Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 3.djvu/44

36 be afflicted; for, whatever he has lost, he has not lost his enjoyment of God, nor his title to heaven; nay, he is happy, because he is afflicted; correction is an evidence of his sonship, and a means of his sanctification; it mortifies his corruptions, weans his heart from the world, draws him nearer to God, brings him to his Bible, brings him to his knees, works him for, and so is for working him, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; Happy therefore is the man whom God correcteth, Jam. i. 12.

2. The issue and consequence of it would be very good, v. 18. (1.) Though he makes sore the body with sore boils, the mind with sad thoughts, yet he binds up at the same time; as the skilful tender surgeon binds up the wounds he had occasion to make with his incision-knife. When God makes sores by the rebukes of his providence, he binds up by the consolations of his Spirit, which oftentimes abound, as most afflictions do abound, and balance them, to the unspeakable satisfaction of the patient sufferers. (2.) Though he wounds, yet his hands make whole in due time: as he supports his people, and makes them easy under their afflictions, so in due time he delivers them, and makes a way for them to escape. All is well again; and he comforts them according to the time wherein he afflicted them. God's usual method is first to wound, and then to heal, first to convince, and then to comfort, first to humble, and then to exalt; and (as Mr. Caryl observes) he never makes a wound too great, too deep, for his own cure. Una eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit—The hand that inflicts the wound, applies the cure. God tears the wicked, and goes away, let them heal that will, if they can; (Hos. v. 14.) but the humble and penitent may say, He has torn, and he will heal us, Hos. vi. 1.

This is general; but in the following verses he applies himself directly to Job, and gives him many precious promises of great and kind things which God would do for him, if he did but humble himself under his hand. Though then they had no Bibles that we know of, yet Eliphaz had sufficient warrant to give Job these assurances, from the general discoveries God had made of his good will to his people. And though, in every thing which Job's friends said, they were not directed by the Spirit of God, (for they spake both of God and Job some things that were not right,) yet the general doctrines they laid down spake the pious sense of the patriarchal age; and as St. Paul quoted, v. 13. for canonical scripture, and as the command, v. 17. is, no doubt, binding on us, so these promises here may be, and must be, received and applied as divine promises, and we may, through patience and comfort of this part of scripture, have hope.

Let us therefore give diligence to make sure our interest in these promises, and then view the particulars of them, and take the comfort of them.

[1.] It is here promised, that as afflictions and troubles do recur, supports and deliverances shall be graciously repeated, be it never so often. In six troubles, he shall be ready to deliver thee; yea, and in seven. This intimates, that, as long as we are here in this world, we must expect a succession of troubles, that the clouds will return after the rain; after six troubles may come a seventh. After many, look for more; but out of them all will God deliver those that are his. 2 Tim. iii. 11. Ps. xxxiv. 19. Former deliverances are earnests of, not, as among men, excuses from, further deliverances, Prov. xix. 19.

[2.] That, whatever troubles good men may be in, there shall no evil touch them, they shall do them no real harm; the malignity of them, the sting, shall be taken out; they may hiss, they cannot hurt, Ps. xci. 10. The evil one toucheth not God's children, 1 John v. 18. Being kept from sin, they are kept from the evil of every trouble.

[3.] That, when desolating judgments are abroad, they shall be taken under special protection, v. 20. Do many perish about them, for want of the necessary supports of life? They shall be supplied. "In famine he shall redeem thee from death: whatever becomes of others, thou shalt be kept alive, Ps. xxxiii. 19. Verily thou shalt be fed, nay, even in the days of famine thou shalt be satisfied, Ps. xxxvii. 3, 19. In time of war, when thousands fall on thy right and left hand, he shall redeem thee from the power of the sword. If God pleases, it shall not touch thee; or, if it wound thee, if it kill thee, it shall not hurt thee; it can but kill the body, nor has it power to do that, unless it be given from above."

[4.] That whatever is maliciously said against them, it shall not affect them, to do them any hurt, v. 21. "Thou shalt not only be protected from the killing sword of war, but shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue, which, like a scourge, is vexing and painful, though not mortal." The best men, and the most inoffensive, cannot, even with their innocency, secure themselves from calumny, reproach, and false accusation. From these a man cannot hide himself, but God can hide him, so that the most malicious slanders shall be so little heeded by him, as not to disturb His peace; and so little heeded by others, as not to blemish his reputation: and the remainder of his wrath God can and does restrain, for it is owing to the hold he has of the consciences of bad men, that the scourge of the tongue is not the ruin of all the comforts of good men in this world.

[5.] That they shall have a holy security and serenity of mind, arising from their hope and confidence in God, even in the worst of times. When dangers are most threatening, they shall be easy, believing themselves safe; and shall not be afraid of destruction, no, not when they see it coming, (v. 21.) nor the beasts of the field, when they set upon them, nor of men as cruel as beasts; nay, at destruction and famine thou shalt laugh, (v. 22.) not so as to despise any of God's chastenings, or make a jest of his judgments, but so as to triumph in God, and his power and goodness, and therein to triumph over the world and all its grievances; to be not only easy, but cheerful and joyful, in tribulation. Blessed Paul laughed at destruction, when he said, O death, where is thy sting? When, in the name of all the saints, he defied all the calamities of this present time to separate from the love of God, concluding, In all these things we are more than conquerors, Rom. viii. 37, &c. See Isa. xxxvii. 22.

[6.] That, being at peace with God, there shall be a covenant of friendship between them and the whole creation, v. 23. " When thou walkest thy grounds, thou shalt not need to fear stumbling, for thou shalt be at league with the stones of the field, not to dash thy foot against any of them; nor shalt thou be in danger from the beasts of the field, for they all shall be at peace with thee;" compare Hos. ii. 18, I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field. This implies, that while man is at enmity with his Maker, the inferior creatures are at war with him; but Tranquillus Deus tranquillat omnia—A reconciled God reconciles all things. Our covenant with God is a covenant with all the creatures, that they shall do us no hurt, but be ready to serve us, and do us good.

[7.] That their houses and families shall be comfortable to them, v. 24. Peace and piety in the family will make it so. "Thou shalt know and be assured that thy tabernacle is, and shall be, in peace; thou mayest be confident both of its present and its future prosperity." That peace is thy