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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>J O B</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. II.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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We left Job honourably acquitted upon a fair trial between God and
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Satan concerning him. Satan had leave to touch, to touch and take, all
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he had, and was confident that he would then curse God to his face;
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but, on the contrary, he blessed him, and so he was proved an honest
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man and Satan a false accuser. Now, one would have thought, this would
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be conclusive, and that Job would never have his reputation called in
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question again; but Job is known to be armour of proof, and therefore
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is here set up for a mark, and brought upon his trial, a second time.
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I. Satan moves for another trial, which should touch his bone and his
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flesh,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+2:1-5">ver. 1-5</A>.
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II. God, for holy ends, permits it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+2:6">ver. 6</A>.
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III. Satan smites him with a very painful and loathsome disease,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+2:7,8">ver. 7, 8</A>.
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IV. His wife tempts him to curse God, but he resists the temptation,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+2:9,10">ver. 9, 10</A>.
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V. His friends come to condole with him and to comfort him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+2:11-13">ver. 11-13</A>.
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And in this that good man is set forth for an example of suffering
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affliction and of patience.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Job2_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job2_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job2_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job2_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job2_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job2_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Satan Again Permitted to Afflict Job.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1520.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present
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themselves before the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and Satan came also among them to
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present himself before the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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2 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And
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Satan answered the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and said, From going to and fro in the
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earth, and from walking up and down in it.
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3 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant
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Job, that <I>there is</I> none like him in the earth, a perfect and an
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upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still
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he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against
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him, to destroy him without cause.
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4 And Satan answered the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and said, Skin for skin, yea,
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all that a man hath will he give for his life.
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5 But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his
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flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
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6 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> said unto Satan, Behold, he <I>is</I> in thine hand;
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but save his life.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Satan, that sworn enemy to God and all good men, is here pushing
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forward his malicious prosecution of Job, whom he hated because God
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loved him, and did all he could to separate between him and his God, to
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sow discord and make mischief between them, urging God to afflict him
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and then urging him to blaspheme God. One would have thought that he
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had enough of his former attempt upon Job, in which he was so
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shamefully baffled and disappointed; but malice is restless: the devil
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and his instruments are so. Those that calumniate good people, and
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accuse them falsely, will have their saying, though the evidence to the
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contrary be ever so plain and full and they have been cast in the issue
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which they themselves have put it upon. Satan will have Job's cause
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called over again. The malicious, unreasonable, importunity of that
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great persecutor of the saints is represented
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+12:10">Rev. xii. 10</A>)
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by his accusing them before our God day and night, still repeating and
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urging that against them which has been many a time answered: so did
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Satan here accuse Job day after day. Here is,</P>
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<P>
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I. The court set, and the prosecutor, or accuser, making his appearance
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+2:1,2"><I>v.</I> 1, 2</A>),
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as before,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+1:6,7"><I>ch.</I> i. 6, 7</A>.
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The angels attended God's throne and Satan among them. One would have
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expected him to come and confess his malice against Job and his mistake
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concerning him, to cry, <I>Pecavi--I have done wrong,</I> for belying
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one whom God spoke well of, and to beg pardon; but, instead of that, he
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comes with a further design against Job. He is asked the same question
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as before, <I>Whence comest thou?</I> and answers as before, <I>From
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going to and fro in the earth;</I> as if he had been doing no harm,
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though he had been abusing that good man.</P>
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<P>
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II. The judge himself of counsel for the accused, and pleading for him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+2:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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"<I>Hast thou considered my servant Job</I> better than thou didst, and
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art thou now at length convinced that he is a faithful servant of mine,
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<I>a perfect and an upright man;</I> for thou seest he <I>still holds
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fast his integrity?</I>" This is now added to his character, as a
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further achievement; instead of letting go his religion, and cursing
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God, he holds it faster than ever, as that which he has now more than
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ordinary occasion for. He is the same in adversity that he was in
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prosperity, and rather better, and more hearty and lively in blessing
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God than ever he was, and takes root the faster for being thus shaken.
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See,
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1. How Satan is condemned for his allegations against Job: "<I>Thou
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movedst me against him,</I> as an accuser, <I>to destroy him without
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cause.</I>" Or, "Thou in vain movedst me to destroy him, for I will
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never do that." Good men, when they are <I>cast down,</I> are <I>not
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destroyed,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+4:9">2 Cor. iv. 9</A>.
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How well is it for us that neither men nor devils are to be our judges,
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for perhaps they would destroy us, right or wrong; but our judgment
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proceeds from the Lord, whose judgment never errs nor is biassed.
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2. How Job is commended for his constancy notwithstanding the attacks
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made upon him: "Still he holds fast his integrity, as his weapon, and
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thou canst not disarm him--as his treasure, and thou canst not rob him
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of that; nay, thy endeavours to do it make him hold it the faster;
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instead of losing ground by the temptation, he gets ground." God speaks
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of it with wonder, and pleasure, and something of triumph in the power
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of his own grace; <I>Still he holds fast his integrity.</I> Thus the
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trial of Job's faith was found to his <I>praise and honour,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+1:7">1 Pet. i. 7</A>.
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Constancy crowns integrity.</P>
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<P>
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III. The accusation further prosecuted,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+2:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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What excuse can Satan make for the failure of his former attempt? What
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can he say to palliate it, when he had been so very confident that he
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should gain his point? Why, truly, he has this to say, <I>Skin for
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skin, and all that a man has, will he give for his life.</I> Something
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of truth there is in this, that self-love and self-preservation are
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very powerful commanding principles in the hearts of men. Men love
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themselves better than their nearest relations, even their children,
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that are parts of themselves, will not only venture, but give, their
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estates to save their lives. All account life sweet and precious, and,
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while they are themselves in health and at ease, they can keep trouble
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from their hearts, whatever they lose. We ought to make a good use of
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this consideration, and, while God continues to us our life and health
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and the use of our limbs and senses, we should the more patiently bear
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the loss of other comforts. See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+6:25">Matt. vi. 25</A>.
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But Satan grounds upon this an accusation of Job, slyly representing
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him,
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1. As unnatural to those about him, and one that laid not to heart the
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death of his children and servants, nor cared how many of them had
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their skins (as I may say) stripped over their ears, so long as he
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slept in a whole skin himself; as if he that was so tender of his
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children's souls could be careless of their bodies, and, like the
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ostrich, hardened against his young ones, as though they were not his.
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2. As wholly selfish, and minding nothing but his own ease and safety;
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as if his religion made him sour, and morose, and ill-natured. Thus are
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the ways and people of God often misrepresented by the devil and his
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agents.</P>
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<P>
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IV. A challenge given to make a further trial of Job's integrity
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+2:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
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"<I>Put forth thy hand now</I> (for I find my hand too short to reach
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him, and too weak to hurt him) <I>and touch his bone and his flesh</I>
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(that is with him the only tender part, <I>make him sick with smiting
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him,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:13">Mic. vi. 13</A>),
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and then, I dare say, <I>he will curse thee to thy face,</I> and let go
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his integrity." Satan knew it, and we find it by experience, that
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nothing is more likely to ruffle the thoughts and put the mind into
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disorder than acute pain and distemper of body. There is no disputing
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against sense. St. Paul himself had much ado to bear a thorn in the
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flesh, nor could he have borne it without special grace from Christ,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+12:7,9">2 Cor. xii. 7, 9</A>.</P>
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<P>
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V. A permission granted to Satan to make this trial,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+2:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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Satan would have had God put forth his hand and do it; but he
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<I>afflicts not willingly,</I> nor takes any pleasure in <I>grieving
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the children of men,</I> much less his own children
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:33">Lam. iii. 33</A>),
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and therefore, if it must be done, let Satan do it, who delights in
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such work: "<I>He is in thy hand,</I> do thy worst with him; but with a
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proviso and limitation, <I>only save his life,</I> or his soul. Afflict
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him, but not to death." Satan hunted for the precious life, would have
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taken that if he might, in hopes that dying agonies would force Job to
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curse his God; but God had mercy in store for Job after this trial, and
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therefore he must survive it, and, however he is afflicted, must have
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his life given him for a prey. If God did not chain up the roaring
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lion, how soon would he devour us! As far as he permits the wrath of
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Satan and wicked men to proceed against his people he will make it turn
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to his praise and theirs, and <I>the remainder thereof he will
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restrain,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+76:10">Ps. lxxvi. 10</A>.
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"Save his soul," that is, "his reason" (so some), "preserve to him the
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use of that, for otherwise it will be no fair trial; if, in his
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delirium, he should curse God, that will be no disproof of his
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integrity. It would be the language not of his heart, but of his
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distemper." Job, in being thus maligned by Satan, was a type of Christ,
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the first prophecy of whom was that Satan should <I>bruise his heel</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+3:15">Gen. iii. 15</A>),
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and so he was foiled, as in Job's case. Satan tempted him to let go his
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integrity, his adoption
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+4:6">Matt. iv. 6</A>):
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<I>If thou be the Son of God.</I> He entered into the heart of Judas
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who betrayed Christ, and (some think) with his terrors put Christ into
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his agony in the garden. He had permission to touch his bone and his
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flesh without exception of his life, because by dying he was to do that
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which Job could not do--<I>destroy him that had the power of death,
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that is, the devil.</I></P>
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<A NAME="Job2_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job2_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job2_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job2_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Job Smitten with Disease; The Affliction of Job.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1520.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and smote
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Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
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8 And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he
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sat down among the ashes.
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9 Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine
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integrity? curse God, and die.
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10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish
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women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God,
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and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with
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his lips.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The devil, having got leave to tear and worry poor Job, presently fell
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to work with him, as a tormentor first and then as a tempter. His own
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children he tempts first, and draws them to sin, and afterwards
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torments, when thereby he has brought them to ruin; but this child of
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God he tormented with an affliction, and then tempted to make a bad use
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of his affliction. That which he aimed at was to make Job curse God;
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now here we are told what course he took both to move him to it and
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move it to him, both to give him the provocation, else he would not
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have thought of it: thus artfully in the temptation managed with all
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the subtlety of the old serpent, who is here playing the same game
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against Job that he played against our first parents
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+3:1-24">Gen. iii.</A>),
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aiming to seduce him from his allegiance to his God and to rob him of
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his integrity.</P>
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<P>
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I. He provokes him to curse God by smiting him with sore boils, and so
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making him a burden to himself,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+2:7,8"><I>v.</I> 7, 8</A>.
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The former attack was extremely violent, but Job kept his ground,
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bravely made good the pass and carried the day. Yet he is still but
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girding on the harness; there is worse behind. The clouds return after
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the rain. Satan, by the divine permission, follows his blow, and now
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<I>deep calls unto deep.</I></P>
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<P>
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1. The disease with which Job was seized was very grievous: Satan
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<I>smote him with boils, sore boils,</I> all over him, from head to
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foot, with <I>an evil inflammation</I> (so some render it), an
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erysipelas, perhaps, in a higher degree. One boil, when it is
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gathering, is torment enough, and gives a man abundance of pain and
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uneasiness. What a condition was Job then in, that had boils all over
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him, and no part free, and those as of raging a heat as the devil could
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make them, and, as it were, <I>set on fire of hell!</I> The small-pox
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is a very grievous and painful disease, and would be much more terrible
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than it is but that we know the extremity of it ordinarily lasts but a
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few days; how grievous then was the disease of Job, who was smitten all
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over with sore boils or grievous ulcers, which made him sick at heart,
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put him to exquisite torture, and so spread themselves over him that he
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could lie down no way for any ease. If at any time we be exercised with
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sore and grievous distempers, let us not think ourselves dealt with any
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otherwise than as God has sometimes dealt with the best of his saints
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and servants. We know not how much Satan may have a hand (by divine
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|
permission) in the diseases with which the children of men, and
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|
especially the children of God, are afflicted, what infections that
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prince of the air may spread, what inflammations may come from that
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fiery serpent. We read of one whom Satan had bound many years,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+13:16">Luke xiii. 16</A>.
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Should God suffer that roaring lion to have his will against any of us,
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how miserable would he soon make us!</P>
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<P>
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2. His management of himself, in this distemper, was very strange,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+2:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.</P>
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|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+19:17"><I>ch.</I> xix. 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+42:6,Isa+58:5,Jon+3:6"><I>ch.</I> xlii. 6;
|
|
Isa. lviii. 5; Jonah iii. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+7:5"><I>ch.</I> vii. 5</A>)
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
II. He urges him, by the persuasions of his own wife, to curse God,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+2:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<CENTER>
|
|
<TABLE BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD>Dost thou not see that thy devotion's vain?
|
|
<BR>What have thy prayers procured but woe and pain?
|
|
<BR>Hast thou not yet thy int'rest understood?
|
|
<BR>Perversely righteous, and absurdly good?
|
|
<BR>Those painful sores, and all thy losses, show
|
|
<BR>How Heaven regards the foolish saint below.
|
|
<BR>Incorrigibly pious! Can't thy God
|
|
<BR>Reform thy stupid virtue with his rod?--Sir R. B<FONT SIZE=-1>LACKMORE</FONT>.
|
|
</TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
</CENTER>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
III. He bravely resists and overcomes the temptation,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+2:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+19:17"><I>ch.</I> xix. 17</A>):
|
|
|
|
<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 ar 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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+8:21">Isa. viii. 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+2:2">Rev. ii. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
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"
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+3:12">Gen. iii. 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+45:7,La+3:38">Isa. xlv. 7, Lam. iii. 38</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(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?"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+4:12">1 Pet. iv. 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
[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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+1:29">Phil. i. 29</A>),
|
|
|
|
accepting them as punishments of our iniquity
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+26:41">Lev. xxvi. 41</A>),
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+4:12">Phil. iv. 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
When the heart is humbled and weaned, by humbling weaning providence,
|
|
then we <I>receive correction</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zep+3:2">Zeph. iii. 2</A>)
|
|
|
|
and take up our cross.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+12:7">2 Cor. xii. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+12:10">Heb. xii. 10</A>),
|
|
|
|
something which, by saddening the countenance, makes the heart better?
|
|
Let murmuring therefore, as well as boasting, be for ever excluded.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+12:15">Heb. xii. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:32">Prov. xxx. 32</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+3:2,Ps+17:3">Jam. iii. 2; Ps. xvii. 3</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Job2_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job2_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job2_13"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Job Visited by His Friends.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1520.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>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.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+16:10,19:18,30:1"><I>ch.</I> xvi. 10; xix. 18; xxx. 1</A>,
|
|
|
|
&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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+2:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+32:6"><I>ch.</I> xxxii. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is probable that they were men of figure in their country-princes,
|
|
or heads of houses. Now observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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
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some good fruits of that pious education which the father of the
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faithful gave to those under his charge. Eliphaz descended from Teman,
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the grandson of Esau
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+36:11">Gen. xxxvi. 11</A>),
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Bildad (it is probable) from Shuah, Abraham's son by Keturah,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+25:2">Gen. xxv. 2</A>.
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Zophar is thought by some to be the same with Zepho, a descendant from
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Esau,
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+26:11">Gen. xxvi. 11</A>.
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The preserving of so much wisdom and piety among those that were
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|
strangers to the covenants of promise was a happy presage of God's
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|
grace to the Gentiles, when the partition-wall should in the latter
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|
days be taken down. Esau was rejected; yet many that came from him
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|
inherited some of the best blessings.</P>
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<P>
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II. That they continued their friendship with Job in his adversity,
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when most of his friends had forsaken him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+19:14"><I>ch.</I> xix. 14</A>.
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In two ways they showed their friendship:--</P>
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<P>
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1. By the kind visit they paid him in his affliction, to mourn with him
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and to comfort him,
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+2:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
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Probably they had been wont to visit him in his prosperity, not to hunt
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|
or hawk with him, not to dance or play at cards with him, but to
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|
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>
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|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+7:4">Eccl. vii. 4</A>.
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|
|
|
Visiting the afflicted, sick or sore, fatherless or childless, in their
|
|
sorrow, is made a branch of <I>pure religion and undefiled</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+1:27">Jam. i. 27</A>),
|
|
|
|
and, if done from a good principle, will be abundantly recompensed
|
|
shortly,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+25:36">Matt. xxv. 36</A>.</P>
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|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+41:6-8">Ps. xli. 6-8</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(2.) Concerning these visitants observe,
|
|
|
|
[1.] That they were not sent for, but came of their own accord
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+6:22"><I>ch.</I> vi. 22</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+2:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
His face was <I>foul with weeping</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+16:16"><I>ch.</I> xvi. 16</A>),
|
|
|
|
like Jerusalem's Nazarites, which had been <I>ruddy as the rubies,</I>
|
|
but were now <I>blacker than a coal,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:7,8">Lam. iv. 7, 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ru+1:19">Ruth i. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<CENTER>
|
|
<TABLE BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD>So long a time they held their peace, to show
|
|
<BR>A reverence due to such prodigious woe.--Sir R. B<FONT SIZE=-1>LACKMORE</FONT>.
|
|
</TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
</CENTER>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+4:2"><I>ch.</I> iv. 2</A>),
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+39:1">Ps. xxxix. 1</A>),
|
|
|
|
or when by speaking we may <I>offend the generation of God's
|
|
children,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:15">Ps. lxxiii. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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