Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 3.djvu/49

Rh should help them; whereas they who make God their confidence have help in the time of need, Heb. iv. 16. They who make gold their hope, sooner or later will be ashamed of it, and of their confidence in it; (Ezek. vii. 19.) and the greater their confidence was, the greater their shame will be; They were confounded because they had hoped, v. 20. We prepare confusion for ourselves by our vain hopes: the reeds break under us, because we lean upon them. If we build a house upon the sand, we shall certainly be confounded, for it will fall in the storm, and we must thank ourselves for being such fools to expect it would stand. We are not deceived unless we deceive ourselves.

(2.) The application is very close; (v. 21.) For now ye are nothing. They seemed to be somewhat, but in conference they added nothing to him. Allude to Gal. ii. 6. He was never the wiser, never the better, for the visit they made him. Note, Whatever complacency we may take, or whatever confidence we may put, in creatures, how great soever they may seem, and how dear soever they may be, to us, one time or other we shall say of them, Now ye are nothing. When Job was in prosperity, his friends were something to him, he took complacency in them and their society; but "Now ye are nothing, now I can find no comfort but in God." It were well for us, if we had always such convictions of the vanity of the creature, and its insufficiency to make us happy, as we have sometimes had, or shall have, on a sick-bed, a death-bed, or in trouble of conscience; "Now ye are nothing. You are not what you have been, what you should be, what you pretend to be, what I thought you would have been; for you see my casting down, and are afraid. When you saw me in my elevation, you caressed me; but, now that you see me in my dejection, you are shy of me, are afraid of showing yourselves kind, lest I should take boldness thence, to beg something of you, or to borrow;" (compare v. 22.) "you are afraid, lest, if you own me, you should be obliged to keep me." Perhaps they were afraid of catching his distemper, or of coming within smell of the noisomeness of it. It is not good, either out of pride or niceness, for love of our purses, or of our bodies, to be shy of those in distress, and afraid of coming near them. Their case may soon be our own.

22. Did I say, Bring unto me? or, Give a reward for me of your substance? 23. Or, Deliver me from the enemies' hand? or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty? 24. Teach me, and I will hold my tongue; and cause me to understand wherein I have erred. 25. How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove? 26. Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind? 27. Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your friend. 28. Now, therefore, be content: look upon me: for it is evident unto you if I lie. 29. Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; yea, return again, my righteousness is in it. 30. Is there iniquity in my tongue? Cannot my taste discern perverse things?

Poor Job goes on here to upbraid his friends with their unkindness, and the hard usage they gave him. He here appeals to themselves concerning several things which tended both to justify him and condemn them. If they would but think impartially, and speak as they thought, they could not but own,

I. That though he was necessitous, yet he was not craving, nor burthensome to his friends. Those that are so, whose troubles serve them to beg by, are commonly less pitied than the silent poor. Job would be glad to, see his friends, but he did not say, Bring unto me, (v. 22,) or, Deliver me, v. 23. He did not desire to put them to any expense; did not urge his friends, either, 1. To make a collection for him, to set him up again in the world, though he could plead that his losses came upon him by the hand of God, and not by any fault or folly of his own; that he was utterly ruined and impoverished; that he had lived in good condition, and that, when he had wherewithal, he was charitable, and ready to help those that were in distress; that his friends were rich, and able to help him; yet he did not say, Give me of your substance. Note, A good man, when troubled himself, is afraid of being troublesome to his friends. Or, 2. To raise the country for him, to help him to recover his cattle out of the hands of the Sabeans and Chaldeans, or to make reprisals upon them; "Did I send for you to deliver me out of the hand of the mighty? No, I never expected you should either expose yourselves to any danger, or put yourselves to any charge, upon my account; I will rather sit down content under my affliction, and make the best of it, than spunge upon my friends." St. Paul worked with his hands, that he might not be burthensome to any. Job's not asking their help, did not excuse them from offering it when he needed it, and it was in the power of their hands to give it; but it much aggravated their unkindness, when he desired no more from them than a good look, and a good word, and yet could not obtain them. It often happens that from man, even when we expect little, we have less, but from God, even when we expect much, we have more, Eph. iii. 20.

II. That though he differed in opinion from them, yet he was not obstinate, but ready to yield to conviction, and to strike sail to truth, as soon as ever it was made to appear to him that he was in an error; (v. 24, 25.) "If, instead of invidious reflections and uncharitable insinuations, you will give me plain instructions and solid arguments, which shall carry their own evidence along with them, I am ready to acknowledge my error, and own myself in a fault; Teach me, and I will hold my tongue, for I have often found, with pleasure and wonder, how forcible right words are: but the method you take will never make proselytes; what doth your arguing reprove? Your hypothesis is false, your surmises are groundless, your management weak, and your application peevish and uncharitable." Note, 1. Fair reasoning has a commanding power, and it is a wonder if men are not conquered by it; but railing and foul language is impotent and foolish, and it is no wonder if men are exasperated and hardened by it. 2. It is the undoubted character of every honest man, that he is truly desirous to have his mistakes rectified, and to be made to understand wherein he has erred; and that right words, when they appear to him to be so, though contrary to his former sentiments, are both forcible and acceptable.

III. That though he had been indeed in a fault, yet they ought not to have given him such hard usage; (v. 26, 27.) "Do you imagine, or contrive with a great deal of art," (for so the word signifies,) "to reprove words, some passionate expressions of mine in this desperate condition, as if they were certain indications of reigning impiety and atheism? A little candour and charity would have served to excuse them, and to put a better