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Job Chapter
Ten
Job 10
Chapter Contents
Job complains of his hardships. (1-7) He pleads with God
as his Maker. (8-13) He complains of God's severity. (14-22)
Commentary on Job 10:1-7
(Read Job 10:1-7)
Job, being weary of his life, resolves to complain, but
he will not charge God with unrighteousness. Here is a prayer that he might be
delivered from the sting of his afflictions, which is sin. When God afflicts
us, he contends with us; when he contends with us, there is always a reason;
and it is desirable to know the reason, that we may repent of and forsake the
sin for which God has a controversy with us. But when, like Job, we speak in
the bitterness of our souls, we increase guilt and vexation. Let us harbour no
hard thoughts of God; we shall hereafter see there was no cause for them. Job
is sure that God does not discover things, nor judge of them, as men do;
therefore he thinks it strange that God continues him under affliction, as if
he must take time to inquire into his sin.
Commentary on Job 10:8-13
(Read Job 10:8-13)
Job seems to argue with God, as if he only formed and
preserved him for misery. God made us, not we ourselves. How sad that those
bodies should be instruments of unrighteousness, which are capable of being
temples of the Holy Ghost! But the soul is the life, the soul is the man, and
this is the gift of God. If we plead with ourselves as an inducement to duty,
God made me and maintains me, we may plead as an argument for mercy, Thou hast
made me, do thou new-make me; I am thine, save me.
Commentary on Job 10:14-22
(Read Job 10:14-22)
Job did not deny that as a sinner he deserved his
sufferings; but he thought that justice was executed upon him with peculiar
rigour. His gloom, unbelief, and hard thoughts of God, were as much to be
ascribed to Satan's inward temptations, and his anguish of soul, under the
sense of God's displeasure, as to his outward trials, and remaining depravity.
Our Creator, become in Christ our Redeemer also, will not destroy the work of
his hands in any humble believer; but will renew him unto holiness, that he may
enjoy eternal life. If anguish on earth renders the grave a desirable refuge,
what will be their condition who are condemned to the blackness of darkness for
ever? Let every sinner seek deliverance from that dreadful state, and every
believer be thankful to Jesus, who delivereth from the wrath to come.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Job》
Job 10
Verse 1
[1] My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint
upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
Shall I — Shall I give over complaining?
Verse 2
[2] I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me
wherefore thou contendest with me.
Condemn — Or, pronounce me not to be a wicked man, neither deal
with me as such, as I confess thou mightest do in rigorous justice: O discover
my integrity by removing this stroke, for which my friends condemn me.
Wherefore — For what ends and reasons, and
for what sins; for I am not conscious to myself of any peculiar sins by which I
have deserved to be made the most miserable of all men. When God afflicts, he
contends with us: when he contends with us, there is always a reason for it.
And it is desirable to know, what that reason is, that we may forsake whatever
he has a controversy with us for.
Verse 3
[3] Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that
thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of
the wicked?
Good — Dost thou take any pleasure in it? Far be it from Job,
to think that God did him wrong. But he is at a loss to reconcile his
providences with his justice. And so other good men have often been, and will
be, until the day shall declare it.
Verse 4
[4] Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?
Eyes of faith — No. Eyes of flesh cannot see in
the dark: but darkness hideth not from God. Eyes of flesh are but in one place
at a time, and can see but a little way. But the eyes of the Lord are in every
place, and run to and fro thro' the whole earth. Eyes of flesh will shortly be
darkened by age, and shut up by death. But the eyes of God are ever the same,
nor does his sight ever decay.
As man — Man sees the outside only, and judges by appearances:
but thou seest mine heart.
Verse 5
[5] Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man's
days,
Man's — Man's time is short and uncertain, and therefore he
must improve it, and diligently search out the crimes of malefactors, lest by
death he lose the opportunity of doing justice: but thou art eternal, and seest
at one view all mens hearts, and all their actions present and to come; and
therefore thou dost not need to proceed with me in this manner, by making so
long a scrutiny into my heart and life.
Verse 6
[6] That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest
after my sin?
Searchest — Keeping me so long upon the rack,
to compel me to accuse myself.
Verse 7
[7] Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none
that can deliver out of thine hand.
Wicked — An hypocrite, as my friends account me.
Deliver — But thou art the supreme ruler of the world; therefore
I must wait thy time, and throw myself on thy mercy, in submission to thy
sovereign will.
Verse 9
[9] Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the
clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?
Clay — As a potter makes a vessel of clay; so this may note
both the frailty of man's nature, which of itself decays and perishes, and doth
not need such violent shocks to overthrow it; and the excellency of the Divine
artifice commended from the meanness of the materials; which is an argument why
God should not destroy it.
Again — I must die by the course of nature, and therefore
while I do live, give me some ease and comfort.
Verse 10
[10] Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like
cheese?
As milk — Thus he modestly and accurately describes God's
admirable work in making man out of a small and liquid, and as it were milky
substance, by degrees congealed and condensed into that exquisite frame of
man's body.
Verse 11
[11] Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast
fenced me with bones and sinews.
Clothed — Covered my inward and more noble parts; which are
first formed. So he proceeds in describing man's formation gradually.
Bones — The stay and strength of the body; and some of them,
as the skull and ribs, enclose and defend its vital parts.
Verse 12
[12] Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation
hath preserved my spirit.
Life — Thou didst not only give me a curious body, but also a
reasonable soul: thou didst at first give me life, and then maintain it in me;
both when I was in the womb (which is a marvellous work of God) and afterward
when I was unable to do anything to preserve my own life.
Favour — Thou didst not give mere life, but many other favours,
such as nourishment by the breast, education, knowledge, and instruction.
Visitation — The care of thy providence
watching over me for my good, and visiting me in mercy.
Preserved — My life, which is liable to
manifold dangers, if God did not watch over us every day and moment. Thou hast
hitherto done great things for me, given me life, and the blessings of life,
and daily deliverances: and wilt thou now undo all that thou hast done? And
shall I who have been such an eminent monument of thy mercy, now be a spectacle
of thy vengeance.
Verse 13
[13] And these things hast thou hid in thine heart: I know
that this is with thee.
Hid — Both thy former favours and thy present frowns. Both
are according to thy own will, and therefore undoubtedly consistent, however
they seem. When God does what we cannot account for, we are bound to believe,
there are good reasons for it hid in his heart. It is not with us, or in our
reach to assign the cause; but I know this is with thee.
Verse 14
[14] If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit
me from mine iniquity.
Markest — If I am a wicked man, I cannot hide it from thee; and
thou wilt punish me for it.
Verse 15
[15] If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet
will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine
affliction;
Wicked — An hypocrite, as my friends esteem me.
Righteous — An upright man; so whether good
or bad, all comes to one.
Yet — Yet I have no comfort, or hopes of any good.
Confusion — I am confounded within myself,
not knowing what to say or do. Let my extremity move thee to pity, and help me.
Verse 16
[16] For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and
again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me.
Lion — Which hunteth after his prey with great eagerness, and
when he overtakes it, falls upon it with great fury.
Returnest — The lion tears its prey speedily,
and so ends its torments; but thou renewest my calamities again and again, and
makest my plagues wonderful both for kind and extremity, and continuance.
Verse 17
[17] Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest
thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against me.
Witnesses — Thy judgments, which are the
evidences both of my sins, and of thy wrath.
Indignation — My miseries are the effects of
thine anger.
Army — Changes may denote the various kinds, and an army the
great number of his afflictions.
Verse 20
[20] Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that
I may take comfort a little,
Cease — My life is short, and of itself hastens to an end,
there is no need that thou shouldest grudge me some ease for so small a moment.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Job》
10 Chapter 10
Verses 1-22
Verse 1
My soul is weary of my life.
On the causes of men’s being weary of life
A sentiment which surely, if any situation can justify it, was
allowable in the case of Job. Let us examine in what circumstances this feeling
may be deemed excusable; in what it is to be held sinful; and under what
restrictions we may, on any occasion, be permitted to say, “My soul is weary of
my life.”
I. As the
sentiment of a discontented man. With whom it is the effusion of spleen,
vexation, and dissatisfaction with life, arising from causes neither laudable
nor justifiable.
1. This weariness of life is often found among the idle. They have so
many vacant hours, and are so much at a loss how to fill up their time, that
their spirits utterly sink. The idle are doomed to suffer the natural
punishment of their inactivity and folly.
2. Among the luxurious and dissipated, such complaints are still more
frequent. They have run the whole race of pleasure, but they have run it with
such inconsiderate speed that it terminates in weariness and vexation of
spirit. Satiated, weary of themselves, the complaint bursts forth of odious
life and a miserable world. Their weariness is no other than the judgment of
God overtaking them for their vices and follies. Their complaints of misery are
entitled to no compassion. They are the authors of their own misery.
3. Then there are those who have embittered life to themselves by the
consciousness of criminal deeds. There is no wonder that such persons should
lose their relish for life. To the complaints of such persons no remedy can be
furnished, except what arises from the bitterness of sincere and deep
repentance.
II. As the
sentiment of those in situations of distress. These are so variously multiplied
in the world, and are often so oppressive, that assuredly it is not uncommon to
hear the afflicted complain that they are weary of life. Their complaints, if
not always allowable, yet certainly are more excusable than those which flow
from the sources of dissatisfaction already mentioned. They are sufferers, not
so much through their own misconduct, as through the appointment of Providence;
and therefore to persons in this situation it may seem more needful to offer
consolation than to give admonition. However, as the evils which produce this
impatience of life are of different sorts, a distinction must be made as to the
situations which can most excuse it.
1. The exclamation may be occasioned by deep and overwhelming grief.
As of bereavement.
2. Or by great reverses of worldly fortune. To persons under such
calamities, sympathy is due.
3. Continuance of long and severe disease. In this case Job’s complaint
may assuredly be forgiven more than in any other.
III. As the
sentiment of those who are tired of the vanity of the world. Tired of its
insipid enjoyments, and its perpetually revolving circle of trifles and
follies. They feel themselves made for something greater and nobler. In this
view the sentiment of the text may sometimes be that of a devout man. But,
however sincere, their devotion is not altogether of a rational and chastened
kind. Let us beware of all such imaginary refinements as produce a total
disrelish of our present condition. They are for the most part grafted on
disappointed pursuits, or on a melancholy and splenetic turn of mind. This life
may not compare with the life to come, but such as it is, it is the gift of
God. One great cause of men’s becoming weary of life is grounded on the
mistaken views of it which they have formed, and the false hopes which they
have entertained from it. They have expected a scene of enjoyment, and when
they meet with disappointments and distresses, they complain of life as if it
had cheated and betrayed them. God ordained no such possession for man on earth
as continued pleasure. For the wisest purposes He designed our state to be
chequered with pleasure and pain. As such let us receive it, and make the best
of what is doomed to be our lot. (Hugh Blair, D. D.)
Weariness of life and its remedies
There is a love of life which depends not upon ourselves at all,
and which we cannot help feeling at all times. It is the pure instinct of our
mortal nature. And life is well worthy of our estimation and care. And yet
there is such a thing as weariness of life. Men may be ready to say, “My soul
is weary of my life.”
I. From their own
sinful abuse of life and its blessings. Mankind usually expect too much from
the present life. Some try to find this unwarranted enjoyment in earthly
things, by carrying every gratification to excess, by giving themselves wholly
to the love of present pleasures. They of course experience disappointment in
this vain and sinful pursuit, as God intended they should do. They become weary
of themselves and weary of life; and all this purely owing to their own folly
in perverting their way, and abusing the good gifts of God. Others desire only
lawful gratifications, and seek them in an orderly manner. They propose even to
themselves to be useful in life. They plan very wisely, and proceed very
commendably in all respects but one, and that one is, that they are merely
looking to the creature, and leaving God, in great measure, out of view. They
seek their happiness more in the enjoyment of His gifts, than in making it
their aim to please the gracious Bestower of them all. These also are
disappointed. Their schemes misgive; or, if they succeed, they themselves do
not find in them anything like satisfaction to their immortal nature. They
begin to blame this world, to blame their fellow creatures, and to become weary
even of life. So did Solomon, Ahab, and Haman. This weariness of life would not
be blamable if it was seen to have the good effect of checking men’s immoderate
expectations from present enjoyments. But it does not usually serve such
salutary purposes. This weariness is one of man’s own creating. Men try to make
the animal part of their nature supply the wants also of their spiritual part.
II. From their
sorrows in life and from their loss or want of its blessings. When the objects
of our care and affection are suffering distress, or are taken away from us, we
must sorrow severely, and we are not forbidden to do so. But we are cautioned
against being “overcome of much sorrow,” and there is danger of indulging even
excusable griefs, till we become ready to say, “My soul is weary of my life.”
Then “we” show that we are forgetting the use of these afflictions and sorrows,
and we defeat the very end of these sorrows. The furnace of affliction is the
refining of our souls.
III. From their
inability to enjoy the blessings of life. Bodily pains, diseased and decaying
health, not only cause distress to our natural feelings, they also disable us
from discharging those duties in which we might find relief from many griefs
and troubles of mind. In extreme agonies of pain, life cannot be felt as
anything else than a burden. Many, though free from excessive bodily tortures,
are nevertheless made to possess “months of vanity,” and have “wearisome
nights.” To bear such trials without being weary of life is no easy duty. But
it never can become anyone to express weariness of that life which God, in His
wisdom, sees meet to prolong. The continued sufferer may have much to do, and
much to learn. Be not weary of life while you are in the way of acquiring
greater meetness for heaven.
IV. From spiritual
desires of a better life and its better blessings. There is a weariness of life
that flows from a powerful feeling of religion itself, which we are too much
inclined to excuse, or even desirous to indulge. It is found in emotional young
persons under first serious impressions; and in those who are occasionally
visited with high satisfactions of a spiritual nature; and in those oppressed
with the power of an evil nature, and witnessing much of the wickedness of the
world. They are defeated in the good which they wished to accomplish, and they
are distressed by the prevalence in their own hearts of the evil which they
wished to overcome. They are ready to say with the Psalmist, “Oh that I had
wings like a dove! then would I flee away, and be at rest.” But it is
unwarrantable to prefer heaven to earth, merely for the sake of your own ease
and gratification. To do so is more a token of selfishness than sanctification
of spirit. (J. Brewster.)
Great music uncomplaining
In a charming essay on music, a recent writer has gathered up a
great deal in one telling sentence. He speaks of the various moods of the
world’s masterpieces of music--the romance, the sorrow, the aspiration, the
joy, the sublimity expressed in them, and he adds that there is only one mood
forever unrepresented, for, “Great music never complains.” At first, this seems
too sweeping. We remember so many minor keys, so many tragic chords, in the
best music. But, as we think over it longer, it becomes truer and truer. Great
music has its minor keys, its pathetic passages, its longing, yearning notes;
but they always lead on to aspiration, to hope, or to resignation and peace.
Mere complaint is not in them. The reason, after all, is simple. Complaint is
selfish, and high music, like any other great art, forgets self in larger
things. The complaining note has no possible place in noble harmonies, even
though they be sad. So, if we want to make music out of our lives, we must
learn to omit complaint. Some young people think it rather fine and noble to be
discontented, to complain of narrow surroundings, to dwell on the minor notes.
But it is well to remember that the one thing to avoid in singing is a whine in
the voice; and whining is perilously close to any form of pathos. “Great music
never complains.” That is a good motto to hang up on the wall of one’s mind,
over our keyboard of feeling, so to speak. The harmonies of our lives will be
braver and sweeter the more we follow this thought. Without it, fret and
discord will come, and mar the music that might be, and that is meant to be. (Christian
Age.)
Verse 2
Do not condemn me.
The cry of penitence
I. This is the
language of a sincere penitent. It expresses a dread of condemnation, and a
fear of future punishment. This impression is awakened by--
1. The recollection of past sins.
2. By a sense of present suffering.
II. It implies that
there are some persons whom God will certainly condemn. The sentence to
“depart” will be pronounced by the righteous Judge, and it will be addressed
especially to three classes of individuals. To the prayerless, the
self-righteous, and those who live in the habitual practice of sin.
III. It directs us
to the means by which this final sentence may be averted.
1. You must justify the character and conduct of God.
2. Make humble and sincere acknowledgment of your sinfulness.
3. Cheerfully acquiesce in the method of Divine mercy.
IV. It suggests
some important motives to produce in our minds true and evangelical repentance.
1. The first class of motives is addressed to our fears.
2. From the strivings of the Spirit.
3. From the glorious dispensation under which we live. (Essex
Congregational Remembrancer.)
Shew me wherefore Thou
contendest with me.
The sweet uses of adversity
It needs but a short sight for us to discover that if God
contendeth with man, it must be a contention of mercy. There must be a design
of love in this. Address--
I. The child of
God. Sometimes to question God is wicked. But this is a question that may be
asked.
1. My first answer on God’s part is this: it may be that God is
contending with thee, that He may show His own power in upholding thee. He
loves to hear His saints tried, that the whole world may see that there is none
like them on the face of the earth. What noble work is this, that while God is
casting down His child with one hand, He should be holding him up with the
other. This is why God contends with thee; to glorify Himself by showing to
angels, to men, to devils, how He can put such strength into poor, puny man,
that he can contend with his Maker, and become a prevailing prince like Israel,
who as a prince had power with God and prevailed.
2. The Lord is doing this to develop thy graces. There are some of
thy graces that would never be discovered if it were not for thy trials. Thy
faith never looks so grand in summer weather as it does in winter. Love is too
often like a glow worm, that showeth but little light, except it be in the
midst of surrounding darkness. Hope itself is like a star, not to be Seen in
the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of
adversity. It is real growth that is the result of these trials. God may take
away your comforts and your privileges, to make you the better Christians.
3. It may be that the Lord contends with thee because thou hast some
secret sin which is doing thee sore damage. Trials often discover sins--sins
which we should never have found out if it had not been for them. The houses in
Russia are very greatly infested with rats and mice. Perhaps a stranger would
scarcely notice them at first, but the time when you discover them is when the
house is on fire--then they pour out in multitudes. And so doth God sometimes
burn up our comforts to make our hidden sins run out; and then He enables us to
knock them on the head, and get rid of them. That may be the reason of your
trial, to put an end to some long-festered sin; or to prevent some future sin.
4. We must have fellowship with Christ in His sufferings, being made
conformable unto His death. Hast thou never thought that none can be like the
Man of Sorrow, unless they have sorrows too? Think not that thou canst be like
the thorn-crowned head, and yet never feel the thorn. God is chiselling
you--you are but a rough block--He is making you into the image of Christ; and
that sharp chisel is taking away much which prevents your being like Him. Sweet
is the affliction which gives us fellowship with Christ.
5. It may be that the Lord contendeth with thee to humble thee. We
are all too proud. We shall have many blows before we are brought down to the
right mark; and it is because we are so continually getting up, that God is so
continually putting us down again.
II. Address the
seeking sinner. Who may be wondering that he has found no peace or comfort.
Perhaps--
1. God is contending with you for awhile, because as yet you are not
thoroughly awakened. Christ will not heal your wound until He has probed it to
its very core.
2. God may be contending with you to try your earnestness.
3. Perhaps you are harbouring some sin.
4. Perhaps you do not thoroughly understand the plan of salvation. (C.
H. Spurgeon.)
The design of God in affliction
Good men who have excelled in a particular virtue have sometimes
lamentably failed in its exercise--e.g., Moses, Peter, Job. The text
refers to a season of heavy affliction. The spirit of Job was oppressed; his
mind was harassed; it was full of confusion; and we wonder not that his
language betrays the perplexity which he felt.
I. A good man has
converse with God. In all circumstances, whether of ease or pain, of health or
sickness, he thinks of his God, and highly estimates communion with Him. In
affliction we speak to ourselves; we speak to our friends; but our best
employment is converse with God. In our approaches to Him, He permits us to
utter whatever interests our minds, to express the inmost feelings of our hearts.
II. A good man
deprecates an evil. “Do not condemn me.” Job refers probably to the sentiment
of his friends. They mistook his character. Job says to God, “Do not Thou
condemn me.” No doubt Job had low views of himself in the sight of God. This
applies to ourselves. Do we merit condemnation from God? What shall we plead in
arrest of judgment? Nothing less than the mediation of Christ.
III. A good man
solicits a favour. “Shew me wherefore Thou contendest with me.” “Afflictest” is
a better word here than “contendest.” It is a warrantable request, a prayer
full of propriety. Affliction is from God, and He has some design in it, which
it is important for us to ascertain. Affliction is sent to convince of sin; to
prevent sin; as a test of principles; to promote holiness; to advance our
usefulness. What then do you know of converse with God, and how is the
privilege improved? (T. Kidd.)
Verses 3-17
Is it good unto Thee that Thou shouldest oppress?
Job’s mistaken views of his sufferings
I. As inconsistent
with all his ideas of his Maker.
1. As inconsistent with His goodness. “Is it good unto Thee that Thou
shouldest oppress, that Thou shouldest despise the work of Thine hands?” I
thought Thee benevolent and merciful, but in my suffering I feel Thee to be
malign. There is a strong tendency in all men under suffering to regard the
Almighty as anything but good.
2. With His justice. “And shine upon the counsel of the wicked.” Job
saw wicked men around him, strong and hale in body, buoyant in animal spirits,
and prosperous in worldly affairs, whilst he who was in his deepest heart in
sympathy with right, and the God of right, was reduced to the utmost distress.
He failed to see justice in this.
3. With His greatness. “Hast Thou eyes of flesh,” etc. I cannot
reconcile the sufferings with which Thou dost afflict an insignificant creature
like me with Thine omniscience and eternity.
II. As an
unrighteous display of arbitrary power. “Thou knowest that I am not wicked,”
etc. Job does not regard himself as absolutely holy. The Omniscient One knew he
was not guilty of that hypocrisy with which his friends had charged him. Where,
then, is the righteousness of his afflictions?
III. As contrary to
what the Divine organisation and preservation of his existence led him to
expect. In the eighth and two following verses he ascribes the formation of his
body to God. He ascribes his sustentation as well. He seemed astonished that
the God who thus produced and supported him should thus mar his beauty, destroy
his health, and overwhelm him with misery. This is, in truth, a perplexity to
us as well as to Job.
IV. As baffling all
attempts to understand. “And these things Thou hast hid in Thine heart.” If
there is a reason, it is in Thy heart shut up and hid from me, and I cannot
reach it. The more he thought, the more was Job embarrassed with the mysteries
of his being. Conclusion--
1. The greatness of man’s capability for suffering. To what
inexpressible wretchedness and agony was Job now reduced, both in soul and in
body.
2. The absoluteness of God’s power over us. We are in His bands, all
of us.
3. The value of Christianity as an interpreter of suffering. Job’s
great “confusion” in his suffering seemed to arise from the idea that unless a
man was a great sinner there was no reason for great suffering. Afflictions to
good men are disciplinary, not punitive. (Homilist.)
That Thou shouldest
despise the work of Thine hands.
Man is the work of God
Job alludes to artificers who, having made an excellent piece,
will not destroy or break it in pieces; they are very tender of their work,
yea, they are apt to boast and grow proud of it. Man was the masterpiece of the
whole visible creation. The Lord needs not to be ashamed of, neither doth He
despise any part of His work, much less this, which is the best and noblest
part of it. As the body, so the soul of man is the work of God’s hand. His
power and wisdom wrought it, and work mightily in it. In regard of bodily substance,
the most inferior creatures claim kindred of man, and he may be compared to the
beast that perisheth; but in regard of the soul, man transcends them all, and
may challenge a nearness, if not an equality with the angels. Take three
cautions.
1. Be not proud of what ye are, all is the work of God. How beautiful
or comely, how wise or holy soever ye are, it is not of yourselves.
2. Despise not what others are or have; though they are not such
exact pieces, though they have not such excellent endowments as yourselves, yet
they are what the hand of God hath wrought them, and they have what the hand of
God hath wrought in them.
3. Despise not what yourselves are; to do so is a sin, and a sin very
common. Men are ashamed to be seen as God hath made them; few are ashamed to be
seen what the devil hath made them. Many are troubled at small defects of the
outward man. They who come after God to mend His work, lest they should be
despised, will but make themselves more despicable. (Joseph Caryl.)
Verse 8
Thine hands have made me.
Creation, the pledge of God’s guardianship
Though Job reached a wrong conclusion, he was arguing on a
right principle. The patriarch’s argument is this--As we are the creatures, the
workmanship of Almighty God, we may expect Him to take care of us, and that as
God, any opposite conduct may justly excite surprise, and be thought at
variance with the acknowledged fact that the Divine hands have “made us and
fashioned us together round about.” This argument is susceptible of being
wrought out into many and instructive shapes. The remembrance of our creation
should animate us to expect supplies of grace and instruction. To the
benevolence and goodness of God must be referred the production of the
multiplied tribes of living things. God caused life to pervade immensity
because, as He Himself is everywhere, He would that everywhere there should be
objects of His bounty, beings with capacity and provision for enjoyment. Every
creature may trace its origin to the benevolence of God, and therefore every
creature might infer, from its having been formed, that its Maker was ready to
satisfy its wants, yea, to fulfil its desires, so far as those desires might be
lawfully entertained. What is creation to me, but a register of the carefulness
of the Almighty in providing for my happiness during my sojourn here below?
Shall I think it unlikely that God would take measures for my good in reference
to that eternity on which I must enter at death? Job seems to reason that, in
place of destroying him, God who had made might have been expected to save him.
It is an argument from what had been done for him in his natural capacity, to
what might have been looked for in his spiritual capacity. And Job’s reason is
every way accurate. (Henry Melvill, B. D.)
Verses 12-16
Thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.
Acknowledgment of and appeal to God
Job addresses God as his Creator, Preserver, and Benefactor; he
seems to ask, why, knowing his frailty, He laid upon him such burdens as those
which he was called upon to bear. He appears to have felt some difficulty in
reconciling the past mercies of God with His present afflicting dispensations.
Yet, amidst all, he acknowledges that his Creator doubtless had wise, though to
him unknown, reasons for His dispensations. “These things,” said he, “Thou hast
hid in Thine heart.” They were planned in Thine infinitely wise, holy, and
beneficent, though unsearchable counsels. “I know this is with Thee.” To me,
indeed, it is a source of trouble and perplexity; but to Thee it is plain. And
then, as though glancing at the righteousness of God’s law, on the one hand,
and, on the other, at the sinfulness of mankind generally, and in particular at
his own personal transgressions, with a sense of the imperfection of his best
obedience, he adds, “If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet
will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see mine
affliction, for it increaseth.”
I. First, then, we
have Job’s acknowledgment of his infinite obligations to God. “Thou hast
granted me life and favour, and Thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.”
1. The blessing of creation. “Thou hast granted me life.” He does not
attribute his existence to chance, or necessity; but speaks of it expressly as
a grant from the Almighty; a grant bestowed for the most wise, benevolent, and
momentous purposes. Practical atheism is at all times too common, even among
many who profess and call themselves Christians. How few, comparatively, are
accustomed, like Job, constantly to refer their being to God; with a deep
impression of what they owe to Him; with a practical conviction that they are
not their own; and with a due sense of their obligation to live to His glory.
Yet it is certain that an habitual feeling of reverence towards God as our
Creator, though not the whole of religion, is a necessary and indispensable
part of it. The Gospel of Christ, in pointing out to us other truths, essential
to be known by us as fallen and guilty creatures, does not overlook, but on the
contrary uniformly takes for granted and displays this first natural and
unalterable bond of union between the Creator and His creatures. The grant of
life was the first benefit we were capable of enjoying, and it opened the way
to all that followed.
2. But to the benefit of creation Job adds that of preservation. “Thy
visitation hath preserved my spirit.” The same Almighty hand that formed and
animated the human frame, sustains it amidst the perils to which it is every
moment exposed. We do not live by chance, any more than we were at first formed
by chance. One moment’s absence of that Divine visitation which preserves our
spirit, would suffice to plunge us back--we know not whither; all our
capacities for happiness, all our hopes for this world, and those brighter
expectations which, as Christians, we cherish beyond the grave, would be
utterly extinguished. This powerful and unceasing visitation of the Creator
preserves all things in their appointed rank and order; and to it we are
indebted for our continued capacity for partaking of the blessings to which our
creation introduced us.
3. To sum up the whole, Job adds the mention of that Divine “favour”
without which our creation and preservation had been but the commencement and
prolongation of misery. How thickly, how interminably do His benefits cluster
around us! By night and by day, in infancy and in manhood, in childhood and old
age, in our personal and social relations, in our families and in the world, in
sickness not less than in health, in adversity not less than in prosperity, He
pours into our cup blessings infinitely beyond our deservings. And here opens
before us the most wonderful of all proofs of His favour. Here beams upon us
the stupendous revelation of the redemption that is in Christ. Here we behold
why even the sinner, to whom, as a sinner, no Divine approbation can be
exhibited, is yet spared and crowned with so many benefits, in order that he
may turn to the God whom he had forsaken, seek the mercy which he had despised,
and be won by the long-suffering which he had perhaps profanely made a motive
for a continuance in his sins. Whether we consider the awful magnitude of our
guilt, or the costly nature of the sacrifice made to atone for it, or the
freeness and amplitude of the pardon bestowed upon us; we shall see that this
was indeed the climax of Divine favour; to which our creation and preservation
were but preparative; and the issue of which, to all who humbly avail
themselves of it, will be an eternity of happiness in the world to come.
II. Consider the
judicial relation in which he describes himself as standing towards him and his
conscious guilt and confusion at the prospect. We might have supposed that his
expressive description of God’s past mercies would have been succeeded by the
warmest language of hope and confidence. And thus would it have been, had no
obstacle interposed. The angels in heaven, in reviewing the benefits conferred
upon them by their beneficent Creator, blend with their emotions of love and
gratitude no symptoms of apprehension or alarm. They are not “full of
confusion,” while they survey the mercies of Him who “granted them existence
and favour, and whose visitation preserves their spirit.” The past
manifestations of God’s overflowing bounty are to them a pledge for the
present; and the present for the future. But not so with man, when duly
conscious of the ungrateful return which he has made for the bounties of his
Almighty Benefactor. For every relationship involves certain duties; and most
of all, the relationship of a creature to his Creator. The very bond of this
relationship, on the side of man, was perfect love, confidence, and obedience.
He had a law given him to obey, and he was bound by every tie to obey it. A
creature, if guiltless, would not tremble for the consequences of his own
conduct under such a law; but what are the actual circumstances of man? Job seems
to exhibit them, in the text, under a threefold view. Supposing, first, a case
which may be considered as the ordinary average of human character, “If I sin”;
next, a case of peculiar atrocity, “If I be wicked”; thirdly, a case of unusual
moral rectitude, “If I be righteous”--and in all these he shows the condition
in which we stand before God.
1. “If I sin, Thou markest me and Thou wilt not acquit me from mine
iniquity.” No extraordinary degree of profligacy seems to be here supposed;
nothing more is stated than what we all acknowledge to be applicable to
ourselves; for who is he that sinneth not? Yet how stands our condition under
this aspect? First we learn that God “marks us”; His omniscient eye is upon all
our ways. “Thou wilt not acquit me.” How fearful the condition of a creature
thus exposed by his own sinful conduct to the just wrath of his Creator! Well
might Job exclaim, “I am full of confusion.” For who shall stand before God
when He is displeased? Who shall stay His hand when it is stretched out to
inflict punishment?
2. “If I be wicked, woe unto me.” The degree of guilt marked by this
expression seems to be more flagrant than that implied in the former. The
conclusion in this case is therefore most clear; for if every sin is marked, if
no iniquity is followed by acquittal, then woe indeed to the hardened, the
deliberate transgressor!
3. “If I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head.” Job cannot
here refer to perfect and unerring holiness of heart and conduct--for to such a
degree of sanctity no human being can lay claim; if he could, he might justly
lift up his head; but he doubtless speaks comparatively, taking man at his best
estate; selecting the most moral, the most upright; then, in this most
favourable case, showing the utter incompetence of man to stand justified in
the sight of his Creator. So imperfect are our best actions, so mixed are our
purest motives, that, far from challenging the rewards of merit, we must
acknowledge ourselves, on an impartial survey, to deserve the punishment of our
aggravated disobedience. At best we are unprofitable servants. “To us belongeth
shame and confusion of face.” The friends of Job thought that he wished to try
this experiment; that he justified himself before God; but his affliction had
taught him a lesson more suitable to his frail and fallen condition: so that,
instead of lifting up his head, his language was, “Whom, though I were
righteous, I would not answer; but I would make supplication to my Judge”; or,
in the corresponding sentiment of the text, “See Thou mine affliction, for it
increaseth.”
III. consider his
humble appeal to God to have compassion upon him. He claims no merit; he
proffers no gift. He had acknowledged God’s mercies to him; and confessed his
inability to stand before His justice. What, then, is his hope of escape? It is
in substance the language of the publican, and of every true penitent in every
age, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” His affliction was increasing; nothing
but despair lay before him; but in his extremity he applies, where none ever
rightly applied in vain, to the infinite Source of mercy and compassion. “See
Thou mine affliction.” How excellent is the example which he here sets before
us! In every exigency of life, or when weighed down with the burden of our sins
before God, let us betake ourselves to Him who will compassionate our weakness,
assuage our sorrows, and forgive our transgressions. Happy is it for us that He
is not a God afar off, but is at all times, as it were, within reach of our
humble petitions. Let us thus approach Him with the language of Job; with
fervent acknowledgments of His goodness, and of our own ingratitude; of His
infinite justice, and our own unrighteousness; with self-condemnation on the
one hand, and a humble trust in His mercy in Christ Jesus on the other--and
then will He look with pity upon our affliction, then will He pardon all our
iniquities. For no sooner had Job practically acquired this just view of
himself and of God; no sooner had he said, “I have heard of Thee by the hearing
of the ear; but now mine eye seeth Thee: wherefore I abhor myself, and repent
in dust and ashes”; than it is added, “The Lord turned the captivity of Job.”
And thus will He continue to be gracious to every sincere penitent, through the
infinite merits of His beloved Son. (Christian Observer.)
The Divine visitation
This is the grateful acknowledgment of Job amidst his accumulated
trials. There were sentiments of gratitude intermingled with the expressions of
grief. The use which Job made of the Divine protection was to plead with God
for a continuance of His mercy, and to pray for the vindication of his own
integrity.
I. It is by the
visitation of the Lord that our natural lives and temporal blessings are
preserved to us. The continuance of all things is of God, to whom belong the
issues from death. By His providence our various circumstances are appointed to
us.
II. To the
visitation of God we owe all our spiritual life. By the Holy Spirit the
immortal soul is enlightened, regenerated, and preserved unto the heavenly
kingdom. These gracious visitations act upon our inner nature in various ways,
and through a diversified instrumentality. Afflictions, means of grace, are
Divine visitations. God’s judgments and mercies are efficient only as He by His
Spirit and blessing shall make them so.
III. The use to make
of this doctrine.
1. It is a doctrine full of godly consolation and encouragement. Our
salvation does not depend on our own unaided powers.
2. The subject has a dark as well as a bright side. It is of alarming
import to the careless. If He withdraw His grace, what will become of their
resolutions? Be it yours then to “know the day of visitation.” (Anon.)
Living by the visitation of God
You have all heard the phrase, generally used by juries at a
coroner’s inquest, when a man has died suddenly, “Died by the visitation of
God.” No doubt some do thus die; but I want you to live by the visitation of
God. That is a very different thing, and that is the only way in which we truly
can live, by God’s visiting us from day to day, so preserving our spirit from
the dangers that surround us. Live, then, by the visitation of God. (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
Three blessings of the heavenly charter
It is well sometimes to sit down, and take a grateful review of
all that God has done for us, and with us, from our first day until now. We
must not be like hogs under the oak, that eat the acorns, but never thank the
tree, or the Lord who made it to grow. Here is poor Job, covered with sore
boils, sitting on a dunghill, scraping himself with a bit of a broken pot, with
his children dead, his property destroyed, and even his wife not giving him a
word of comfort, and his friends acting in a most unfriendly manner. Now it is
that he talks to his God, and says, “Thou hast granted me life and favour, and
Thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.” You are very ill; think of the time
when you were well. You are poor; remember when you washed your feet in milk,
and your steps with butter, and had more than heart could wish. Only begin to
praise God, and you will find that he who praises God for mercy will never be
long without a mercy for which to praise Him! The first blessing of this
heavenly charter is life: “Thou hast granted me life.”
1. Well, I think that we ought to thank God that we have lived at
all. I know the pessimist version of the psalm of life is that, “‘Tis something
better not to be.” Perhaps it would have been something better if that
gentleman had not been, better, I should think, for his wife and family if they
had not had to live with such a miserable creature. But the most of us thank
God for our being, as well as for our well-being. We count it something not to
be stones, or plants, or “dumb, driven cattle.” We are thankful to be
intelligent beings, with powers of thought, and capable of mental and spiritual
enjoyment.
2. But we also thank God that we have lived on in spite of many
perils.
3. I am addressing some from whom our text asks for gratitude because
they are alive notwithstanding constitutional weakness. Perhaps from a child
you were always feeble.
4. Now think of the sin which might have provoked God to make an end
of such a guilty life. “Thou hast granted me life.” But if we can say this in a
higher sense, “Thou hast granted me life,” spiritual life, how much greater should
our gratitude be! I could not even feel the guilt of sin, I was so dead; but
Thou hast granted me life to repent.
II. The second
blessing of this heavenly charter is Divine favour: “Thou hast granted me life
and favour.” Have you ever thought of the many favours that God has bestowed
upon you, even upon some of you who as yet have never tasted of His grace?
1. What a favour it is to many to be sound in body!
2. I cannot help reminding you here of the great favour of God in the
matter of soundness of mind.
3. I speak to many here to whom God has also given a comfortable lot
in life.
4. Some here, too, some few, at any rate, have been favoured with
much prosperity.
5. And I may say tonight that, in this congregation, God has given
you the favour of hearing the Gospel; no mean favour, let me remind you.
6. Still, putting all these things together, they do not come up to
this last point, that many of us have received the favours of saving grace:
“Thou hast granted me life and favour.”
III. The last
blessing of the charter, upon which I shall be a little longer, is Divine
visitation: “Thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.” Does God ever come to
man? Does He not? Yes; but it is a great wonder: “What is man, that Thou art
mindful of him? And the son of man that Thou visitest him?”
1. He visited you, first, with an arousement and conviction of sin.
2. After that first experience, there came visitations of
enlightenment and conversion.
3. Perhaps since then you have had visitations of another kind. You
have had chastisement, or you have had affliction in the house. God’s
visitations are sometimes very unwelcome.
4. But then, we hate had other visitations, visitations of revival
and restoration. Do you not sometimes get very dull and dead?
5. The best of all is, when the Lord visits us, and never goes away;
but stays with us always, so that we walk in the light of His countenance, and
go from strength to strength, singing always, “Thy visitation never ended,
daily continued, preserves my spirit.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A song and a solace
You see that Job is appealing to the pity of God, and this is the
form of his argument: “Thou art my Creator; be my Preserver. Thou hast made me;
do not break me. Thou art dealing very hardly with me, I am almost destroyed
beneath the pressure of Thy hand; yet remember that I am Thine own creature.
Weak and frail as I am, I am the creation of Thy hand; therefore, despise not
Thine own work. Whatever I am, with the exception of my sin, Thou hast made me
what I am; ‘tis Thou who hast brought me into my present condition; consider,
then, O God, what a poor, frail thing I am, and stay Thy hand, and do not
utterly crush my spirit.” This is a wise prayer, a right and proper argument
for a creature to use with the Creator; and when Job goes further still, and,
in the language of our text, addresses God not only as his Creator, but as his
Benefactor, and mentions the great blessings that he had received from God, his
argument still holds good: “Do not, Lord, change Thy method of dealing with me;
Thou hast given me life, Thou hast shown me special favour, Thou hast hitherto
preserved me; cast me not away from Thy presence, dismiss me not from Thy
service, let not Thy tender mercies fail, but do unto me now and in days to
come according as Thou hast done unto me in the days that are past.” I. First,
then, let us use the former part of our text as a song for bright days: “Thou
hast granted me life and favour, and Thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.”
Whatever we have received that is good, has come to us from God as a matter of
pure favour. Now, then, ye joyful ones, unite with me while we first bless God
for granting us life. To a Christian man, life is a blessing; in itself,
considered alone, it is a blessing; but to the ungodly man it may turn out to
be a curse, for it would have been better for that man if he had never been
born. But to a godly man like Job, it is a great mercy even to have an
existence. I find that, in the Hebrew, this word “life” is in the plural: “Thou
hast granted me lives”; and blessed be God, we who believe in Jesus have not
only this natural life, which we share in common with all men, but the Holy
Spirit has begotten in the hearts of believers a new life infinitely higher
than mere natural life, a life which makes us akin to Christ, joint heirs with
Him of the eternal inheritance which He is keeping for us in heaven. Let us
praise God, then, for life, and especially for this higher life if it is ours.
What a joy it is to live in this respect! Next, we have to praise God for
granting us favour. I should be quite unable to tell you to the full all that
is wrapped up in that word “favour.” Favour from God! It is a great word in the
original, a word big with meaning, for it means the love of God. God loves
immeasurably. The force and extent of true love never can be calculated; it is
a passion that cannot be measured by degrees as the temperature can be recorded
on the thermometer; it is something that exceedeth and overfloweth all
measurement, for a man giveth all his heart when he truly loveth. So is it with
God; He setteth no bound to His love. We might rightly paraphrase Job’s words,
and say, “Thou hast granted me life and love.” Oh, what wondrous words to put
together, life and love! Life without God’s love is death; but put God’s love
with it, and then what a song we ought to send up to His throne if we feel that
He has given us both spiritual life and infinite love. The word “favour,”
however, means not only love; but, as we ordinarily use it, it means some
special form of grace and goodness. If, at this hour, any one of you is a child
of God, it is because God has done more for you than He has done for others. If
there be a difference between you and others, somebody made that difference;
and whoever made it ought to be honoured and praised for it. By the word
“favour” is also meant grace in all the shapes which it assumes, so Job’s words
might be rendered, “Thou hast granted me life and grace.” Now let us dwell, for
a minute or two, on the third blessing of this Divine grant: “and Thy
visitation hath preserved my spirit.” There is a wonderful range of meaning in
those words, but Job no doubt first refers to the providence of God by which He
makes, as it were, a visitation of all the world, and especially of His own
people. Some of us have had very special providential deliverances; we will not
mention them tonight, because they are too many. It has been well said, “He
that watches providence shall never be without a providence to watch.” Oh, but
that is only the beginning of the meaning of Job’s words, “Thy visitation hath
preserved my spirit.” God hath visited those of us who are His people in other
ways besides the watching of His providence. Let me mention some of them. He
has visited some of us with correction, and we do not like that form of
visitation. There are some, whom God will yet permit to be rich, who would not
have been capable of managing so much money, to the Lord’s honour and glory if
they had not for a while had to live on short commons. The very thing we regret
most in providence will probably be that in which we shall rejoice most in
eternity. There are other visitations, however, such as the visitations of
consolation. Oh, how sweet those are to the soul when in trouble! Once more,
how sweet are the visitations of God in communion!
II. A solace for
dark nights: “And these things hast Thou hid in Thine heart: I know that this
is with Thee.” There is another interpretation of this verse, quite different
from the one that I am going to give you, but I do not think that Job ever
could have meant what some people think he did. I believe that, when he said,
“These things”--that is, life, favour, and God’s gracious visitation,--“These
things hast Thou hid in Thine heart: I know that this is with Thee,” that he
meant, first, that God remembers what He has done, and will not lose His pains.
“‘Thou hast granted me life and favour’; Lord, Thou hast not forgotten that;
Thou hast hidden that in Thine heart, Thou rememberest it well. Since Thou hast
done this for me, and Thou dost remember that Thou hast done it, therefore Thou
wilt continue Thy mercy to me, and not lose all the grace and goodness which
Thou hast already bestowed upon me.” Even if you have forgotten all that God
has done for you, God has not forgotten it. Many children forget all the
kindness and love of their mother, but the mother remembers all that she did
for her children in the days of their helplessness, and she loves them all the
more because of what she did for them. “Having loved His own which were in the
world, He loved them unto the end.” But, next, I think that the words, “And
these things hast Thou hid in Thine heart: I know that this is with Thee,” have
this meaning, that God sometimes hides His favour and love in His heart, yet
they are there still. At times, it may be that you get no glimpse of His face,
or that you see no smile upon it. The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion;
therefore, O tried child of God, learn what Job here teaches us, that these
things are still hidden in the heart of God, and that eternal love holdeth fast
to the objects of its choice. “I know that this is with Thee,” said Job, so the
last thing I want you to learn from his words is that God would have His people
strong in faith to know this truth. Job says, “I know that this is with Thee.”
I speak to many persons who say that they are Christians, and who perhaps are
believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and one of their clearest evidences is that
they are very happy. True religion makes people happy, it is a perennial fountain
of delight. But do not set too much store by your emotions of delight, because
they may be taken from you, and then where will your evidences be? God’s people
sometimes walk in darkness, and see no light. There are times when the best and
brightest of saints have no joy. If your religion should not, for a time, yield
you any joy, cling to it all the same. You see, God does not give you faith in
order that you may merely run about in the meadows with it all among the fair
spring flowers. I will tell you for what purpose He gives you faith; it is that
you may put on your snow shoes, and go out in the cold wintry blasts and glide
along over the ice and the snow. Only have faith in Him, and say, “My God, Thy
will towards me to give me life, and favour, and preservation, may be hidden,
but it is still in Thine heart, ‘I know that this is with Thee.’“ Now I must
leave these things with you. You who know and love the Lord will seek a renewal
of His visitations tonight; and as for you who do not know Him, oh, how I wish
that you did! (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Verses 18-22
Oh that I had given up the ghost!
The effects of Job’s sufferings
The patriarch had already in the previous verses expressed
to the Almighty that his sufferings were--
I. A sense of
duty. Sense of obligation to the Supreme is an instinct as universal as man, as
deep as life itself; but the patriarch, in wishing that he had never been, or
that his first breath had been extinguished, had lost all feeling in relation
to the wonderful mercies which his Creator had conferred upon him during the
past years of his existence.
What were those mercies?
1. Great material wealth.
2. Great domestic enjoyment.
3. Immense social influence.
II. A love of life.
Seldom do we find, even amongst the most miserable of men, one who struggles
not to perpetuate his existence. But this instinct Job now seems to have lost,
if not its existence, its power. Existence has become so intolerable that he
wishes he had never had it, and yearns for annihilation. Two thoughts are here
suggested.
1. There may be something worse for man than annihilation.
2. This annihilation is beyond the reach of creatures.
III. Hope of a
hereafter. Hope for future good is another of the strongest instincts of our
nature. “Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts.” Indeed
it is one of those powers within us that, like a mainspring, keeps every wheel
in action. Man never is but always to be blest. Job seems to have lost this
now. Hence his description of the future. “Before I go whence I shall not
return, even to the land of darkness, and the shadow of death; a land of
darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and
where the light is as darkness.” He saw a future, but what was it?
1. Darkness. A starless, moonless midnight, a vast immeasurable
abyss--“the land of darkness.” His hereafter was black, not a ray of light
streamed from the firmament.
2. Confusion. “Without any order.” Small and great, young and old,
all together in black chaos.
Conclusion--
1. That great suffering in this world in the case of individuals does
not mean great sin.
2. The power of the devil over man.
3. The value of the Gospel. This man had no clear revelation of a
blessed future. Hence one scarcely wonders at his frequent and impassioned
complaints. How different our life to his! (Homilist.)
A good man’s distempers
This passage teaches--
1. Saints’ highest fits of passion will not last, but mercy will
reclaim them, and give them a cool of that fever.
2. As the fevers and distempers of saints may come to a very great
height, so, ordinarily, that height or excess of them proves the step next to
their cool.
3. Humble, sober prayer is a notable evidence and mean in calming
distempered spirits; it is as the shower to allay that poisonous wind.
4. As man’s life is but uncertain and short, so the thoughts of this
should make men employ their time well, and to be very needy and pressing after
God, and proofs of Him.
5. Such as are excited with much trouble, and have their exercises
blessed to them, will be sober, and esteem much of little ease, to get leave to
breathe, or to comfort and refresh themselves a little, with a sight of God, or
of His grace in them, and not their own passions which they ought to abhor.
6. The least ease, breathing, or comfort, under trouble, cannot be
had but of God’s indulgence.
7. It is the duty of men to acquaint themselves with death
beforehand; and especially in times of trouble they should study it in its true
colours.
8. Death and the grave in themselves, and when Christ’s victory over
them is not studied, and men are hurried away to them in a tempest of trouble,
are very terrible, and an ugly sight, as bringing an irreparable loss as to any
restitution in this life.
9. The consideration of the ugliness of death and the grave, doth
call upon all to provide somewhat before they lie down in that cold bed,
wherein they will continue so long, and somewhat that may light them through
that dark passage. (George Hutcheson.)
Verse 22
And the shadow of death, without any order.
Death without order
While Job was under the bereaving hand of God, his thoughts were
naturally turned upon the frailty of man, the shortness of life, and the gloomy
scenes of mortality. The truth stated here is this--God discovers no order in
calling men out of the world by death.
I. God discovers
no order in sending death among mankind. Job believed that there is perfect
order in the Divine Mind, respecting death, as well as every other event. In
relation to God death is perfectly regular; but this regularity He has seen
proper to conceal from the view of man. Though God has passed a sentence of
mortality upon all mankind, yet He never discovers any order in the execution
of it.
1. He sends death without any apparent respect to age.
2. Without any regard to men’s bodily strength or weakness.
3. Without any apparent respect to the place of their dying.
4. There is no order apparent in the means of death.
5. God pays no visible regard to the characters of men, in calling
them off the stage of life.
6. God appears to pay no regard to the circumstances of men, in
putting an end to their days.
7. Nor does He appear to consult the feelings of men.
II. Why does God
send death through the world without any discernible order?
1. To make men sensible that He can do what He pleases, without their
aid or instrumentality.
2. To make them know that He can dispose of them according to the
counsel of His own will.
3. To convince man that he can do nothing without Him.
4. By concealing the order of death, God teaches mankind the
propriety and importance of being constantly prepared for it.
Learn--If death is coming to all men, and coming without any
order, then it equally concerns all to live a holy and religious life. And
since God discovers no order in death, it becomes the bereaved and afflicted to
submit to His holy and absolute sovereignty. This subject admonishes all to
prepare without delay for their great and last change. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》