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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. XX.</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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One would have thought that such an excellent confession of faith as
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Job made, in the close of the foregoing chapter, would satisfy his
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friends, or at least mollify them; but they do not seem to have taken
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any notice of it, and therefore Zophar here takes his turn, enters the
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lists with Job, and attacks him with as much vehemence as before.
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I. His preface is short, but hot,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:2,3">ver. 2, 3</A>.
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II. His discourse is long, and all upon one subject, the very same that
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Bildad was large upon
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:1-21"><I>ch.</I> xviii.</A>),
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the certain misery of wicked people and the ruin that awaits them.
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1. He asserts, in general, that the prosperity of a wicked person is
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short, and his ruin sure,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:4-9">ver. 4-9</A>.
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2. He proves the misery of his condition by many instances--that he
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should have a diseased body, a troubled conscience, a ruined estate, a
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beggared family, an infamous name and that he himself should perish
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under the weight of divine wrath: all this is most curiously described
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here in lofty expressions and lively similitudes; and it often proves
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true in this world, and always in another, without repentance,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:10-29">ver. 10-29</A>.
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But the great mistake was, and (as bishop Patrick expresses it) all the
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flaw in his discourse (which was common to him with the rest), that he
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imagined God never varied from this method, and therefore Job was,
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without doubt, a very bad man, though it did not appear that he was,
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any other way than by his infelicity.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Job20_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job20_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job20_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job20_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job20_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job20_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job20_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job20_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job20_9"> </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>Second Address of Zophar; Destruction of the Wicked.</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 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
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2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for <I>this</I> I
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make haste.
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3 I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my
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understanding causeth me to answer.
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4 Knowest thou <I>not</I> this of old, since man was placed upon
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earth,
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5 That the triumphing of the wicked <I>is</I> short, and the joy of
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the hypocrite <I>but</I> for a moment?
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6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head
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reach unto the clouds;
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7 <I>Yet</I> he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which
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have seen him shall say, Where <I>is</I> he?
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8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he
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shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
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9 The eye also <I>which</I> saw him shall <I>see him</I> no more; neither
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shall his place any more behold him.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Here,
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I. Zophar begins very passionately, and seems to be in a great heat at
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what Job had said. Being resolved to condemn Job for a bad man, he was
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much displeased that he talked so like a good man, and, as it should
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seem, broke in upon him, and began abruptly
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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<I>Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer.</I> He takes no notice
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of what Job had said to move their pity, or to evidence his own
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integrity, but fastens upon the reproof he gave them in the close of
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his discourse, counts that a reproach, and thinks himself
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<I>therefore</I> obliged to answer, because Job had bidden them be
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afraid of the sword, that he might not seem to be frightened by his
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menaces. The best counsel is too often ill taken from an antagonist,
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and therefore usually may be well spared. Zophar seemed more in haste
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to speak than became a wise man; but he excuses his haste with two
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things:--
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1. That Job had given him strong provocation
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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"<I>I have heard the check of my reproach,</I> and cannot bear to hear
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it any longer." Job's friends, I doubt, had spirits too high to deal
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with a man in his low condition; and high spirits are impatient of
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contradiction, and think themselves affronted if all about them do not
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say as they say; they cannot bear a check but they call it <I>the check
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of their reproach,</I> and then they are bound in honour to return it,
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if not to draw upon him that gave it.
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2. That his own heart gave him a strong instigation. His thoughts
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caused him to answer
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
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for <I>out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks;</I> but he
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fathers the instigation
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>)
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upon <I>the spirit of his understanding:</I> that indeed should cause
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us to answer; we should rightly apprehend a thing and duly consider it
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before we speak of it; but whether it did so here or no is a question.
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Men often mistake the dictates of their passion for the dictates of
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their reason, and therefore think they do well to be angry.</P>
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<P>
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II. Zophar proceeds very plainly to show the ruin and destruction of
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wicked people, insinuating that because Job was destroyed and ruined he
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was certainly a wicked man and a hypocrite. Observe,</P>
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<P>
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1. How this doctrine is introduced,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>,
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where he appeals,
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(1.) To Job's own knowledge and conviction: "<I>Knowest thou not
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this?</I> Canst thou be ignorant of a truth so plain? Or canst thou
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doubt of a truth which has been confirmed by the suffrages of all
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mankind?" Those know little who do not know that the wages of sin is
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death.
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(2.) To the experience of all ages. It was known of old, since man was
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placed upon the earth; that is, ever since man was made he has had this
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truth written in his heart, that the sin of sinners will be their ruin;
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and ever since there were instances of wickedness (which there were
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soon after man was placed on the earth) there were instances of the
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punishments of it, witness the exclusions of Adam and Cain. When sin
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entered into the world death entered with it: all the world knows that
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evil pursues sinners, whom <I>vengeance suffers not to live</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+28:4">Acts xxviii. 4</A>),
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and subscribes to that
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+3:11">Isa. iii. 11</A>),
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<I>Woe to the wicked; it shall be ill with him,</I> sooner or
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later.</P>
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<P>
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2. How it is laid down
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
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<I>The triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite
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but for a moment.</I> Observe,
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(1.) He asserts the misery, not only of those who are openly wicked and
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profane, but of hypocrites, who secretly practice wickedness under a
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show and profession of religion, because such a wicked man he looked
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upon Job to be; and it is true that a form of godliness, if it be made
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use of for a cloak of maliciousness, does but make bad worse.
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Dissembled piety is double iniquity, and the ruin that attends it will
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be accordingly. The hottest place in hell will be the portion of
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hypocrites, as our Saviour intimates,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+24:51">Matt. xxiv. 51</A>.
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(2.) He grants that wicked men may for a time prosper, may be secure
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and easy, and very merry. You may see them in triumph and joy,
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triumphing and rejoicing in their wealth and power, their grandeur and
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success, triumphing and rejoicing over their poor honest neighbours
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whom they vex and oppress: they feel no evil, they fear none. Job's
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friends were loth to own, at first, that wicked people might prosper at
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all
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+4:9"><I>ch.</I> iv. 9</A>),
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until Job proved it plainly
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:24,12:6"><I>ch.</I> ix. 24, xii. 6</A>),
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and now Zophar yields it; but,
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(3.) He lays it down for a certain truth that they will not prosper
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long. Their joy is but for a moment, and will quickly end in endless
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sorrow. Though he be ever so great, and rich, and jovial, the
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hypocrite will be humbled, and mortified, and made miserable.</P>
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<P>
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3. How it is illustrated,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:6-9"><I>v.</I> 6-9</A>.
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(1.) He supposes his prosperity to be very high, as high as you can
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imagine,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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It is not his wisdom and virtue, but his worldly wealth or greatness,
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that he accounts <I>his excellency,</I> and values himself upon. We
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will suppose that <I>to mount up to the heavens,</I> and, since his
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spirit always rises with his condition, you may suppose that with it
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<I>his head reaches to the clouds.</I> He is every way advanced; the
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world has done the utmost it can for him. He looks down upon all about
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him with disdain, while they look up to him with admiration, envy, or
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fear. We will suppose him to bid fair for a universal monarchy. And,
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though he cannot but have made himself many enemies before he arrived
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to this pitch of prosperity, yet he thinks himself as much out of the
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reach of their darts as if he were in the clouds.
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(2.) He is confident that his ruin will accordingly be very great, and
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his fall the more dreadful for his having risen so high: <I>He shall
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perish for ever,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
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His pride and security were the certain presages of his misery. This
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will certainly be true of all impenitent sinners in the other world;
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they shall be undone, for ever undone. But Zophar means his ruin in
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this world; and indeed sometimes notorious sinners are remarkably cut
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off by present judgments; they have reason enough to fear what Zophar
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here threatens even the triumphant sinner with.
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[1.] A shameful destruction: <I>He shall perish like his own dung</I>
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or dunghill, so loathsome is he to God and all good men, and so willing
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will the world be to part with him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+119:119,Isa+66:24">Ps. cxix. 119; Isa. lxvi. 24</A>.
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[2.] A surprising destruction. He will be brought into desolation in a
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moment
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:19">Ps. lxxiii. 19</A>),
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so that those about him, that saw him but just now, will ask, "<I>Where
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is he?</I> Could he that made so great a figure vanish and expire so
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suddenly?"
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[3.] A swift destruction,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
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<I>He shall fly away</I> upon the wings of his own terrors, and be
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<I>chased away</I> by the just imprecations of all about him, who would
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gladly get rid of him.
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[4.] An utter destruction. It will be total; he shall go away <I>like
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a dream,</I> or <I>vision of the night,</I> which was a mere phantasm,
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and, whatever in it pleased the fancy, it is quite gone, and nothing of
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it remains but what serves us to laugh at the folly of. It will be
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final
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
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<I>The eye that saw him,</I> and was ready to adore him, <I>shall see
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him no more,</I> and the place he filled shall no more behold him,
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having given him an eternal farewell when he went to his own place, as
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Judas,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+1:25">Acts i. 25</A>.</P>
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<A NAME="Job20_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job20_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job20_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job20_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job20_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job20_15"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job20_16"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job20_17"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job20_18"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job20_19"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job20_20"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job20_21"> </A>
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<A NAME="Job20_22"> </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>Misery of the Wicked.</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>10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands
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shall restore their goods.
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11 His bones are full <I>of the sin</I> of his youth, which shall
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lie down with him in the dust.
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12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, <I>though</I> he hide it
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under his tongue;
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13 <I>Though</I> he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still
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within his mouth:
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14 <I>Yet</I> his meat in his bowels is turned, <I>it is</I> the gall of
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asps within him.
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15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up
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again: God shall cast them out of his belly.
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16 He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall
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slay him.
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17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey
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and butter.
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18 That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not
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swallow <I>it</I> down: according to <I>his</I> substance <I>shall</I> the
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restitution <I>be,</I> and he shall not rejoice <I>therein.</I>
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19 Because he hath oppressed <I>and</I> hath forsaken the poor;
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<I>because</I> he hath violently taken away a house which he builded
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not;
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20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall
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not save of that which he desired.
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21 There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man
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look for his goods.
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22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits:
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every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The instances here given of the miserable condition of the wicked man
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in this world are expressed with great fulness and fluency of language,
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and the same thing returned to again and repeated in other words. Let
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us therefore reduce the particulars to their proper heads, and
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observe,</P>
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<P>
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I. What his wickedness is for which he is punished.</P>
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<P>
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1. The lusts of the flesh, here called <I>the sins of his youth</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>);
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for those are the sins which, at that age, people are most tempted to.
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The forbidden pleasures of sense are said to be <I>sweet in his
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mouth</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>);
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he indulges himself in all the gratifications of the carnal appetite,
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and takes an inordinate complacency in them, as yielding the most
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agreeable delights. That is the satisfaction which <I>he hides under
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his tongue,</I> and rolls there, as the most dainty delicate thing that
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can be. <I>He keeps it still within his mouth</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>);
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let him have that, and he desires no more; he will never part with that
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for the spiritual and divine pleasures of religion, which he has no
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relish or nor affection for. His keeping it still in his mouth denotes
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his obstinately persisting in his sin (<I>he spares it</I> when he
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should kill and mortify it, <I>and forsakes it not,</I> but holds it
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fast, and goes on frowardly in it), and also his re-acting of his sin
|
|
by revolving it and remembering it with pleasure, as that adulterous
|
|
woman
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+23:19">Ezek. xxiii. 19</A>)
|
|
|
|
who <I>multiplied her whoredoms by calling to remembrance the days of
|
|
her youth;</I> so does this wicked man here. Or his hiding it and
|
|
keeping it under his tongue denotes his industrious concealment of his
|
|
beloved lust. Being a hypocrite, his haunts of sin are secret, that he
|
|
may save the credit of his profession; but he who knows what is in the
|
|
heart knows what is under the tongue too, and will discover it
|
|
shortly.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The love of the world and the wealth of it. It is in worldly wealth
|
|
that he places his happiness, and therefore he sets his heart upon it.
|
|
See here,
|
|
|
|
(1.) How greedy he is of it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>He has swallowed down riches</I> as eagerly as ever a hungry man
|
|
swallowed down meat; and is still crying, "Give, give." It is that
|
|
which he desired
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>);
|
|
|
|
it was, in his eye, the best gift, and that which he coveted earnestly.
|
|
|
|
(2.) What pains he takes for it: It is <I>that which he laboured
|
|
for</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
not by honest diligence in a lawful calling, but by an unwearied
|
|
prosecution of all ways and methods, <I>per fas, per nefas--right or
|
|
wrong,</I> to be rich. We must <I>labour,</I> not <I>to be rich</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+23:4">Prov. xxiii. 4</A>),
|
|
|
|
but to be charitable, <I>that we may have to give</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+4:28">Eph. iv. 28</A>),
|
|
|
|
not to spend.
|
|
|
|
(3.) What great things he promises himself from it, intimated in <I>the
|
|
rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>);
|
|
|
|
his being disappointed of them supposes that he had flattered himself
|
|
with the hopes of them: he expected rivers of sensual delights.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. Violence and oppression, and injustice in his poor neighbours,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
This was the sin of the giants of the old world, and a sin that, as
|
|
much as any, brings God's judgments upon nations and families. It is
|
|
charged upon this wicked man,
|
|
|
|
(1.) That <I>he has forsaken the poor,</I> taken no care of them, shown
|
|
no kindness to them, nor made any provision for them. At first perhaps,
|
|
for a pretence, he gave alms like the Pharisees, to gain a reputation;
|
|
but, when he had served his turn by this practice, he left it off, and
|
|
forsook the poor, whom before he seemed to be concerned for. Those who
|
|
do good, but not from a good principle, though they may abound in it,
|
|
will not abide in it.
|
|
|
|
(2.) That he has <I>oppressed</I> them, crushed them, taken all
|
|
advantages against them to do them a mischief. To enrich himself, he
|
|
has robbed the spital, and made the poor poorer.
|
|
|
|
(3.) That he has <I>violently taken away their houses,</I> which he had
|
|
no right to, as Ahab took Naboth's vineyard, not by secret fraud, by
|
|
forgery, perjury, or some trick in law, but avowedly, and by open
|
|
violence.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. What his punishment is for this wickedness.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. He shall be disappointed in his expectations, and shall not find
|
|
that satisfaction in his worldly wealth which he vainly promised
|
|
himself
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>He shall never see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and
|
|
butter,</I> with which he hoped to glut himself. The world is not that
|
|
to those who love it, and court it, and admire it, which they fancy it
|
|
will be. The enjoyment sinks far below the raised expectation.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. He shall be diseased and distempered in his body; and how little
|
|
comfort a man has in riches if he has not health! Sickness and pain,
|
|
especially it they be in extremity, embitter all his enjoyments. This
|
|
wicked man has all the delights of sense wound up to the height of
|
|
pleasurableness; but what real happiness can he enjoy when <I>his bones
|
|
are full of the sins of his youth</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
that is, of the effects of those sins? By his drunkenness and gluttony,
|
|
his uncleanness and wantonness, when he was young, he contracted those
|
|
diseases which are painful to him long after, and perhaps make his life
|
|
very miserable, and, as Solomon speaks, consume his flesh and his body,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:11">Prov. v. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
Perhaps he was given to fight when he was young, and then made nothing
|
|
of a cut or a bruise in a fray; but he feels it in his bones long
|
|
after. But can he get no ease, no relief? No, he is likely to carry his
|
|
pains and diseases with him to the grave, or rather they are likely to
|
|
carry him thither, and so the sins of his youth shall <I>lie down with
|
|
him in the dust;</I> the very putrefying of his body in the grave is to
|
|
him the effect of sin
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+24:19"><I>ch.</I> xxiv. 19</A>),
|
|
|
|
so that his iniquity is upon his bones there,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+32:27">Ezek. xxxii. 27</A>.
|
|
|
|
The sin of sinners follows them to the other side death.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. He shall be disquieted and troubled in his mind: <I>Surely he shall
|
|
not feel quietness in his belly,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
He has not that ease in his own mind that people think he has, but is
|
|
in continual agitation. The ill-gotten wealth which he has swallowed
|
|
down makes him sick, and, like undigested meat, is always upbraiding
|
|
him. Let none expect to enjoy that comfortably which they have gotten
|
|
unjustly. The unquietness of his mind arises,
|
|
|
|
(1.) From his conscience looking back, and filling him with the fear of
|
|
the wrath of God against him for his wickedness. Even that wickedness
|
|
which was sweet in the commission, and was rolled under the tongue as a
|
|
delicate morsel, becomes bitter in the reflection, and, when it is
|
|
reviewed, fills him with horror and vexation. <I>In his bowels it is
|
|
turned</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>)
|
|
|
|
like John's book, <I>in his mouth as sweet as honey,</I> but, <I>when
|
|
he had eaten it, his belly was bitter,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+10:10">Rev. x. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
Such a thing is sin; it is turned into <I>the gall of asps,</I> than
|
|
which nothing is more bitter, <I>the poison of asps</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>),
|
|
|
|
than which nothing more fatal, and so it will be to him; what he sucked
|
|
so sweetly, and with so much pleasure, will prove to him the poison of
|
|
asps; so will all unlawful gains be. The fawning tongue will prove the
|
|
viper's tongue. All the charming graces that are thought to be in sin
|
|
will, when conscience is awakened, turn into so many raging furies.
|
|
|
|
(2.) From his cares, looking forward,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>In the fulness of his sufficiency,</I> when he thinks himself most
|
|
happy, and most sure of the continuance of his happiness, <I>he shall
|
|
be in straits,</I> that is, he shall think himself so, through the
|
|
anxieties and perplexities of his own mind, as that rich man who, when
|
|
his ground brought forth plentifully, cried out, <I>What shall I
|
|
do?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+12:17">Luke xii. 17</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
4. He shall be dispossessed of his estate; that shall sink and dwindle
|
|
away to nothing, so that <I>he shall not rejoice therein,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
He shall not only never rejoice truly, but not long rejoice at all.
|
|
|
|
(1.) What he has unjustly swallowed he shall be compelled to disgorge
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>He swallowed down riches,</I> and then thought himself sure of them,
|
|
and that they were as much his own as the meat he had eaten; but he was
|
|
deceived: <I>he shall vomit them up again;</I> his own conscience
|
|
perhaps may make him so uneasy in the keeping of what he has gotten
|
|
that, for the quiet of his own mind, he shall make restitution, and
|
|
that not with the pleasure of a virtue, but the pain of a vomit, and
|
|
with the utmost reluctancy. Or, if he do not himself refund what he has
|
|
violently taken away, God will, by his providence, force him to it, and
|
|
bring it about, one way or other, that ill-gotten goods shall return to
|
|
the right owners: <I>God shall cast them out of his belly,</I> while
|
|
yet the love of the sin is not cast out of his heart. So loud shall
|
|
the clamours of the poor, whom he has impoverished, be against him,
|
|
that he shall be forced to send his children to them to soothe them and
|
|
beg their pardon
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>His children shall seek to please the poor,</I> while his own hands
|
|
shall restore them their goods with shame
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>That which he laboured for,</I> by all the arts of oppression,
|
|
<I>shall he restore,</I> and shall not so swallow it down as to digest
|
|
it; it shall not stay with him, but <I>according to his shame shall the
|
|
restitution be;</I> having gotten a great deal unjustly, he shall
|
|
restore a great deal, so that when every one has his own he will have
|
|
but little left for himself. To be made to restore what was unjustly
|
|
gotten, by the sanctifying grace of God, as Zaccheus was, is a great
|
|
mercy; he voluntarily and cheerfully restored four-fold, and yet had a
|
|
great deal left to <I>give to the poor,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+19:8">Luke xix. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
But to be forced to restore, as Judas was, merely by the horrors of a
|
|
despairing conscience, has none of that benefit and comfort attending
|
|
it, for he <I>threw down the pieces of silver and went and hanged
|
|
himself.</I>
|
|
|
|
(2.) He shall be stripped of all he has and become a beggar. He that
|
|
spoiled others shall himself be spoiled
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+33:1">Isa. xxxiii. 1</A>);
|
|
|
|
for <I>every hand of the wicked shall be upon him.</I> The innocent,
|
|
whom he has wronged, sit down by their loss, saying, as David,
|
|
<I>Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked, but my hand shall not be upon
|
|
him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+24:13">1 Sam. xxiv. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
But though they have forgiven him, though they will make no reprisals,
|
|
divine justice will, and often makes the wicked to avenge the quarrel
|
|
of the righteous, and squeezes and crushes one bad man by the hand of
|
|
another upon him. Thus, when he is plucked on all sides, <I>he shall
|
|
not save of that which he desired</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>),
|
|
|
|
not only he shall not save it all, but he shall save nothing of it.
|
|
<I>There shall none of his meat</I> (which he coveted so much, and fed
|
|
upon with so much pleasure) <I>be left,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
All his neighbours and relations shall look upon him to be in such bad
|
|
circumstances that, when he is dead, no man shall look for his goods,
|
|
none of his kindred shall expect to be a penny the better for him, nor
|
|
be willing to take out letters of administration for what he leaves
|
|
behind him. In all this Zophar reflects upon Job, who had lost all and
|
|
was reduced to the last extremity.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Job20_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job20_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job20_25"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job20_26"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job20_27"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job20_28"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Job20_29"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>23 <I>When</I> he is about to fill his belly, <I>God</I> shall cast the
|
|
fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain <I>it</I> upon him while he
|
|
is eating.
|
|
24 He shall flee from the iron weapon, <I>and</I> the bow of steel
|
|
shall strike him through.
|
|
25 It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering
|
|
sword cometh out of his gall: terrors <I>are</I> upon him.
|
|
26 All darkness <I>shall be</I> hid in his secret places: a fire not
|
|
blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in
|
|
his tabernacle.
|
|
27 The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall
|
|
rise up against him.
|
|
28 The increase of his house shall depart, <I>and his goods</I>
|
|
shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
|
|
29 This <I>is</I> the portion of a wicked man from God, and the
|
|
heritage appointed unto him by God.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Zophar, having described the many embarrassments and vexations which
|
|
commonly attend the wicked practices of oppressors and cruel men, here
|
|
comes to show their utter ruin at last.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. Their ruin will take its rise from God's wrath and vengeance,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
The hand of the wicked was upon him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>every hand of the wicked.</I> His hand was against every one, and
|
|
therefore every man's hand will be against him. Yet, in grappling with
|
|
these, he might go near to make his part good; but his heart cannot
|
|
endure, nor his hands be strong, when <I>God shall deal with him</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+22:14">Ezek. xxii. 14</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>when God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him and rain it upon
|
|
him.</I> Every word here speaks terror. It is not only the justice of
|
|
God that is engaged against him, but his wrath, the deep resentment of
|
|
provocations given to himself; it is <I>the fury of his wrath,</I>
|
|
incensed to the highest degree; it is cast upon him with force and
|
|
fierceness; it is rained upon him in abundance; it comes on his head
|
|
like the fire and brimstone upon Sodom, to which the psalmist also
|
|
refers,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+11:6">Ps. xi. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>On the wicked God shall rain fire and brimstone.</I> There is no
|
|
fence against this, but in Christ, who is the only covert from the
|
|
storm and tempest,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+32:2">Isa. xxxii. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
This wrath shall be cast upon him <I>when he is about to fill his
|
|
belly,</I> just going to glut himself with what he has gotten and
|
|
promising himself abundant satisfaction in it. Then, when he is eating,
|
|
shall this tempest surprise him, when he is secure and easy, and in
|
|
apprehension of no danger; as the ruin of the old world and Sodom came
|
|
when they were in the depth of their security and the height of their
|
|
sensuality, as Christ observes,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+17:26-31">Luke xvii. 26</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c. Perhaps Zophar here reflects on the
|
|
death of Job's children when they were eating and drinking.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. Their ruin will be inevitable, and there will be no possibility of
|
|
escaping it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>He shall flee from the iron weapon.</I> Flight argues guilt. He will
|
|
not humble himself under the judgments of God, nor seek means to make
|
|
his peace with him. All his care is to escape the vengeance that
|
|
pursues him, but in vain: if he escape the sword, yet <I>the bow of
|
|
steel shall strike him through.</I> God has weapons of all sorts; he
|
|
has both <I>whet his sword and bent his bow</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+7:12,13">Ps. vii. 12, 13</A>);
|
|
|
|
he can deal with his enemies <I>cominus vel eminus--at hand or afar
|
|
off.</I> He has a sword for those that think to fight it out with him
|
|
by their strength, and a bow for those that think to avoid him by their
|
|
craft. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:17,18,Jer+48:43,44">Isa. xxiv. 17, 18;
|
|
Jer. xlviii. 43, 44</A>.
|
|
|
|
He that is marked for ruin, though he may escape one judgment, will
|
|
find another ready for him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. It will be a total terrible ruin. When the dart that has struck
|
|
him through (for when God shoots he is sure to hit his mark, when he
|
|
strikes he strikes home) comes to be <I>drawn out of his body,</I> when
|
|
<I>the glittering sword</I> (the <I>lightning,</I> so the word is), the
|
|
flaming sword, the sword that is bathed in heaven
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:5">Isa. xxxiv. 5</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>comes out of his gall,</I> O what <I>terrors are upon him!</I> How
|
|
strong are the convulsions, how violent are the dying agonies! How
|
|
terrible are the arrests of death to a wicked man!</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. Sometimes it is a ruin that comes upon him insensibly,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>.
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1. The darkness he is wrapped up in is a hidden darkness: it is <I>all
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darkness,</I> utter darkness, without the least mixture of light, and
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it is <I>hid in his secret place,</I> whither he has retreated and
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where he hopes to shelter himself; he never retires into his own
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conscience but he finds himself in the dark and utterly at a loss.
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2. The fire he is consumed by is <I>a fire not blown,</I> kindled
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without noise, a consumption which every body sees the effect of, but
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nobody sees the cause of. It is plain that the gourd is withered, but
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the worm at the root, that causes it to wither, is out of sight. He is
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wasted by a soft gentle fire--surely, but very slowly. When the fuel is
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very combustible, the fire needs no blowing, and that is his case; he
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is ripe for ruin. <I>The proud, and those that do wickedly, shall be
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stubble,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mal+4:1">Mal. iv. 1</A>.
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<I>An unquenchable fire shall consume him</I> (so some read it), and
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that is certainly true of hell-fire.</P>
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<P>
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V. It is a ruin, not only to himself, but to his family: <I>It shall go
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ill with him that is left in his tabernacle,</I> for the curse shall
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reach him, and he shall be cut off perhaps by the same grievous
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disease. There is an entail of wrath upon the family, which will
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destroy both his heirs and his inheritance,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>.
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1. His posterity will be rooted out: <I>The increase of his house shall
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depart,</I> shall either be cut off by untimely deaths or forced to run
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their country. Numerous and growing families, if wicked and vile, are
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soon reduced, dispersed, and extirpated, by the judgments of God.
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2. His estate will be sunk. <I>His goods shall flow away</I> from his
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family as fast as ever they flowed into it, when <I>the day of God's
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wrath</I> comes, for which, all the while his estate was in the getting
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by fraud and oppression, he was treasuring up wrath.</P>
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<P>
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VI. It is a ruin which will manifestly appear to be just and righteous,
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and what he has brought upon himself by his own wickedness; for
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>)
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<I>the heaven shall reveal his iniquity,</I> that is, the God of
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heaven, who sees all the secret wickedness of the wicked, will, by some
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means or other, let all the world know what a base man he has been,
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that they may own the justice of God in all that is brought upon him.
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<I>The earth</I> also <I>shall rise up against him,</I> both to
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discover his wickedness and to avenge it. <I>The earth shall disclose
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her blood,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+26:21">Isa. xxvi. 21</A>.
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<I>The earth will rise up against him</I> (as the stomach rises against
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that which is loathsome), and will no longer keep him. <I>The heaven
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reveals his iniquity,</I> and therefore will not receive him. Whither
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then must he go but to hell? If the God of heaven and earth be his
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enemy, neither heaven nor earth will show him any kindness, but all the
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hosts of both are and will be at war with him.</P>
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<P>
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VII. Zophar concludes like an orator
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>):
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<I>This is the portion of a wicked man from God;</I> it is allotted
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him, it is designed him, as his portion. He will have it at last, as a
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child has his portion, and he will have it for a perpetuity; it is what
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he must abide by: <I>This is the heritage of his decree from God;</I>
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it is the settled rule of his judgment, and fair warning is given of
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it. <I>O wicked man! thou shalt surely die,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+33:8">Ezek. xxxiii. 8</A>.
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Though impenitent sinners do not always fall under such temporal
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judgments as are here described (therein Zophar was mistaken), yet the
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wrath of God abides upon them, and they are made miserable by spiritual
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judgments, which are much worse, their consciences being either, on the
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|
one hand, a terror to them, and then they are in continual amazement,
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|
or, on the other hand, seared and silenced, and then they are given up
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to a reprobate sense and bound over to eternal ruin. Never was any
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doctrine better explained, or worse applied, than this by Zophar, who
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intended by all this to prove Job a hypocrite. Let us receive the good
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explication, and make a better application, for warning to ourselves to
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stand in awe and not to sin.</P>
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