Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 3.djvu/22

14 of the sons of God in this world, and there may pass undiscovered by men, and yet be challenged by the all-seeing God; Friend, how camest thou in hither? Or, 2. As inquiring what he had been doing before he came thither: the same question was perhaps put to the rest of them that presented themselves before the Lord, "Whence came you?" We are accountable to God for all our haunts, and all the ways we traverse.

III. The account he gives of himself, and the tour he had made. I come (says he) from going to and fro on the earth. 1. He could not pretend he had been doing any good, could give no such account of himself as the sons of God could, who presented themselves before the Lord, who came from executing his orders, serving the interest of his kingdom, and ministering to the heirs of salvation. 2. He would not own he had been doing any hurt; that he had been drawing men from their allegiance to God, deceiving and destroying souls; no, I have done no wickedness, Prov. xxx. 20. Thy servant went no whither. In saying that he had walked to and fro through the earth, he intimates that he had kept himself within the bounds allotted him, and had not transgressed his tether; for the dragon is cast out into the earth, (Rev. xii. 9.) and not yet confined to his place of torment. While we are on this earth, we are within his reach; and with so much subtlety, swiftness, and industry, does he penetrate into all the corners of it, that we cannot be in any place secure from his temptations. 3. He yet seems to give some representation of his own character. (1.) Perhaps it is spoken proudly, and with an air of haughtiness, as if he were indeed the prince of this world, as if the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them were his, (Luke iv. 6.) and he had now been walking in circuit through his own territories. (2.) Perhaps it is spoken fretfully, and with discontent; he had been walking to and fro, and could find no rest, but was as much a fugitive and a vagabond as Cain in the land of Nod. (3.) Perhaps it is spoken carefully; "I have been hard at work, going to and fro," or (as some read it) "searching about in the earth;" really in quest of an opportunity to do mischief. He walks about seeking whom he may devour. It concerns us therefore to be sober and vigilant.

IV. The question God puts to him concerning Job, (v. 8.) Hast thou considered my servant Job? As when we meet with one that has been in a distant place, where we have a friend we dearly love, we are ready to ask, "You have been in such a place; pray did you see my friend there?" Observe, 1. How honourably God speaks of Job; he is my servant. Good men are God's servants, and he is pleased to reckon himself honoured in their services, and that they are to him for a name and a praise, (Jer. xiii. l.) and a crown of glory, Isa. lxxxii. 3. "Yonder is my servant Job; there is none like him, none I value like him; of all the princes and potentates of the earth, one such saint as he is worth them all: none like him for uprightness and serious piety; many do well, but he excelleth them all; there is not to be found such great faith, no not in Israel." Thus Christ, long after held up the centurion and the woman of Canaan, who were both of them, like Job, strangers to that commonwealth. The saints glory in God; Who is like thee among the gods? And he is pleased to glory in them; Who is like Israel among the people? So here, none like Job, none in the earth, that state of imperfection; those in heaven do indeed far outshine him; those who are least in that kingdom are greater than he; but on earth there is none his like. There is none like him in that land: so some good men are the glory of their country.

2. How closely he gives to Satan this good character of Job, Hast thou set thy heart on my servant Job? Designing hereby, (1.) To aggravate the apostasy and misery of that wicked spirit; "How unlike him art thou!" Note, The holiness and happiness of the saints are the shame and torment ot the Devil and the Devil's children. (2.) To answer the Devil's seeming boast of the interest he had in this earth; "I have been walking to and fro in it," says he, "and it is all my own; all flesh have corrupted their way; they all sit still, and are at rest in their sins," Zech. i. 10, 11. "Nay hold," saith God, "Job is my faithful servant." Satan may boast, but he shall not triumph. (3.) To anticipate his accusations, as if he had said, "Satan, I know thine errand, thou art come to inform against Job; but hast thou considered him? Does not his unquestionable character give thee the lie?" Note, God knows all the malice of the Devil and his instruments against his servants; and we have an Advocate ready to appear for us, even before we are accused.

V. The Devil's base insinuation against Job, in answer to God's encomium of him. He cannot deny but that Job feared God, but suggests that he was mercenary in his religion, and therefore a hypocrite, (v. 9.) Doth Job fear God for naught? Observe, 1. How impatient the Devil was of hearing Job praised, though it was God himself that praised him. Those are like the Devil, who cannot endure that any body should be praised but themselves, but grudge at the just share of reputation others have, as Saul, (1 Sam. xviii. 5, &c.) and the Pharisees, Matth. xxi. 15. 2. How much at a loss he was for something to object against him; he could not accuse him of any thing that was bad, and therefore charges him with by-ends in doing good. Had the one half of that been true, which his angry friends, in the heat of dispute, charged him with, (ch. xv. 4.—xxii. 5.) Satan would, no doubt, have brought it against him now; but no such thing could be alleged, and therefore, 3. See how slily he censures him as a hypocrite; not asserting that he was so, but only asking, "Is he not so ?" This is the common way of slanderers, to suggest that, by way of query, which yet they have no reason to think is true; whisperers, backbiters! Note, It is not strange if those that are approved and accepted of God, be unjustly censured by the Devil and his instruments; if they are otherwise unexceptionable, it is easy to charge them with hypocrisy, as Satan charged Job, and they have no way to clear themselves, but patiently to wait for the judgment of God. As there is nothing we should dread more than being hypocrites, so there is nothing we need dread less than being called and counted so without cause. 4. How unjustly he accuses him as mercenary, to prove him a hypocrite. It was a great truth that Job did not fear God for naught; he got well by it, for godliness is great gain: but it was a falsehood that he would not have feared God if he had not got this by it, as the event proved. Job's friends charged him with hypocrisy, because he was greatly afflicted; Satan, because he greatly prospered. It is no hard matter for those to calumniate that seek an occasion. It is not mercenary to look at the eternal recompense, in our obedience; but to aim at temporal advantages in our religion, and to make it subservient to that, is spiritual idolatry, worshipping the creature more than the Creator, and is likely to end in a fatal apostasy; men cannot long serve God and mammon.

VI. The complaint Satan made of Job's prosperity, v. 10. Observe, 1. What God had done for Job. He had protected him, made a hedge about him, for the defence of his person, his family, and all his possessions. Note, God's peculiar people