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Job Chapter
Twenty-eight
Job 28
Chapter Contents
Concerning wordly wealth. (1-11) Wisdom is of inestimable
value. (12-19) Wisdom is the gift of God. (20-28)
Commentary on Job 28:1-11
(Read Job 28:1-11)
Job maintained that the dispensations of Providence were
regulated by the highest wisdom. To confirm this, he showed of what a great
deal of knowledge and wealth men may make themselves masters. The caverns of
the earth may be discovered, but not the counsels of Heaven. Go to the miners,
thou sluggard in religion, consider their ways, and be wise. Let their courage
and diligence in seeking the wealth that perishes, shame us out of slothfulness
and faint-heartedness in labouring for the true riches. How much better is it
to get wisdom than gold! How much easier, and safer! Yet gold is sought for,
but grace neglected. Will the hopes of precious things out of the earth, so men
call them, though really they are paltry and perishing, be such a spur to
industry, and shall not the certain prospect of truly precious things in heaven
be much more so?
Commentary on Job 28:12-19
(Read Job 28:12-19)
Job here speaks of wisdom and understanding, the knowing
and enjoying of God and ourselves. Its worth is infinitely more than all the
riches in this world. It is a gift of the Holy Ghost which cannot be bought
with money. Let that which is most precious in God's account, be so in ours.
Job asks after it as one that truly desired to find it, and despaired of
finding it any where but in God; any way but by Divine revelation.
Commentary on Job 28:20-28
(Read Job 28:20-28)
There is a two-fold wisdom; one hid in God, which is
secret, and belongs not to us; the other made known by him, and revealed to
man. One day's events, and one man's affairs, have such reference to, and so
hang one upon another, that He only, to whom all is open, and who sees the
whole at one view, can rightly judge of every part. But the knowledge of God's
revealed will is within our reach, and will do us good. Let man look upon this
as his wisdom, To fear the Lord, and to depart from evil. Let him learn that,
and he is learned enough. Where is this wisdom to be found? The treasures of it
are hid in Christ, revealed by the word, received by faith, through the Holy
Ghost. It will not feed pride or vanity, or amuse our vain curiosity. It
teaches and encourages sinners to fear the Lord, and to depart from evil, in
the exercise of repentance and faith, without desiring to solve all
difficulties about the events of this life.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Job》
Job 28
Verse 1
[1] Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for
gold where they fine it.
Surely — Job having in the last chapter discoursed of God's
various providences toward wicked men, and shewed that God doth sometimes, for
a season, give them prosperity, but afterwards calls them to a sad account, and
having shewed that God doth sometimes prosper the wicked all their days, so
they live and die without any visible token of God's displeasure, when on the
contrary, good men are exercised with many calamities; and perceiving that his
friends were, scandalized at these methods of Divine providence, and denied the
thing, because they could not understand the reason of such dispensations: in
this chapter he declares that this is one of the depths of Divine wisdom, not
discoverable by any mortal man, and that although men had some degree of wisdom
whereby they could search out many hidden things, as the veins of silver, and
gold, yet this was a wisdom of an higher nature, and out of man's reach. The
caverns of the earth he may discover, but not the counsels of heaven.
Verse 3
[3] He setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all
perfection: the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death.
Perfection — Whatever is deeply wrought in the
deepest caverns.
Stones of darkness — The precious stones
which lie hid in the dark bowels of the earth, where no living thing can dwell.
Verse 4
[4] The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; even the
waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men.
Breaketh out — While men are searching, water
breaks in upon them.
Inhabitants — Out of that part of the earth
which the miners inhabit.
Forgotten — Untrodden by the foot of man.
Dried up — They are dried up, (or, drawn up, by engines made for
that purpose) from men, from the miners, that they may not be hindered in their
work.
Verse 5
[5] As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it
is turned up as it were fire.
Fire — Coals, and brimstone, and other materials of fire.
Unless this refer, as some suppose, to a central fire.
Verse 6
[6] The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it hath
dust of gold.
Sapphires — Of precious stones; the sapphire,
is one of the most eminent, being put for all the rest. In some parts of the
earth, the sapphires are mixed with stones, and cut out of them and polished.
Hath — The earth continueth.
Dust — Distinct from that gold which is found in the mass,
both sorts of gold being found in the earth.
Verse 7
[7] There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the
vulture's eye hath not seen:
A path — In the bowels of the earth.
Vulture's eye — Whose eye is very quick, and
strong, and searcheth all places for its prey.
Verse 8
[8] The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce
lion passed by it.
Lion — Which rangeth all places for prey. The birds and
beasts have often led men to such places as otherwise they should never have
found out; but they could not lead them to these mines, the finding out of them
is a special gift of God.
Verse 9
[9] He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth
the mountains by the roots.
He, … — This and the two next verses mention other eminent
works of God, who overturneth rocks, and produceth new rivers.
Verse 10
[10] He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth
every precious thing.
Seeth — Even those which no human art or industry was ever
able to discover.
Verse 12
[12] But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place
of understanding?
That wisdom — Man hath one kind of wisdom, to
discover the works of nature, and to perform the operations of art; but as for
that sublime wisdom which consists in the knowledge of God and ourselves, no
man can discover this, but by the special gift of Cod.
Verse 13
[13] Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found
in the land of the living.
Found — Among men upon earth, but only among those blessed
spirits that dwell above.
Verse 14
[14] The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It
is not with me.
The depth — This is not to he found in any
part of the sea, though a man may dig or dive ever so deep to find it, nor to
be learned from any creature.
Verse 20
[20] Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of
understanding?
Whence, … — By a diligent inquiry, we find at
length, that there is a twofold wisdom; one hid in God, which belongs not to
us, the other revealed to man, which belongs to us and to our children.
Verse 21
[21] Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept
close from the fowls of the air.
Hid — The line and plummet of human reason, can never fathom
the abyss of the Divine counsels. Who can account for the maxims, measures and
methods of God's government? Let us then be content, not to know the future
events of providence, 'till time discover them: and not to know the secret
reasons of providence, 'till eternity brings them to light.
Verse 22
[22] Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame
thereof with our ears.
Death — The grave, the place of the dead, to 'which these
things are here ascribed, as they are to the depths, and to the sea, by a
common figure. Though they cannot give an account of it themselves yet there is
a world, on which these dark regions border, where we shall see it clearly.
Have patience, says death: I will fetch thee shortly to a place where even this
wisdom shall be found. When the veil of flesh is rent, and the interposing
clouds are scattered, we shall know what God doth, though we know not now.
Verse 23
[23] God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the
place thereof.
God — God alone.
The way — The methods which he takes in the management of all
affairs, together with its grounds and ends in them.
The place — Where it dwells, which is only in
his own mind.
Verse 24
[24] For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under
the whole heaven;
For — He, and he only knows it, because his providence, is
infinite and universal, reaching to all places, and times, past, present, and
to come; whereas the most knowing men have narrow understandings, and the
wisdom, and justice, and beauty of God's works are not fully seen 'till all the
parts of them be laid together.
Verse 25
[25] To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the
waters by measure.
Winds — God manageth them all by weight, appointing to every
wind that blows, its season, its proportion, its bounds, when, and where, and
how much, and how long each shall blow. He only doth all these things, and he
only knows why he doth them. He instanceth in some few of God's works, and those
which seem to be most trivial, and uncertain, that thereby he might more
strongly imply that God doth the same in other things which are more
considerable, that he doth all things in the most exact order, and weight, and
measure.
The waters — Namely, the rain-waters, which
God layeth up in his store-houses, the clouds, and thence draws them forth, and
sends them down upon the earth in such times and proportions as he thinks fit.
Measure — For liquid things are examined by measure, as other
things are by weight: and here is both weight and measure to signify with what
perfect wisdom God governs the world.
Verse 26
[26] When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the
lightning of the thunder:
When — At the first creation, when he settled that course and
order which should he continued.
A decree — An appointment and as it were a statute law, that it
should fall upon the earth, in such times, and places, and proportions.
Verse 27
[27] Then did he see it, and declare it; he prepared it, yea,
and searched it out.
It — Wisdom, which is the subject of the present discourse.
This God saw within himself; he looked upon it in his own mind, as the rule by
which he would proceed in the creation and government of all things.
Declare — Or reveal it.
Prepared — He had it in readiness for doing all his works, as if
he had been for a long time preparing materials for them. So it is a speech of
God after the manner of men.
Searched — Not properly; for so searching implies ignorance, and
requires time and industry, all which is repugnant to the Divine perfections;
but figuratively, he did, and doth, all things with that absolute and perfect
wisdom, so exactly, and perfectly, as if he had bestowed a long time in
searching, to find them out.
Verse 28
[28] And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that
is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
Man — Unto Adam in the day in which he was created. And in
him, to all his posterity.
Said — God spake it, at first to the mind of man, in which he
wrote this with his own finger, and afterwards by the holy patriarchs, and
prophets, and other teachers, whom he sent into the world to teach men true
wisdom.
Behold — Which expression denotes the great importance of this
doctrine, and withal man's backwardness to apprehend it.
The fear of the Lord — True religion.
Wisdom — In man's wisdom, because that, and that only, is his
duty, and safety, and happiness, both for this life and for the next.
Evil — From sin, which is called evil eminently, as being the
chief evil, and the cause of all other evils. Religion consists of two
branches, doing good, and forsaking evil; the former is expressed in the former
clause of this verse, and the latter in these words; and this is the best kind
of knowledge or wisdom to which man can attain in this life. The design of Job
in this close of his discourse, is not to reprove the boldness of his friends,
in prying into God's secrets, and passing such a rash censure upon him, and
upon God's carriage towards him; but also to vindicate himself from the
imputation of hypocrisy, which they fastened upon him, by shewing that he had
ever esteemed it to be his best wisdom, to fear God, and to depart from evil.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Job》
28 Chapter 28
Verses 1-28
Verse 1
A place for gold where they fine it.
Refining the gold
“There is a place for the gold where they fine it.” This line from
the Book of Job--so strong in its monosyllables--describes a spiritual as well
as a chemical process. Over and over again in the Bible godly character is
described by the happy simile of gold. It would be easy to run out the points
of resemblance. All nations, from the polished to the savage, have agreed in
regarding it the most beautiful of metals. It typifies the “beauty of
holiness.” It is an imperishable metal. When they opened the tomb of an old
Etrurian king, buried twenty-five centuries ago, they found only a heap of
royal dust. The only object that remained untouched by time was a fillet of
gold which bound the monarch’s brow. So doth true godliness survive the havoc
of time and the ravages of the grave. Gold is the basis of a solvent currency;
and genuine fear of God is the basis of all the virtues which pass current
among humanity. The essence of all piety is obedience to God. It is the eternal
law of right put into daily practice. Too much is said in these days about the
aesthetics of religion and its sensibilities. Religion’s home is in the
conscience. Its watchword is the word “ought.” Its highest joy is in doing
God’s will. (T. L. Cuyler, D. D.)
Verse 6
And it hath dust of gold.
How to turn everything to gold
This chapter in Job describes with all a poet’s force and beauty
the miner’s life in its loneliness, its dangers, and its triumphs. In those old
days men endured the toil, and faced the dangers, to win the hidden gold, or
precious stones. And from then till now men have ever been eager to find gold.
The passion for gold is one of the strongest in the human heart. It has done
much to shape the world’s history. It has given us new arts, new sciences, and
new industries. It has made solitary places populous, and filled empty lands
with busy multitudes. Why is gold so coveted? For one thing, it is very rare.
Gold has many properties peculiar to itself. And it is very durable. The principal
reason of the high esteem for gold, is because it is the chief means of
exchange between buyers and sellers. Some things, precious as it is, gold
cannot buy. It cannot buy wisdom, knowledge, or goodness. Its possession means
power to acquire all worldly good. Happiness cannot be bought with gold. The
secret I am going to tell you is,--How to turn everything into gold. Not in a
literal sense. Some people, though poor, are as happy as if all gold was
theirs. Their purses may never be very full, but their hearts always are of
faith and love They are always bright, and have a cheery smile and a kindly
word for all in trouble. Such people have found the secret of turning
everything to gold. What is the secret? Paul says, “I have learned, in whatever
state I am, therewith to be content” He had learned so to love the Heavenly
Father’s will, so to trust Him, that all care and fear and darkness had fled
out of life, and left it touched with perpetual golden light. And that is the
secret that all men know who can turn things to gold. Love Christ, and follow
Him, and you will have discovered the secret--how to turn everything to gold. (James
Legge, M. A.)
Verse 10
His eye seeth every precious thing.
Every precious thing
These words refer to the miner who digs for the treasure hidden in
the earth. He finds the vein of silver, and the place for the gold. But if
man’s eye sees the precious things, let us think how God sees them.
I. He sees the
promise and possibility. There are many things of which, at a glance, men can
see the worth; things that proclaim themselves loudly. Some things only the
genius can see. The gold is in the quartz, but invisible. And what a poor thing
is humanity! How hard it is to find in many people any promise of any goodness,
any possibility of any worth. But lo! our God bends over us, and to Him this
humanity is infinitely precious. To Him it is a pearl of great price, for which
He hath given all, that He may purchase it for His own. This is the glory of
our God; this is the meaning of His salvation--that He sees in humanity an
infinite worth, that which He can uplift and beautify and transform into His
own very image and likeness.
II. He sees the
effort and will, where others see only the poor result. God does not measure
what we bring to Him, He weighs it. He knows what it cost.
III. He sees the
great result, where we see but the process. God sees for Joseph the throne of
Egypt; the sceptre of that great nation is in his hand. But what does Joseph
see when carried off by the Midianites? Thus is it ever that God sees the
glorious result when we see but the dreary processes. He hears the joyous shout
of harvest home, where we have only the chill earth and the darkness of the
grave. This is our safety and our blessedness--to give ourselves to Him who
knows how to turn us to the beat account, and to let Him have His own way with
us perfectly. (Mark Guy Pearse.)
Verse 11-12
The thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.
The religious uses and limitations of science
I. The religious
uses of science. “The thing that is hid man bringeth forth to light.” Some
think there is nothing but antagonism between science and religion. It is
obvious that the science which traces out the mind of God in nature ought to be
affianced to the faith which discerns the inner grace of His heart, and will,
and character.
1. Science is helping to create a perfect environment for men, and so
is the sister and helpmeet of the religion which seeks to create a perfect
character in them. There is a very close connection between character and
environment.
2. Science has a religious use, inasmuch as it reveals more fully the
Divine power, and wisdom, and goodness in nature.
3. Science has a religious use, inasmuch as it tends to establish the
unity and supremacy of God. These are cardinal articles of our creed. Science
has proved the unity and uniformity of nature, and so has confirmed the great
doctrine that there is only one living and true God.
II. The limitations
of science. It cannot take the place of religion, nor are its revelations all
that the deepest heart of man most needs and desires. Scientific methods do not
touch the sphere of spiritual facts. Some of Job’s words sound like a prophecy
of modern, agnostic teachings. Science has its own sphere, in which its method
is valid and its authority supreme. But there is another sphere in which the
conscience and the spirit are the organs of observation. Let us accept with
devout thankfulness the riches which science is bringing us. But let us never
forget that it cannot bring us to the secret place of the Most High, or quench
our deepest thirst for peace, and purity, and fellowship with God. The way to
these blessings is the way of moral obedience and spiritual communion through
love with God in Christ. (W. T. Bankhead, M. A. , B. D.)
Verses 12-28
But where shall wisdom be found?
The speculative difficulties of an inquiring intellect solved by
the heart of practical piety
Two things are prominently developed in this chapter--Man’s power
and his weakness; his power to supply the material necessities of his nature,
and his weakness to supply his mental cravings.
I. Every inquiring
intellect has difficulties which it is anxious to remove. Two classes of
intellectual difficulties--those connected with the physical realm of being,
and those connected with the moral. The former class are pressing upon
scientific men. The latter class by those who think on moral subjects. The
difficulties in the moral department press far more heavily and fearfully on
the heart of man than those in the physical.
II. That the
principle which removes those difficulties can neither be purchased by wealth
nor attained by investigation. A search for it in the domain of inanimate
nature would be useless. So would a search for it in the domain of life, or in
the domain of departed souls. (Death, SheolÌ)
III. The heart of
practical piety yields a satisfactory solution of all painful, intellectual
duties.
1. This is asserted by one who understands what wisdom is.
2. This is proved by the nature of the case.
The religious use of wisdom
What is this grace of wisdom, and why is it so highly
exalted?
1. Wisdom, as described in the Bible, is that eager desire of
knowledge which rests unsatisfied so long as a corner of darkness is left
unexplored; that passion for learning which, like the fleets of Solomon,
penetrated into the furthermost regions of the then known world, and brought
back from the furthermost shores the stores of natural history. A spirit of
inquiry may, no doubt, become frivolous and useless. But that is not its
heaven-born mission.
2. The religious idea of wisdom is the exercise of “practical
judgment and discretion”; “a wise and understanding heart to discern between
good and bad”; the capacity for “justice, judgment, and equity.” No doubt
wisdom is not in itself goodness. The Proverbs are not the Psalms, Solomon was
not David. But wisdom is next door to goodness, and religion leans upon her.
How much mischief has been wrought because men have refused to acknowledge that
common sense is a Christian grace. What a new aspect would be put upon the
idleness, the selfishness, the extravagance of youth, if we could be taught to
think not only of sinfulness, but of its contemptible folly, if we could be
induced, not only to confess how often we were miserable sinners but also how
often we have been miserable fools; what a great security for human welfare if
we were to set ourselves not only to become better, but wiser, not only to gain
holiness and virtue, but, as Solomon says, to get wisdom, get understanding; to
pray that He who giveth liberally and upbraideth not, would in addition to His
other blessings “give us wisdom.” (Dean Stanley.)
Culture and religion
By culture we mean that condition of the instructed and trained
intellect which is the result of education, refinement, and large acquaintance
with the facts of nature and history. By religion we understand that personal
relation to the supreme King, and that character of moral and spiritual quality
which for us is Christian, and depends upon faith in the Gospel as its spring,
and obedience to the law of Jesus Christ as its directing and controlling
force. The relations which these sides of human action may bear to each other
can never be of slight importance. Some maintain that they are antagonistic. It
is said the ages of faith are not the times of intelligence. Learning causes
religion to dwindle. But history shows that the epochs of man’s progress, when
there is a larger force, and a more vigorous vitality, are marked by stimulus,
not only to the intelligence and learning of the human mind, but also to the
faith, and corresponding character of the human heart. Illustrate from the
period of the revival of learning and letters. Was not this epoch also the
revival of a truer faith? If learning was revived, surely also the Gospel of
Jesus Christ found a new life. There was a further quickening of intellectual
life in the eighteenth century. But was it not the age of Whitefield and
Wesley? And what have we seen in our own time? We boast its intelligence. But it
is the day of evangelism, and nowhere is such form of religious life more
strong than in the centres of learning.
1. Religion is itself a means of mental discipline. One of the first
objects of study which religion furnishes is the nature of the human soul
itself. It is very difficult to mark the boundary where the philosophy of the
mind is separated from the religion of the spirit. Religion is historic, and no
man can rightly yield himself to the influence of religion without tracing the
progress of Christian doctrine and the development of the Church. And what a
history has been this ecclesiastical, this dogmatic history of two millenniums.
This historical knowledge which religion furnishes leads us to that solitary
figure whose shadow has been cast over every century since its appearance among
men. Religion begins and ends with us with the knowledge of Jesus Christ. What
object of human thought can afford such discipline, such inspiration, such
directing, as His life and work? History is only the commentary on Christ. The
events of every age only start from Him, and lead to Him again. We have left
unto the last the greatest thought of all which religion presents. Whom do we
worship? Whom do we seek? Who is the ultimate end of all Christian endeavour, all
religious belief, all devout living? It is God--the Supreme, the Infinite, the
necessary Being, source of all life, regulator of all movements, spring of all
creation, the first, the last, the beginning and the end of universal being. No
science can tulle us beyond the threshold of His abode. The relation of man to
God includes the deep enigmas of sin and evil, the large speculation of
freedom, necessity, responsibility, and law. It is no wonder that the
philosophers of the schools called theology the Queen of the Sciences.
2. The other side of the relation which religion bears to mental
cultivation, is that protective and medicative influence which it can exert, so
as to guard against or remedy the evils, in peril of which an exclusively
mental exercise always lies.
The search alter wisdom
The wisdom which man is concerned to acquire must be a wisdom
which will stand him in stead throughout eternity.
I. The
abstruseness and marvellousness of human discoveries. The natural philosopher
is engaged in a search; and many of his discoveries are attended with very
beneficial results to the world at large. Let us ascertain, then, whether he
has discovered the pearl of price for which we seek. In the investigation
of nature men display an energy and perseverance which is well worthy of a
nobler cause. But there is no rest, no peace, no satisfaction in this quest. It
is of its very nature to be restless.
II. There is an
impassable limit which human discoveries cannot go beyond. The field of
providence baffles us at the outset. Nature affords us no light whatever in
solving the secrets of the Divine dispensations.
III. “Whence cometh
wisdom?” Shall our search after it be always fruitless? The seat of wisdom is,
was, and ever has been, the bosom of God. Of Him we must learn it, if we would
learn it at all. His Word shall set every mind at rest., shaft disclose to us
what that true wisdom is, which is the sphere of man, and in which we may
acquiesce. “The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom.” To depart from evil is the
wisdom of wisdoms, the highest, the only true wisdom. (E. M. Goulburn, D. G.
L.)
The inestimable value of true wisdom, or religion
A man without religion is not wise; not so wise as he ought to be;
nor so wise as he could be. It is religion that teaches a man to act worthily
towards different objects--to call them by their proper names. It is religion
that teaches a man to take the greatest care with the most precious things. It
is religion that teaches a man how to give the best time to the most important
work. It is religion that teaches a man to strive most to win the approval of
Him who has it in His power to do most it is religion, in a word, that fits a
man to enter heaven. (David Roberts, D. D.)
The secret of wisdom
Why is wisdom so far harder to find than anything else? Why can
man read every other riddle of nature except the one riddle that fascinates
him? Nothing here can escape his scrutiny; nothing can bar his advance. Look at
him, the chapter says, as he digs and mines and searches and sifts and purges the
dross with fire, and gathers in the assorted wealth. Look at the track where he
unearths his silver, and at the furnace where he refines his gold. And yet, in
spite of all this practical supremacy, this masterful intimacy over nature, is
he at all nearer to the discovery of her ultimate secret? Can he dig up the
truth as he can a diamond? Can he buy it in the market for coral? Nay, what
avail his pearls and rubies? Somehow the secret is ever eluding him. Just when
men seem nearest to it, it slips from out of their clutch. Nature is forever
suggesting it, yet forever concealing it. The sea, which had seemed to be
murmuring it aloud in its dreams, now says, “It is not in me”; the depth, which
had enticed us into its brooding wonder, now says, “It is not with me.” Somehow
they all stop short. “This is a path which no bird knows; the eye even of the
vulture has never seen it; the wild beasts have never trodden it; the young
lions pass not by that way; it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept
close from the birds of the air.” So the Book confesses. Ah! how that ancient
experience repeats itself in us today. Never was the contrast more vivid or
more crushing than now between the astounding practical efficiency of our
scientific handling of earth’s material treasures, and the futility of our
search for the inner secret. Still, the spectacle of nature spreads out before
us its intimate invitation to come and take possession; there is no recess that
we may not penetrate; no height and depth that we cannot enter. It makes itself
ours, and we feel ourselves its master. We stand amazed at our own supremacy.
No obstacles defeat us, no perils terrify. Down into the deep bowels of the
earth we sink our shafts; over all its seas we send our fleets; our furnaces
blaze, and our factories roar. How dauntless our search; how sublime our
capacity, our patience, our persistence! But one thing remains as far off, as
elusive as ever. Upon one discovery we cannot lay our hand. There is a point
where our mastery suddenly droops; our cunning fails us, and our courage and
our self-confidence drop away from under us. We snatch at what we fancied to be
the thing which we desired to find, and our fingers close on emptiness. Where
is it gone? Why cannot we hold it--this wisdom, this spiritual secret, this
reality of things? Ah, yes, why indeed? Did we suppose that we should come upon
it, hid in some mine with the sapphires and the dust of gold? Did we hope to
dig it up one day? Nay, not by any such road can we arrive at wisdom; not in that
fashion is it captured. The spiritual purpose, the inner reality of things is
of another kind. Not by faculties such as these that our practical efficiency
brings into play shall we apprehend it--“Seeing that it is hid from the eyes of
all living, and kept close from the birds of the air.” Practical skill,
obviously, ludicrously fails us. But practical science, the science of
experimental discovery, cannot that help us? It is our very organ of discovery:
cannot it discover wisdom? Alas! Here, too, we find that the very exercise of
those scientific faculties by which our astounding triumphs have been achieved
excludes and banishes our chance of arriving by these methods at the secret of
reality. The more we know that way, the less we arrive. The spread of our
science, in which we have shown ourselves so masterful, so victorious, is won
at the cost of intellectual limitations which prohibit our apprehension of the
one thing that we desire to know. Science has carried us further off from the
secret than we were before we were scientific. It has made more evident how
elusive that secret is. We stare hopelessly out at stars so remote that the
light which can travel ninety-three millions of miles to the sun in eight
minutes takes hours and days and years even to arrive. And far beyond those
stars again a million others spread away in swarms of tangled haze. Where are
we in such a universe? What is man? How can he count? What intercourse can hold
between him, in his terrible minute insignificance, and it in its unimaginable
vastness? How dare he thrust himself in with all his ludicrous emotions, and
his absurd desires? What does that vast world know of him in its icy aloofness;
there, in that unplumbed and immeasurable abyss? Back we sink to look within;
but is it more hopeful, our in-look there? The dear familiar face of the earth
has disappeared under the siftings of physical science. And what frightens us
is that all this mechanical universe into which we are scientifically
introduced omits us, ignores us, goes on without us. That which is our real
life,--our thought, our will, our imagination, our affection, our passion,
these cannot find themselves there; they cannot be expressed in terms of
mechanism. Practical science says, “It is not in me”; organised science says,
“It is not in me.” Where shall wisdom be found; is there any other road of
search? Where is there a better promise of arrival? Well, there is an offer,
which I think carries us a long way nearer than physical science. It is that of
art. In the creative impulse, in the imaginative emotion kindled at the sight
or sound of beauty, we have that which seems to open the door into the secret
of existence, into the mind with which nature was made. Nature explains itself
to us best as a majestic spectacle, as a living effort that finds its joy in
being what it is. That is what all nature cries to us. Life teems, life dances,
life sings: it is a glory just to be alive. Is not that the truth at which the
sons of God shouted in the first morning of creation? The earth was so superb a
fact; it stood as a picture; it grew like a poem, and it moved like music. God
found His joy in flinging out His power in all this radiant majesty; He loved
it for being alive, for being the expression of His love. And that joy of God
in sheer existence passed into all things to become their soul. We need not
inquire here for what ulterior end they were made, or what use they serve. It
is so difficult to discern what will come of it all. But why ask? Enough that
they are what they are. To live is to suffice; to live is to be intelligible;
to live is to be justified. If only the world is content to rejoice in being
what it is, it has attained. “Oh, all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord!
Praise Him and magnify Him forever.” This cry of praise can sweep in so much
that otherwise might perplex or distress us in the making of the world. Its
hardships, its trials, its sufferings, may yet pass into the great hymn. Fire
and hail, though they burn and break, yet are what they are, and as such, even
as we suffer under them, we are glad to praise the Lord and magnify Him
forever. The poet, the musician can suggest to us how the deeper pains of the
great human tragedy may take a new meaning under the glamour of art, and can
yield, under the pressure of high imagination, a sweeter, richer mystery of
joy. Yes, in the passion of the artist we are close upon our secret, we are
knocking at the door, as it were. Yet who can dare rest satisfied with that
solution; who will stop there? Indignantly our hearts repudiate it. We cannot
be as those who, like Goethe, could regard the universe as the material for a
work of art. Music, poetry, may indeed, be able to suggest to us that sorrow
and love and death are not all in vain; they may wring a bittersweet joy out of
hardness. And yet, and yet, we dare not go round London streets today and say,
“Be comforted; you are part of the eternal tragedy; you lend pathos to the
human drama. Your sorrows rise into songs, your woes are gathered up into the
great orchestral symphony of time. Men and women are so far more interesting
when they suffer than when they succeed. If only you could see and feel it,
your trouble leads to the final peace, even as the discords in a piece of
musical development that crash so harshly on the ear are essential to the
perfect close into which they gently resolve themselves.” No, that will not do;
that cannot be our Gospel for the poor and the heavy laden. Where, then, shall
it be found? Where, really, is the place of understanding? What is our last
word? Is it not the same as that which is given in the Book of Job? “The fear
of the Lord--that is wisdom; to depart from evil--that is understanding.” The
moral life holds for us the central secret of reality. The moral life is our
act of communion with the power that is at the heart of things. In it we
arrive; by it we get home. A hundred problems may lie around us unsolved; we
may have to walk in blindness amid a world that we can make nothing of. We may
be utterly unable to account for the origin of things, or to interpret their
purpose, or to foresee their end. But for all this we can afford to wait; for,
deep at the core of our being we have that in us which holds us fast shut
within the very light of life, within the very eternity of God. His will--that
will in which the worlds move and are in being--closes round our will; His
love--that love which is the fount of all creation and the end of all
desire--folds itself about our little trembling flame of love. We are His; He
is ours. Surrendered to the law of His life we are at peace within the very
secret of all secrets. Some day we shall know and see and understand. Then the
amazing purpose will unveil itself, and we shall sing our “Hallelujah, Amen.”
But enough if now, blind though we be, and impotent and staggered, we yet can
be aware that He, whom we possess, and who desires us, is Himself the sole
supreme reality of all that exists, that He is Lord and God of all, that He
will at last be all in all. By surrender to Him, by obedience to Him in His
fear, lies our only present wisdom--a wisdom which holds in it the promise and
the pledge of all other wisdom that can be. This is the mystery of the
conscience, of the will, of the heart, of the fear of the Lord. Through it, and
through it alone, can man make good his entry within the veil, within the
light. This faith in the moral law is being sorely tried today, just because
the vast disclosures of science seem to carry us further and further away from
a world in which moral purposes prevail. The world of infinite mechanism which
is opened out to us, reaching far away into appalling distances beyond our
power even to imagine, at work within in a minuteness of scale which paralyses
our reason, wears the air of something altogether non-moral. There seems to be
no bond that holds between it and our purposes and convictions. Where are we?
What significance have we? What importance dare we attribute to our tiny
actions? Ah! how difficult to uphold our belief that all these rolling suns are
as mere dust in the balance over against a Commandment pronouncing, “Thou
shalt,” “Thou shalt not.” They cannot be weighed against a sin. The soul has
that in it which outweighs them all. How difficult; yet that is our faith. “The
fear of the Lord,” we say, “that is wisdom.” Can we hold it fast? Will we live
and die in it? Will we utter it aloud, and stand by it in the face of all the
million suns? No; the guidance, the assurance that we need must be strong,
decided, masterful, absolute, if it is to bear up against the terrible counter
pressure. A voice must speak which never wavers, a voice which holds in it the
very sound of authority, a voice which cannot be gainsaid. And therefore, to
supply this authoritative momentum, a Babe has been born into the world,
through whom such an appeal as that can reach us, He will live and He will die
to verify the fear of the Lord as man’s one and only wisdom. Through His lips
man may know, with a certainty which no counter-experience can ever shake, that
it is worth while to lose the whole world, if only he can save his soul; truth
and righteousness and purity are the sole treasure that he can lay up for
himself in Heaven--that he had better pluck out his right eye than gain through
it a lustful pleasure--that he had better be drowned with a millstone round his
neck in the depths of the sea than do a hurt to the least of God’s little ones.
In the sweat of blood, in the sacrifice of the Cross, He will exhibit the
unconquerable splendour of the dedicated will at the price of all that life can
offer. And, moreover, He who asserts that supremacy of the moral interest is
one who, by His very nature, proclaims that man, concentrating himself upon
this unique moral interest, and letting all go on its behoof, finds himself one
with the eternal reality of things, one with the ultimate life, one with the
Father of all flesh; for He who so dies to all but the moral command is Himself
the One in whom God sums up all creation. You are not, therefore, asked to
despise or to condemn the wonderful world disclosed by science or revealed by
art; you are not asked to think little of that vast universe, with its rolling
spheres, because there is set before you, here on earth, this sole and supreme
purpose--to fear God and to hate evil. For in this moral issue lies the secret
of the entire sum of things; and the pure will of Jesus is the will on which
all existence is framed. Win there, and you will win everywhere; win there in
the moral struggle, and behold, “All things are yours, things in heaven, things
in earth, and things under the earth.” All, all at last will be yours! you hold
the secret of power--“For you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” But.,
remember, you must win there or you are lost, whatever else you may win. That
is our Gospel. And here in this arena there is no one who, in Christ, may not
win. Your life may become a victory. Yes; even for you, who feel, perhaps, so
terribly beaten by the pressure of a hard world. (Canon Scott Holland.)
Verse 17
And the crystal cannot equal it.
The crystal exact
In the first place I remark that religion is superior to the
crystal in exactness. That shapeless mass of crystal against which you
accidentally dashed your foot is laid out with more exactness than any earthly
city. There are six styles of crystallisation, and all of them divinely
ordained. Every crystal has mathematical precision. God’s geometry reaches
through it, and it is a square, or it is a rectangle, or it is a rhomboid or,
in some way, it hath a mathematical figure. Now religion beats that in the
simple fact that spiritual accuracy is more beautiful than material accuracy.
God’s attributes are exact. God’s law exact. God’s decrees exact. God’s
management of the world exact. Never counting wrong, though He counts the grass
blades and the stars, and the sands and the cycles. His providences never
dealing with us perpendicularly when those providences ought to be oblique, nor
lateral when they ought to be vertical. Everything in our life arranged without
any possibility of mistake. Each life a six-sided prism. Born at the right
time; dying at the right time. There are no happen-sos in our theology. If I
thought this was a slipshod universe I would go crazy. God is not an anarchist.
Law, order, symmetry, precision. A perfect square. A perfect rectangle. A
perfect rhomboid. A perfect circle. The edge of God’s robe of government never
frays out. There are no loose screws in the world’s machinery. It did not just
happen that Napoleon was attacked with indigestion at Borodino, so that he
became incompetent for the day. It did not just happen that John Thomas, the
missionary, on a heathen island, waiting for an outfit and orders for another
missionary tour, received that outfit and those orders in a box that floated
ashore, while the ship and the crew that carried the box were never heard of.
The barking of F.W. Robertson’s dog, he tells us, led to a line of events which
brought him from the army into the Christian ministry, where he served God with
world-renowned usefulness. It did not merely happen so. I believe in a
particular Providence. I believe God’s geometry may be seen in all our life
more beautifully than in crystallography. Job was right. “The crystal cannot
equal it.” (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Verse 20-21
Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living.
Mystery and dogma
It is the dogmatism of science that stands in the way of the much-needed
reconciliation, even more than the dogmatism of theology. Nothing is so hostile
to mystery as dogmatism. The sense of mystery is the sense of vastness,
indefiniteness, grandeur. The moment you come with your dogmas to measure and
explain everything, that moment the mystery, the vastness, the grandeur, begin
to vanish. Rightly understood, the facts of science and the facts of theology
point us on to something infinitely greater and more mysterious than the dogmas
by which we try to explain, and in explaining, too often imprison and dwarf
them. Yet we must have dogmas both in theology and science. No progress, no
tradition, is possible without them. We must learn to use them without abusing
them. (D. I. Vaughan, M. D.)
Verse 28
Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom.
The wisdom of being religious
“To fear the Lord” and to “depart from evil” are phrases which the
Scripture useth in a very great latitude to express to us the sum of religion
and the whole of our duty.
I. It is usual to
express the whole of religion by some eminent principle or part of it. The
great principles of religion are knowledge, faith, remembrance, love, and fear.
The sum of all religion is often expressed by some eminent part of it. As
“departing from evil,” “seeking God.”
II. The fitness of
these two phrases to describe religion. For the first, “the fear of the Lord,”
the fitness of this phrase will appear if we consider how great an influence
the fear of God hath upon men to make them religious. There are two bridles or
restraints which God hath put upon human nature--shame and fear. Fear is the
stronger. For the second phrase, “departing from evil,” the fitness of it to
express the whole duty of man will appear if we consider the necessary
connection that is between the negative and the positive part of our duty. He
that is careful to avoid all sin, will sincerely endeavour to perform his duty.
The proposition in the text is that religion is the best knowledge and wisdom.
Make this good.
1. By a direct proof of it.
2. By endeavouring to show the ignorance and folly of irreligion. All
that are irreligious are so upon one of these two accounts. Either because they
do not believe the foundations and principles of religion, as the existence of
God, the immortality of the soul, and future rewards, or else because though
they do in some sort believe these things, yet they live contrary to this their
belief. The first sort are guilty of that which we call speculative, the other
of practical atheism. Speculative atheism is unreasonable upon five accounts.
3. The third way of confirmation shall be, by endeavouring to
vindicate religion from those common imputations which seem to charge it with
ignorance or imprudence. Chiefly these,--credulity, singularity, making a
foolish bargain. Then wouldest thou be truly Wise, be wise for thyself, wise
for thy soul, wise for eternity. Resolve upon a religious course of life. (J.
Tillotson, D. D.)
The wisdom of fearing the Lord
The fear of God, that is recommended by our religion, supposes
that we have just and proper notions of the Divine attributes and of the Divine
providence and government. Our fear of Him Will naturally be a fear of
offending against Him. The fear of the Lord will readily excite a sincere and
ardent desire to become acquainted with all the various truths which the
Almighty has revealed to the children of men. The fear of the Lord will dispose
men to worship Him, and that With their whole soul, their mind, their strength.
The fear of the Lord is a powerful restraint on the evil passions and corrupt
inclinations of men. The fear of the Lord will excite men to the faithful
performance of all their various duties to God and to their fellow men. Religion
teaches that the best ends we can pursue are the glory of God, the perfection
and happiness of your nature. Religion alone conveys to us that wisdom which
dispels the darkness and ignorance of those things which essentially belong to
our peace. The course of life which religion recommends is friendly to peace of
mind, to contentment with the state we are in, to health of body, to length of
days, to the vigorous exercise of all our faculties, and consequently to the
full enjoyment of all the external blessings of providence. (W. Shiels.)
The nature of true wisdom
The many mistakes into which men fall in passing through life,
arise from false views of our present state. This life is frequently considered
as a separate and independent state of things, as if it were entirely
unconnected With the future. Hence arise innumerable errors respecting the
nature of true wisdom. Scripture rectifies our mistakes. It answers the
question, What is wisdom? Real religion is wisdom. View it.
I. In its inward
principle. “The fear of the Lord.” Not the fear that is excited by the
apprehension of evil. Not slavish but filial fear. The reverence of a dutiful
child. It is ever accompanied by love, joy, and the comfort of the Holy Ghost.
II. In its visible
fruits. “Departure from evil.” By evil is here meant sin--every desire, and
word, and action which we have reason to believe is displeasing to Almighty
God. The Scriptures uniformly represent the renouncing of sin as a necessary
and certain effect of the fear of God. Are we to understand that those who
possess this principle, uniformly and constantly depart from all evil; so that
they are entirely free from sin, and never at any time fall by the force of
temptation? The state of perfect purity and absolute conformity to the will of
God is never fully attained on this side the grave. Still there is a great and
wide difference between the characters of those who fear God and of those who
fear Him not.
III. In its
excellent character. To fear the Lord is wisdom; to depart from evil is
“understanding.” True wisdom is only to be found in such principles and such
conduct as will lead to true happiness. The question there is, Wherein consists
true happiness? Ask the religious man where he has found it. (J. S. Pratt.)
Wisdom of a religious course of life
1. Certain it is that the whole body of moral and religious laws are
the laws of the wise and good Legislator of the world, whose design in
imparting to us our being was doubtless to communicate a portion of His
happiness and to improve it to the utmost capacity of our nature. The Divine
wisdom is our security that our paths shall terminate in peace.
2. In order to vindicate the wisdom of a religious conduct it may not
be improper to obviate a prejudice too commonly propagated and too easily received,
namely,--That the felicities of the next world are not to be obtained according
to the strict terms of Christianity, without renouncing the enjoyments of the
present. The merciful Author of religion has not dealt thus hardly with
mankind. Religion prohibits only those specious but destructive evils which the
passions of mankind have dressed up in the disguise of pleasure; those
irregular pursuits in which no wise man would ever place his happiness or could
ever find it. God, who has filled the earth with His goodness and surrounded us
with objects which He made agreeable to our nature, cannot be supposed to
require us to reject His bounty, and to look on them all as on the fruit of
that tree in paradise, which was pleasant to the eye but forbidden to be
tasted. Be the pleasures of vice what they may, there is still a superior
pleasure in subduing the passions of it; for it is the pleasure of reason and
wisdom; the pleasure of an intellectual, not a mere animal being; a pleasure
that will always stand the test of reflection, and never fails to impart true
and permanent satisfaction.
3. The wisdom of a religious conduct may appear from its being the
sure foundation of that peace of mind which is the chief constituent of
happiness. The conditions of human life will not permit us to expect a total
exemption from evils. Religion will indeed bring us internal peace of mind, but
cannot secure us from external contingencies. Religion will not reverse the
distinctions of station which Providence has appointed. It will not secure us
from the passions of others. Religion is not less friendly in its influence on
social than on private life, and is equally conducive to the happiness of the
public and of individuals. All the virtues that can render a people secure and
flourishing, all the duties that the best political laws require as necessary
or conducive to the public tranquillity, are enjoined by our religion. Were the
practice of religion generally to prevail, men would escape more than half the
evils that afflict mankind.
4. The wisdom of a religious life may hence appear, because such a
conduct is infinitely preferable, infinitely more prudent and secure, when we
take futurity into consideration. Upon the whole, the good man enjoys superior
happiness in this world, and in the next stands alone, without any rival, in
his hopes and pretensions. (G. Carr.)
The whole of duty
When we find in this and so many other places of Holy Scripture,
the fear of God put to express the whole of our duty, and so many good things said
of it, one may justly suspect the truth of what some men, with too much
boldness, have advanced, as if that obedience which proceeds from a principle
of fear were altogether to be condemned, and will be of no account in the sight
of God. Surely if the fear of the Lord be wisdom, the reasoning of these men
must be folly. Perfect love casteth out fear, but it is the fear of men, not of
God. Observe also that religion is described to us in the text by such
expressions as plainly suppose it to be something practical. It consists not
merely in a set of notions and opinions which may possess the head without
touching the heart, but it is something which sways and influences the
affections, and flows out into action, and gives life and grace, consistency
and regularity to the behaviour. The fear of the Lord, to which the character
of wisdom is here applied, must be supposed to show itself in the happy fruits
of a well-ordered, pious, prudent, upright conduct. The fear of the Lord must
be supposed to mean such a religious awe and reverence of the Divine Majesty,
such a prevailing sense of God upon our minds, as will effectually incline us
to obey Him in the course and conduct of our lives.
1. That is wisdom which the wisest men agree in, and pronounce to be
so. The wisest men of all ages have agreed to recommend a life of religion and
virtue. The best and wisest of the philosophers always were engaged on the side
of religion, diligently inculcating the fear and worship of the Deity,
according to that imperfect light and knowledge of Him which they could attain
to by the force of reason; and pressing upon men the practice of all moral
duties.
2. That is wisdom which all our observation and experience of the
world does evidently confirm to be so. As experience has been always reckoned
the best mistress and best guide to truth, whatsoever comes thus proved and
recommended to us for wisdom, ought in all reason to be allowed to be so. And
this, upon a fair and equal computation, we shall find to be on the side of
religion. The Book of Ecclesiastes is no other than a demonstration of the
wisdom of a religious life from observation and experience of the world. A very
little experience of the world will convince us of the uncertainty of all
things here below. But the happiness of the other life shall exceed our utmost
expectations.
3. That is wisdom which in all occurrences whatever, and in every
state of life, makes a man satisfied with himself, and of which no man ever yet
found reason to repent. This is the peculiar privilege of a virtuous and
religious course of life. Who ever saw reason to repent or be uneasy because he
had discharged his duty, because he had made it his great care and endeavour to
live in the fear of God, and a diligent observance of His commands?
4. That is wisdom which, in the final issue and event of things, will
most certainly appear to be so. That must needs be the wisest course a man can
take which not only tends to bring him peace and satisfaction for the present,
but secures to him a portion of happiness hereafter, and that the most complete
and lasting happiness, even forever and ever. When we consider the fear of God
and the practice of our duty in this light, and compare it with its contrary
ungodliness and vice,--when we reflect on the blessed reward of the one, and
the sad ways of the other; we must be lost to all sense of good and evil if we
are not fully convinced of the truth of the text. (C. Peters, M. A.)
The fear of the Lord
Can man attain the highest wisdom, the highest state of excellence,
without a revelation from God? When man is set before us as possessing powers
and capacities which may be said to conquer nature, how comes it to pass that
the intellectual development is not equalled by moral elevation? He is
described after all as not having found wisdom. Science may give knowledge, but
cannot attain wisdom. Whence, then, this mystery of inconsistency, this riddle
of greatness and littleness, of good and evil? Man is not in the state in which
he was made. He is a ruined monument of a once noble creature. Can fallen man
purchase wisdom? He may acquire wealth, but he cannot put a price upon wisdom.
The fearful lesson of history gives emphasis to the word of God as to the moral
degradation which has marked man in every age. Personified wisdom is seen in
the person of Christ. In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom. What is the
adaptation of man to receive what God is pleased to reveal? God communicates
the wisdom; man receives it, appreciating and sympathising with the Divine
mind, and this capability of reception existed from the very first. What is
man’s proper position and duty in consequence of this Divine communication? (J.
C. Cadman.)
What is wisdom
1. Wisdom is not learning. We constantly observe how much a man may
know, and yet what a fool he may be.
2. Wisdom is not cleverness, though it is often mistaken for it,
especially by the young, who are apt to give to a certain kind of intellectual
ability a great deal more of admiration than it deserves. What we want for our
practical guidance is the wisdom of the judge. If we look on practical Wisdom
as that which guides us to the line of conduct best calculated to secure our
happiness, it must undoubtedly be wise to secure the favour of Him who is
infinite in power, and whose rewards are eternal. When we turn to the New
Testament we find a basis for Christian ethics very different from that of the
most enlightened selfishness. The spring of our actions must be love to Christ,
and likeness to Christ the model of perfection at which we must aim. And what
was the character of Christ? “Christ pleased not Himself.” He came to benefit;
mindful only of the great object for which He had come, and to seek and to save
them which were lost. Christ pleased not Himself, so let every one of you please
his neighbour for his good to edification. Here is the paradox of Christianity.
Wisdom teaches us to provide for our happiness in the most enlightened way; but
here we have what seems quite a different rule; seek not your own happiness at
all; live and work for the happiness of others. The key to the paradox is found
in our Lord’s words, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” If you want
to know what are the fruits of that which is a higher and warmer thing than
mere virtue, real love for others, such as that of which our Redeemer’s earthly
life is the highest pattern, we need only imagine His example followed by a
single individual. It is eminently true of love, “Give, and it shall be given
unto you.” (J. Salmon.)
Where is wisdom found
Many are running to and fro, and knowledge is increased. Many are
opening to us the wonderful paths of science. But after all we still come back
to the question, “Where shall wisdom be found?” Where shall we gain that which
can fully satisfy us, that which can bring us to God, and make us glad with the
light of His countenance? Wisdom is an inward possession, a spiritual treasure.
Its seat is not in the head, but in the heart; not in the mind, but in the
affections and the life. Though knowledge is power, it is not all-sufficient.
The desire for knowledge is good. Wisdom, though of heavenly origin, is yet
granted us to be exercised on earth. The way to attain it is to “fear God, and
keep His commandments.” This includes the departing from evil.
1. How all-important is it for the young to grasp this Divine
principle, and to act upon it at once. One of the difficulties of youth is the
fear of your companions. You are called by God’s own voice to set your face
steadily against this. The boy who is wanting in moral courage becomes in
manhood a moral coward. Again, if you do not fear God night and day, you will
be led into ways of impurity which may taint your whole life, and make you
miserable for years. The fear of God will be needed to break us off from bad
habits.
2. Those who are older ought to be giving heed more and more to this
great saying of God, which is not too high for any of us, and which every one
of us can act upon if he will. Let each of us devote ourselves to the daily
practice of this heavenly wisdom, rooted in the fear of the Lord. We shall
never repent that self-devotion, that life-long devotion, that life-long
education, that holy discipline of love. (G. E. Jelf, M. A.)
The search for wisdom
There is nothing that man doth more earnestly pursue and hunt
after than wisdom and understanding; and there is nothing that God is more
desirous that he should obtain. And yet such is the obstinacy of our will, and
the perverseness of our nature, that when God shows us the true wisdom, and the
way to it, we will not follow His directions, but seek for it according to our
own fancy, where it is never to be had. The devil overthrew our first parents
by persuading them to aspire to a greater measure of knowledge than God had
thought fit to bestow upon them; and he hath all along made use of the same
temptation to the ruin of their posterity. Those who, one would think, should
be the best able to resist his temptations (I mean the “learned”), are
oftentimes most easily foiled by him. Their great learning and parts, most excellent
endowments, which might be very serviceable to God’s glory and the good of His
Church, he persuades them to abuse in the maintaining of wrangling
disputations, and unnecessary (sometimes dangerous) controversies. In this
text, and chapter, Job’s three friends are very bold, and foolishly positive in
their assertions concerning God’s decrees. As if they had been of God’s privy
council, had stood by Him, and thoroughly understood the whole design of His
providence in afflicting so severely His servant Job, they presently conclude
him to be a most grievous sinner. All this Job hears and endures with patience.
He was sensible enough that God had afflicted him, and he knew too that it was
not for his hypocrisy, but for some secret end best known to His infinite
wisdom; and therefore he inquires not after it, but labours to perform his own
duty, and to receive evil from the hand of God, if He sends it to him, as well
as good, and patiently to bear whatsoever burden He lays upon him. This is all
the wisdom he aspires to; he meddles not with God’s secret council, nor
searches after the knowledge which he knew was “too wonderful for him.” God
understands the way of wisdom, and He only understands it; and He will have
none else to understand it, or meddle with it.
I. What is meant
by the “fear of the lord”? The fear peculiar to wicked men is not wisdom, but
folly and madness--it is sin. Some men so fear God as that they will endeavour
to abstain from gross and scandalous sins; but not out of any true love they
have for God, or any hatred they bear to sin, but merely out of self-interest,
that they may escape that vengeance which they know will one day be executed
upon the ungodly. This fear is not in all men a sin; it is in some a virtue,
and if it be not the wisdom here in the text, yet it is at least a good step
toward the obtaining of it. Nay, this fear of God’s wrath is so far from being
unlawful, that it is absolutely necessary. The true fear is such as proceeds
from love, it is indeed nothing else but love, not of ourselves, as the former
fear, but of God, as the only object that can deserve our affections. This
grace may be styled indifferently either fear or love. This is the fear which
supported Job under his mighty afflictions.
II. What it is to
“depart from evil” Or sin; the only thing in the world which we can properly
call evil. For everything is good that God hath made. To depart from this evil
of sin in the name and fear of the Lord, is the greatest wisdom that man is
capable of. But then we must be sure to do it in the fear of the Lord.
True wisdom
“The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,” because it, and it alone,
secures the truest happiness for man, both here and hereafter. It does this--
I. By the removal
of the many moral hindrances to man’s happiness. The burden of sin. A guilty
conscience. Moral defilement (Romans 5:1-5).
II. By the
restoration of the soul to its pristine state of purity and likeness to God (Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10). It creates new
tastes--tastes for sublime, exalted, noble, holy things.
III. By its real
tendency to secure even temporal good under ordinary circumstances. It
inculcates sober, honest, industrious habits, and everything that helps men to
advancement in life.
IV. By the
consolation it affords under all the unavoidable trials and sorrows of the
present life.
1. Consolation in the thought of the present active Providence of God
(Matthew 10:29-31; Hebrews 12:8-11).
2. Consolation afforded by the gracious presence and action of the
Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17).
3. Consolation realised in the assurance of a Divine purpose for good
in all these troubles (Romans 8:28).
4. Consolation in the prospect of the glorious inheritance for which
these troubles tend to fit us (2 Corinthians 4:16-18; John 14:1-3).
5. By the assurance it thus gives of dwelling in the light of God
forever (Psalms 16:11; Luke 12:32; Matthew 13:43; Revelation 22:3-5). (Homiletic
Magazine.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》