indecent expressions of his displeasure, as those who are sick
and sore are apt to do, and think they may be excused; but he shows
her the evil of what she said, and she spoke the language of the
infidels and idolaters, who, when they are <i>hardly bestead, fret
themselves, and curse their king and their God,</i> <scripRef id="Job.iii-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.8.21" parsed="|Isa|8|21|0|0" passage="Isa 8:21">Isa. viii. 21</scripRef>. We have reason to
suppose that in such a pious household as Job had his wife was one
that had been well affected to religion, but that now, when all
their estate and comfort were gone, she could not bear the loss
with that temper of mind that Job had; but that she should go about
to infect his mind with her wretched distemper was a great
provocation to him, and he could not forbear thus showing his
resentment. Note, (1.) Those are angry and sin not who are angry
only at sin and take a temptation as the greatest affront, who
<i>cannot bear those that are evil,</i> <scripRef id="Job.iii-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Rev.2.2" parsed="|Rev|2|2|0|0" passage="Re 2:2">Rev. ii. 2</scripRef>. When Peter was a Satan to Christ he
told him plainly, <i>Thou art an offence to me.</i> (2.) If those
whom we think wise and good at any time speak that which is foolish
and bad, we ought to reprove them faithfully for it and show them
the evil of what they say, that we suffer not sin upon them. (3.)
Temptations to curse God ought to be rejected with the greatest
abhorrence, and not so much as to be parleyed with. Whoever
persuades us to that must be looked upon as our enemy, to whom if
we yield it is at our peril. Job did not curse God and then think to
come off with Adam's excuse: "<i>The woman whom thou gavest to be
with me</i> persuaded me to do it" (<scripRef id="Job.iii-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.12" parsed="|Gen|3|12|0|0" passage="Ge 3:12">Gen. iii. 12</scripRef>), which had in it a tacit
reflection on God, his ordinance and providence. No; if thou
scornest, if thou cursest, thou alone shalt bear it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p20">2. How he reasoned against the temptation:
<i>Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not
receive evil also?</i> Those whom we reprove we must endeavour to
convince; and it is no hard matter to give a reason why we should
still hold fast our integrity even when we are stripped of every
thing else. He considers that, though good and evil are contraries,
yet they do not come from contrary causes, but both from the hand
of God (<scripRef id="Job.iii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.45.7 Bible:Lam.3.38" parsed="|Isa|45|7|0|0;|Lam|3|38|0|0" passage="Isa 45:7,La 3:38">Isa. xlv. 7, Lam. iii.
38</scripRef>), and therefore that in both we must have our eye up
unto him, with thankfulness for the good he sends and without
fretfulness at the evil. Observe the force of his argument.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p21">(1.) What he argues for, not only the
bearing, but the receiving of evil: <i>Shall we not receive
evil,</i> that is, [1.] "Shall we not expect to receive it? If God
give us so many good things, shall we be surprised, or think it
strange, if he sometimes afflict us, when he has told us that
prosperity and adversity are set the one over against the other?"
<scripRef id="Job.iii-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.4.12" parsed="|1Pet|4|12|0|0" passage="1Pe 4:12">1 Pet. iv. 12</scripRef>. [2.] "Shall
we not set ourselves to receive it aright?" The word signifies to
receive as a gift, and denotes a pious affection and disposition of
soul under our afflictions, neither despising them nor fainting
under them, accounting them gifts (<scripRef id="Job.iii-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Phil.1.29" parsed="|Phil|1|29|0|0" passage="Php 1:29">Phil. i. 29</scripRef>), accepting them as punishments
of our iniquity (<scripRef id="Job.iii-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.41" parsed="|Lev|26|41|0|0" passage="Le 26:41">Lev. xxvi.
41</scripRef>), acquiescing in the will of God in them ("Let him do
with me as seemeth him good"), and accommodating ourselves to them,
as those that know how to want as well as how to abound, <scripRef id="Job.iii-p21.4" osisRef="Bible:Phil.4.12" parsed="|Phil|4|12|0|0" passage="Php 4:12">Phil. iv. 12</scripRef>. When the heart is
humbled and weaned, by humbling weaning providence, then we
<i>receive correction</i> (<scripRef id="Job.iii-p21.5" osisRef="Bible:Zeph.3.2" parsed="|Zeph|3|2|0|0" passage="Zep 3:2">Zeph. iii.
2</scripRef>) and take up our cross.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p22">(2.) What he argues from: "Shall we receive
so much good as has come to us from the hand of God during all
those years of peace and prosperity that we have lived, and shall
we not now receive evil, when God thinks fit to lay it on us?"
Note, The consideration of the mercies we receive from God, both
past and present, should make us receive our afflictions with a
suitable disposition of spirit. If we receive our share of the
common good in the seven years of plenty, shall we not receive our
share of the common evil in the years of famine? <i>Qui sentit
commodum, sentire debet et onus—he who feels the privilege, should
prepare for the privation.</i> If we have so much that pleases us,
why should we not be content with that which pleases God? If we
receive so many comforts, shall we not receive some afflictions,
which will serve as foils to our comforts, to make them the more
valuable (we are taught the worth of mercies by being made to want
them sometimes), and as allays to our comforts, to make them the
less dangerous, to keep the balance even, and to prevent our being
<i>lifted up above measure?</i> <scripRef id="Job.iii-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.12.7" parsed="|2Cor|12|7|0|0" passage="2Co 12:7">2 Cor.
xii. 7</scripRef>. If we receive so much good for the body, shall
we not receive some good for the soul; that is, some afflictions,
by which we partake of God's holiness (<scripRef id="Job.iii-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.10" parsed="|Heb|12|10|0|0" passage="Heb 12:10">Heb. xii. 10</scripRef>), something which, by saddening
the countenance, makes the heart better? Let murmuring therefore,
as well as boasting, be for ever excluded.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p23">IV. Thus, in a good measure, Job still held
fast his integrity, and Satan's design against him was defeated:
<i>In all this did not Job sin with his lips;</i> he not only said
this well, but all he said at this time was under the government of
religion and right reason. In the midst of all these grievances he
did not speak a word amiss; and we have no reason to think but that
he also preserved a good temper of mind, so that, though there
might be some stirrings and risings of corruption in his heart, yet
grace got the upper hand and he took care that the root of
bitterness might not spring up to trouble him, <scripRef id="Job.iii-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.15" parsed="|Heb|12|15|0|0" passage="Heb 12:15">Heb. xii. 15</scripRef>. The <i>abundance of his
heart</i> was for God, produced good things, and suppressed the
evil that was there, which was out-voted by the better side. If he
did think any evil, yet he <i>laid his hand upon his mouth</i>
(<scripRef id="Job.iii-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.30.32" parsed="|Prov|30|32|0|0" passage="Pr 30:32">Prov. xxx. 32</scripRef>), stifled
the evil thought and let it go no further, by which it appeared,
not only that he had true grace, but that it was strong and
victorious: in short, that he had not forfeited the character of a
<i>perfect and upright man;</i> for so <i>he</i> appears to be who,
in the midst of such temptations, <i>offends not in word,</i>
<scripRef id="Job.iii-p23.3" osisRef="Bible:Jas.3.2 Bible:Ps.17.3" parsed="|Jas|3|2|0|0;|Ps|17|3|0|0" passage="Jam 3:2,Ps 17:3">Jam. iii. 2; Ps. xvii.
3</scripRef>.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.iii-p23.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.11-Job.2.13" parsed="|Job|2|11|2|13" passage="Job 2:11-13" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.2.11-Job.2.13">
<h4 id="Job.iii-p23.5">Job Visited by His Friends. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.iii-p23.6">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.iii-p24">11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all
this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own
place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the
Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to
mourn with him and to comfort him.   12 And when they lifted
up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their
voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled
dust upon their heads toward heaven.   13 So they sat down
with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none
spake a word unto him: for they saw that <i>his</i> grief was very
great.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p25">We have here an account of the kind visit
which Job's three friends paid him in his affliction. The news of
his extraordinary troubles spread into all parts, he being an
eminent man both for greatness and goodness, and the circumstances
of his troubles being very uncommon. Some, who were his enemies,
triumphed in his calamities, <scripRef id="Job.iii-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.16.10 Bible:Job.19.18 Bible:Job.30.1" parsed="|Job|16|10|0|0;|Job|19|18|0|0;|Job|30|1|0|0" passage="Job 16:10,19:18,30:1"><i>ch.</i> xvi. 10; xix. 18; xxx.
1</scripRef>, &amp;c. Perhaps they made ballads on him. But his
friends concerned themselves for him, and endeavoured to comfort
him. <i>A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for
adversity.</i> Three of them are here named (<scripRef id="Job.iii-p25.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.11" parsed="|Job|2|11|0|0" passage="Job 2:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.
We shall afterwards meet with a fourth, who it should seem was
present at the whole conference, namely, Elihu. Whether he came as
a friend of Job or only as an auditor does not appear. These three
are said to be his <i>friends,</i> his intimate acquaintance, as
David and Solomon had each of them one in their court that was
called <i>the king's friend.</i> These three were eminently wise
and good men, as appears by their discourses. They were old men,
very old, had a great reputation for knowledge, and much deference
was paid to their judgment, <scripRef id="Job.iii-p25.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.32.6" parsed="|Job|32|6|0|0" passage="Job 32:6"><i>ch.</i>
xxxii. 6</scripRef>. It is probable that they were men of figure in
their country-princes, or heads of houses. Now observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p26">I. That Job, in his prosperity, had
contracted a friendship with them. If they were his equals, yet he
had not that jealousy of them—if his inferiors, yet he had not
that disdain of them, which was any hindrance to an intimate
converse and correspondence with them. To have such friends added
more to his happiness in the day of his prosperity than all the
head of cattle he was master of. Much of the comfort of this life
lies in acquaintance and friendship with those that are prudent and
virtuous; and he that has a few such friends ought to value them
highly. Job's three friends are supposed to have been all of them
of the posterity of Abraham, which, for some descents, even in the
families that were shut out from the covenant of peculiarity,
retained some good fruits of that pious education which the father
of the faithful gave to those under his charge. Eliphaz descended
from Teman, the grandson of Esau (<scripRef id="Job.iii-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.36.11" parsed="|Gen|36|11|0|0" passage="Ge 36:11">Gen.
xxxvi. 11</scripRef>), Bildad (it is probable) from Shuah,
Abraham's son by Keturah, <scripRef id="Job.iii-p26.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.2" parsed="|Gen|25|2|0|0" passage="Ge 25:2">Gen. xxv.
2</scripRef>. Zophar is thought by some to be the same with Zepho,
a descendant from Esau, <scripRef id="Job.iii-p26.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.11" parsed="|Gen|26|11|0|0" passage="Ge 26:11">Gen. xxvi.
11</scripRef>. The preserving of so much wisdom and piety among
those that were strangers to the covenants of promise was a happy
presage of God's grace to the Gentiles, when the partition-wall
should in the latter days be taken down. Esau was rejected; yet
many that came from him inherited some of the best blessings.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p27">II. That they continued their friendship
with Job in his adversity, when most of his friends had forsaken
him, <scripRef id="Job.iii-p27.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.14" parsed="|Job|19|14|0|0" passage="Job 19:14"><i>ch.</i> xix. 14</scripRef>.
In two ways they showed their friendship:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p28">1. By the kind visit they paid him in his
affliction, to mourn with him and to comfort him, <scripRef id="Job.iii-p28.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.11" parsed="|Job|2|11|0|0" passage="Job 2:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. Probably they had been
wont to visit him in his prosperity, not to hunt or hawk with him,
not to dance or play at cards with him, but to entertain and edify
themselves with his learned and pious converse; and now that he was
in adversity they come to share with him in his griefs, as formerly
they had come to share with him in his comforts. These were wise
men, whose <i>heart was in the house of mourning,</i> <scripRef id="Job.iii-p28.2" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.7.4" parsed="|Eccl|7|4|0|0" passage="Ec 7:4">Eccl. vii. 4</scripRef>. Visiting the afflicted,
sick or sore, fatherless or childless, in their sorrow, is made a
branch of <i>pure religion and undefiled</i> (<scripRef id="Job.iii-p28.3" osisRef="Bible:Jas.1.27" parsed="|Jas|1|27|0|0" passage="Jam 1:27">Jam. i. 27</scripRef>), and, if done from a good
principle, will be abundantly recompensed shortly, <scripRef id="Job.iii-p28.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.25.36" parsed="|Matt|25|36|0|0" passage="Mt 25:36">Matt. xxv. 36</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p29">(1.) By visiting the sons and daughters of
affliction we may contribute to the improvement, [1.] Of our own
graces; for many a good lesson is to be learned from the troubles
of others; we may look upon them and receive instruction, and be
made wise and serious. [2.] Of their comforts. By putting a respect
upon them we encourage them, and some good word may be spoken to
them which may help to make them easy. Job's friends came, not to
satisfy their curiosity with an account of his troubles and the
strangeness of the circumstances of them, much less, as David's
false friends, to make invidious remarks upon him (<scripRef id="Job.iii-p29.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.41.6-Ps.41.8" parsed="|Ps|41|6|41|8" passage="Ps 41:6-8">Ps. xli. 6-8</scripRef>), but to mourn with
him, to mingle their tears with his, and so to comfort him. It is
much more pleasant to visit those in affliction to whom comfort
belongs than those to whom we must first speak conviction.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p30">(2.) Concerning these visitants observe,
[1.] That they were not sent for, but came of their own accord
(<scripRef id="Job.iii-p30.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.22" parsed="|Job|6|22|0|0" passage="Job 6:22"><i>ch.</i> vi. 22</scripRef>), whence
Mr. Caryl observes that <i>it is good manners to be an unbidden
guest at the house of mourning,</i> and, in comforting our friends,
to anticipate their invitations. [2.] That they made an appointment
to come. Note, Good people should make appointments among
themselves for doing good, so exciting and binding one another to
it, and assisting and encouraging one another in it. For the
carrying on of any pious design let hand join in hand. [3.] That
they came with a design (and we have reason to think it was a
sincere design) to comfort him, and yet proved miserable
comforters, through their unskilful management of his case. Many
that aim well do, by mistake, come short of their aim.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p31">2. By their tender sympathy with him and
concern for him in his affliction. When they saw him at some
distance he was so disfigured and deformed with his sores that
<i>they knew him not,</i> <scripRef id="Job.iii-p31.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.12" parsed="|Job|2|12|0|0" passage="Job 2:12"><i>v.</i>
12</scripRef>. His face was <i>foul with weeping</i> (<scripRef id="Job.iii-p31.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.16.16" parsed="|Job|16|16|0|0" passage="Job 16:16"><i>ch.</i> xvi. 16</scripRef>), like
Jerusalem's Nazarites, which had been <i>ruddy as the rubies,</i>
but were now <i>blacker than a coal,</i> <scripRef id="Job.iii-p31.3" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.7-Lam.4.8" parsed="|Lam|4|7|4|8" passage="La 4:7,8">Lam. iv. 7, 8</scripRef>. What a change will a sore
disease, or, without that, oppressing care and grief, make in the
countenance, in a little time! <i>Is this Naomi?</i> <scripRef id="Job.iii-p31.4" osisRef="Bible:Ruth.1.19" parsed="|Ruth|1|19|0|0" passage="Ru 1:19">Ruth i. 19</scripRef>. So, <i>Is this Job?</i>
How hast thou fallen! How is thy glory stained and sullied, and all
thy honour laid in the dust! God fits us for such changes!
Observing him thus miserably altered, they did not leave him, in a
fright or loathing, but expressed so much the more tenderness
towards him. (1.) Coming to mourn with him, they vented their
undissembled grief in all the then usual expressions of that
passion. <i>They wept</i> aloud; the sight of them (as is usual)
revived Job's grief, and set him a weeping afresh, which fetched
floods of tears from their eyes. <i>They rent their clothes, and
sprinkled dust upon their heads,</i> as men that would strip
themselves, and abase themselves, with their friend that was
stripped and abased. (2.) Coming to comfort him, <i>they sat down
with him upon the ground,</i> for so he received visits; and they,
not in compliment to him, but in true compassion, put themselves
into the same humble and uneasy place and posture. They had many a
time, it is likely, sat with him on his couches and at his table,
in his prosperity, and were therefore willing to share with him in
his grief and poverty because they had shared with him in his joy
and plenty. It was not a modish short visit that they made him,
just to look upon him and be gone; but, as those that could have
had no enjoyment of themselves if they had returned to their place
while their friend was in so much misery, they resolved to stay
with him till they saw him mend or end, and therefore took lodgings
near him, though he was not now able to entertain them as he had
done, and they must therefore bear their own charges. Every day,
for seven days together, at the house in which he admitted company,
they came and sat with him, as his companions in tribulation, and
exceptions from that rule, <i>Nullus ad amissas ibit amicus
opes—Those who have lost their wealth are not to expect the visits
of their friends.</i> They sat with him, but <i>none spoke a
word</i> to him, only they all attended to the particular
narratives he gave of his troubles. They were silent, as men
astonished and amazed. <i>Curæ leves loquuntur, ingentes
stupent—Our lighter griefs have a voice; those which are more
oppressive are mute.</i></p>
<verse id="Job.iii-p31.5">
<l class="t1" id="Job.iii-p31.6">So long a time they held their peace, to show</l>
<l class="t1" id="Job.iii-p31.7">A reverence due to such prodigious woe.</l>
</verse>
<attr id="Job.iii-p31.8">Sir <span class="smallcaps" id="Job.iii-p31.9">R. Blackmore</span>.</attr>
<p class="indent" id="Job.iii-p32">They spoke not a word to him, whatever they
said one to another, by way of instruction, for the improvement of
the present providence. They said nothing to that purport to which
afterwards they said much—nothing to grieve him (<scripRef id="Job.iii-p32.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.4.2" parsed="|Job|4|2|0|0" passage="Job 4:2"><i>ch.</i> iv. 2</scripRef>), because they saw
his grief was very great already, and they were loth at first to
add affliction to the afflicted. There is a <i>time to keep
silence,</i> when either <i>the wicked is before us,</i> and by
speaking we may harden them (<scripRef id="Job.iii-p32.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.39.1" parsed="|Ps|39|1|0|0" passage="Ps 39:1">Ps. xxxix.
1</scripRef>), or when by speaking we may <i>offend the generation
of God's children,</i> <scripRef id="Job.iii-p32.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.15" parsed="|Ps|73|15|0|0" passage="Ps 73:15">Ps. lxxiii.
15</scripRef>. Their not entering upon the following solemn
discourses till the seventh day may perhaps intimate that it was
the sabbath day, which doubtless was observed in the patriarchal
age, and to that day they adjourned the intended conference,
because probably then company resorted, as usual, to Job's house,
to join with him in his devotions, who might be edified by the
discourse. Or, rather, by their silence so long they would intimate
that what they afterwards said was well considered and digested and
the result of many thoughts. <i>The heart of the wise studies to
answer.</i> We should think twice before we speak once, especially
in such a case as this, think long, and we shall be the better able
to speak short and to the purpose.</p>
</div></div2>