Metaphorical Whirlwind in those three senses opened But Thirdly with others I take the Whirlwind here in proper sense that is for such a Whiâ—lwind as is often heard and felt sounding blustering and making great disturbance in the ayre blowing up Trees by the roots and overthrowing Houses to the very foundation Ex nube obscura Rab. Levi. Ex Nimbo Bez. Ex procella venti turbine horrifico Eturbine i. e. e nube e qua erupit turbo seu ventus turbineus Pisc Di nube aliqua praeter naturae ordinem facta Grot. De ipsa caligine in qua sc videtur nobis Deus delitescere Vatabl. One of the Rabbins calls it a dark cloud several of the Moderns express it by a rainy or watry cloud out of which issued that dreadful Storm called a Whirlwind Doubtless some sudden extraordinary Wind exceeding the constant order and common course of Nature gathered the clouds at that time Thus God at once hid the glory of his Majesty and testified it much after the same manner as he did at the promulgation of the Law upon Mount Sinai when he answered Job out of the Whirlwind But it may be questioned why did God answer Job out of a Whirlwind First Such a way of answering was most proper to the dispensation of those Old Testament Times when the Covenant of Grace lay covered with Legal Shadows and was usually administred in a clothing or shew of terror especially as was said before at the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai Exod. 19. Deut. 4.12 when so terrible was the sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake Heb. 12.21 And surely the Lord appeared and spake very dreadfully to some of the Prophets in those Elder Times especially to the Prophet Habakkuk who thus reports the consternation of his mind chap. 3.16 When I heard my belly trembled my lips quivered at the voice rottenness entred into my bones and I trembled in my self that I might rest in the day of trouble Now Gospel Times being more clear and calm Christ speaks more clearly and calmly as it was phophesied Isa 42.2 3. He shall not cry nor lift up his voice in the street Christ did not speak out of a Whirlwind A bruised reed he shall not break and the smoaking flax shall he not quench he shall bring forth Judgement unto Victory That is he shall with all tenderness condescend to the weakest souls and deal with them most sweetly gently and compassionately Secondly The Lord spake in a Whirlwind that he might shew the greater State and Majesty to awaken Job yet more or to make him more attentive as also to affect him yet more deeply with the apprehension of his Power and Glory and to leave a greater impression upon his spirit of his own vileness weakness and nothingness Job was yet too big in his own eyes the Lord would annihilate or make him nothing the Lord would beat him out of all conceit with himself out of an opinion of his own integrity and righteousness that he might see and confess there was no way but to lie at his foot abhorring himself and repenting in dust and ashes Such to this day is the pride and stupidness of mans flesh that he hardly attends the Word or Works of God unless awed by some extraordinary Ministration Thirdly We may conceive the Lord appeared and spake in this Whirlwind Aerumnoso homini conformem exhibens aspoctum Munst that he might therein suit his appearance to the state and condition of Job at that time or that he might as it were symbolize with Jobs troubled estate Job as I toucht before was in a Storm and now God declares himself in a storm and that is the reason which some give why the Lord appeared to Moses Exod. 3.2 in a burning bush it was say they that his apparition might answer their present condition The Children of Israel were then in the fire of affliction and entangled in the bush of cruel bondage they were scratcht and torn with briars and thorns and the Lord spake out of a burning bush to Moses as here to Job out of the Whirlwind Fourthly and lastly I conceive the reason why the Lord spake o him in a Storm or Whirlwind was to let him know that he was not well pleased with him but purposed to reprove and chide him De turbine indignationis indice Though Job was a precious servant of God yet God was not well pleased with many passages under his affliction and therefore he would not flatter but humble him For though Job spake from an honest heart and what he said was truth yet God did not like his manner of defence and pleading for himself He was not pleased to see him hold up the Bucklers so long when he should have laid them down rather and submitted David to shew how greatly the Lord was displeased with his enemies tells us what dreadful effects followed the hearing and granting of his prayer against them Psal 18.7 8 9 c. Then the Earth shook and trembled the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken because he was wroth there went a smoke out of his nostrils and fire out of his mouth devoured coals also were kindled by it he bowed the Heavens also and came down and darkness was under his feet c. Thus the Lord appeared in an Earthquake in smoke in fire and darknesse to make the proud opposers of his faithful Servant David know how much his anger was kindled against them Thus also when the Lord revealed himself to Elijah 1 Kings 19.11 it s said a great and strong wind rent the mountains and brake the rocks and after the wind an Earthquake and after the Earthquake a fire before the still voice was heard And why all this but to shew that the Lord was highly displeased with the doings of the Kings of Israel at that time and with that idolatrous generation therefore he appeared in such a dreadful manner while he purposed to conclude all in a still voice Though the Lord was not in the Wind in the Earthquake nor in the Fire yet these were fore-runners of his appearance and signified that the Lord would shake that people with a mighty Wind and Earthquake of Judgement yea even consume them with the fire of his wrathful jealousie for their superstitious following after Baal and deserting his appointed Worship When the lusts of wicked men grow fiery and stormy God will convince them with fire and stormes and if his own servants grow too bold with him he will make them sensible of it as here he did Job by speaking to them out of a Whirlwind though he be intended to speak to them at last as he did to Elijah in a still voice and to Job with favour and approbation Thus much for the opening of these words Then the Lord answered Job out of the Whirlwind and said Hence Observe First The great goodness of God who condescends or lets
verse they confess not only their being in him throughout all generations but his most blessed Being before all generations Before Mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the Earth and the World even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God The first Being is an eternal Being and therefore the Prophet saith Isa 57.15 God inhabiteth Eternity The Eternal dwells in Eternity But what is Eternity One of the Ancients calleth it Aeternitas est interminabilis vitae tota simul et perfect possessio Boeth de Consol l. 6. The perfect possession of a boundless or limitless life whole and all at once Eternity hath no terms nor bounds of beginning or ending 'T is a possession of all at once there is nothing past or to come but all is alwayes present to God Note Fourthly God is the fountain of all being he hath given a being to all things The Apostle Paul Acts 17.28 discoursing with the Athenians having said In him we live and move and have our being convinceth them further by that saying of their own Poets for we are also his off-spring We spring from him as from a root or fountain With him is the fountain of lives Psal 36.9 even of natural life as well as of spiritual and eternal Every life every being is but a stream issuing from Jehovah And as every life is from God so also is the being of all things without life The Lord gave the liveless Earth its being its beginning Some Naturalists have asserted the eternity of the World and so the eternity of the Earth They could not compass which way or how the World could have a beginning and therefore said it had none Here we have the Founder of the World God himself teaching man this Divine Philosophy about the beginning of the World and taking it to himself I laid the foundations of the Earth When the Heathen Philosopher read what Moses had written concerning the Creation of the World Thus the Heavens and the Earth were finished and all the host of them Ger. 2.1 He presently said The man speaks wonders but how doth he prove what he hath spoken Where are his demonstrations He would put Moses to his proof but Moses's proof was faith in the testimony of God Through faith we understand that the Worlds were framed by the Word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear Heb. 11.3 We understand the Work of Creation yet not by the strength of natural reason but through faith which gives credit to the Word of God and perswades the heart that the report therein made is a truth Plato in Timaeo For though some Philosophers have evinced by arguments grounded upon reason that the World was made yet that it was made by the Word of God either the Essential Word the Son of God spoken of John 1.1 who is the efficient cause of it or by the Declarative Word spoken of in this place of the Hebrews which was the means or instrumental cause of making the World Gen. 1.3 6. This I say cannot at all be understood by reason but purely and only by faith because it is so revealed in the Scriptures Fifthly In that the Lord here saith I laid the foundations of the Earth Observe God hath made the Earth firm and immoveable The stability of the Earth is of God as much as the being and existence of it Psal 104.5 He laid the foundations of the Earth that it should not be removed for ever There have been many Earthquakes or movings of the Earth in several parts of it but the whole body of the Earth was never removed so much as one hairs breadth out of its place since the foundations thereof were laid Archimedes the great Mathematician said If you will give me a place to set my Engine on I will remove the Earth It was a great bâ—ag but the Lord hath laid it fast enough for mans removing Himself can make it quake and shake he can move it when he pleaseth but he never hath nor will remove it He hath laid the foundations of the Earth that it shall not be removed nor can it be at all moved but at his pleasure and when it moves at any time it is to mind the sons of men that they by their sins have moved him to displeasure There hath been or will be a shaking of the Earth in mercy for we have it in a promise Heb. 12.26 Whose voice then namely at the giving of the Law shook the Earth but now he hath promised saying yet once more I shake not the Earth only but also Heaven Some understand this promise as fulfilled at the coming of Christ in the flesh at which time indeed there were notable and amazing motions and alterations both in Heaven and Earth Others expound it of the Day of the ultimate Judgement not a few of some great providential dispensations of God which shall shake not the Earth only but also the Heavens as taken in a Metaphor for earthly and heavenly things referring to the Church of God and the Kingdomes of Men. I shall not interpose in this matter about the sense of that Text but onely say whatever the Apostle meant by Earth or Heaven and the shaking of it yet this remains as an unshaken Axiom that the Fabrick of the Earth properly taken stands fast The Lord hath laid the foundations of it that it should not be removed David to shew the stedfastness of his faith put that supposition Psal 46.2 Therefore will not we fear though the Earth be moved The Prophet also did the like to assure us of the stability of the Covenant of Grace Isa 54.10 yet we need not fear that either the Earth shall be removed or the Mountains depart Such suppositions shew indeed the immoveableness of the Word which God hath spoken not the moveableness by any natural power or natural decay of the Earth whose foundations he hath laid And hence the Psalmist argues the Lords faithfulness to his Word Psal 119.90 Non magis moveronaturaliter terra quam quiescere coelum potest Bold All earthly things move but the Earth wherein all these motions are made stands still Eccl. 1.4 The Earth can no more move than the Heavens can stand still Some modern Philosophers have turned the scale of Nature and would perswade us that the Heavens stand still and the Earth moves but 't is good for us to stand to and abide by the Scripture which tells us the Earth stands still and abideth or it abideth that is it standeth as the Margin explains it Psal 119.90 And that it standeth still or abideth not only because it hath still a being as things in motion have but because it is still or stands without moving is so much my faith as well as my sense that I see no reason to be moved from it Sixthly The Power and Will of God are the onely foundation of the Earth 'T is said by the Psalmist
tryals and troubles which would have sunk him a thousand times had not he stood by him and assisted him The Lord is a master in Covenant with his servants and that a Covenant of grace in which every command hath a promise annexed to it and that not only a promise of reward when we have done it but of strength to do it and if so then we may conclude it easie as well as hohonourable and profitable to serve the Lord. Therefore Let us labour to approve our selves the Lords servants And if any ask who is the Lords servant I answer Fiâ—st He is the Lords servant that doth the Lords work His servants we are whom we obey he is our master whose work we do It is good for us to consider whose work we are about Jesus Christ was the fathers servant in that great undertaking the redemption of lost man Now all his work on earth was his fathers work John 9.4 I said he must work the work of him that sent me Unless we are in the Lords work and doing the Lords will we cannot be reckoned among his servants Secondly If you are the Lords servants then as you do the Lords work so you are ready to do all his work He is not a servant that doth what he pleaseth Some say they will do the Lords work but they pick and chuse they do this and leave the other undone He is the Lords servant that goeth through all the Lords work If we do easie work and refuse hard work if we refuse that work which displeaseth the world and chuse only that which is pleasing to the world we serve not the Lord but the world and our selves Here is the tryal when we do what God willeth whether the world will it and like it yea or no. The Lord said of David He is my servant and what will he do he will do all my will that is he will not stick at any of my work Thirdly If ye are the Lords servants as ye will do all his work so no woâ—k but his you will not do the work of the flesh you will not do any work for man in opposition to the work of God In subordination to the will of God we should readily do the work of man In serving men thus we are also the servants of God But he that is the Lords servant will not do any work for man which contradicteth or crosseth the service of God Christ saith expresly No man serveth two Masters ye cannot serve God and Mammon Mat. 6.24 We may serve many Masters if they command the same thing or things subordinate but we cannot serve two Masters if their commands interfere and clash one with the other as the work of God and Mammon doth And thus the Apostles caution is to be understood 1 Cor. 7.23 Ye are bought with a price be not ye the servants of men Fourthly If ye are the Lords servants as ye do the Lords work and all his work and only his work so ye will do his work willingly All the Lords servants are free men his servants are sons they do not serve as slaves but as children and God dealeth with them as a Father more than as a Master Consider have ye a free spirit for the service of God His servants find themselves indeed constrained to serve him but they do not serve him by constraint they are constrained by love not by base fear to serve him Fifthly If ye are the Lords servants ye do his work for his sake the will of the Lord is as much the reason why ye do his work as the rule by which ye do it Should we do never so much of that which is materially the Lords work unless we do it because it is his work we are not his servants in doing it He that doth the Lords work for self-ends only or chiefly is not the Lords servant but his own Sixthly If ye are the Lords servants ye have resolved to be his servants for ever your ears are bored at his post and ye have have said as the servant under the Law that loved his Master Exod. 21.5 6. Ye will not go out free It was so with Job he was the Lords servant before his rrouble and he was so at the end of his troubles The Lord doth not take servants for months and for years we must be his everlasting servants alwayes his servants if his servants at all And this should rejoyce our souls that we are and shall be for ever in the Lords work To serve the Lord is better than to rule the world God is so good a Master that we shall never have any the least occasion to desire a change and he is so sure a Master that we need not fear it Lastly Though the Lord said his wrath was kindled against Eliphaz and his two friends yet in the very next words he is directing them how to make their peace and return or be received again into his favour Hence note God often manifests more displeasure than ever he intends to act Yea when ever he manifests displeasure against his children it is that he might not act it Nineveh was threatned with destruction that repenting it might not be destroyed Sinners of all sorts are threatned with death and damnation that believing they may be saved and live What could Eliphaz and his two friends expect when the Lord said My wrath is kindled but that his wrath should have swallowed them up and consumed them in a moment Solomon saith Prov. 16.14 The wrath of a King is as messengers of death and like the roaring of a Lion Prov. 19.12 much more is the wrath of God like the roaring of a Lion and as the messengers of death But though the Lord told Jobs friends of wrath and of kindled wrath yet he only First reproved them mildly and Secondly instead of blowing up that fire sheweth or directeth them how to quench it and get into the Sun-shine of his favour as will appear further in the verse Vers 8. Therefore take unto you now seven Bullocks and seven Rams and go to my servant Job and offer up for your selves a burnt-offering and my servant Job shall pray for you for him will I accept lest I deal with you after your folly in that ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right like my servant Job This verse holds out the counsel or direction which the Lord gave Eliphaz and his two friends for the making of their peace and the reconciling of themselves to his Majesty whose wrath was kindled against them And here the Lord directs them to a twofold means of their reconciliation First The offering up of a sacrifice in which we may consider two things First The matter of the sacrifice or what was to be sacrificed Bullocks and Rams Secondly The quantity or number of the sacrifice seven and seven seven Bullocks and seven Rams such was the matter such the quantity of the sacrifice which they were
We have the Subject of this blessing as here exprest and that was the latter end of Job or Job in his latter end Fourthly We have the quantity or greatness of this blessing which is exprest comparatively it was more than his beginning The Lord blessed his beginning but his latter end was more blessed I shall consider the two first together the cause of his flowing prosperity a blessing and the Author or fountain of it the Lord the Lord blessed There is a twofold way of blessing First a wishing or desiring of a blessing We are not thus to understand it here as if the Lord did only wish a blessing upon Job Secondly There is a commanding of a blessing and so we are to understand it here The Lord blessed that is the Lord commanded a blessing or effectually poured out a blessing upon Job The word blessed The Lord blessed hath two things in it First It implyeth plenty and abundance a copious and a large provision of good things For as the word abundare in Latine and to abound in English Sicut abundare ab undis Latinè dicunt ita videri possunt Hebraei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi affluentiam denominare à fonte aut piscina quam appellant Berecah comes say Grammarians ab unda from water because waters abound and flow so this Hebrew word Beracah which signifieth a blessing comes from or at least is near in sound to the word Berecah which signifieth a Fish-pond where there is a great confluence of waters and a great multiplication of fishes or a Fountain from whence waters flow continually So that to bless notes the bringing in of abundance or of a great increase like the waters of a Fish-pond or Fish in the waters To increase as Fish is to increase abundantly It is said of the Children of Israel They multiplyed like fish that 's the significancy of the word used Exod. 1.12 while they were under the oppression of the Egyptians Secondly This Expression The Lord blessed Dei benedicere idem est quod benefacere Beatum non facit hominem nisi qui fecit hominem August Epist 52 ad Macedon imports a powerful effect following it The Lord blessed the latter end of Job that is he made his latter end very blessed As the Lords saying is doing as his word is operative and will work so the Lords blessing or well-saying is well-doing his saying is doing whether for good or hurt Man blesseth man by wishing or praying for a blessing upon him or that God would do him good Man blesseth God when he praiseth him for his goodness and for the good which he hath done either to himself or others But when God blesseth man he doth more than wish he makes him blessed Man blesseth man ministerially God blesseth man effectually as he also did the seventh day Gen. 2.3 And therefore the Lord is said to command the blessing Levit. 25.21 especially in Sion even life for evermore Psal 133.5 Nor was it less than a command by which The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning Hence Note The good word or blessing of God is enough to procure the good of man Every word of God hath its effect he speaks no vain words his Word going out of the mouths of his Ministers returns not to him void but accomplisheth that which he pleaseth and prospers in the thing whereunto he sends it Isa 55.11 that is either for the conviction or conversion of those that hear it Surely then the word of blessing going out of his own mouth shall not return to him void or without effect David spake thus of or to God Psal 145.16 Thou openest thine hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing When the Lord opens his hand he also opens his heart and when his heart and hand open his mouth opens too that is he gives forth a word of blessing and he gives it forth to satisfaction Thou satisfiest every living thing And again Psal 104.28 Thou openest thine hand they are filled with good They that is whatsoever lives upon the earth or in the Sea wait upon thee as it is said vers 27. that thou maist give them their meat in due season that thou givest them they gather thou openest thy hand they are filled with good The hand of God is full of good and his blessing fills all with good out of his hand This may comfort the godly in their lowest condition What was it that raised Job from poverty to riches from weaknes to strength from the dunghil to the throne Only this The Lord blessed him Though all be lost his word of blessing will restore all again If estate be lost his blessing will make us rich if health be lost his blessing will make us well if strength be lost his blessing will renew it if credit be lost his blessing will repair it and get us honour for disgrace or reproach The blessing of the Lord is every good thing to us and doth every good thing for us As it is dreadful to stand under the droppings of a curse to be cursed is every evil so happy are they who stand under the sweet influences of a promise to be blessed is every good And if God blesseth us the matter is not much who curseth or wisheth ill to us The curse causeless shall not come nor can any curse come where God hath blessed But some may enquire who are they that the Lord will bless To be blessed is not every mans portion A man may be rich yet not blessed great yet not blessed healthful yet not blessed A man may have many blessings for the matter yet not be blessed This then is a material question Who are they that may expect a blessing from God upon their souls upon their bodies upon their estates upon their families upon their all I answer First In general They that are in a state of grace they that are in the Covenant or as the Apostle calls them Heb 6.17 Heirs of promise These are the blessed of the Lord and these both great and small the Lord will bless Eph. 1.3 Blessed be God who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ Being in Christ we are in Covenant and being there we cannot miss being blessed with all spiritual blessings and with whatever is a needful blessing in outward things to He that blesseth in the greater will not with-hold his blessing in the less according to our need Secondly As they are the general subjects of the blessing who are in the Covenant of grace or in Christ so are they more specially who act graciously and walk as they have received Christ for a person that is in a state of grace may hinder the blessing from flowing down upon his soul upon his body upon his estate upon any thing upon every thing he hath and doth by acting sinfully and walking unevenly David put the question Psal 24.3 Who shall