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v21050
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1994-03-02
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21052
#8-13 Job seems to argue with God, as if he only formed and
preserved him for misery. God made us, not we ourselves. How sad
that those bodies should be instruments of unrighteousness,
which are capable of being temples of the Holy Ghost! But the
soul is the life, the soul is the man, and this is the gift of
God. If we plead with ourselves as an inducement to duty, God
made me and maintains me, we may plead as an argument for mercy,
Thou hast made me, do thou new-make me; I am thine, save me.
21058
#14-22 Job did not deny that as a sinner he deserved his
sufferings; but he thought that justice was executed upon him
with peculiar rigour. His gloom, unbelief, and hard thoughts of
God, were as much to be ascribed to Satan's inward temptations,
and his anguish of soul, under the sense of God's displeasure,
as to his outward trials, and remaining depravity. Our Creator,
become in Christ our Redeemer also, will not destroy the work of
his hands in any humble believer; but will renew him unto
holiness, that he may enjoy eternal life. If anguish on earth
renders the grave a desirable refuge, what will be their
condition who are condemned to the blackness of darkness for
ever? Let every sinner seek deliverance from that dreadful
state, and every believer be thankful to Jesus, who delivereth
from the wrath to come.
21067
* Zophar reproves Job. (1-6) God's perfections and almighty
power. (7-12) Zophar assures Job of blessings if he repented.
(13-20)
#1-6 Zophar attacked Job with great vehemence. He represented
him as a man that loved to hear himself speak, though he could
say nothing to the purpose, and as a man that maintained
falsehoods. He desired God would show Job that less punishment
was exacted than he deserved. We are ready, with much assurance,
to call God to act in our quarrels, and to think that if he
would but speak, he would take our part. We ought to leave all
disputes to the judgment of God, which we are sure is according
to truth; but those are not always right who are most forward to
appeal to the Divine judgment.
21073
#7-12 Zophar speaks well concerning God and his greatness and
glory, concerning man and his vanity and folly. See here what
man is; and let him be humbled. God sees this concerning vain
man, that he would be wise, would be thought so, though he is
born like a wild ass's colt, so unteachable and untameable. Man
is a vain creature; empty, so the word is. Yet he is a proud
creature, and self-conceited. He would be wise, would be thought
so, though he will not submit to the laws of wisdom. He would be
wise, he reaches after forbidden wisdom, and, like his first
parents, aiming to be wise above what is written, loses the tree
of life for the tree of knowledge. Is such a creature as this
fit to contend with God?
21079
#13-20 Zophar exhorts Job to repentance, and gives him
encouragement, yet mixed with hard thoughts of him. He thought
that worldly prosperity was always the lot of the righteous, and
that Job was to be deemed a hypocrite unless his prosperity was
restored. Then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; that
is, thou mayst come boldly to the throne of grace, and not with
the terror and amazement expressed in ch. #9:34|. If we are
looked upon in the face of the Anointed, our faces that were
cast down may be lifted up; though polluted, being now washed
with the blood of Christ, they may be lifted up without spot. We
may draw near in full assurance of faith, when we are sprinkled
from an evil conscience, #Heb 10:22|.
21087
* Job reproves his friends. (1-5) The wicked often
prosper.(6-11) Job speaks of the wisdom and power of God.
(12-25)
#1-5 Job upbraids his friends with the good opinion they had of
their own wisdom compared with his. We are apt to call reproofs
reproaches, and to think ourselves mocked when advised and
admonished; this is our folly; yet here was colour for this
charge. He suspected the true cause of their conduct to be, that
they despised him who was fallen into poverty. It is the way of
the world. Even the just, upright man, if he comes under a
cloud, is looked upon with contempt.
21092
#6-11 Job appeals to facts. The most audacious robbers,
oppressors, and impious wretches, often prosper. Yet this is not
by fortune or chance; the Lord orders these things. Worldly
prosperity is of small value in his sight: he has better things
for his children. Job resolves all into the absolute
proprietorship which God has in all the creatures. He demands
from his friends liberty to judge of what they had said; he
appeals to any fair judgment.
21098
#12-25 This is a noble discourse of Job concerning the wisdom,
power, and sovereignty of God, in ordering all the affairs of
the children of men, according to the counsel of His own will,
which none can resist. It were well if wise and good men, who
differ about lesser things, would see how it is for their honour
and comfort, and the good of others, to dwell most upon the
great things in which they agree. Here are no complaints, or
reflections. He gives many instances of God's powerful
management of the children of men, overruling all their
counsels, and overcoming all their oppositions. Having all
strength and wisdom, God knows how to make use, even of those
who are foolish and bad; otherwise there is so little wisdom and
so little honesty in the world, that all had been in confusion
and ruin long ago. These important truths were suited to
convince the disputants that they were out of their depth in
attempting to assign the Lord's reasons for afflicting Job; his
ways are unsearchable, and his judgments past finding out. Let
us remark what beautiful illustrations there are in the word of
God, confirming his sovereignty, and wisdom in that sovereignty:
but the highest and infinitely the most important is, that the
Lord Jesus was crucified by the malice of the Jews; and who but
the Lord could have known that this one event was the salvation
of the world?