of Gods afflicting righteous men yet here he speaks also of hypocrites Not that any truly godly person can turn an hypocrite and be cut off as such but that he may clear how of Professours of godliness who meet with affliction some are sincere and others but dissemblers and that the tryal contributes to the discovering of both and the seperating of the chaffe from the wheat 2. He doth not here make mention of hypocrites with any design to reflect upon Job as one of them but partly to vindicate Gods righteousness in afflicting them who profess piety considerirg that not only he hath holy ends in dealing so with such as really are what they profess of which he hath spoken already and more is added v. 15. but that there are many unsound Professours whom in his holy Providence he discovers by affliction Partly that he may detert Job from some pranks under trouble particularly his complaining more than he did pray he lets him see that they were the pranks of hypocrites and therefore not to be persisted in by him who was a godly man 3. Albeit there was an alternative propounded in speaking of the duty of godly men under trouble v. 11 12. Yet v. 15. he mentions only their profiting by the rod and nothing of their incorrigibleness because that is the ordinary fruit that real Saints get of the rod and it is nor so usual for them when they are in trouble to provoke God by their miscarriages to cut them off And therefore he asserts of them indefinitely or more generally that they are delivered and their cars opended in oppression From v. 13 14. Learn 1. Hypocrisie is an ordinary evil cleaving to profession of Religion So that Hypocrites are very ordinarily and frequently mixed among sincere Professours For so is here supposed in that when Elihu is vindicating Gods dealing with Saints he insinuates this as one plea for him that there is need of affliction upon men of their profession were it but to discover and purge out hypocrites from anâ—â—â—g them So that men should not think it enough that they are Professours if they have no more and even sincerest of Professours have need to guard against hypocrisie which so frequently cleaves to profession 2. The hypocrisie of some may be so closely conveighed and hid in their hearts that in ordinary it doth not appear For there are hypocrites in heart who do not much appear visibly to be such 3. God is so ill pleased even with the most refined of hypocrisie that he will sooner or later have the mark pulled off it and cause the hypocrite appear in his own colours As here it is supposed that they will appear to be under wrath 4. Albeit many times prosperity will discover the unsoundness of some who flattered God under trouble Psal 78.34 35 36 37. Yea albeit close and refined hypocrites may pass through many tryals undiscovered till their tryal which toucheth upon their Idol come Yet a day of adversity is the ordinary touchstone of hypocrisie which will at last find it our and discover it As here it is in affliction and when God binds them that they appear in their colours and the scorching heat of the Sun or the fiery furnace will make the varnish to fall off See Is 33.14 So that hypocrites had need of fair weather for a shower will stain them and make them cast their borrowed colour 5. Hypocrites are especially discovered by their not crying to God in trouble As here they cry not when he bindeth them And albeit this seem to contradict other Scriptures which say they cry only when they are in trouble Psal 78.34 Yet this may also hold true of them or of some of them that when they are in trouble they may at first give over to cry as being madded that they should be in trouble or confounded with it or hoping to find relief another way And if they come to God in trouble they will soon weary and give over if they be not speedily relieved Is 58.3 Mal. 3.13 14. And to express this character of hypocrites more distinctly we may take it up thus 1. If they goe to God in trouble yet there is more of murmuring than prayer in their addresses 2. They are ready to cry more upon the account of what they want than because God binds them or because they see his hand and quarrel in their affliction Hos 7.14 16. 3. They cry more that they may get ease of their trouble than they repent of their sins which procured them 4. There is little fervency or crying in their addresses or what fervour seems to be therein flows not from humility love or hope but from pride bitterness and diffidence 5. Their first recourse is not to God so long as they have any shift beside 6. They lose all hope and weary to cry on if their strait grow and continue while they are crying 2 King 6.30 33. All these should warn us to try and examine our prayers and to look upon it as sad when trouble produceth no prayer or no right prayer Doct. 6. Though hypocrites â—â—e alwayes under wrath yet their miscarriages and discovering of themselves under trouble draws on a greater and more insupportable weight and burden of it For by this they heap of wrath Which should warn all to look to their carriage under trouble 7. Gods wrath against hypocrites will not alwayes evidence it self only by with-holding of favours or speaking sad words to them but will at last break forth in visible effects upon impenitent hypocrites to the destruction both of Soul and Body And especially if trouble be not well improved when God hath begun to reckon with them he will not be dallyed with nor spare them For they dye or their Soul or Life dyeth that is both their Soul and Life dyeth Or the phrase may have relation to the thoughts that hypocrites have of their bodily and animal life which they so esteem as if Soul and Life and all consisted in living here Or it serves to aggravate their fault who have a rational Soul as well as an animal Life and yet dare hazard to draw on death upon themselves in wrath It is true this threatening against hypocrites may admit of an exception in the visible Church Psal 78.34 38. as to the grant of a national pardon to the body of a people Numb 14.20 21 Psal 99.8 Yet God will reckon with particular hypocrites 8. As the Lord seeth it fit sometimes to cut off hypocrites early and some of them by a violent death So it is true of all of them that they dye before they be full of dayes Psal 55.23 they still abhorring death and before they cease and give over their youthfull folly and become wise in God For thus and in these respects they dye in youth 9. Hypocrites especially when they do not improve trouble are justly ranked among the worst of men and dealt with accordingly For their life is cut off
are worth the waiting for albeit we be kept in a furnace of affliction These are some of Jobs infirmities which without further descanting upon the words we are to take notice of in this discourse not to conclude him wicked but passionate and to point out what tentations and infirmities we are especially to provide against in an hour of tryal For which end it is that God will have all that Job spake and said ver 2. here recorded To shew that he takes notice of his peoples behaviour under afflictions and to set up a Beacon to all after-ages in the experience of this holy man Vers 11. Why died I not from the womb why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly 12. Why did the knees prevent me or why the breasts that I should suck In these verses we have Jobs second wish to which reasons as subjoyned v. 13. 19. His wish is set down by way of Expostulation of which see on v. 20. And it amounts in sum to this That since his former wish was to no purpose seeing he was born and came into the world he now wisheth he had died so soon as he was born And therefore regrates that in the birth ha was not left in that helpless hour by the Mid-wife or that ever any care was taken of him by laying him when he was born upon their knees or by giving him suck without which he had soon perished From this complaint no less passionate then the former Observe 1. The mercies which he complains to have received of knees preventing him and breasts to give him suck do insinuate to us That so soon as we come into the world we have so many seeds of death in us that every step of our life needs a proof of mercy to preserve it Without the knees to bear us and the breasts to give us suck we would soon return to dust again So that we may truly be said to be born to die and to be going to death from the day wherein we first receive life 2. Job having quit his former wish as unprofitable and impossible he is not for all that brought to submit but bends his wit to devise new ways of his own and with a great deal of Oratory paints them out as plausible Teaching That is no easie task to bring our minds to a conformity with Gods way and will but many divers courses and shifts will we essay rather then submit to God and follow that way of relief which he hath pointed out to us Submission and patience was a nearer and more ready case of Jobs grievances then any of those yet he wâ—ll rather multiply impossible wishes then come to that 3. We may observe how all these mercies of his birth care of him in his infancy c. wherof Saints have esteemed much and made good use Psal 22.9 10 11. are now all become crosses in his account Which as it flows from great ingratitude in him or whosoever shall be found guilty of the like So it teacheth us not to place our happiness in these or any the like common mercies which may be so soon and easily imbittered and made grievous to our frail and corrupt nature Vers 13. For now should I have lien still and been quiet I should have slept then had I been at rest 14. With kings and counsellers of the earth which built desolate places for themselves 15. Or with princes that had gold who filled their houses with silver 16. Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been as infants which never saw light 17. There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest 18. There the prisoners rest together they hear not the voyce of the oppressour 19. The small and great are there and the servant is free from his master His reasons whereby he endeavours to render his passionate wish plausible may be summed up in this one the great rest and quiet like a sleep which he fancieth in death ver 13. This he further amplifieth 1. That whereas he is now abased he had then been equal with the best even with Kings and great Counsellers who built themselves stately Houses or Monuments where desolations had formerly been ver 14. and who had their Houses replenished with wealth ver 15. 2. That at least if he had died from the womb he had been in no worse case then an Abortive and so had prevented all those miseries which befel him since his birth ver 16. 3. That as he fancieth the rest of death is a singular rest beyond any ease he could find here For wicked troublers cannot pursue men thither but they who are wearied with oppression get leave to rest there ver 17. particularly prisoners or slaves are free from their oppressing creditors and exacters ver 18. and death doth so level all as Masters and Servants are equal and Servants are no more under the power of their imperious Masters ver 19. In sum he points out death as a common rest from outward violence and oppression from weakness weariness servitude or any the like toil reflecting in some of those upon his own sufferings by the Sabeans and Chaldeans and upon the wearied and tossed condition of his body In this Reason we may remark those Truths 1. That death is a rest to man from outward troubles whatever they be As is here at length deduced Which in its own kind is a mercy that outward troubles will follow us no further then death if all be well beside 2. That as nothing temporal gives men a priviledge against death Psal 49.6 7 c. So albeit there be diversity of ranks of men here yet death levels all and makes them equal Ezek. 32.21 22 c. For Kings Princes Oppressours the weary small and great the Servant and his Master do all tryst at death and are all alike there But in Jobs reasoning from these considerations and in reference to his scope we will find many mistakes 1. Whatever rest and ease be in death yet it was not the will of God that Job should be resting now but fighting and serving his Generation by the will of God after which he was in due time to fall asleep as Acts 13.36 Now it is our great fault to see a beauty in any temporal condition save in so far as it is the will of God to make it out lot who makes every thing beautiful in its season Eccles 3.11 2. His reasoning imports that his great drift in wishing he had died is his own case Now ease how desirable soever it appear is not to be impatiently sought after But we should rather acquiesce to be on service as it is carved out wherein we may meet with many proofs and experiences of what is in ourselves and in God for us 3. Albeit desires and longings after death be the fools only back-door in trouble Yet death and the rest thereof in it self considered ought nor to be so
much doated upon For notwithstanding all he saith here of death yet not only is death contrary to nature and as in the grave our bodies feel not the troubles of this life so as little do they feel or are sensible of the quiet in the grave But whatever rest be in death yet it is not a compleat out-gate but in Christ nor is it a common rest to all without any difference as to their states who rest there 4. He is so much out of conceit with his present case that he would be content of any were it even to be an Abortive rather then the present Thus doth our folly judge any condition better then our own whereof we would soon repent us if we were essayed with a change 5. It will be found upon tryal that his wishes came far short of what good the Lord was doing to him For albeit somewhat like that ver 16. may be true of a wicked man that an untimely birth is better then he Eccl. 6.3 Yet who in his right wits would consider Job in the whole of his life and think an Abortive comparable to him who had so eminently honoured God and was blessed of him in his former dayes and who was now imployed to give so eminent a proof of his integrity in the furnace So far short may the desires of godly men fall even of that good which they presently enjoy if they had eyes to see it And so infinitely wise is God who knoweth better how to guide us then our selves do and so gracious that he doth not ask our consent to deal better with us then we could carve to our selves Vers 20. Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery and life unto the bitter in soul From this to the end of the Chapter we have Jobs third wish with the reasons whereby he presseth it The wish is propounded in this verse by way of Expostulation as the former was and is only repeated from thence in the Translation ver 23. to make the sense the clearer The sum of the wish is That since none of the former desires weâ—e now possible but that he was now come that length of his time he desires that now at length the Lord would put an end to his toil and expostulates that light i. e. the light of the Sun Eccl. 11.7 8. or life as is afterward added is continued with him Unto this he subjoyns the first reason of his Expostulation taken from his great trouble being in so much trouble as might denominate him a miserable man and so disconsolate and anxious by reason of trouble as made him bitter in soul As to the Expostulation his expressions do indeed flow from that great misery and bitterness which himself afterward resents Yet it is to be remarked that albeit this Expostulation reflect on God who had given and continued his life yet reverence to God doth lead him to forbear to name him in his complaint Hereby pointing out That grace even when it is most overpowered with weakness and passion will yet one way or other be letting forth some Evidences of it self and of its respect toward God if it could be discerned But further in this Expostulation we may observe 1. He continueth still in the strain and heat of his passion his Feaver is not yet calmed notwithstanding all his former ravings To teach us That distempers of mind and passions let loose under tentation and trouble are not soon and easily calmed and quieted again but they will lead men from one extravagant desire and complaint to another 2. He not only insists still to have his will satisfied which is mans great Idol albeit it be true that it were his misery to get his will in many things But still he pursues that particular desire of death as the only comfortable issue in his apprehension whereas there were many better nearer at hand as strength to bear his tryal faith in Gods love notwithstanding all his afflictions and even a comfortable issue within time after his tryal was perfected as the sequel cleared But it is our folly and weakness so to doat upon one imagined way of relief as we cannot observe any beside 3. He propounds his desire by way of Expostulation questioning Wherefore is light given which flows not so much from a desire of Information as from a bitter proud Passion full of conceit of its own skill This is a distemper incident to men especially under trouble that they dare quarrel God as if they could guide better then he and that they judge every thing unreasonable of the reasons whereof they are not capable Not considering that we ought to adore Infinite Wisdom and stoop to Soveraignty when we are in the dark 4. Albeit it was his sin to despise the good gift of life Yet his distemper teacheth That the Lord by leaving us to our selves can make our best things even our selves and our lives a burden instead of a comfort As here his experience doth teach So also Chap. 7.15 16.20 Which may teach us to acknowledge Gods goodness that any thing is made comfortable to us within time In the first reason we may observe 1. It is no strange thing to see Saints put in that pitiful plight by trouble as may even render their life a burden to them as they are men compassed with infirmities For that is the pitiful reason why he wisheth to be dead He is in misery and bitter in soul 2. Outward troubles are but a small part of Saints complaints but that which makes afflictions grievous to them is the inward exercise of mind which usually accompanieth the same For that is subjoyned to his misery that he is bitter in soul This is sharper then any outward trouble For without this trouble will be very easie and a sound mind will bear much 3. Among other sad distempers of soul accompanying trouble this is not the least when soul-serenity and tranquillity is disturbed and men are imbittered thereby insomuch that although they do not question their state of Reconciliation yet they can read no love in what they suffer nor walk under it with meekness but are taken up with hard constructions of God and his dealing For this is his case in particular He is bitter in soul 4. When Saints narrowly examine their sad lots they will find that whatever is intolerable in them cometh of themselves when either their apprehensions represent them as sadder then indeed they are or when their broken spirits do render their case more insupportable then otherwayes it would be For so must we judge of Jobs complaint It is true he was under great affliction yet it flowed from his own apprehension that he looks on himself as miserable or in misery And whereas he complains of a bitter soul much of that flowed from his own giving way to that distemper of spirit For albeit God may be said to fill us with bitterness Job 9.18 Lam. 3.15 in so far as he
crushed which yet at last will prove a Conquerour Thirdly His confirmation of this main Arguments taken from Experience is a weak proof For 1. Albeit they found by experience which was indeed their stumbling block That in that non-age of the Church God had more ordinarily trained on his people with outward encouragments and plagued the wicked Yet that did not evince that he would always follow that method seeing it was not promised His outward signal dispensations in one time or age are not a constant ground for our expectation and faith but the word alone Though indeed it be true that after eminent proofes of Gods appearing for his people and against the wicked it is not easie to submit to want the like again 2. Though the world had but lasted a short while till their days compared with its continuance since yet they could not undertake they had known all that God had done or did remember all they knew or seriously remark all they saw And consequently their observation and experience could not found an universal Principle seeing they might be deficient in it And indeed before their time there were not only instances of Noah and Lot much vexed in soul but of Abel cut off by his wicked brother which might fully answer that Question ver 7. and refute what he brought from experience But it seems that that and the like were not marked either because more rate or because their principles did so prepossess them as they did not advert to any thing which contradicted the same As it is most ordinary that prejudices and preingagements do shut out clearest truths 3. Their expâ—rience was not so large then as now and therfore it needed not seem strange albeit Job should cast the first copy to all after-ages of a godly man so afflicted Nor need Saints stumble being approved in their way by the Word to hazard upon a tryal wherein no godly man hath trode before them and when they have no experience of any in the like case before them to leave in their tryal an experience to all who shall come after them as it seemeth Abel and Job did In sum from all this we may conclude how safe and sure it is to judge of persons and lots by the word and what hazard there is to looke to dispensations or experiences without it Vers 9. By the blast of God they perish and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed 10. The roaring of the lion and the voyce of the fierce lion and the teeth of the young lions are broken 11. The old lion perisheth for lacke of prey and the stout lions whelps are scattered abroad This Argument from Experience is in these verses further enlarged And to make it have impression on Job he amplifieth the stroke of God upon the wicked with divers reflections upon the case of Job and his Children to make him apprehend how like the one case is to the other And 1. He sets before him the manner of the wickeds destruction ver 9. where by the blast and breath of God we are to understand his anger immediately let forth and his extraordinary power exerted against sinners to consume them and make them perish as Eliphaz supposeth that God had destroyed Jobs Children and some of his Goods for the expressions allude to that which had befaln them 2. He sets before him the object of those judgements which are oppressours and their Children who are compared to Lions for their cruelty and fierceness ver 10 11. Where most of the names of Lions in Scripture taken from their several Ages are gathered together to point at old Job and his Children in their several ages 3. He points out the effects of Gods destroying of them That then their terrour and cruelty signified by their roaring voyce and teeth are made to cease ver 10. and old oppressours want necessary means of subsistence and comfort as Job did and their children were scattered and gone as his were ver 11. Here it may be enquired for further clearing of the words 1. Whether by these reflections he point at Jobs Children also as oppressours Answ Though they may be called by the name of young Lions only as Children to him who was as he judged a Lion-like oppressour yet the breaking of the teeth of young Lions implyeth further that he judged them oppressours also and elsewhere we find Chap. 8.4 that they charged guilt upon his Children for which God had destroyed them 2. It may be enquired how Job could be charged as guilty of such a crime of oppression who had such a publick testimony of being a lover of Justice and Equity Job 29.11 17 or How his Children could be charged with it of whose meddling with affairs nothing is recorded far less of their cruelty Answ 1. Eliphaz's Principles led him to charge this crime upon them though there were no other evidence of it but that they were thus afflicted For his way of reasoning was thus sure they must have been oppressours else they had not been so crushed 2. If we consider that Job in doing justice and it may be his sons under him and at his command behoved to irritate those whose were in the wrong and whom he crushed Chap. 29.17 we may easily gather that these would be now ready to say God had justly rewarded him thus for wronging and oppressing of them as they judged it to be which agreeing with Eliphaz's Principles he without any further examination takes it for granted that their complaints were just This Discourse is no less faulty then the former Argument to conclude that because this is Gods common course with Oppressours therefore none of them are exempted and only such were so crushed and that every calumny against a Saint in trouble should be looked on as a just and true accusation And his mistake in these Reflections may further teach us 1. It is usual for Saints to lie under great misconstructions both concerning their afflictions and the cause of them Not only to have sore trouble lying upon them and it painted out in its worst colours as if God in wrath were a party and in all the branches thereof But imputations upon their carriage received in the world and believed by godly men as well as suggested to their own bosoms As here Job hath his case held out to him by Eliphaz as pursuâ—d by an angry God to utter ruine in his person and posterity for his great oppressions This may teach men to look and learn to a surer testimony being denyed to popular applause and not stumbling though they be misconstructed even by Saints 2. It may please God after he hath taken innocent men out of the world to suffer their names to lie under reproach behind them for the tryal of their Relations who are left behind and that all may expect that day wherein there will be a Resurrection of names as well as of bodies For here Jobs Children after their death lie
moment of the day Or being but short-lived like that creature which is said to live but one day See Psal 39.5 Or being cut off in a short time when God begins to deal with him Isa 38.12 Psal 90.5 6. Or his whole life and every day of it from morning to evening being but a daily dying and travelling from the womb to the grave All these do well enough sute the scope and may teach us 1. That death in it self is a destroying or breaking and braying in pieces as making havock of the poor man crushing his imagined excellencies and irreparably ruining him in his being though without prejudice to the power of God to be exerted in his future Resurrection Therefore it is said They are destroyed or broken in pieces 2. As death is terrible in it self so man lieth under so great hazard of it as may keep him low before God being a creature that is dying daily though he consider it not being uncertain what moment it may arrest him being unable to hinder the stroke of death to do its work in a short time and having but a short while of life if well considered how long soever it be forborn All these humbling considerations are imported in their being destroyed from morning to evening 2. That in regard the death of man is ordinary it is but little regarded ver 20. That they perish for ever is not to be understood here of eternal destruction for this sentence is true of all men even godly men But that men are continually dying and perishing in all times and ages and that though this be a great stroke and a perishing for ever without any hope of restitution to this life again Yet it is but little noticed or emproved Neither do they who are left behind make the use of that which they so ordinarily see nor do they who die ever return to give any proof of their proficiency by that stroke This teacheth 1. Death is in this respect a great stroke that it cuts off a man irrecoverably from all his enjoyments and from all opportunity of emproving any condition in this life So that if a man do not emprove time while he hath it and have no hope of somewhat beyond time he is in a poor condition In this respect all men at death perish for ever without hope of returning to this life 2. It is the constant course of divine Providence that as one generation is coming so another is going And that at all times death is still snatching some from there idols liberating others from their toil separating dearest friends and preaching the doctrine of Mortality to all For thus also they perish for ever in all ages and times 3. Albeit it be the duty of the sons of men to emprove every document of mortality which is laid before them in the experience of others Eccl. 7.2 Yet such is the stupidity of most that they profit nothing thereby nor are made to study the uncertainty of mans life or the vanity of many of mens projects on earth Luk. 12.19 20. For thus they perish without any regarding See Psal 49.13 14. 4. Such is the stupidity and corruption of men that even remarkable dispensations becoming ordinary are sleighted and do not affect them For albeit death be a singular stroke yet being ordinary for ever in all times there is no regarding or emproving of it As wonders will nor profit them who do not emprove the ordinary means Luk. 16.31 So the more ordinary and frequent wonders be our corrupt hearts will regard them the less 3. That by death men are stript of all their excellency which is in them ver 21 Which is not so much to be understood of the souls leaving the body as of their parting with all their external pomp and glory at death For both in sickness before death the memory judgment and other endowments of the mind do perish in some beauty and strength of body do languish in all and at death there is nothing left but a loathsome carcass and all worldly pomp and splendour is cut off from them It is here to be remembred that the Spirit of God doth not hear speak of men as to their eternal state but as to their externall condition which they enjoyed in the world And it teacheth 1. God is very bountiful to the sons of men in conferring many excellencies upon them both in their bodies minds and outward estate For there is supposed an excellency in them And albeit it be mans fault to value these too highly as their chief and only excellency yet their own true worth and Gods bounty in conferring of them ought not to be forgotten 2. God is also so kind as to continue all or many of these excellencies with men even to the grave For so is here supposed that their excellency doth not go away till then 3. Whatever forbearance the sons of men get in this life yet death will strip them of all their outward splendour and pomp For then all their excellency doth go away See Psal 49.17 Isa 14.9 10. c. 4. It is a very great fault and a gross neglect in men that this ordinary plain lesson of the vanity of outward excellencies is so little studied For this Question Doth not their excellency which is in them go away doth import that it is a clear case and yet withal that many do so walk as if they did not believe nor heed it and therefore must be posed if they do not believe and consider it 4. That they die without wisdom ver 21. or they die and there is no wisdom This may be true generally of all men that though some have profited much better in their life then others yet all may confess that they die before they be so wise as to understand as they ought what it is to live well or to emprove the examples of mortality which they have seen in their time It may also be understood only of the wicked who die without the knowledge of God and without that wisdom which floweth from right numbering of their days Psal 49.20 90.12 But it is more safe to understand it generally in this sense That they die without having any skill or wisdom how to avoid death And it teacheth however wicked men play many pranks with their wit in their lives and do nimbly extricate themselves imminent hazards though a prudent man foreseeing the storm may be able to avoid it Prov. 22.3 27.12 Yet death will triumph over all their skill and parts their wit cannot deliver them from death nor afford them any way to escape it Thus they die even without wisdom See 2 Sam. 3.33 Eccl. 2.16 CHAP. V. In this Chapter Eliphaz yet continueth his Discourse to Job consisting as was marked on Chap. 4. of a reprehension wherein he labours to convince Job of wickedness or hypocrisie and of some Exhortations to amend his life and turn to God considering the hand of
have an end As for the Inference that Job would draw from this Proposition That because mans life hath a prefixed period therefore he might peremptorily desire to attain this end of his toil It is faulty in divers respects the observing whereof may give light in the rest of his Discourse And 1. The condition of our life before God is not in all respects like the condition of a Souldier or hireling For our task and service is just debt as theirs is not always it is not needed by God as men need the assistance of Souldiers and Servants we have no skill of our selves to do our work as they have nor do we know our term-day as they do and therefore cannot prescribe it Unless we take him up to be God and our selves but creatures we will never steer a steady course especially under trouble 2. It is ill reasoning to say that because God hath determined our time therefore we should fix the end of it when we will For God hath kept up that from us that we may be ready either to die or honour him in the World as he shall please to order 3. Because there is an end of our toil it is ill argued that when toil cometh we should seek presently to be at the end of it Whereas we should rather bear it couragiously remembering the end of the Lord and that it will not be perpetual Jam. 5.11 4. It was unseasonable for Job to wish so eagerly for the end of his warfare and toil when such a dark cloud was betwixt God and him Saints have acknowledged â—t a mercy that death was kept off in such a condition Lam. 3.22 Psal 27 13. But this was an evidence of his great distress and of his distemper of mind which corrupted his sense and discerning Vers 2. As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work 3 So am I made to possess months of vanity and wearisome nights are appointed me 4. When I lie down I say When shall I arise and the night be gone and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day The second Argument which presseth the former and cleareth it is taken from that common liberty allowed to all creatures in their strait to press and long for a possible and lawful out-gate The sum of it is as if Job had said If hirelings being weary do long after refreshment and the end of their task when they shall receive their wages So may I under my troubles long after death which is the appointed end of my toil and that so much tâ— rather as my task is sorer then any of theirs In this Argument Consider First The Proposition of the Argument in a comparison ver 2. That as a wearied servant oâ— hireling longeth after some cool shadow or the shadow of the night wherein he may rest and longeth â—oâ— the time wherein he may receive his wages For to work as it is in the Original is taken not â—o much oâ— the end of work as for the reward of it Psal 10â— 20. Jer. 22.13 So mighâ— he long for death whâ—â—e he expected to find the only true eâ—se of his grievances and reward of his integrity In this reasoning beside the former mistakes we may further add 1. That bâ—â—ng an hireling to so great and so good a Master and so uncertain of the length of his day he ought so to long for the close oâ— it as yet he prescribed not to God 2. It was his fault to look on death as the only out-gate and shadow from this â—oil â—â—â—peâ—â—ing that sufficient grace and proofs of love in the midst of trouble might have relâ—â—sheâ— him 3. It was also his fault to eye so much his own ease and the reward of his integrity and that he 〈…〉 rather condescend to what might honour God and edifie others albeit it were greivous to himself as was Paul's practice Phil. 1.22 25. Every one of those mistakes and faults may afford us Instruction But further these Lessons may be observâ—d in it 1. It pleaseth God to let some of Adam's posterity endure much toil in earning their bread that they may be sensible of sin and that others may learn thankfulness who have an easier lot though they be in the same guilt and of the same lump For so is held out in the instance of those wearied servants and hirelings Yea it is to be marked that though many are not put to those hard pinches yet even the greatest of men want not their own toil 2. It is ordinary for men not to find rest in their present condition but they are driven still to look after somewhat they want before them For so are servants and hirelings put to desire and look for somewhat they want And this holds not only true of men in great misery but generally of all men while they are within time Contentment with every estate is a choice lesson Phil. 4.11 Heb. 13.5 and would be more easily attained if men remembered they are within time where complete satisfaction is not to be expected and if they were studying to get the right use of every lot as it cometh 3. The many tossings and vexations wherewith the godly are essayed within time may allow them to look toward death with submission to the will of God as a sweet issue and to make it welcom when it cometh For this comparison imports that there is a lawful desire of death as the servant desires the shadow See 2 Cor. 5.4 Rom 8.23 A spiritual mind finds many calls thither though with submission and therefore do Saints find so many worms in their goâ—â—ds Only it should be our care that a desire to be freed from sin and a body of death do chiefly prevail with us to look to that issue 4. Death will never be a shadow to a man from his trouble who hath not so walked as he may expect a reward of his integrity then also For so much also doth the similitude import As the hireling looks both for the shadow and reward of his work so they whoÌ„ look comfortably on death must see both these in it And therefore a desperate desire of death in wicked men is abominable Secondly we have to consider the amplification and further pressing of this Argument from his particular case ver 3 4. Where in stead of inferring from that Proposition ver 2. that he might long for death as servants do for the shadow or more earnestly long for that issue then they do for their ease He only sheweth that he had greater cause so to long then they had being more hardly put to it And to prove this he holds out the dissimilitude betwixt his case and an hirelings in two 1. The hirelings task is ordinarily for a day but this was much longer even whole Moneths of vanity or eminently vain for any fruit of ease or comfort otherwise in respect of perfection all
conditions of life are vanity Gal. 1.2 Psal 39.5 and he was made to possess them as his patrimony and right as if no other portion were due to him 2. The hireling though he work sore in the day yet he gets the nights rest Gal. 1.12 But he is troubled by night as well as by day For after he hath toiled all day long which is here supposed his nights were made so wearisome by Gods appointment that when he lay down he longed for day-light that he might arise to see if that would bring him ease and so was made to measure out the evening as it is in the Original or to reckon how long it was to day-light Yea he was full of tossings to and fro or perpetually tossed inwardly in his mind and outwardly in his body through pain and want of rest and that not for a part of the night only but throughout the whole night even to the dawning of the day so that he got not any sound sleep See ver 14 15. Upon all which this inference is to be repeated that he might lawfully wish for ease in death Which though it was his failing and mistake as is before marked especially having to do with God to whom all ought to stoop and to be content if they get strength to bear what he layeth on and it may be justly suspected that his giving way to distemper of spirit added not a little to his disquietness yet his condition may afford us these Instructions 1. The Lord can when he will make our life which we think so sweet a very great burden to us and our time which ordinarily slips away insensibly very wearisome and tedious For Job is weary of his life and his Months and Nights are wearisome Creature-comforts of Bed and Board will not ease us when God hath us to try which should make us thankful when it is otherwise and teach us not to doat on time or our life For it is of God that all our outward mercies prove not crosses 2. The Lord is more absolute and soveraign over his Creatures to exercise afflict and continue troubles then any man is over his servant and hireling For here he made Job's lot more sad then the condition of any hireling is made by man He is astricted to no rule in those things but his own will to which we ought to submit 3. The coming on or continuance of trouble is not a matter at mans arbitrement God can make us to possess them and appoint them to us whether we will or not See Psal 105.17 18 19 20. Jer. 47.6 7. Which may lead us to eye God much when troubles stick on and to look to him alone for ease of them who can deliver without the consent of enemies as well as afflict us whether we consent or not See Job 34.29 Isa 49.24 25 26. 4. Albeit all men in their best outward estate are vanity Psal 39.5 Yet the Lord is pleased sometime to make some men exemplary instances of that truth of the vanity of all men and conditions For so was it with Job his months were months of vanity being empty of all comfort not having any such issue as he waited for and so disappointed his expectation and he reaping no benefit by all his toil as Psal 78.33 All which vanity as it may be read in other conditions that look not so terrible like as Job's did so they who are under such a lot may read this in it that because they see not the vanity and emptiness of every condition therefore it is made so legible to them 5 Singular troubles do very deeply affect men because they are singular For Job regrets that he was tossed beyond all others Yet Saints may read this in it also that they will be singularly regarded by God under their singular tryals 6. Gods Providence is so condescending that the trouble or quiet of every night is appointed by him For so Job holds forth Wearisom nights are appointed to me when I lie down I say When shall I arise c Where he understands God to be this appointer though he do not expresly name him till afterward that his heat grow more warm It is an evidence of our carnal mindedness when we see little of God in ordinary Providences Psal 139. were it but in a nights sleep And our negligence in this brings us to know by the want thereof how much we enjoy when we do but little observe or acknowledge it 7. As trouble makes any time promise more then the present So changes of that kind will not change our condition till God come For though Job longed for the day being full of tossings to and fro yet the day-light did not ease him See Deut. 28.67 It were our wisdom to make the best of our present lot be it never so hard for changes till we be fit for an issue will but add to our affliction Vers 5. My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust my skin is broken and become lothsome 6. My days are swifter then a weavers shuttle and are spent without hope The third Argument wherein he yet insists to give an account of his trouble doth more distinctly tend to conclude the lawfulness of his desire of death For whereas it might be objected against his former reasoning That his trouble and disquiet might indeed warrant him to seek some ease but not to press so peremptorily for death He answereth That his trouble being irrecoverable left him no door of hope open but in death and therefore he behoved to press after that only The Argument runs thus as if Job had pleaded I may lawfully desire that warrantable issue which I see in the Providence of God approaching toward me and which hath already irrecoverably seised on me But I see death thus approaching and it hath already taken hold on me Therefore I may desire it Now that death is thus approaching he proves two wayes First From the present condition of his body v. 5. being in his graves-cloaths many worms breeding in his sores his body being covered with scabby clods of dust and ulcerous matter running from his sores and his skin being broken as the earth is in a drought in a loathsome manner From all which it is to be inferred that he could expect nothing but death Here we may Learn 1. Health and soundness of body is a great mercy and doth ease us of much vexation and an heavy burden As here appeareth from Job's resenting the want of it 2. Let men make never so much of their bodies yet they carry a mass of putrefaction and corruption about with them and they will come at length to be loathsom spectacles For here Job's body being touched by God his flesh is cloathed with worms and clods of dust c. 3. Death and life are in the power of the Lord and he can when he pleaseth bring down to the grave and bring up again 1 Sam. 2.6 For so much doth
Job's mistake in his reasoning teach us It was his mistake to conclude that he would shortly die were the probabilities never so pregnant since God by his soveraign Providence might interpose as afterward he did Secondly He proves it from a general Proposition of his case ver 6. which may relate especially to the days of his former prosperity not secluding the days of his whole life which were for most part spent in prosperity which were more swiftly passed away then the Weavers shuttle crosseth the breadth of the Web and were spent without hope of recovery And therefore there was nothing for him but death and the fair encouragements they held out to invite him to repentance were to no purpose And so however he complained that days of trouble were long ver 3 4. yet here he complains that his days of prosperity were soon over From this regret we may Learn 1. As the days of our life are short and being over are irrecoverable so men are ready out of partiality and self-love to think that good days end too soon and ill-days though indeed short of them last too long As Job here regrets the speedy spending of his former days while he looks on a short while of trouble as intolerably long 2. Our days of greatest prosperity or our longest life in the world will when it is over seem but short and nothing as here Job reckons See Isa 38.12 Psal 90.9 Which may discover the emptiness of time and of the enjoyments thereof however we delude our selves therewith 3. As hope is a man's last refuge in trouble as here Job when his days are spent looks next if any hope remain So sense will soon lose hopes when there is no cause why it should do so For so doth Job's sense conclude here that his days were spent without hope whereas there was hope in his end And here men ought to guard that they become not so effeminate and delicate through prosperity as a blast of trouble will faint their spirits and ruine their hopes Vers 7. O remember that my life is wind mine eye shall no more see good 8. The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more thine eyes are upon me and I am not 9. As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more 10. He shall return no more to his house neither shall his place know him any more The second part of the Chapter may be taken up as an Exhortation to his Friends and particularly to Eliphaz who spake last in name of all the rest for the word is in the singular â—â—mber That considering his case that it was irrecoverable ver 7 8 and he might see it was so ver 8. and that he was shortly to be cut off from all the comforts of time ver 9 10 they would deal more tenderly with him and not crush him or drive him from his confidence in God or feed him with false hopes upon condition of his repentance which he never expected to see But considering that the following complainâ— is directed to God we may rather take this also as a desire directed to God wherein he pleads for pity in regard of his sad case and apprehending present death in its ugly shape and reflecting upon God's dealing with him he is forced to cry unto God that he would pity him and moderate the extremity of his afflictions as David also pleads Psal 39.13 In it we may consider First His case which he layeth out before God in great variety of expressions 1. That his life is wind v. 7 His former prosperity being passed away like a puffe of wind and his life now hanging by a thread of breath ready to pass away and never to return See Psal 78.39 Jam 4.14 2. That his eye shall see no more good ver 7. and the eye of him that hath seen him shall see him no more ver 8. That is He should never enjoy his former prosperity nor others see him repossessed of it or being dead he should be deprived of all worldly comforts and of any opportunity of conversing with his former acquaintance 3. That Gods eye being upon him he is not v. 8. That is being once dead if God should relent and desire to see him and do him good he should not find him of which ver 21. or rather That God thus fastening his eye upon him in anger would look him to nothing 4. He illustrates the state of the dead wherein he expected shortly to share by a similitude ver 9 10. That as a cloud being spent with pouring out of rain evanisheth and doth not return again to wit the same cloud in number otherwise clouds the same in kind do return Eccl. 12.2 so man being once spent by trouble and sent to the grave can no more return or have to do with his house and station then if they had never known one another In all which Discourse we would not understand Job as if he were denying the Resurrection of the body or the good things of heaven after death For in those things he is very clear Chap. 19.25 26 27. But he is only asserting that in ordinary there is no returning after death to this life to enjoy the good things of time as Isa 38.11 Secondly We are to consider his sute in reference to this his case which is comprehended in one earnest desire that God in afflicting him would remember as it is ver 7. this his frailty and how soon he would be shaken out of time By Gods remembring which is spoken of him after the manner of men we are to understand his pondering and weighing of his condition and his strength to bear it as Psal 78.39 and his giving proof of his affection by helping pitying and relenting toward him as he found his need require as the desires of afflicted Saints are elsewhere summarily comprehended in this one word Psal 74.2 From this whole purpose thus explained we may Learn 1. The true means of getting ease in troubles and grievances is neither our reasoning with men or with our selves but our laying out of our case before God As is Job's practice here Without this our counsels in our own hearts will not diminish our sorrow Psal 13.2 See also Gen. 25.22 2. Trouble when sanctified contributes not a little to make common truths be well studied and sensibly pondered For so doth Job in his trouble speak so sensibly of the frailty of his life and his estate in death Whereas want of exercise makes nauseating and unfruitful hearers even of the most precious truths 3. The things of time are indeed good things as Job here call's them See also Luk. 16.25 They supply many of mans defects and prevent many of his anxieties They are evidences of the goodness of God Matth. 5.44 45. especially to those who are themselves pure and to whom the use of those things is sanctified by the Word and
premitted these Generals we may from this verse in particular safely gather those sound Instructions 1. Man is but a frail putrified creature and will appear to be so if God begin to deal with him For so are we here taught Mans life hangs but upon a thread of breath going in and out at his nostrils And albeit man draw his breath easily in ordinary yet when God contends with him by affliction and pain his breath will be so corrupt as he cannot draw it without difficulty Yea God can make it favour of his inward putrefaction and proclaim what a rotten piece this beautiful structure of Man is and that he carrieth his death about with him and can soon be made loathsome company to his dearest friends This 1. Teacheth man to be out of conceit with himself his constitution and life Isai 2.22 2. It teacheth him that whatever God please to do for his tryal he should beware by his conceit or bitterness to provoke God to contend and give him a proof what he is See Psal 9 22. 39.11 Isai 45.9 3. It teacheth him that when God doth contend he should be thereby well instructed in the lesson of Humility and knowledg of his own frailty which is the thing his dispensations inculcate Doct. 2. Affliction and debility of body should cause men think on death and the grave and make ready for them For from this that his breath is corrupt he concludes that his days are extinct and the graves for him as it is in the Original that is he is ready or near to be buried and thinks upon it as the only issue of his trouble It is true Job mistook here and his excess cannot be justified as was said before Yet those are found Truths in this case 1. Mortality is a study wherein men ought to be more frequent as being born to die and dying daily 2. Though other tryals may surprize men yet they should beware of being surprized with death and the grave seeing they are known to be unavoidable and the time of their coming is uncertain 3. Though men ought not peremptorily to determine what will be the particular event of every affliction that befals them yet every affliction and debility either when they are under it or got out of it should be looked upon as Godâ— giving them the Alarm and putting them in mind to consider how they will look upon death For however they escape at one time yet that is a Summons which will be renewed 4. At every such Alarm it is the duty of all and will be the endevour of sincere Saints to meet and welcome Death and the Grave and to be as ready for those as they are for them as here Job was Doct. 3. Whatever be the external splendour of men yet it will all be extinguished at death like a bright Candle ending in a snuffe For so the metaphor here doth import My days are extinct Mans life is in a daily decay like a Candle burning to a snuffe And when death comes the vigour and comely complexion of the body doth all evanish His Members Organs Arteries Sinews c. are then swallowed up in silence and obscurity like a Watch when the string is broken and Man savours of putrefaction and becomes dust which is his original And not only so but all his pomp and glory ceaseth Psal 49.17 18. and his thoughts perish Psal 146.4 This doth exceedingly condemn these who content and please themselves in their well adorned bodies their feathers of honour and rides of amibitious thoughts but do not study to have somewhat which will be proof against death Doct. 4. It doth point out yet further the vanity of man that all his Patrimony when dead is a Grave though some get not so much Graves for me saith he This is his Earth Psal 146.4 whom many times the Earth it self cannot satisfie and contain This we should look upon as a sensible demonstration of the vanity of men who hunt after things which they must certainly leave at last although as it fares not with many these things should not forsake them all their lives and who seek to bear so much bulk and are so troublesome upon earth when yet a little Earth will contain them and render them tame enough at last Doct. 5. He names Graves in the plural number not only because dead men have as it were Grave above Grave their Winding-sheet Coffin if they were in use then and the Grave it self But further 1. As Jephthah is said to have been buried in the Cities of Gilead as it is in the Original â— Judg. 12.7 because he was buried in some one or other of them So this may import some one Grave or other And Job speaks so as not caring which or where it were so it proved a Grave For albeit some be ambitious to make themselves famous by their very Monuments and decency in burials and burial-places according to mens quality ought not to be condemned Yet that is not a thing to be much regarded If men get a Grave to hide their bodies from violence and take them out of sight it is little matter what a grave it be for state or magnificence The stately Monuments of many do only serve to continue the memory of their naughtiness who did not live holily nor have left savoury Monuments of their Piety and Charity as Doreas did Acts 9.39 And on the other hand the dust of the godly is respected by God and their memory smells well in the nostrils of Saints though they got but course burial and it may be only the ashes of a fire or the belly of a wild Beast 2. It may point out that his afflictions and pressures were so great and many that every place presented him with Death and a Grave Thus was Paul in deaths often 2 Cor. 11.23 For albeit there be but one way of entering into this world yet there are many ways of dying and going out of it So that men should look upon their life as daily surrounded with Deaths and Graves Doct. 6. The godly under their sad exercises may be much mistaken about the issue of their tryals For albeit all those things formerly marked be good Exercises and sound Truths and this will be the issue of mans life at last Yet for present Job notwithstanding all his weakness was supported and preserved till he got a more sweet issue then he expected Hence 1. When we have looked on our conditions at the worst and we are not to deceive our selves by undervaluing of them we ought yet as is said before to leave a latitude to what God can bring out of them 2. We ought to believe that God not only can but usually doth disappoint the fears and expectations of his own Children under trouble and makes them recal their hasty conclusions Psal 31.22 So that their thoughts are not the Rule whereby he walks 3. We are to believe that it is possible and usual for God
that it should dayly represent it self to him ready at his side in its ghastly colours For though he did indeed apprehend approaching death yet it was with so much confidence and courage that he did familiarly look upon the worms and corruption as his nearest Relations Chap. 17.14 Which sheweth how little others may be acquainted with the courage God may afford to his own people in deadly difficulties For Bildad could not discern what Job found in this tryal 2. He did mistake also in looking upon this part of Job's affliction as a proof his wickedness For hunger sickness and apprehended death have been and may be the lot of Saints As is not only to be seen in Job here but in David Psal 6.2 30.9 in Paul 2 Cor. 1.8 9. 11.27 and diverse others Hereby the Lord doth mortifie his people and fit them for Eternity and other tryals that may be before them Also by these he fits them for receiving more proofs of his love in strengthening them to bear want providing supplies for them fitting them that they shall not abuse mercies Phil. 4.11 12. and in causing them meet with many blessed disappointments of their fears But passing his Reflections the General Doctrine as it is understood of the wicked according to the tenor of the Law-sentence may teach 1. To flee or seek to shift the terrours of God will be to no purpose For he who is driven to his feet v. 11. is here supposed to be taken and in Prison See Am. 9.2 3 4. They flee only best from Gods judgments who flee into his own bosom and who-so neglect this they do but multiply their own sorrows Isa 24.17 18. 2. Albeit wicked men may have much strength not only bodily strength but strength of spirit beside the strength of their corruptions and humours when they engage in troubles So that not only their pride and height of spirit doth ripen them for the snare which doth surprize them when in the pride of their heart they puffe at trouble But it contributes to make their trouble more grievous and bitter that it hath strength of spirit and strong corruptions to work upon whereas it would be easie to subdued men Yet created strength can neither preserve from trouble nor subsist under it but the godly must renounce it and the wicked will succumb because they do not renounce it For his strength shall be hunger-bitten 3. Albeit even the godly when they are under one trouble should be looking for another and they should not limit God who if he please may send destruction to cut them off the world for such limitations are the sting of our crosses and do provoke God to encrease our sorrows yet it may be terrible to the wicked that for all that is come upon them God hath not done with them but hath only given them an earnest of yet sadder things to come upon them For after his strength is hunger bitten destruction followeth upon that If once God begin to reckon with them they cannot expect bounds to be set to their tryal as the godly are warranted to pray Jer. 10 24. but they may fear it will grow till they be cast into the pit whereas the godly may know there will be an end Prov. 23.17 18. 4. God hath calamities in readiness whereby to cut off the wicked albeit he do not always or for a time execute them For here he lets the wicked see destruction ready at his side though for a time he be kept alive in Prison And this serves to refute their own presumptuous brags and the godlies fears who see not how they can be reached God who hath issues prepared for his people 1 Cor. 10.13 hath also judgments ready for the wicked Deut. 32.34 35. 5. How presumptuous soever the wicked be before trouble come upon them or under lesser troubles Yet when trouble cometh to an height they run as far upon the other extremity of discouragement and dispair For now this arrested wicked man apprehends sadly of his condition as if destruction were ready at his side to cut him off every moment And this is the just fruit of their presumption Hearts broken with pleasure and sinful delights wherein men are imperious and presumptuous Ezek. 16.30 will make weak hearts when trouble comes to an extremity Ezek 22.14 6. Albeit even the godly ought to foresee troubles and to look out to what may probably come upon them that they be not surprized Yet it is a plague upon the wicked that they die often in their apprehensions and fears before they die really and it is a snare to all who are obnoxious to it to be anxiously tortured about future events As here the wicked man hath destruction standing ready at his side to torture him before he be actually destroyed See Matth. 6.34 And therefore when the godly are vexed with apprehensions of future events they should reckon that God can disappoint them if he will 2 Cor. 1.8.9 10. and that if they come pass and they renounce their own strength God will enable and teach them how to beat them when they are put to it Vers 13. It shall devour the strength of his skin even the first born of death shall devour his strength In the third Branch of this Similitude in this and the following verse somewhat in Job's case is reflected upon as resembling the execution and violent death of this Malefactour In this verse Job's present dead-like condition and his apprehending to be cut off in this extremity Chap. 17.13 14. are reflected on as resembling this Malefactour who being wasted in Prison and apprehending destruction v. 12. at last It or that destruction which he apprehended shall devour the strength of his skin or his body and flesh and bones which are as the word is in the Original as bars to uphold his skin And this death which devours his strength shall not be ordinary but the first born of death that is a singularly violent death which carries away the principality and preeminence from other kinds of death as the first man did from the rest of his brethren and so to say a most deadly death as the first born of the poor significe them who are most poor Isa 14.30 Here albeit both Job and Bildad did mistake in expecting that a violent and odd way of death should be the issue of this trouble and Bildad did fâ—ther err in judging that such a death should be the reward of Job's wickedness seeing godly Josiah Jonathan and others have died a violent death and all things of that kind come alike to all Eccl. 9.2 Yet this Doctrine understood of the wicked may teach 1. It is a plague upon the wicked that their fears prove real at least they may do so for any security they have against them whereas the godly meet with many blessed disappointments Isai 51.12 13 2 Cor. 4.8 9. For after that destruction hath been ready at his side v. 12. it
to be transmitted to all Posterity and were all written to be presented before their Judge as Job's desire doth import 5. Ordinarily after ages or others less concerned will judge better in Controversies then those who are imbarqued in them and transported with heats of debate Therefore Job would have all this written as supposing that others in other parts of the world or who were to come after would judge better of his defences then his Friends did Truth will at last triumph and will make the graves of its maintainers smell well though they should not only live but be buried with ignominy And therefore in times of Debate and Controversie men should guard lest their passions and interests drive them to maintain a cause whereof they may repent afterward or which may render their memory unsavoury when they are gone 6. The exercises of Saints and the fruits of their integrity under trouble are worthy monuments and such as it were a pity they should be lost For so much also is implyed in Job's desire to have his exercise kept upon record for ever The Scriptures insist rather upon these than upon the valorous acts of martial men in the world Saints should improve those experiences of the Saints before them as rich treasures and when themselves are essayed with such exercises and conflicts they should look upon them as tending to their own and others great advantages 7. God may strangely and wonderfully fulfil the desires of his people For Job could only wish and desire that his words were written and graven but now we find they are written in Scripture and better kept upon Record than if they had been graven upon a Rock This may assure Saints that their lawful desires will not be always frustrated however they may look upon them as hopeless Vers 25. For I know that my redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth In this and the two following Verses we have the second and more particular Evidence of Job's Integrity taken from his saving knowledge of and faith in a Redeemer and his expectation of a blessed Resurrection through him To understand all this as some do only of his hope of a temporal restitution of the health of his body and outward prosperity is not only to wrest the clear words but to make Job contradict his own Assertion that he is certainly expecting death Chap. 17.14 15 16. which is here also supposed by him in this encouragement v. 26 27. In this verse he asserts that he was not ignorant nor wicked as Bildad had insinuated Chap. 18.21 But had sound knowledge of a Redeemer and was assured of an interest in him He knows there is a Redeemer who is God and was to become Man that he might be a kinsman as the word signifieth having right to Redeem his people that he liveth eternally and that having conquered all his Enemies he would stand at last upon the Earth as Judge of the world Here are precious Truths which it were well if they were as well studied and improved now in the clear Sunshine of the Gospel as they were in those days by him And that we may make some use of the words Observe 1. The Connexion of this with the former Evidence intimated by the particle for or and may teach 1. Men who boast of their integrity before men had need to be sure of the grounds upon which they go and that they will hold before God For Job confirms the former evidence of his integrity wherein he desires his cause were made known to all ages by this other other evidence that he is sure his Redeemer liveth It is easie to delude men but God will not be mocked and it is full of danger to be deluded as to his approbation 2. Men who are sure of an Interest in Christ and have a sure hope of a sentence of Absolution from him in the last day need not fear any partial Judge on earth nor be troubled with misconstructions and prejudices from men For Job bottoms his desire and confidence as to men on this For I know my Redeemer liveth Obs 2. While Job bottoms the testimony of his Integrity and good Conscience upon his sure Interest in a Redeemer and his knowledge thereof I know my Redeemer c. It teacheth 1. Man is faln into a condition of sin and misery and it was known by the godly of old that it was so For then there was word of a Redeemer of men which presupposeth their bondage 2. There is a Redeemer appointed and but only one to deliver man from this bondage by whom God doth recover and set free his own Elect who had sold and alienated themselves as of old the Jews did sell and mortgage their Inheritances This great truth wherein the Wisdom and Mercy of God shine to admiration was known also by Job long before the days of the Gospel who speaks of the Redeemer here or of him who by vertue of some Title had right to redeem the people of God as the Name in the Original doth signifie one that by being a Kinsman hath right to redeem and therefore it is given afterward to the Kinsmen of the impoverished Jews who had right to redeem their Lands and Houses 3. It is a Truth of eternal Verity that none of Adam's faln Posterity can prove their own integrity before God but in a Redeemer So that only that man is righteous and sincere before God who being humbled under the sense of his misery and bondage doth flee to a Redeemer for pardon and reconciliation and for grace to enable him to walk uprightly For thus doth Job prove his integrity and cleareth in what sense he maintains his own righteousness in this debate by shewing that he laid claim to a Redeemer 4. Albeit when a man is convinced of his own sinfulness his fleeing unto and recumbency upon Christ upon all hazards be sufficient to clear his good condition Yet the full comfort of it depends upon a particular assurance of his interest which is attainable and should be studied after For Job here attains to call him My Redeemer Obs 3. Job here professeth not only an interest in this Redeemer but his knowledge of him what he is and instanceth it in several particulars Which teacheth That to know our Redeemer well in his Godhead his humanity and likeness to us in all things except sin his offices his successes against his and out Enemies c. is a special mean to clear our interest in him by loosing all doubts about it and to draw out the comforts that flow from this interest See Psal 9.10 Hos 11.8 9. 2 Tim 1.12 Obs 4. The Name Redeemer in the Original signifieth as hath been hinted a Kinsman or one who upon a Title of Kindred hath a right to redeem his Brother or Friend or any thing that pertained to him Hence it is the Name frequently given to such a one in the Judicial Laws
Cor. 15.25 26. and shall bring all his Enemies who would not suffer him to reign over them and slay them before him Luke 19.27 Believers need not fear the long continuance of Enemies nor that one Enemy riseth up after another For Christ will out-live and triumph over them all 3. When all those Enemies are destroyed then time will have an end and the General Judgment will come For when he thus stands last then it will be the latter day or the last of time 1 Cor. 15.24 25 26. This was a truth known and believed in the very infancy of the Church as appears from Enoch's Prophesie recorded Jude v. 14 15. 4. The Redeemer of Sinners will be their Judge at the last day For He shall stand over the Earth which as it will be terrible to the wicked who shall then be forced to see him whom they still declined to own So it may comfort all those who have made their peace with him and with God through him in time 5. Our Redeemer will testifie his love to his People by coming to Earth again to fetch them as he came at first to redeem them For he shall in that day stand again upon or over the Earth for this end See John 14.2 3. Vers 26. And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God In this verse Job prosecutes that encouragement of his Redeemers living and standing upon the Earth professing his faith of a blessed Resurrection in that day to enjoy the presence of God And that notwithstanding that after his skin now broken with sores is pierced the worms also destroy his body Doct. 1. As the bodies of the dearest Children of God may be deformed in their lives so they have no exemption from death notwithstanding their integrity but they must did as well as others that they may enter into their rest For Job looks to be destroyed or cut off by death 2. Believers being dead they have no priviledge in their graves but the worms will feed upon and destroy their bodies as well as others For Job supposeth that after my skin the worms will destroy this body In the Original it is only this not this body but the sense is the same For he thus designs his body as pointing at it with his finger when he spake and intimating that it was not worthy to be called a body being so spent Withal worms who are said shall destroy his body are not expressed in the Original but only they shall destroy but the sense is still the same For the worms are they who use to pierce dead mens skins and then destroy their flesh See Psal 49.14 Both these points should teach the godly that since they are not exempted in those cases they should not plead exemption in lesser things 3. Though mens bodies be thus confirmed in the grave yet they will be raised up again and will be animated with their souls to exerce their Functions For here he believes that notwithstanding this havock to be made of his body yet in his flesh he shall see God The faith of this Article may assure us of the power of God to do what he will Acts 26.8 Rom. 4 17. and of his unchangeable love to his people who seeks after their dust after it hath been so long buried in oblivion Matth. 22.31 32. 4. It is the great happiness of Believers that after death they see and enjoy God and that not darkly and in a glass but face to face For he comforts himself with this that after death he shall see God See 1 Cor. 13.12 Psal 16.11 5. It completes the happiness of Believers that not only their souls but the whole man shall enjoy this sight of God For this is Job's comfort in my flesh I shall see God at and after the Resurrection Not that the soul sleeps or is suspended this sight till then See 2 Cor. 5.6 8. Phil. 1.23 Luke 23.43 with 2 Cor. 12.2 4. but that the happiness of Believers will be completed when the whole person which fought the good fight of faith shall get the Crown See Psal 17.15 1 Thess 4 16 17. 6. The hope of a blessed Resurrection should sweeten all bitterness by the way and it is the mark of a godly man to eye it much for that end As Job doth here comfort himself in that over all his sorrows 7. Faith believing a Resurrection must look over many impediments and objections which to carnal sense seem insuperable as here Job looks over the destruction of his body in believing this Thus in every other case difficulties should but heighten faiths courage and quicken its diligence 8. The belief of Christs living and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth may assure the godly of a blessed Resurrection For having asserted the one v. 25. he subjoyns the other here as a necessary consequent following upon the former For if he live he will not only care for them when they are dead but will cause them live also Joh. 14.19 and his Resurrection is a sure pledge that they also shall be raised again Eph. 2.5 6. Rom. 8.11 Vers 27. Whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed within me In this verse Job yet insists upon this Article of the Resurrection and sheweth his strong faith about it Asserting 1. That he shall see God for himself that is not only he himself and not another shall see him but he shall see him for his own profit and advantage 2. That it shall not be another body but the same wherein he shall see God 3. That all this shall be though his very reins and what is most inward in him were consumed as they were already consumed in part Some read this last part of the verse without Though which is not in the Original as an Assertion that his reins were consumed in him with earnest desire and longing after that day And so it is a special proof of his integrity and honesty But I shall not insist upon that reading seeing the Original language many times wants such Particles which are sufficiently implied in the sense in that language Doct. 1. There is need of many acts of faith about the Resurrection that we may make sure that we believe it and may draw out the rich comforts of it Therefore doth Job so much insist upon that subject 2. Believers should be frequent in studying their own happiness which they shall enjoy at the Resurrection in the sight and vision of God Therefore also doth Job insist on this in particular I shall see and behold him 3. This sight of God cannot but be comfortable to the godly as being for their behoof and advantage their interest in him being then made fully clear and their joy consummate in his favour and presence whereas the wicked shall see him but as the God of others and to their own
eternal confusion For saith he I shall see him for my self or for my behoof 4. Believers shall see God in the same individual bodies they have here For mine eyes shall behold him and not another or a stranger The qualities of the body will then be different and glorious above what now they are 1 Cor. 15.42 43 44. yet the substance will be the same And as the dayly decays and reparation of our bodies in this life do not make them cease to be the same bodies which we bring into the world with us So neither will the changes they undergo by death make them other bodies when they are raised again 5. Faith must look over many impediments to believe this wonderful restauration and take Gods Word for all For so doth he look over the consuming of his reins within him 6. Under present wasting of our bodies and the future consumption thereof by death and in the grave Saints should comfort themselves in the hope of a blessed Resurrection and that Christ will gather their dust again and raise it up in glory For so Job triumphs both over his present decay and over death when it shall come and consume his reins within him See 2 Cor. 5.1 Vers 28. But ye should say Why persecute we him seeing the root of the matter is found in me In this verse is contained the Conclusion of Job's Third Argument the same in substance with that Conclusion v. 22. that considering what he hath said for himself they should not thus persecute him Only further 1. He subjoyns a sum of what he hath argued concerning his integrity as a ground of the challenge That the root of the matter is found in him or he was solidly rooted in true grace and notwithstanding any frailties he had the substance of Religion and the Word also as the word rendered matter signifies also the Word whereby it was begotten and cherished were fixed and rooted in his heart And he was not an hypocrite who had only some external shews And therefore they should not thus persecute and reproach him and add to his sorrows 2 He amplifieth the challenge That not only they should not persecute him but should condemn such a practice themselves and so either prevent it or not need his reproof if they did it For it was a fault to be so cruel and a double fault that they did not censure themselves most severely for it Doct. 1. Religion and Piety is the great matter and concernment of men about which they should be busied above all things Therefore here it is called the matter or thing by way of excellency See Mark 8.36 Luke 10.41 42. 2. It is not enough men have fair flowers of Profession unless Religion be well rooted in their hearts For Job claims to a root of the matter in opposition to shews only That men may attain to this they should be careful that the Word take deep root in their hearts and so it may be rendered the root of the Word or a root fixed in them by the Word Psal 119.11 And that by this Word faith closing with a Mediatour be wrought in them for that was Job's root here v. 25 26 27. See Col. 2.6 7. and that they be sincere having the heart stored with solid and sound Principles not as the temporaries who want a root Matth. 13 20 21. 3. It is not enough that men pretend they are thus rooted in Piety unless it be really so and unless it be able to abide a tryal For this root of the matter must be sound after the most serious search See 2 Cor. 10.18 4. Where this root of Piety is it will remain and afford a testimony even where there are many failings For Job asserts and comforts himself in this root of the matter even when he confesseth he was not sinless yea and had more failings than he descerned See 1 John 3.9 This truth ought not to be abused to foster presumption or to embolden decliners while they are turning away and not returning yet it may comfort Saints who are humbled with their dayly failings that such weaknesses do not alter the state of their persons and it may encourage backsliders in their returning that a seed in them through Gods blessing may soon revive again 5. It is great cruelty and injustice to persecute an afflicted man who is solidly pious and rooted as to the state of his person and right in his cause For he argues that they should not persecute him who had the root of the matter in him Here Consider 1. It is dangerous to be found in opposition to what is right or to a good man in his right cause Whatever mens interest may seem to plead which ordinarily is more minded then what is right or wrong yet they should be able to do nothing against Truth 2 Cor. 13.8 For God is a party against the opposers of Truth and Truth and its Friends will be found too hard for any Creatures 2. As it is a sin and unbeseeming Saints to be cruel to any seeing the sense of mercy to themselves should make them merciful to others Matth. 18.23 35. Tit. 3.2 3 4. So in Particular It is an heinous sin not only to be against godly men in what is right but even to be violent and bitter and persecute them And readily this followeth upon the former any opposition to Truth tends to persecuting of it if there be a tentation 3. That favourers of Truth are afflicted by God is the great disadvantage of those who oppose and persecute them For if we joyn the former Argument with this we will find that their fault was so much the greater that they persecuted a righteous man who was already afflicted Doct. 6. Albeit men ought not to spare any sin yet they may be cruel in persecuting men for real faults so long as the root of the matter is found in them For so much may be here gathered that though Job had failings yet since the root of the matter is found in him they should not thus persecute him This should not he abused to excuse men who it may be have this root in them when either they maintain a wrong cause or turn loose in their conversation yea no good that is in any should excuse any of their faults Yet when men are righteous both as to the state of their person and their cause as Job was his cause relating to the state or his person and they fail in the way and manner of maintaining their cause it must be great cruelty violently to persecute them especially when they are under the hand of God And though their miscarriages he real sins yet they should not be charged upon the state of their person as altering it and they should be meekly dealt with as Brethren in reproving them 2 Thess 3.14 15. 7. It is a sin and shame for men not only to fail in their duty but that they should need admonition to set about
pleasure in his house after him c. The meaning whereof is not that he needs not care how it fare with his family after him as many do too anxiously seeing himself is cut off in his own person nor yet that though he expects that his prosperity shall be continued in his family yet it cannot comfort him seeing himself is cut off For his Children being to be destroyed in his own time v. 19. he cannot expect the prosperity of his family when he is gone But the meaning is That though sometime he pleased himself with the expectation of the continuance of his house and family yet he shall be deprived of all that comfort when he and his posterity are cut off violently and before the time for then all his expectations shall be frustrated Whence Learn 1. It is a part of the wickeds folly that they feed themselves with vain hopes and imaginary comforts and pleasures in them as the wicked man here seeks to find pleasure in his house after him or in the apprehension of the continuance of his family See Luke 12.19 Which may put us to try what vain thoughts we may be feeding upon 2. One of wicked mens vain dreams is their hope of perpetuating their house and glory Psal 49.11 And that they feed before-hand upon an apprehension of the eternity thereof For he takes pleasure in his house after him what he presently enjoys will not serve his turn unless he antedate imagined contentments and pleasures to come 3. Such vain hopes of a long tract of prosperity to themselves and their posterity after them are oft-times blasted to the wicked before their own eyes And as God mercifully oft-times disappoints the fears of the godly so he walks contrary to the wickeds hopes For it cometh sometime to this in the wickeds own time What pleasure hath he in his house after him 4. If no less will bear down the wickeds vain hopes God can do it by a speedy cutting off of themselves and all the prosperity of their family and condition For this takes away his pleasure when the number of his months is cut off in the midst Albeit mans months and time be determined Chap. 14.5 yet the number thereof is said to be cut off in the midst when they die violently before the time they might have continued by the ordinary course of nature and before the ordinary term of mans life be expired Psal 90.10 and sooner than they are ready for death or expect it Psal 55.23 and before they be well setled in their prosperity 5. Mans life is so short and uncertain that they are most wise who reckon it by shortest periods As here it is reckoned by months and elsewhere by days Psal 90.12 6. It speaks great wrath and imbitters the wickeds sad lot that they expected the contrary and fed upon vain dreams which are disappointed For this speaks the wrath of the Almighty v. â—0 and renders his condition sad that when he was taking pleasure in his house after him the number of his months is cut off Vers 22. Shall any teach God knowledge seeing he judgeth those that are high From this to v. 27. Job speaks of Gods various dispensations toward wicked men conjunctly that he may silence the carpings of mans wit in these matters This Narration consists of three Branches In the first whereof in this verse he gives an account of his scope in this Discourse which is to demonstrate that none should presume to teach or set bounds to God in these things as his Friends by their doctrine tyed up God to one way of proceeding with wicked men Whereas God being the Supreme Judge of the highest he ought not to be controuled by any but may deal variously with the sons of men at his pleasure Whence Learn 1. In Gods guiding of the world and particularly in his dispensations towards wicked men much of his Knowledge and Wisdom do shine and they come not to pass at random or adventure For so is here imported that there is knowledge in these affairs or God makes his Wisdom manifest in them See Psal 92.5 6 7. 2. Most part of men do not see this Wisdom of God but because they cannot comprehend they do carp at it or would carve out a way of Providence of their own which they think most fit For here it is imported that some men would prescribe a way of their own as his Friends did in the debate betwixt him and them 3. To carp at what God doth or prescribe what God should do in his Providential dispensations is in effect to presume to teach God as if we were wiser than he For so is here imported that they by their Principles and by their censuring of his Doctrine wherein he gave a true account of the dispensations of Providence did presume to teach God knowledge 4. The sinfulness of this course of prescribing unto God is such as should make it to be entertained with indignation by all who fear God and be looked on as abasing God and dishonourable to him who guides all things better than man can prescribe For so much doth this question import Shall any teach God knowledge 5. God is nor only Infinite in Power above the highest but in authority also being a Judge who can call them to an account when he pleaseth For he judgeth those that are high whether faln Angels Jude v. 6. or great men Eccl. 5.8 See Rev. 6.15 16. 6. The absolute Soveraignty of God manifested in his judging even of the highest may discover the folly of mens presuming to teach him wisdom seeing herein shines his Soveraignty not to be carped at his Wisdom sutable to his Authority and his purposes far beyond our reach Therefore is this brought in here as a reason of the challenge Shall any teach God knowledge seeing he judgeth these who are high Vers 23. One dieth in his full strength being wholly at ease and quiet 24. His breasts are full of milk and his bones are moistened in the marrow 25. And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul and never eateth with pleasure In the Second Branch of this Narration in these verses he gives an account of the various dispensations of God toward wicked men 1. For prosperity That some die in full strength of body having inward and outward case and without any disquiet till their death v. 23. which is further amplified v. 24. That they are in great vigour and their bones full of marrow like breasts full of milk or rather that they have affluence of all things instanced in the abundance of milk wherewith their breasts namely of their Cattel or their Milk-pails as the word also signifieth are filled and that because of this affluence they are in great vigour every one of their bones for the verb is singular being moistned with marrow or as the words will also read the marrow of their bones being watered and refreshed by reason of their plenty of food
are put upon godly men to prevent sad stroaks See 1 Cor. 11.32 Ps 94.12 13. Verse 19. He is chastened also with pain upon his bed and the multitude of his bones with strong pain 20. So that his life abhorreth bread and his soul dainty meat 21. His flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen and his bones that were not seen stick out 22. His soul draweth near unto the grave and his life to the destroyers Followeth to v. 29. the second and third means whereby God speakth his mind to men though they perceive it not Namely by Sickness and by the Ministry of the Word I joyn these together because they must goe together that Gods mind may be known in them For however Sickness blessed of God fit men to hear what God will speak yet it is by the Ministry here that Gods mind concerning the sick person is revealed And withall these two as they are here put together do very well agree to Jobs case who was now afflicted in his body much like to what is here recorded only we read not of his keeping his bed constantly and had Elihu a Messenger from God with him to expound Gods mind in that dispensation to him And albeit Jobs Friends urged his sickness also as an Argument against him Chap. 5.17 18. and else-where Yet they urged it as an Argument to perswade him to repent of his supposed wickedness But Elihu drives another design as we shall hear We may take up the whole purpose to v. 29. in this order 1. He propounds the means whereby God speaks to man Sickness v. 29 22. and a Ministry v. 23. 2. He declares what it is that God speaks by these means v. 23. 3. He gives an account of the blessed effects of the tryal when this lesson is well learned v. 24 28. In these Verses we have a description of a sore Sickness whereby God speaks to man which is propounded First In general v. 19. Where it is held forth in its conjunction with the former mean of Visions and Dreams whereby God speaks intimated in the copulative Also in its scope and tendency which is to chasten or argue and reprove and in its vehemency and extremity assaulting the Patient with pain till he must take his bed From which it appears that Job was much upon a Bed or Couch as Chap. 7.13 though at other times he sate up and went abroad Secondly The greatness of this affliction is pointed out by several effects 1. That it reacheth not only the sick mans flesh but his bones and affects all of them with great pain v. 19. Thus we find that Job complained often of his bones and sinews See Chap. 30.17 30. 2. That as is usual in sickness Psal 107.18 his sickness makes him loath all meat even such dainty meats as use to be prepared for sick men v. 20. And of this Job had also some experience Chap. 3.24 3. That it wastes and consumes his body v. 21. So that his plump flesh disappeareth and his bones stick out Of which also Job complaineth Chap. 16.8 4. It brings his life to the gates of death or near to the grave and to the destroyers v. 22. that is His diseases are deadly and threaten him with destruction or they bring him near to the worms which destroy men in the grave And Job had this frequently in his mouth that he was near to death See Chap. 17.13 14. From v. 19. Learn 1. It pleaseth God beside the messages of his Word to visit his people with the rod For here pain also beside those dreams and visions v. 15. is sent that God may speak thereby Even when men profit by the Word as Job did in his prosperity God may yet send a rod for their further exercise and to take tryal how they will keep their feet under such a dispensation as the question is stated betwixt God and Satan about Job Chap. 1 and 2. And godly men should stoop and submit to this And further which comes nearer to Elihu's scope The Word its alone hath not ordinarily that operation which were to be desired but even where it works most effectually it may leave the rod somewhat to do further And much more when the Word is ill improved the rod will follow for God loves his people better than to let them pass on with their faults uncorrected and unreclaimed 2. Among other tryals which befall the people of God they will find personal tryals pains and sicknesses among the most searching For Elihu instanceth those as very speaking messengers and searching tryals and so did Satan truly argue though upon a wicked design Chap. 2.4 5. So that they who are free of that tryal may bear other difficulties the better and those who are exercised therewith should prepare for much humbling tryal by it They should also remember that God calls them thereby to be humble and sensible of sin from which the craziness of mens bodies doth flow and in particular that God calls them to be sensible of their little prizing or improving of bodily health when they enjoyed it which they ought to mourn for and amend if ever God restore them to health again And who so do thus improve their sickness may find that God hath visited them that he may give them a proof of his power and love in their recovery 3. As God doth not intend the destruction of his people by their afflictions and sicknesses even though they be taken out of the World by them but their chastisement and instruction So they may need to be sharply reproved and argued out of their subterfuges and defences before they receive correction and instruction as becometh For the word rendred to chasten signifieth properly to reprove or argue with one Which imports 1. That even Gods dear Saints may have much folly which needs correction and reproof 2. That afflictions may speak chastisements and reproofs to godly men for this their folly when yet their persons are accepted and approved of God 3. Even godly men are sometimes not easily convinced of their folly and of the evil thereof but they must be argued with to bring them to a sense thereof 4. That sharp tryals are sent upon this errand to waken them out of their dreams and subdue their stubbornnesses which effects those rude messengers are very apt means to produce Doct. 4. Under tryal men ought to observe and prize even common mercies As here it is supposed to be a mercy that this pained person hath a bed to lye upon Albeit the phrase may import no more but this That they are not able to stirr whether they get a bed or not Yea Saints may sometime come to want a bed when they are sick and sore Yet humility will teach men not to undervalue that common mercy if it be afforded them 5. Whatever outward accommodations God provide for afflicted and particularly for sick persons which they are bound to prize and acknowledge Yet none of