that Or sudden unexpected judgements which come upon men in some strange manner no man knows how they are consumed thereby but no account can be given by whom or by what the fire was kindled Some understand it of the eternall unquenchable fire of hell which indeed would agree well with the words for there needs no bellows to kindle that fire the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone shall kindle it Isa 30.33 But it appears not any where else that Iobs friends do ever speak of any other but temporall judgements Again others understand it metaphorically of a burning fire of terrours kindled in the conscience and others likewise of fire sent immediately from God such as was that wherewith Sodome and Gomorrha was consumed and that which burnt up Iobs sheep and servants chap. 1.16 as we see that Iobs friends are often wont closely to hint unto him the judgements that had fallen upon him and his But I conceive it may be understood more generally either of the wrath of God it self which is the kindler of all penall fires or of any grievous judgements wherewith God in his wrath doth usually consume wicked men for any sore calamities sent from God are oft in the Scripture compared to fire as in Ezek 20.47 Behold I will kindle a fire in thee and it shall devour every green tree in thee and every dry tree the flaming flame shall not be quenched c. but especially as is before said of strange sudden and unexpected judgements Vers 27. The heaven shall reveal his iniquity c. That is judgements coming from heaven upon him shall proclaim him to be a wicked man And it may be Zophar did hereby intimate the strange fire and wind whereby Iobs cattel and children had been consumed And the earth shall rise up against him to wit as an enemy or as a witnesse when all earthly things shall be ready to execute Gods vengeance upon him Yea and because Iob chap. 16.18 19. had appealed to heaven and earth for the justifying of himself O earth cover not thou my bloud and my witnesse is in heaven therefore in reference thereto it may well be conceived that Zophar here tells him that both heaven and earth should testify against him and should condemn him Vers 28. The increase of his house shall depart c. That is both his posterity and estate shall be transmitted into other hands or they shall suddenly perish and come to nothing see 2 Kings 20.17 and his goods shall flow away of which the meaning may be either that they should be suddenly gone or that they should wast away by little and little as some waters do insensibly ebbe and sink by little and little Vers 29. This is the portion of a wicked man from God c. As Bildad before concluded his reply upon Iob chap. 18.21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked and this is the place of him that knoweth not God so doth Zophar also here conclude his This is the portion of a wicked man from God and the heritage appointed unto him by God as it were purposely to imply that however angry Iob had seemed to be that Bildad should so peremptorily conclude that such misery was alwaies the portion of wicked men yet he both did and would maintain the truth of that which Bildad had said This is the portion of a wicked man from God c. that is this is the messe which God serves in to their table these are the miseries which befall wicked men and that not by chance but by the just and unresistable appointment of God men may blesse them but God will surely curse them they may have great inheritances and oppressing others may divide the spoile amongst themselves but this is that which God hath allotted them for their portion and which they shall be at last as sure of as of their just inheritance CHAP. XXI Vers 2. HEar diligently my speech and let this be your consolations As if he should have said You pretend that you came to comfort me but indeed you have added to my affliction Well yet if ye would but now at length give me the hearing with patience and meeknesse and observe diligently what I shall say not interrupting and slighting me as you have done this should be to me instead of your intended consolations or I would take it as an evidence that you did indeed seriously desire to comfort me And this he doubtlesse spake because Zophar had immediately before interrupted him and would not suffer him to goe on to speak out his mind and withall to imply how confident he was of his cause Vers 3. Suffer me that I may speak c. That is Let it not be burdensome to you to hear me a while yea though that which I shall say should prove irksome and troublesome to you yet bear with me and do but patiently suffer me to speak my mind And this he might the rather presse because his friends had often taxed him for speaking too much as we may see chap. 11.1 and 15.2 And after that I have spoken mock on which last words are added not as giving way that they should mock him in his misery or deride those words of truth which he should speak but to imply that he verily hoped that if they would hear him speak he might convince them so that they would soon give over mocking for this his confidence in what he had to say was a good inducement to move his friends to hear him or at least if that could not be that he was then resolved to bear what he could not help and as near as he could that he would not be troubled with their scoffs Vers 4. As for me is my complaint to man c. As if he should have said No I do not bemoan my self to man but to God though I speak to you yet it is out of a desire to approve my self to God that God may hear and that God may help And if it were so why should not my spirit be troubled that is if my complaint were to man I should then indeed have cause enough to be troubled God is the searcher of the heart and knows my innocency men know it not and therefore passe uncharitable censures upon me In God there is much mercy and pity man is mercilesse and cruell God can help me and ease me of my troubles man neither can help nor will comfort me Some I know understand this otherwise to wit as if he proved his hope in God by his enduring those insupportable miseries that lay upon him If it were not so why should not my spirit be troubled as if he should have said Had I not hope in God how could I have sustained my self all this time Many deaths would have been easier to me then that which I have suffered and therefore that I have not been quite overwhelmed before this time but do still cleave to God and trust in
of mens dignity or victory according to that Esa 22.22 And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder and so that Jobs intent in these words was to intimate that he was confidently perswaded that if his adversary had written such a book against him it would be an honour and a glory to him and withall a certain trophee of his victory over his adversary and that because all the accusations brought in against him would be so apparently found to be lyes and calumnies and indeed the last words and would bind it as a crown to me do clearly hold forth this to be the meaning Vers 37. I would declare unto him the number of my steps c. That is To him that should thus undertake to hear and give judgement in my cause or rather To this mine adversary that had written a book against me I would truly declare all that I know by my self faithfully relating to him if that might be any way a help to him the whole course of my life As for the following words as a prince would I goe near unto him the meaning is either that he would draw near to him that would undertake to hear and give sentence in his cause as subjects to their Prince wholly submitting himself and his cause to his judgement or else secondly that he would draw near to this his adversary that had written a book against him as to some great Prince that is that he would honour and reverence him and have him in high esteem even out of respect of the good he had done for him or else thirdly which seems most clearly expressed in our Translation that he as a Prince would draw near to this his judge or adversary that is freely and without fear with an heroicall and undaunted spirit as one that was no way self-condemned but desirous to hear the worst that could be alledged against him Vers 38. If my land cry against me or that the furrows likewise thereof complain The following imprecation vers 40. Let thistles grow in stead of wheat c. shews plainly that Job meant this of land that was his private possession and not as some would have it of a land subject to his government which should cry against him because of his tyrannizing over the inhabitants for so he should wish that his country might be cursed of God if he had oppressed his country which is a most absurd conceit It must needs therefore be meant of the land of his possession thus If my land cry against me c. to wit because I have gotten it unjustly or because I have oppressed my tenants therein or because I have overtoyled the husbandmen imployed in the husbandry thereof or detained their wages from them Vers 39. If I have eaten the fruits thereof without mony c. That is not having duly paid for the land or not having justly paid my husbandmen c. or have caused the owners thereof to loose their life that is those that were formerly the true owners of it by direct putting them to death as Ahab did Naboth or by heart-breaking oppressions or those that were the occupiers of it under me by oppressing them to their utter undoing Then vers 40. let thistles grow in stead of wheat c. CHAP. XXXII Vers 2. THen was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite of the kindred of Ram c. This Elihu was it seems one of those that stood by and had heard all the dispute betwixt Iob and his three friends because he misliked what he had heard from both parties when he perceived that Iob had made an end of speaking and that his friends were resolved to make no farther reply upon him he stepped up and undertook to deliver his judgement and as it were to determine and compremise the controversie betwixt them Now in setting down this first this Elihu is described by the family from which he was descended to wit that he was the son of Barachel the Buzite that is of the family of Buz who was the second son of Nahor the brother of Abraham by his wife Milcah Gen. 22.20 21. for that I judge farre more probable then that which some say that Barachel should be called the Buzite because he was of the province or city of Buz in Idumea mentioned Jer. 25.23 and of the kindred of Ram that is of Abram and this I hold too more probable because he was the brother of Nahor and for his eminency like to be expressed then that this Ram should be as others would have it some obscure man of the stock of Nahor all which I conceive is thus punctually expressed partly for the greater honour of Elihu because he spake more prudently concerning Jobs cause then his three friends had done and especially to make it the more evident that the story of Iob here related was a true not a devised story Secondly the cause of Elihu's speaking is mentioned to wit that his wrath was kindled namely against both parties And thirdly the reason hereof here is particularly expressed against Iob was his wrath kindled because he justifyed himself rather then God not because he had maintained his own innocency and integrity against his friends but because though not in expresse tearms yet in effect he had justifyed himself rather then God that is he had taken more care to justify himself then to justify God and in his eagernesse to justify himself had charged God with injustice to wit in that he had giving way to his passion with much bitternesse complained of Gods dealing with him charging him in a manner that he had laid upon him farre greater punishments then his iniquities had deserved and so had oppressed him with his majesty and power and in that he had over-peremptorily called God as it were to an account and challenged him that he might be suffered freely to plead his cause and that God would answer him And then again secondly vers 2. Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled because they had found no answer and yet had condemned Iob that is because they had condemned Iob for a wicked man and an hypocrite and yet had proved nothing against him nor had given any satisfactory answer to that which Iob had alledged to make good his innocency It is evident therefore that Elihu's aim was to shew both Iob and his friends too wherein they had erred though indeed towards Iob he carries himself far more mildly and equally then his three friends had done Many Expositours I know hold that Elihu doth condemn Iob as sharply and insolently as the other had and accordingly they conceive that for this God when he began to speak checked Elihu in those words chap. 38.2 who is this that darkneth counsell by words without knowledge But first because it will be found farre more probable that God spake those words to Iob and not to Elihu secondly because it is evident
instruct me or else as in reference to his own words chap. 13.22 wherein he had challenged God as it were that God should answer what he could object for now as recanting that he professeth that when at any time he should desire to speak to God it should not be by way of contending with God but only by way of desiring instruction from God I will demand of thee and declare thou unto me Vers 5. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee The knowledge he had now gotten of the power and sovereignty of God he preferres before that he had before which he had gotten by the instruction of his forefathers and teachers and that as the words seem to imply upon these grounds either first because now he had been taught immediately by God even as if God had presented himself before him to be seen by him or secondly because he had now with his eyes seen the signs of Gods presence or thirdly because the enlightening of his knowledge by Gods immediate speaking to him was as far beyond that he had before as the seeing of a thing with the eye is beyond the hearing of it with the ear it was more clear and certain and convincing or fourthly because now he had been humbled by Gods afflicting hand which had opened his eyes and made him see that of God which he saw not before All these may be comprehended in this expression but now mine eye seeth thee though I conceive it is primarily meant of his beholding the visible signs of Gods presence and the effectuall working thereof upon him Vers 6. Wherefore I abhorre my self and repent in dust and ashes Either this last clause hath reference to his present sitting in the ashes of which mention was made chap. 2.8 and thereof see the Note there as if he had said Sitting here in dust and ashes I do humbly repent of all I have spoken so foolishly or it may imply a promise that he would repent in dust and ashes according to the custome of those times or else it may be meant of the low dejection of his spirit to wit that he did repent with as much self-confusion and sense of his own vilenesse as if he were covered over with dust and ashes From ch 3.3 to the end of this verse all hath been expressed in meeter in the originall the rest is again in prose Vers 7. After the Lord had spoken these words unto Iob the Lord said to Eliphaz c. Having brought Job to humble himself and to repent and beg mercy for his offence the Lord addresseth himself next to give sentence out of the whirlwind against his three friends who haply began to be exalted in their spirits as apprehending by the Lords checking Job for his folly that he took their part against him and directing his speech to Eliphaz by name as being haply the ancientest and most honourable of the three but especially because he brake out first against Job and had handled him most bitterly My wrath saith he is kindled against thee and against thy two friends for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right as my servant Iob hath Wherein is observable first That though Job had spoken much amisse as is before noted yet he is said here to have spoken right to wit comparatively he had spoken far more rightly then his friends had done and that because they had condemned Job for a wicked man and an hypocrite merely because of his heavy afflictions and though they spake the truth concerning Gods punishing wicked men and blessing the righteous yet it was out of an opinion that God did constantly deal thus with the wicked and righteous here in this world which was a grosse errour and Job on the other side had rightly maintained his own innocency against them and that God did usually both prosper the wicked and afflict the righteous and had striven against his impatience though he were sometimes overborn by the bitternesse of his sufferings and the violence of Satans temptations secondly That God vouchsafed not to talk long with these men as he had with Job but to shew his anger takes them up very short and so fends them away and thirdly That he never mentions Job without an expression of his favour to him to shew what a high esteem he had of the man whom they despised for four severall times he calls him his servant Iob. As for Elihu because he had not so condemned Job but only reproved him for his rash impatient expressions therefore God reproved not him at all Vers 8. Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams c. That is each of you seven bullocks and seven rams and so many and that of the greatest sort of sacrifices were required whereas by Moses Law there was but one bullock appointed for the sin-offering of a Priest to make them know thereby how great their sin was and how highly God was offended with them For though it is probable that they aimed sincerely at Gods glory in all their pleadings with Job yet God would have them see how much he detested all such rash judging of godly men and there being so many prudent and pious men that offend herein he would have this left as a memoriall to testify how much he mislikes this in any men whatsoever As for the following words and go to my servant Iob and offer up for your selves a burnt-offering the meaning thereof is this that when they had gone and provided these cattel here injoyned them they should then goe and carry them to Iob that so he might offer them as sacrifices to God on their behalf Whether Iob were a Priest as Melchisedech was or only the first-born and chief of his family who in those times were wont as Priests to offer sacrifices or whether God did now only in an extraordinary way appoint him to doe this service we cannot certainly conclude but however herein was Iob a type of Christ our Mediatour and hereby God notably doth both honour Iob and try the faith obedience humility and sincerity of his three friends in making them imploy Iob as Gods speciall favourite to offer up their sacrifices to pray for them and so to make reconciliation between God and them whom they had condemned as a wicked hypocrite hated of God and therefore so severely punished So that to this and that which God here added my servant Iob shall pray for you for him will 〈◊〉 accept that place seems to have reference Ezek. 14.14 Though these three men 〈◊〉 Daniel and Iob were in it they should deliver but their own souls Vers 10. And the Lord tuâ—ned the captivity of Iob when he prayed for his friends c. By this the Lord turned the captivity of Iob is meant either as some say that God â—â—stored to him all that had been taken from him as when men carried away into captivity are brought
for the number seven is sometimes used indefinitely as 1 Sam. 2.5 of which see the Note there or else the meaning may be that the greatest part of seven daies and seven nights they spent in a silent sitting by him condoling his misery and mourning with him It cannot be thought that Iob sat so long amongst the ashes without ever withdrawing himself upon any occasion much lesse can this be conceived of his friends but as it is said of Anna that she continued daily in the Temple though it cannot be thought that she never went out of it Luke 2.37 So it is here said of Iobs friends that they sat with him on the ground seven daies and seven nights that is the greatest part of that time but yet doubtlesse they took their time for necessary food and rest c And none spake a word unto him for they saw that his grief was very great To wit both because they at first thought it not so seasonable to begin to comfort him before he had a little unladed his heart of sorrow least by speaking they should rather cause him to break forth into greater passion then any whit asswage his grief and likewise because the longer they observed and considered in what extremity Gods hand was upon him the more they were even overwhelmed with sorrow and so not able to speak and that doubtlesse especially because though formerly they had alwaies esteemed him a sincere godly man and therefore came with a full resolution to speak comfortably to him yet now the excessive misery they saw him in made them begin to stagger concerning this and suspect that all he had formerly done was done in hypocrisie and therefore the Lord abhorred him and punished him thus severely and so herewith they were so astonished and perplexed that they could not speak nor knew what to say to him CHAP. III. Vers 1. AFter this opened Iob his mouth That is though for a while he sat silent as being overwhelmed with grief and not able to speak according to that of David Psal 77.4 I am so troubled that I cannot speak yet getting at last some power over himself he gave vent to his sorrows and cursed his day or thus though hitherto Iob had carried himself with admirable patience yet after this now at length he began to speak and that freely and boldly for that is the meaning of this Hebrew phrase Iob opened his mouth having sat silent with his friends a long time before he began now to complain of his miseries and gave therein too much liberty to himself and was carried too farre beyond the bounds of patience by his passions and therefore afterward was sharply reproved by God out of the whirlewind chap. 38.2 Who is this that darkneth counsell by words without knowledge and condemned by himself chap. 40.4 Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand upon my mouth c. And so again chap. 42.3 6. And doubtlesse the cause of this sudden change was because God was now pleased to withdraw not only the light of his countenance to make his tryall the more terrible but also the strength of grace whereby he had been hitherto enabled to endure with such patience what he had suffered that to make it manifest that all comfort and strength to stand in tryalls comes from God and what the holiest and best of Gods servants would be if they should be left unto themselves yet it is not strange that Iobs patience should be so highly extolled in the Scripture if we consider 1. That his afflictions were not only exceeding great and very many but had also continued a long time upon him ere he brake forth into this impatience for at the end of this dispute which he had with his friends ere they left him God began to raise him up again chap. 42.10 and yet then he had been many months as some conceive many years under these heavy pressures we see what he saith chap. 7.3 I am made to possesse months of vanity 2. That upon the silence of his friends so many daies together the Devil might have occasion to suggest that even they also as his other friends had done before deemed him a wicked man upon whom God had begun to pour forth his wrath and therefore had not one word of comfort for him which might much imbitter his soul 3. That in his greatest impatience he was not wholly over-born his desire was still to approve himself to God only the flesh lusted against the spirit and prevailed sometimes too farre over him and when he did forget himself it was not so much Iob that did it as sin that dwelt in him Rom. 7.17 he still strove against it and 4. That he did at length prevail over his corruptions we see what he saith chap. 40.4 5. Behold I am vile I will lay my hand upon my mouth I will speak no more â—nd chap. 42. I abhorre my self and repent in dust and ashes And herein especially is the patience of Iob commended to us as a pattern because at the end he prevailed and got the day Iam. 5.11 Behold we count them happy which endure ye have heard of the patience of Iob and have seen the end of the Lord. And cursed his day That is his birth-day as it is expressed vers 3. Let the day perish wherein I was born not the very day whereon he was born which was long since past and gone but his anniversary birth-day which was in its time to return every year as is evident vers 4. Let that day be darknesse let not God regard it c. And this he cursed to wit with those execrations mentioned in the following verses not as having a thought that those things were like to befall his birth-day upon his imprecations or as deliberately and seriously wishing it might so be only transported with the heat of his passions he seeks thereby with all vehemency to expresse how he abhorred his life what a dismall and unhappy thing it was to him that he was ever born c. Vers 3. Let the day perish wherein I was born and the night c. That is whereas the tydings of a child born especially of a man child are usually received with much joy their birth-daies afterwards solemnized with a great deal of mirth and jollity I may rather wish that I had never been born or that the day of my birth and the night of my conception may perish and not have their course in the Kalender amongst the daies and nights of the year at least that they may be no more solemnized but may be buried in eternall oblivion as it is more plainly expressed vers 6. Let it not be joyned to the daies of the year let it not come into the number of the months and that because I was born to so much misery and sorrow Some Expositours indeed will have the night whereof Iob here speaks to be not the night of
his wickednesse he had provoked God to such wrath and indignation against him as is noted before upon a like expression chap. 10.17 2. That for that phrase he useth of his leannesse rising up in him my leannesse rising up in me beareth witnesse either thereby is meant only that his leannesse was in him a witnesse against him according to a like expression Matth. 11.11 Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater then Iohn the Baptist for there hath not been a greater then Iohn the Baptist or else he doth allude to the rising up of witnesses when they addresse themselves in the place of judgement to give witnesse against a man or else he hath respect to the staring out of his bones in a ghastly manner because of his leannesse in regard whereof it might be the better said that his flesh consuming his leannesse did rise up in him and 3. It is said that his leannesse did bear witnesse to his face because there it was most apparent to the eyes of all men and did openly as it were bear witnesse against him Vers 9. He teareth me in his wrath who hateth me he gnasheth upon me with his teeth c. Most of our best Expositours hold that as in the former verses so here also Iob still speaks of God expressing his indignation against him and his severe dealing with him after the manner of men by these words of tearing him in his wrath and gnashing upon him with his teeth And if we so understand the words we must know that this language was the effect of that distraction that was upon his spirit by reason of the extremity of his sufferings it was the voice of his flesh not of Iob himself the voice of his sense not of his faith But because in the following verses it is clear that he speaks of men that hated him into whose hands God had delivered him that they might afflict him They have gaped upon me with their mouth c. God hath delivered me to the ungodly and turned me over into the hands of the wicked therefore it seems to me most probable which others hold that he speaks here of men that hating him did tear him in their wrath and gnash their teeth upon him and so we must also understand the last clause of this verse Mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me that is mine enemies look grimly and fiercely upon me Because when men are inflamed their eyes will glitter and sparkle as it were and their looks upon him against whom they have conceived such indignation will be sharp and piercing like a new whetted sword they will look upon him as we use to say as if they would look through him thence is this expression Mine enemy sharpneth his eyes upon me Vers 10. They have gaped upon me with their mouth c. By this their gaping upon him may be meant either 1. Their violent endeavouring his utter ruine as if he had said they run upon me with open mouth as if they meant presently to destroy me and eat me up for so the same phrase is used Psal 22.13 They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion or 2. Their outcries against him their clamorous contradictions and revilings and reproaches wherein with full mouth they fell upon him or 3. Their flouting and deriding him as Psal 35.21 Yea they opened their mouths wide against me and said Aha aha our eye hath seen it And indeed to the same purpose also are the following words they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully for it is not necessary that we should think because of these words that his enemies did indeed smite his aged pale and wrinckled face with their hands or fists in regard it is a proverbiall speech whereby any reproachfull or contemptuous usage is meant as we see Lam. 3.30 where these words He giveth his cheeks to him that smiteth him are explained more clearly in the following words he is filled full with reproach and 2 Cor. 11.20 where the Apostle would tell them that they could suffer their false teachers though they used them never so scornfully and disgracefully he expresseth it thus ye suffer it if a man smite you on the face And indeed to imply this is the word reproachfully here added they have smitten me on the cheek reproachfully the meaning is that they had done him all the shame they might and had used him with all the scorn and contempt that possibly they could Vers 11. God hath delivered me to the ungodly c. That is to the Sabeans and Chaldeans chap. 1. and others that since Gods hand was so heavy upon him had used him despitefully Vers 12. I was at ease but he hath broken me asunder This Iob adds because in this regard his condition was farre the sadder and the more to be pittied that having lived formerly in so great prosperity free from cares and griefs and fears unexpectedly on a sudden all was destroyed and brought to nothing Neither is there any contradiction betwixt this and that which he had said before chap. 3.26 I was not in safety neither had I rest neither was I quiet for there Iob speakes of the spirituall frame of his heart to wit that he was not secure though he was then free from trouble but here now he speaks of the temporall frame of his outward estate in which he had ease and was free from trouble no man molesting him He hath also taken me by my neck and shaken me to pieces c. As before so here also he useth the same expression which Eliphaz had used before in setting forth Gods dealing with wicked men chap. 15.26 He runneth on him even on his neck c. of which see the Note above vers 7. As for the next clause and set me up for his mark See also a former Note chap. 7.20 Vers 13. His archers compasse me round about c. The Archers he speaks of are either those men whom God had made use of for the afflicting of Iob and to imply how many they were and that every man almost friends and foes had a fling at him he saith they compassed him round about or else those diseases which God had laid upon him and then this compassing him round about implyes the variety of bodily infirmities wherewith God had smitten him and that round about him all his body over he was full of ulcers As for the following words He cleaveth my reines asunder and doth not spare he poureth out my gall upon the ground Some by the cleaving of his reines asunder understand that God had mortally wounded him and that his miseries were incurable others that his strength was quite wasted and consumed which lyeth chiefly in the reines and loines of a man and others that he was tortured with the stone in the kidneyes and so his paines were so extreme as if his very reines were cleaving asunder or at least that
towards God which was the root both of that profession of godlinesse which he had hitherto made and of that confidence wherewith he had now pleaded his cause before God or else his faith whereby he was rooted in God and which was the root from whence had sprung the purity of his conscience the holinesse and uprightnesse of his life and conversation and those words of truth which he had uttered hitherto in the defence of himself and so they conceive Iobs plea in these words to be this that seeing the profession which he had made of his innocency was not a counterfeit vain ungrounded flourish but was the fruit of that sincerity and faith unfeigned that was rooted in his heart it was an act of most grosse injustice and arrogance in them so to persecute to censure and revile him as they did And last of all many hold that it was his faith in Christ his Redeemer and his hope of seeing God face to face at the Resurrection of the dead whereof he had in the foregoing words made such a glorious profession which here he tearms the root of the matter that was found in him and so they make the drift of these words to be this that in all reason it was fit they should blame themselves for persecuting him as they had done even because of this profession he had made of his faith seeing this faith in the Redeemer is the root of all true religion and piety and the very ground work and foundation of salvation neither can there be any danger of condemnation for him that hath this faith rooted in his heart Vers 29. Be ye afraid of the sword c. As if he should have said If not out of pity to me yet at least for fear of the sword of Gods vengeance upon your selves give over your bitter calumnies and cruell dealing with me Because you are at ease and free from all afflictions you make nothing of passing most uncharitable censures upon me and threaten me continually with the vengeance of God but take heed you had best look to yourselves since there is doubtlesse a sword of divine vengeance which for your unjust and cruell dealing with me that am in so sad a condition may soon make you as miserable as I am As for the words that follow for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword though some understand this of God to wit that when God is provoked to wrath by such iniquities as these wherewith he had charged his friends it brings the sword of his just vengeance upon me yet I rather think Iob meant it of the wrath of his friends against him to wit that such wrath and fury as that wherewith they had broken out against him doth usually bring the wrath of God upon men that ye may know saith he there is a judgement the meaning whereof is either that when the sword of Gods vengeance should fall upon them then they should by experience find that there is a just God that judgeth the earth that doth order and govern all things wisely and justly here in this world a God that would judge those that did so unjustly judge others and that would severely punish those that did so unmercifully adde affliction to the afflicted To which some adde also that by that present judgement upon themselves they might know there would be hereafter a day of generall judgement when God would judge the world in righteousnesse and so the sin of those that do here judge their brethren unrighteously should be both discovered and punished Or else that Iob gave them this warning that knowing now which men are apt to forget that there is a God that will thus judge the actions of men they might take heed of provoking him to wrath that so they might not come to know it experimentally hereafter CHAP. XX. Vers 2. THen answered Zophar c. This is the second and indeed the last reply of Zophar who now as before took his turn in the third place for though Eliphaz and Bildad did afterward reply again the third time upon Iob yet Zophar after this spake no more And observable it is that notwithstanding Iob had in the foregoing chapter made such a sad relation of the wofull condition wherein at present he was chap. 19.6 c. and had so earnestly besought his friends that they would take pity of him vers 21. and had made such a full and glorious confession of his faith vers 25 26 27. and had threatned them with the sword of divine vengeance if they proceeded on still with such fury against him as they had done yet all this moved not Zophar but that he again fell upon Iob with as much violence as ever Vers 2. Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer and for this I make hast It seems Zophar did here interrupt Iob before he had made an end of speaking and so in these words he gives a reason why he could no longer keep silence Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer and for this I make hast as if he should have said Whereas I resolved to have replyed no more or whereas I was desirous to let you goe on without interrupting you till you had made an end of your own accord as I know civility requires I should doe truly that which you have spoken hath stirred up those thoughts in me that do even compell me to speak doe what I can I am not able still to bear what I hear nor to forbear uttering what I have thought to say being as one in travell I must not stay any longer but must however it be taken break in upon you And so this word therefore may be either referred 1. In generall to all that Iob had answered in the foregoing chapter either by way of justifying himself and professing his hope of beholding to his joy his Redeemer when his dead body should be raised from the grave or by way of blaming his friends for their unfriendly and unmercifull dealing with him as if he had said Finding how erroneous thou still art in this great point of Gods dealing with man therefore I could not forbear but I must again answer thee Or 2. More particularly to those severe censures which he had passed upon them for their dealing so harshly with him which may seem the more probable because in the following verse he seems to make these censures which he tearms reproaches the ground of this his Reply I have heard saith he the check of my reproach and therefore the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer Or else 3. It may be referred yet more particularly as many hold to the very last words that Iob had spoken chap. 19.29 There Iob had warned his friends to take heed least the sword of divine vengeance did not fall upon them for their fury and wrath against such a distressed afflicted man as he was for saith he wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword that ye may
soul and never eateth with pleasure that is he lives and dies in great misery under very bitter and wofull pressures both of mind and body having scarce ever enjoyed one good hour in his life or ever eaten one bit of meat with any pleasure or comfort And then concerning both these joyntly together he concludes vers 26. they shall lye down alike in the dust and the worms shall cover them that is however differently God dealt with them before yet after death they are both alike laid in the grave and therein there seems to be no difference even the rich man that lived so prosperously and that was formerly clad so richly and gorgeously shall then have no other covering but that of dust and worms as hath also the poor man This I take it is the meaning of these words But now of what sort of men this instance is to be understood and to what purpose it is alledged is somewhat more questionable Some say that Job meant that one man being a wicked man lives and dies in a prosperous condition anâ— another being a godly man lives and dies in extreme misery and will have his drift in this instance to shew how unsearchable Gods proceedings are in that God should deal so well with the wicked and so ill with the righteous Others hold that the words must be understood of two wicked men and that the aime therefore of this instance is to shew that there can be no judging whether men be wicked or no by that which outwardly befalls them because God deals so differently with wicked men sometimes blessing them and sometimes punishing them But I rather think with others that it is meant of any two men equally good or bad and that hereby he sheweth Gods absolute Sovereignty is in disposing of men as he pleaseth and how unsearchable his proceedings are in that two men one whereof deserves no more good nor ill then the other should be so differently dealt with both in life and death and yet after death both should be alike laid in the grave Vers 27. Behold I know your thoughts and the devices which you wrongfully imagine against me That is I know the injurious thoughts and imaginations which you harbour in your hearts concerning me to wit that in all that you have said concerning the destruction of wicked men you have still aimed at me my children though you have not named us and that you peremptorily conclude within your selves that I am a wicked man because the hand of God is so heavy upon me Vers 28. For ye say Where is the house of the prince c. Some understand this of Iobs eldest son whose house it was that was blown down upon him his brethren and sisters chap. 1.18 19. and that Iob chargeth his friends that in relation hereto they did in their thoughts thus insult over him where is the house of the prince that is what is now become of the house of that young gallant your son and heir Did not that exemplary judgement plainly discover the wrath of God against you and yours But I rather think it is meant of Iob himself where is the house of the prince that is what is now become of the house of Job that mighty man of estate that lived formerly like a prince As if they should have said You see that after all the pomp wherein he hath lived God hath at last utterly overthrown his house and family and so hath justly given him the reward of his wickednesse And then for the following clause and where are the dwelling-places of the wicked either it is meant of Iobs children as if he had said Hath not God destroyed both him and his wicked brood too his children or else of all wicked men in generall and is added to the former clause to imply that this which had befallen Iob was indeed the constant portion of all wicked men Vers 29. Have ye not asked them that goe by the way and do ye not know their tokens Some think that from the foregoing verse unto the end of the 33. verse Iob goes still on in setting out the injurious thoughts which his friends had concerning him and accordingly therefore they understand these words as the thoughts of Jobs friends arguing as it were with others concerning him Have ye not asked them that goe by the way c. that is It is certainly notorious to every one that goes by the way and if such were enquired of they would readily answer that the things which have befallen Job are the just vengeance of God upon him for his wickednesse nor can it be denied these things being the clear marks and tokens of Gods wrath But I rather take these words with that which follows to be Jobs answer to those injurious thoughts concerning him wherewith he had charged his friends in the foregoing verse Have ye not asked them that goe by the way c. By them that goe by the way may be meant travellers and then the drift of the words must be all one in effect as if he had said You my friends insult over me as a wicked hypocrite because of the ruine of my house and family but if you would ask those that by travelling through many places and countries have the more experience and knowledge they would readily tell you to wit that which I have hitherto maintained that the righteous are often afflicted and the wicked are often in a prosperous estate or as follows in the next verse that the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction c. Or by them that goe by the way may be meant the ordinary common sort of people as before Judg. 5.10 of which see the Note there as if he had said Do but ask any of the common sort of people that goe up and down by the way any that you shall first meet with not any one of them but will tell you this which I now maintain and will be able to make it good out of their own observation to which purpose is that which follows and do ye not know their tokens for by their tokens is meant the proofs and examples which they could alledge to prove the truth of this to wit that the righteous do often suffer many grievous pressures and that the wicked live oft in great pomp and prosperity and that expression it seems Job purposely useth as alluding to the marks and tokens which men are wont to observe as they travell that they may be sure to goe in the right way thereby to imply that such men could as readily alledge convincing evidences hereof as they could tell the marks of waies that lead to such or such a place do ye not know their tokens that is can ye deny or can ye be ignorant of those things which every man can alledge to prove that which I say concerning the prosperity of wicked men c. I know some understand these words otherwise and do ye not
know their tokens that is do ye not understand that their present prosperity riches and honours are sure tokens that there is wrath that abides them hereafter But I prefer the former Exposition Vers 30. That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction c. This is that which Iob saith they might learn of them that goe by the way to wit that wicked men are many times not punished but even when judgements fall upon others they escape as being reserved to the day of destruction that shall yet at last come upon them Vers 31. Who shall declare his way to his face and who shall repay him what he hath done Some Expositours understand these words as spoken of God Who shall declare the way of God to his face c. Because concerning that which was said in the foregoing verse that the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction c. some might argue in their minds why this should be so as judging it a strange thing in the way of Gods proceedings that God should so long spare wicked men and let them flourish and prosper when he meant to destroy them at last and why he should not rather cut them off immediately without any such delaies therefore by way of preventing these secret cavils that might arise in mens minds these words are added who shall declare his way to his face that is when God deals thus with wicked men forbearing them for a while who shall challenge God for this and boldly argue the matter with him demanding a reason of him why he doth so who shall repay him what he hath done that is who shall retort that upon God which he hath done or who shall reply upon him for this where is the man that dares be so bold as to doe this And thus they would make these words to be parallel with those other passages chap. 9.12 Behold he taketh away who can hinder him who shall say to him what doest thou and chap. 23.13 But he is in one mind and who can turn him what his soul desireth even that he doth and vers 22 of this chapter Shall any teach God knowledge seeing he judgeth those that are high Thus I say some understand these words of God But questionlesse they are rather spoken of the wicked man who shall declare his way to his face As if he should have said So farre a while doth the wicked man seem to be from bearing the just reward of his wickednesse that no man dares declare his way to his face that is no man dares to his face tell him of his faults or no man dares shew him whether his wicked courses will at length bring him and much lesse dares any man appear as a witnesse to accuse him or as a judge to condemn him and so to repay him what he hath done that is punish him for his wickednesse Vers 32. Yet shall he be brought to the grave and remain in the tomb I find the opinion of Expositours very different concerning the dependance of these words upon that which went before They that take these words to be a part of those injurious thoughts which Iob tells his friends they harboured in their hearts concerning him as is noted before vers 29. understand them as inferred upon the foregoing verse thus Though no man dares meddle with him yet God shall bring down his pride by his judgements and so shall lay him in the grave and then they say these words and remain in the tomb are added to imply that then he is quite cut off from ever returning to that pomp plenty wherein he had formerly lived in the world But now they that take these words to be spoken by Job as in his own person understand them otherwise even as a farther declaration of the wicked mans prosperous condition to wit that though he exalts himself so in his pride that no man dares tell him of any thing he doth amisse or though he be above the reach of man to controll or punish him as was said in the foregoing verse yet doth not God take him in hand but he shall be brought to the grave that is dying not a violent but a naturall death he shall be carried to his grave with great magnificence pomp and state and so shall have an honourable and solemn buriall and shall remain in the tomb to wit free from all fear of any the miseries which here in this world others undergoe This last clause and shall remain in the tomb is translated by some according to the strict letter of the originall Hebrew which is put into the margin of our Bibles and shall watch in the heap And if we should so read it we must know that this expression might be used in reference either to the dead bodies of great men which being set upright in vaults and being so embalmed and spiced that they were kept from putrifaction as it was the custome in those times seemed as it were to be living men and looked as if they stood to keep continuall watch in that place or else to those statues and Representations of the dead which were placed upon their tombs or set up in presses near to their tombs as we see the use is also in our times which being as farre as art could reach made to the life had also the appearance of watchmen that were set to watch in those heaps Vers 33. The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him c. They that take these words still to be a part of the injurious thoughts of Iobs friends against him do accordingly understand them thus That the wrath of God should lye so heavy upon him that death should be most welcome to him or that he should then be glad to lye in a slimy pit to wit the grave that was formerly scarce content with a princely palace and the reason why he expresseth the grave by these words the clods of the valley is because their burying-places in those times were usually in the lowest dales and valleys But I rather conceive that these words are still a continuation of Jobs reply to the injurious thoughts of his friends and then this phrase the clods of the valley are sweet to him do only imply either his continuance for ever there for it is an argument that we take much sweet delight and content in a place when we stay long in it or else that there he sleeps quietly and sweetly as it were free from all cares and feares and from all danger of worldly troubles and sorrows And as for the following words and every man shall draw after him as there are innumerable before him they are added to imply that his death cannot be reckoned as an effect of Gods wrath upon him since herein he goes the way of all flesh all men living the righteous as well as the wicked either have gone or shall goe this way And this expression And every man shall draw after him
the READER REader when I first undertook this Work of writing these Annotations upon the Scripture there was not as I remember any piece of this kind extant in English save only the Geneva marginall Notes But since that time blessed be God the father of lights abundance of help hath come flowing in by more able Hands Besides the two volumes of the Annotations of our English Divines and the Translation of the Dutch Notes more lately published much hath been done in this very way for the clearing of the difficulties in severall Books of the Scripture by many particular men Yea upon two of the Books which here I have undertaken to explain so much hath been done I mean by Mr. Caryl in his elaborate Comments upon Iob so far as he hath gone and by Dr. Reynolds in that choice piece of his upon Ecclesiastes which we have in the great English Annotations that they may well give abundant satisfaction to those that read them But why then do I proceed in this Work especially considering that Item given by Solomon in one of these Books that of making many Books there is no end and much reading is a wearinesse of the flesh I answer truly and briefly first that I have found so much sweet content and delight in this study that I can hardly perswade my self to give it over Secondly that the reiterated perswasions of many of my Reverend Brethren that I would go on in this work hath been a very great encouragement therein to me and thirdly that I cannot but hope that the plainnesse of the Expositions if nothing else will make them accepted by many The greatest thing that hath troubled me in this work was that when I came to commit it to the Presse I found it rise to so far greater a bulk then either of my two former Volumes But for this I desire the Reader would consider First that the stile and expressions of these Poeticall Books are farre more dark and difficult and fuller of many knotty intricacies then those books that were the subject of the former Volumes and likewise that the clearing of the scope and dependance of many passages herein is a work of much labour as will be most especially found in the books of Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon both which must needs make the Annotations the larger Secondly that in this Volume I have undertaken to open together with the Translation of the Text which we have in our Bibles the different Translations that are put in the margin because I found many of them judged most agreeable to the Originall which I seldome did in the other Volumes And this also hath much lengthened the Notes and thirdly that to shorten the work I have as often as I could referred the Reader to the Exposition of the like passages and expressions in other places the frequency whereof therefore I hope will be no occasion of dislike to any Yea in some places I have been forced to leave the Reader of himself to have recourse to former Expositions for as for Instance for the word Selah and many other words frequently found in the Titles of the Psalms should I have inserted a severall Reference even these with others of the like nature would very much have swelled the book In a word though the work be larger then I intended yet I hope it will be the more profitable I studied brevity so far as it might not prejudice the perspicuity of the Notes The good Lord command a blessing upon it where ever it goeth and if thou Reader findest it so with thee I know I shall have thy prayers which I shall account a great return of Christian love to him who is Thine in the Lord Iesus ARTHUR JACKSON ERRATA Pag. 40. line 31. for overturns read indangers p. 57. l. 6. for to overwhelm r. so overwhelm p. 69. l. 3. for whose troopes r. whole troops p. 70. l. 19. for as is r. as it is p. 80. l. 43. for nor r. not p. 88. l. ult for escretly r. secretly p. 194. l. 10. r. or 3ly l. 13. r. or 4ly p. 196. l. 7. dele spoken p. 209. l. 2. for stone r. brasse p. 221. l 23. dele more p. 393. l. 9. for work r. word p. 432. l. 15. for Chro. r. 1 Chro. p. 779. l. 1. for effect r. affect p. 844. l. 3. for see the Note 2 Cor. 12.8 r. See 2 Cor. 8.12 p. 850. l. 39. for anger r. danger p. 869. l. 36. for forget r. forgoe p. 878. l. 13. for better r. bitter p. 879. for 23. r. 29. p. 869. l. 36. for were their r. were not their p. 919. l. 23. for worldly men r. worldly wise men Eccles Cant. P. 35. l. 33. for ver 15. r. ver 5. p. 41. l. 30. they promote r. they may promote p. 103. l. 43. for retained r. returned p. 130. l. 42. for into r in to p. 149. l. 10. for but when c. r. and when by faith we do open to him yet because c. p 168. l. 38 for people r. gospel p. 188. l. 25. and according dele and. p. 206. l. 9. for The last r. In the last p. 218. l. 38. for if the word comes r. if they come p. 225. l. 12. for given the r. given from the. ANNOTATIONS Upon the Book of JOB CHAP. I. THere was a man in the land of Vz whose name was Iob c. I That this book was written by some of those holy men of God that wrote by the inspiration of the holy Ghost cannot be doubted For we see that this history is spoken of as a part of the Oracles of God committed to the Iews Iam. 5.11 you have heard of the patience of Iob and have seen the end of the Lord and by the Apostle Paul a passage of it to wit that chap. 11.13 is cited in 1 Cor. 3.19 It is written he taketh the wise in their own craftinesse Indeed who it was that wrote this book is altogether uncertain only we may say that they build upon the fairest conjectures that hold Moses was the writer of it that it was the first scripture that was written As for these first words There was a man in the land of Vz c. It is hard to say what the land of Uz was where Iob dwelt and of whom it was so called whether of Uz the son of Arum the son of Shem Gen. 10.23 or of Huz the son of Nahor Abrahams brother Gen. 22.25 or of Uz the grandchild of Seir. Gen. 36.28 That it lay Eastward of Canaan and bordered upon the Sabaeans and Chaldaeans is evident in the story and the most probable opinion seems to be that it was Uz in the land of Edom or whereof the land of Edom was a part Lam. 4.21 Rejoyce and be glad O daughter of Edom that dwellest in the land of Vz and the rather because Teman also the country of Eliphaz one of Iobs friends and neighbours Chap. 2.11
these judgements which God hath laid upon thee dost thou still maintain thy self to be sincere and upright Being brought so low at the very point of death wilt thou still deny thy hypocrisie Take heed by acknowledging thy hypocrisie blesse God give glory to God and so die or curse God and die that is thou hadst as good discover by a desperate blasphemy at last what thou hast formerly been that so dying it may be seen that God hath dealt justly with thee in all that he hath laid upon thee But because in the third verse this phrase of retaining his integrity is used concerning Iob in a way of commendation the more ordinary exposition of these words I take to be the best which is this Dost thou still retain thine integrity That is after all these calamities and vain patience dost thou yet retain thy integrity alas what doth it profit you to what end do you still hope in God and pray to him and blesse him He still as a persecuting enemy pours out his wrath more and more upon you rather therefore curse God and die where by cursing God is meant as before chap. 1.11 whatever might tend to Gods reproach and this his wife like an infernall fury adviseth him to either as intimating that he had as good die cursing of God as blessing him since thereby he should at least satisfie his grieved and afflicted spirit or else as prescribing this as a means to put an end to all his insufferable miseries to wit by provoking God with his blasphemy to kill him outright Vers 10. But he said unto her Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh As if he should have said Thou dost not now wife speak like thy self this had not wont to be thy language even those women that are most silly and foolish most profane and irreligious most desperately violent in their passions could not speak more Atheistically and wickedly then thou hast now spoken more indeed like those idolatrous women that use to revile their sencelesse Gods then like a woman who had been instructed in the knowledge of the true ever living God and one that had hitherto carried her self as one that feared him Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil These words imply many reasons why it is fit that men should patiently endure those many afflictions that sometimes fall upon them 1. Because it is not fit that wretched man should bind God to his will and prescribe him what he should do to wit that he should still lade him with his blessings and never intermix any sorrows with them 2. Because the many blessings which he hath bestowed upon us far surpassing the evils he inflicts may well bind us by way of thankfulnesse to be content that he should exercise his dominion over us and afflict us when he seeth cause without any murmuring against him 3. Because the good he doth for us proves him a loving father and therefore should assure us that even in the evil he inflicts he seeks our advantage The cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it saith Christ Iohn 18.11 and so Heb. 12.9 We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live In all this did not Iob sin with his lips That is not so much as with speaking a hasty and impatient word which was indeed a high degree of patience Iames 3.2 If any man offend not in word the same is a perfect man and able also to bridle the whole body See the note chap. 1.22 Vers 11. Now when Iobs three friends heard c. That is his three speciall choice and most intimate friends to wit Eliphaz who is called the Temanite either because he was of the stock of Teman the son of Eliphaz the son of Esau Gen. 36.11 or else because he was of the land of Teman mentioned Ier. 49.7 and Bildad who is called the Shuhite perhaps because he was of the stock of Shuah the son of Abraham by Keturah Gen. 25.2 perhaps of some country or city so called and Zophar the Naamathite so called also for some such like reason it may be from the city Naamah Iosh 15.41 As for Elihu of whom mention is made chap. 32.2 he came not it seems with these his three friends but standing by as perhaps many others did and hearing their conference he brake out also and spake his mind It is said by some that these men were Kings but no such thing do we find in the Scripture Men they were doubtlesse of eminent learning and piety as by their discourse with Iob doth every where appear yea such to whom the Lord used to appear in dreams and visions Now a thing was secretly brought to me saith Eliphaz chap. 4.12 13. and mine ear received a little thereof in thoughts from the visions of the night as likewise men of great years and experience whence is that of Elihu concerning these men chap. 32.6 7. I am young and ye are very old I said Daies should speak and multitude of years should teach wisdome and Iobs faithfull friends doubtlesse they were and in their love to him came now to visit him and spake all they said to him out of a sincere desire of his good though they erred fouly in judging of his cause All which made the harsh censures which afterward they passed upon him the more bitter and grievous to be born For they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him to wit because it is a kind of ease to an afflicted man to see that others pity him and compassionate his case neither can words of comfort be acceptable unlesse they come from those of whom he is perswaded that they have a fellow-feeling of his sorrows Vers 12. And sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven It seems there were two severall waies of sprinkling dust sometimes they did barely sprinkle it upon their heads concerning which see the Notes Iosh 7.6 but sometimes again they took the dust and threw it up into the air so letting it fall back upon their heads for so we read also of the Iews that were enraged at Pauls preaching Acts 22.23 They cryed out and casting off their cloths threw dust into the aire and this circumstance of their throwing the dust toward heaven might signifie either that it was a day of grievous darknesse and affliction that was come upon them yea a day of dismall confusion wherein things were turned upside down and earth and aire as it were mingled together or else that the spectacle they beheld was such that they might well wish the heavens were overclouded with darknesse that they might not behold it Vers 13. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven daies and seven nights That is say some Expositours many daies and many nights
his conception because it could not be then known that a man child was conceived but the night of his birth But there is no necessity that we should thus understand the words for as Esa 48.8 Thou wast called a transgressour from the womb is the same with Thou hast been a transgressour from the womb So here the night wherein it was said a man child is conceived is to be understood in the same sense as if he had said the night wherein a man child was conceived from this verse to the beginning of the 42 chapter in the originall the Penman of the holy Ghost hath expressed all that passed betwixt Iob and his friends c. in meeter Vers 4. Let that day be darknesse This may be understood figuratively let it be alwaies a sad and sorrowfull day but I rather conceive that it was meant properly let it be alwaies a pitchy dark day even as darknesse it self The like may be said also concerning the last clause of this verse neither let the light shine upon it Let not God regard it from above c. That is let not the Lord afford that day the light of the Sun from above nor other the influences of the heavens that we enjoy a succession of light and darknesse fruitfull times and seasons it is from Gods care and providence over the world and hence is that expression which Moses useth concerning the land of Canaan Deut. 11.12 The eyes of the Lord thy God are alwaies upon it from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year So that when Iob wisheth that the Lord would not regard that day from above it is all one as if he had wished that God would not mind it nor yield it the least of those blessings which he affords to other daies Vers 5. Let darknesse and the shadow of death stain it c. That is a most extreme darknesse to wit first a darknesse like death that may be the very image and shadow of death or 2. a darknesse like that wherewith dead men are overwhelmed that lye buried in their graves or 3. a stifling killing darknesse such as where damps and thick vapours that are in deep pits that strike men suddenly dead or 4. a dismall horrible darknesse like enough to kill men with the very terrour of it for hereto hath that clause reference also in the end of the verse Let the blacknesse of the day terrifie it that is make it terrible to men All this may be comprehended under this phrase of the shadow of death and when Iob wished that such a darknesse might stain the day whereon he was born the ground of the expression is this that darknesse takes away the glory of a day and hides the beauty of all things whatsoever Vers 7. Lo let that night be solitary let no joyfull voice come therein That is whereas the night is usually the time of feasting dancing and all kind of jollity as at marriages and all other times of festivity and rejoycing whatsoever let it not be so on that unhappy night wherein I was conceived but quite contrary let it be solitary still and silent yea let the darknesse thereof be so terrible all the stars in heaven withdrawing their light that neither man nor beast may dare to stir or move either within dores or without Vers 8. Let them curse it that curse the day who are ready to raise up their mourning That is all that in the bitternesse of their sorrows are wont to curse the day as being weary both of life and light let them curse that night wherein I was conceived and boâ—n Some expositours understand this of fishermen and marriners and that because they read the last clause of this verse according to the translation which is set in the margin of our Bibles who are ready to raise up a Leviathan Such mens mouths are usually full of most fearfull execrations and curses and especially when they are imployed in taking whales that huge fish which is called a Leviathan chap. 41.1 And that because the fishing for the whale is a businesse of great charge and greater danger so that when they have seized upon one and are ready to raise him up if by any mishap they loose him again they are wont violently to break forth into all kind of fearfull imprecations against that unlucky and unfortunate day because great losses cause great passions specially in such ungodly wretches and therefore say they Iob here wisheth that these men might curse the night of his conception and to this we may adde too that some referre this to the cursing of those marriners who as they sail along lighting at unawares upon some place where they are ready to stirre or raise up a whale do thereupon seeing themselves in such imminent danger curse the day that they entred upon that voyage or that brought them within the reach of this sea-monster now ready to sink their vessell and drown them all Again others by Leviathan understand the Devil metaphorically so called to whom many authours in like manner apply that place Esa 27.1 In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the piercing serpent even Leviathan that crooked serpent and so conceive these words to be meant of those furious men that in their passions are wont to wish the Devil might take either themselves or others that are the occasion of their misery Let them curse it that in the extremity of their impatience not only use to curse the day but also are ready ever and anon in their rage to raise up a Leviathan that is to call upon the Devil to take them But now if we read the words according as our Translatours have rendered it Let them curse it that curse the day who are ready to raise up their mourning There is another exposition may be given of these words which seems far more apt and easie to wit that whereas there were usually in those times certain persons both men and women that were hired to howle and lament at funeralls or any other times of great calamitie and dismall sorrow and that because they could doe it artificially they were trained up to it and had certain sad and dolefull ditties wherein they did in a solemn and passionate manner curse sometimes the day of those sad accidents sometimes those that were the occasion of it to which custome many places of Scripture clearly have reference as Amos 5.16 They shall call the husband-man to the mourning and such as are skilfull of lamentation to wailing And so again Ier. 9.17 2 Chron. 35.25 Mat. 9.23 Ezek. 30.2 Ioel 1.15 These now that were so ready and prepared at all times to raise up a mourning or to call their company together to mourn these I say Iob desires might be imployed to curse the night wherein he was conceived And happily some one ditty they might have fullest of bitter imprecations that was called a
what just cause he had to be weary of his life to wit that in the daies of his prosperity he had not lived carelessely and securely as wicked men use to doe that when things go well with them confidently assure themselves that there shall never come a change and so walk on presumptuously in their own waies without any fear either of God or man but that he had alwaies considered before hand what might befall him and out of an awfull apprehension of the great alterations which God could make in his condition even in an instant he had alwaies walked humbly with God and looked narrowly to his waies that he might avoid his indignation and yet notwithstanding that which he feared was fallen upon him Had he in his prosperity glutted himself with pleasure and lived securely it had been another matter for to such God hath threatned destruction 1 Thes 5.3 When they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape But saith Iob I was not in safety I did not think my self safe but as one that ever feared what might come I still watched over my waies and yet these grievous troubles are come upon me CHAP. IV. Vers 2. IF we assay to commune with thee wilt thou be grieved c. Hitherto Iobs friends had forborn speaking to him partly because they were afraid they should by speaking encrease his grief and partly because by the extraordinary heavinesse of Gods hand upon him they began to think that doubtlesse he had alwaies been a secret hypocrite and therefore now at length the vengeance of God was in this fearfull manner fallen upon him But when now they had heard him in such an impatient manner curse the day of his birth and wish for death to put an end to all his miseries but especially when they heard him in his last words as it were justifying himself to wit by affirming that he had not by his security in the time of his prosperity provoked God to deal thus with him but rather had done what he could to prevent it this confirmed them in their opinion that his heart was not right with God And therefore Eliphaz as being haply the elder and the chief of them begins now with him resolving to reprove him for his impatience and to prove to him that God useth not to plague any but wicked men as he was now plagued and therefore it was fit that he should repent and turn to God and not justifie himself Now because he feared that this Iob would hardly take in good part he begins with a profession that he was loth to grieve him but that he could not forbear If we assay to commune with thee wilt thou be grieved that is I fear thou wilt and it is that which hath made us forbear so long but who can withhold himself from speaking that is hearing thee thus dishonour God and justifie thy self as if all were well with thee when Gods fearfull judgements upon thee do manifest the contrary it is not possible we should hold our peace if we have any care of thy soul or be tender of Gods dishonour it must need constrain us to speak Vers 3. Behold thou hast instructed many c. This is the first argument which Eliphaz useth to condemn Iobs impatience and to discover to him that he had only hitherto carried himself hypocritically in the profession of religion to wit that he had been a great Instructer and comforter of others yea many others in time of their calamity fear and sorrow and yet now when it came to be his portion to be in the like misery no man could be more faint-hearted nor more impatient and rebellious against God then he was To strengthen the weak hands and the feeble knees and to uphold him that was falling is to comfort those that are ready to faint and sink in despair because of any grievous calamities that lie upon them or are unavoidably as they conceive coming towards them as Esa 35.3 4. Strengthen yee the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees say to them that are of a fearfull heart be strong and so likewise Heb. 12 12. 2 Sam. 4 1. Ier. 6 24. 1 Sam. 23 16. Now because Iob had done this to others but minded not now to do himself what he had taught others to do this Eliphaz presseth upon him as an argument that there was never in him that truly religious heart which he made shew of to others Vers 6. Is not this thy fear thy confidence thy hope and the uprightnesse of thy waies That is having made such a shew in thy prosperity of fearing God of walking uprightly of great hope and confidence which thou hast in God whereas now when Gods hand is fallen upon thee thou carriest thy self in a quite contrary manner to what thou madest a shew of and didst advise others to doth not this plainly discover that all this was counterfeit in thee and that thou didst but aime at thine own advantage in all that thou hast done wherein when thou findest that God would no longer satisfie thy aimes now thou art ready to fly in Gods face and to spurn against him This is the drift of these words And perhaps in the first place he speaks of his fear of God because Iob had in a manner boasted of that in the two last verses of the former chapter Vers 7. Remember I pray thee who ever perished being innocent c. That is call to mind whether thou hast ever seen or read or heard of any one of Gods righteous servants that have been destroyed by the avenging hand of God and so utterly cast off and forsaken by him This is another argument whereby Eliphaz seeeks to proove him not to have been so fearfull to offend God as he pretended to wit because such plagues God used not to lay upon the righteous as were now poured upon him Vers 8. Even as I have seen they that plow iniquity c. Wicked men are said to plow iniquity and sow wickednesse because 1. They plot before hand how to accomplish their injurious purposes as husbandmen by plowing the ground make it ready for the seed 2. They follow their plot with all possible pains and diligence moving every stone turning up every clod assaying by all means they can think of all kind of injustice treachery and deceit to effect what they have contrived 3. They act their wicked devices cunningly and artificially they are not bunglers in the waies of sinning as some men are but manage their work with such curious cunning that nothing can be done with more exact skill for the accomplishment of their cursed devices and 4. They do all this in hope of some fruit and advantage that shall redound to them thereby And then again they are said to reap the same because in time they reap that which is the proper fruit of such waies that is
therefore to all this Iob now tells him that he was so worn out with the miseries he had undergone that he could not hope in regard of any strength in him that his life should be prolonged for the recovering of such a happy condition This is the drift of these words what is my strength that I should hope and so likewise do many Expositours understand the next clause also what is mine end that I should prolong my life for they conceive that by his end here is meant the end of his misery that he could not see any likelyhood that his miseries should come to an end and so should therefore desire still to live or rather that it is meant of the end of his life that mans life being so fading and transitory and so soon at an end there was no reason why he should hope long to prolong his life especially lying under the pressure of such insupportable miseries and therefore had just cause rather to desire that he might be presently cut off But there is another Exposition of the last clause which others and that upon good grounds do most approove what is mine end that I should prolong my life as if he had said I know no such evil in coming to mine end that I should desire to prolong my life the misery of dying cannot be so great thar I should desire to avoid that to spin out my life in that grievous misery I now undergo since after death I am sure to be in a blessed condition let them therefore that have no hope in their death desire the prolonging of their life but as for me being assured what mine end will be I see not why I may not well desire death rather then life Vers 12. Is my strength the strength of stones or is my flesh of brasse To wit that I should hope to outwear these grievous miseries I lie under or for the present endure them without complaint as if I had no sence nor feeling of them No I am made of flesh and bones as well as others and therefore must needs feel what I endure nor can long endure what I feel Vers 13. Is not my help in me and is wisedome driven quite from me Either hereby is meant that Iob was not yet so void of wisedome and judgement but that he was able to discern between right and wrong and so accordingly to judge of their unjust dealing with him to help himself and maintain his cause against all their false accusations or else rather that he had in him that which would sustain and support him against all their harsh censures to wit his innocency and the testimony of a good conscience and that he did still continue in the fear of God which is the only true wisedome And indeed this exposition agrees well with that of the Apostle Gal. 6.4 But let every man proove his own work and then shall he have rejoycing in himself alone and not in another Vers 15. My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook and as the stream of brooks they passe away c. Iob here compares his friends to winter brooks that are full of water in the winter and are dryed up in the summer and the reason why he so compares them is more fully explained in the following verses to wit that as those brooks when the traveller passeth by them in the winter time having then no need of them overflow their banks and by reason of rain and snow are full of water and blackish by reason of the ice which may be meant of their being black by reason of the deepnesse of waters or of the colour of ice and so being frozen seem stable and like to continue but then in the warm summer they are suddenly dryed up and gone at first haply there are severall little drilling streams here and there passing through the sands which are therefore called vers 18. the paths of their way but at last even they also are dryed up and vanish to nothing and so when the troups of Tema and companies of Sheba that is those that travell through the countries of Tema and Sheba of Arabia the desert and happy where they went by troups because of the danger of robbers that had formerly taken notice of those brooks in winter time do afterwards in summer time come thither to seek for water to quench their thirst whereof they are exceeding desirous in those hot countries they find none and so are ashamed and confounded as men use to be that have long hoped certainly for any thing and then in time of need their expectation fails them so did his friends deceive him now for in the time of his prosperity when he had no need of their comfort they made a fair show of great friendship but now in his afflictions when he had need of their comfort they failed him quite Vers 19. The troups of Tema looked the companies of Sheba waited for them That is the inhabitants of Arabia the desert and Arabia the happy travelling either for merchandise or other occasions from those countries for the posterity of Tema the son of Ishmael Gen. 25.15 did inhabit Arabia the desert and the posterity of Sheba who was the grandchild of Abraham by Keturah Gen. 25.3 did inhabit the other Arabia Vers 21. For now ye are nothing ye see my casting down and are afraid That is ye yield me no comfort Iust such as those brooks before spoken of are in the summer to the thirsty travellers such are you to me for having made great show of love in the time of my prosperity when I had no need of you now in the day of my calamity when I stand in need of your friendship ye are nothing not one drop of comfort comes from you my affliction you see and are afraid that is you stand astonished not able to speak one word of comfort yea ye are ready to fly off from me as being afraid to be infected by me and are startled at me as a fearfull spectacle of Gods vengeance one upon whom the wrath of God is poured forth because of my sins Vers 22. Did I say bring unto me or give a reward for me of your substance The drift of Iob in these words might be either to clear himself from that charge of being so impatient merely for the losse of his estate because his not seeking to them to have his losses repaired did plainly discover that it was not that which did so exceedingly pinch him or else to aggravate their uncharitablenesse If he had desired of them a supply of his wants or help in his troubles it had been fit they should have done it and was it not hard then they should not afford him a mouth full of counsell or comfort or lastly to shew how causelessely they were so harsh to him Did I say bring unto me c. That is being deprived of my estate I sent not to you to relieve me or to give me any
thing to supply my wants or to rescue that which I had out of the hands of those that spoyled me of my substance had I been thus or any other way burthensome or chargeable to you it had been the lesse strange that you should be thus bitter for such I know is the common guise of the world to insult over those that seek to them for succour and to use them as reproachfully as they please but I neither have nor do yet desire any such thing of you All that I desire of you is that you would comfort me in my affliction and it is very strange you cannot afford me that Vers 24. Teach me and I will hold my tongue c. That is it is not enough to passe harsh censures upon me as that I have been an hypocrite and that for my wickednesse all this is fallen upon me convince me of this by evident proofs and I will yield presently I will complain no more I will reply no more against you Vers 25. But what doth your arguing reproove That is though right words are powerfull to convince men yet this kind of arguing which you use hath no power of reproof in it you have charged me with many things but you have convinced me of nothing Vers 26. Do you imagine to reproove words c. Two severall waies this expostulation of Iobs may be well understood 1. As if he charged them with an unjust slighting that which he had spoken Do you imagine to reproove words c. that is do you think that all I have spoken is mere empty words and that there is no weight of reason in them Do you conceit that you speak nothing but clear reason and I nothing but idle frothy discourse the speeches of an idle headed man who cares not what he saith or saith he knows not what yea the speeches of one that is desperate which are as wind that is the speeches of a mad man who being in a condition that seems desperate and hopelesse is therefore as a man distracted and speaks he knows not what words no more to be regarded then a puffe of wind and indeed this last expression doth in this sense agree with other places where vain regardlesse words are compared to wind as Ier. 5.13 The prophets shall become wind and Iob 15.3 Should a wise man utter vain knowledge and fill his belly with the East wind or 2. As if he accused them of captiousnesse and seeking to contend with him without cause Do you imagine to reproove words that is Do ye continue to catch at my words do ye think it enough to take an advantage of some word or other that I have spoken not considering the truth of the cause and the aime and intention of him that speakes them yea and those too the speeches of one that is in a desperate condition as I now am not considering that the words of men in such a condition are usually as wind that is sudden violent and full of passion as if he should have said in this ye deale not fairly with me Vers 27. Yea ye overwhelm the fatherlesse and you dig a pit for your friend That is this your insulting over me and trampling upon me in my miseries when I am in such a poor condition forsaken of all not having one left to plead for me is all one as if you should overwhelm and oppresse the fatherlesse that are left to the wide world and have no body usually to stand up in their defence and whilst you thus seek as you do to intrap me in my words and to take advantage against any word that falls from me this is no other but to dig a pit for your friend And indeed the captiousnesse of men in cavilling at that which they hear spoken by others and picking a quarrell against them for it is usually in the Scriptures compared to digging of pits and laying of snares treacherously to catch men in as Esa 29.21 where it is said of wicked men that they make a man an offender for a word and lay a snare for him that reprooveth in the gate Vers 28. Now therefore be content look upon me c. Iob having hitherto chiefly complained of the uncharitablenesse of his friends in passing such rigid censures upon him because of his complaints he now again addresseth himself to set forth the grievousnesse of his misery and to that end doth first in these words desire his friends to attend to what he should farther say Now therefore be content that is be no longer carried away with passion but be willing and yield to hear that I shall say and so to consider better of my condition look upon me that is slight me not turn not away your eyes from me in discontent but view me well and observe well the condition wherein I am as I shall discover it to you for this clause may be meant both of beholding him with their bodily eyes and of marking what he should say concerning his condition by that which I shall declare yea by that which you may see with your eyes it is evident and clear whether I have lyed or do lie unto you yet some understand this somewhat otherwise thus look upon me for it is evident unto you if I lie as if he had said come let us quietly argue out this businesse a little farther I am not afraid to dispute it with you face to face and no doubt upon a more sober debate the truth will out you will soon discover in my words or in my countenance whether that which I have spoken be true or false Vers 29. Return I pray you let it not be iniquity c. Some understand these words Return I pray you as spoken by Iob to call back his friends that were ready to goe away in a pet or in a fume But we need not I conceive build upon such a supposition the words are clear enough if we understand them to be a perswasion of his friends to consider again more equally of his cause and condition Return I pray you as if he should have said you have hitherto cast me off as a reprobate as a wicked wretch forsaken of God why because you were carried away with passion and did not seriously and exactly weigh my condition Return therefore from these unjust and passionate censures betake your selves to a more equall review of my estate to consider of and discusse these things more seriously then yet you have done let it not be iniquity that is consider well of what I suffer and in your disputing and reasoning with me let right prevail and deal not unjustly with me or do not charge me with iniquity till we have again weighed the matter yea return again my righteousnesse is in it that is return again to a second consideration or debate of my cause the result will be that my righteousnesse and innocency will appear in the businesse or my righteousnesse depends upon your examining
of my cause yet more exactly Vers 30. Is there iniquity in my tongue cannot my tast discern perverse things That is do I or have I spoken that which is unjust am I not able to judge what is true and what is false what is just and what is unjust or observing what I shall farther now say you shall find that I will not utter any thing false or unjust and that I am able to judge of things and that I have not spoken a misse in defending my innocency as you think I have done CHAP. VII Vers 1. IS there not an appointed time to man upon earth c. Some read the first clause of this verse Is there not a warfare to man upon earth and accordingly conceive that mans life is by Iob here compared to a warfare both because as souldiers are continually exposed to variety of dangers and all kind of hard labour and sorrows hunger and thirst and heat and cold and watching and wearisome travels c. So is man in this life subject to all kind of miseries and likewise as souldiers are hired but for a time and then receive their pay and at length are discharged so is it with men there is a time to wit the hour of death when they are discharged from all the miseries of this life But the best translation I conceive is that in our Text Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth for that best agreeth with the second clause are not his daies also like the daies of an hireling However the meaning of the words is evident for Iob here returns as he had desired his friends they might do vers 29. of the former chapter to a review of his estate and undertakes to make it manifest to them that it was not such an heinous offence as they would make it that he had wished for death and desired that God would cut him off considering the grievous misery that he endured to which end in the first place he here wisheth them to consider that there is an appointed time for man upon earth and that his daies also are like the daies of an hireling that is as the hired servant is hired but for a certain time and so though he endures much hard labour during the time of his service yet that time being run out then there is an end and he takes his rest so is it with man God hath allotted him a set time for his daies upon earth which are indeed few and full of labour and sorrow like the daies of an hireling but then death brings rest so from thence afterwards concluding that it was no more strange that he should desire death especially if the unusuall miseries that he underwent were all weighed then that an hireling should desire an end of his hard service c. Vers 2. As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow That is the night and indeed as in all places the rest and cool of the night is most welcome to the weary labourer so especially in those hot countries where they must needs by day be scorched with the scalding heat of the Sun Vers 3. So am I made to possesse moneths of vanity c. That is in such a sad and wearisome condition panting and longing after some ease and rest do I spend my daies only it is worse with me then it is with the servant and hireling for he when he hath wrought all day receives his wages at night and then can lie down quietly and take his rest but I am in misery whole moneths together and when the night comes that is as laborious and troublesome to me as the day is and that is all the wages and the reward I have for the misery I undergoe and therefore well may I desire the shadow of death as the labouring servant doth the shadow of the night as knowing in this life rest I shall find none By moneths of vanity are meant moneths of restlesse misery wherein he enjoyed no comfort nothing of the good and rest he expected but mere vanity and vexation of spirit and when he saith he was made to possesse these moneths of vanity his meaning is that these sad times and sore afflictions were certainly and unavoidably imposed upon him by the hand of God and lay upon him continually without intermission in which regard he had cause enough to desire he might die and be rid of these miseries Vers 5. My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust c. This he mentioned to shew the strangenesse of his misery and so why he thought the time of his life so tedious and irksome to wit that his flesh was clothed that is covered all over from head to foot as with a garment with worms and clods of dust where by worms are meant either lice or very worms which do sometimes breed in the corruption that distils out of sores and ulcers when they are not constantly washed and kept clean and by clods of dust are meant either the very clods of dust which whilst he lay tumbling on the ground did cleave to his ulcerous body or rather the very dry scabs of his sores which were like clods of dust or the scurf wherewith when he had clawed his scabs his flesh was overspread and that his skin was broken to wit chapped with extreme drynesse or broken with ulcers and so with the filth and corrupt matter that issued thence very loathsome Vers 6. My daies are swifter then a weavers shuttle and are spent without hope That is my life is suddenly spent in a manner and gone without hope of recovery And this Iob adds to prevent an objection which his friends had indeed harped upon chap. 5.18 c. to wit that if he would repent and turn to God as he ought to doe God would put an end to all his miseries and prolong his daies No saith he there is no hope of that I may plainly see that my end is at hand and why should I then wish for any thing but the hastening of my death to put an end to my miseries Vers 7. O remember that my life is wind Iob having as he thought cleared it sufficiently that a man in misery might as well long for death and desire it as the hireling may desire the night for rest c. especially being in such a condition as he was without hope of seeing any other end of his misery but only death he turns here his speech to God and desires him to remember that his life was but a blast of wind that is suddenly gone without hope of recovery as the Psalmist also expresseth it Psal 78.39 he remembred that they were but flesh a wind that passeth away and cometh not again intending thereby that his desire was that since he was in such a hopelesse condition the Lord would therefore not let his hand be so heavy upon him but suddenly cut him off and so put a period to his sorrows Mine eye shall no
more see good That is I shall certainly die nor shall ever live to enjoy good day more in this world for in the scripture phrase to see good is nothing else but to enjoy good Ier. 17.6 He shall be like the heath in the desert saith the Lord of him that trusteth in man and shall not see when good cometh And so also to see evil is to suffer evil Psal 90.15 Make us glad according to the daies wherein thou hast afflicted us and the years wherein we have seen evill and to see death is to die Psal 89.48 What man is he that liveth and shall not see death Vers 8. Thine eyes are upon me and I am not That is I shall be cut off or shall not be found amongst the living as Rahell weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children because they were not Ier. 31.15 and Gen. 42.13 The youngest is this day with our father and one is not As for the first words of this clause concerning Gods eyes being upon him there may be severall expositions given of them 1. That they are spoken to set forth the frailty of his life that if God should but cast his eyes upon him to cut him off he should soon be destroyed one glaunce of his eyes would do it 2. That they are spoken as a motive to perswade the Lord to shew him mercy speedily because else help would come too late if God should relent and turn his eyes in mercy upon him he should not be found amongst the living to whom mercy could be shewed and 3. That they are only spoken as that which went before to set forth his hopelesse condition how certain it was that the misery he lay in would at length yea and that ere long too make an end of him and therefore consequently that he had reason to desire that God would not prolong his misery but cut him off instantly for having in the former words said that the time was coming when those that saw him should see him no more he adds thine eyes are upon me and I am not that is yea if thou seekest for me amongst the living thou shalt not find me Iob herein speaking of God as is usuall after the manner of men And this I conceive to be the best exposition because it agrees best with the drift of Iobs speech and that which went before Vers 9. So he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more To wit to live in this world as formerly as Iob explains himself in the following verse He shall return no more to his house c. Iob therefore doth not in these words speak as one that knew not or believed not the resurrection of the dead at the last day but only shewed the impossibility of mans returning after he is once dead and laid in the grave to live again in this world amongst his friends and acquaintance as formerly Vers 10. Neither shall his place know him any more That is he shall no more come to enjoy the place of office or dignity which formerly he enjoyed or he shall be no more known in the place of his habitation amongst his family and friends as formerly as it is said of the flourishing flower of the field Psal 103.16 The wind passeth over it and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more that is it shall be no more seen in the place where it grew Vers 11. Therefore I will not refrain my mouth c. That is since my grief and miseries are so intolerably great and my condition in that regard desperate without hope of recovery I will never forbear to speak or restrain my self in speaking but will rather pour out my complaints freely in whatsoever my soul imbittered with grief shall suggest to me and so hereby will ease my mind overladen with anguish and sorrow whilst I may do it there being no hope of redresse or ease any other way for me Vers 12. Am I a sea or a whale that thou settest a watch over me That is am I such a monster of men that thou must deal with me as with no other man am I so proud and rebellious against thee or likely to break forth with such fury and unresistable rage upon men to hurt them as the sea doth sometimes and even to swallow them up as the whale swallows up a multitude of smaller fishes and overturns ships and gallies when they come in his way that thereupon as thou hast set barres and dores to shut up the swelling waves of the sea saying hitherto shalt thou come and no farther and here shall thy proud waves be stayed as thou dost by thy providence watch in a speciall manner over the whale the king over all the children of pride as he is called ch 41.34 and hast shut him up within the bounds of the great Ocean that so the lesser fish may the more safely live in other seas so thou settest a watch over me curbing and restraining me with these ulcers and many other miseries least otherwise I should break forth into rebellion against thee or to the destruction of those that live about me or is there such an overbearing might and strength in me as in the sea or the whale that nothing but the almighty power of God can withstand or restrain me that no lesse then these many grievous and mighty afflictions can keep me within compasse as if he should have said surely it is not so I have neither been so stubborn against God nor so harmefull to men that I should need to be so shackled nor am I so strong but that a smaller matter if there had been any such danger might have kept me in Vers 13. My couch shall ease my complaint That is my couch shall ease my pain and sorrows the cause of my complaint by yielding me some little refreshing rest and sleep and so consequently shall allay the bitternesse of my complaints too Vers 14. Then thou scarest me with dreams and terrifiest me through visions Dreams and visions may be meant both of one and the same thing or else we may thus distinguish them that whilst he slept he was scared with terrible and fearfull dreames and whilst he lay awake with ghastly sights and visions It is indeed most probable that Satan did both waies seek to disturb him that so he might the better drive him to despair and that this it is which Iob here complains of and bemoans and yet because Satan can do nothing but as he receives a Commission from God therefore Iob speaks thus to God Thou scarest me with dreames and terrifiest me through visions Vers 15. So that my soul chooseth strangling and death rather then my life That is hereupon it is that I had rather die if I might have my choice yea though it were by any kind of death rather then to live in this miserable condition wherein I now live for strangling he mentions in the first
clause to signifie that he would preferre any violent bitter shamefull death before life and the second clause death rather then my life which is in the originall death rather then my bones discovers the ground of his choice to wit the miserable condition wherein he lived being become a very Anatomy nothing but skin and bones or having a body that was consumed and rotted even to the very bones which made him choose any death rather then such a life and indeed considering that Satan desired at first that God would touch his flesh and his bones we need not doubt but he had gone as deep as his Commission would permit him Vers 16. I would not live alway To wit in this world and in this sad and miserable condition wherein I now live my sorrows make me loath life so that if I might live alwaies and never die I should rather choose to die then to live under such a burden of affliction as now I endure Let me alone for my daies are vanity That is do not support and continue me in this misery but let me alone that I may die for my daies are no better then vanity and why should I desire to live in such a vain condition or else withdraw thine hand and do not afflict me so grievously for there will be no need of it my daies are very vanity so that a smaller thing then what I suffer would soon make an end of me Vers 17. What is man that thou shouldest magnifie him c. This is not meant of the great blessings which God hath poured forth upon men concerning which the like expressions are used in other places as Psal 8.45 c. and Psal 144.3 to wit that such a base wretch as man is was not worthy of so much honour as God had done him and did him daily in making such precious account of him in causing all the creatures even the Angels themselves to be serviceable to him yea in keeping such a watchfull eye of providence over him to support and protect him and to supply him with all things requisite for him day after day But first it may be meant of the great honour and riches whereto God doth many times advance men and had advancad Iob in particular reflecting upon his former greatnesse for he was the greatest man in the East and considering how extremely miserable he was now become he breaks forth into this expostulation what is man that thou shouldest magnifie him c. Why should the Lord doe so much to magnifie and set up a man that may be so suddenly cast down again It is as if a man should lay out much to trim and adorn a house that may be cast down with every puffe of wind or 2. Rather it is meant of his afflictions and his continuall overpressing evils to wit that it was too great a magnifying of so base and despicable a worm as man is that the great God of heaven and earth should so sollicitously contend with him as a Prince should too much honour a poor servant that should bend all his might to contend with him and to prevail over him watching daily to take some advantage against him and making it his great study and businesse to crush and ruine him So that as David spake to Saul 1 Sam. 24.14 After whom is the King of Israel come out after whom dost thou pursue After a dead dog after a flea so doth Iob here speak to God What is man that thou shouldest magnifie him as if he should have said it is strange to me that thou shouldest vouchsafe so farre to honour such a base vild wretch as man is as to contend with him that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him that is that thou shouldest mind or regard him that thou shouldest so sollicitously intend him either to crush him as if there were any danger in him or to humble him and to doe him good by the evils thou layest upon him that thou shouldest visit him every morning and try him every moment that is that thou shouldest so continually day after day yea every moment of the day and so diligently as those that rise early in the morning to dispatch their businesse they desire earnestly to be done observe and mark his waies and follow him with thy chastisements and tryalls The whole drift of this speech is to shew that poor base man was not worthy of so much honour that the great God of heaven and earth should so farre buisy himself about such a wretch to contend with him and to shew forth his power against him Vers 19. How long wilt thou not depart from me c. That is how long will it be ere thou wilt give over afflicting me and let me be at ease though it be but for a moment till I swallow down my spittle that is for a little while even but whilst I take my breath which is the very expression Iob useth afterward chap. 9.18 He will not suffer me to take my breath Vers 20. I have sinned what shall I doe unto thee O thou preserver of men As if he had said It is true indeed that I have sinned though I cannot yield what my friends would charge upon me that I have been secretly a wicked and vild hypocrite and so have drawn these extraordinary calamities upon my self yet that I have many waies sinned and provoked thee by my sins to displeasure I freely acknowledge there is no need that thou shouldest hold me still upon the wrack to draw this from me I freely confesse it and what shall I doe unto thee O thou preserver of men that is teach me O Lord what I shall doe or rather I know not what to doe I cannot make that undone which is done I can no way justifie or excuse my sins before thee who art the searcher of the heart and reins I can by no means make thee amends for that I have done or satisfie thy justice all I can doe is thus to confesse and acknowledge my fault and seeing therefore thou art the gracious preserver of men seeing thou dost of thy great goodnesse nourish cherish defend and sustain men and takest it as one of thy glorious titles that thou art the Saviour and preserver of men why dost thou destroy me whilst thou preservest others and dealest not with me according to thy wonted grace and goodnesse to other men Why hast thou set me as a mark against thee c. That is seeing I confesse my sins and humble my self before thee why dost thou still follow me with so many miseries and afflictions as if thou hadst culled me out from others as a mark against whom thou didst mean to empty thy quiver and as it were to make it thy sport to make me miserable so that I am a burden to my self that is I am not able to endure my self my very life and being is a burden to me Parallel hereto is that complaint of the Church Lam.
so they conceive the sense of the words to be this that if he had called that is if he had prayed and made supplication to his judge for mercy as he had said before in the foregoing verse and God had answered him that is had consented to grant him his desire yet he would not believe that he had hearkened to his voice that is that he had done it in respect to him or his prayer for any worth in him or in any service that he could perform and that because his hand was now so heavy upon him And indeed either of these expositions do well agree with the scope of Iobs answer to Bildad Vers 17. For he breaketh me with a tempest and multiplyeth my wounds without cause As if he should have said they are not ordinary calamities that God hath laid upon me No he hath broken me in pieces as with a thunderbolt from heaven and multiplyeth my wounds still more and more and that without cause that is without any cause manifested or without any cause that I can discover not being conscious to my self of any so great wickednesse I have committed that should provoke him to lay so heavy a punishment upon me Vers 19. If I speak of strength loe he is strong c. That is how should I hope to contend with God either it must be by strength that I must defend my self against him or by pleading my cause in a way of justice and judgement Now alas if I speak of strength if I hope that way to contend with him behold he is strong that is absolutely infinitely strong so that there is none that can possibly stand before him and if I speak of judgement hoping by a way of legall proceedings to clear mine innocency who shall set me a time to plead that is where should I find a judge that having power over us both should appoint me a day wherein I should plead my cause and answer what the Lord could object against me Vers 20. If I justifie my self mine own mouth shall condemn me c. That is though I should be admitted to plead my cause against the Lord yet should I undertake to justifie my self mine own mouth would condemne me to wit either because the Lord by many severall particulars he might examine me upon and charge me with would easily so farre convince me that I should be forced with mine own mouth to condemn my self or else because not having any sufficient plea for the defence of my self mine own lips would discover the weaknesse of my cause I should be intangled in mine own words and even those things which I should speak for my self would be retorted upon me to proove me perverse or else lastly because this very affirming of my self to be righteous would be abundantly enough to condem me since first it is sinfull for man to boast of his own righteousnesse and secondly thereby I should lie against the truth and should discover most desperate boldnesse in contending against God yea I should charge God with falsehood and injustice who hath concluded all under sin and doth daily correct the most righteous for their transgressions all which agrees fully with that of St Iohn 1. Iohn 1.10 If we say that we have not sinned we make him a lyar and his word is not in us Vers 21. Though I were perfect yet would I not know my soul I would despise my life That is though I did verily perswade my self that I were perfectly righteous yet would I not belieue mine own heart herein nor regard mine own soul in this to stand upon mine innocency as knowing that there might be much amisse in me which I discerned not in my self but even for fear of tryall before the great God I should despise my life that is be glad I were dead yea in point of justification I would utterly disclaime and despise the righteousnesse of my life and conversation and would acknowledge my self an unprofitable servant Or else the meaning of these words may be given thus though upon pleading my cause God should find me and acknowledge me perfect yet I could take no joy in this nor durst exalt my self but should despise this righteousnesse of mine own life Vers 22. This is one thing therefore I said it he destroyeth the perfect and the wicked That is this one thing is sure and certain or this is the only one thing wherein we differ and whereto all that I have spoken tendeth for as for those many other things you have delivered concerning God therein we joyntly agree which being clear and evident therefore I said it I could not forbear plainly to averre it and do and shall still maintain it namely that God destroyeth the perfect no lesse then the wicked Hitherto Iob hath made good that he made no more question of the justice of Gods proceedings then his friends did but now he shows wherein the difference lay betwixt them to wit that whereas they maintained that it should alwaies be well with the righteous and ill with the wicked here in this world and that therefore either the righteous should ever live in prosperity or if the Lord did correct them for a while when they had gone astray yet upon their repentance he would soon show mercy and not suffer them to end their daies in such miseries and on the other side either he would suddenly destroy the wicked or if he suffered them to flourish for a time he would afterwards pour out his vengeance the more heavily upon them he for his part was farre otherwise perswaded namely that for these outward things Gods dealing was many times in every regard the same both toward the righteous and toward the wicked and that therefore there was no just cause at all why his friends should condemn him for an hypocrite and a wicked man because of the afflictions that God had laid upon him and thus he answers what Bildad had said chap. 8.20 Behold God will not cast away the perfect man neither will he help the evil doers Vers 23. If the scourge slay suddenly he will laugh at the tryall of the innocent As if he should have said when the Lord sends any sudden calamity that sweeps away both the wicked and the righteous the wicked by way of just vengeance the righteous to proove and try them there can be nothing said against the Lords proceeding herein he will laugh at the tryall of the innocent he will and may justly scorn the plea of any mans innocency though the uprightest man breathing and that because the most righteous have by their sins deserved worse then he laies upon them nor can alledge any just cause why they should be exempted from such calamities Vers 24. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked he covereth c. This text of Scripture is very difficult and accordingly it is diversly expounded some conceive that by the wicked here is meant the Devil and so conceive the
hitherto afraid to speak yet now I am resolved to give the reins to my imbittered spirit I will make a full complaint of my sufferings and there at all adventures will leave it upon my self that God may consider of it and let him doe with me as shall seem good unto him And so these words are indeed to the same purpose with what he had said before chap. 7.11 I will not refrain my mouth I will speak in the anguish of my spirit c. of which see the Note there Vers 2. I will say unto God do not condemn me c. Many Expositours conceive that before Iob comes to plead with God and to pour out his complaints before him as he had resolved he would doe he doth here deprecate the indignation of the Lord therein Do not condemne me that is though I take a little freedome to plead my cause before thee do not blame me be not offended with me for it yea though any thing should slip from me rashly or inconsiderately charge it not upon me which is much as Abraham spake when he pleaded with God Gen. 18.30 Oh let not the Lord be angry and I will speak But the most of Expositours do I conceive better understand this to be the effect of these words to wit that either God would withdraw his hand from punishing him so severely as he had done or else that he would shew him why it was that he contended with him Do not condemne me that is deal not with me thus as a wicked wretch whom thou hast condemned to be cast off and destroyed By the judgements thou hast laid upon me thou dost in a manner proclaim me to be such a one and so all men are ready to judge and therefore either acquit me from this censure by withdrawing the stroke of thine hand or else shew me wherefore thou contendest with me Questionlesse Iob was not ignorant that by sin he had deserved to be condemned and severely punished but he argues with God here as in relation to the Covenant of grace which God had made with our first parents after the fall wherein God was pleased to promise pardon of sins and all other blessings to those that by faith embracing the promised seed should thereupon fear him and endeavour to walk holily and righteously before him all their daies Now because Iob was not conscious to himself but that he had thus as one in Covenant with God sincerely given himself to serve and fear him therefore he desires that he would not condemne him and cast him off but that he would shew him what it was he aimed at in afflicting him so or what it was in him wherewith he had been provoked to deal so severely with him that so he might amend what was amisse and not provoke him any longer Vers 3. Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppresse c. As if he should have said that is farre from thee thou art not wont to doe so and there are three particulars which he mentions that he would imply are not with any reason to be conceived of God 1. That he should oppresse him 2. That he should despise the work of his own hands and 3. That he should shine upon the counsell of the wicked By oppressing him is meant a causelesse laying so many judgements upon him both in his estate children and person by despising the work of his own hands is meant the destroying of his creature as a worthlesse despicable thing without so much as vouchsafing first to try convince and condemn him and by shining upon the counsell of the ungodly is meant favouring and prospering their counsells and endeavours Now none of these Iob would have us know can be charged upon God for this phrase Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppresse that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands c. doth imply either that it cannot be just and right in the eyes of God who is infinitely just and good and hates all oppression in others to deal thus with his poor creature or else that it could be neither pleasure nor profit nor honour to the Almighty to deal so with man and that therefore however sinfull men sitting in seats of justice may out of by-respects to some advantage that is like to redound to themselves or merely to please themselves oppresse the innocent and favour the wicked yet no such advantages can move God unjustly to oppresse or destroy his creature Besides because he is the work of his own hands he cannot make so little account of him as to destroy him without cause Every workman loves the work which himself hath made a potter when he hath made a vessell of clay will not without any cause take it and dash it against a wall and much lesse then can we think that God whose tender mercies are over all his works Psal 145.9 will causelessely destroy his own creature whatever he may doe by his sovereign power As for that last clause or that thou shouldest shine upon the counsell of the wicked though divers Expositours understand it to be spoken as in relation to Iobs friends namely that God by laying such heavy judgements upon Iob might seem to favour and make good their judging him to be an hypocrite yet in regard I can hardly think that because these his friends did rashly and unjustly censure him to be a wicked hypocrite therefore he would runne into the same sin of judging them to be wicked men I should rather conceive that Iob spake this generally of Gods favouring wicked men without respect to any particulars or that he might have respect if to any to those Sabeans and Chaldeans who had unjustly surprised his estate and went away tryumphing in their good successe though God may prosper wicked men yet he never favours them or their wicked designs Vers 4. Hast thou eyes of flesh or seest thou as man seeth As if he had said thou seest into the secrets of mens hearts and dost not behold only that which appears outwardly as man doth yea thou knowest all things perfectly And this Iob adds either to shew that therefore God could not deal with him as he did out of ignorance though his friends not knowing his heart condemned him for an hypocrite yet God the searcher of all hearts could not be so deceived or else to intimate that God therefore needed not by laying such sore afflictions upon him to endeavour to make a discovery of what he was or what he had done as earthly judges are sometimes forced by tortures to search into the secret offences of those that are to be tryed before them I know that some Expositours do give other interpretations of these words as that God is not wont for ever to look with a fierce and revengefull eye upon those that have sinned against him as men use to doe as it is said of Saul 1 Sam. 18.9 Saul eyed David from that day and forward or that God
be the least memoriall left of them to put him in mind of what he had suffered thou shalt remember it as waters that passe away that is as a land-floud though it overflow all for a time yet passeth away and is gone on a sudden and then there is no sign of it left to make one think there had ever been such mighty streams of water there so should he be freed from those flouds of affliction that had broken in upon him insomuch that there should be no memoriall of them left but they should quite be forgotten 3. That God should so abundantly blesse him with all blessings inward and outward that his present prosperity should quite put out of his mind all his former misery even as the waters that run by in a river are no sooner out of sight then out of mind by reason of a new supply of water that comes still in the room of that which passeth away And indeed usually in the Scripture an eminency of prosperity is expressed in these tearms that it should be such as should make them forget their former sorrows as Gen. 41.51 where Ioseph being highly advanced in Egypt called his first-born son Manasseh and gave this reason for it For God said he hath made me forget all my toil and Esa 54.4 Thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widow-hood any moâ—e and Iohn 16.21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow because her hour is come but assoon as she is delivered of the child she remembreth no more the anguish for joy that a man is born into the world and 4. That at least he should remember his former miseries without the least distresse or anxiety of mind for fear they should return again upon him for this is to remember his misery as waters that passe away which being once gone can never possibly turn back again Vers 17. And thine age shall be clearer then the noon day thou shalt shine forth thou shalt be as the morning That is thine adversity shall be suddenly changed into exceeding great prosperity and so the remainder of thy time or life even thine old age which thou givest for lost of which thou makest no reckoning and which thou expectest will yield thee nothing but weaknesse and sorrow shall be the prime part of thy daies for joy and glory To signifie that his joy and glory should be exceeding great it is said that his age should be clearer then the noon day and to signifie it should come suddenly after a sad night of affliction and should then continually encrease more and more it is said that he should shine forth and be as the morning Vers 18. And thou shalt be secure because there is hope c. That is being in this prosperous condition thou shalt be fearlesse of any such sad changes as have now befallen thee and that because thou shalt then upon thy repentance have assured hope and confidence in Gods love and favour to which purpose also is that which follows yea thou shalt dig about thee and thou shalt take thy rest in safety for thereby is meant either that he should follow his husbandry digging and ploughing his ground without any fear of an enemy or digging for water for his flocks and heards without any to withstand him yea figuratively it may be meant of the labours of any calling as Luke 16.3 or 2. That he should sleep as securely as those doe that have digged some deep trench about them to secure them from the breaking in of an enemy upon them or 3. That if he did but build an house for digging may be put for the digging of the foundation of a house or dig a place to pitch his tent in and withall some little trench about it as the Arabians in those times used to doe to which Zophar seems here to allude he should enjoy himself safelier herein then otherwise he would doe in a walled city Vers 19. Many shall make suit unto thee That is being so greatly enriched and highly exalted many both great and small yea even those that now insult over thee shall crouch and bow before thee and sue to thee for favour Little did Zophar indeed think that this which he now promised Iob should be accomplished in him and his two companions Eliphaz and Bildad that did now so harshly censure him But yet so we see it was when the Lord sent them to Iob humbly to desire him that he would pray for them chap. 42.8 9. Vers 20. But the eyes of the wicked shall fail c. Because the fixing of the eye long upon one place to look for any thing doth much weaken the sight especially when also men weep much by reason that they so earnestly desire and look for comes not for nothing marres the eyes more then weeping Lam. 2.11 Mine eyes do fail with tears therefore when men in misery do earnestly wait for deliverance or comfort and all in vain it is usually expressed in the Scripture by this phrase of the failing of the eyes as Psal 69.3 Mine eyes fail while I wait for my God and so here to expresse that wicked men shall in vain expect any help from God in their distresse he saith the eyes of the wicked shall fail and then addes they shall not escape and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost the meaning whereof is either 1. That after all their expectation the end of their hope shall be a miserable death or that they shall die in their misery either by making themselves away in despair or by some other way of Gods just vengeance upon them or 2. That in the conclusion they should come to be in as hopelesse and desperate a condition as is a man when he is giving up the ghost or 3. That their hope should come to nothing even as the breath of a man vanisheth to nothing when he giveth up the ghost and therefore indeed some translate this clause thus their hope shall be as a puffe of breath Now the main drift of this was to give Iob a hint that if he continued in his wickednesse and did not repent this at last would be his portion CHAP. XII Vers 2. NO doubt but ye are the people and wisedome shall die with you Because Zophar had interrupted Iob when he was speaking charging him with babling forth a multitude of words to no purpose yea with uttering many lies and falsehoods chap. 11.2 3. and had in effect though covertly vers 12. compared Iob to a wild asses colt Iob therefore undertaking here to reply upon him upbraids Zophar and together with him his other two friends also who had all run on in the same strain with the high conceit which they had of themselves and their contempt of others and this he doth not out of hatred or envy not as scorning or disdaining his friends but merely to reproove them for their vain-glorious exalting
are like to be noysome and therefore we cast them away and tread them under foot and so when men formerly of great esteem come to sink in affliction those that are themselves in prosperity mind them no more then the snuff of a candle And thus Iob shews the reason why his friends did so despise him and regard his words so little it was because he was brought so low and they were at ease and felt not the least of that which he suffered But yet withall too there is in these words a transition to that which next follows to wit the disprooving of that which his friends had joyntly affirmed concerning the certain prosperity of the righteous and the misery of the wicked Zophar had told Iob that if he would repent and turn unto God his age should be clearer then the Sun at noon-day chap. 11.17 but Iob here tells him that so farre are the righteous from being alwaies in such a glorious condition that they are many times as a despised lamp c. Vers 6. The tabernacles of robbers prosper and they that provoke God are secure c. Having reprooved Zophar and the rest of his friends for scorning him as they had done and despising what he had spoken here he undertakes to disproove that which they had all so stiffly maintained to wit that the righteous do alwaies prosper for outward things and that the wicked are ever outwardly punished and particularly that wherewith Zophar had concluded his speech chap. 11.20 The eyes of the wicked shall fail and they shall not escape c. alledging that none have usually such abundance of all outward things as the worst of men that carry themselves most insolently both towards God and man and it is like that he instanceth the rather in the tabernacles of robbers as in relation to the Sabeans and Chaldeans that had robbed him of his cattle Vers 7. But ask now the beasts and they shall teach thee c. That which is most questionable in these words and that which follows in the two next verses is how they have dependance upon that which went before Some conceive that herein also Iob still proceeds to prove that God doth nor allwayes either blesse the righteous with outward blessings or else cut off and destroy the wiched and two wayes there are which Iob might intend whereby this might be learnt even from the unreasonable and senselesse creatures for 1. This may be clearly gathered from hence that even amongst beasts and foul and fishes none fare better then those that are most fierce and ravenous and live altogether by rapine and devouring those that are not so strong as themselves and on the other side none fare worse then those that are best and gentlest and least harmfull to others those that live upon prey will be fat and in good liking when others it may be are ready to famish for want of food and we see in daily experience that the pheasant and partridge the fowler looks after when the kite and vulture are never minded and thus it is too with beasts and fishes there are multitudes more killed daily of those that are gentle and harmlesse then of those that are most mischievous and feed altogether upon the bloud of others yea and amongst the plants of the earth we use to observe that ill weeds grow apace and poysonous plants do often flourish and spread faster then those that are most usefull and most acceptable amongst men Now since we may conclude with Iob that none can be ignorant but that these things are done thus by the speciall Providence of God vers 9. who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this we may gather from thence that if God by his providence doth for the glory of his own Name order it thus amongst the other creatures why may he not also order it so amongst men they being also the work of his own hand and made for his glory as well as the rest And again 2. It may be gathered from hence that none have such plenty of the creatures beasts foul or fish none have so great a portion of the earth as the wicked usually have so that all the creatures do proclaim the certainty of this truth But then others again conceive that because Zophar had such high thoughts of that which he had spoken concerning the incomprehensible wisedome and power of God therefore Iob shews him that every ordinary man might learn as much as that concerning God though he had no other instructers then the dumb unreasonable and senselesse creatures Zophar had said to set forth the transcendent wisedome of God that it was as high as heaven and deeper then hell c. chap. 11.8 Iob here answers him that there was no need to climb up into heaven or to descend down into hell to find out this since we may learn it from every creature that we behold with our eyes by every beast bird fish or plant we may easily learn this that the God that made them must needs be a God of infinite and incomprehensible both wisedome and might Vers 11. Doth not the ear try words and the mouth tast his meat As if he should have said and so likewise doth the mind of man discern these spirituall truths concerning God which are taught by the Creatures that which the dumb creatures proclaim concerning the wisedome power and providence of God the reasonable soul of man may as plainly and easily discern as the ear discerns words or the mouth tasts meats These are not such hidden mysteries as you would pretend they may be easily discovered even by the outward senses Thus very many Expositours understand this clause and so take it as added by way of amplifying what is said in the foregoing verses concerning the clear discovery that is made of Gods incomprehensible wisedome and power in every one of the creatures But yet there is another exposition that is given of these words which is judged by many better then the former Doth not the ear try words and the mouth tast his meat that is as the mouth doth discern the tast of meats what is sweet and what is sowre what hath a pleasant what an unpleasant relish so is the ear to judge of words we hear spoken to wit whether they be true or false what is wisely and what is foolishly spoken And if we thus understand the words then the drift of Iob therein must be either to shew the reason why he did not immediately embrace all for truth which they had spoken which it seems they expected he should have done and therefore were offended that he did oppose them it was because his ears were given him to hear what was spoken that then he might judge of it even as his mouth was to judge of the tast of his meat or else to answer that which Bildad had said chap. 8.8 9. Enquire I pray thee of the former age and prepare
thy self to the search of their fathers for we are but of yesterday and know nothing c. shewing that we are not to be carried away merely with the learning or age of the speaker but by the eare must judge of what is spoken even as by the mouth we judge of the tast of meats that are set before us or else rather by way of reprooving his friends because they slighted and disregarded his words yea because they misconstrued what he had spoken and that for want of due pondering and considering his words Doth not the eare try words and the mouth tast his meat as if he had said ought you not to let your ears doe their office which is to attend to that which I speak and not thus to slight what I say and so for want of well weighing my words to misunderstand and pervert what I have spoken And indeed because Elihu useth the same expression thereby to perswade Iob and his friends well to mind what he would say chap. 34.2 3. Hear my words O ye wise men and give ear unto me ye that have knowledge for the ear tryeth words as the mouth tasteth meat this is that I conceive which Iob also chiefly intended in these words Vers 12. With the ancient is wisedome and in length of daies understanding Either this is added as a farther illustration of that which he had said concerning the knowledge of God which may be learnt from the creatures namely that hence it comes to passe that ancient men that have many years observed what God hath discovered in the works of creation are therefore better able to judge of these things then young men are and some are of opinion that Iob might herein covertly strike at some of his friends that were younger then he and yet insulted over him as if he were not worthy to speak to them But yet because elsewhere it seems evident that these friends of Iob were very aged men chap. 15.10 With us are both the gray-headed and very aged men much elder then thy father saith Eliphaz and Elihu speaking to these friends of Iob chap. 32.6 7. I am saith he young and ye are very old wherefore I was afraid and durst not shew mine opinion I said Daies should speak and multitude of years should teach wisedome I should rather think that this is added either in answer to that which Bildad had said chap. 8.8 9. concerning enquiring of the aged of which mention is made above in the foregoing Note or at least in answer to the high opinion which his friends might have of their great wisedome because of their years wherein he first yields that it is true indeed that with the ancient is wisedome that is they have had a fair advantage for the gaining of wisedome but then adds in the following verse what doth plainly imply that yet all the wisedome in man however it is to be esteemed in it self is no better then vanity if it come to be compared with the wisedome of God and that therefore we ought not so to prize the judgement of men of great years as therefore to reject any truth which God hath taught us Vers 13. With him is wisedome and strength he hath counsell and understanding Some indeed conceive that Iob here expresseth what it is that men learn concerning God from the creatures to wit that with him that is with God is wisedome and strength c. But rather as is noted on the former verse this is added as by way of correcting or opposing what was said there concerning the wisedome of the aged Nay saith he with him that is with God is both wisedome and power too and that in such a transcendent manner that the wisedome that is in the wisest of men is not worthy the name of wisedome in comparison of that which is in God he is essentially infinitely incomprehensibly wise and mighty and this unsearchable wisedome he daily exerciseth in disposing all things that are done in the world Vers 14. He shutteth up a man and there can be no opening That is if he undertake to shut up a man for ever either in prison or in any streights of distresse or under the power of any sicknesse or calamity whatever there is no possibility ever to find out any way to set such a man free Vers 15. Behold he withholdeth the waters and they dry up c. That is he withholdeth the waters from above the rain and then the waters beneath in ponds lakes brooks and rivers do soon dry up or it may be understood without any such distinction of the waters above and the waters beneath to wit that if God commands that there shall be a drought and forbears to give a supply of water either by rain from above or springs and fountains beneath there will soon be no water left which agreeth fully with that of the prophet Nahum chap. 1.4 He rebuketh the sea and maketh it dry and dryeth up all the rivers yea and then all things growing in such places are dryed and parched up too also he sendeth them out and they overturn the earth that is the fruits and inhabitants of the earth where these flouds of water come Vers 16. With him is strength and wisedome c. This is the very same that Iob had said before vers 13. for though in the originall there be not the same words here and there yet they are to the same purpose and meaning and therefore are rendered by our Translatours with the same words and two probable reasons may be given why here he should so immediately repeat the same thing again as 1. Because that vers 13. might be only intended to shew what God is in himself to wit that he is a God of infinite wisedome and might and then this here he might adde either to shew that this wisedome and might of God is every moment discovered in his wise and wonderfull ordering of all things that are and that are done in the world or else that all the strength and wisedome that is in the creature comes from him and is at his disposing so that he gives and takes it away as seems good in his own eyes and 2. Because being now to instance in works of providence that are farre more above the reach of mans reason then any thing he had yet spoken of he repeats again here that which he said before concerning the wonderfull power and wisedome of God thereby as it were to curb men from quarrelling and contending with God about such things which is most clear in the first particular he alledgeth in the words that immediately follow The deceived and the deceiver are his that is they are both alike under Gods all-ordering power and command who is the Sovereign Lord of the whole world and are herein guided by his providence and made to serve his counsels and glory when one man seduceth another into any errour or any other way gulls and deceives him there is
secret but God doth many times bring it to light and it may well be too which some conceive that this particular is added the rather to intimate that by such discovering of the hellish secrets of many men he maketh it evident that he doth not execute the judgements before mentioned merely to exercise a tyrannicall power over his creatures but that he hath just cause to doe as he doth though we know it not Vers 23. He increaseth the nations and destroyeth them he enlargeth the nations and streighteneth them again That is he mightily increaseth the number of a people and then destroyeth them and brings them to a handfull again and so likewise he many times enlargeth their territories dominion power and wealth and then bringeth them again into as great streights and as low a condition as ever before Vers 24. He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth c. By the chief of the people of the earth may be meant either the Princes and Rulers of each nation or those that are the chief and choicest amongst a people for wisedome and courage c. and it is said that God taketh away the heart of these men and causeth them to wander in a wildernesse c. because he many times deprives them of their wisedome and understanding brings them into unavoidable streights into a desperate lost condition so that they are as men in a wood or wildernesse not knowing which way to turn themselves yea as blind and drunken men that grope at noon-day as if it were night and thereupon enter upon waies which no wise man ever trod and take up resolutions and counsells that are most pernicious to themselves and others This I conceive is the true meaning of the words yet some understand it literally that God takes away all heart and courage from them and so causeth them to goe into desolate wildernesses to hide themselves CHAP. XIII Vers 1. LOe mine eye hath seen all this c. The drift of Iob in these two verses is the same as in that he had said before chap. 12.2 3. concerning which therefore see the Notes there to upbraid his friends for despising him out of a high conceit which they had of themselves by willing them to observe from what he had now spoken that he understood as much concerning the justice the wisedome the power and providence of God as they did Vers 3. Surely I would speak to the Almighty and I desire to reason with God Zophar had said chap. 11.5 O that God would speak and open his lips against thee and that as deriding Iobs former confidence in wishing he might plead his cause with God in reference hereto therefore Iob here professeth that he was still of the same mind Surely I would speak to the Almighty and I desire to reason with God as if he had said I could say much more to you but however confident you are that it would go ill with me if God should grant me my wish herein I still desire rather that I might plead my cause with the Almighty not as with an adversary but as before my judge not to accuse him for any thing he hath done to me which never came into my thoughts but to justifie my self against your false accusations and modestly to desire to be informed by him why his hand is so heavy upon me which as yet I professe I understand not You judging of me by what I suffer and misconstruing all that I speak do most unjustly condemne me for an hypocrite but now God is omniscient and knows the integrity of my heart and besides he is true and just and will therefore certainly bear witnesse to the truth and justifie his servant whom you condemne so that though I know God in his majesty must needs be terrible to his enemies yet trusting in mine integrity I should desire to plead my cause before him Vers 4. But ye are forgers of lies ye are all physicians of no value 1. Because they had affirmed that God never laid such sore afflictions upon any righteous man as he had done upon him and thence concluded that he was a wicked hypocrite but yet withall had very cunningly and artificially composed their speeches with many fair flourishes and plausible pretences that they spake what they spake merely out of zeal for Gods glory to defend his unquestionable justice and holinesse and out of a desire to win Iob to repent of his wickednesse and so to seek reconciliation with God thence is that expression But ye are forgers of lies much like that Psal 50.19 Thou givest thy mouth to evil and thy tongue frameth deceit and so also he retorts upon them that sin of lying wherewith they had unjustly before charged him chap. 11.3 and 2. Because misjudging of him and so not rightly applying the truth they had delivered under a pretence of comforting him they had added to his afflictions and done what in them lay to drive him to despair and all their exhortations that he should repent c. were to no purpose therefore he tearms them physicians of no value as being herein like to unskilfull physicians who not considering or not understanding the disease of their patients give them good medicines but altogether improper for such a disease and so do them more hurt then good The expression is to the same sense with that where he calls them miserable comforters chap. 16.2 Vers 5. O that you would altogether hold your peace and it should be your wisedome Zophar had protested that he could not hold his peace and suffer Iob to run on as he had done chap. 11.3 Should thy lies make men hold their peace c. and it seems in relation hereto Iob now tells him that considering how false and to no purpose that was that he had spoken as was implyed in the foregoing verse it would be a part of greater wisedome if both he and the rest of his friends would hold their peace and so hearken to what he should say to them and that had they continued silent as they were at first when for seven daies together they sat by him and spake not one word to him chap. 2.13 they had never discovered so much folly as now they had done which agrees fully with that of Solomon Prov. 17 28 Even a fool when he holds his peace is counted wise and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding Vers 7. Will you speak wickedly for God and talk deceitfully for him They speak wickedly for God that under a pretence of pleading for God do speak any thing that is evil or wicked or which if it be well examined doth indeed tend to the great dishonour of God and so also they talk deceitfully for him that maintain that which in their own consciences they know is not true and yet they cunningly set a fair glosse upon it and carry the matter with a great shew of zeal
for God and for the defence of his justice Now this Iob chargeth upon his friends because under a pretence of pleading for God they accused Iob to be a wicked man though they had long experience of him and knew to the contrary and because they affirmed that God were not just if he should so severely punish a righteous man which was indeed dishonourable to God as if God might not justly correct the most innocent man or do with his own creatures what seemed good in his own eyes Will you speak wickedly for God c. as if he should have said can you judge it right to patronise Gods cause with lies Hath he need of any such defence or do you think he will like it that you should plead his cause in such a manner Vers 8. Will ye accept his person c. That is will you as by way of gratifying God speak that for him which you in your own consciences know is not right and true as those doe that accept the persons of great men and so not regarding the cause but the person will speak any thing in favour of them though they know it to be never so false And to the same sense we must understand the next clause will ye contend for God that is will you thus contend and wrangle for God against that which you know to be just and right To contend for the glory of God in a right manner is exceeding commendable but that which Iob upbraids his friends with in these words is that they should think as it were to doe God a pleasure by speaking that which was false in his defence Vers 9. Is it good that he should search you out c. As if he had said you can-cannot be ignorant that God knows all that is in your hearts more exactly then men can know any thing which with greatest diligence they search into so that how zealous soever you seem for God and how cunningly soever you frame your accusations against me if that you have spoken have proceeded more from corrupt passion then true zeal more from a desire to conquer then to comfort me if you deal not candidly and sincerely with me if you charge me with that which in your consciences you know is not true and that as it were to collogue and curry favour with him or if you do indeed think in your hearts that God is unjust if he punisheth the righteous God will find this out and can you think that this will be any advantage to you Take heed you cannot mock and deceive God as one man mocketh and deceiveth another Vers 10. He will surely reproove you if ye do escretly accept persons If you unjustly accuse me that thereby you may seem to gratifie God though you doe this never so secretly and cunningly under a pretence of maintaining his justice he he will reproove you and punish you for it though from men this may be concealed God will discover it and make you smart for it Vers 11. Shall not his excellency make you afraid c. That is shall not the majesty of God scare you from thinking to deal with God as you would deal with a man as your selves Vers 12. Your remembrances are like unto ashes your bodies to bodies of clay By their remembrances may be meant either particularly their fame and memoriall after their death or else more generally whatever was excellent and worthy to be remembred concerning them as their great honour power wealth their high esteem and the memorable acts they had done whilst they lived So that this is doubtlesse added as a reason of that he had said in the foregoing words that the majesty of God might well scare them from thinking to deal with God as they had done to wit because of their base and despicable condition in regard of that transcendent excellency that was in God Your remembrances are like unto ashes your bodies to bodies of clay As if he should have said how dare such vile and contemptible creatures as you are in whom all that is most memorable shall come to nothing as ashes that are scattered with a puffe of wind and are seen no more even your very bodies no better then earthen pots or heaps of clay how dare you speak of God as you have done Consider your condition what you are in comparison of God and you will see your folly in thinking to come in with your lies to help him as it were at a dead lift The expression is much like that chap. 4.19 concerning which see the Note there Some indeed understand this to have been spoken as by way of threatning to wit that because they had spoken so rashly and reproachfully of God both themselves and their memoriall should utterly perish and come to nothing even as when ashes the only memoriall of wood burnt are blown away and so are as if they had never been nor could there an apter punishment be threatned to proud men that are so ambitious to have their names had in remembrance when they are gone But the first exposition agreeth best with that which went before and that which follows after Vers 13. Let me alone that I may speak and let come on me what will Some think that Iob only intended hereby that he was resolved to speak however his friends took it or what censure soever they should passe upon him But it may better be referred to the determination of God Iobs friends had advised him to forbear those speeches he had used as out of compassion to him least he should provoke God to lay his hand yet more heavily upon him He desires therefore here that not taking thought in this kind for him they would give him free liberty to plead his cause with God and then let God doe to him what he pleased Yet this he speaks not in a desperate manner as not caring what became of him but as out of assurance of Gods fatherly love as is evident in that which follows vers 15. Vers 14. Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in mine hand Because when a man is sollicitous to keep a thing safe he will carry it in his hand and will scarce let it goe out of his hand upon any occasion therefore putting the life in the hand is interpreted by some for a sollicitous care of life As if he had said wherefore do I keep my life so close as if I were loth to part with it what need I take so much care for my life since if I loose my life I know it shall be well with me If God slay me I will trust in him But rather on the contrary putting the life into the hand may note a mans readinesse to die And so here Iob might say that he put his life in his hand either because he was in a manner a dying man ready every moment as I may say to lay down his life or else because he was
so willing and desirous to die and to give up his life It is a phrase frequent in the Scripture concerning which see the Note Iudg. 12.3 But now the first clause wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth is farre more obscure but the most probable expositions that I meet with are these 1. Some conceive that it was an ordinary proverbiall speech in those times to say of those that were desirous to die that they took their flesh in their teeth meaning that they were so weary of their lives that they could find in their hearts to tear themselves in pieces thereby as it were to open a passage to let forth their souls and that therefore as in relation to the frequent professions he had made how earnestly desirous he was to die he asketh his friends here wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hand that is wherefore am I so eagerly desirous to die think you that I speak it as out of despair No such matter No though he slay me yet will I trust in him as he adds in the next words 2. Some hold that because men that are inwardly enraged and tormented in their minds are wont to tear their own flesh with their teeth or at least to pine and consume away and so in that sense may be said to eat their own flesh as it is said of the slothfull fool that starveth himself with mere idlenesse Eccles 4.5 He foldeth his hands together and eateth his own flesh therefore Iob useth these expressions as by way of checking himself for being so immoderately disquieted in his mind for any thing which either his friends said or he suffered wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth as if he had said why should I thus pine my self with grief and eat up mine own flesh with sorrow or why do I thus vex and fret and torment my self as one that in the indignation and anguish of his soul is ready to tear his own flesh and to give up the ghost there is no cause at all why I should doe thus though he slay me yet will I trust in him and 3. Again some think that the ground of these expressions was either because his flesh was so chapt and broken in severall places that he might bite out pieces with his teeth or because he was so wasted that all his flesh would scarce make one mouthfull or else rather because his pain and misery was many times so extreme and insupportable that ever and anon it made him ready to tear his flesh with his teeth and so the meaning of these words wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth c must be that he desired to know of his friends either why such grievous intolerable punishments should be laid upon him if as they said God did only punish wicked men since he was not conscious to himself of any such horrible wickednesse that he had committed or why he might not desire to plead his cause with God since it was evident he did not complain without great cause Vers 15. Though he slay me yet will I trust in him c. That is though I were at the point of death yet would I trust in him for help yea though I were sure that God would slay me yet would I rely upon his mercy in full expectation that thereby I should only be brought to a better life Now this he adds either by way of checking himself for his former impatience and resolving from henceforth what he would doe or else to imply how strange it was that notwithstanding this his trust and confidence in God he should be so severely dealt with or to shew that though his miseries made him complain sometimes very bitterly yet he did not despair of Gods love to him or else to proove that he was not a wicked wretch as they pretended he was And therefore is that too which he next adds but I will maintain mine own wayes before him that is though I will rely upon his mercy whatever he doth to me yet I will plead my cause and maintain mine innocency before him and that in the integrity and sincerity of mine heart as knowing that he searcheth the heart and the reins Vers 16. He also shall be my salvation c. That is I know he will preserve me in these miseries and in his good time deliver me from them or at least that he will save me eternally hereafter As for the following clause for an hypocrite shall not come before him that is added to shew a reason why he would maintain his waies before God as he had said in the foregoing verse namely because he knew well that if he were an hypocrite God would not endure him and this his friends had charged him with chap. 8.13 Vers 18. Behold now I have ordered my cause I know that I shall be justified That is now I have examined mine own conscience and have weighed and digested what I shall say in mine own defence whereas you condemn me for a wicked hypocrite I know that herein God will justifie me and so indeed it prooved at last when God passed that sentence against his friends chap. 42.7 ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right as my servant Iob hath Vers 19. Who is he that will plead with me c. That is trusting therefore in the unquestionable justice of my cause let who will undertake to plead with me I am here ready to defend my self against them But however plead I must my cause with God for now if I hold my tongue I shall give up the ghost that is being provoked and vexed as I have been with the opprobrious speeches you have used against me if I should not ease the grief of my heart by speaking it would burst within me and so kill me Vers 20. Only do not two things unto me then will I not hide my self from thee That is then shall I have no cause to hide my self from thee then shall I not shrink from appearing before thee but shall boldly come into thy presence to plead my cause Now the two things he desires of God are those expressed in the following verse to wit the one that God would free him from the present miseries that lay upon him wherewith being oppressed distracted and disturbed it was not possible he should with that freedome of mind as was fitting intend what he should say and order his speech aright before God and the other that God would secure him from the terrours of his majesty and power for the future which alone was enough to overwhelm a man with fear and to make the most eloquent man as one that is dumb and not able to speak a word I know that some learned Expositours do otherwise understand this place namely that the two things which Iob here desired that God would not doe to him were either 1. That he would not smite and dispute
with him together or 2. That he would not punish before he made known the cause why he did it and that when the cause was made known he might have free liberty to answer for himself before he proceeded any farther against him and accordingly the last words they understand thus then will I not hide my self from thee that is then shall I willingly undergoe whatever thou shalt be pleased to lay upon me But doubtlesse the first exposition is farre the best that which he desires here is the very same he desired before chap. 9.34 concerning which see the Note there Vers 22. Then call thou and I will answer or let me speak and answer thou me That is do thou call me to an account and object against me and I will answer for my self or else let me object and do thou answer and thus he speaks as one willing to give his adversary all the advantage he can desire A speech that hath so much boldnesse in it that though no doubt it proceeded from a holy courage and confidence of his own integrity yet withall methinks it argued that his passions were stirred and had transported him beyond the bounds of that modesty which should have been in him that pleaded with the great Creatour of heaven and earth Vers 23. How many are mine iniquities and sins c. Zophar had said that if God would yield to speak to Iob he could soon make him see that he had exacted lesse of him then his iniquity had deserved chap. 11.5 6. and vers 14. If iniquity saith he be in thine hand put it farre away and let not wickednesse dwell in thy tabernacles Iob therefore beginning here his plea with God desires in the first place to know what those manifold and grievous sins were which his friends seemed to charge him with for which such sore and grievous punishments were laid upon him implying that though his friends were still unsatisfied after all his protestations of his innocency yet he was not conscious to himself of any such thing and that if it were otherwise he desired it might be discovered fully to Gods glory and his shame that he might repent c. See the Notes chap. 10. vers 2 and 7. where there are expressions much to the same purpose with this Vers 25. Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble That is canst thou think it will be any glory for thee to contend with such a poor weak wretch as I am no more able to stand before thine indignation then a leaf can stand before the wind or dry stubble before the fire And thus too by the mention of his exceeding frailty and weaknesse he covertly seeks to move God to deal more gently with him Vers 26. For thou writest bitter things against me c. To shew that notwithstanding he was but as a leaf or dry stubble before God yet God did set himself to break and destroy him he sets forth here with what violence and severity he proceeded against him Thou writest bitter things against me that is thou hast adjudged me to most grievous punishments and such as seem to be the effects of a mind exceedingly imbittered against me for in this expression of writing bitter things against him he seems to allude to the custome of Iudges in those times who used to write down the judgement they passed against offenders aggravating therein the offences for which they were so allotted to be punished and then read it in publick when they came to pronounce sentence against them which may seem the more probable if we compare this with other places as that Ier. 22.30 Thus saith the Lord write this man childlesse c. and that Psal 149.8 9. To bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron To execute upon them the judgement written As for the following clause and makest me to possesse the iniquities of my youth that is also added to set forth the severity of Gods proceeding against him and the meaning is either that Gods dealing with him was as if he meant to make him bear now at once the punishment of all the sins that ever he had committed even the iniquities of his youth which he had long agoe repented of and which by reason of the ignorance and imprudencie of that age are usually accounted most pardonable or else rather that by the strange and grievous punishments he had laid upon him he made all his sins even those of his youth which he had in a manner forgotten to come fresh to his remembrance and there to lie continually grating upon his conscience which did with great terrour ever and anon suggest that surely God had not pardoned those sins but did now call him to an account for them Vers 27. Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks and lookest narrowly to all my paths Still Iob goeth on to shew that God proceeded with much severity against him as against some notable malefactour for by putting his feet in the stocks and looking narrowly to all his paths is meant that God had brought him into such streights of afflictions and had so hemmed him in with divers calamities as if either he were afraid he should escape out of his hands and so meant to make sure of him in that regard or that he meant to look narrowly to him to see that he should no way get any liberty or ease Thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet Either this is added as in relation to the foregoing clause concerning the putting of his feet in the stocks namely that hereby there was a print made in his feet the stocks eating into his flesh and the meaning then is only this that he bore in his flesh the impressions of Gods wrath the marks of those pinching streights whereinto God had cast him which it is like he meant of the sores and ulcers wherewith his body was overspread from head to foot or else the drift of these words is to imply that God did hunt him as it were and follow him so close that he did in a manner tread upon his heels even as prisoners have their keepers still close at their heels that they may not escape Vers 28. And he as a rotten thing consumeth c. That is Iob for he speaks here of himself in the third person as if he should have said And thus poor Iob soon consumes away as a rotten thing or as a moth-eaten garment the drift whereof is covertly to imply that there was no need that God should proceed with such violence against him since an easier stroke would quickly make an end of him and so withall to intreat God to take pitty of him Vers 1. MAn that is born of a woman is of few daies and full of trouble He saith not Man is of few daies but Man that is born of a woman which words are added 1. To note that this is the condition of
7.20 I have sinned what shall I doe unto thee O thou preserver of men and chap. 9.2 How should man be just with God or else rather that in a mere cavilling way he had hitherto sought to make good an evil cause Vers 7. Art thou the first man that was born or wast thou made before the hills In these words Eliphaz seems to have respect to that which Iob had said chap. 12.2 3. No doubt but ye are the people and wisedome shall die with you but I have understanding as well as you I am not inferiour to you yea who knoweth not such things as these and to that vers 12. of the same chapter with the ancient is wisedome and in length of daies understanding for apprehending that Iob had spoken those words in a way of exalting himself in regard of his knowledge and in regard of his age above them and as thinking scorn that they should therefore compare themselves with him and that thence it was also that he had sent them to learn knowledge of the bruit beasts chap. 12.7 Ask now the beasts and they shall teach thee c. hereupon he now replies to this in a way of scoffing Art thou the first man that was born or wast thou made before the hills as if he should have said what do you make of your self that you take so much upon you in regard of your knowledge and in regard of your years Sure you were the first man that ever was born in the world yea perhaps you were before the creation and so are older then the hills and having therefore lived in all the ages of the world it is no wonder though you have gotten so much knowledge that we are counted no better then fooles in comparison of you Thus I say almost all Expositours understand these words only indeed some conceive that Iobs friends were older then he which they ground upon that which follows vers 10. and that therefore Eliphaz could not suspect that Iob despised them because of his great age but that rather he twits him on the contrary because being younger then they yet he vaunted himself in his great knowledge as if he had been the first man that ever was upon the earth and had been ever since treasuring up knowledge and so must needs understand more then ever man did Vers 8. Hast thou heard the secret of God c. As if he should have said hath God made you of his privy counsell and so thereby admitted you to the knowledge of those secrets which no man knows besides your self whereupon he adds also and dost thou restrain wisedome to thy self that is have you think you all the wisedome and are all fools besides your self and in the following verse what knowest thou which we know not c. in all which Eliphaz doth plainly retort upon Iob what he had before said to them chap. 12.2 3. No doubt but ye are the people and wisedome shall die with you but I have understanding as well as you c. and chap. 13.2 what ye know the same do I know also c. Vers 10. With us are both the gray-headed and very aged men much elder then thy father Still he seems to aime at that which Iob had said chap. 12.12 With the ancient is wisedome and in length of daies understanding but the meaning may be either that some of these his friends were much elder then his father was or then his father would have been had he been still living and it may be Eliphaz intended himself who we may well think was the eldest of the three because he spake first or else that though they themselves were younger then Iob yet he had no cause to despise them as he had done since they had in their severall habitations many on their side of their party and opinion yea many masters and teachers from whom they had received those truths which they had maintained that were so very aged that his father was younger then some of them Vers 11. Are the consolations of God small with thee is there any secret thing with thee That is say some Expositours dost thou esteem the consolations of God such mean and contemptible things that we should propound them to wicked men such as thou art or that thou shouldest think they belong to thee No surely such holy things are not to be given to dogs only perhaps you know something which others know not or have some secret righteousnesse which questionlesse none can discern in you but your self and hence it is that you will not be beaten off from applying the comforts of God unto your self But doubtlesse the true meaning of these words is that Eliphaz here upbraids Iob for slighting the consolations of God to wit those which himself and his other two friends had as from God propounded to him that if he would repent of his wickednesse and humbling himself under Gods hand would forsake his evil waies and beg mercy of him God would then pardon his sins remove the judgements that now lay upon him and abundantly blesse him again Iob had told them in expresse tearmes chap. 13.4 that they were forgers of lies and Physicians of no value and happily in relation to that Eliphaz here upbraids him for despising those divine consolations wherewith they had sought to doe him good Are saith he the consolations of God small with thee as if he should have said we have propounded the only way of comfort for one in your condition that God hath prescribed and do you make so little account of the consolations of God and thereupon he adds too Is there any secret thing with thee that is doest thou know any better way of comfort which perhaps neither we nor our fathers nor any man else ever knew or heard of whereupon thou despisest that to which we have advised thee Or hast thou any secret Priviledge or unknown worth in thee and so thou hast no need of these consolations Or is there any secret sin or guilt in thee which makes thee unfit to receive the comforts that have been tendered thee Or doest thou know any thing unknown to others by warrant whereof thou thinkest notwithstanding all that we have said to thee that God may justly be blamed for dealing too hardly and severely with thee Vers 12. Why doth thine heart carry thee away c. That is why doth the pride of thy heart or the passions of thy heart transport thee so farre as a man besides himself even beyond the bounds both of reason and of that modesty and reverence wherewith it becomes men to carry themselves when they speak to the Lord their Creatour As for the following clause and what do thine eyes wink at it is very hard to say what is meant thereby and therefore every Expositour almost gives a severall exposition of it Some by his winking with his eyes understand his frowning and looking with an angry and fierce furious eye others an hypocriticall
off by the breath of his own mouth that is by the desperate and blasphemous speeches which in his wrath and pride he shall utter and belch forth against God an expression not unlike to that Esa 64.6 We all do fade as a leaf and our iniquities like a wind have taken us away yet it may be better understood of the breath of Gods mouth as referring to that which was said before vers 25. He stretcheth forth his hand against God c. by the breath of his mouth shall he go away that is after that God hath thus blasted his prosperous estate he shall at last utterly cut him off and send him packing away by the breath of his mouth that is by his decree or by the blast of his indignation which is the same that the prophet elsewhere saith Esa 11.4 He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked and which Eliphaz himself had said before chap. 4.9 of which see the Note there And very probable it is that Eliphaz doth the rather use these expressions of flame and fire and the breath of his mouth as in reference to the fire that had consumed Iobs cattle and servants and to the wind that had blown down the house upon his children Vers 31. Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity for vanity shall be his recompence As if he should have said if any wicked man hopes or thinks it shall be well with him he is certainly deceived and therefore let not such a one trust in such vain hopes or in any vain thing whereon he builds his hopes his sinfull courses his present prosperity riches or honours any humane counsels or means for if he doth he shall find that these things will prove vain and nothing worth and so vanity and misery shall be his recompence And herein it seemes Eliphaz covertly strikes at the confidence Iob had expressed chap. 13.15 16. Though he slay me yet will I trust in him but I will maintain mine own waies before him He also shall be my salvation c. Vers 32. It shall be accomplished before his time c. This may be read It shall be cut off before his time and then it must be referred to the tree whereto he had compared the wicked man vers 30. saying the flame shall dry up his branches which may seem the more probable because of the following clause here and his branch shall not be green and then the meaning is that the wicked man shall die an untimely death or else to the wicked mans trusting in vanity or the vanity whereon he trusts whereof he had spoken in the words immediately foregoing and then the meaning is much to the same effect to wit that the wicked mans confidence shall be cut off and come to nothing before his time that is before his daies be expired or by his untimely end But if we read it as it is in our Bibles It shall be accomplished before his time then it must be referred to the last words of the foregoing verse Vanity shall be his recompence and so the meaning must be that the recompencing of vanity to him that trusts in vanity shall be accomplished before his time that is before his daies be accomplished he shall live to see his pride have a fall his own eyes shall behold the vanity of his confidence or in the cutting him off before his time this shall be accomplished and his branch shall not be green that is nothing that he possesseth or undertaketh shall prosper or his children shall be in a withering condition Vers 33. He shall shake off the unripe grape as the vine c. That is the wicked man shall be as the vine that shakes off her unripe grapes and as the olive tree that casts off her flower or God shall shake off his unripe grapes as the unripe grapes of a vine are shaken off c. But however that which Eliphaz intends here is either that his children shall die in their young and tender years or at least that they shall die an untimely death for because of the sad end of Iobs children Eliphaz is still harping upon this string or rather that all his substance his hopes and endeavours shall betimes be blasted and shall never come to maturity Vers 34. For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate c. That is though hypocrites have never so great families and attendants though they have never so many companions and friends they shall all be cut off and so their house shall become desolate and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery that is the houses of bribe-takers or the houses that are filled with bribery or built by bribery or the gain of any such like course of injustice or deceit Vers 35. They conceive mischief and bring forth vanity c. That is they conceive mischievous devices they plot mischief in their minds against others but in the conclusion all these devices prove vain and ineffectuall and usually bring mischief upon themselves Indeed this clause may be read also thus They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity as we find it also expressed Isa 59.4 and then the meaning must needs be that they contrive mischief against others in their mind and then act that which they have so conceived And accordingly we must conceive of the last clause and their belly prepareth deceit to wit that it is meant either of the wicked mans contriving in his mind how he may deceive others or else of his plotting those things in his head whereby whilst he thinks to hurt others he doth only in the conclusion delude and deceive himself CHAP. XVI Vers 2. I Have heard many such things c. In these first words of Iobs answer either he taxeth his friends and Eliphaz in particular who had last replyed upon him for running over the same things again and again even to wearinesse and irksomenesse and those too such things as he had heard many and many a time from others and which therefore he knew as well as they as that God is just and that God doth use to destroy wicked men and to pour forth his wrath upon them even here in this world c. Iob would have them know that his case was so extraordinary that such extraordinary things as they had so often repeated did no way suit his condition or else for the bitternesse of their language Eliphaz had in his last words very terribly set forth the vengeance of God upon wicked men and that as applying all to him whereupon Iob answers I have heard many such things for such terrours and threatnings and scornfull exprobrations I have had enough of them but not a word of true comfort whereupon he adds miserable comforters or as it is in the margin troublesome comforters are ye all to wit because in stead of comforting him for which they pretended they came to him
they had rather added to his afflictions and had rather increased then allayed his sorrows And herein it is likely that he had respect to that which Eliphaz had said chap. 15.11 Are the consolations of God small with thee for it is as if he said They are poor consolations which I have received from you who have all with so much bitternesse and scorn thunderd out the judgements of God against me as against a base hypocrite and so in stead of comforting me have indeed done what in you lay to drive me to despair Vers 3. Shall vain words have an end or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest That is that thou shouldest thus reply upon me again the second time Or that thou shouldest answer me after this manner as thou hast done That which he demands of him under these words what emboldeneth thee may be 1. Whether he had any thing farther to say whether he had any other arguments to bring which had so much strength or solidity in them that thereby he should be encouraged to answer again thereby implying that hitherto there was no force of reason in any thing he had spoken or 2. Whether he knew any thing by him that should embolden him thus to charge him with hypocrisie or 3. Whether any thing he had spoken had given any such just advantage to Eliphaz that thereby he should be encouraged to reply again upon him or whether he thought by this renewed onset to weary him out and make him yield at the last Vers 4. If you were in my souls stead I could heap up words against you and shake mine head at you That is if you were in that distresse that I am in I could multiply harsh and bold uncharitable speeches against you as you have done against me it is an easie matter for men in prosperity to make large declamations against those that are in misery yea I could in a way of scorn and derision shake my head at you for that this last clause must be thus understood is evident because usually in the Scripture the shaking of the head is mentioned as a gesture of despight and scorn as 2. Kings 19.21 The daughter of Zion hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn the daughter of Ierusalem hath shaken her head at thee c. and so also Psal 22.7 Mark 15.29 Lam. 2.15 and in many other places Vers 6. Though I speak my grief is not asswaged and though I forbear what am I â—ased Expositours have found it very hard to say how these words come in in this place Some conceive that having said in the foregoing verse that had they been in his condition and he in theirs he would have spoken comfortably to them and thereby would have allayed their grief I would strengthen you with my mouth and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief because they might have replyed upon him If you be so good at comforting others why do you not apply these consolations to your self to prevent this objection he answers that his condition was so miserable and the hand of God was so heavy upon him that whether he spake or held his peace it was all one with him if he spake it did not ease his grief and pain and misery and if he held his peace his sorrow did the more burn and boil within him Again others conceive that having said how he would have comforted them if they had been in such misery as he was here now he shows how sad his condition was that had only such friends with him as did what they might to discourage and discomfort him Though I speak saith he my grief is not asswaged that is if I pour out my complaints to you or seek to justify my self you then alledge that these miseries are an evident proof that I am a wicked man and that thereupon it is that God doth proceed in such extremity against me and though I forbear what am I eased that is though I speak not but keep in my grief that doth me no good because then you take my silence as an acknowledgement of my guilt and so break forth the more violently against me And this I take to be the most probable dependance of these words upon that which went before Vers 7. But now he hath made me weary c. That is God hath made my life wearisome to me for that this is meant of God is evident in the following clause where by an Apostrophe he turns his speech directly to God thou hast made desolate all my company which he saith because God had slain his children and many of his servants as is related in the first chapter and his wife and friends had either forsaken him or carried themselves as enemies to him And thus now he breaks forth into a large and patheticall description of his miseries the drift whereof is either to manifest what just cause he had to complain so bitterly as he had done thereby to move God and his friends especially to pity him and not to be so harsh against him as they had been or else to disprove what Eliphaz had with many flourishing words sought covertly to prove in the foregoing chapter namely that God doth only pour forth his wrath upon wicked men as he had done upon Iob for whilst Iob acknowledgeth here that his condition was just such as Eliphaz had described the wicked mans to be to which end he useth many of the very same expressions speaking of himself which Eliphaz had before used as here saying thou hast made desolate all my company in reference to that which Eliphaz had said chap. 15.34 the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate and yet afterward maintains that notwithstanding he was not a wicked hypocrite vers 16 17. On my eye-lids is the shadow of death Not for any injustice in mine hands also my prayer is pure c. by this instance of himself who being a man that feared God was yet outwardly in as sad a condition as any wicked man could be he quite overthrows all that Eliphaz had said Vers 8. And thou hast filled me with wrinkles which is a witnesse against me and my leannesse rising up in me beareth witnesse to my face Eliphaz having set forth the prosperity of the wicked man by his fatnesse chap. 15.27 He covereth his face with his fatnesse and maketh collops of fat on his flanks Iob here on the contrary sets forth his misery by his leannesse and wrinckles his body being consumed by those extremities of pain and sicknesse and sorrow which he had undergone and so his skin shrivelled and wrinckled thereby Now for the better understanding of this we must know first that he useth this expression that his wrinckles and his leannesse did bear witnesse against him either because they did abundantly testify how exceeding grievous the miseries were which he had suffered or else because consequently in the apprehension of his friends they did witnesse against him that by
manner quite extinguished according to that Prov. 24.20 the candle of the wicked shall be put out As for the last clause the graves are ready for me the only doubt is why it is expressed in the plurall number But for this to me it seems farre most probable that his meaning herein was plainly no more but this that it would not be long ere he should be lodged in some one of those houses of darknesse which are the last home of all men living As when it is said of Iehoram king of Iudah that he was not buried in the sepulchres of the kings 2. Chron. 21.20 the meaning is only that he was not buried amongst their sepulchres so when here Iob saith the graves are ready for me the meaning is only that the place of buriall the house of graves as I may call it was ready to receive him to wit because it could not be long ere he should be carried thither Vers 2. Are there not mockers with me c. Here Iob returnes to complain of his friends as indeed men in affliction are wont sometimes to bend their speech one way and sometimes another inferring it as a strange thing that notwithstanding he was in so sad a condition ready every moment as it were to drop into the grave yet they did nothing but mock and deride him and so by that means did what in them lay continually to vex him and provoke him to anger and indignation against them for so much the following clause imports and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation to wit that night and day their scoffs and deriding of him did evermore afflict him for by that expression of his eye continuing in their provocation he sought to imply either 1. That the eye of his mind was continually upon their scornfull carriage of themselves towards him the remembrance of their scoffs did continually molest him many times keeping him awake when he should have slept and sometimes perhaps troubling him in his very dreames Or 2. That they did thus continually provoke him to his very face he was constrained to see himself continually mocked and derided by them Vers 3. Lay down now put me in a surety with thee c. A very obscure passage this is insomuch that amongst the severall Expositions that are given of it it is very hard to say which is the right Some conceive that Iob speaks here to Eliphaz and desires that by a pledge and a surety he would give him assurance that he would referre his cause to Gods judgement and that he would make good what he had said to wit either concerning the wickednesse and hypocrisy wherewith he had charged Iob or concerning the certain prosperity of the righteous and the calamities of the wicked or else concerning that flourishing prosperity which he had promised to Iob if he would repent and turn unto the Lord Lay down now saith Iob put me in a surety with thee as if he should have said if you be so sure that I am a wicked man and an hypocrite and that therefore all these evils are come upon me that I suffer and that if I repent then I shall have all things according to my hearts desire again Lay down now a pledge or a pawn that shall be forfeited if you do not appear and make this good put me in a surety with thee that shall undertake for thee that this shall be done and so let our cause be pleaded before an equall judge or umpire and accordingly also they hold therefore that the last clause must be taken either as a challenge to the rest of his friends that they would if Eliphaz would not undertake this his challenge who is he that will strike hands with me for in those daies they used to confirme any agreement made between man and man by clapping or clasping of hands together thereby as it were binding themselves one to another whence is that of Solomon Prov. 6.1 2. My son if thou be surety for thy friend if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger thou art snared with the words of thy mouth c. or else as a denyall that any surety could be found that would upon these conditions undertake for Eliphaz or his other two friends who is he that will strike hands with me as if he should have said I would gladly see the man that would upon these tearms make an agreement with me but alas who is he that will doe it Again 2. Some think that as in the following verses so here also Iob directs his speech to God and that out of an over-violent desire to have his innocency cleared as being exceedingly netâ—ed with the unjust aspersions which his friends had cast upon him he doth here as a man besides himself presse God to lay down a pledge and to put in a surety that would undertake for God to wit either that Iobs cause should be tryed before Goâ— and not men and that God and not man should determine of it or else that God would condescend to have the cause between God and him equally argued and heard as between one man and another and that God should stand to what was determined after it had been thus argued Lay down now put me in a surety with thee as who should say I know O Lord that poor mortall man cannot contend with thee and that if he should he must needs be soon overwhelmed with thy majesty and glory and therefore I desire that thou wouldest lay down a pawn and put in a surety who may undertake for thee that laying aside thy majesty thou wilt suffer me to plead my cause with thee and agreeably hereto they hold that the last words are added to imply either how desirous he was that such a surety might be found that would undertake this for God who is he that will strike hands with me or else how unlikely it was that any could be found that would undertake it 3. Because it seems very hard that Iob should as it were professe that he would not trust God without a pawn and a surety and that he should speak so immodestly and arrogantly to God therefore some other Expositours hold that Iob desires God to appoint him a surety that should undertake for the clearing of his innocency against the calumnies of his friends or rather that should engage himself to plead both for God and him against his unjust friends and therefore they say it is said put me in a surety with thee that is one that may be a surety both for thee and me whereupon he adds also either to imply his desire that this might be or his fear that it would not be who is he that will strike hands with me And indeed such a one as this Exposition intends Elihu did afterwards appear to be when he undertook to umpire the businesse betwixt Iob and his friends But now 4. Others understand this of Christ the promised Messiah Lay down now put me
in a surety with thee who is he that will strike hands with me that is let that which I now desire be determined and established appoint Christ who is with thee in heaven and hath already agreed with thee to be the surety of poor sinners appoint him I say to plead my cause and to stand up for me as my surety and then I am sure no man will dare to contend with me And indeed these two last Expositions do best agree with the context Vers 4. For thou hast hid their heart from understanding therefore shalt thou not exalt them That he might not be thought over-bold and over-confident in desiring that his cause might be examined and tryed or in appealing as he had done to God from his friends he gives in these words as a reason why he did so earnestly desire this and why he was so fearlesse of having his cause any way tryed to wit because God had hid their heart from understanding that is he had hid understanding from their heart he had given them over to blindnesse of mind how wise soever they thought themselves to wit in that particular controversie which was now in debate betwixt Iob and them Gods providences towards Iob were mysteries and riddles to them which they could not unfold and so accordingly they were in the dark as concerning those points which had been argued betwixt him and them and were not able to discern between truth and errour and therefore saith he shalt thou not exalt them where by not exalting them is meant either that God would not honour them with letting them determine his cause but would take the matter out of their hands into his own or at least put it into some other hand or else that God would not give them occasion to exalt themselves over him by giving sentence on their side however they now tryumphed over him as if they had got the victory yet when their cause came to be heard he knew well that then God would take his part against them and determine the cause for him and not for them and then they should have no cause to exalt themselves Vers 5. He that speaketh flattery to his friends even the eyes of his children shall fail Concerning this expression of the failing of their eyes see the Notes chap. 11.20 and Deut. 28.32 the meaning is that God will not only punish such flatterers in their own persons but even in their children also who through Gods just judgement do tread in their fathers steps But the great question concerning these words is why Iob speaks here of Gods punishing those that flatter their friends since his friends of whom he is now complaining were so farre from flattering him that they did rather revile him and falsely accuse him and to this five answers may be given 1. That he may therefore accuse them of flattery because having alwaies spoken him so fair in the time of his prosperity they were now so bitter against him in the hour of his adversity 2. That the flattery he intends was that when they might so plainly perceive that he was irrecoverably spent a dying man as we use to speak yet they could tell him such long stories of the prosperous estate he should enjoy here in this world if he would repent and seriously seek Gods face and favour as that his estate should be like the morning that he should outshine the very Sun and be a great man again chap. 5.19 20 and 8.5 and 11.15 16 c. 3. That the flattery which here he covertly strikes at was not their flattering him but their flattering of God if God would punish those that flatter their friends they could expect no better who to curry favour with God and under a flattering pretence of maintaining Gods justice had most unjustly condemned him which is that wherewith he had before charged his friends chap. 13.8 10. of which see the Notes there 4. That he spake not this to charge them with flattery but to clear himself from desiring to be flattered least they should think that he complained of their harsh dealing with him because he desired they should flatter him to prevent this he gives them to understand that he was so farre from this that he was assured that if men flattered their friends God would destroy both them and their posterity and 5. That he spake not this as a threat against his friends for their flattering of him but as a threat against himself in case he should have flattered them he would not have them offended at his plainnesse of speech in reproving them and telling them that God had hid their hearts from understanding c. and that because he knew well how severely God was wont to punish those that flattered their friends not in their own persons only but also in their posterity Vers 6. He hath made me also a by-word of the people and aâ—ore time I was as a tabret Here Iob returns to his wonted complaints of the sad condition whereinto God had brought him Reading the last clause as it is in the margin of our Bibles and before them I was as a tabret it is as if he had said before their face or in their sight they being witnesses of it I was as a tabret or else it is to the same purpose with the first clause He hath made me also a by-word of the people concerning which see the Note Deut. 28.37 for the meaning is that they played upon him as a tabret or that they made a laughing-stock of him deriding him and sporting themselves with his misery according to the like expressions which we find elsewhere as Lam. 3.14 I was a derision to all my people and their song all the day and Psal 44.13 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us But if we read it as it is in our Bibles and aâ—ore-time I was as a tabret then the meaning must needs be that whereas formerly report gave a pleasant sound of him to all mens ears now men scoffed and flouted at him in every place Or that now they talked reproachfully and scoffingly of him in every corner whereas in former times they rejoyced in his company and it was a delight to them to be where he was Vers 7. And all my members are as a shadow As if he had said My body is no body indeed but as it were the shadow of a body and this he might say either with respect to his exceeding great weaknesse by reason whereof all the members of his body were in a manner uselesse to him they had the outward appearance and shape of members but they could not do the office of such members he could not make any use either of hands or feet c. or else because his whole body was so consumed and wasted that his members had as it were no substance in them they were so meager and wan that he
looked more like an apparition then one that had a true body and should his friends see him they could not know him but would take him for the shadow of Iob rather then for Iob himself But now if you read this clause as it is in the margin of our Bibles and all my thoughts are as a shadow then the meaning is that his thoughts did suddenly vanish and passe away as a shadow and indeed men in great distresse are wont to be full of various distracting thoughts their minds running sometimes upon one thing sometime on another which may well be that which Iob here complains of to wit that there was no stability in his thoughts because of his miseries Vers 8. Vpright men shall be astonied at this c. Some Expositours make the sense of these words to be this that even upright men shall be astonied to see one whom they judged a holy and righteous man to be so severely punished and shall thereupon raise up themselves against him as against an hypocrite and accordingly also they expound the following verse The righteous also shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger to wit that the righteous afflicted man though thus misjudged by his godly friends which is indeed the sorest of all tryalls shall for all this hold on his way and shall become more strict and more zealous in the wayes of godlinesse then he was before But the commoner and as I conceive the better Exposition is this Vpright men shall be astonied at this that is wise and godly men such Iobs friends were shall stand amazed at my strange sufferings and shall hereupon condemn and deride me in my miseries and that especially upon this ground that I should for all this persevere in my dependance upon God and maintain mine innocency and integrity against them and the innocent shall stirre up himself against the hypocrite that is men of a holy life and pure conscience shall hereupon rouse up themselves to wit either 1. To take his part and maintain his cause against those hypocrites that did so deride and falsely accuse him or 2. To oppose those base hypocrites that by his sufferings should take occasion to blaspheme God to harden themselves in their wickednesse and to make a mock of godlinesse or 3. To encourage themselves by this example not to faint in the like case if it should come to be their portion but stoutly to maintain their integrity against those that unjustly condemned them And so likewise they understand the following verse The righteous also shall hold on his way c. to wit that good and holy men will not be beaten off from the waies of righteousnesse by seeing them that walk in those waies so sorely afflicted despised and derided but will rather become the more zealous and gather the more strength hereby to comfort and encourage themselves against such temptations So that the drift of these words also was to shew that his grievous miseries was no proof that he was a wicked man and that God hath other holy ends for which he brings such sore calamities upon men besides the punishing of them for their sins Vers 10. But as for you all do you return and come now c. This may be either spoken by way of advice to his friends doe you return that is give over this erroneous conceit which you have hitherto maintained change your minds and come now that is close with me in that which I shall say or hearken to that which I shall now deliver or else as a challenge farther to argue out the businesse between them which seems the more probable because in that sense this very expression Return I pray you is used before chap. 6.29 of which see the Note there But as for you all do you return and come now that is come and let us again argue the cause between us were there never so many of you I challenge every one of you to prepare your selves and to alledge the utmost you can for the justifying of that you have undertaken to maintain for I cannot find one wise man among you that is in this particular you speak not wisely I shall easily make it appear that in this which you affirm that God would not afflict me thus were I not an hypocrite you erre grossely and speak as men that are altogether ignorant of the wayes of God And it may well be which some think that because Eliphaz had now returned as I may say to reply upon him and because he saw perhaps his other two friends eager to fall upon him the second time therefore it was that he now bids defiance to them all But as for you all doe you return and come now c. Vers 11. My daies are past my purposes are broken off even the thoughts of my heart As if he had said what do you tell me of comfortable daies though I have done what I could to comfort my self with hope and expectation of being freed from the miseries which for the present I suffered and with entertaining purposes of doing this or that when I came to be in a better condition as indeed men in misery are wont to catch at any thing that may give them any hope of being delivered out of their troubles yet I see all is in vain my life is in a manner at an end all the thoughts and purposes of my heart this way are broken off to wit either by death which will put an end to them all or else by divers other distracting thoughts which my pain and other miseries do continually suggest and which will not suffer my thoughts to be long stedfastly pitched upon any thing especially any thing that should comfort me Now though some conceive that this is rendred as a reason why they should hearken to him and be warned by him to wit because being a dying man he had not much more to say nor was well able to utter what he had purposed to speak his pain and misery interrupting him and the thoughts of his heart being through distemper full of distractions yet I rather think that the drift of these words is clearly to shew how vain a thing it would be for him a dying man to expect any such glorious condition here in this world as they had promised him if he would repent and turn again unto the Lord and that because this agrees fully with that which follows Vers 12. They change the night into day c. That is these distracting thoughts of which mention was made in the foregoing verse or my friends by causing such distraction in my thoughts make me passe the night without any rest as if it were the day the light is short because of darknesse that is the light of my joy is short because of the darknesse of my afflictions or rather the light is short because of darknesse that is when the day comes it seems presently to
be gone again so that I do very little enjoy the benefit of the day and that either because it seems over-clouded with the darknesse of my afflictions or because I am streight way afraid of the dolefulnesse of the night that is coming after it Vers 13. If I wait the grave is mine house I have made my bed in the darknesse That is if I should wait in hope to see an end of my miseries yet at last I am sure the grave must be my house there in the darknesse of the pit I must lay me down to rest Thus some Expositours understand these words But I rather understand them thus If I wait the grave is my house c. that is if I should wait for that glorious change to which you say God would restore me if I would repent and beg mercy at his hands I should certainly flatter my self in vain and that because I am a dying man and so the grave is the house where I must immediately be lodged and in the darknesse thereof I am ready to lay down my self to rest Vers 14 I have said to Corruption Thou art my father to the worm Thou art my mother and my sister It is the opinion of a learned man and not altogether improbable that because great men in those times had certain vaults where the bodies of all their family were successively laid and placed in such order that when their children went in to them they were able to say which was their grandfather and grandmother their father and mother c. therefore Iob to imply that he should not be buried in such a way of state but should be laid after the manner of meaner men in an ordinary grave he saith here that in stead of being thus laid up with the ancestours of his family he should only have rottennesse and wormes for his father and mother and sisters in his buriall place But the more ordinary exposition of these words I take to be the better by farre to wit that Iobs drift therein is as in those before to shew that he was hopelesse of life and had in his thoughts given up himself and that willingly to the grave I have said to corruption Thou art my father to the worm Thou art my mother and my sister as if he should have said In stead of those my near friends with whom I have lived in the house of the grave whether I am going apace corruption and worms are the near allyes the father mother brothers and sisters with whom I must dwell And indeed to corruption and the worms he might the rather give these tearms of his nearest allyes because he himself had his originall from the earth and was no better in regard of that corruption whereinto he should be turned in the grave then the grave-bred worms But however by these expressions Iob would shew that he was so farre from looking upon death as an enemy or a stranger that he was upon fair tearms with death as with his nearest allyance yea that he was well acquainted with death and took delight and contentment in death as men do when after a long journey they return home to father and mother and brethren and sisters Vers 15. And where is now my hope as for my hope who shall see it That is when I shall be thus laid in the grave what will become then of the hope you would give me of a prosperous estate here in this world since doubtlesse no man shall ever see me have a good day again here in this world It is as if he should have said It had been fitter you should have propounded to me the blisse and glory which after death I might expect in heaven for I were indeed in a sad condition if I had no more hope in heaven then I can expect here in this world Vers 16. They shall go down to the barres of the pit when our rest together is in the dust Two severall waies these words of Iob may be understood 1. As an answer to the last words of the foregoing verse having said there As for my hope who shall see it He answers himself here in these words They shall goe down to the bars of the pit c. as if he should have said I look every hour to be laid in the grave and therefore if there be any good to be hoped for by me I must expect it there and so they that will see my hope must passe through the gates of death and goe down with me into the grave that so they may there behold it when we shall there lye at rest together in the dust 2. As a farther illustration of the vanity of those hopes which his friends had propounded to him They shall goe down saith Iob to the barres of the pit c. that is truly all the hopes that you have propounded to me or that I can conceive of living in prosperity again in this world shall be all buried in the grave and there both I and they shall perish when we shall all rest together in the dust CHAP. XVIII Vers 2. THen answered Bildad the Shuhite As Bildad spake next after Eliphaz when they first began to argue with him so now again in replying he keepes his turn and speakes next after Eliphaz as he did before Vers 2. How long will it be ere you make an end of words c. Many learned Expositours hold that in this and the following verse Bildad speakes not to Iob but to his two companions Eliphaz and Zophar or at least joyntly both to Iob and them and that because in the Originall it is expressed indeed in the plurall number and that the drift of these words is to blame them because they had hitherto multiplyed words one against another but all little or nothing to the purpose and that thereupon he addes the following clause mark and afterward we will speak that is let us be sure that we mark and well understand one another and then we may the better hope to carry on our dispute to some good effect But because 1. His joyning his friends with himself in that clause mark and afterwards we will speak seems rather to imply that he doth not direct his speech to them 2. His friends having still pleaded the same thing against Iob which he himself doth here in his following speech to wit that God doth alwaies destroy wicked men there was no colour why he should blame his friends for multiplying words nothing to the purpose and 3. Iob in the first words of his next reply seems directly to strike at these words of Bildad as spoken to him chap. 19.2 yea saith he How long will ye vex my soul and break me in pieces with words in these regards I rather think that Bildad spake this only to Iob and that it is expressed in the plurall number either because there were some friends at this dispute that sided with Iob though Iob only spake or else rather
because it was a propriety of speech which the Hebrews used to speak sometimes in the plurall number though they speak but to one It seems therefore to me most probable that Bildad did with these words interrupt Iob before he had made an end of speaking and because Iob had been still larger in answering them then they had been in their arguing against him therefore he upbraides him for being so full of words How long will it be ere you make an end of words as if he should have said will you never have done How long will it be ere you give over this multiplying of words I say mere words nothing to the purpose and that have no substance nor solidity in them mark and afterwards we will speak that is observe what we say and then we shall willingly proceed to argue the cause farther with you And herein he doth also covertly tax Iob that hitherto he had not well observed or not well understood what they had said and that thereupon it was that he ranne on and would still defend his cause though there was no strength at all in any thing he spake Vers 3. Wherefore are we counted as beasts and reputed vile in your sight As is noted in the foregoing verse many hold that this also was spoken by Bildad to his two friends as if he had said Why should you suffer your selves to be thus scorned and despised and that even to your faces for that must needs be the meaning of those words and reputed vile in your sight But taking it as spoken to Iob and that those words in your sight which in the originall are expressed in the plurall number were spoken with respect to those standers-by that sided with Iob as is said in the former verse then the words do clearly contain an expostulation with Iob for slighting all that they had spoken wherefore are we counted as beasts and reputed vile in your sight that is why are we scorned and despised as if we were mere bruits that had no understanding And indeed many things Iob had spoken whereto Bildad might have respect in these words as when he said that God had hid their heart from understanding chap. 17.4 and vers 10. I cannot find one wise man among you and when he had tearmed them miserable comforters chap. 16.2 and sent him to the beasts to be instructed by them chap. 12.7 Ask now the beasts and they shall teach thee c. Vers 4. He teareth himself in his anger In relation to that which Iob had said chap. 13.14 wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth or to that which he had said chap. 16.9 He teareth me in his wrath who hateth me Bildad here chargeth Iob with this that he did even tear himself in his anger as if he should have said Whereas Iob complains that his enemy that hateth him teareth him in his wrath the truth is that he teareth himself though he would seem to deny it and his meaning is either that he carried himself like a mad man who in their distraction are wont often to tear not their garments only but their own flesh also or else that through the impatience of his spirit and his inward vexing and fretting he did continually torture and tear himself Shall the earth be forsaken for thee and shall the rock be removed out of his place Some Expositours understand the first clause thus shall the earth be forsaken for thee that is if you be cut off and perish must all the glory of the world needs perish with you you make a doe about your dying as if the whole earth would be left desolate and without an inhabitant if you should be taken away why what do you make of your self that such a matter should be made of it that you are like to be laid shortly in the grave Shall the earth be forsaken for thee if you die must all the world needs die with you But the commoner and better exposition of these words is that Bildad doth here check Iob for maintaining that which would overthrow the setled course of Gods providence in the government of the world Shall the earth be forsaken for thee c. as if he had said To justify you who will not yield that your wickednesse hath brought these miseries upon you which you now suffer or because of your complaints and outcryes that you are innocent and that you are unmeasurably and unjustly afflicted shall we say that Gods providence hath forsaken the earth or that God scared by your clamours will overturn the whole course of nature which he hath established by an unchangeable decree Surely the decree of God that it shall be well with the righteous and ill with the wicked is as firm and sure as that the earth shall be inhabited and that the rocks and mountains shall stand firm in their places and therefore you may as well hope that God should give over the government of the world that the earth should be forsaken or the rocks be removed out of their place as that God should prosper the wicked or make the righteous miserable As when we talk of those things which we judge impossible we use to say Yes shall we look for stars in the sea or fishes in the heavens so to imply how impossible it was which Iob maintained that he was innocent notwithstanding Gods hand was so sore upon him what saith Bildad Shall the earth be forsaken for thee and shall the rock be removed out of his place Iob had given Zophar Bildads friend such a sarcasticall check chap. 12.2 No doubt but ye are the people and wisedome shall die with you And here now Bildad replyes upon him with the like kind of speech Vers 5. Yea the light of the wicked shall be put out and the spark of his fire shall not shine This is here set down as that unchangeable course of Gods Providence which as Bildad implyed in the foregoing verse would not be altered for Iobs sake yea the light of the wicked shall be put out c. as if he should have said Never think that God will change the constant way of his governing the world for you yea assure your self though the wicked man may live in a glorious and prosperous condition yet it shall not long continue this splendour of his shall quite be extinguished so that there shall not so much as a spark of it remain all his designes to keep up himself in his former glory shall come to nothing Concerning this metaphoricall expression of light for prosperity See the Notes also upon 2 Sam. 22.29 and Esth 8.19 Vers 6. The light shall be dark in his tabernacle and his candle shall be put out with him That is all the honour and bravery of his household and family shall be turned into woe and misery and the glory that he hath raised shall in and with himself expire and come to an end And indeed if by the putting out
starved to death for want of food Vers 14. His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle c. That is say some Expositours out of his body his bodily strength whereon he trusted shall be utterly destroyed Or every thing wherein he placed any confidence shall be utterly rooted out of his dwelling place namely his riches children c. and it shall bring him to the king of terrours that is this rooting his confidence out of his tabernacle or his broken confidence the despair he shall fall into upon the rooting out of his confidence shall bring him to the chiefest and greatest of all terrours or to death which is indeed to a naturall man the most terrible of all terribles as a heathen could say and so consequently also to the devil who in regard of the terrours wherewith he at last affrights those wicked men whom at first by his flattering temptations he drew into sin and in regard of those eternall torments wherewith he shall torment them may well be called the king of terrours Vers 15. It shall dwell in his tabernacle because it is none of his c. That is the king of terrours mentioned in the foregoing words Or rather destruction misery and want whereof he had spoken before vers 12. shall dwell in his tabernacle As in reference thereto he had said before vers 13. It shall devour the strength of his skin so in reference thereto again he saith here It shall dwell in his tabernacle because it is none of his that is Destruction shall take possession of his dwelling place because he got it by unjust means and so indeed in right it is none of his As for the following clause brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation the meaning of it is either 1. That God should utterly burn up his dwelling place to wit either with storms of thunder and lightning from heaven which is of a sulphureous nature as by the savour thereof may be sometimes discerned or with very showers of fire and brimstone or 2. That God should make the place of his habitation barren and desolate salt and brimstone being usually esteemed signes and causes of barrennesse in a land according to that Deut. 29.23 The whole land thereof is brimstone and salt and burning that it is not sown nor beareth nor any grasse groweth therein this may seem the more probable because of the word scattered which is here used brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation or 3. That God should destroy him and his with some strange and horrible judgement as once he did Sodome and Gomorrha for thus as in allusion to that the Scripture is wont to expresse unusuall and stupendious judgements as Psal 11.6 upon the wicked he shall rain snares fire and brimstone and a horrible tempest and so again Ezek. 38.22 and that Bildad did allude to that destruction of Sodome and Gomorrha we may the rather think because Iob and these his friends dwelt not farre from those parts and lived not long after the time when those cities were destroyed so that the memory of that judgement must needs be fresh amongst them And yet withall it is likely that he did covertly also put Iob in mind how his cattel and servants were consumed with fire from heaven chap. 1.16 Vers 16. His roots shall be dryed up beneath and above shall his branch be cut off This may be inferred as an effect of that which he had said before brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation to wit if that be understood of the barrennesse of the land wherein he dwelt But I conceive the plain meaning of these words to be this that he shall utterly be destroyed root and branch he and all that belongs to him according to that Mal. 4.1 All that doe wickedly shall be stubble the day comes that shall burn them up saith the Lord of hosts it shall leave them neither root nor branch for the wicked man is here compared to a blasted tree as before chap. 15.30 of which see the Note there Vers 18. He shall be driven from light into darknesse c. Herein may be comprehended that by the miseries that God shall bring upon him he shall be violently turned out of a prosperous condition into an estate of dismall and dolefull distresse and dishonour and sorrow but yet doubtlesse the chief thing intended herein is that he should be at last also driven from the light of this world into the land of darknesse the grave yea into that utter darknesse of hell for therefore to explain these words is that following clause added of being chased out of the world Vers 19. He shall neither have son nor nephew c. That is he shall leave no posterity behind him neither son nor sons son wherein he plainly strikes at Iob that had lost all his children Vers 20. They that come after him shall he astonied at his day as they that went before were affrighted At his day that is the day of his destruction that observable day when God shall at length render to the wicked man according to his works according to that Psal 137.7 Remember O Lord the children of Edom in the day of Ierusalem and Psal 37.13 The Lord shall laugh at him for he seeth that his day is coming The meaning therefore of these words is that the judgement of God upon the wicked man shall be so grievous and fearfull and thereupon so notorious that it should be famous in succeeding times and the very report of it should astonish those that live then though they never saw it even as it did affright those that went before or that lived with him who were eye-witnesses of the vengeance that was inflicted on him Vers 21. Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked and this is the place of him that knoweth not God That is of every ungodly man concerning which see the Note 1 Sam. 2.12 It is as if he had said Certainly as sure as God is just this is and this will be at last the portion of all wicked men and hypocrites that do not truly fear God to this their stately dwellings shall at last be brought and to this all their great wealth and pomp shall come and therefore do not deceive thy self Iob by thy present condition it is evident what thou hast been and if thou wilt not hearken to thy friends to repent and turn unto the Lord thus as all other wicked men doe thou must expect to end thy daies CHAP. XIX Vers 2. HOw long will ye vex my soul and break me in pieces with words Because Bildad began his Reply with that disdainfull expostulation How long will it be ere you make an end of words chap. 18.2 Iob addressing himself here to answer him begins after the same manner and retorts the expostulation upon him and his other two friends Nay saith he How long will ye vex my soul and break me in pieces with words therein giving them to
understand how his soul was vexed and his heart torn within him and even broken to pieces with the bitternesse of their words as knowing well that all they had spoken of wicked men they intended of him so that all his bodily sufferings were not so bad to him as those their sharp reproaches wherewith his very soul was galled and wounded and so consequently also upbraiding them hereby for their uncharitablenesse and cruelty that could one after another lay on such load upon one that was already in such a sad afflicted condition and willing them as it were to consider whether he deserved to be blamed for not giving over speaking for the justifying of himself or they for not giving over to cast such unjust reproaches upon him Vers 3. These ten times have ye reproached me c. That is many times again and again see the Note Gen. 31.7 You are not ashamed that you make your selves strange to me or as it is in the margin that you harden your selves against me in which words he blames them and that as for a fault of which they might well be ashamed if they had any shame in them to wit either because they were so hard-hearted as to use him so reproachfully being in so sad a condition and never to regard the mournfull complaints whereby he had endeavoured to move them to pity or else if you read this clause as it is in our Bibles because having been his old acquaintance and friends they carried themselves towards him as if they had been mere strangers to him both in that they showed no more love to him nor did no more compassionate him in his miseries then if they had been mere strangers and likewise in that a stranger that had never known any thing of his close and strict walking with God in a holy and righteous life could not have censured him more uncharitably then they had done who had long intimately known and had been often eye-witnesses of his religious and just conversation Vers 4. And be it indeed that I have erred mine errour remaineth with my self The meaning of these words any one would take to be clearly and plainly this Be it indeed that I have erred Suppose though I cannot yield indeed that it is so that I have done some evil through ignorance or infirmity wherewith God hath been provoked to this displeasure against me or suppose that I have now in my arguing with you spoken something that is not fitting mine errour remaineth with my self I suffer for it and not you or I am like to smart for it and not you and therefore you need not trouble your selves with it Indeed because this is usually the speech of men desperately wicked when they shake off the reproofs of those that wish them well Trouble not your selves any more with me if I doe any thing I should not doe it is not you but I that must suffer for it and so it could not well stand with the piety of Iob to answer thus therefore some Expositours give another sense of these words which is this And be it indeed that I have erred mine errour remaineth with my self that is suppose that my life hath not been in every respect such as it ought to have been or that in my pleading with you I have maintained any thing that is false and erroneous truly in this errour I do and must for any thing I see still remain since you have no way convinced me nor informed me better Or thus suppose that in pleading my cause against you I have forgotten my self and spoken something unadvisedly my fault herein must lye upon my self but what is this to the purpose for that which is the great Question between us whether or no the miseries I now suffer be laid upoâ— me for my former wickednesse you quarrell at me for being so full of words and so violent in my discourse but what is this to the question in hand But yet considering 1. That the best are sometimes overborn with temptations and passions in such great distresses as Iob was now in and the drift of this book is to set down as well how he was tempted as how he did suppresse and overcome his temptations and 2. That his aime in these words was not to reject any just reproof or admonition of his friends but to tax them for their bitter reviling speeches I see not but that the first exposition is most approveable And be it indeed that I have erred mine errour remaineth with my self as if he should have said Though I have erred it is nothing to you let me alone to bear what God hath laid upon me and do not you adde to mine afflictions by deriding and flouting me and charging me with many false devised calumnies Because they had alledged nothing that had any solidity in it either to comfort or convince him therefore he wills them to consider that though he had erred if it were so he smarted for it and this could give them no just ground to use him so as they had done so that he speaks this I say as taxing the frivolousnesse and bitternesse of that which they had spoken and as professing that it was more easie for him to endure what he suffered then to hear their flouts and reproachfull speeches Vers 5. If indeed ye will magnifie your selves against me and plead against me my reproach c. By their magnifying themselves against him is meant that being in a prosperous and flourishing condition themselves they did proudly insult over him that was in misery and as it were trample upon him and by pleading against him his reproach is meant their alledging against him as the only argument whereby they sought to prove him a wicked man and an hypocrite the heavy punishments which God had inflicted on him for these they are which he tearms his reproach because with these they reproached him as making them such clear evidences of his former wickednesse The greatest difficulty in these words is why upon this he saith here he inferres that which follows in the next verse If indeed saith he ye will magnifie your selves against me and plead against me my repreach that is if ye be indeed seriously resolved to triumph over me and to plead the judgements that God hath laid upon me thereby to prove me a wicked man then Know now that God hath overthrown me and hath compassed me about with his net And to this there may three answers be given 1. That by alledging this of Gods dealing with him he sought to imply that the grievousnesse of his sufferings might well wring from him those complaints which they judged so excessive and that therefore they had no cause so to tryumph over him as they did 2. By putting them in mind that it was God that had brought those miseries upon him which he now endured his aim was to imply that when God did correct a man thus he did it not that others should insult
he had entertained and harboured amongst those of his family his complaint is herein the juster and fadder that they to whom he had shown so much mercy or kindnesse should so little regard him and of his maids he makes particular mention because they in regard of their sex being naturally of a more tender and pitifull disposition it was the more strange that they should carry themselves so strangely and unmercifully towards him regarding him no more then if they had no relation at all to him Vers 16. I called my serâ—ant and he gave me no answer I entreated him with my mouth That is When I called my servant so far was he from doing what I would have had done that he would not vouchsafe to give me an answer yea though instead of commanding him I entreated him not by others sent to him but with mine own mouth all this would doe no good even to my face he would slight and scorne me Vers 17. My breath is strange to my wife c. Almost all Expositours understand this of his wives loathing to come nigh him because of the ill savour of his breath by reason of the putrifaction of his lungs and other infirmities that lay upon him But I rather conceive that by his breath is meant the words he spake to her his complaints and entreaties to which also may be added his sighs and his groans My breath is strange to my wife as if he should have said even when I speak to my wife I spend my breath in vain she that lay in my bosome regards not my complaints and entreaties my sighs and cryes no more then if she had been a mere stranger to me And indeed so much is clear by the following clause where he adds by way of explaining what he had said before that his breath was strange to his wife though I entreated for the childrens sake of mine own body that is though I besought her even for the conjugall bonds sake wherewith we were tyed together and for the childrens sake which God had bestowed upon us as the pledges and means of our mutuall love one to another Indeed a great question it is amongst Expositours what children these were for whose sake Iob should beg for respect from his wife in this time of his misery since at the very first of his troubles both his sons and daughters were slain by the fall of the house upon them where they were feasting together and to this some say that he had other little children that were not then slain and others that it is meant of his childrens children But because the Text seems expressely to mention all his store of children where it faith that he had seven sons and three daughters chap. 1.2 which were all cut off together and 2. Because in many passages Iob seems to complain that God had rooted out all his posterity therefore I rather think that he meant this of those his children at first mentioned nor can I see why it should seem strange that he should mention the children God had given them whilst they lived together as man and wife as an argument whereby to perswade her not to despise him though at the time when he spake this God had taken them away Vers 18. Yea young children despised me c. This may be read as it is in the margin yea the wicked despised me this being a sore affliction to the righteous servants of God when they are made a laughing stock to an ungodly crue But reading it as it is in our Bibles yea young children despised me by young children we must understand those that we call young ones or youths the younger sort of men see the Note 1 Kings 3.7 or at the utmost boyes and girles not the young sort of children And we must know that even this is mentioned as an aggravation of his misery 1. Because children are naturally more pittifull to them that are in misery and withall afraid to despise grave and aged men and 2. Because it must needs very much vex and fret such men when every boy and girle shall despise them As for those words I arose in the following clause I arose and they spake against me Some think that thereby is meant that so soon as he showed himself perceiving in what a condition he was in they presently began to revile him and to speak against him what they had heard others say some again think the meaning to be this that though he arose up as by way of respect to them yet they despised and reproached him others that when he arose to goe away from them as not able to endure such contempt and yet not willing to contend with them assoon as his back was turned he might presently hear how they did reproach and revile him and others that when he arose to reprove them for despising him then they spake against him And indeed these three last Expositions I conceive the most probable Vers 19. All my inward friends abhorred me c. It is in the originall the men of my secret that is those to whom I imparted all my secrets and they whom I loved to wit most dearly are turned against me In this doubtlesse he aimes particularly at his three friends as upbraiding them for dealing so unfriendly yea unmercifully with him Vers 20. My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh c. Reading this clause according to the Translation that is set in the margin My bone cleaveth to my skin as to my flesh the meaning is clear to wit that he was so pined away that being nothing but skin and bones his bones did now cleave to his skin as formerly they did to his flesh And thus I conceive the words must be understood though they be read as they are in our Bibles yet some would have them understood thus My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh that is to the skin of my flesh or the skin of my body or to my skin which is my flesh for so that which is translated Psal 102.5 My bones cleave to my skin is in the originall My bones cleave to my flesh As for that which follows And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth it is all one as if he had said that to say true he had no other skin left but the skin of his teeth to wit his lips for so some understand it or the skin of his gums the skin of his body being all over rather a scab then skin as being overspread in every part with boiles and ulcers And therefore indeed some Expositours say that when the Devil filled the body of Iob with sores and ulcers he left his lips and other the instruments of speech free purposely that he might be able with his mouth to blaspheme God Vers 21. Have pity upon me have pity upon me O ye my friends c. As if he should have said If you will approve your selves friends as you pretend
to be let this which I have said move you to pity me and comfort me and do not still condemne me for an hypocrite and adde affliction to the afflicted As for the reason that is added for the hand of God hath touched me see the Notes chap. 1.11 2.5 Vers 22. Why do you persecute me as God and are not satisfied with my flesh This which Iob here upbraids his friends with to wit that they persecuted him as God may be understood two severall waies either 1. That when God afflicted him they did so too they did as it were joyn with God in afflicting him and making his life burdensome to him when God punisheth any man or men though the punishments be never so justly inflicted it is the duty of those that behold them thus punished to pity them and be tender over them neither must they by any means insult over them but rather reflect upon themselves and be afraid of themselves as considering that God may as justly lay his hand upon them as he hath done upon these whom they behold in such misery Now that therefore for which he blames his friends here may be only this because when Gods hand was heavy upon him they instead of pitying him did also set themselves against him and by their hard usage and bitter reproaches did adde to his affliction forgetting themselves to be men subject to the same miseries or 2. That they did afflict him in the same manner as God did to wit in that 1. As God did persecute him incessantly and without intermission bringing calamities upon him one in the neck of another without affording him any breathing time so did they follow him with reproach upon reproach and censure upon censure not yielding him any rest and 2. In that they persecuted him as an enemy as God did and in as heavy a manner As God had laid load upon him so did they as God had appeared in a way of wrath against him so did they and so he doth as it were intimate that their scorns and scoffs and calumnies were as grievous to him as all the other miseries that God had laid upon him or 3. That they arrogated that to themselves which belonged only to God to wit either because they did in so masterly a manner condemne him for an hypocrite which none could know but God only who is the searcher of the heart and of the reines or else rather because they did causelessely persecute him why do you persecute me as God as if he had said However God in regard of his absolute Sovereignty over men may deal with them as seems good in his own eyes and so may lay what afflictions he pleaseth upon me merely because it is his will so to doe though there were no other cause at all yet you have no such power over me and therefore shew why it is that you do thus persecute me what will you make your selves Gods And then for the next clause wherein he chargeth them that they were not satisfied with his flesh Why do ye persecute me as God and are not satisfied with my flesh the drift thereof I conceive is to imply either that it was a high degree of cruelty in them that not content with the grievous miseries he had endured in his body even to the utter wasting and consuming of his flesh besides that he was stripped of all other outward comforts whatsoever they should also seek as they had done to wound and afflict his spirit also as if he had said Though God afflicteth my mind and my soul and hath filled my soul with terrours yet why should you force on my affliction as farre as God doth or else that in regard they were not satisfied with all those insufferable miseries that he lay under but did still prosecute him with so much bitternesse they were herein like beasts of prey that when they have eaten the flesh of the poor creatures they prey upon cannot be satisfied therewith till they have quite devoured them and after they have eaten the flesh do also gnaw and crush the bones asunder And indeed all cruell oppression and crushing of the poor and afflicted is usually expressed in the Scripture by that phrase of devouring them and eating up their flesh as Psal 27.2 My foes came upon me to eat up my flesh and Gal. 5.15 But if ye bite and devour one another take heed that ye be not consumed one of another Vers 23. O that my words were now written oh that they were printed in a book c. Though some referre this particularly to that following passage verse 25. wherein he makes indeed a most clear and glorious confession of his faith in Christ his Redeemer and his hope concerning the resurrection of the dead and life eternall worthy to be taken notice of by all that should live in succeeding times yet I rather think he meant it of all that he had spoken in that dispute that had been betwixt him and his three friends yea and of all that he should afterward speak To shew how clear his conscience was and how confident he was of the justice of his cause and to manifest withall that he had not spoken so rashly and unadvisedly and much lesse so desperately and blasphemously as they pretended he had though some words might slip from him in his passion that were not altogether to be justifyed he wisheth that his words were written and printed in a book c. For hereby he intimates that he was so farre from declining the judgement of any man living that he was willing it should be known both to the present and future ages as being assured that whoever in succeeding times should read what he had suffered and what had passed betwixt him and his friends they would pity his condition and acquit him from all those false accusations they had charged upon him Yea and therefore he wisheth that his words were not only written and printed in a book but also vers 24. that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever And however some Expositours understand this that herein he wisheth that his words were graven with an iron pen in plates or leaâ—s of lead yea in the rock for ever yet others think that according to our translation the ground of this expression must needs be either that in those times they were wont to make their graving tools of iron tempered with lead as now a-daies they are tempered with steel or else that when they desired to grave any thing in stone for a perpetuall monument they used to cut the letters with an iron pen or graving tool and then to fill up the cuts or furrows of those letters with lead that they might be the more plain and legible and that hence he speaks of having his words graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever Vers 25. For I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand
at the latter day upon the earth Some of our best Expositours as Calvin Mercer and others understand this merely of Gods delivering Iob out of that sad and forlorn condition wherein he now lay to wit that he knew that however he was little better at present then as a man that is dead and buried yet he had a Redeemer that should rescue him at length out of this condition even the ever-living God who is the first and the last Esa 48.12 and therefore shall be after all men are vanished and gone and shall shew forth his power in the quickening and reviving of poor men dust and ashes even when they are fallen into the lowest and most desperate estate and condition And indeed it cannot be denied 1. That God is many times called our Redeemer in the Scripture as Esa 63.16 Thou O Lord art our Father our Redeemer 2. That an estate of extreme misery and affliction is often expressed in the Scripture by that of death men in such a condition are often spoken of as dead men yea as men that are buried and turned into dust and that to imply that such a condition is to men as bitter as death that it bereaves them of all the comforts of this life and is past all hope of recovery I was saith the Apostle 2. Cor. 11.23 in deaths oft And so Psal 88.4 5. I am counted with them that goe down into the pit free among the dead and Psal 22.15 Thou hast brought me saith David into the dust of death and 3. That the deliverance of such men out of such an extreme low and forlorn condition is often tearmed a quickning and a reviving and a raising of them up from the dead as Psal 71.20 Thou which hast shewed me great and sore troubles shalt quicken me again and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth and Isa 26.19 speaking of the bringing home of the Iews out of Babylon Thy dead men saith the Prophet shall live together with my dead body shall they arise awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust See also Psal 85.6 and Hos 6.2 But yet 1. Because Iob had hitherto disclaimed all hope of being delivered out of that forlorn condition wherein he lay and of being restored to any estate of prosperity and happinesse again though his friends had often assured him that if he would repent it would be so affirming that his hope was gone and that he was in a worse condition then a tree that is cut down of which there is hope that it may sprout again See chap. 16.22 and 17.1 11 13 c. and therefore it is no way probable that he should be now on a sudden raised to such a height of hope concerning Gods raising him to such a prosperous condition contrary to all his former discourses and 2. Because there are some passages in the following verses which cannot well be understood of a resurrection of his outward estate as that it is spoken of as a strange thing that he should see his Redeemer with the same eyes that he had then and some other of the like nature therefore I say if we joyntly consider of that which is said here with that which follows in the two next verses I cannot see how it can be otherwise understood then of Christ the promised Redeemer who indeed is most properly tearmed our Goel as it is in the originall our Redeemer it is the same word that is used Levit. 25.25 for the next kinsman that was to redeem the estate of his decayed brother of which see the Note there and that because he taking our nature upon him became as it were our near kinsman our brother Heb. 2.11 flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone So that I conceive the drift of Iob in these words was by this profession of his faith to prove that notwithstanding his sufferings and miseries were so grievous as he had now acknowledged yet he was farre from being a wicked man and an hypocrite as they had charged him to be I know saith he that my Redeemer liveth that is I that am so severely condemned by you and am now in such a miserable condition even I do certainly believe that there is a Redeemer to come that he is my Redeemer for there is much emphasis in that word my and that he lives as being the ever-living God the first and the last yea the fountain of life to all that shall believe in him and so shall one day redeem my person from destruction and maintain my cause against all those false aspersions you now cast upon me And then for the last clause and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth either it is meant of the second coming of Christ to judgement to wit that he should then appear upon earth and that as a conquerour trampling upon the grave as a conquer'd enemy and raising all flesh by his almighty command out of the dust yea and as a judge appearing in his glory to passe sentence upon all both quick and dead or else which some rather think and it seems very probable it is meant of his first coming as the following words in the next verses are meant of his second coming to wit that in the latter daies that is in the daies of the New Testament this his Redeemer should be made man and in mans nature should live and dwell upon the earth and being there slain should rise again and stand again upon the earth tryumphantly and so should as the Redeemer of his people vanquish death and accomplish the work of mans redemption And indeed that the daies of the Gospel from the time of Christs incarnation to the end of the world are frequently called in the Scripture the latter daies or the last daies cannot be questioned see Isa 2.2 Hos 3.5 1 Tim. 4.1 2 Tim. 3.1 of which two reasons are usually given to wit 1. Because all was then accomplished which had been prophesied concerning the work of mans Redemption that was the perfection of all times or as the Apostle calls it Gal. 4.4 the fulnesse of time and 2. Because the whole time of the worlds continuance being divided into three great Periods the 1. From the creation to the Law the 2. From the Law to Christs Incarnation the 3. From that to the day of Iudgement this which contains all the daies of the Gospel is the last of the three But however very observable it is which some Expositours have noted to wit that Iob was so strengthened and cheared up with the consideration of this which here he saith concerning the hope he had in his Redeemer and concerning the resurrection of his body and the blisse he should then enjoy that after this we meet not with any word he spake arguing any such fainting and impatience of spirit as many which before this came from him Vers 26. And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my
flesh shall I see God Though being laid in the grave worms must destroy not my skin only but even this whole body such as it is rather the shadow of a body then a body indeed yet by that my Redeemer who shall arise from the grave and live again in despite of death even this my body when dead shall be raised again and reunited to my soul and then to my great joy in my flesh face to face I shall see God and so shall enjoy the presence of my God and my Saviour for ever and ever As is noted in the foregoing verse some indeed understand this of Gods delivering him out of his present afflctions to wit that though his skin and flesh were at present eaten up as it were with worms yet God would restore his flesh again and so in his flesh he should behold God manifesting himself as a father to him But I say the words are farre clearer if we understand them of his seeing God at the resurrection Vers 27. Whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed within me Even this also some understand of his seeing God to his great advantage raising him from the sad estate whereinto he had cast him and restoring him to a comfortable condition again therefore those words and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed within me they understand thus that though his reins that is all the strength and vigour of his body were in a manner utterly consumed his body being little better then a rotten carcase yet he would look to God and his eyes should be fixed upon him in hope and expectation of help and deliverance and not upon any other But still I say I rather understand all these passages of his hope of seeing God when his dead body should be raised up at tâ—e generall Resurrection And so taking the words as meant of his seeing God at the Resurrection we must know 1. That he saith whom I shall see for my self because he should see him for his own advantage as his own God and his own Saviour not as the wicked should see him namely as reconciled to others not to them as a Redeemer to others not to them and 2. He saith that his own eyes should behold him and not another to set forth that he should not at the Resurrection have a new body created but that he should be raised with the very same numericall body wherein he had formerly lived upon the earth and then 3. That the last clause though my reins be consumed within me may be meant either of the present consumption of his body or else of the utter wasting of his body in the grave to wit that though he was so wasted that his very inmost parts his reines were consumed and much more would be consumed when he came to rot in the grave yet he knew well that at the Resurrection he should be raised up perfect again and then with those his eyes he should behold his Redeemer I know that some Expositours do otherwise understand this last clause that at the Resurrection he should behold his God and Redeemer to his great happinesse and comfort though his reines were consumed within him that is though when he came to live with God in heaven there should then be an end of all his naturall desires But the former exposition I judge far the better Vers 28. But ye should say Why persecute we him seeing the root of the matter iâ— found in me If we read this last clause as it is in the margin and what root of matter is found in me the meaning is then plain to wit that there was no cause in him why they should persecute him as they did But reading it as it is in our Bibles seeing the root of the matter is found in me it is very hard to say what Iob intended hereby Some would have these last words seeing the root of the matter is found in me to be a part of the recantation which Iob here adviseth his friends to make as concerning their violence against him hitherto to wit that they should not only say why persecute we him but also that they should every one of them severally adde by way of judging themselves seeing the root of the matter is found in me that is seeing the fault is in me I have by my groundlesse surmises and jealousies and unjust censuring of him provoked him to passion in his great distresse and so have been the cause of all these hot debates we have had with him But the truth is that the words can hardly be drawn to justify this Exposition And almost all Expositours agree in this that in the first clause Iob tells his friends that in reason they ought to check themselves for persecuting him as they had done and that then in the second clause a reason is given by Iob why they ought so to check themselves to wit because the root of the matter was found in him as if the words had been transposed thus But seeing the root of the matter is found in me ye should say why persecute we him Well but yet still this passage is very obscure because it is so hard to say what he meant by this the root of the matter is found in me every Expositour almost being herein of a severall judgement for 1. Some understand hereby the sound and solid reason wherewith he had maintained his cause and so they make the sense of these words to be this that they might well condemne themselves for persecuting him as they had done since all things being well weighed they could not but see that the cause which he maintained had a root of unquestionable justice in it it was well grounded neither had he spoken any thing for which he had not brought very sound and substantiall arguments and reasons 2. Others by the root of the matter understand his sufferings or the inward sense he had of the evils which lay upon him as if he had said There is no reason in the world why you should persecute me as you doe seeing the root the foundation of all our arguing is found in me that is I am he that suffer the miseries about which there have been such disputes between us and so they make this passage parallell with that above vers 4. And be it indeed that I have erred mine errour remaineth with my self 3. Others take it thus You ought not thus to persecute me seeing if you search the matter to the root and the foundation it will be found that I am innocent and that there is therefore some other cause of my misery which is hidden from you and that it is not for any wickednesse of mine as you would have it that God hath brought these calamities upon me 4. Others again conceive that by the root of the matter is meant the integrity and sincerity of his heart
know there is a judgement Now Zophar being exceedingly netled with these words breaks out presently as in relation thereto Therefore doe my thoughts cause me to answer and for this I make hast as if he should have said Whereas you think to stop our mouths by threatning us with the judgements of God so farre am I from being terrified herewith that this above all forceth me to speak so that now I am not able to hold my peace any longer And three reasons may be conceived why Zophar should upon those words above others be so much stirred in his spirit that he could no longer forbear 1. Because he might judge this most insufferable that he that lay under such judgements of God himself should yet be so confident that he was in the right as to threaten them with the judgements of God for speaking against him perceiving how he wrongfully applyed the judgements of God it was time to make him sâ— his errour herein 2. Because he might apprehend that he had now a notable advantage to convince him from his own words since if wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword as Iob said what cause had he to be afraid of this sword of divine vengeance that had in so much fury and wrath uttered so many bitter speeches against God and so scornfully despised the admonition of his friends and 3. Because he might be eager to put him in mind that if there were judgement and a sword of divine vengeance for wicked men he might thence know what himself was whom this sword of God had already so sorely wounded However observable is the expression which Zophar here useth My thoughts cause me to answer for hereby he would seem to imply that though he should speak zealously yet he should not speak rashly because he had seriously be thought himself of what he meant to say Vers 3. I have heard the check of my reproach c. That is the checks and taunts wherewith to my reproach thou hast upbraided me and scorned the truth of God which hath been spoken to thee for though some Expositours referre this particularly to that sharp expression of Iob chap. 19.23 why do ye persecute me as God and are not satisfied with my flesh as if he should have said What Do you charge me with persecuting you with eating up your flesh Are you not ashamed to cast such base reproaches upon us And others to that before mentioned vers 29. where he had threatned them with the sword of divine vengeance yet I should rather understand it generally either of Iobs stiffenesse in maintaining still the truth of his cause and the innocency of his person which Zophar esteemed a reproach to them or of all those tart passages in Iobs speeches wherewith Zophar apprehended himself to be reproached he still applying that to himself which Iob had spoken in common to them all As for the following clause and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer by the spirit of his understanding may be meant either the spirit of God enlightening his mind and causing him to understand or his soul by which he was inabled to understand or the force and strength of his understanding or the highest and chiefest and most refined part of the understanding that which is most free from the dregs of passion But however doubtlesse the drift of Zophar in this expression was either to imply that he meant to answer Iob with reason and understanding and not in passion and anger as Iob had still replyed upon them or else rather to shew that the reason why he could not forbear speaking any longer was because he did clearly understand that it was the truth which they maintained against Iob and was able by evident reason to convince him of his folly in reproaching his friends as he had done for that which they had spoken and of the wickednesse which they had charged him with Vers 4. Knowest thou not this of old since man was placed upon earth c. As if he should have said I appeal to thine own conscience caâ—st thou be ignorant of that which the experience of all ages hath approved to be true ever since God first made man and placed him upon the earth to wit as it follows in the next verse that the tryumphing of the wicked is short and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment And well it may be that when Zophar spake this he had in his thoughts how God punished Cain the son of Adam and Ham and his cursed posterity immediately after the flood Vers 6. Thaugh his excellency mount up to the heavens and his head reach unto the clouds That is though he overtop all men in riches honours authority and high esteem and be gotten up to the highest pitch of outward prosperity and glory insomuch that hereupon he exalts himself in his pride as a little God upon earth and think his condition as unchangeable as the heavens we have the like expression Matth. 11.23 And thou Capernaum which art exalted unto heaven shall be brought down to hell Vers 7. Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung c. This expression of Zophars may imply three things to wit 1. That God should slay him and so he should become a loath some stinking carcase his body being turned wholly to rottennesse and putrifaction 2. That when God began to execute his judgements upon him he should become loathsome base and abominable unto all men so that none should vouchsafe to save him but he should be cast out with the detestation and abhorring of all and 3. That he should perish utterly both he and his according to that which is said of Ieroboam 1 Kings 14.10 I will take away the remnant of the house of Ieroboam as a man taketh away dung till it be all gone concerning which see the Note there And likely enough it is too that Zophar might herein allude to the dunghill whereon Iob now sat chap. 2.8 and to the complaint he had made in the foregoing chapter that God had stripped him of his glory and taken away the crown from his head and that all his nearest friends c. despised him and stood aloof from him and so intimated to him that it was not strange at all that it was thus since it was the usuall portion of the wicked man thus to perish as his own dung that is mans dung the most loathsome of all dung And to the same purpose is the following clause they which have seen him shall say where is he for this implyes 1. That he should be utterly cut off and not be seen any more and 2. That they that had seen him with admiration in his height of prosperity should wonder to see afterward how on a sudden he was quite perished and gone not so much as any memoriall being left of him and should speak of him in a way of scorn and contempt Vers 8. He shall fly away as a
him it is surely an argument that I have a greater support to bear up my spirit then any thing in man could afford and therefore since you see that I plead my cause as before God I beseech you hearken to me But the first Exposition agrees best with the words Vers 5. Mark me and be astonished and lay your hand upon your mouth This may be understood as if he had said Mark me and you will be astonished and will lay your hand upon your mouth or else plainly as is expressed in the words by way of counsell Mark me and be astonished c. Some referre those words Mark me to the miseries he suffered others to the blamelesnesse of his conversation in former times others to that which he meant immediately to say concerning the prosperity of many desperate ungodly men But I conceive it is best to comprehend them all in those words Mark me and be astonished and lay your hand upon your mouth that is whereas you slight what I suffer and make nothing of it do but weigh well the insupportable grievousnesse of my miseries and withall how innocently and uprightly I have formerly lived and do but then also compare herewith that which I shall now say concerning the prosperity of many atheisticall ungodly wretches and then even with astonishment admire the wonderfull proceedings of God in his Providence to wit that such vile wretches should live in such height of prosperity and that one that hath lived as I have done should be so sorely plagued as I have been and be silent do not run on in judging so rashly as you have done that all who are thus afflicted must needs be wicked men for that by laying of the hand upon the mouth is meant a resolution of being silent and a restraining of our selves from speaking what we are otherwise inclinable to say is evident in other places where the same phrase is used as chap. 29.9 The Princes refrained talking and laid their hand on their mouth and Pro. 30.32 If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thy self or if thou hast thought evil lay thine hand upon thy mouth Vers 6. Even when I remember I am afraid and trembling taketh hold on my flesh Some Expositours referre this likewise only to the remembrance of his grievous sufferings and so conceive that the drift of Iob herein was to imply that if the remembrance thereof did so afflict him it were a signe of too much inhumanity in them if they could see their friend in so sad a condition and not be moved with it But I rather think that it must be referred to all for which he said in the former verse that they might be astonished Even when I remember I am afraid c. that is when I remember what I shall now tell you to wit how it fares many times with those that are most desperately wicked and withall how I have endeavoured to approve my self to God in all my waies and what notwithstanding I have now suffered I am afraid and my very flesh doth tremble to think of it nor know I what to say of these hidden waies of Gods proceedings Vers 7. Wherefore do the wicked live become old yea are mighty in power Iob propounds this by way of Question Wherefore do the wicked live c. either to imply how strange it seemed to him that God should so prosper wicked men and that he could not conceive wherefore it should be according to that of the Prophet Ier. 12.1 Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously or else as by way of replying upon that which his friends had so often objected concerning the judgements of God upon wicked men If God doth so certainly punish all wicked men here in this world and them only that I must be judged a wicked man because the hand of God is so heavy upon me if when the wicked are in a prosperous condition it never lasts long as Zophar had immediately before said chap. 20.5 that the triumphing of the wicked is short and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment and vers 8. that he shall fly away as a dream c. why then saith Iob wherefore do the wicked live become old yea are mighty in power that is wherefore is it that many times they live in health and pleasure even to old age and are usually men of mighty estates and of greatest dignity and authority in the places where they live Vers 8. Their seed is established in their sight with them c. This is in answer to that which Zophar had said to the contrary chap. 20.10 His children shall seek to please the poor and Eliphaz chap. 15.33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine and shall cast off his flower as the olive Vers 11. They send forth their little ones like a flock c. This may imply their being trained up under guardians and guides their unity amongst themselves and their children dance to wit as young cattel calves and lambs and kids are wont in a kind of wantonnesse to skip and leap whence are those expressions Psal 29.6 He maketh them also to skip like a calf and Psal 114.4 The mountains skipped like rams and the little hills like lambs Vers 13. They spend their daies in wealth and in a moment goe down to the grave That is they goe away in a trice they do not lye long in a wearisome languishing condition before they die nor undergoe any of those sore pains and conflicts in their death which most men suffer and so as they lived so they die without any great trouble It is the same as many think with that which the Psalmist saith Psal 73.4 there are no bands in their death Vers 14. Therefore they say unto God Depart from us c. The meaning of this is that because of their prosperity they despise God they say unto God Depart from us c. If they say not so much with their mouths yet the horrible prophanenesse of their lives discovers that they think so in their hearts or is in effect all one as if they thought so since those that should harbour such thoughts in their hearts could not live more atheistically then they do which agrees with that of the Apostle Tit. 1.16 They professe that they know God but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprobate And the drift of this is to shew that even the worst of wicked men do often live in such exceeding great prosperity as is before described Vers 16. Lo their good is not in their hand the counsell of the wicked is farre from me The judgement of Expositours is very different concerning the drift of these words Some take the first clause as spoken ironically Lo their good is not in their hand as if he should have said By this which I have said concerning the usuall
prosperity of ungodly men you see how unsound that is which you have maintained to wit that their good is not in their hand but that God doth alwaies strip them of the goods they have unjustly gotten And then for the second clause that is added they say by way of preventing an objection to wit that if wicked men fared so well then it would be his best course to walk in their waies that his friends might not object this he adds the counsell of the wicked is farre from me as if he should have said I would be loth to have their prosperity upon those tearms I have alwaies abhorred and do still abhorre the thoughts and courses of such prophane men and far be it ever from me to desire a share in their pomp by treading in their steps Again others understand it thus Lo their good is not in their hand that is it was not their own hand their own wisedome or industry that got them those goods they enjoy or raised them to such a prosperous estate but it was the hand of God that conferred these things upon them and therefore we see that God doth many times exalt and prosper the worst of men and then for the next clause they say that is added to shew how foolish and wicked a thing therefore it is in such men as he had spoken of to carry themselves so scornfully and insolently towards God the counsell of the wicked is far from me that is I am therefore farre from thinking as wicked men do that ascribe all they have to themselves according to that of the Assyrian Isa 10.13 14. By the strength of my hand I have done it and by my wisedome for I am prudent c thereupon carry themselves so impiously towards God as if they were not beholding to him for any thing they had nor did expect or look for any favour from him But then lastly there is another Exposition that is farre more generally approved to wit that this is added to discover the folly of wicked men in setting themselves in such defiance against God as he had in the foregoing words described in whose power it is to cast them down from their prosperous estate even whensoever he pleaseth Lo their good is not in their hand that is though they carry themselves thus presumptuously it is not in their power to keep what they have gotten God can easily strip them of all and cast them down from their lofty condition and thereupon he inferres the next clause the counsell of the wicked is farre from me so farre am I from envying their prosperity that I would by no means be in their condition I never did nor ever shall approve of their waies And thus these words are as it were a transition to that which follows concerning Gods punishing of wicked men Vers 17. How oft is the candle of the wicked put out and how oft cometh their destruction upon them Iob seems clearly in these words to allude to that which Bildad had said chap. 18.5 6 The light of the wicked shall be put out and the light of his fire shall not shine c. and again vers 12. Destruction shall be ready at his side but yet what his drift in these words was is not so clear For some conceive this question must be resolved negatively how oft is the candle of the wicked put out c. that is surely it is not often thus though sometimes indeed it is thus yet so far is it from being alwaies thus that truly it is not often thus the candle of the wicked is not often put out nor cometh their destruction often upon them to wit from heaven And thus they say Iob confutes what his friends had maintained concerning the certain destruction of wicked men here in this world as before by affirming that they lived usually in a most prosperous estate so here also by denying that they were usually cut off and destroyed as his friends had again and again affirmed Again some resolve it affirmatively how oft is the candle of the wicked put out c. that is very often doth God put out the candle of the wicked Having said in the foregoing verse that it is not in their power to keep themselves in that prosperous condition which a while they have enjoyed he makes that good now by shewing that God doth often eclipse their glory and destroy them miserably and so he yields as farre as truth would permit to what his friends had affirmed to wit that God did often destroy wicked men though withall he denies that it was continually and ordinarily so So that Iob doth not here contradict what he had said immediately before concerning the prosperous estate of wicked men nor doth he grant that which his friends had maintained for by shewing that wicked men do sometimes prosper exceedingly and are at other times grievously punished he doth sufficiently disprove what they had said that wicked men are alwaies punished here in this world and clears it fully that we cannot judge whether men be wicked or no by their outward condition And indeed according to our Translation I see not how this clause can be otherwise understood because in the following words he proceeds farther to set forth how God poures forth his wrath upon wicked men God distributeth sorrows in his anger That is he gives unto every wicked man his portion of plagues and sorrows out of those treasures of wrath which he hath in store for the ungodly and so in this Job might have respect to that wherewith Zophar had concluded his last reply chap. 20.29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God c. But withall this word distributeth may likewise imply 1. that God gives them their portion herein proportionably according to their severall deserts 2. that often he punisheth them diversly some by one judgement and some by another and 3. that he also punisheth the same persons diversly and at divers times sometimes one way and sometimes another partly with temporall punishments here in this world and partly with the torments of hell in the world to come Vers 18. They are as stubble before the wind and as chaff c. That is they shall be destroyed and come to nothing be they never so great and strong and mighty easily suddenly unresistably and irrecoverably yea and all their great wealth shall be scattered as it were into a thousand hands But withall we may note that by comparing the wicked to stubble and chaff Job implyes likewise how saplesse and fruitlesse they are as being void of all goodnesse how light and unstable in all their waies quickly carried away with any wind of doctrine and with every blast of Satans or the worlds temptations and lastly how base and worthlesse and how little God esteems of them Vers 19. God layeth up his iniquity for his children he rewardeth him and he shall know it This last clause he rewardeth him and he shall
is grounded upon this truth that every man living doth every moment as his life wasteth away draw nearer and nearer to the grave We use to say of men lying at the point of death that they are drawing on but it is true also of all that live that they are still drawing on to their end and hasting to the grave there to overtake that innumerable multitude that is gone before them Vers 34. How then comfort ye me in vain seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood That is what a vain thing is it in you to think to comfort me by telling me that if I will repent me of my wickednesse God will certainly restore me to a prosperous condition since as you see that which you have maintained concerning the misery of wicked men and the flourishing estate of the righteous is apparently false and all your arguing is grounded upon errours and mistakes both concerning God and concerning me The same errours and falsehoods which Jobs friends had maintained in their first dispute with him the same they had again maintained in the second though they multiplyed answers yet they mended them not and therefore it is that he said that in their answers there remained falsehood CHAP. XXII Vers 1. THen Eliphaz the Temanite answered Thus taking his turn to speak this was his third and indeed his last Reply upon Job Vers 2. Can a man be profitable to God as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself Some understand this of profiting God by way of teaching him Because Iob had said and his friends took it as spoken in a way of complaining that wicked men did often live pleasantly and die peaceably and were buried gloriously whereas the righteous were usually in a very distressed condition therefore to this Eliphaz say they replies Can a man be profitable to God c. that is Can you help God by teaching him how he should better order things in the government of the world A man by his wisedome may direct himself in his affairs but can he profit God by directing him No surely But Job himself had immediately before condemned this boldnesse chap. 21.22 Shall any saith he there teach God knowledge and besides it seems clear I conceive by the following words that it is meant of mans profiting God by his righteousnesse to wit that though a man be never so righteous his righteousnesse can bring no advantage to God And this he alledgeth in the beginning of his reply either to intimate that Iob did not well to carry himself so as if God were obliged to him for his righteousnesse as if he thought there was reason that if he had offended God in some particulars yet God should passe by that and not punish him for it and that because in other things he had deserved better at Gods hands then that he should so afflict him as he did or else to imply that if it should be granted that he were righteous yet it was a vain thing to boast of his righteousnesse before God since God could no way reap any benefit thereby yea in the last clause as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself Eliphaz seems to upbraid Job that his righteousnesse was neither profitable to God nor to himself neither because it secured him not from the judgements of God meaning hereby that he was doubtlesse an hypocrite and not righteous indeed Vers 3. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous c. As if he had said It is no pleasure to him that thou art righteous to wit in regard of himself or of adding any thing to his happinesse As for the following clause or is it gain to him that thou makest thy waies perfect some by making his waies perfect understand his pretending or pleading that his waies were perfect and so make the meaning to be that this was so farre from being an advantage to God that it was indeed a great dishonour to him because it did plainly charge God with injustice for laying his hand so severely upon a righteous innocent man but I conceive that thereby is only meant his walking in an upright and perfect way and so the second clause to be fully the same in effect with the first Vers 4. Will he reprove thee for fear of thee will he enter with thee into judgement That is God doth not reprove thee to prevent thee that thou shouldest not first reprove him Or God doth not so severely contend with thee and punish thee because he is afraid of thee as tyrants are wont to crush those whom they fear as we see in Pharaoh and Herod and many others as if he had said As thy goodnesse cannot profit God so neither can thy wickednesse hurt him and therefore it is in a way of justice to punish thee for thy wickednesse that God proceeds thus against thee and not for fear of thee to wit least if he should let thee alone thou shouldest become either so over-good that he could not reward thee or so over-great that he could not punish thee And it is like that Eliphaz doth the rather use this expression because Job had formerly said that by the afflictions he had brought upon him God did as it were set a watch over him chap. 7.11 Vers 6. For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought c. Though the words in this and the following verses seem expressely to charge Job with the particular gross enormities therein mentioned yet doubtlesse the meaning of Eliphaz was only to conclude that in some such way as these here mentioned he had provoked God or else he would never have laid such unusuall calamities upon him It is therefore as if he had said Bethink thy self Job for of these wickednesses that I shall now mention or of some such like thou art certainly guilty thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought And here by taking a pledge from ones brother may be meant the taking a pledge from a poor neighbour yea it may be from ones nearest allies yea by saying thou hast taken a pledge he might imply that he had not only received such a pledge as his brother did of his own accord tender to him but had also gone into his house and had taken there what he pleased it may be by force which is an over-rigorous proceeding with one that is in streights even by the light of Nature and was therefore forbidden by the law of Moses Deut. 24.10 11. for which see the Note there And then by taking a pledge for nought is meant the taking of a pledge without any just cause which may be done either when men take a pledge notwithstanding they are otherwise sufficiently secured for that they lend or 2. when they will not restore the pledge more worth then the debt though the debt be paid to wit because they charge them that pawned the pledge with more then indeed they owe them or alledge that
doth again indeed reply upon Iob in a way of scorn with the very same words which Iob before had used chap. 21.18 concerning which see the Note there to wit either as upbraiding him for saying that the counsell of the wicked was farre from him when his thoughts of God were the same with theirs namely that God minded not what was done here in this world which Eliphaz charged him with because he held that God prospered the wicked and afflicted the righteous and withall he was now a sharer with them in their plagues or else to intimate that he had better cause to say that the counsell of the wicked was farre from him then Iob had he might say it cordially because he held that utter ruine would be their end but Iob though he professed so with his mouth could not think so in his heart holding that they lived in greater prosperity then the godly did Vers 19. The righteous see it and are glad c. That is They evidently see that at last accomplished in the destruction of wicked men which they long expected and rejoyce in it For though it be unlawfull to rejoyce simply in the destruction of the worst of men especially if that joy ariseth from a private grudge and desire of revenge or from any secret hope that men may have of any advantage that will thereby redound to themselves according to that Prov. 24.17 Rejoyce not when thine enemy falleth c. yet certainly it is not only lawfull but commendable to rejoyce and triumph at the destruction of wicked men out of zeal for the glory of God because thereby his power justice truth and holinesse is manifested and his tender care over his servants in taking their part against their wicked adversaries and with respect to the peace and welfare which may redound to the people of God by their destruction And the innocent laugh them to scorn That is They look upon them as such who justly deserve to be laughed to scorn to wit because their waies have been so foolish and ridiculous and because they are taken through the over-ruling providence of God in their own craft and are quite disappointed of their designs and hopes Vers 20. Whereas our substance is not cut down but the remnant of them the fire consumeth That is Whereas the estates of the righteous which are gotten in a just way are not ruined for they are the righteous with whom Eliphaz here joins himself and his friends Or more generally whilst our life and that whereby our life is maintained and by which we and our families do subsist is not cut down the fire of Gods wrath utterly consumes the wicked even all that is left of their families and estates so that there is no remnant nor memoriall left of them as it was in the destruction of Sodom and her neighbouring cities whereto it is very probable that Eliphaz might in these words have speciall respect And indeed with the like phrase the prophet Isaiah expresseth the utter destruction of Babylon Isa 14.22 I will rise up against them saith the Lord of hosts and cut off from Babylon the name and remnant c. Now this Eliphaz inserts here either as a reason why the righteous rejoyce and triumph when the wicked are destroyed as he had said in the foregoing verse to wit because God therein puts a difference betwixt the wicked and them or else as an introduction to the following exhortation wherein he perswades Job to repent and turn unto God whereas God spares the righteous and the fire of his wrath consumes the wicked Acquaint now thy self with him c. Vers 21. Acquaint now thy self with him c. That is whereas thou hast despised God and estranged thy self from him and lived as if thou hadst nothing to doe with him now addresse thy self to know him and his will distinctly to seek his favour to walk with him to be much in enjoying a holy communion with him in meditation prayer and other holy duties to serve him as a master or father and so to conform thy will to his in all things whatsoever As for the following words either they are added as a part of the advice which he gives Job and be at peace that is pacifie thy troubled mind and do not murmure against God as thou hast done but labour to make thy peace with him or else as a promise Acquaint now thy self with him and be at peace that is then God will be at peace with thee and thou shalt live in all prosperity Vers 22. Receive I pray thee the law from his mouth and lay up his words in thine heart See the Note Deut. 6.6 Some would gather from hence that God had given his Law to Moses a little before this was written But there is no sure ground here for this inference for by the Law may be meant any divine declaration of Gods word and will by what means soever it was done It is therefore all one as if he had said As we would not have thee run on in a way that is not good trusting to thine own wisedome so neither do we desire that thou shouldest depend upon our judgement but that thou shouldest follow the counsell that God himself hath given us Vers 23. If thou return to the Almighty thou shalt be built up c. That is God will every day more and more make up all the breaches in thy estate thy glory thy body and thy children till he hath raised thee to a great height of prosperity see the Note Exod. 1.21 As for the following clause thou shalt put away iniquity farre from thy tabernacle that is inserted as a conditionall clause to wit that the truth of his repentance must be manifested by his abandoning all his former evil waies and not suffering any wickednesse in any of his family wherein he doth also covertly tax Job that not only he himself but his children also and family had lived lewdly and wickedly whence it was that both his children and servants were so strangely destroyed Or else it is added as a farther branch of the promises here made to Job upon condition of his repentance to wit that he should forsake all his former sins and reform his family and indeed when men sincerely humble themselves before God and turn to him he is wont thus by way of a blessing to carry on the work of grace in such men and withall that he should remove farre from him all those plagues and punishments which hitherto had lain upon them For by iniquity in the Scripture is usually meant the punishment of iniquity see the Note Gen. 4.7 Vers 24. Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust c. That is in mighty abundance It may indeed also be read as it is in the margin Then shalt thou lay up gold on the dust and so the meaning may be that he should have gold in such abundance that he should make no reckoning of it it
of the rest had spoken any thing that did in the least satisfie his mind or allay his sorrow but rather they had much imbittered his spirit And therefore indeed if we mark it in this Reply of Jobs he doth not vouchsafe as it were to speak any more to his friends as concluding there was no hope of convincing them but addresseth himself either to speak to God or to bemoan himself to himself Vers 3. O that I knew where I might find him that I might come even to his seat That is the seat of God For either because he had heard Eliphaz lay such foul things to his charge as he had done in the former chapter after all that he had formerly said to clear himself therefore he now again wisheth that he might plead his cause before God before him who knew what he suffered and would compassionate him because of his sufferings or else because Eliphaz had advised him to acquaint himself with the Almighty and to make his peace with him telling him what great things God would doe for him if he would thus repent and turn to him therefore he professeth here how glad he would be that he might appear before God as knowing that he should find God at peace with him whatever they thought should be able to justify himself against them before his tribunall O that I knew where I might find him c. He speaks here of God after the manner of earthly princes judges who sit in judgement sometimes in one place and sometimes in another and the drift of his words is only to shew that were it a thing to be hoped that God would appear in a visible manner and so he might plead his cause before God as men do before an earthly magistrate he could be very glad of it and would willingly present himself before his Judgement-seat to answer for himself against the false accusations of his friends So that this is no more then what he had often wished before as chap. 9.34 35. chap 16.21 and 17.3 concerning which see the Noâ—es there Vers 5. I would know the words which he would answer me and understand what he would say unto me That is Being confident of the justice of my cause and therefore not fearing any thing having in order opened the cause before God which hath been pleaded betwixt me and my accusers and having with store of arguments maintained mine integrity before him I would see what God would answer to the arguments that I should bring for my self and what he would at last determine in the cause I would study to understand what he should say whether by way of approbation or reproof and would quietly submit thereto And thus he implyes that he doubted not but God would acquit him and would make known why he had brought so great calamities upon him Yet because of those words and understand what he would say to me some would have this implyed also that God would clearly and perspicuously make known his mind to him whereas he scarce knew what to make of all that his friends had said to him Vers 6. Will he plead against me with his great power No but he would put strength in me By his great power may be meant either that absolute power whereby God may doe with his creatures whatever he pleaseth and that justly too or that infinite power before the consuming terrour whereof such a poor creature as he was could never stand especially if God should proceed in extremity with him and deal with him according to the rigour of his justice and accordingly the meaning of these words must be that he was confident either that God would not proceed with him according to his absolute power over his creatures making his own will and pleasure the only reason why he laid such heavy judgements upon him or else that God would not overwhelm him with the terrour of his Majesty and glory which was the condition that Job formerly propounded where he desired he might have liberty to plead his cause before God chap. 13.20 21. concerning which see the Note there And hereto indeed the last clause seems best to agree No but he would put strength into me that is in stead of crushing and overwhelming me by his glorious power he will rather sustain me that I may be able to stand and plead my cause before a God of such Majesty Vers 7. There the righteous might dispute with him c. That is The righteous may boldly plead their cause before God in such a way of judgement where God will not stand upon his absolute power for the punishing of men but will only deal with them according to the revealed rule of his justice in regard of the Covenant of mercy he hath made with them and where God will as it were lay by his Majesty and glory and admit a poor man to plead his cause before him as if he were pleading before a man as himself And this he applyes to himself in the following words so should I be delivered for ever from my judge the meaning whereof is that if God his judge before whose tribunall he had desired to plead his cause would hear him with such gentlenesse and proceed with him in that manner he had now expressed by him he should be for ever acquitted and should not fear to be condemned by him and consequently also he should be delivered from the false accusations of those that now did most unjustly both judge and censure him Vers 8. Behold I goe forward and he is not there c. That is whether I goe forward or backward neither way can I make that discovery of God that I desire And so it follows vers 9. I goe on the left hand where he doth work as if he should have said Seeking him out by taking notice of his works but I cannot behold him that is even there I cannot discern him he hideth himself on the right hand that I cannot see him that is if I look for him on the right hand there also he is hidden from me I know that many learned Expositours do hold that by forward here is meant Eastward because say they man is considered here as setting his face toward the rising Sun and by backward Westward and so by the left hand the North and by the right hand the South And accordingly they also hold that Gods working is particularly mentioned where Job speaks of the left hand that is the North I goe on the left hand where he doth work because the Northern parts of the world are more inhabited and better peopled then the Southern are and the people there are also more civilized more understanding ingenious and active for all things then the other are But methinks this is somewhat nice and curious That which is said before to be the ground of this expression is I think sufficient But however questionlesse that which is here said in both these verses is added
that is appointed for me that is what according to his just Prerogative he hath determined to doe unto me in this way of afflicting me that he doth and will perform And hereto agreeth the following clause and many such things are with him that is with him with whom I have to doe And the meaning may be either that God had many such like calamities and miseries as those were which he had already suffered which he might farther bring upon him and wherewith it was like he meant yet farther to exercise his graces and to purge-out his corruptions as if he had said I do not perceive that God hath yet done with me it may be there are yet other sorrows appointed for me or that be doth many such things to others as well as to him the cause whereof is hidden from us as if he should have said It is not my case alone many such things he both decrees and executes he usually deales thus with men in an unsearchable way according to his absolute Sovereignty proceeding oftentimes with great severity against men when yet he loves them and means them good Vers 15. Therefore am I troubled at his presence when I consider I am afraid of him In the foregoing chapter when Eliphaz had charged Job with many grosse sins he added vers 10. Therefore snares are round about thee and sudden fear troubleth thee Job therefore say some Expositours as in answer hereto professeth here that his terrours did arise not from any guiltinesse of conscience but meerly from the consideration of the majesty of Gods presence his absolute power in doing what he pleaseth to men and the unsearchablenesse of his judgements But however clear it is that he ascribes his fears to that absolute and unresistable power and Sovereignty whereby God doth to men whatever he pleaseth whereof he had spoken in the two foregoing verses to wit because observing that God proceeded with him after this manner he might well fear how farre God would goe on in laying his hand so sorely upon him And withall herein he might also intimate how farre he was from holding that God could not see and consider what was done here in the world as Eliphaz had seemed to charge him chap. 22.13 and that when he desired that he might plead his cause before God it was in hope that God would not overwhelm him with the terrours of his Majesty as he had before expressed chap. 13.21 Vers 16. For God maketh my heart soft c. That is By these heavy calamities brought upon me he hath made my heart weak and faint it melteth away like wax before the fire which makes me the readier to fear that still more miseries are coming upon me Vers 17. Because I was not cut off before the darknesse neither hath he covered the darknesse from my face That is Because he did not cut me off before these calamities came upon me nor by these calamities which he hath brought upon me nor hath yet afforded me any release from my miseries and hereby he intimates his fears that he was hitherto preserved from utter destruction that he might be reserved to farther miseries which was that which did so exceedingly perplex him for that by darknesse he means his grievous calamities see 1 Sam. 2.9 CHAP. XXIV Vers 1. WHy seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty do they that know him not see his daies 1. By this that times are not hidden from the Almighty is meant that God knoweth all times and all things that are or shall be done in time 2. By they that know him are meant the godly that love and fear God according to that Psal 36.10 O continue thy loving-kindnesse to them that know thee and 3. By this that they see not his daies is meant that they see not the noted and memorable daies wherein God doth his great and famous works either of mercy or judgement or more particularly the daies of his executing vengeance upon wicked men here in this life which indeed are usually by way of eminency called in the Scripture Gods daies as Isa 2.12 The day of the lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty c. and so in many other places The drift of these words is to shew that God doth not alwaies punish wicked men here in this world as Jobs friends had maintained he did For the proving whereof as he mentions many sorts of leud men that live in peace and prosperity and are never punished here in this world so before this enumeration of such prophane ones as goe unpunished he prefixeth the words of this verse by way of introduction the meaning whereof may be thus set forth Seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty that is seeing God knoweth all times and consequently both the times how long men are to live in the world and when is the fittest time and opportunity to punish wicked men so that no wicked man can slip out of the world unknown to God or before the time that God intended to punish him why do they that know him not see his daies that is why do the righteous servants of God that walk with him and observe his dealings and to whom God is most ready to reveal himself as to his bosome friends not see the daies of Gods punishing wicked men here in this life The summe of this introduction is therefore briefly this that if God did constantly determine to punish all profane ungodly men in this world since he knows the times how long they are to continue here and so cannot be disappointed by their unexpected dying he would certainly take the fittest time to doe it and so the godly should observe the time when and the manner how God alwaies punisheth wicked men and so should infallibly know by Gods dealing with those upon whom God laies his hand whether they are wicked men or no. Vers 2. Some remove the land-marks c. Here Job begins to reckon up the foul enormities of those that yet often goe unpunished here in this world and mentions in the first place the removing of land-marks this being in all ages and amongst all nations even by the light of nature esteemed an execrable wickednesse and therefore also forbidden in Moses law Deut. 19.14 under which also all other unjust encroachings upon other mens estates may be comprised according to that Prov. 23.10 Remove not the old land-mark and enter not into the fields of the fatherlesse And to this he adds they violently take away flocks and feed thereof and if we read the last clause as it is in the margin of our Bibles and feed them it is doubtlesse added to shew the impudency of such men that when they have driven away other mens cattel do not kill them or sell them away to conceal their rapine thereby or to supply their necessities but putting them into their own pastures do openly there feed them as if they were their own and
subdues or brings under the mightiest of them as well as the meanest and so also they understand the following clause he riseth up that is God riseth up to contend with wicked men and no man is sure of life no man can secure himself against the killing stroke of Gods indignation or the discovery of Gods indignation makes every man afraid of his life But the tenor of the words sheweth clearly that Job still proceeds to describe the wickednesse of wretched men whom God notwithstanding prospers He draweth also the mighty with his power the meaning is either that by his power he procures the mighty to side with him judges and magistrates and great men and so this makes him terrible to others he riseth up and no man is sure of life or else that he draweth the mighty to wit into his net according to that Psal 10.9 he doth catch the poor when he draweth him into his net when he hath crushed the poor by his oppressions then encouraged hereby he layeth wait also for the mightie and subdues them and brings them into subjection to him even magistrates also and judges whereby likewise he subverts all publick order and government he riseth up and no man is sure of life that is if any man rise up to oppose this oppressour he shall but ruine and destroy himself thereby or Though the oppressour riseth up to make a Covenant of peace with men yet they are all of them for all that afraid of their lives there is no assurance in any vow or oath whereby he engageth himself Or rather he riseth up to contend with the mightie and the terrours of death presently seise upon them all But if we read this last clause as it is in the margin of our Bibles He riseth up and he trusteth not his own life either it is meant of the oppressed to wit that he riseth up namely to sue for favour to the oppressour or to flie from him but do what he will he trusteth not his own life but gives himself for a dead man because of the over-bearing power of his adversary or else of the oppressour to wit that when he riseth to contend with the mightie or every day he riseth he is afraid of his own life being still jealous as tyrants are wont to be that some body or other will kill him Vers 23. Though it be given him to be in safety whereon he resteth yet his eyes are upon their waies Some Expositours understand this thus that though the oppressed give gifts to the oppressour that he may thereby purchase his peace or though the oppressour grants this to the oppressed that he shall live in peace and safety by him and thereupon he rests upon this his covenant and promise that he will surely be as good as his word yet the oppressour keeps his eyes upon these to whom he hath thus engaged himself and watcheth all their waies and if he can but get the least advantage against them will be sure to crush them But there are severall other Expositions given of the words that seem farre better then this to wit 1. that though God gives to the oppressour that which may well in outward appearance secure him in peace and he rest hereon yet it is not because God is ignorant of his wicked courses seeing Gods eyes behold all his waies or 2. that though God lets him live in safetie and he rests hereon with great security yet Gods eyes are upon his waies to favour him and to blesse him or rather 3. that though it be given of God to wicked wretches that they live in peace and prosperitie and they resting hereupon are confident they shall never be moved yet God takes strict notice of all their wicked waies that he may be sure at last to charge them all upon them and that he may take the fittest time to destroy them Vers 24. They are exalted for a little while c. to wit both in estate and mind but are gone and brought low they are taken out of the way as all other that is for all their greatnesse on a sudden God pulls them down and they are gone and laid in the grave as other men and often after the same manner as others are and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn that is as high as they bear their heads they are cut down as the corn in harvest to wit easily and in a trice or not by any notorious judgement but by an ordinary naturall death when they come to ripenesse of years as the corn is ripe in harvest The drift of the verse may be to shew either that God cuts off the greatest of wicked men many times by a sudden stroke of judgement or else rather that after all their horrid wickednesse they are cut off by death in an ordinarie way as all other men are Vers 25. And if it be not so now who will make me a lyar and make my speech nothing worth That is If it be not as I have said that God many times prospers the wicked and afflicts the righteous let any man that will undertake to confute what I have spoken CHAP. XXV Vers 1. THen answered Bildad c. Eliphaz having replyed the third time upon Job chap. 22. it was now Bildads turn who still spake next after Eliphaz to reply again upon him which therefore he doth in this Chapter but very briefly either as finding Job too strong for them or as not having any thing in a manner to say but what he and his friends had said before or rather as concluding that because of Jobs obstinacie it was in vain indeed to talk any farther to him there having been abundantly enough already said to him but that nothing would convince him which may be the cause also why Zophar who should have replyed in the third place upon Job spake no more at all Vers 2. Dominion and fear are with him c. Because of these words with him some limit this to the Lords exercising of his Sovereigntie and the manifestation of his dreadfull Majestie in the heavens his dwelling-place to wit that he rules the Angels in heaven and that his presence there is so full of Majestie that those holy spirits out of reverence and fear do cover their faces before him But I conceive the words must be understood more generally Dominion and fear are with him that is God is the Sovereign Lord over all he it is that governs all things and hath absolute power over all things in heaven and in earth yea in regard of this his Majestie and power a terrible God he is and justly to be feared of all But why doth Bildad speak of this here I answer Some conceive that because Job had affirmed that many wicked men run on in their leud courses even to their dying day and are never punished therefore Bildad as apprehending this to be in effect a deniall of the power justice and providence of
hit the nail on the head you have fully and convincingly opened the cause between God and me and how by speaking that which is nothing to the purpose and by taking a great deal of pains to inform me of that which I knew before as well as your self Vers 4. To whom hast thou uttered words c. This also was spoken either as some think as in relation to God To whom hast thou uttered words that is Is it to God you have addressed your words in this which you have spoken and if so have you considered who he is to whom you have spoken what will you undertake to teach the omniscient and all-wise God which is the same in effect with that he had said before chap. 21.22 of which see the Note there Or else as in relation to Iob himself To whom hast thou uttered words as if he had said Do you consider who I am and in what condition I am have you uttered words suitable to and fit for a man in such a sad distressed condition as I am or To whom hast thou uttered words is it not to one that knoweth these things as well as your self what do you take me to be think you that I am so silly and ignorant that I know not these things that you have uttered It is the same he had said before chap. 12.3 of which see the Note there As for the following clause and whose spirit came from thee it is expounded by Commentatours many severall waies of which three are most probable First some understand it thus whose spirit came from thee that is Did not God give thee that life and breath whereby thou hast spoken and wilt thou teach him who gives thee life and breath and who is the father of the spirits of all flesh 2. Some make this to be the sense of the words whose spirit came from thee that is who is it that hath taught you these high mysteries Did you speak them of your self and had you them from any body else or do you think that the spirit of God did dictate them to you No doubtlesse such impertinencies were never of Gods spirit but of your own And 3. others give this to be the meaning whose spirit came from thee as if he had said whose spirit hast thou revived by this which thou hast spoken Surely not mine Because when mens fainting spirits are revived by the consolations of a friend they seem to receive a new life as it were and spirit from those that have thus cheared them up therefore in stead of saying whom hast thou revived or comforted with thy words he expresseth himself thus whose spirit came from thee Vers 5. Dead things are formed from under the waters and the inhabitants thereof or with the inhabitants thereof Here Iob begins to shew that he could say as much or more of the infinite power and the all-ruling Providence of God as Bildad had said and to that end at first he instanceth in this that Gods Providence extends it self to the very bottom of the sea where he forms not only the fishes that are to live there but also divers dead things as all kind of minerals corall pearls amber together with divers plants and herbs that grow there Vers 6. Hell is naked before him and destruction hath no covering As if he had said You Bildad told me that God maketh peace in his high places but I can adde hereto that Gods providence extends not only to the high places in heaven but also to the low places and depths in hell By destruction here almost all Expositours understand the place of destruction to wit the place of the damned and then if by Hell in the first clause the same be meant then the second clause is but only a repetition of what was said in the first But by Hell others understand the grave and consequently also all the hidden lower parts of the earth and then the meaning is this that God beholdeth all things even the grave and hell and all the lowest parts of the earth he sees all that the grave hath devoured and beholdeth what becomes of every part of man when the grave hath consumed him and what the damned in Hell both doe and suffer And thus he confirms what Bildad had said chap. 25.3 understanding it as many do of Gods omniscience upon whom doth not his light arise yea probable it is that Iob the rather mentioned this to imply to his friends that in regard of this omniscience of God it would be a joy to him to appear before God who knew him better then they did and withall to wipe off that aspersion Eliphaz had cast upon him chap. 22.13 And thou sayest How doth God know can be judge through the dark cloud Vers 7. He stretcheth forth the North over the empty place c. The meaning of this is either that God stretcheth out the heavens from one Pole to another over the region of the air for the North that is the Northern part of heaven the Hemisphere of the Arctick or Northern Pole is here figuratively put for the whole heaven because that part was nearest the climate where he dwelt and the region of the air is called the empty place because the air is as nothing and what hath nothing but air in it we count empty at least it is as nothing in regard of bearing up and supporting the heavens or else that God stretcheth out the heavens even to the Northern pole where the earth under it is uninhabited and is therefore called here the empty place meaning that Gods providence orders all things that are done there according to that chap. 38.26 where God is said to cause it to rain on the earth where no man is on the wildernesse wherein there is no man And then in the next place the earth is said to hang upon nothing either in relation to the center of the earth which is said to be through Gods appointment the cause of the stability of the earth in its place in regard all heavy things round about presse thither and yet is but an imaginary thing indeed nothing or else in relation to the earths hanging in the midst of the air having nothing to support it but Gods almighty power Vers 8. He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds c. That is By a divine force he keeps them within the clouds which himself hath made to be as it were the bottles of heaven as they are called chap. 38.37 and the cloud is not rent under them that is the waters do not break through with their weight and fall down all together but are let out by degrees as through a strainer or watering-pot when and how God is pleased Vers 9. He holdeth back the face of his throne and spreadeth his cloud upon it The highest Heaven is the throne of God Esa 66.1 and is so called because there he manifests himself as princes do upon their thrones in greatest
were I guilty of it would indeed be a shame and reproach to me to wit either for speaking or doing wickedly or else rather for denying mine integrity Vers 7. Let mine enemy be as the wicked and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous This is also divers waies understood by Expositours Some say that Job here speaks ironically and by the wicked unrighteous man means himsef as if he should have said You judge me a wicked ungodly man because of the extreme afflictions that lye upon me but as sad as my condition is so much good I wish my enemies that rise up against me that I could be glad that they were in no worse a condition then that poor wretch whom you so harshly condemn as a wicked man Others again hold that those that had robbed him of his estate and other waies wronged him are the enemies he here speaks of and so make the sense of the words to be this Let those that robbed me and wronged me be looked upon as wicked ungodly men I for my part am no such man Others again conceive that by his enemies and those that rose up against him Job meant these his friends and so give this to be the sense of the words Let those that condemn me for a wicked man because of mine afflictions bear the brand of wicked men and not I that am innocent of those things they charge me with as if he should have said They that oppose the truth which I have maintained that causelesly condemn me for a wicked wretch they deserve to be judged wicked men better then I do only some to allay the sharpnesse of such a censure say that Job doth not absolutely condemn them for wicked men but only affirms that there was more of wickednesse in that which they did then there was in any thing they could fasten upon him Let mine enemy be as the wicked and as the unrighteous according to a like expression chap. 2.10 Thou speakest as one of the foolish women And lastly others most probably conceive that in these words Iob gives a farther proof of his integrity Let mine enemy be as the wicked c. as if he had said Though the wicked may live I know in a very prosperous condition yet so farre am I from liking their waies that I could wish mine enemy no greater mischief then that he should be a wicked man or that God should deal with him as he will certainly deal with the wicked And indeed the like expressions we often meet with as 2 Sam. 25 26. Let thine enemies and they that seek evil to my Lord be as Nabal and so also 2 Sam. 18.32 and Dan. 4.19 Vers 8. For what is the hope of the hypocrite though he hath gained when God taketh away his soul The scope of these words together with the following verses is either to shew how farre he was from being a wicked hypocrite as they had judged him to be by declaring what thoughts he had of the wretched condition of such men to wit that when God comes to seise upon them by the harbingers of death and to take or pluck away their souls though they had gained never so much before and so thereby God seemed to prosper them they must needs be then in a hopelesse and comfortlesse condition because all that they placed their hopes in their wealth and friends and other things shall fail them and whereas they promised themselves long life and much pleasure in their estates they shall find their hopes herein disappointed and in God who then shews himself an enemy they can have no confidence Or else to prove that his friends might have discerned a difference betwixt him and hypocrites even in these sad calamities that had befallen him and therefore had no cause to censure him so harshly to wit because though outwardly it fares alike with the righteous and the hypocrite yet their carriage of themselves in the hour of adversity is very different the hypocrite not having then any hope in God when God summons him by death which the righteous have from whence he intimates that since he in his lowest estate did still hope in God and pray to God and desired to plead his cause before God they might hereby plainly perceive that he was not an hypocrite And to the same purpose is that which follows Vers 9. Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him That is when either trouble and terrours of conscience or any outward distresse do seise upon him Vers 10. Will he delight himself in the Almighty c. That is when he sees that he is likely to be taken away from all the comforts he enjoyed here will he then comfort himself in God alone as acknowledging him to be alone an all-sufficient ground of joy and comfort or though Gods hand be never so heavy upon him will he notwithstanding still cleave to God and delight himself in him as knowing that God is well pleased with him will he alwaies call upon God that is not only in adversity but in his prosperity too and so also not only in prosperity but in times of distresse too yea though his afflictions be never so sore and of never so long continuance Vers 11. I will teach you by the hand of God c. Some translate this as it is in the margin of our Bibles I will teach you being in the hand of God and so take the sense of the words to be this that whereas hypocrites in distresse have no hope in God it was not so with him for though he were at the present under the afflicting hand of God he would teach them better But taking the words as they are in our Bible the meaning must be either thus I will teach you by the hand of God that is God assisting me or by Gods speciall inspiration I will teach you as where the prophet saith Isa 8.11 the Lord spake to me with a strong hand and instructed me or else thus rather I will teach you by the hand of God that is I will teach you by shewing you the mighty power of God and the glorious works of his hand to wit what are the usuall dispensations of his Providence both toward the righteous and toward the wicked And hereto agreeth the following clause that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal that is I will not conceal the decrees and judgements which God daily executes in the world sometimes prospering and sometimes punishing both the wicked and the righteous And indeed of all these he speaks in his following discourse and this he premiseth before-hand either that he might quicken their attention by shewing what great and high things they were of which he meant to speak or else thereby to give them to understand that he should plainly discover by the usuall waies of Gods proceedings that there is no judging of men by their outward condition Vers 12. Behold all ye your selves have seen
it c. As if he should have said You are learned wise men men that observe the waies and works of God at least such you boast your selves to be and therefore herein I dare appeal to your selves concerning the truth of that which I have said and that which I shall now farther say you your selves have known it and have seen it so in your own experience But what was it they had seen Some referre it to that which he had said concerning his innocency some to that foregoing observation of his that he had not carried himself in his distresse as hypocrites used to do But I conceive it is best referred to that which he meant now to teach them as he had said in the foregoing verse concerning Gods dispensing the same both blessings and afflictions to the wicked and to the righteous This saith he ye your selves have seen and then he adds why then are ye thus altogether vain that is why do you so vainly conclude that God alwaies punisheth wicked men and prospers the righteous and thereupon condemn me for an hypocrite why do you multiply words nothing to the purpose not giving any one solid answer to that which I have objected and yet persevere in condemning me upon grounds so palpably false Vers 13. This is the portion of a wicked man with God and the heritage of oppressours c. Zophar had said the very same in effect chap. 20.29 of which see the Note there and therefore some think that Job in this and the following verses doth only alledge what his friends had said and that to shew why he had charged them in the foregoing verse that they were altogether vain to wit that they had said This is the portion of a wicked man with God c. But I doubt not but Job delivers this as his own judgement And yet he doth not hereby recant what he had formerly said concerning the prosperity of the wicked nor yield to that which his friends had hitherto maintained to wit that God doth alwaies manifest his indignation against wicked men by punishing them here in this world only to clear his meaning in that he had said concerning the prosperous condition of the wicked to shew that he was willing to yield to all that was truth in that which his friends had said and that so much he was able to say as well as they he grants them here thus much that indeed many times the prosperity of the wicked did end in extreme misery though they might long live free from punishment yet often that befell them at last even here in this world which God who is Almighty had appointed them for their portion and inheritance and therefore the mightiest of these oppressours are not able to resist it and then afterwards he adds what it was wherein he opposed his friends to wit that it was not alwaies thus but that many times on the other side in his secret wisedome whereof he speaks much in the following chapter the righteous were afflicted sorely whilst the wicked lived in great prosperity Vers 14. If his children be multiplyed it is for the sword c. Against which though they be never so many they shall not be able to defend themselves and so that which might seem to the wicked man at first a pledge of Gods favour shall be found at last to have been given merely for the encrease of his future misery that he might have many children to be devoured by the sword to wit the sword of Gods vengeance or rather the sword of an enemy for the following clause makes this later Exposition the more probable and his off-spring shall not be satisfied with bread that is they shall not only live in penury and want but shall even perish by famine Vers 15. Those that remain of him shall be buried in death c. That is those of his children and childrens children that remain and are not cut off by sword or famine shall die yet of some other disease and so shall be buried though they lived as if they should never die yet they shall be buried in death that is they shall die and being dead shall be buried I know there are divers other Expositions given of these words as thus they shall be buried in death that is they shall die and rot when they die and that shall be all their buriall according to that Jer. 16.4 Or they shall be buried in death that is whilst they are yet dying before the breath be well out of their bodies at least so soon as ever they are dead they shall be presently clapped into the grave without any funerall rites and solemnities Or they shall be buried in death that is so soon as they are dead they shall be buried in oblivion their name and memory shall be buried with them Or they shall be buried in death that is in the grave which is called the chambers of death Prov. 7.27 But the first Exposition is I conceive as the plainest so the best And as for the following clause And his widows shall not weep it is expressed in the plurall number his widows either because they had in those times many wives or else because it comprehends the widows of the wicked mans whole family and by not weeping is meant either that through extreme penury they should not be able to make any funerall for him or else that indeed they should not mourn for his death and that either because their miseries should be so many and so exceeding great that being as it were stupified thereby they should not be able to weep or else rather because they should be indeed glad that they were rid of him Vers 18. He buildeth his house as a moth c. It may be said that the wicked man buildeth his house as a moth 1. because he builds it with much pains and skill as the moth makes her nest 2. because he doth even wast himself in the doing of it even as a moth makes her bag or silken woolly nest out of her own bowels 3. because he builds his house with the spoil and ruine of others as the moth eats the garment where she builds her nest But 4. that which I conceive is chiefly intended is because though he buildeth his house as if he hoped to dwell there for ever yet both he and it shall suddenly be destroyed as when the moth is quickly brushed or shaken out of the garment where she had made her nest For upon the like ground Bildad had before compared the wicked mans house to the house of a spider chap. 8.14 of which see the Note there And to the same purpose in the next clause it is said that it shall be as a booth that the keeper maketh For if it be meant of those that are set to keep a vineyard or a garden of fruits they use only to make some slight booth of the boughs of trees and perhaps stollen out of the neighbours hedges
the rain should come to be bottled up in the clouds when and where in what measure and how long it should be afterwards poured down upon the earth and so likewise concerning the lightning and the thunder and all other things whatever Vers 27. Then did he see it c. That is then did he exactly know and understand that unsearchable wisedome of his whereby the world hath been ever since governed and declare it that is if we referre it to the creation of the world then did he in part discover this his wisedome by the admirable works which he made and the order which he appointed to them or if we referre it to his eternall decree then did he determine how it should by his works be declared to men and angels and if we read this clause as it is in the margin of our Bibles and did number it the meaning is that he did particularly order and manifested it severally in every thing that he made he prepared it yea and searched it out that is he decreed all things thereby and established them in a most excellent manner as when things are done upon the most exact search and enquiry I know some Expositours understand these two verses as they do all that went before concerning that knowledge of God and of the way of salvation which is the true wisedome of man and so give this as the meaning of the words that this wisedome was from the beginning known of God and ordered by him to be the wisedome of man and accordingly was by him discovered to man partly by his works and partly by his word which otherwise they could never have known But the first Exposition is by far the best Vers 28. And unto man he said Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisedome c. As if he should have said And thus hath God reserved to himself the wisedome of his governing the world as a secret which man can never attain and the wisedome which he hath appointed him to seek after is to learn to fear him and to keep his Commandements And with this Iob concludes his discourse concerning the unsearchable wisedome of God partly thereby to condemn the rash censures of his friends and partly to shew that he had thus alwaies endeavoured to be wise though they judged otherwise of him and neither had nor would hereafter search into Gods secrets CHAP. XXIX Vers 1. MOreover Iob continued his parable See the Note chap. 27.1 Vers 2. Oh that I were as in moneths past as in the daies when God preserved me To wit from those miseries which are since come upon me And this Job might adde not so much by way of desiring the recovery of his former prosperity as to imply that he was not ashamed of his former prosperity as if he had not behaved himself therein as became a man that feared God but could wish with all his heart that it were now with him in every regard as it was then thereby condemning his friends for passing such uncharitable censures upon him as if by his secret wickednesse in the daies of his prosperity he had provoked God to bring those miseries upon him which of late he had endured But if we take the words so that therein he did indeed wish that he were in the same prosperous condition wherein he had been formerly this he might lawfully desire so it were with submission to Gods will and without any murmuring against that which God had laid upon him and withall his drift in mentioning this might chiefly be to imply how unwarrantably they judged of him by his outward condition since they might as well conclude that he was a righteous man and beloved of God because of his former prosperity as that he was a wicked man and hated of God because of his present afflictions as likewise to intimate that in this regard his present miseries were the greater because he had formerly lived in such a prosperous condition Vers 3. When his candle shined upon mine head c. That is upon me according to that Prov. 30.6 Blessings are upon the head of the just that is upon the just Yet in this phrase there may be also an allusion to the lifting up or setting up of torches or candles on high because thereby they give the better light to men However by the time when the candle of God shined upon his head is meant the time when the Lord favoured him and prospered him apparently and when he did by his providence and the counsell of his spirit guide and direct him in all his waies And to the same purpose is the following clause when by his light I walked through darknesse for thereby is meant either that God prospered him when times of great distresse lay upon others or that through Gods favour he lived free from affliction in this world the vale of tears and land of darknesse and sorrow or that God directed him in the most intricate difficulties that ever he met with See the Notes 2 Sam. 22.29 and Esth 8.16 Vers 4. As I was in the daies of my youth when the secret of God was upon my Tabernacle That is when that speciall and singular love which God did bear me was plainly manifested by the great blessings he daily afforded to me and mine Or when God by his secret providence did protect and by the secret counsell of his spirit did direct both me and my family For all these may be tearmed the secret of God as likewise Psal 25.14 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and in other places Vers 6. When I washed my steps with butter c. That is when I enjoyed the choicest of Gods blessings in greatest abundance We have the like expressions Gen. 49.11 and Deut. 33.24 concerning which see the Notes there Yet the last clause and the rock poured me out rivers of oyl may imply not only abundance of oyl as where streams of water come gushing forth out of rocks but also that the barrenest places yielded him plenty for which see the Note Deut. 32.13 Vers 7. When I went out to the gate through the city when I prepared my seat in the street As by the gate is meant the place of judicature see the Note Gen. 22.17 whether Job used to goe in great state and honourably attended so also by the street is meant any place of publick concourse where when the people met together about publick affairs Job as being a chief magistrate had a seat prepared for him against he came thither Vers 8. The aged arose and stood up That is as I passed by or when I came in place where they were the aged arising stood up or rising from their seats they continued standing whilst I was present Vers 9. The Princes refrained talking c. That is they were silent presently when I came in presence or they still gave way to me to speak and would not speak themselves when I was by
me or they came upon me thick and threefold so that I had no breathing time to arm my self against them Vers 28. I went mourning without the Sun c. Even this verse also some Expositours understand of his mourning for others that were in misery to wit that he went mourning up and down for them and that his sorrow was so great that he could take comfort in nothing he seemed not sensible of the warmth of the sun shining upon him and that he stood up and tryed in the congregation that is that in publick assemblies he bewailed their miseries labouring to stirre up others also to take pity of them But I rather take this also as the rest to be an expression of his sad condition in regard of his own miseries and accordingly the first clause I went mourning without the Sun may be very probably understood three severall waies to wit either first of his black skin that his body was clad all over with a black mourning skin in stead of a mourning vesture and yet it was not the scorching heat of the Sun but the strength of his diseases that had put this hue upon him and so this should be the same with that which is said afterwards in plainer tearms vers 30. My skin is black upon me or secondly of his solitarinesse that being in much heavinesse he avoided as much as might be the light of the Sun and loved to be alone by himself in the dark or thirdly of his sorrow only that he was alwaies mourning as being under the darknesse of very sad afflictions and not having the least Sun-light of pleasure and comfort and to the same purpose is that which follows I stood up and I cryed in the congregation that is I could not contain my self but which was a very unseemly thing in one of my gravity and quality I did even weep and howl in the very publick assemblies of people Vers 29. I am a brother to dragons and a companion to owls Or ostriches as it is in the margin and indeed so they must needs render the words that will have the meaning to be as some would have it that Job herein complains of the mercilesnesse of those with whom he conversed to wit that they were barbarously cruel to him like dragons yea like ostriches that are cruell to their own young ones But rather I conceive he tearms himself a brother to dragons and a companion to owls because his condition was like to theirs to wit either for that he was forsaken and left in a desolate and solitary estate or because his complaints and cries by reason of his extreme misery were like the howling and screeches of these creatures which make in the wildernesse many times a very lamentable noise according to that Micah 1.8 I will make a wailing like the dragons and mourning as the owls and indeed the phrase is much like this which Solomon useth Prov. 18.9 He also that is slothfull in his work is brother to him that is a great waster Vers 30. My skin is black upon me c. This may be meant of the blacknesse of the scabs and scurf which were all over his body but besides even the skin of a mans body may become black by extremity of grief and violent sicknesse whence is that Lam. 5.10 Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine and that also of David Psal 119.83 I am become like a bottle in the smoke see also the Note above vers 28. Vers 31. My harp also is turned to mourning c. Hereby is implyed that not only his joy was turned into mourning but also that those things which formerly were used for his delight did now only encrease his sorrow CHAP. XXXI Vers 1. I Made a covenant with mine eyes c. In this Chapter Job makes a solemn protestation how piously he had lived thereby to confute his friends unjust censures and to shew how strange therefore it was that he should be brought into so sad a condition and first he begins with this how carefully he had suppressed all carnall concupiscence because this is the sin that doth usually surprize men in their youth And this he expresseth in these tearms I have made a covenant with mine eyes to imply that he kept his eyes from gazing upon any wanton object with as much care as men use when they are bound to any thing by covenant and perhaps also that he was on each side carefull both that his eyes should not allure him to evil and that he likewise would not imploy his eyes in any such dishonourable service And then for the following clause why then should I think upon a maid the drift thereof is to imply that as he watched over his eyes so also over his thoughts that he might not think upon a maid and much lesse upon a married wife which would have been a farre greater sin and that either because there was the same ground for avoiding this evil of his thoughts as for avoiding the other of his looks or because it would have been in vain to have set such a strict guard upon his eyes if in the mean season he should give liberty to himself for such wanton and lustfull thoughts or because being so farre convinced of the evil of this carnall concupiscence he durst not give way to an evil thought for fear of Gods wrath why then should I think upon a maid as if he should have said If I should would not God have punished me for it The first clause I know may be understood generally of covenanting with his eyes against all that may be comprehended under that which Saint John calls the lust of the eyes 1 John 2.16 but commonly it is limited by Expositours to looking after women Vers 2. For what portion of God is there from above and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high Some Expositours understand this thus that unclean persons are no part of Gods portion and inheritance or that they have no part nor interest in God But because of these expressions from above and from on high farre more probable it is that Job speaks here of a portion and inheritance of recompence which God from above shall allot to those that give way to such lustfull looks and thoughts as he had mentioned in the foregoing words for what portion of God is there from above c. as if he should have said I dare not give way to such wanton looks and lascivious thoughts for though such as doe so may scape well enough with men that may never discern nor suspect any thing amisse in them yet what will God from above allot them for their portion which he answers in the following verse See the Note chap. 20.29 Vers 3. Is not destruction to the wicked and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity That is Is not this the portion of such wicked men that God doth certainly at last destroy them yea
that Elihu no where chargeth Iob for being a wicked man and an hypocrite as his friends had done and thirdly because chap. 42.7 where the Lord condemns the three friends of Iob he speaks not the least word against Elihu therefore I rather conceive that Elihu's speech is full of gentlenesse and prudence and that he only blames him for his unadvised speeches in pleading his own innocency and that though he seems to misconstrue some things that Iob had spoken yet because he did this also out of a holy zeal for Gods glory therefore God did not so much as take notice of this to charge it upon him Vers 4. Now Elihu had waited till Iob had spoken c. That is till Job had finished his last long reply in the foregoing chapters and so consequently all the time that he and his friends had been arguing one against another and therefore the reason that is added hath reference to them all because they were elder then he Vers 8. But there is a spirit in man c. Some Expositours understand this of the holy spirit of God to wit that this it is and not years that makes men wise which they say is again more clearly expressed in the following clause and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding as if he had said I expected that multitude of years should teach wisedome but now I perceive that it is only the spirit of God in men that gives wisedome where he pleaseth and that he gives it many times to the young and not to the aged But because the first clause is so generall there is a spirit in man I rather conceive it is meant of the reasonable soul in man thus But there is a spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding that is Though age be an advantage for the getting of knowledge yet there is a spirit of reason understanding and judgement in one man as well as another and it is God that by the inspiration of his spirit gives wisedome especially in spirituall things whereever he pleaseth Vers 11. Behold I waited for your words I gave ear to your reasons whilst you searched out what to say That is I waited patiently all the time you were speaking expecting you would alledge something against Job that should clearly prove what you had affirmed to wit that he was a wicked man and that therefore God had laid his hand so heavily upon him and finding that you strained your inventions to the utmost to find out what you might say against him I diligently attended and observed the reasons and arguments that you brought against him Now hence Elihu would inferre that it was most equall that they should patiently hear him as he had heard them and the rather because he had well weighed their speeches and had not rashly judged that they had not convinced Job as they ought to have done Vers 13. Lest ye should say We have found out wisedome God thrusteth him down not man These words Lest ye should say I conceive have reference to that he had said in the foregoing verse there was none of you that convinced Iob or that answered his words and so the meaning is either that Elihu had confidently affirmed that none of them had convinced Iob lest they should say We have found out wisedome or that their not being able to answer Job and so Iobs getting the better of them was of God to shew them the weaknesse of that argument whereon they grounded their accusation of Iob lest they should say We have found out wisedome And then for the wisedome whereof he gives them warning not to boast though some understand it of the wisedome of keeping silence and not replying any more upon Iob Lest ye should say We have found out wisedome God thrusteth him down not man that is Lest ye should say We have done wisely in giving over talking any farther with Iob whereas you blame us because we did not answer we say it was a point of much wisedome not to argue any farther with a man so obstinate and that because God thrusteth him down and not man that is Gods hand hath or will humble him sufficiently and so we need not farther presse upon him so to adde affliction to the afflicted yet I rather think it is meant of the wisedome of his friends former arguing against Iob Lest ye should say We have found out wisedome God thrusteth him down not man that is Lest ye should say However you Elihu deny it yet we have sufficiently enough convinced him and that there is so much wisedome in the argument we have alledged against him that all the world is not able to answer it namely that God who is omniscient and infinitely just and wise in all his waies hath brought these miseries upon him and not man who may be deceived and may judge unjustly and therefore were he not a wicked man God would never have punished him at least in such an extraordinary manner Vers 14. Now he hath not directed his words against me c. This might be alledged to imply that it could not be therefore any discontent that he had taken against Job that moved him to speak but that it was merely out of zeal for God and for the truth and because his friends had not answered him aright to which purpose also is that which follows neither will I answer him with your speeches that is I will not answer him with railing reviling and scornfull language as you have done nor will I take that course to convince him that you have taken to wit by condemning him to be a wicked hypocrite because Gods hand is so heavy upon him It is evident in the following Chapters that Elihu urgeth many things that the other three had objected before but this is only in the way of reproving him for his impatient murmuring against God and not thereby to prove him an hypocrite as the other had done Neither was it doubtlesse without the secret counsell of God that when Iobs spirit was almost overwhelmed with the rough usage and the peremptory uncharitable censures of his other friends he should now be reproved by one in a juster and more gentle way that so he might be brought to see wherein he had indeed offended and yet withall his sorrows might be a little abated Vers 15. They were amazed they answered no more c. Here Elihu turns himself on a sudden from speaking to Iobs friends to speak to Iob himself concerning them or rather to the standers by and by their being amazed may be meant either that indeed they were amazed to hear Iob so confidently still to maintain his integrity or only that they were silent as men that stand astonished are wont to be Neither doth Elihu speak this by way of a vain-glorious insulting over the other three friends of Iob but only to shew how he was driven to speak They were amazed they answered no more as if
he should have said I appeal therefore to all that stand by whether it be not very strange that such wise men should have nothing to say to one so faulty as Iob hath been and whether I be not now at last necessitated to speak Vers 16. They spake not but stood still c. That is They proceeded no farther Vers 17. I will answer also my part c. That is Having afforded them out of respect to their years liberty to speak as long as they had any thing to say now I shall also as I hope I well may take my turn to speak Vers 18. For I am full of matter the spirit within me constraineth me That is I have much to say and inwardly my spirit is moved with such vehemency to speak that I can no longer forbear Neither yet doth Elihu here in a youthfull arrogancy oppose his fulnesse to their emptinesse that had no more to reply upon Job but only to justifie himself for speaking he affirms that by his zeal for God and for the truth yea and perhaps by an extraordinary inspiration of Gods holy Spirit he was so strongly moved to speak that he could hold no longer He compares himself to a woman in travel that is pained to be delivered or to bottels that are filled with wine as it follows in the next verse Vers 19. My belly is as wine which hath no vent it is ready to burst like new bottels That is like bottels filled with new wine or like bottels which new wine will burst asunder yea though they be new bottels for indeed the older the bottels are the liker they are to burst asunder when they are filled with new wine according to that of our Saviour Matth. 9.17 Neither do men put new wine into old bottels else the bottels break and the wine runneth out and the bottels perish but they put new wine into new bottels and so both are preserved However the meaning is that he did inwardly in his mind even swell as it were with a desire to speak so that he could forbear no longer Usually in the Scripture what is done inwardly in a man to wit in his mind it is said to be done in the belly as before chap. 15.35 their belly prepareth deceit and so it is here My belly is as wine which hath no vent that is my mind is ready to burst with a desire to utter what I have to say even as wine which hath no vent Vers 20. I will speak that I may be refreshed That is to ease my mind Vers 21. Let me not I pray you accept any mans person neither let me give flattering titles unto man As if he should have said Do not desire I should or do not think I will out of fear or favour to either side speak any thing but the downright truth By giving flattering titles unto man may be meant first the applauding of men with the fawning tearms of holy wise just only to curry favour with them when we know they no way deserve such titles and secondly the going about the bush as we use to say when we are to reprove any man or any evil that we discern in man the doing of this covertly and by secret insinuations rather then with plain and expresse tearms as when Jobs friends would not directly tell Job that he was a wicked hypocrite and that therefore God had so destroyed him but only expressing themselves in generall tearms This is the place of him that knoweth not God and This is the portion of a wicked man from God did yet intentionally strike at him and thirdly the mincing of the matter when we come to tell men of their faults using favourable tearms and not setting forth their sins in their proper colours as when Eli did so gently reprove the horrible villany of his sons 1 Sam. 2.24 Nay my sons for it is no good report that I hear Now in all these respects Elihu protests against this giving of flattering titles Vers 22. For I know not to give flattering titles That is I am not skilled in the way of flattery I never used to take this course but have been alwaies wont to speak my mind clearly and plainly CHAP. XXXIII Vers 1. WHerefore Iob I pray thee hear my speeches c. Having in the foregoing Chapter blamed Jobs three friends here he turns his speech to Job whom principally he desired to convince and with much gentlenesse and modesty he begs audience of him that so he might the more willingly attend to what he would say and by pressing him to hearken to all his words he implyes first that he would not utter an idle frivolous word nothing but what was worth his attending to secondly that if he did not attend to his whole discourse but only here and there a snatch that would be no advantage to him and thirdly that he desired he would not interrupt him till he had fully declared his mind and then he might answer freely what he had to say Vers 2. Behold now I have opened my mouth c. That is now that upon due deliberation I have begun to speak See the Note chap. 3.1 Vers 3. My words shall be of the uprightnesse of my heart c. That is I shall speak truly what I think and with a sincere desire of your good not out of hatred or partiality and my lips shall utter knowledge clearly that is I shall utter nothing but what I know to be true and shall make it clear and evident to thee that it is so Vers 4. The spirit of God hath made me and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life Some Expositours conceive that the drift of these words is to satisfie Job that there was no cause why he should not carefully attend to what he had to say The spirit of God hath made me c. that is God hath made me and given me a reasonable understanding soul as he hath to others in the expression here used there seems to be an allusion to that which is said of the first making of man that the Lord breathed into his nostrils the breath of life Gen. 2.7 and therefore you have no reason to despise my words since to me though young God may reveal the truth as well as to another But I rather conceive the drift of the words to be this Job had often wished that he might plead his cause with God as chap. 16.21 and chap. 23.3 4 5. and in other places but yet still upon this condition that God would withdraw his hand and not overbear and daunt and oppresse him with his Majesty and power as we may find it clearly expressed chap. 9.34 35. and chap. 13.20 21 22. Now therefore Elihu tells him that he would undertake as in Gods stead to plead with him and saith he I am a man as thou art with whom thou mayst plead upon equall tearms and needest not be afraid which is again expressed more fully vers
6. Behold I am according to thy wish in Gods stead I also am formed out of the clay that is according to thine own desire I in Gods stead will undertake to maintain his cause who am a poor earthly man as thou art and so vers 7. My terrour shall not make thee afraid neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee which are almost the very words that Job had used in the places before cited Vers 8. Surely thou hast spoken in my hearing c. As if he should have said I do not charge thee as thy friends have done with secret wickednesse and hypocrisie that which thou hast professed concerning the holinesse of thy life and conversation I conceive is true all that I lay to thy charge is the unseemly and unreverent speeches that thou hast uttered concerning God in my hearing which I am sure thou canst not deny Vers 9. I am clean without transgression c. We do not find that Job ever said thus much in expresse tearms but Elihu meant this doubtlesse of those words of Iob which he took to be the same in effect as those chap. 10.7 Thou knowest that I am not wicked and 13.18 19 Behold now I have ordered my cause I know that I shall be justified who is he that will plead with me c. and many others of the like kind as we may find chap. 13.23 16.17 and 23.10 11 12. and 31.6 Now however some Expositours conceive that Elihu did misinterpret Iobs words making account that Iob did directly indeed maintain that he was pure and free from sin whereas he only meant by those speeches to justifie himself thus farre that he had not been a wicked man and an hypocrite as his friends affirmed and consequently that it was not for any such grievous enormities of his life that Gods hand had been so grievous upon him yet because Iob had so often in the hearing of Elihu clearly affirmed the contrary to this to wit that he was a vile unclean wretch in Gods sight and that he nor no man else could possibly be justified in this regard before God nor could be able to answer one of a thousand of that which God could charge upon him as we see chap. 9.1 2 c. and chap. 14.4 and in many other places I cannot think that Elihu meant to accuse Iob for boasting in this sense that he was void of all sin and that there was no iniquity in him but only that out of an over-eager desire to maintain his innocency against the calumnies of his friends he had talked so much of that in his expostulations with God for dealing so hardly with him and in his frequent protestations how earnestly he desired that he might plead his cause with God as if he thought himself perfectly pure and spotlesse and that God could not in justice punish him as he had done So that it is not for thinking himself clear from sin or for maintaining his integrity against his friends that Elihu here reproves Iob but it is for his alledging of this in a way of impatience and murmuring to the impeaching of Gods justice And therefore though Iobs other friends did seem to object the same thing to Iob that Elihu doth here as we see in that of Zophar chap. 11.4 Thou hast said My doctrine is pure and I am clean in thine eyes and in many other places yet they did it upon different grounds For his three friends upbraided him for boasting of his righteousnesse because they judged he played the hypocrite herein being in truth a wicked man but now Elihu expostulates with him for this only because by pleading his righteousnesse in that manner as he did he did in effect charge God with injustice Nor can it therefore be said but that Elihu still holds to what he had said to Iobs friends chap. 32.14 neither will I answer him with your speeches Vers 10. Behold he findeth occasions against me c. This also which Elihu here chargeth Iob to have spoken we find not any where in expresse tearms but some passages there are which he might take to be as much in effect as if he had said Behold he findeth occasions against me as where he said chap. 10.6 thou enquirest after mine iniquity and searchest after my sin and chap. 14.16 thou numbrest my steps dost thou not watch over my sins and some other such like expressions As for the next clause he counteth me for his enemy this we find that Job said of God severall times as chap. 13.24 and chap. 19.11 and so also that which follows in the next verse He putteth my feet in the stocks he marketh all my paths we have it in expresse tearms chap. 13.27 However that which he condemns Job for in these speeches of his is that out of the opinion he had of his own righteousnesse he durst so presumptuously complain of God as if he had dealt cruelly with him Vers 12. Behold in this thou art not just c. As if he had said I deny not but that thou art a holy just man and hast lived so strictly and exactly as thou hast spoken nor do I blame thee generally for all that I heard came from thee that thou shouldest bemoan thy self for thy miseries is not strange at all and in many things I acknowledge thou hast spoken very well both concerning God and concerning man but in this that because of thy righteous life thou hast thus murmured against God in this I say I am sure thou canst not be justified and to all thy pleas concerning thine own righteousnesse and Gods severe dealing with thee I will answer thee and this one answer may well serve for all that God is greater then man that is infinitely greater in majesty wisedome power justice mercy and in every other respect And indeed this did necessarily imply how unreasonable a thing it was that man should contend with God and quarrel against God first because there must needs therefore be more wisedome justice and mercy in God then there can be in man whereas he that complains of Gods dealings with him doth in effect conclude that there is more wisedome and justice and goodnesse in him then there is in God secondly because man therefore cannot comprehend the waies of God and so there may be much wisedome and justice and mercy in his proceedings which we cannot discern thirdly because there being such an infinite disproportion betwixt God and man it must needs be great arrogance in man to contend with God as if he were his equall if he had to do with a man as himself he could doe no more and fourthly because this greatnesse of God implyes his soveraignty over man as his creature in regard whereof he may doe with man what he pleaseth and it must needs argue boldnesse in man to contend with God as if he had no such power and authority over him Now whereas it may be said that Jobs three friends had often
in the right Vers 5. For Iob hath said I am righteous c. The same in effect he objected against Iob in the foregoing chapter vers 9. concerning which see the Note there As for the following clause and God hath taken away my judgement this we find Iob spake in expresse tearms chap. 27.2 But yet neither did Iob intend thereby to charge God with punishing him unjustly concerning which see also the Note there for then he had directly blasphemed and the Devil had gotten his will of him nor do I think that Elihu intended to charge him with this blasphemy as his friends had done as we may see chap. 8.2 3. and elsewhere For Elihu judged more favourably of him and had professed before chap. 32.14 that he would not answer him as they had done No all that Elihu chargeth him with is that by his pleading the innocency of his life with such vehemency and by his impatient complaints of his sufferings and of the Lords not discovering to him the reason thereof he did in a manner imply that God had dealt unjustly with him Vers 6. Should I lie against my right c. Some Expositours say that Elihu in these words chargeth Job with saying that God would have had him lie against his right or that unlesse he would doe so he might not be suffered to speak But methinks he doth plainly allude to that which Job had said chap. 27.4 5 6 where he protested that he would not against his conscience condemn himself As for the next clause my wound is incurable without transgression that Elihu seems to have gathered from that which Job said chap. 6.4 and 9.17 concerning which see the severall Notes there Vers 7. What man is like Iob who drinketh up scorning like water That is who scorneth and reproacheth not man only but God too with as much greedinesse and delight as thirsty men drink water which neither for the costlinesse of it nor for the strength of it they need drink sparingly The like expression we had before chap. 15.16 concerning which see the Note there Yet I know there are divers learned Expositours that understand this otherwise to wit that there was never man like Iob of such wisedome and gravity c. that by speaking such absurd and ridiculous things did so expose himself to the scorn and derision of all men as if he were glad to swallow down all the reproaches and scorn that could be cast upon him Vers 8. Which goeth in company with the workers of iniquity c. That is Who carrieth himself so as if he would be numbred amongst wicked men because he treads in their steps and useth their language whilst in the mean season he stands so much upon his innocency and righteousnesse Vers 9. For he hath said It profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself in God This Elihu would gather from those words of Iob wherein he maintained that God doth often afflict the righteous as sorely as the wicked and prosper the wicked as much or more then the righteous as we may see chap. 9.22 and 21.7 c. as likewise from those complaints of his that God had dealt so severely with him who had yet endeavoured in all things to approve himself to God Yet I conceive the utmost that Elihu intended here to charge upon Iob was that by uttering these things in such an impatient manner he seemed to think that it was no advantage to a man to live holily and righteously not that he did indeed think so or had in expresse tearms said so Many things Iob had spoken wherein he had so clearly expressed his hope and confidence in God that Elihu could not have so hard an opinion of him only God would have Iob reproved thus sharply that he might see how much evil there was in his murmuring against God Vers 13. Who hath given him a charge over the earth or who hath disposed the whole world This is added to prove what he had said in the foregoing verses namely that there was no possibility that God should deal unjustly with any man Who hath given him a charge over the earth c. as if he should have said God is of himself the supreme Iudge and Governour of the whole world as being the sole Creatour of it he is not appointed thereto by any other Power that is above him who should give him in charge how he should govern the earth nor hath he any counseller but as in making he alone disposed all things as they are so he only disposeth of them by way of Providence and government and therefore he cannot judge unjustly And indeed the inference is unquestionable upon these three grounds First because there being none above him there is no danger lest he should deal unjustly through being constrained or overawed by any higher power as amongst men inferiour magistrates often doe Secondly because if there were none to give him a charge over the earth there was none whom he could offend in not following his charge he was absolute in his power and might doe with his own creatures what he pleased there being none that could say Why have you done thus I gave you no such command And thirdly because the supreme Iudge of the world from whom there can be no appeal must needs be just by his nature and essence or else there were no assurance but that all things might be brought into utter confusion Vers 14. If he set his heart upon man c. To wit to observe exactly all that he doth amisse or to destroy and cut him off if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath that is if he call back to himself that soul life and breath which he as the fountain of life hath severally imparted to the sons of men the phrase here used is much like that Psal 26.9 Gather not my soul with sinners nor my life with bloudy men all mankind must needs then perish at once and turn to dust as it follows in the next verse All flesh shall perish together c. But why is this here alledged how easily God can in an instant destroy all mankind I answer farther to clear what was implyed in the foregoing verse by affirming that God had no power above him that had committed to his charge the government of the world but that the absolute soveraignty thereof as he was the Creatour of it was solely in himself namely that God is most just and cannot do wrong to any man whatsoever and that upon the three grounds alledged in the foregoing Note as likewise also that he is infinitely good and gracious and cannot be cruell and tyrannicall as is evident by his gracious supporting and continuing all things in their being so long as he hath done whereas he could so easily in a moment bring all to nothing Vers 16. If now thou hast understanding hear this hearken to the voice of my words As if he had said As thou art
I must be understood Therefore saith he speak what thou knowest if thou hast any thing to reply speak freely Vers 36. My desire is that Iob may be tryed unto the end because of his answers for wicked men That is because of his answers whereby he hath as it were justified wicked men to wit by murmuring against God as they do or by affirming that good and bad fare alike and God prospers the one as much as the other But what is meant by this desire of his that Iob may be tryed unto the end I answer that either his desire was that God would continue his afflictions upon him till he had gotten the day of him till he had attained the end for which he afflicted him namely till he had brought him upon his knees and made him confesse his fault and yield under his hand and if we understand it so the words may well be read as in the margin speaking to God My father let Iob be tryed unto the end c. or else rather because it seems somewhat hard that Elihu should tell Job that his judgement was that his afflictions should be continued still upon him that his desire was that Jobs cause should be argued to the utmost till he had not a word more to say for himself Vers 37. For he addeth rebellion unto his sin c. To wit by murmuring and quarrelling against God when he punisheth him for his sin and by justifying himself in the evil he hath spoken he clappeth his hands amongst us to wit as some expound it by way of anger and impatience at Gods dealing so hardly with him or rather as by way of rejoycing and triumphing and so the meaning is that he did openly before all their faces carry himself as if he had prevailed both against God and his friends in point of justifying himself CHAP. XXXV Vers 1. ELihu spake moreover and said See the Note chap. 34.1 Vers 2. Thinkest thou this to be right that thou saidest My righteousnesse is more then Gods We no where find that Job said this in so many words nor can it be imagined that Elihu could entertain such a thought of so righteous a man as he took Job to be that he should be so mad as to think that he was more righteous then God his meaning therefore was only this that whilst he did so confidently plead his own righteousnesse and so bitterly complain of Gods hard dealing with him as chap. 19.6 7. and chap. 23.3 and in many other places it was as much in effect as if he had said that he was more just then God which he urgeth that he might be the more ashamed of his impatience Vers 3. For thou saidest what advantage will it be unto thee c. That is Thou saidest that it would be no advantage to thee if thou wert clear from sin as it follows in the next clause where this is expressed as it were in Jobs own words and what profit shall I have if I be cleansed from my sin According to the usuall form of interrogations the first clause should also have been expressed thus what advantage will it be unto me as is the second and what profit shall I have c. but in the Hebrew the persons are thus usually changed However the meaning is that because he had said that it would be no benefit to him though he were never so righteous God laying his hand as sorely upon the righteous as upon the wicked herein he made himself more righteous then God The very same Elihu had charged Job with chap. 34.9 concerning which see the Note there Vers 4. I will answer thee and thy companions with thee That is thy three friends who by their silence seem now at length to be convinced and to consent to that which thou hast spoken or rather all those that are thy companions in these courses wherein thou art so faulty all that shall stand upon such high tearms of justifying themselves and quarrelling against God as thou hast done though they be never so many This last I conceive Elihu intended because it is clear that Eliphaz had alledged the very same thing against Job chap. 22.2 3 which Elihu doth here in the following words vers 6 7. Vers 5. Look unto the heavens and see and behold the clouds that are higher then thou The drift of these words is to imply first that by beholding the heavens and considering the exceeding height thereof yea even of the clouds though nothing so high as the heavens he might see first that God was infinite in all his excellencies and therefore must needs be more righteous then he was secondly that in regard God was of such infinite Majesty and glory it was fit that he should consider the infinite distance and disproportion that was betwixt God and him and so speak more modestly and reverently of God and thirdly that if the heavens be so farre above mans reach so high above him that he can scarce see so farre then must God be above his reach too who hath the heaven for his throne Psal 11.4 his dwelling-place 1 Kings 8.30 yea much rather must God be above his reach who is infinitely higher then the highest heavens and so this makes way to that which follows that man therefore can neither hurt God by his wickednesse nor benefit God by his righteousnesse vers 6 7. If thou sinnest what doest thou against him c. whereby he intimates to Job that he had no cause to complain that his piety towards God and man was not regarded by God since God received no advantage thereby The very same argument Eliphaz had used before chap. 22.2 3. concerning which see the Notes there Vers 8. Thy wickednesse may hurt a man as thou art and thy righteousnesse may profit the son of man That is thy wickednesse may hurt thy self or such sinfull poor wretches as thou art both in regard of their outward condition and spirituall estate and so also thy righteousnesse may benefit thy self or others but they cannot hurt or benefit God And hereby he intimates that Job had no cause to complain that his righteousnesse was not regarded of God seeing it could be no advantage to him nor to complain of his punishing him since God never punished man because of any harm he had received by him but because he did not doe what be enjoyned him Vers 9. By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed cry c. Some conceive that this is here added to shew the reason why God often punisheth men though their wickednesse is no way hurtfull to him to wit because it is hurtfull to others as he had said in the foregoing verse and so for this as a just judge he takes vengeance on them But the better connection of the words to that which went before I conceive to be this that having said in the foregoing verse that mans wickednesse may be hurtfull to men though not to God
God that could doe such mighty things here again Elihu returns to adde somewhat more of these mighty works of God to wit that sometimes men can hardly see the light of the Sun by reason of the interposition of thick clouds And now men see not the bright light which is in the clouds but that on a sudden oftentimes the winds come and scatter them but the wind passeth and cleanseth them fair weather cometh out of the North. From all which at last he layes down that conclusion with God is terrible Majesty But thirdly the most and best Expositours would have the words understood thus to wit that Elihu here proves that there is no standing before God to contend against him by an argument from the lesse to the greater namely that men cannot behold the light of the Sun when the wind hath scattered the clouds and so it shines clearly in the firmament and much lesse can they stand before God who dwelleth in light inaccessible and is of terrible Majestie And this indeed is very probable yet the second Exposition seems best to agree with our Translation Vers 23. Touching the Almighty we cannot find him out c. As if he should have said And from all this that hath been said we may concerning the Almighty conclude that we cannot find him out he is altogether incomprehensible of which see the Note chap. 11.7 he is excellent in power and in judgement and in plenty of justice he will not afflict that is not willingly till men by their sins force him to it and much lesse will he afflict them causelesly or unjustly Vers 24. Men do therefore fear him c. To wit because he is of such infinite and incomprehensible power and justice and especially of such goodnesse and mercy that he will not afflict this makes men fear God and humble themselves under his hand not daring to quarrell or contend with him he respecteth not any that are wise of heart that is he minds them not The drift of these words may be either to shew what reason there is that men should so fear God who is of such infinite power c. as not to dare to contend with him to wit because God will not vouchsafe to mind such a worm as man is so infinitely beneath him no not those that are wise of heart as if he had said not those that out of an overweening conceit of their own wisedome think they can maintain their cause against God or because God is able to punish them and will punish them if they be too peremptory with him be they never so wise of heart they shall not be able thereby to rescue themselves out of his hands he will neither fear nor regard their wisedome or else to shew why men ought to fear God for his goodnesse and mercy and not to murmure against his chastisements to wit because God doth not shew them mercy out of any respect he hath to any wisedome or goodnesse in them but merely of his own free grace CHAP. XXXVIII Vers 1. THen the Lord answered Iob out of the whirlwind Job had often appealed to God as desiring that he would decide the controversie betwixt him and his friends and now and then had as it were challenged God that he might plead his cause before God and that God would answer him and his friends had likewise wished that God would satisfie Jobs desire herein as chap. 11.5 O that God would speak and open his lips against thee Accordingly therefore the Lord did now appear to them and did at last chap. 42.7 give judgement in this cause betwixt Job and his friends by approving Job and reproving them Only the Lord finding that though Job was much convinced by that which Elihu had spoken and therefore it was that he was all the while silent yet he was not sufficiently humbled before he would give sentence for Job he first checks him for those things he had spoken foolishly and rashly and not with that reverence towards God as became him Yea and observable it is that though after the manner of the visions and apparitions whereby the Lord used to reveal himself to his servants in those daies the Lord answered Iob out of the whirlwind that is out of the cloud wherein there came a whirlwind it seems that first there appeared a cloud out of which when the whirlwind had broken out with some terrour then after that the Lord spake to Job out of that stormy cloud which was to humble him and to make both him and the rest the more attentive to what he should say see the Note 1 Kings 19.11 yet he spake to him with much gentlenesse whereas his three friends condemned him for a wicked hypocrite and Elihu though he acknowledged his sincerity and only blamed him for his inconsiderate speeches yet he had therein used some very bitter expressions as in chap. 34.7 8. What man is like Iob who drinketh scorning like water which walketh in company with the workers of iniquity c. in Gods answer to him there is no such bitternesse at all Vers 2. Who is this that darkneth counsell by words without knowledge Many Expositours hold that these words are spoken to Elihu for they say that the Lord undertaking to answer Job as is said in the foregoing verse doth first check Elihu and take him off from proceeding any farther and that he is charged with darkning counsell by words without knowledge either because he did not sufficiently set forth the glory of Gods works or because he did not clearly enough expresse his own meaning in the arguments he brought to convince Job or because though he spake truth yet he uttered it not in a manner suitable to Jobs condition but with such sharpnesse as was likely to adde to his affliction rather then to afford him any comfort And indeed 2 Reasons they give why this should be spoken to Elihu rather then to Job which have much probability in them First because these words who is this that darkneth counsell c. seem rather to intend one that was then speaking as Elihu was rather then Job that had not spoken of a long time together and 2ly because God doth no where reprove Elihu as he doth Iob ch 40.2 his other three friends ch 42.7 and seeing Elihu had dealt somewhat too tartly with Iob also and had very much misinterpreted some things that Iob had spoken it were strange that he only should passe unreproved But methinks it is farre more probable that these words are spoken to Iob first Because it is said in the foregoing verse that Then the Lord answered Iob out of the whirlwind and said and then immediately this is added as his answer to Iob Who is this that darkneth counsell by words without knowledge Gird up now thy loyns like a man c. secondly Because chap. 42.3 Iob doth afterwards repeat these words as acknowledging himself therewith justly checked who is he that hideth counsell
back againâ— or 〈◊〉 that God delivered him out of all the miseries wherein before he had been as it were held captive or thirdly that God did now free him from being any longer under the power of Satan into whose hands God had delivered him chap. 2.6 And it is said that this God did when he prayed for his friends to intimate how well it pleased God that he could so heartily intercede for those that had used him so ill wherein he was also a type of Christ who prayed for them that crucifyed him Luk. 23.34 As for that which follows Also the Lord gave Iob twice as much as he had before to wit as is afterward expressed vers 12. fourteen thousand sheep whereâ—s he had but seven thousand before six thousand camels whereas he had but three thousand before and so in the rest chap. 1.3 it cannot be thought that this was done in an instant but in processe of time though withall it is probable that the extraordinary blessing of God upon him was much manifested in the speedy encrease of his estate Vers 11. Then came there unto him all his brethren c. That is his kindred neighbours and acquaintance These had before estranged themselves from him either because of his poverty or because they looked upon him as an hypocrite hated of God as his three friends did as Iob often complained chap. 6.15 and 19.13 14 c. but now they came again flocking to him from all parts Some conceive that this was not till God had doubled or at least greatly encreased his estate for which I see no just ground Rather it may be most probably thought that when the fame was spread abroad how God had appeared in a vision to Iob and his friends and had taken his part against them and had miraculously recovered him of all his bodily distempers and some way perhaps blessed him in his estate then they came thus to visite him and so did eat bread with him in his house that is feasted with him in his own house which may be added also to imply Iobs meeknesse who would not now reject them because they in his adversity had despised and forsaken him And then for the following words and they bemoaned him and comforted him c. to wit in regard of his late heavy sufferings we may well conceive that hereby or herewith they did as it were excuse their former neglect of him or perhaps blame themselves for it As for their presents every man also gave him a piece of money and every one an ear-ring of gold this is not mentioned as if they were given to relieve his poverty and as a new stock to begin on but only to shew that by way of congratulating Gods mercy to him and by way of honour and reverence afforded him they came with their presents to him as to great men in those times they were wont to doe For though Iobs losse was very great in his cattel yet there being no mention made of the losse of any other part of his estate I see no reason why we should take it for granted that he was brought to such a beggarly condition as it is commonly thought Vers 13. And he had seven sons and three daughters Iust as many as he had before chap. 1.2 But yet some say that because his other children were not lost but were alive with God in heaven therefore even in his children his number was doubled too that there was no need that his new stock of children should be twice as many as before as his cattel were And to this others adde also that he would not have had twice as great an estate to leave to his children as he had before if his children had been twice as many as they were before But however hereby is implyed both the perfect recovery of his health and likewise that his wife was together with his other friends reconciled to him unlesse we should say with some that these children he had by another wife which is not so probable both because there is no mention of the death of his former wife and also because it is most probable that presently upon his recovery God comforted him in this particular as well as in other things thereby also giving him hope of children Vers 14. And he called the name of the first Iemima c. Their names are thus punctually expressed to manifest the truth of the history Vers 15. And their father gave them inheritance among their brethren Which shews that they were married not to strangers of another nation but for Iobs greater comfort to some of his own country Vers 16. After this lived Iob an hundred and fourty years This also implyes the perfect recovery of his health and makes it most probable that he lived before the age of Moses of which see the Note chap. 1.1 yet how old he was before he was afflicted is no where expressed for that which some say that he was seventy years old before he was afflicted building upon this that his years after his calamities as well as his cattel were twice as many as they were before which is an hundred and fourty is a mere conceit Vers 17. So Iob died being old and full of daies See the Note Gen. 25.8 Thus God made good to Iob what Eliphaz promised him if he would repent chap. 5.26 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season ANNOTATIONS Upon the book of PSALMS PSALM I. Vers 1. BLessed is the man that walketh not in the counsell of the ungodly c. This book is often cited by Christ and his Apostles by the name of the Psalms Luk. 24.44 All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms and the book of Psalms as Luk. 20.42 David himself saith in the book of Psalms The Lord said to my Lord c. yea and in expresse tearms as written by the inspiration of the holy Ghost as Matth. 22.43 How then doth David in spirit call him Lord and Acts 1.16 The holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Iudas c. Many Expositours hold that all the Psalms were made by David but I cannot see that they make good what they say for though it is very probable that the most of them were composed by him and provided purposely to be sung in the Tabernacle and the Temple and that because it is evident that some even of those Psalms before which Davids name is not prefixed were yet made by David as we see in the second Psalm which is expresly said to be Davids Act. 4.25 and in the 105 Psalm of which it is said 1 Chron. 16.7 that David delivered it into the hand of Asaph and his brethren and yet neither of these have any title prefixed before them and the like may be said of others and therefore I conceive it is that
confounded together that seek after my soul c. To wit as men brought into so grievous and miserable a condition that they are even ashamed of themselves See also the Notes Psal 35.26 Let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil see the Notes Psal 6.10 and 35.4 Vers 15. Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame c. That is of their filthy and shamefull life or rather of the shame which they sought to bring upon me let that shame which they endeavoured to cast upon me befall themselves as a just recompence of their evil intentions against me Vers 16. Let all those that seek thee c. See the Notes Chro. 16.11 and Psal 9.10 rejoyce and be glad in thee see the Note Psal 35.27 Let such as love thy salvation that is that neither hope for nor desire salvation from any other way but only from thee say continually The Lord be magnified see Psal 35.27 Vers 17. But I am poor and needy c. That is destitute and afflicted See the Note Psal 34.6 PSALM XLI Vers 1. BLessed is he that considereth the poor c. or the sick or weak and indeed there are many passages in the Psalm as vers 3 4 5 c. that make this interpretation very probable But if it be translated as it is in our Bible by the poor is meant in generall the man that is in any distresse or affliction Blessed is he that considereth the poor that is that so thinks of and weighs with himself the miseries that he undergoes that he is thereby brought from his heart to pity him and out of compassion to comfort help and relieve him or rather that so considers of the man and his condition as not to passe any harsh and uncharitable censures upon him as to judge him a wicked man and hated of God because he is so afflicted as Jobs friends dealt with him And this David doubtlesse spake with reference to himself yea and as some think too with reference to Christ because of that which is said afterwards vers 9. which Joh. 13.18 is applyed to Christ Because when David was in any great distresse his enemies were ready to conclude that he was cast off and forsaken of God therefore he doth here pronounce them blessed that did better judge of those that were afflicted yea and covertly he doth in effect desire a blessing from God upon those that had carried themselves more friendly or comfortably to him in the time of his distresse then others had done As for the following words the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble and so on to the end of the third verse I conceive they are meant of him that considereth the poor and are added to make good what he had said concerning the blisse of such a man and to shew how abundantly God would reward him yet they may be understood of the poor afflicted man and so indeed they are understood by the most of our best Expositours namely that they are added as by way of confuting the unjust censures that are usually passed upon such a poor man the world is ready to judge him accursed of God but there is no ground for this for on the contrary the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble c. Vers 3. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bâ—d of languishing c. That is The Lord will comfort and support him in his sicknesse and at length restore his strength again thou wilt make all his bed in his sicknesse that is thou wilt give him ease and rest and afford him all things requisite for his refreshing as is done for a sick man when his bed is made soft by turning it for it is in the Hebrew thou wilt turn his bed and by stirring and tumbling the â—eathers up and down bolster pillow head feet every where that there may not be a hard place left in it But yet many Expositours understand this more generally as a figurative expression of the comfort and support which God affords such a man in any distresse whatsoever Because men in great distresse and heavinesse of spirit are wont to cast themselves down upon their beds and there to lye like men half dead hence are these expressions The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing that is when he is cast down under any sore affliction the Lord will support and help him and not suffer him to sink under that pressure thou wilt make all his bed in his sicknesse that is thou wilt allay and asswage his sorrows thou wilt comfort his conscience and give him inward quiet of mind as when one gives ease to a sick man by making and turning his bed Yea some take it thus too that God would turn his bed of sicknesse to a condition of strength and health Vers 4. I said Lord be mercifull unto me heal my soul c. As if he had said I have provoked thee by my sins to bring this misery upon me therefore be mercifull and be reconciled unto me and heal my soul that is heal me see the Notes Psal 6.2 4 and 16.10 preserve my life and save me from this distresse I am in for I have sinned against thee as if he had said Seeing I acknowledge my sin have mercy upon me and heal me or Seeing thou only hast brought this upon me because I have sinned against thee whether should I goe but to thee only to be healed Or it may be understood of a spirituall healing Heal my soul to wit of the sorrows wherewith it is wounded for my sins or Heal my soul by pardoning me for so this expression is used 2 Chron. 30.20 and so also in that clause Esa 6.10 lest they see with their eyes c. and convert and be healed which is expressed by our Saviour thus Mark 4.12 lest at any time they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven them However the drift of inserting these words here I conceive is this Intending to shew as he doth in the following verses how far his enemies were from considering of his condition as they ought to have done he premiseth this that he did not flatter himself in his sicknesse or distresse but acknowledging his sin craved mercy at Gods hands but yet his enemies dealt most unmercifully with him Vers 5. Mine enemies speak evil of me c. To wit such as hated him and were his professed enemies because they were curbed by the strictnesse of his government When shall he die and his name perish See the Note Psal 9.5 Vers 6. And if he come to see me he speaketh vanity c. That is When mine enemy cometh to visit me in my sicknesse or distresse he speaks nothing but falshood and flatteries see the Note Job 31.5 to wit in that he pretends to be sorry for me and to comfort me and to tender me his advice and to doe for me any office of love in a friendly
wondrous things To wit by his own power this seems to be added in reference to the wonderfull goodnesse of God in continuing the kingdome to Solomons posterity notwithstanding many of them did so often provoke God to have utterly destroyed them but especially with reference to Gods wonderfull works in the Churches redemption by Christ her miraculous preservation maugre the rage of Satan against her and the many other benefits we enjoy by his kingly office Vers 19. Let the whole earth be filled with his glory c. This seems also to be spoken with respect to the times of the Gospel Amen amen see the Note Ps 41.13 Vers 20. The prayers of David the son of Iesse are ended For the adding of those words the son of Iesse see the Notes 2 Sam. 23.1 It is evident that the 86 the 110 divers of the following Psalms besides were composed by David and therefore it well may be questioned why it is said that here the prayers of David are ended But to this divers answers are given by Expositours as 1. that this was the last Psalm that David composed and haply placed last in the order of the Psalms that since the order of the Psalms was transposed or 2. that this was the last of the Psalms which David joyned together in a book that the following Psalms wherein there are some also that David himself did afterwards compose were collected by some other holy man of God joyned to that book of Psalms which David had formerly made or 3. that this is added here because hither to we have had Davids Psalms but now those that next follow were composed by Asaph and others And indeed if it were clear that the following Psalms were not composed by David it might well be said in this regard that here the prayers of David are ended though some Psalms of Davids making be afterwards inserted as it is said The words of Iob are ended because his reasoning with his friends doth there end though some words that Job spake are afterwards inserted in that book as ch 40.3 4 5 ch 42.1 2 c. PSALM LXXIII Vers 1. TRuly or yet God is good to Israel even to such as are of a clean heart That is that are upright-hearted amongst the people of God Yet some would have the meaning of these words to be this that they whose hearts are clear from passion do know God to be good though others being under temptation and disturbed with passion cannot often be so perswaded With the like abrupt expression the 62. Psalm begins concerning which see the Note there Vers 2. But as for me c. As if he had said Though this be so and I knew it well enough as having had frequent experience of Gods manifold goodness both to my self other his faithfull servants and though I have alwaies endeavoured in all things to approve my self to God yet my feet were almost gone that is I was almost transported beyond the bounds of piety even to the accusing of God in words at least in thought of injustice and unfaithfulnesse or I had almost fallen from this perswasion of heart concerning the goodnesse of God to the righteous and from believing the truth of Gods promises yea almost from the uprightnesse of my waies yielding to doe as those wicked men did whom the Lord thus prospered And observable it is that all sinfull slips were so grievous to David that he laments here even that his steps had wel-nigh slipped Vers 4. For there are no bands in their death c. This may be understood either 1. of the sodainnesse of their death to wit that they drop as it were on a sodain into the grave without any foregoing sicknesse or pain which then is more fully set forth in the following clause but their strength is firm not wasted by any foregoing sicknesse see the Note Job 21.13 or 2. of the gentlenesse and easinesse of their death that they do not die a hard and bitter death either by reason of inward gripes and pinches of conscience and terrours of mind or of bodily pangs and strugglings with death their souls being bound within them as with bands which death hath much adoe to untie or break so that they cannot depart or at least are long held back as with bands from dying but how this can agree with that following clause but their strength is firm I cannot well see or 3. of their dying a naturall death to wit that they are never brought to die as malefactours being bound with bands cords or chains and that because the laws can take no hold of them whatever wickednesse they commit by reason of their riches and greatnesse they are sure to escape or 4. of their dying in a good old age namely that they are not violently dragged to an untimely death by any sicknesse or dismall casualty but having sweetly passed over the whole natural course of their lives they quietly give up the ghost And their strength is firm that is proportionably to their years all their life long they are strong and healthfull till at last being spent by mere old age their life is expired and they goe down into the grave Vers 6. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain c. That is Because of this their prosperous condition they carry themselves proudly in every regard in their countenance speech gesture c. as some men will do when they have gotten a chain of gold they grow highly conceited of themselves being ready still to boast of and advance themselves and to despise others or they please themselves and glory in their pride as esteeming it an ornament to them violence covereth them as a garment as if he should have said And by reason of this their pride they become bold cruell and violent oppressors of others for this expression of violence covering them as a garment is to imply that they do not only conceive it in their minds but also expresse it outwardly in their deeds yea and glory in it as men do in some gorgeous attire seeking to outstrip one another herein as they seek to outstrip one another in bravery and perhaps wearing the trophies of their oppressions in a way of boasting And to this some adde also that oppression is as constantly their practice as it is for men every day to put on their garments and that hereby they seek to defend themselves as men shelter themselves from the cold by their raiment But however the main drift in alledging this is to set forth how strange it might seem that when men did thus abuse the bounty and goodnesse of God he should notwithstanding suffer and prosper them still Vers 7. Their eyes stand out with fatnesse c. Because the fatnesse of the face makes the eyes to be hidden rather then to stand out some would have this clause rendered thus Their eyes goe out with fatnesse meaning that they had scarce any
king of Zion yea the king of the whole world shall to their great honour when he takes notice of all the inhabitants of the world own them as true members of his Church and enroll them in the Register of the citizens of Zion as those whose names were from all eternity written also in the book of life The Psalmist alludes to the custome of king that are wont to take the number and to keep a register of the names of their subjects and the drift of the words is to imply that God to whom all nations are exactly known and at whose disposing they are shall every where bring into his Church those he desires to honour and shall readily own them for his people Vers 7. As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there c. That is So great shall the blisse of Sion be that it shall be a place of continuall joy the inhabitants still seeking to praise God for his goodnesse and to extoll the happinesse of his city and people All my springs are in thee that is all from whence any good or comfort comes flowing into my soul is in thee O city of God from the presence of God and his holy Ordinances there all saving knowledge grace and comfort those living waters that can only refresh my soul come flowing in to me see the Note Psal 68.26 or all my springs are in thee that is whatever is within me that can contribute any thing to the setting forth of thy praise O Zion shall be spent upon thee all the thoughts and affections of my heart all my skill in musick and the vein that I have for poetry shall be poured forth in thy praises and shall continually send forth new and fresh praises of thee Either of these waies this last clause may be most probably understood Yet some take it thus All my springs are in thee that is all my delights are set upon thee all my affection is to thee O Zion or as if it were spoken to God All my thoughts are on thee O God all my delight and hope is in thee and all my affection is to thee PSALM LXXXVIII The Title TO the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth c. See the Note on the Title Psal 53. of which what is there said may be also said here Maschil see the Note on the Title Psal 32. of Heman the Ezrahite There was one Heman that was one of the three chief Singers and who was likewise Davids Seer as is before noted 1 Chron. 25.1.5 and therefore some conceive that he was the authour of this Psalm and his brother Ethan the authour of the following Psalm But why these should be called Ezrahites I find no clear reason given And therefore others do rather conceive that these were those Heman and Ethan of the tribe of Judah mentioned 1 Chron. 2.6 1 Kings 4.31 for which see the Notes there Vers 5. Free among the dead c. That is I am as one amongst the dead free of that company or free from all the cares and affairs of this life as if he should have said I am in a manner dead to the world like the slain that lye in the grave that is and I have been brought into this condition by a violent hand as those that are slain in war or I am no more regarded then those that are slain in the warre that are presently tumbled into a pit no man pitying them or being sollicitous for them whom thou remembrest no more that is of whom thou takest no more care to wit for the things of this life and they are cut off from thine hand that is from thy providence thou dost no more govern and protect them nor dispose of them or provide for them as thou dost for living men Yet some conceive that these words are uttered by the Psalmist out of a distempered spirit as one transported by passion through the extreme troubles and miseries he was in And some read the last clause as it is in the margin and they are cut off by thine hand and so conceive that hereby the Psalmist would imply that he was as one that was cut off by a hand of divine justice Vers 6. Thou hast layd me in the lowest pit c. That is in the grave see the Note Psal 86.13 and the same may be intended also in the following words in darknesse in the deeps Yet some conceive that here he compares himself that with respect to his desperate condition and the many terrours that lay upon him to a man that is cast into a deep dungeon Vers 8. Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me c. See the Notes Job 19.13 and Psal 31.11 I am shut up and I cannot come forth that is there is no hope of freeing my self from the troubles I am in see the Note Job 19.8 Yet some understand this literally of the Psalmists imprisonment or banishment or of his shutting up himself close at home as being overpressed with sorrow and shame to see how all men abhorred his company Vers 9. I have stretched out my hands unto thee See the Note Job 11.13 Vers 10. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead c. As if he should have said Unlesse help come presently I shall be past hope of praising thee see the Notes Job 7.8 9. Psal 6.5 and 30.9 Vers 11. Shall thy loving kindnesse be declared in the grave c. See the Notes Job 26.6 and 28.22 Vers 12. Shall thy wonders be known in the dark and thy righteousnesse in the land of forgetfulnesse That is in the grave where the dead forget the living the body lying there without all sense or remembrance of any thing see the Note Job 14.21 and where being laid they are in a manner quite forgotten by others see the Notes Job 24.20 and Psal 31.12 Vers 13. In the morning shall my prayer prevent thee That is I will betimes seek unto thee before extreme necessity constrains me thereto or early even before thou causest the morning light to shine upon me Vers 18. Lover and friend hast thou put far from me c. See the Note above vers 8 and mine acquaintance into darknesse that is they hide themselves from me or if they come where I am they will not know me PSALM LXXXIX The Title MAschil of Ethan the Ezrahite See the Note on the Title Psal 88. Considering the sad complaints that are made in the later part of this Psalm vers 38 c. concerning the dolefull condition whereinto the seed of David the kingdome of Judah were fallen it may seem very questionable whether that Ethan the brother of Heman mentioned 1 Kings 4.31 and 1 Chron. 2.6 could be the authour of this Psalm And indeed if we understand those complaints of the times of the Babylonian captivity when Jehoiachin was there cast into prison or of the declining times of Judahs kingdome a little before the captivity all that can be
to be destroyed c. then the drift of the Pen-man of this Psalm might be to keep the people from being too much dejected especially from being polluted with the superstition and profanenesse of the nations amongst whom they lived in so lasting a captivity as seventy years to wit by propounding herein to them the example of the stedfast faith and piety of the holy Levites how they could not be intangled by the delicacies of Babylon but still groaned longed after Zion how they could not be wonne to do any thing that might be a dishonour to their God and their religion yea how they foretold the destruction both of the Edomites Babylonians vers 7 8. which shewed that they expected a time of deliverance 3. that those words here there we sat down are either to imply their long continuance in Babylon or else to set forth hereby their wearinesse after this toilsome labour or rather their sadnesse and sorrow for sitting is usually mentioned in the Scripture as the gesture of mourners as Job 2.12 So they that is Jobs friends when they found him in such a sad condition sat down with him upon the ground seven daies seven nights c. Jer. 15.17 I sat alone because of thine hand for thou hast filled me with indignation Lam. 2.10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground keep silence 4. that it is expressed that they sat down wept by the rivers of Babylon 1. because Babylon was a countrey full of goodly rivers see Ezek. 1.1 Dan. 10.4 the chief whereof were Tigris and Euphrates 2. because the captive Jews were not suffered to dwell amongst the Babylonians in their towns cities they being as odious to the Babylonians as formerly they had been to the Egyptians but were assigned to have their habitation by themselves in the countrey that they might there be set a work in their servile field-imployments so they lodged in the open field or at the best in some poor tents and cottages which there they reared up for themselves by the river side or 3. because they were wont when they had any leasure to retire thither by themselves and there to sit down bewail their condition or 4. that this might imply that the pleasures of Babylon which consisted much in their goodly rivers could not make them forget their sorrow for Zion but that even there they sat down and poured forth many sad penitentiall tears when they remembred Zion that is in what a sad condition poor Zion lay and how they were deprived of that comfort in Gods presence and publick worship they had formerly enjoyed Vers 2. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof Because it may seem very improbable that the Levites should have so much leisure as to mind the saving of the musicall instruments of the Temple which are all comprehended under the harps here mentioned when the Babylonians were with such rage burning the city Temple of Jerusalem and making such a slaughter as they did amongst the inhabitants and when therefore they must needs have enough to doe to secure their own lives or that the mercilesse plundering souldiers would shew them so much favour as to let them retain their musicall instruments therefore some Expositours take these words We hanged our harps upon the willows to be only a figurative proverbial expression meaning only that there they bad adieu to their musicall instruments being brought into such a sad and dolefull condition But because there follows in the next verses an historicall relation of what the Babylonians said to them and what they answered again I conceive it is clear that the Psalmist relates what was actually done namely that they did indeed hang up their harps upon the willows in the open fields thereby shewing how little they regarded them and giving the Babylonians to understand in whose sight they did this that the pleasant shade of those willows by the rivers sides could not tempt them to make use of their musicall delights when as their souls were so oppressed with sorrow for the miseries of Zion Neither seems it to me so improbable either that the Levites should in that confusion of the sacking of Jerusalem endeavour with all sollicitous care to reserve to themselves and to carry away with them those holy precious remainders of the Temples utensils as memorials of Gods Zion and the delight they had formerly taken in Gods worship there and which in Gods good time they might hope again to use in the holy service of God as they had formerly done and haply as hoping they might allay their sorrow in their captivity by some musicall refreshings though afterwards they found themselves so overpressed with sorrow that they could not take any delight therein or that the Babylonians should afford this favour especially if we consider that they might out of curiosity desire to hear what the skill of the Hebrews was in those kinds of melody for which also see the following verse Vers 3. For c. This word shews that here another reason is given why they hanged up their harps upon the willows they that carried us away captives required of us a song they that wasted us that is that sacked us pillaged us laid our city on heaps as the Hebrew word signifies required of us mirth to wit not so much out of a desire to delight themselvs with the musick of the Hebrews or to heare what their skill was in playing singing though that some might have respect to as is before noted as by way of scoffing at them insulting over them Sing us say they one of the songs of Zion as if they had said what is your God dead to whom you were wont to sing If he were formerly delighted with your musick why do you give it over And observable it is that the Psalmist doth expresse this that it was they that carried them away captives that required this of them for this was 1. to imply how unreasonable a thing it was that they that had brought them into such a sad condition should require mirth of them 2. to imply the courage of these poor captives that being in bondage could yet in this refuse to gratify their lords masters Vers 4. How shall we song the Lords song in a strange land That is being in exile where we are overpressed with sorrow both for our own sufferings the sad condition wherein Zion lyes what heart do ye think we can have to sing especially considering that the Lord doth hereby call us to mourning Yea how dare we profane the holy songs of Zion composed for the worship of the Lord our God by singing them to an idolatrous heathenish people to make them merry and so to expose them to their derision and scorn This I conceive is the drift of this their answer Yet there may be in these words also a covert
who is indeed the coeternall wisdome of God the Father see the Note chap. 1.20 Nor may we think that Solomon speaks here impertinently in that having spoken of the wisdome that is in men consisting in their obedience and conformity to the word law of God whereby they attain length of daies c. he should now come to speak of the wisdome of God whereby the world was created for this wisdome that is in man flows from that Christ is the authour of it it is indeed a kind of participation of that divine wisdome And accordingly the scope of Solomon in inserting this here may be either 1. the more to endear that wisedome to us which is here pressed upon us if the son of God be the authour of it if it flows from that wisdome whereby the world was created have we not cause to prize it the more or 2. to assure us that all the blessings here promised to them that seek after wisdome shall be made good to them seeing by that wisdome that invites us hereto the world was created Vers 20. By his knowledge the depths are broken up This may be meant of the great channels hollow places in the earth made for the receiving of the waters when God separated them from the earth in the creation Gen 1.9 for which see the Note there as likewise Job 38.8 or else of the fountains flouds breaking out from the nethermost parts of the earth even as if the earth did cleave it self asunder to give them a passage And indeed these are called depths Deut. 8.7 a land of brooks of water of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hils Vers 21. My son let not them depart from thine eyes c. That is wisdome discretion which are mentioned in the next clause keep sound wisdome discretion yea this word them may comprehend all the precepts and instructions here given for the gaining of wisdome with all the reasons given to move them to seek it and particularly that which was before said concerning the Lords creating the world As for that expression let them not depart from thine eyes it is doubtlesse used with respect to that above vers 3. Bind them about thy neck c. implyes that we should never forget them yea that they should be the delight of our eyes Vers 22. So shall they be life unto thy soul c. That is wisdome and discretion shall make thy soul active lively in the works thereof or rather they shall quicken thee in the inward man animating thy soul which otherwise is but a spiritual carcase as thy soul doth animate thy body This I take to be the plain meaning of these words yet this word they so shall they be life may comprehend all that is comprehended in that clause in the foregoing verse let them not depart from thine eyes And because soul is usually taken for the whole man in the Scripture some take these words so shall they be life unto thy soul as a promise of long life here eternall life hereafter As for the second clause grace to thy neck see the Note chap. 1.9 Vers 23. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely c. That is thou shalt walk in the way of wisdome without danger of erring and thy foot shall not stumble that is being freed by wisdome from mans naturall blindnesse weaknesse carelesseness there shall be nothing to make thee stumble or rather Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely that is thou shalt prosper be safe whereever thou goest in all thine affairs thou shalt walk without danger or fear of danger and thy foot shall not stumble to wit neither into sin nor any evil whatsoever Vers 25. Be not afraid of sudden fear c. Which is all one as if he had said Thou shalt not be afraid of sudden fear neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh that is the havock and desolation which wicked men shall make when in an hostile manner they shall break in upon the place where thou livest or rather of the desolation which God shall bring upon wicked men Vers 26. For the Lord shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken To wit either in the snares of sin or misery Vers 27. Withhold not good c. That is Withhold not any good thing from them to whom it is due whether by the laws of justice equity or charity as just debts where they are owing the hirelings wages any thing that hath been lost or committed to a mans trust or the alms we are bound to give to them that want or any other act of charity whatsoever And accordingly we must understand the following clause for if we understand the first words of withholding any thing that is in justice due then the meaning of the following clause may be this when it is in the power of thine hand to doe it that is though thou hast power to withhold it and to bear thy self out in the doing of it But if we understand the first clause of withholding any act of charity from those that stand in need of our help then the meaning is clear that we must not withhold doing them good when we have power to doe it there may be also a reason hinted in the words to wit lest afterwards we become unable to doe it though we would And indeed it seems the more probable that the words are at least chiefly meant of withholding alms from the poor because the following verse speaks also of giving Say not unto thy neighbour Go and come again and to morrow I will give when thou hast it by thee though I know that some do extend that also to deferring payment of what is in justice due Vers 31. Envy thou not the oppressor and chuse none of his waies See the Notes Psal 37.1.8 Vers 32. For the froward is abomination to the Lord c. Because of that before v. 30. Strive not with a man without cause c. some by the froward here understand such as are contentious quarrelsome with men but I rather conceive that thereby is meant such stubborn men as will by no means be wonne from carrying themselves perversly towards God see the Notes 2 Sam. 22.27 Job 5.13 but his secret is with the righteous that is he is to them an intimate friend as such revealeth to them his secret counsell see the Note Psal 25.14 his fatherly affection to them which is hidden from the world Yea some do understand this particularly of Gods making known to them what torments are reserved for those that by wickednesse do flourish in this world Vers 33. The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked but he blesseth the habitation of the iust To wit though it be never so poor a cottage Vers 24. Surely he scorneth the scorners c. Who they are that are here
fountain be blessed that is Let thy wife be blessed or so shall thy wife be blessed with children thy children shall be blessed that shall flow from her And this expression I conceive is the rather used because barrennesse was looked upon in those times as a heavy curse and because it tends not a little to the fruitfulnesse of the wife when the husband hath not nor doth not spend his strength upon harlots However the drift of these words is to shew how much better it is for a man to live chastly in honest wedlock then to haunt the company of lewd women And to the same purpose is the following clause and rejoyce with the wife of thy youth see chap. 2.17 For herein either the husband is enjoyned to make use of his wife for his delight to wit of her of no other woman or taking delight in her is prescribed as a remedy against lusting after others Yea this may also intimate that there was no true pleasure but in this way of living in this lawfull way of wedlock he should rejoyce in his wife and children should take the more delight in his wife because of his children whereas in whores as he hath already shewed there is nothing but bitternesse and sorrow to be expected Vers 19. Let her be as the loving hinde pleasant roe c. That is Let her be as delightfull to thee for her beauty love as hindes roes are usually to great men who are wont when they are brought to be tame to follow them up and down to play with them to take great delight in them as being very beautifull comely creatures And some adde too that as these creatures are tamed by gentle tender usage so the wife should be allured to delight in her husband by all possible gentlenesse love But I rather take it thus As the hart doth dearly love the hindeâ— and the â—oe buck the roe following their mates up and down and as it is said keeping to them no other so if thou wilt not be worse then beasts do thou as ardently love thy wife delight in her and be faithfull to her Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times which cannot be done with harlots to whom men goe only at some times and by stealth and let this be as a sure remedy to keep thee from minding the strange woman and be thou ravisht alwaies with her love which is in the Original and erre thou alwaies in her love alluding to the wandring of these creatures up down after their mates that is be inamoured with her even to some fondnesse doting some erring in her love to wit so as not to see any blemish that is in her to have too high rather then too mean an opinion of her that alwaies not suffering any thing to alienate thine affection from her continuing as constant a liking to her to the last even when her beauty shall be decayed as when she was in the flower of her youth and when thou didst first set thy love upon her Vers 20. And why wilt thou my son be ravisht with a strange woman c To wit considering what hath been said concerning the dreadfull dangers and miseries that attend whoredome and the many blessings and comforts which they enjoy that live honestly in the married estate Vers 21. For the waies of man are before the eyes of the Lord c. And therefore though the unclean person commit his sin never so secretly that will doe him no good see the Note Job 31.4 Vers 22. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins In three severall regards it may be said that wicked men and so particularly fornicatours adulterers are taken and held with the cords of their own sins 1. Because by reason of the guilt of their sins they stand bound over before God and liable to destruction so that though they may escape for a time thereupon may think themselves as safe as may be yet the truth is that whereever they goe they carry their chains setters about them their own consciences do condemn them and their wickednesse shall certainly at last bring destruction upon them 2. Because their own iniquities are usually the very means and occasion of their ruine see the Notes Psal 7.16 and 9.16 And 3. because they are so by custome intangled in their sins that they cannot possibly leave them which is more especially true of unclean persons though they see the evil danger of their sin so may think they will repent hereafter yet it will not be they are so fast held in the cords of their lusts And this agreeth best with the following words Vers 23. He â—hall die without instruction c. That is because he hath despised instruction or God shall at last deny him the means of instruction because whilst he had it he would not regard it in the greatnesse of his folly he shall goe astray that is God shall leave him to run on in great folly to eternall perdition Now his running on in a way of impenitency is ascribed to greatnesse of folly either because no folly no noâ— the folly of children ideots is so great as that when men to satisfy their own carnall desires will reject Gods counsell or else because wicked men do befool themselves so many severall waies as in that they mind not Gods displeasure or can be content for a little momentany pleasure to hazard their eternall salvation or in that they can flatter themselves with such vain conceits as that God will not punish them or that they will repent hereafter c. CHAP. VI. Vers 1. MY son if thou be surety c. Solomon here sheweth the danger of suretiship yet not as condemning all suretiship whatsoever for as it is a work of mercy to lend in some cases Psal 37.26 so also in some cases it may be to be surety for another as Paul for Onesimus Philem. 19. but only rash suretiship when men will unadvisedly engage themselves for any that desire it of them without due consideration of the persons for whom they doe it or of that for which they are engaged whether it be not more then they are willing or well able to discharge without the ruine or exceeding great prejudice of them their families if it should fall upon them If thou be surety for thy friend if thou hast stricken thy hand see the Note Job 17.3 with a stranger that is if thou hast with or for a stranger engaged thy self to any man I know that many by the stranger here do understand the creditour to whom a man gives his hand so engageth himself for his friend But I rather conceive that Solomon doth here advise men what they should doe in case they have been sureties for another man whether he were friend or stranger Vers 2. Thou art
1. Vers 10. A divine sentence is in the lips of the King c. That is a sentence agreeable to the word of God or as true certain as if it came from God himself It is indeed in the Original Divination is in the lips of the King that is as it were divination as if he should have said There is in the lips of kings a sagacity like that of diviners or the sentence which they pronounce and the words which they speak are as sure and certain as those of diviners are usually pretended esteemed to be And indeed though in the Scripture by divination is usually meant that divination of south-saiers which is condemned as an abomination Deut. 18.10 yet sometimes the word is used in a good sense as in Isa 3.2 where that which we translate the prudent is in the Original the diviner and yet thereby is only meant men of such a piercing judgement and deep reach that they are able shrewdly to ghesse at the future events and consequences of things as if they had a spirit of divination see also Mich. 3.6 Now accordingly Expositours do understand this Proverb four severall waies as 1. that because kings and so all other supream magistrates are Gods vice-gerents their sentences are to be esteemed as the oracles of God or 2. that kings are usually endued by God in whose place they sit with such singular wisdome and sagacity that they are able to bolt out the truth of things difficult abstruse and so when they come to hear or decide controversies or to give judgement in doubtfull cases they are wont quickly to discover any evil that is or hath been practised by the parties contending or by their witnesses and so they seldome or never mistake in pronouncing judgement as it is in the last clause his mouth transgresseth not in judgement implying that therefore it is a weaknesse folly in men either to attempt to deceive the supreme magistrate or any way to carp at his decrees or 3. that thus it is with wise pious kings who only indeed deserve the name of kings see 2 Sam. 14.20 and 1 Kings 3.27 28 because they are conscientiously carefull to search out the truth to speak the truth making the word of God their rule in all things and are not wont to pronounce sentence at any time without mature deliberation grave advice begging direction from God and because God doth in a speciall manner assist and direct their minds and tongues in searching out the most secret wickednesses and in giving judgement therefore their sentence is usually divine just and their mouth doth seldome erre in judgement or 4. that thus it should be with kings that they should wisely consider of all things search into the most secret causes so that they may still speak that which is right and may not at any time erre in judgement And indeed these two last expositions are clearly the best because there are two other Proverbs that follow vers 12 13. that must necessarily be expounded after the same manner I know the words may be also capable of some other expositions as that kings will have their decrees stand be accounted just whatever they be or that Princes other great mens words are usually esteemed as oracles and all their decrees are counted just whereas with poor men it is no way so But the former expositions are clearly the best Vers 11. A just weight and balance are the Lords all the weights of the bag are his work That is they were devised by his speciall providence direction and are ordained appointed by him they have as it were his seal upon them so that none may use any other if they do they must give an account of it to God and he will punish them for it see the Note also chap. 11.1 Vers 12. It is an abomination to kings to commit wickednesse c. To wit either to commit it themselves or that others should commit it they abhorre it in themselves and dare not doe it neither will they endure it in others And the meaning is only that thus it should be with kings or that thus it is with good kings see the Note above vers 10. For the throne is established by righteousnesse that is by executing justice in punishing the wicked or more generally by a constant care to obey Gods laws whether in prince or people Vers 13. Righteous lips are the delight of kings As namely men that will not lye nor slander judges that will give righteous judgement and wise faithfull counsellors that will not dissemble nor flatter but will speak that which is just and true though it be by way of shewing them any evil they have done or any thing else that may be extremely harsh and distastfull to their corrupt nature But see also the foregoing Notes vers 10. and 12. Vers 14. The wrath of a king is as messengers of death c. That is It is as terrible as sure a forerunner and token of unavoidable death presently to be expected as if many messengers should be sent to a man which shews the thing is certain to give a man notice that he shall be put to death or as if many should be sent to him to take away his life against whom there can be no hope to defend himself And the reason of this is because kings have such absolute power many severall waies to cut off any man with whom they are offended Indeed if their servants do but see them angry with any man they will be ready of their own accord to make him away But a wise man will pacify it to wit by his prayers to God by the mediation of friends or by his own wise calm and gracious speeches I know it may also be meant of a wise mans stepping in to pacify the kings wrath on the behalf of others But however the main drift of this clause is to set forth the excellency of wisdome in that hereby men can pacify the wrath of kings which no gifts nor tender of service can doe because they have no need of those things Vers 15. In the light of the kings countenance is life c. That is his lightsome and chearfull countenance is as the light of the sun is a means of chearing and reviving the hearts of men yea though they were before as dead men by reason of some bitter affliction sorrow and his favour is as a cloud of the later rain that is a great refreshing that which usually brings men to a flourishing and prosperous condition The Proverb may also be understood more particularly to wit that when a man was in danger of death by reason of a kings anger if he be pleased to look chearfully again upon him that will again re-assure life to him his favour in pardoning him when it is at last procured will be as a cloud of the later rain for which see the