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Job Chapter
Thirty
Job 30
Chapter Contents
Job's honour is turned into contempt. (1-14) Job a burden
to himself. (15-31)
Commentary on Job 30:1-14
(Read Job 30:1-14)
Job contrasts his present condition with his former
honour and authority. What little cause have men to be ambitious or proud of
that which may be so easily lost, and what little confidence is to be put in
it! We should not be cast down if we are despised, reviled, and hated by wicked
men. We should look to Jesus, who endured the contradiction of sinners.
Commentary on Job 30:15-31
(Read Job 30:15-31)
Job complains a great deal. Harbouring hard thoughts of
God was the sin which did, at this time, most easily beset Job. When inward
temptations join with outward calamities, the soul is hurried as in a tempest,
and is filled with confusion. But woe be to those who really have God for an
enemy! Compared with the awful state of ungodly men, what are all outward, or
even inward temporal afflictions? There is something with which Job comforts
himself, yet it is but a little. He foresees that death will be the end of all
his troubles. God's wrath might bring him to death; but his soul would be safe
and happy in the world of spirits. If none pity us, yet our God, who corrects,
pities us, even as a father pitieth his own children. And let us look more to
the things of eternity: then the believer will cease from mourning, and
joyfully praise redeeming love.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Job》
Job 30
Verse 1
[1] But
now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would
have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.
Younger —
Whom both universal custom, and the light of nature, taught to reverence their
elders and betters.
Whose fathers —
Whose condition was so mean, that in the opinion, of the world, they were
unworthy to be my shepherds the companions of my dogs which watch my flocks.
Verse 3
[3] For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in
former time desolate and waste.
Solitary —
Although want commonly drives persons to places of resort for relief, yet they
were so conscious of their own guilt, that they shunned company, and for fear
or shame fled into, and lived in desolate places.
Verse 4
[4] Who
cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.
Who cut —
Bitter herbs, which shews their extreme necessity.
Juniper —
Possibly the word may signify some other plant, for the Hebrews themselves are
at a loss for the signification of the names of plants.
Verse 7
[7]
Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.
Brayed —
Like the wild asses, for hunger or thirst.
Thorns —
Under which they hide themselves, that they might not be discovered when they
are sought out for justice.
Verse 10
[10] They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
Spit —
Not literally, for they kept far from him, but figuratively, they use all
manner of reproachful expressions, even to my face. Herein, also we see a type
of Christ, who was thus made a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
Verse 11
[11]
Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the
bridle before me.
He — God.
Cord —
Hath slackened the string of my bow, and so rendered my bow and arrows useless;
he hath deprived me of my strength or defence.
Let loose —
They cast off all former restraints of humanity, or modesty, and do those
things before mine eyes, which formerly they trembled lest they should come to
my ears.
Verse 12
[12] Upon
my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against
me the ways of their destruction.
Right hand —
This was the place of adversaries or accusers in courts of justice.
The youth —
Heb. young striplings, who formerly hid themselves from my presence, chap. 29:8.
Push —
Metaphorically, they endeavour to overwhelm me.
Ways —
Cause-ways, or banks: so it is a metaphor from soldiers, who cast up banks,
against the city which they besiege.
Destruction — To
destroy me.
Verse 13
[13] They
mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
Mar — As
I am in great misery, so they endeavour to stop all my ways out of it.
Set forward —
Increasing it by their invectives, and censures.
Even they —
Who are themselves in a forlorn and miserable condition.
Verse 14
[14] They
came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled
themselves upon me.
Waste place — In
the waste place; in that part of the bank which was broken down.
They rolled — As
the waters, come rolling in at the breach.
Verse 15
[15]
Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare
passeth away as a cloud.
Terrors — If
he endeavoured to shake them off, they turned furiously upon him: if he
endeavoured to out run them, they pursued his soul, as swiftly and violently as
the wind.
Verse 20
[20] I
cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me
not.
I stand — I
pray importunately and continually.
Verse 21
[21] Thou
art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.
Turned — As
if thou hadst changed thy very nature, which is kind, and merciful, and
gracious.
Verse 22
[22] Thou
liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my
substance.
Thou —
Thou exposest me, to all sorts of storms and calamities; so that I am like
chaff or stubble lifted up to the wind, and violently tossed hither and thither
in the air.
Substance — By
which, my body is almost consumed, and my heart is melted within me.
Verse 23
[23] For
I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all
living.
House appointed —
The grave is a narrow, dark, cold house, but there we shall rest and be safe.
It is our home, for it is our mother's lap, and in it we are gathered to our
fathers. It is an house appointed for us, by him that has appointed the bounds
of all our habitations. And it is appointed for all living. It is the common
receptacle for rich and poor: we must all be brought thither, and that shortly.
Verse 24
[24]
Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his
destruction.
To the grave —
The hand of God's wrath will not follow me beyond death; I shall then be safe
and easy: Tho' men cry in his destruction: tho' most men cry and are
affrighted, while they are dying, while the body is sinking into destruction;
yet I desire it, I have nothing to fear therein, since I know that my redeemer
liveth.
Verse 25
[25] Did
not I weep for him that was in trouble was not my soul grieved for the poor?
Did not I —
Have I now judgment without mercy, because I afforded no mercy to others in
misery? No; my conscience acquits me from this inhumanity: I did mourn over
others in their miseries.
Verse 26
[26] When
I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there
came darkness.
Upon me —
Yet trouble came upon myself, when I expected it not.
Verse 27
[27] My
bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.
Affliction —
Came upon me suddenly, and unexpectedly, when I promised myself peace and
prosperity.
Verse 28
[28] I
went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
Without the sun —
Heb. black, not by the sun. My very countenance became black, tho' not by the
sun, but by the force of my disease.
Verse 29
[29] I am
a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
A brother — By
imitation of their cries: persons of like qualities are often called brethren.
Dragon —
Which howl and wail mournfully in the deserts.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Job》
30 Chapter 30
Verses 1-31
But now they that are
younger than I have me in derision.
Job’s social disabilities
Man’s happiness as a
social being is greatly dependent upon the kind feeling and respect which is
shown to him by his contemporaries and neighbours. The social insolence from
which he suffers, and of which he complains, was marked by the following
circumstances:--
I. It came from
the most contemptible characters. He regarded them as despicable in their
ancestry. “Whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my
flock.” “They were driven from among men, and people cried after them as after
a thief.” “Among the bushes they brayed.” These were the creatures amongst whom
the patriarch now lived, and whose insolence he had to endure. They had no
faculty to discern or appreciate his moral worth, and so utterly destitute of
any power to compassionate distress that they treated him with a heartless
cruelty and revolting insolence. Men may say that a man of his high character
ought not to have allowed himself to have been pained with the conduct of such
wretches. But who has ever done so? Even Christ Himself felt the reproaches of
sinners, and was not indifferent to their revilings and their sneers. “He
endured their contradictions.”
II. It was
manifested in personal annoyances. “Now I am their song,” he says, “I am their
byword.”
III. It was shown to
him on account of his providential reverses. Not because he had become
contemptible in character, or morally base and degraded. Only because his
circumstances were changed, great prosperity had given way to overwhelming
adversity. Learn--
1. The worthlessness of mere social fame. What is it worth? Nothing.
Its breath of favour is more fickle than the wind.
2. The moral heroism of the world’s Redeemer. Christ came into a
social position far more heartless and insolent than that which the patriarch
here describes. “Of the people there was none with Him, He was despised and
rejected of men.”
3. The importance of habitual reliance on the absolute. Do not trust
in man. (Homilist.)
Verse 12
Upon my right hand rise the youth.
The prospects of life
I. The prospects
of life are generally bright. Young people are full of buoyancy, animal
spirits, ardent desire, sanguine expectation, high hope: all that is before
them takes a colouring from themselves. There is little or no experience of
life, by the use of which exaggerated views may be modified, and a correct
estimate of the future ensured. Youthful hope often anticipates long life, and
it fills up that life with many visions of success and happiness.
II. The prospects
of life, to which hope gives such a colouring are often illusive. A fine
morning often ends in a wet and stormy day. Projects begun under favourable
auspices frequently come to nought. Young people live in a realm of illusions.
The young are liable to misapprehension, and need to be prepared for some
measure of disappointment. Men at fifty often find that they have failed to
reach the height to which at twenty they aspired. Often the secret of failure
has been lack of ability, or of perseverance, or of character.
III. A few counsels.
1. The present is a season of preparation for the future. Life is
very much what we make it. Then sow now the seeds that shall grow up, and
blossom, and fruiten into a good and blessed future.
2. Prepare for the future by the exercise of fidelity to yourself and
to God in the present.
3. You need physical preparation for the future. A man’s body has
much to do with his mind and character. Courage and fortitude derive much
support from a healthy physical constitution.
4. You need mental preparation for the future. I have had many
opportunities of seeing what men lose for want of education and mental culture,
and what they gain by their possession. Increase your knowledge by reading and
observation. Strengthen your mental powers by use.
5. Moral and spiritual preparation. Set before yourself a noble
object in life. Form a purpose, and seek to fulfil it. Place yourself under the
teaching and government of conscience. Have right and fixed principle to guide
you. Consecrate yourselves to God, and commit your life to His care. Have faith
in Him. (W. Waiters.)
The days of affliction
have taken hold upon me.
Physical pain
In these verses the
patriarch sketches his great corporeal sufferings, his physical anguish.
Probably man’s capability of bodily suffering is greater than that of any other
animal existence. His nerves are more tender, his organisation is more
exquisite and complicated.
I. It tends to
stimulate intellectual research. “Pain,” says a modern author, “has been the
means of our increasing our knowledge, our skill, and our comforts. Look to the
discoveries made in science--in botany, in chemistry, in anatomy: what a
knowledge have we gained of the structures and uses of plants, while we were
seeking some herb to soothe pain or cure disease! What a knowledge have we
gained of drugs, and salts, and earths, useful for agriculture, or for the fine
arts, while we have been seeking only to find an ointment or a medicine! We
have sought a draught to allay the burning thirst of a fever, and we have found
a dozen delicious beverages to drink for our pleasure or relief. We studied
anatomy to find out the seat of disease, and how to attack it, and we found
what we did not seek--a thousand wonderful works of God, a thousand most
curious contrivances, most admirable delights! We found a model for the ribs of
a ship; we found the pattern of a telescope in the eye; we found joints and
straps, strutting and valves, which have been copied into the workshop of the
mechanic and the study of the philosopher. Yes, we may thank our liability to
pain for this--for if pain had not existed, who can tell whether these things
would have been so soon, if at all discovered.”
II. It tends to
heighten man’s estimate of Divine goodness. The physical sufferings of men,
however aggravated and extensive, are not the law of human life, but the
exception. They are but a few discordant notes in the general harmony of his
existence, a few stormy days and nights in his voyage through life. We
appreciate the dawning of the morning, because we have struggled fiercely with
difficulties in the night. We appreciate the full flow of health because we
have felt the torture of disease. Inasmuch, therefore, as human suffering,
which is an exception in the general life of mankind, helps to heighten our
estimate of God’s goodness to our race, it is anything but an unmitigated evil.
Nay, it is a blessing in disguise.
III. It tends to
improve our spiritual nature. Physical sufferings have led many a man to a
train of spiritual reflections that have resulted in the moral salvation of the
soul. As by the chisel the sculptor brings beauty out of the marble block; as
by the pruning knife the gardener brings rich clusters from the vine; as by the
bitter drug the physician brings health to his patient; as by the fire the
refiner brings pure gold out of the rough ore--so by suffering the great Father
brings spiritual life, beauty, and perfection into the soul. “Affliction,” says
quaint old Adams, “is a winged chariot, that mounts up the soul toward heaven.”
(Homilist.)
The use of afflictions
As opposite colours in a
picture contribute to the beauty of the scenery or figures portrayed on the
canvas by the artist, so God makes contrary things to promote His glory, and
equally develop grace and character in us. There could be no vocal or musical
harmony if all the voices and sounds were exactly alike in a concert. There is
no real beauty in a painting that has no shades blending with the bright
sunlight. As a foil is adapted to make the lustre of a diamond more conspicuous
to the eye of the observer, so the contrary things and afflictions of this life
God will use to make His love more illustrious and convey His grace with more
agreeable sensations to our souls. (R. Venting.)
Verse 20
I cry unto Thee, and Thou dost not hear me.
Unanswered prayer
1. There is no state so low but a godly man may have a freedom with
God in prayer. Though a poor soul be in the mire, though he be but dust and
ashes, yet he hath access to the throne of grace.
2. It is our duty to pray most, and usually we pray best, when it is
worst with us; when we are nigh the mire and dust, prayer is not only most
seasonable, but most pure.
3. Affliction provokes a soul to pray to the utmost, to pray not only
in sincerity, but with fervency, not only to pray with faith, but with a holy
passion, or passionately.
4. When prayer is sent out with a cry to God in affliction, it is a
wonder if it be not presently heard.
5. Not to be heard in a day of trouble and affliction is more troublesome
to a gracious heart than all his afflictions. Job thought he was not heard,
because he had not present deliverance; and in that sense, indeed, he was not
heard. And thus many of the saints may pray and not be heard; that is, they may
pray, and not have present deliverance. How may we know that we are heard at
any time?
Thou art become cruel to me.
Job’s grievance against God
He says that God, who formerly had been kind to him, was now
become cruel in His actings and dispensations toward him; and whereas He was
wont to support him, He did now employ His power, as an enemy, in opposition to
him. Job, in expressing his sorrow and resentments, is too pathetic, and
expresseth much passion and weakness, for which he is reproved by Elihu.
Considering this complaint in itself, it teacheth--
1. It is the way of God’s people to take up God as their chief party
in all their troubles.
2. God may seem, for a time, not only not to hear godly supplicants,
but even to be a severe foe to them. “Thou art become cruel.”
3. It is a character of a godly man, that he is sadly afflicted with
any sign of God’s indignation, or even with the want of an evidence of God’s
favour and affection in trouble. Wicked men look rather to their lot in itself,
without minding God’s favour, or anger, in it.
4. Whether the wicked think of God’s favour, who never knew it, yet
the want of it will be sad to the godly, who have tasted by experience how sweet
it is.
5. As God’s power, when He lets it forth in effects, is irresistible
and unsupportable for any creature to endure it, however fools do harden
themselves, so godly men will soon groan under the apprehension thereof. It is
indeed a characteristic of godly men that they are sensible of their own
weakness, and therefore are soon made to stoop under the mighty hand of God.
Learn--
(1)
All
men by nature are apt to have hard thoughts of God in trouble.
Misunderstanding God
The only safe, sure way of avoiding this terrible peril is to
study reverently and carefully what He has told us about Himself. It is a
common temptation to accept the statements of others when they have the
semblance of authority, and are asserted stoutly, as if they must be true. We may,
and we ought, each of us, to become personally acquainted with our Heavenly
Father. But our only hope of learning to know Him lies in patiently, lovingly,
studying His character as revealed to us in Jesus Christ. His providences, too,
often are such that we misunderstand them. Few of us are allowed to walk only
in the light of conscious, joyous peace. Most of us sometimes are at a loss how
to interpret the Divine dealings with us. There are occasions in some lives
when God Himself seems to render it almost impossible to obey Him. Undoubtedly
the object of such trying experiences is to develop a mightier faith. There
must be always one possible next step forward in the path of duty; or, if there
be actually none, this must be because the time to take it has not come, and
patient, prayerful waiting is the present duty. We may misunderstand the
meaning of what is ordained for us, but we need not misunderstand its purpose.
Those who have a faith strong enough to feel that behind the tangled scheme of
human affairs God sits calmly directing all things, are wisest and happiest.
His providences are meant to teach this, at the least. When the last analysis
has been worked out it becomes apparent that the great central, fundamental
evil which we most need to guard against, is this of misunderstanding our
Heavenly Father. If we can learn to see things from His point of view, to look
upon life, duty, pleasure, eternity, as He looks upon them, we shall be assured
of safety and peace. Otherwise we never can be. (Christian Age.)
To the house appointed for all living.
The house appointed for all living
What were the definite grounds on which Job formed this
conclusion?
1. What he saw around him on every side.
2. Job’s bodily sufferings intimated also the same result. These
increased and accumulated, and plainly tended, unless arrested, in the
providence of God, to dissolution.
3. Creation around him impressed on him the same conclusion.
4. Job learned the lesson from Divine teaching. Learn who is the
dispenser of death. We are prone to attribute all to second causes. Notice
Job’s personal application and appropriation to the truth in the text. We must
translate Christianity from the impersonal to the personal. We have a
description of that change of which the patriarch was thus personally assured.
He calls it “death,” and the “house appointed for all living.” Death is the
child of sin, though grace has made it the servant of Jesus. It is not
annihilation. There is nothing natural or desirable in death itself. This is
the only house that may be called the house of humanity. It is a dark house, a
solitary house, a silent house, an ancient house. Even this house has a sunlit
side. It is not an eternal prison house, but a resting place, a cemetery or
sleeping place. (John Cumming, D. D.)
Variety in the conduct of men at death
1. Consider those whom we esteem pious. Of these, in the time of
death, there are three classes, widely differing from each other in their dying
experiences. Some are agitated by terror, doubts, and apprehensions. Some are
exulting and triumphant. Some, without any extraordinary raptures, have a sweet
calm and tranquillity of spirit, a filial confidence and trust in their
Redeemer. We refer, of course, only to those whose rational powers are
unimpaired. We are not to judge of the future state of a man merely by his
death-bed exercises. This is an error to which we are far too prone; an error
that in its consequences is most pernicious.
2. The deathbeds of those who have lived impenitent and unbelieving
without God, and without Christ in the world. Here we find similar diversity.
Some are filled with agony and horror, some have a false joy, and an
unwarranted exultation; and some are stupid, insensible, and unconcerned. (H.
Kollock, D. D.)
Death universal
Man’s life is a stream, running into death’s devouring deeps.
Doctrine--All must die. There is an unalterable statute of death, under which
men are concluded. This is confirmed by daily observation. The human body
consists of perishable materials. We have sinful souls, and therefore have
dying bodies; death follows sin, as the shadow follows the body.
1. Man’s life is a vain and empty thing. Our life, in the several
parts of it, is a heap of vanities.
2. Man’s life is a short thing; a short-lived vanity.
3. Man’s life is a swift thing; a flying vanity. Having thus
discoursed of death, let us improve it in discerning the vanity of the world in
bearing up, with Christian contentment and patience, under all troubles and
difficulties in it; in mortifying our lusts; in cleaving unto the Lord with
full purpose of heart at all hazards, and in preparing for death’s approach. (T.
Boston, D. D.)
The certainty of death
The certainty of death. “All must die.”
1. There is an unalterable statute of death, under which men are
included.
2. If we consult daily observation. Everyone seeth that “wise men
die, likewise the fool and brutish person.”
3. The human body consists of perishing principles.
4. We have sinful souls, and therefore have dying bodies.
5. Man’s life in this world is but a few degrees removed from death.
Scripture represents it as vain and empty, short in continuance, and swift in
its passage.
Improvement--
1. Let us hence, as in a glass, behold the vanity of the world; look
into the grave, and listen to the doctrine of death.
(1)
This
world is a false friend, who leaves a man in time of greatest need.
2. It may serve as a storehouse for Christian contentment and
patience under worldly crosses and losses.
3. It may serve as a bridle to curb all manner of lust.
The mission of death
Since we know assuredly that God will bring us to death,
consider--
I. The certainty
of its approaching soon. All the works of nature, in this inferior system, seem
only made to be destroyed. Man is not exempted. Our life is forever on the
wing, although we mark not its flight. Even now death is doing its work. If
death be certainly approaching, let us learn the value of life. If death be at
hand, then certainly time is precious.
II. The time and
manner of the arrival of death. Death is called in Scripture “the land without
any order.” And without any order the king of terrors makes his approaches in
the world. He wears a thousand forms, marking out the unhappy man for their
prey.
III. The change
which death introduces. When we pass from the living world to the dead, what a
sad picture do we behold! The periods of human life passing away, the certainty
of the dissolution that awaits us, and the frequent examples of mortality which
continually strike our view, lead us to reflect with seriousness upon the house
appointed for all living. Death is the great teacher of mankind. (J. Logan,
F. R. S. E.)
Death and the grave our common inheritance
The Coptic version reads thus:--“I know now that death will
destroy me, for the earth is the house of all the dead.” We have in the text
two personifications. “Death will destroy me.” “The grave is the house for all
the dead.” The power to wound and the pleasure of victory are figuratively
ascribed to death and the grave. Death is said to be the extinction of life,
but that neither defines nor explains it. We know death by its results. Life!
Is it important to us, and wherein is its value and importance? The importance
of life to every one of us is for our virtue, religion, happiness, and
usefulness among our fellowmen, and to determine the character of our
responsibility, our afterlife, our destiny. Life, as connected with this world
only, is the precious time for the discipline of the passions and affections,
the elevation of our nature, the accumulations of virtue, the influence,
principles, and power of religion, the happiness that ordinarily accompanies
them, and the usefulness suggested and sustained by them. Our virtue, our
religious character, the state of our hearts, veiled and unveiled, and the
actions of our lives, will determine our everlasting destiny. Our
responsibility relates to the honest convictions of our minds and hearts. (R.
Ainslie.)
Death
I. The divinity of
death. “I know that Thou wilt bring me to death.” Men ascribe death to one of
three causes--disease, accident, or age; but the Bible ascribes it to God.
“Thou wilt bring me to death.”
1. Nothing else can bring me to death unless Thou wilt. My existence
depends every moment on Thy will.
2. Nothing else can prevent me from dying if Thou wiliest that I
should depart; all is with Thee. “Thou turnest man to destruction. Thou
changest his countenance and sendest him away.” There are no premature deaths.
II. The ordination
of death. “The house appointed.” Death is no chance matter. “It is appointed
unto all men once to die.”
1. This appointment is very natural; all organic life dies: all
sublunary life finds the “house” of mortality. To this “house” all plants,
reptiles, insects, birds, fishes, beasts direct their steps.
2. This appointment is very settled. This appointment is kept as
immutably as the ordinances of heaven or any of the laws of nature.
III. The
universality of death. “For all living.” Men, when living, have houses of
various shapes, sizes, value, according to their tastes and means, but in dying
they have only one “house.” All go to one place. What a “house” is this grave!
ancient--desolate--spacious--crowded. (Homilist.)
Relieving thoughts concerning death
The text suggests some thoughts of Job concerning his own death.
I. There will be
nothing unnatural in my death. It is “appointed” as the death of every other
kind of organised life on earth: it is the natural law of all organised bodies
to wear out, decay, dissolve. As the earth takes back to itself all the
elements that have entered into the composition of vegetables and animals, why
should I refuse or dread the demand? I may rest assured that kind nature will
make a benign and beneficent use of all the elements that have entered into my
corporeal existence. Let me be ready to yield them up unreluctantly,
ungrudgingly, thanking the Infinite for their use.
1. It is dishonest for me to object to this; for my body was only
borrowed property, a temporary loan, nothing more.
2. It is ungrateful for me to object to this. Though I never had a
claim to such a boon, it has been of great service to my spiritual nature.
3. It is unphilosophic for me to object to this. Whatever my
objections and resistance, it must come.
II. There will he
nothing uncommon in my death. “The house appointed for all living.” Were I one
of a few, amongst the millions of the race, singled out for such a destiny, I
might complain; but since all, without any exception, must die, who am I that I
should complain?
III. There will be
nothing accidental in my death. “I know that Thou wilt bring me to death.” (Homilist.)
Concerning death
Job suffered from a terrible sickness, which filled him with pain
both day and night. He says in the eighteenth verse, “By the great force of my
disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.”
When our God by our affliction calls upon us to number our days, let us not
refuse to do so. Yet Job made a mistake in the hasty conclusion which he drew
from his grievous affliction. Under depression of spirit he felt sure that he
must very soon die. But he did not die at that time. He was fully recovered,
and God gave him twice as much as he had before. It is a pity for us to pretend
to predict the future, for we certainly cannot see an inch before us. It is the
part of a brave man, and especially of a believing man, neither to dread death
nor to sigh for it; neither to fear it nor to court it. Job made a mistake as
to the date of his death, but he made no mistake as to the fact itself. He
spake truly when he said, “I know that Thou wilt bring me to death.” “Oh,”
saith one, “but I do not feel called upon to think of it.” Why, the very season
of the year calls you to it. Each fading leaf admonishes you. Oh! you that are
youngest, you that are fullest of health and strength, I lovingly invite you
not to put away this subject from you. Remember, the youngest may be taken
away.
I. I call your
attention to a piece of personal knowledge: “I know that Thou wilt bring me to
death, and to the house appointed for all living.” A general truth here
receives a personal application.
1. Job knew that he should be brought to the grave, because he
perceived the universality of that fact in reference to others.
2. He knew it also because he had considered the origin of mankind.
We were taken out of the earth, and it is only by a prolonged miracle that this
dust of ours is kept from going back to its kindred. If we had come from heaven
we might dream that we should not die. Thus we have affinities which call us
back to the dust.
3. Further, Job had a recollection of man’s sin, and knew that all
men are under condemnation on account of it. Does he not say that the grave is
a “house appointed for all living”? It is appointed simply because of the penal
sentence passed upon our first parent, and in him upon the whole race.
4. Once more, Job arrived at this personal knowledge through his own
bodily feebleness. Those who die daily will die easily. Those who make themselves
familiar with the tomb will find it transfigured into a bed: the charnel will
become a couch. The man who rejoices in the covenant of grace is cheered by the
fact that even death itself is comprehended among the things which belong to
the believer.
II. Having thus
discoursed upon a piece of personal knowledge, I now beg you to see in my text
the shining of holy intelligence. Job, even in his anguish, does not for a
moment forget his God. He speaks of Him here: “I know that Thou wilt bring me
to death.”
1. He perceives that he will not die apart from God. He does not say
his sore boils or his strangulation will bring him to death; but, “Thou wilt
bring me to death.” He does not trace his approaching death to chance, or to
fate, or to second causes; no, he sees only the hand of the Lord. Let us
rejoice that in life and death we are in the Lord’s hands.
2. The text seems to me to cover another sweet and comforting
thought, namely, that God will be with us in death. “I know that Thou wilt
bring me to death.” He will bring us on our journey till He brings us to the
journey’s end: Himself our convoy and our leader.
3. It may not be in the text, but it naturally follows from it, that
if God brings us to death, He will bring us up again.
III. I pass on to
notice the quiet expectation which breathes in this text. I want to reason with
those disciples of our Lord Jesus who are in bondage from fear of death. What
are the times when men are able to speak of death quietly and happily?
1. Sometimes they do so in periods of great bodily suffering. I have
on several occasions felt everything like fear of dying taken from me simply by
the process of weariness.
2. The growing infirmities of age work in the same way, beloved,
without falling into sickness.
3. By being filled with an entire submission to the will of God.
Delight in God is the cure for dread of death.
4. Next, I believe that great holiness sets us free from the love of
this world, and makes us ready to depart.
5. Another thing that will make us look at death with complacency is
when we have a full assurance that we are in Christ, and that, come what may,
nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Live in such a way that any day would make a suitable topstone for life. Let me
add that there are times when our joys run high, when the big waves come
rolling in from the Pacific of eternal bliss; then we see the King in His
beauty by the eye of faith, and though it be but a dim vision, we are so
charmed with it that our love of Him makes us impatient to behold Him face to
face.
IV. I conclude by
saying that this subject affords us sacred instruction. “I know that Thou wilt
bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.”
1. Let us prepare for death.
2. Live diligently.
3. Next to that, let us learn from the general assembly in the house
appointed for all living to walk very humbly. A common caravansary must
accommodate us all in the end; wherefore let us despise all pride of birth,
rank, or wealth.
4. Be prompt, for life is brief.
5. Men and women, project yourselves into eternity; get away from
time, for you must soon be driven away from it. You are birds with wings; sit
not on these boughs forever blinking in the dark like owls; bestir yourselves,
and mount like eagles. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Did I not weep for him that was in trouble.
Tears for the oppressed
By noticing the care with which Job throws back the insinuation of
Eliphaz, how much he valued the character of charity, and how he esteemed it
his bounden duty to contribute to the wants and necessities of others. Our text
is a pathetic appeal, displaying the truly compassionate character of the
patriarch. What are the tears which we may imagine fell from the eyes of Job,
and which do fall from the eyes of every compassionate man that witnesses
suffering and sorrow? They were tears of grief, of sincerity, of
self-condemnation. But the compassionate man, like Job, may pour forth tears of
indignation. For whom did compassionate Job thus weep? Lit. for “him in a hard
day.” He that was suffering from privation. I now have to plead for such, for
men who are suffering from over-toil and over-exertion. Special reference may
be made to the “late-hour system.” (J. M’Connell Hussey, B. A.)
Christian sympathy
In endeavouring to justify the ways of God, Job’s three friends
came to the harsh conclusion that he would not have been so severely afflicted
if he had not been a very great sinner. Among other accusations against the
afflicted patriarch, Eliphaz the Temanite had the cruelty to lay this at his
door, “Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast
withholden bread from the hungry.” Richly did the three miserable comforters
deserve the burning rebuke of their slandered friend, “Ye are forgers of lies,
ye are physicians of no value. O that ye would altogether hold your peace and
it shall be your wisdom.”
I. Human sympathy,
its commendations.
1. We may say of it, first, that even nature dictateth that man
should feel a sympathy for his kind. Humanity, had it remained in its unfallen
estate, would have been one delightful household of brothers and sisters. Alas!
for us, when Adam fell he not only violated his Maker’s laws, but in the fall
he broke the unity of the race, and now we are isolated particles of manhood,
instead of being what we should have been, members of one body, moved by one
and the same spirit. Called with a nobler calling, let us exhibit as the result
of our regenerate nature a loftier compassion for the suffering sons of men.
2. Further, we may remark that the absence of sympathy has always
been esteemed, in all countries, and in all ages, one of the most abominable of
vices. In old classic history who are the men held up to everlasting
execration? Are they not those who had no mercy on the poor?
3. Sympathy is especially a Christian’s duty.
4. Remember the blessed example of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet
for our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich.”
5. Sympathy is essential to our usefulness.
6. Here I must supplement that thought with another; sympathy may
often be the direct means of conversion.
7. And I shall say here, that this sympathy is sure to be a great
blessing to yourselves. If you want joy--joy that you may think upon at nights,
and live upon day after day, next to the joy of the Lord, which is our
strength, is the joy of doing good. The selfish man thinks that he has the most
enjoyment in laying out his wealth upon himself. Poor fool!
II. The hindrances
to Christian sympathy.
1. One of the great impediments to Christian sympathy is our own
intense selfishness. We are all selfish by nature, and it is a work of grace to
break this thoroughly down, until we live to Christ, and not to self any
longer. How often is the rich man tempted to think that his riches are his own.
2. Another hindrance lies in the customs of our country. We still
have amongst us too much of caste and custom. The exclusiveness of rank is not
readily overcome.
3. Much want of sympathy is produced by our ignorance of one another.
We do not know the sufferings of our fellows.
4. No doubt the abounding deception which exists among those who seek
our help has checked much liberality.
III. The fruits of
Christian sympathy.
1. The fruit of Christian sympathy will be seen in a kindly
association with all Christians: we shall not shun them nor pass them by.
2. It will be seen next, in a kindly encouragement of those who want
aid, constantly being ready to give a word of good advice, and good cheer to
the heart which is ready to faint.
3. Show it, also, whenever you hear the good name of any called into
doubt. Stand up for your brethren. ‘Tis an ill bird that fouls its own nest,
but there are some such birds.
4. But still, there is no Christian sympathy in all this if it does
not, when needed, prove itself by real gifts of our substance. Zealous words
will not warm the cold; delicate words will not feed the hungry; the freest
speech will not set free the captive, or visit him in prison. (C. H.
Spurgeon.).
──《The Biblical Illustrator》