Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 3.djvu/85

Rh and not I. But he should have considered that he and his fellows had provoked him to say that which now they took advantage of; and that was not fair. Those are most effectually condemned, that are condemned by themselves, Tit. iii. 11. Luke xix. 22. Many a man needs no more to sink him, than for his own tongue to fall upon him.

III. He charges him with intolerable arrogancy and self-conceitedness. It was a just, and reasonable, and modest, demand that Job had made; (ch. xii. 3.) Allow that I have understanding as well as you: but see how they seek occasion against him; that is misconstrued, as if he pretended to be wiser than any man. Because he will not grant to them, they will have it thought that he claims to himself, the monopoly of wisdom, v. 7··9. As if he thought he had the advantage of all mankind, 1. In length of acquaintance with the world, which furnishes men with so much the more experience; "Art thou the first man that was born, and, consequently, senior to us, and better able to give the sense of antiquity, and the judgment of the first and earliest, the wisest and purest, ages? Art thou prior to Adam?" (So it may be read.) "Did not he suffer for sin; and yet wilt not thou, who art so great a sufferer, own thyself a sinner? Wast thou made before the hills, as Wisdom herself was? (Prov. viii. 23, &c.) Must God's counsels, which are as the great mountains, (Ps. xxxvi. 6.) and immoveable as the everlasting hills, be subject to thy notions, and bow to them? Dost thou know more of the world than any of us do? No, thou art but of yesterday, even as we are," ch. viii. 9. Or, 2. In intimacy of acquaintance with God; (v. 8.) "Hast thou heard the secret of God? Dost thou pretend to be of the cabinet-council of Heaven, that thou canst give better reasons than others can for God's proceedings?" There are secret things of God, which belong not to us, and which, therefore, we must not pretend to account for: those are daringly presumptuous who do. He also represents him, (1.) As assuming to himself such knowledge as none else had; "Dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself, as if none were wise besides?" Job had said, (ch. xiii. 2.) What ye know, the same do I know also; and now they return upon him, according to the usage of eager disputants, who think they have a privilege to commend themselves; What knowest thou that we know not? How natural are such replies as these, in the heat of argument! But how simple do they look afterward, upon the review! (2.) As opposing the stream of antiquity, a venerable name, under the shade of which all contending parties strive to shelter themselves; "With us are the gray-headed, and very aged men, v. 10. We have the fathers on our side; all the ancient doctors of the church are of our opinion." A thing soon said, but not so soon proved; and, when proved, truth is not so soon discovered and proved by it, as most people imagine. David preferred right scripture-knowledge before that of antiquity; (Ps. cxix. 100.) I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts. Or perhaps one or more, if not all three, of these friends of Job, were elder than he, (ch. xxxii. 6.) and therefore they thought he was bound to acknowledge them to be in the right. This also serves contenders to make a noise with, to very little purpose. If they are elder than their adversaries, and can say they knew such a thing before they were born, it will serve to make them arrogant and overbearing; whereas the eldest are not always the wisest, ch. xxxii. 9.

IV. He charges him with a contempt of the counsels and comforts that were given him by his friends; (v. 11.) Are the consolations of God small with thee? 1. Eliphaz takes it ill that Job did not value the comforts, which he, and his friends administered to him, more than it seems he did, and did not welcome every word they said as true and important. It is true, they had said some very good things, but, in their application to Job, they were miserable comforters. Note, We are apt to think that great and considerable, which we ourselves say, when others perhaps, with good reason, think it small and trifling. Paul found that those who seemed to be somewhat, yet, in conference, added nothing to him, Gal. ii. 6. 2. He represents this as a slight put upon divine consolations in general, as if they were of small account with him, whereas really they were not: if he had not highly valued them, he could not have borne up as he did under his sufferings. Note, (1.) The consolations of God are not in themselves small. Divine comforts are great things, that is, the comfort which is from God, especially the comfort which is in God. (2.) The consolations of God not being small in themselves, it is very bad if they be small with us. It is a great affront to God, and an evidence of a degenerate, depraved, mind, to disesteem and undervalue spiritual delights, and despise the pleasant land. "What!" (says Eliphaz,) "is there any secret thing with thee? Hast thou some cordial to support thyself with, that is a Proprium, an Arcanum, that no body else can pretend to, or knows any thing of?" Or, "Is there some secret sin harboured and indulged in thy bosom, which hinders the operation of divine comforts?" None disesteem divine comforts but those that secretly affect the world and the flesh.

V. He charges him with opposition to God himself, and to religion; (v. 12, 13.) "Why doth thine heart carry thee away into such indecent, irreligious, expressions?" Note, Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, Jam. i. 14. If we fly off from God and our duty, or fly out into any thing amiss, it is our own heart that carries us away. If thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. There is a violence, an ungovernable impetus, in the turnings of the soul; the corrupt heart carries men away, as it were, by force, against their convictions. "What is it that thine eyes wink at? Why so careless and mindless of what is said to thee, hearing it as if thou wert half asleep? Why so scornful, disdaining what we say, as if it were below thee to take notice of it? What have we said, that deserves to be thus slighted? Nay, that thou turnest thy spirit against God?" It was bad that his heart was carried away from God, but much worse that it was turned against God. But they that forsake God will soon break out in open enmity to him. But how did this appear? "Thou lettest such words go out of thy mouth, reflecting on God, and his justice and goodness." It is the character of the wicked, that they set their mouth against the heavens, (Ps. lxxiii. 9.) which is a certain indication that the spirit is turned against God. He thought Job's spirit was soured against God, and so turned from what it had been, and exasperated at his dealings with him. Eliphaz wanted candour and charity, else he would not have put such a harsh construction upon the speeches of one that had such a settled reputation for piety, and was now in temptation. This was, in effect, to give the cause on Satan's side, and to own that Job had done as Satan said he would, had cursed God to his face.

VI. He charges him with justifying himself to that degree as even to deny his share in the common corruption and pollution of the human nature; (v. 14.) What is man, that he should be clean? that is, that he should pretend to be so, or that any should expect to find him so. What is he, that is born of a woman, a sinful woman, that he should be righteous? Note, 1. Righteousness is cleanness;