Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 3.djvu/39

Rh : in the midst of those good thoughts, this thing was brought to him. We should hear more from God, if we thought more of him; yet some are surprised with convictions in the night, ch. xxxiii. 14, 15. 4. It was prefaced with terrors; Fear came upon him, and trembling, v. 14. It should seem, before he either heard or saw any thing, he was seized with this trembling, which shook his bones, and perhaps the bed under him, A holy awe and reverence of God and his majesty being struck upon his spirit, he was thereby prepared for a divine visit. Whom God intends to honour, he first humbles and lays low, and will have us all to serve him with holy fear, and to rejoice with trembling.

II. The messenger by whom it was sent; a spirit, one of the good angels, who are employed not only as the ministers of God's providence, but sometimes as the ministers of his word; Concerning this apparition which Eliphaz saw, we are here told, (v. 15, 16.) 1. That it was real, and not a dream, not a fancy; an image was before his eyes, he plainly saw it; at first, it passed and repassed before his face, moved up and down, but, at length, it stood still to speak to him. If some have been so knavish as to impose false visions on others, and some so foolish as to be themselves imposed upon, it does not, therefore, follow that there have been no apparitions of spirits, both good and bad. 2. That it was indistinct, and somewhat confused. He could not discern the form thereof, so as to frame any exact idea of it in his own mind, much less to give a description of it. His conscience was to be awakened and informed, not his curiosity gratified. We know little of spirits, we are not capable of knowing much of them, nor is it fit we should; all in good time; we must shortly remove to the world of spirits, and shall then be better acquainted with them. 3. That it put him into a great consternation, so that his hair stood on end. Ever since man sinned, it has been terrible to him to receive an express from Heaven, as conscious to himself that he can expect no good tidings thence; apparitions, therefore, even of good spirits, have always made deep impressions of fear, even upon good men. How well is it for us, that God sends us his messages, not by spirits, but by men like ourselves, whose terror shall not make us afraid! See Dan. vii. 28.—x. 8, 9.

III. The message itself; before it was delivered, there was silence, profound silence, v. 16. When we are to speak either from God, or to him, it becomes us to address ourselves to it with a solemn pause, and so to set bounds about the mount on which God is to come down, and not be hasty to utter any thing. It was in a still small voice that the message was delivered, and this was it, (v. 17.) "Shall mortal man be more just than God, the immortal God? Shall a man be thought to be, or pretend to be, more pure than his Maker? Away with such a thought!" 1. Some think that Eliphaz aims hereby to prove that Job's great afflictions were a certain evidence of his being a wicked man; a mortal man would be thought unjust and very impure, if he should thus correct and punish a servant or subject, unless he had been guilty of some very great crime. "If, therefore, these were not some great crimes for which God thus punishes thee, man would be more just than God, which is not to be imagined." 2. I rather think it is only a reproof of Job's murmuring and discontent; "Shall a man pretend to be more just and pure than God? More truly to understand, and more strictly to observe, the rules and laws of equity, than God? Shall Enosh, mortal, miserable, man, be so insolent; nay, shall Geber, the strongest and most eminent man—man at his best estate, pretend to compare with God, or stand in competition with him?" Note, It is most impious and absurd to think either others or ourselves more just and pure than God. Those that quarrel and find fault with the directions of the divine law, the dispensations of the divine grace, or the disposals of the divine providence, make themselves more just and pure than God; and they who thus reprove God, let them answer it. What! sinful man! (for he had not been mortal, if he had not been sinful!) short-sighted man! Shall he pretend to be more just, more pure, than God, who, being his Maker, is his Lord and Owner? Shall the clay contend with the potter? What justice and purity there is in man, God is the Author of it, and therefore is himself more just and pure. See Ps. xciv. 9, 10.

IV. The comment which Eliphaz makes upon this, for so it seems to be; yet some take all the following verses to be spoken in vision. It comes all to one.

1. He shows how little the angels themselves are in comparison with God, v. 18. Angels are God's servants, waiting servants, working servants, they are his ministers; (Ps. civ. 4.) bright and blessed things they are; but God neither needs them, nor is benefitted by them, and is himself infinitely above them; and therefore, (1.) He put no trust in them, did not repose a confidence in them, as we do in those we cannot live without; there is no service in which he employs them, but, if he pleased, he could have it done as well without them. He never made them his confidants, or of his cabinet-council, Matth. xxiv. 36. He does not leave his business wholly to them, but his own eyes run to and fro through the earth, 2 Chron. xvi. 9. See this phrase, ch. xxxix. 11. Some give this sense of it, "So mutable is even the angelical nature, that God would not trust angels with their own integrity; if he had, they would all have done, as some did, left their first estate; but he saw it necessary to give them supernatural grace to confirm them. (2.) He charges them with folly, vanity, weakness, infirmity, and imperfection, in comparison with God. If the world were left to the government of the angels, and they were trusted with the sole management of affairs, they would take false steps, and every thing would not be done for the best, as now it is. Angels are intelligences, but finite ones. Though not chargeable with iniquity, yet with imprudence. This last clause is variously rendered by the critics. I think it would bear this reading, repeating the negation, which is very common. He will put no trust in his saints. In angelis suis non ponet gloriationem—Nor will he glory in his angels, or make his boast of them, as if their praises or services added any thing to him: it is his glory, that he is infinitely happy without them.

2. Thence he infers how much less man is, how much less to be trusted in, or gloried in: if there is such distance between God and angels, what is there between God and man! See how man is represented here in his meanness.

(1.) Look upon man in his life, and he is very mean, v. 19. Take man in his best estate, and he is a very despicable creature in comparison with the holy angels; though honourable, if compared with the brutes. It is time, angels are spirits, and the souls of men are spirits; but, [1.] Angels are pure spirits, the souls of men dwell in houses of clay; such the bodies of men are. Angels are free, human souls are housed, and the body is a cloud, a clog, to it, it is its cage, it is its prison. It is a house of clay, mean and mouldering; an earthen vessel, soon broken, as it was first formed, according to the good pleasure of the potter. It is a cottage, not a house of cedar, or a house of ivory, but of clay, which would soon be in ruins, if not kept in constant repair. [2.] Angels are fixed; but the very