Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 3.djvu/74

66 raises the waters, and overturns the earth, the productions of it, the buildings upon it. A sweeping rain is said to leave no food, Prov. xxviii. 3. See how many ways God has of contending with a sinful people, and taking from them abused, forfeited, mercies; and how utterly unable we are to contend with him! If we might invert the order, this verse would fitly refer to Noah's flood, that ever-memorable instance of the divine power. God then, in wrath, sent the waters out, and they overturned the earth; but, in mercy, he withheld them, shut the windows of heaven, and the fountains of the great deep, and then, in a little time, they dried up.

III. He gives many instances of it in God's powerful management of the children of men, crossing their purposes, and serving his own by them and upon them, overruling all their counsels, overpowering all their attempts, and overcoming all their oppositions. What changes does God make with men, what turns does he give to them; how easily, how surprisingly!

In general, (v. 16.) With him is strength and reason, so some translate it; strength and consistency with himself: it is an elegant word in the original. With him are the very quintessence and extract of wisdom. With him are power and all that is, so some read it. He is what he is himself, and by him, and in him, all things subsist. Having this strength and wisdom, he knows how to make use, not only of those who are wise and good, who willingly and designedly serve him, but even of those who are foolish and bad, who, one would think, could be made no way serviceable to the designs of his providence: the deceived and the deceiver are his; the simplest men that are deceived, are not below his notice, the subtlest men that deceive, cannot, with all their subtilty, escape his cognizance. The world is full of deceit, the one half of mankind cheats the other, and God suffers it, and from both will, at last, bring glory to himself. The deceivers make tools of the deceived, but the great God makes tools of them both, wherewith he works, and none can let him. He has wisdom and might enough to manage all the fools and knaves in the world, and knows how to serve his own purposes by them, notwithstanding the weakness of the one, and the wickedness of the other. When Jacob by a fraud got the blessing, the design of God's grace was served; when Ahab was drawn by a false prophecy into an expedition that was his ruin, the design of God's justice was served; and in both the deceived and the deceiver were at his disposal. See Ezek. xiv. 9. God would not suffer the sin of the deceiver, nor the misery of the deceived, if he knew not how to set bounds to both, and bring glory to himself out of both. Hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent thus reigns; and it is well he does, for otherwise there is so little wisdom, and so little honesty, in the world, that it had all been in confusion and ruin long ago.

He next descends to the particular instances of the wisdom and power of God in the revolutions of states and kingdoms: for thence he fetches his proofs, rather than from the like operations of Providence concerning private persons and families; because the more high and public the station is, in which men are placed, the more the changes that befall them are taken notice of, and, consequently, the more illustriously does Providence shine forth in them. And it is easy to argue, If God can thus turn and toss the great ones of the earth, like a ball in a large place, (as the prophet speaks, Isa. xxii. 18.) much more the little ones; and with him, to whom states and kingdoms must submit, it is surely the greatest madness for us to contend. Some think that Job here refers to the extirpation of those powerful nations, the Rephaim, the Zuzim, the Emim, and the Horites, (mentioned Gen. xiv. 5, 6. Deut. ii. 10. 20. ) in which, perhaps, it was particularly noticed, how strangely they were infatuated and enfeebled; if so, it is designed to show, that, whenever the like is done in the affairs of nations, it is God that doeth it, and we must therein observe his sovereign dominion, even over those that think themselves most powerful, politic, and absolute. Compare this with that of Eliphaz, ch. v. 12, &c.

Let us gather up the particular changes here specified, which God makes upon persons, either for the destruction of nations, and the planting of others in their room, or for the turning out of a particular government and ministry, and the elevation of another in its room, which may be a blessing to the kingdom; witness the glorious Revolution in our own land twenty years ago, in which we saw as happy an exposition as ever was given of this discourse of Job's.

1. Those that were wise, are sometimes strangely infatuated; and in that the hand of God must be acknowledged; (v. 17.) He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, as trophies of his victory over them, spoiled of all the honour and wealth they have got by their policy, nay, spoiled of the wisdom itself for which they have been celebrated, and the success they promised themselves in their projects: his counsels stands, while all their devices are brought to nought, and their designs baffled, and so they are spoiled both of the satisfaction and the reputation of their wisdom. He maketh the judges fools: by a work on their minds he deprives them of their qualifications for business, and so they become really fools; and by his disposal of their affairs he makes the issue and event of their projects to be quite contrary to what they themselves intended, and so he makes them look like fools. The counsel of Ahithophel, one in whom this scripture was remarkably fulfilled, became foolishness, and he, according to his name, the brother of a fool. See Isa. xix. 13, The princes of Zoan are become fools, they have seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof. Let not the wise man, therefore, glory in his wisdom, nor the ablest counsellors and judges be proud of their station, but humbly depend upon God for the continuance of their abilities. Even the aged, who seem to hold their wisdom by prescription, and think they have got it by their own industry, and therefore have an indefeisible title to it, may yet be deprived of it, and often are, by the infirmities of age, which make them twice children; he taketh away the understanding of the aged, v. 20. The aged, who were most depended on for advice, fail those that depended on them. We read of an old and yet foolish king, Eccl. iv. 13.

2. Those that were high and in authority, are strangely brought down, impoverished, and enslaved; and it is God that humbles them; (v. 18.) He looseth the bond of kings, and taketh, from them the power wherewith they ruled their subiects, perhaps enslaved them, and ruled them with rigour; strips them of all the ensigns of their honour and authority, and all the supports of their tyranny; unbuckles their belts, so that the sword drops from their side, and then no marvel if the crown quickly drops from their heads; on which, immediately follows the girding of their loins with a girdle, a badge of servitude, for servants went with their loins girt. Thus he leads great princes away spoiled of all their power and wealth, and that in which they pleased and prided themselves, v. 19. Note, Kings are not exempt from God's jurisdiction. To us they are gods, but men to him, and subject to more than the common changes of human life.

3. Those that were strong, are strangely