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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. XIV.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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Job had turned from speaking to his friends, finding it to no purpose
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to reason with them, and here he goes on to speak to God and himself.
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He had reminded his friends of their frailty and mortality
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:12"><I>ch.</I> xiii. 12</A>);
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here he reminds himself of his own, and pleads it with God for some
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mitigation of his miseries. We have here an account,
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I. Of man's life, that it is,
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1. Short,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:1">ver. 1</A>.
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2. Sorrowful,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:1">ver. 1</A>.
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3. Sinful,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:4">ver. 4</A>.
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4. Stinted,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:5,14">ver. 5, 14</A>.
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II. Of man's death, that it puts a final period to our present life, to
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which we shall not again return
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:7-12">ver. 7-12</A>),
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that it hides us from the calamities of life
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:13">ver. 13</A>),
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destroys the hopes of life
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:18,19">ver. 18, 19</A>),
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sends us away from the business of life
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:20">ver. 20</A>),
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and keeps us in the dark concerning our relations in this life, how
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much soever we have formerly been in care about them
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:21,22">ver. 21, 22</A>.
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III. The use Job makes of all this.
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1. He pleads it with God, who, he thought, was too strict and severe
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with him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:16,17">ver. 16, 17</A>),
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begging that, in consideration of his frailty, he would not contend
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with him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:3">ver. 3</A>),
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but grant him some respite,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:6">ver. 6</A>.
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2. He engages himself to prepare for death
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:14">ver. 14</A>),
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and encourages himself to hope that it would be comfortable to him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:15">ver. 15</A>.
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This chapter is proper for funeral solemnities; and serious meditations
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on it will help us both to get good by the death of others and to get
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ready for our own.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Job14_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job14_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job14_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job14_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job14_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job14_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>Brevity and Frailty of Human Life.</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 Man <I>that is</I> born of a woman <I>is</I> of few days, and full of
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trouble.
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2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth
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also as a shadow, and continueth not.
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3 And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest
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me into judgment with thee?
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4 Who can bring a clean <I>thing</I> out of an unclean? not one.
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5 Seeing his days <I>are</I> determined, the number of his months
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<I>are</I> with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot
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pass;
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6 Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as
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a hireling, his day.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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We are here led to think,</P>
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<P>
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I. Of the original of human life. God is indeed its great original, for
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he <I>breathed into man the breath of life</I> and in him we live; but
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we date it from our birth, and thence we must date both its frailty and
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its pollution.
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1. Its frailty: <I>Man, that is born of a woman, is</I> therefore <I>of
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few days,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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This may refer to the first woman, who was called <I>Eve,</I> because
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she was the mother of all living. Of her, who being deceived by the
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tempter was first in the transgression, we are all born, and
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consequently derive from her that sin and corruption which both shorten
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our days and sadden them. Or it may refer to every man's immediate
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mother. The woman is the weaker vessel, and we know that <I>partus
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sequitur ventrem--the child takes after the mother.</I> Let not the
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strong man therefore glory in his strength, or in the strength of his
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father, but remember that he is born of a woman, and that, when God
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pleases, the <I>mighty men become as women,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:30">Jer. li. 30</A>.
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2. Its pollution
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
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<I>Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?</I> If man be born of
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a woman that is a sinner, how can it be otherwise than that he should
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be a sinner? See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+25:4"><I>ch.</I> xxv. 4</A>.
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<I>How can he be clean that is born of a woman?</I> Clean children
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cannot come from unclean parents any more than pure streams from an
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impure spring or grapes from thorns. Our habitual corruption is derived
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with our nature from our parents, and is therefore bred in the bone.
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Our blood is not only attainted by a legal conviction, but tainted with
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an hereditary disease. Our Lord Jesus, being made sin for us, is said
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to be <I>made of a woman,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+4:4">Gal. iv. 4</A>.</P>
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<P>
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II. Of the nature of human life: it is <I>a flower,</I> it is a
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<I>shadow,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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The flower is fading, and all its beauty soon withers and is gone. The
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shadow is fleeting, and its very being will soon be lost and drowned in
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the shadows of the night. Of neither do we make any account; in neither
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do we put any confidence.</P>
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<P>
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III. Of the shortness and uncertainty of human life: Man is <I>of few
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days.</I> Life is here computed, not by months or years, but by days,
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for we cannot be sure of any day but that it may be our last. These
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days are few, fewer than we think of, few at the most, in comparison
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with the days of the first patriarchs, much more in comparison with the
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days of eternity, but much fewer to most, who come short of what we
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call <I>the age of man.</I> Man sometimes no sooner comes forth than he
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<I>is cut down</I>--comes forth out of the womb than he dies in the
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cradle--comes forth into the world and enters into the business of it
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than he is hurried away as soon as he has laid his hand to the plough.
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If not cut down immediately, yet <I>he flees as a shadow,</I> and never
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continues in one stay, in one shape, but the fashion of it passes away;
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so does this world, and our life in it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+7:31">1 Cor. vii. 31</A>.</P>
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<P>
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IV. Of the calamitous state of human life. Man, as he is short-lived,
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so he is sad-lived. Though he had but a few days to spend here, yet, if
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he might rejoice in those few, it were well (a short life and a merry
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one is the boast of some); but it is not so. During these few days he
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is <I>full of trouble,</I> not only troubled, but full of trouble,
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either toiling or fretting, grieving or fearing. No day passes without
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some vexation, some hurry, some disorder or other. Those that are fond
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of the world shall have enough of it. He is <I>satur tremore--full of
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commotion.</I> The fewness of his days creates him a continual trouble
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and uneasiness in expectation of the period of them, and he always
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hangs in doubt of his life. Yet, since man's days are so full of
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trouble, it is well that they are few, that the soul's imprisonment in
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the body, and banishment from the Lord, are not perpetual, are not
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long. When we come to heaven our days will be many, and perfectly free
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from trouble, and in the mean time faith, hope, and love, balance the
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present grievances.</P>
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<P>
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V. Of the sinfulness of human life, arising from the sinfulness of the
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human nature. So some understand that question
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>),
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<I>Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?</I>--a clean
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performance from an unclean principle? Note, Actual transgressions are
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the natural product of habitual corruption, which is <I>therefore</I>
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called <I>original</I> sin, because it is the original of all our sins.
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This holy Job here laments, as all that are sanctified do, running up
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the streams to the fountain
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+51:5">Ps. li. 5</A>);
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and some think he intends it as a plea with God for compassion: "Lord,
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be not extreme to mark my sins of human frailty and infirmity, for thou
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knowest my weakness. <I>O remember that I am flesh!</I>" The Chaldee
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paraphrase has an observable reading of this verse: <I>Who can make a
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man clean that is polluted with sin? Cannot one? that is, God. Or who
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but God, who is one, and will spare him?</I> God, by his almighty
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grace, can change the skin of the Ethiopian, the skin of Job, though
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clothed with worms.</P>
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<P>
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VI. Of the settled period of human life,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.</P>
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<P>
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1. Three things we are here assured of:--
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(1.) That our life will come to an end; our days upon earth are not
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numberless, are not endless, no, they are numbered, and will soon be
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finished,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+5:26">Dan. v. 26</A>.
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(2.) That it is determined, in the counsel and decree of God, how long
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we shall live and when we shall die. The number of our months is with
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God, at the disposal of his power, which cannot be controlled, and
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under the view of his omniscience, which cannot be deceived. It is
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certain that God's providence has the ordering of the period of our
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lives; our times are in his hand. The powers of nature depend upon him,
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and act under him. In him we live and move. Diseases are his servants;
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he kills and makes alive. Nothing comes to pass by chance, no, not the
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execution done by a bow drawn at a venture. It is therefore certain
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that God's prescience has determined it before; for <I>known unto God
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are all his works.</I> Whatever he does he determined, yet with a
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regard partly to the settled course of nature (the end and the means
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are determined together) and to the settled rules of moral government,
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punishing evil and rewarding good in this life. We are no more governed
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by the Stoic's blind fate than by the Epicurean's blind fortune.
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(3.) That the bounds God has fixed we cannot pass; for his counsels are
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unalterable, his foresight being infallible.</P>
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<P>
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2. These considerations Job here urges as reasons,
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(1.) Why God should not be so strict in taking cognizance of him and of
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his slips and failings
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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"Since I have such a corrupt nature within, and am liable to so much
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trouble, which is a constant temptation from without, <I>dost thou open
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thy eyes</I> and fasten them <I>upon such a one,</I> extremely to mark
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what I do amiss?
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:27"><I>ch.</I> xiii. 27</A>.
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And dost thou <I>bring me,</I> such a worthless worm as I am, <I>into
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judgment with thee</I> who art so quick sighted to discover the least
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failing, so holy to hate it, so just to condemn it, and so mighty to
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punish it?" The consideration of our own inability to contend with God,
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of our own sinfulness and weakness, should engage us to pray, <I>Lord,
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enter not into judgment with thy servant.</I>
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(2.) Why he should not be so severe in his dealings with him: "Lord, I
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have but a little time to live. I must certainly and shortly go hence,
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and the few days I have to spend here are, at the best, full of
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trouble. O let me have a little respite!
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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Turn from afflicting a poor creature thus, and let him rest awhile;
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allow him some breathing time, <I>until he shall accomplish as a
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hireling his day.</I> It is appointed to me once to die; let that one
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day suffice me, and let me not thus be continually dying, dying a
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thousand deaths. Let it suffice that my life, at best, is <I>as the day
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of a hireling,</I> a day of toil and labour. I am content to accomplish
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that, and will make the best of the common hardships of human life, the
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burden and heat of the day; but let me not feel those uncommon
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tortures, let not my life be as the day of a malefactor, all
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execution-day." Thus may we find some relief under great troubles by
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recommending ourselves to the compassion of that God who knows our
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frame and will consider it, and our being out of frame too.</P>
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<A NAME="Job14_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job14_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job14_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job14_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job14_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job14_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job14_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job14_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job14_15"> </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>Death Anticipated.</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 For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will
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sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.
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8 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock
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thereof die in the ground;
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9 <I>Yet</I> through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth
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boughs like a plant.
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10 But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the
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ghost, and where <I>is</I> he?
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11 <I>As</I> the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth
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and drieth up:
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12 So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens <I>be</I> no
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more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
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13 O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou
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wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou
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wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!
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14 If a man die, shall he live <I>again?</I> all the days of my
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appointed time will I wait, till my change come.
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15 Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a
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desire to the work of thine hands.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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We have seen what Job has to say concerning life; let us now see what
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he has to say concerning death, which his thoughts were very much
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conversant with, now that he was sick and sore. It is not unseasonable,
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when we are in health, to think of dying; but it is an inexcusable
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incogitancy if, when we are already taken into the custody of death's
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messengers, we look upon it as a thing at a distance. Job had already
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shown that death will come, and that its hour is already fixed. Now
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here he shows,</P>
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<P>
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I. That death is a removal for ever out of this world. This he had
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spoken of before
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+7:9,10"><I>ch.</I> vii. 9, 10</A>),
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and now he mentions it again; for, though it be a truth that needs not
|
|
be proved, yet it needs to be much considered, that it may be duly
|
|
improved.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. A man cut down by death will not revive again, as a tree cut down
|
|
will. What hope there is of a tree he shows very elegantly,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:7-9"><I>v.</I> 7-9</A>.
|
|
|
|
If the body of the tree be cut down, and only the stem or stump left in
|
|
the ground, though it seem dead and dry, yet it will shoot out young
|
|
boughs again, as if it were but newly planted. The moisture of the
|
|
earth and the rain of heaven are, as it were, scented and perceived by
|
|
the stump of a tree, and they have an influence upon it to revive it;
|
|
but the dead body of a man would not perceive them, nor be in the least
|
|
affected by them. In Nebuchadnezzar's dream, when his being deprived of
|
|
the use of his reason was signified by the cutting down of a tree, his
|
|
return to it again was signified by the leaving of the stump in the
|
|
earth with a band of iron and brass to be <I>wet with the dew of
|
|
heaven,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+4:15">Dan. iv. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
But man has no such prospect of a return to life. The vegetable life is
|
|
a cheap and easy thing: the scent of water will recover it. The animal
|
|
life, in some insects and fowls, is so: the heat of the sun retrieves
|
|
it. But the rational soul, when once retired, is too great, too noble,
|
|
a thing to be recalled by any of the powers of nature; it is out of the
|
|
reach of sun or rain, and cannot be restored but by the immediate
|
|
operations of Omnipotence itself; for
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>)
|
|
|
|
<I>man dieth and wasteth, away, yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where
|
|
is he?</I> Two words are here used for man:--<I>Geber, a mighty
|
|
man,</I> though mighty, dies; <I>Adam, a man of the earth,</I> because
|
|
earthy, gives up the ghost. Note, Man is a dying creature. He is here
|
|
described by what occurs,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Before death: he <I>wastes away;</I> he is continually wasting,
|
|
dying daily, spending upon the quick stock of life. Sickness and old
|
|
age are wasting things to the flesh, the strength, the beauty.
|
|
|
|
(2.) In death: <I>he gives up the ghost;</I> the soul leaves the body,
|
|
and returns to God who gave it, the Father of spirits.
|
|
|
|
(3.) After death: <I>Where is he?</I> He is not where he was; his place
|
|
knows him no more; but <I>is he nowhere?</I> So some read it. Yes, he
|
|
is somewhere; and it is a very awful consideration to think where those
|
|
are that have given up the ghost, and where we shall be when we give it
|
|
up. It has gone to the world of spirits, gone into eternity, gone to
|
|
return no more to this world.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. A man laid down in the grave will not rise up again,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:11,12"><I>v.</I> 11, 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
Every night we lie down to sleep, and in the morning we awake and rise
|
|
again; but at death we must lie down in the grave, not to awake or rise
|
|
again to such a world, such a state, as we are now in, never to awake
|
|
or arise <I>until the heavens,</I> the faithful measures of time, shall
|
|
<I>be no more,</I> and consequently time itself shall come to an end
|
|
and be swallowed up in eternity; so that the life of man may fitly be
|
|
compared to the waters of a land-flood, which spread far and make a
|
|
great show, but they are shallow, and when they are cut off from the
|
|
sea or river, the swelling and overflowing of which was the cause of
|
|
them, they soon decay and dry up, and their place knows them no more.
|
|
The waters of life are soon exhaled and disappear. The body, like some
|
|
of those waters, sinks and soaks into the earth, and is buried there;
|
|
the soul, like others of them, is drawn upwards, to mingle with the
|
|
waters above the firmament. The learned Sir Richard Blackmore makes
|
|
this also to be a dissimilitude. If the waters decay and be dried up in
|
|
the summer, yet they will return again in the winter; but it is not so
|
|
with the life of man. Take part of his paraphrase in his own
|
|
words:--</P>
|
|
|
|
<CENTER>
|
|
<TABLE BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD>A flowing river, or a standing lake,
|
|
<BR>May their dry banks and naked shores forsake;
|
|
<BR>Their waters may exhale and upward move,
|
|
<BR>Their channel leave to roll in clouds above;
|
|
<BR>But the returning water will restore
|
|
<BR>What in the summer they had lost before:
|
|
<BR>But if, O man! thy vital streams desert
|
|
<BR>Their purple channels and defraud the heart,
|
|
<BR>With fresh recruits they ne'er will be supplied,
|
|
<BR>Nor feel their leaping life's returning tide.
|
|
</TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
</CENTER>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. That yet there will be a return of man to life again in another
|
|
world, at the end of time, when <I>the heavens</I> are <I>no more.</I>
|
|
Then <I>they shall awake and be raised out of their sleep.</I> The
|
|
resurrection of the dead was doubtless an article of Job's creed, as
|
|
appears,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+19:26"><I>ch.</I> xix. 26</A>,
|
|
|
|
and to that, it should seem, he has an eye here, where, in the belief
|
|
of that, we have three things:--</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. A humble petition for a hiding-place in the grave,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was not only a passionate weariness of this life that he wished to
|
|
die, but in a pious assurance of a better life, to which at length he
|
|
should arise. <I>O that thou wouldst hide me in the grave!</I> The
|
|
grave is not only a resting-place, but a hiding-place, to the people of
|
|
God. God has the key of the grave, to let in now and to let out at the
|
|
resurrection. He <I>hides men in the grave,</I> as we hide our treasure
|
|
in a place of secresy and safety; and he who hides will find, and
|
|
nothing shall be lost. "O that thou wouldst hide me, not only from the
|
|
storms and troubles of this life, but for the bliss and glory of a
|
|
better life! Let me lie in the grave, reserved for immortality, in
|
|
secret from all the world, but not from thee, not from those eyes which
|
|
saw my substance when first curiously wrought in <I>the lowest parts of
|
|
the earth,</I>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+139:15,16">Ps. cxxxix. 15, 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
There let me lie,
|
|
|
|
(1.) <I>Until thy wrath be past.</I> As long as the bodies of the
|
|
saints lie in the grave, so long there are some remains of that wrath
|
|
which they were by nature children of, so long they are under some of
|
|
the effects of sin; but, when the body is raised, it is wholly
|
|
past--death, the last enemy, will then be totally destroyed.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Until the <I>set time</I> comes for my being remembered, as Noah
|
|
was remembered in the ark
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+8:1">Gen. viii. 1</A>),
|
|
|
|
where God not only hid him from the destruction of the old world, but
|
|
reserved him for the reparation of a new world. The bodies of the
|
|
saints shall not be forgotten in the grave. There is a time appointed,
|
|
a time set, for their being enquired after. We cannot be sure that we
|
|
shall look through the darkness of our present troubles and see good
|
|
days after them in this world; but, if we can but get well to the
|
|
grave, we may with an eye of faith look through the darkness of that,
|
|
as Job here, and see better days on the other side of it, in a better
|
|
world.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. A holy resolution patiently to attend the will of God both in his
|
|
death and his resurrection
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time
|
|
will I wait until my change come.</I> Job's friends proving miserable
|
|
comforters, he set himself to be the more his own comforter. His case
|
|
was now bad, but he pleases himself with the expectation of a change. I
|
|
think it cannot be meant of his return to a prosperous condition in
|
|
this world. His friends indeed flattered him with the hopes of that,
|
|
but he himself all along despaired of it. Comforts founded upon
|
|
uncertainties at best must needs be uncertain comforts; and therefore,
|
|
no doubt, it is something more sure than that which he here bears up
|
|
himself with the expectation of. The change he waits for must
|
|
therefore be understood either,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Of the change of the resurrection, when the vile body shall be
|
|
changed
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+3:21">Phil. iii. 21</A>),
|
|
|
|
and a great and glorious change it will be; and then that question,
|
|
<I>If a man die, shall he live again?</I> must be taken by way of
|
|
admiration. "Strange! Shall these dry bones live! If so, all the time
|
|
appointed for the continuance of the separation between soul and body
|
|
my separate soul shall wait until that change comes, when it shall be
|
|
united again to the body, <I>and my flesh also shall rest in hope.</I>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+16:9">Ps. xvi. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
Or,
|
|
|
|
(2.) Of the change at death. "<I>If a man die, shall he live
|
|
again?</I> No, not such a life as he now lives; and therefore I will
|
|
patiently wait until that change comes which will put a period to my
|
|
calamities, and not impatiently wish for the anticipation of it, as I
|
|
have done." Observe here,
|
|
|
|
[1.] That it is a serious thing to die; it is a work by itself. It is a
|
|
change; there is a visible change in the body, its appearance altered,
|
|
its actions brought to an end, but a greater change with the soul,
|
|
which quits the body, and removes to the world of spirits, finishes its
|
|
state of probation and enters upon that of retribution. This change
|
|
will come, and it will be a final change, not like the transmutations
|
|
of the elements, which return to their former state. No, we must die,
|
|
not thus to live again. It is but once to die, and that had need be
|
|
well done that is to be done but once. An error here is fatal,
|
|
conclusive, and not again to be rectified.
|
|
|
|
[2.] That therefore it is the duty of every one of us to wait for that
|
|
change, and to continue waiting all the days of our appointed time. The
|
|
time of life is an appointed time; that time is to be reckoned by days;
|
|
and those days are to be spent in waiting for our change. That is,
|
|
<I>First,</I> We must expect that it will come, and think much of it.
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> We must desire that it would come, as those that long
|
|
to be with Christ. <I>Thirdly,</I> We must be willing to tarry until it
|
|
does come, as those that believe God's time to be the best.
|
|
<I>Fourthly,</I> We must give diligence to get ready against it comes,
|
|
that it may be a blessed change to us.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. A joyful expectation of bliss and satisfaction in this
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>):
|
|
|
|
Then <I>thou shalt call, and I will answer thee.</I> Now, he was under
|
|
such a cloud that he could not, he durst not, answer
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:15,35,13:22"><I>ch.</I> ix. 15, 35; xiii. 22</A>);
|
|
|
|
but he comforted himself with this, that there would come a time when
|
|
God would call and he should answer. Then, that is,
|
|
|
|
(1.) At the resurrection, "Thou shalt call me out of the grave, by the
|
|
voice of the archangel, and I will answer and come at the call." The
|
|
body is the <I>work of God's hands,</I> and he will have a desire to
|
|
that, having prepared a glory for it. Or,
|
|
|
|
(2.) At death: "Thou shalt call my body to the grave, and my soul to
|
|
thyself, and I will answer, Ready, Lord, ready--Coming, coming; here I
|
|
am." Gracious souls can cheerfully answer death's summons, and appear
|
|
to his writ. Their spirits are not forcibly required from them (as
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+12:20">Luke xii. 20</A>),
|
|
|
|
but willingly resigned by them, and the earthly tabernacle not
|
|
violently pulled down, but voluntarily laid down, with this assurance,
|
|
"Thou <I>wilt have a desire to the work of thy hands.</I> Thou hast
|
|
mercy in store for me, not only as made by thy providence, but new-made
|
|
by thy grace;" otherwise <I>he that made them will not save them.</I>
|
|
Note, Grace in the soul is the work of God's own hands, and therefore
|
|
he will not forsake it in this world
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+138:8">Ps. cxxxviii. 8</A>),
|
|
|
|
but will have a desire to it, to perfect it in the other, and to crown
|
|
it with endless glory.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Job14_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job14_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job14_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job14_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job14_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job14_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job14_22"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Complainings of Job.</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>16 For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my
|
|
sin?
|
|
17 My transgression <I>is</I> sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up
|
|
mine iniquity.
|
|
18 And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the
|
|
rock is removed out of his place.
|
|
19 The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things
|
|
which grow <I>out</I> of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest
|
|
the hope of man.
|
|
20 Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou
|
|
changest his countenance, and sendest him away.
|
|
21 His sons come to honour, and he knoweth <I>it</I> not; and they
|
|
are brought low, but he perceiveth <I>it</I> not of them.
|
|
22 But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within
|
|
him shall mourn.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Job here returns to his complaints; and, though he is not without hope
|
|
of future bliss, he finds it very hard to get over his present
|
|
grievances.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. He complains of the particular hardships he apprehended himself
|
|
under from the strictness of God's justice,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:16,17"><I>v.</I> 16, 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Therefore</I> he longed to go hence to that world where God's wrath
|
|
will be past, because now he was under the continual tokens of it, as a
|
|
child, under the severe discipline of the rod, longs to be of age.
|
|
"When shall my change come? <I>For now thou</I> seemest to me to
|
|
<I>number my steps,</I> and <I>watch over my sin,</I> and <I>seal it up
|
|
in a bag,</I> as bills of indictment are kept safely, to be produced
|
|
against the prisoner." See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+32:34">Deut. xxxii. 34</A>.
|
|
|
|
"Thou takest all advantages against me; old scores are called over,
|
|
every infirmity is animadverted upon, and no sooner is a false step
|
|
taken than I am beaten for it." Now,
|
|
|
|
1. Job does right to the divine justice in owning that he smarted for
|
|
his sins and transgressions, that he had done enough to deserve all
|
|
that was laid upon him; for there was sin in all his steps, and he was
|
|
guilty of transgression enough to bring all this ruin upon him, if it
|
|
were strictly enquired into: he is far from saying that he perishes
|
|
being innocent. But,
|
|
|
|
2. He does wrong to the divine goodness in suggesting that God was
|
|
extreme to mark what he did amiss, and made the worst of every thing.
|
|
He spoke to this purport,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+13:27"><I>ch.</I> xiii. 27</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was unadvisedly said, and therefore we will not dwell too much upon
|
|
it. God does indeed see all our sins; he sees sin in his own people;
|
|
but he is not severe in reckoning with us, nor is the law ever
|
|
stretched against us, but we are punished less than our iniquities
|
|
deserve. God does indeed seal and sew up, against the day of wrath, the
|
|
transgression of the impenitent, but the sins of his people he blots
|
|
out as a cloud.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. He complains of the wasting condition of mankind in general. We
|
|
live in a dying world. <I>Who knows the power of God's anger, by which
|
|
we are consumed and troubled, and in which all our days are passed
|
|
away?</I> See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+90:7-9,11">Ps. xc. 7-9, 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
And who can bear up against his rebukes?
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+39:11">Ps. xxxix. 11</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. We see the decays of the earth itself.
|
|
|
|
(1.) Of the strongest parts of it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
Nothing will last always, for we see even mountains moulder and come to
|
|
nought; they wither and fall as a leaf; rocks wax old and pass away by
|
|
the continual beating of the sea against them. <I>The waters wear the
|
|
stones</I> with constant dropping, <I>non vi, sed sæpe cadendo--not by
|
|
the violence, but by the constancy with which they fall.</I> On this
|
|
earth every thing is the worse for the wearing. <I>Tempus edax
|
|
rerum--Time devours all things.</I> It is not so with the heavenly
|
|
bodies.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Of the natural products of it. The things which grow out of the
|
|
earth, and seem to be firmly rooted in it, are sometimes by an excess
|
|
of rain washed away,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
Some think he pleads this for relief: "Lord, my patience will not hold
|
|
out always; even rocks and mountains will fail at last; therefore cease
|
|
the controversy."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. No marvel then if we see the decays of man upon the earth, for he is
|
|
of the earth, earthy. Job begins to think his case is not singular, and
|
|
therefore he ought to reconcile himself to the common lot. We perceive
|
|
by many instances,
|
|
|
|
(1.) How vain it is to expect much from the enjoyments of life:
|
|
"<I>Thou destroyest the hope of man,</I>" that is, "puttest an end to
|
|
all the projects he had framed and all the prospects of satisfaction he
|
|
had flattered himself with." Death will be the destruction of all those
|
|
hopes which are built upon worldly confidences and confined to worldly
|
|
comforts. Hope in Christ, and hope in heaven, death will consummate and
|
|
not destroy.
|
|
|
|
(2.) How vain it is to struggle against the assaults of death
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Thou prevailest for ever against him.</I> Note, Man is an unequal
|
|
match for God. Whom God contends with he will certainly prevail
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against, prevail for ever against so that they shall never be able to
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make head again. Note further, The stroke of death is irresistible; it
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is to no purpose to dispute its summons. God prevails against man and
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he passes away, and lo he is not. Look upon a dying man, and see,
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[1.] How his looks are altered: <I>Thou changest his countenance,</I>
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and this in two ways:--<I>First,</I> By the disease of his body. When a
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man has been a few days sick what a change is there in his countenance!
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How much more when he has been a few minutes dead! The countenance
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which was majestic and awful becomes mean and despicable--that was
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lovely and amiable becomes ghastly and frightful. <I>Bury my dead out
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of my sight.</I> Where then is the admired beauty? Death changes the
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countenance, and then sends us away out of this world, gives us one
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dismission hence, never to return. <I>Secondly,</I> By the discomposure
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of his mind. Note, The approach of death will make the strongest and
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stoutest to change countenance; it will make the most merry smiling
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countenance to look grave and serious, and the most bold daring
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countenance to look pale and timorous.
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[2.] How little he is concerned in the affairs of his family, which
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|
once lay so near his heart. When he is in the hands of the harbingers
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|
of death, suppose struck with a palsy or apoplexy, or delirious in a
|
|
fever, or in conflict with death, tell him then the most agreeable
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|
news, or the most painful, concerning his children, it is all alike, he
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|
knows it not, he perceives it not,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>.
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He is going to that world where he will be a perfect stranger to all
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those things which here filled and affected him. The consideration of
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this should moderate our cares concerning our children and families.
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|
God will know what comes of them when we are gone. To him therefore let
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us commit them, with him let us leave them, and not burden ourselves
|
|
with needless fruitless cares concerning them.
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[3.] How dreadful the agonies of death are
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+14:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>):
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<I>While his flesh is upon him</I> (so it may be read), that is, the
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body he is so loth to lay down,: <I>it shall have pain; and while his
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soul is within him,</I> that is, the spirit he is so loth to resign, it
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|
shall mourn. Note, Dying work is hard work; dying pangs are, commonly,
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|
sore pangs. It is folly therefore for men to defer their repentance to
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a death-bed, and to have that to do which is the one thing needful when
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|
they are really unfit to do any thing: but it is true wisdom by making
|
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our peace with God in Christ and keeping a good conscience, to treasure
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up comforts which will support and relieve us against the pains and
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sorrows of a dying hour.</P>
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