BIBLES NET. COM
Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
on the Whole Bible
Back to Biblesnet.com Home Page
|
[Previous] [Next] |
Matthew Henry |
J O B
CHAP. XI.
Poor Job’s wound’s were yet bleeding, his sore still runs and ceases
not, but none of his friends bring him any oil, any balm; Zophar, the
third, pours into them as much vinegar as the two former had done.
I. He exhibits a very high charge against Job, as proud and false in
justifying himself,
II. He appeals to God for his conviction, and begs that God would take
him to task
(ver. 5)
and that Job might be made sensible,
1. Of God’s unerring wisdom and his inviolable justice,
2. Of his unsearchable perfections,
3. Of his incontestable sovereignty and uncontrollable power,
4. Of the cognizance he takes of the children of men,
III. He assures him that, upon his repentance and reformation
(ver. 13, 14),
God would restore him to his former prosperity and safety
(ver. 15-19);
but that, if he were wicked it was in vain to expect it,
| The Address of Zophar. | B. C. 1520. |
|
|
|
1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
2 Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a
man full of talk be justified?
3 Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou
mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?
4 For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in
thine eyes.
5 But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against thee;
6 And that he would show thee the secrets of wisdom, that they
are double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacteth of
thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.
It is sad to see what intemperate passions even wise and good men are
sometimes betrayed into by the heat of disputation, of which Zophar
here is an instance. Eliphaz began with a very modest preface,
Bildad was a little more rough upon Job,
But Zophar falls upon him without mercy, and gives him very bad
language: Should a man full of talk be justified? And should thy
lies make men hold their peace? Is this the way to comfort Job? No,
nor to convince him neither. Does this become one that appears as an
advocate for God and his justice? Tantæne animis coelestibus
iræ?–In heavenly breasts can such resentment dwell? Those that
engage in controversy will find it very hard to keep their temper. All
the wisdom, caution, and resolution they have will be little enough to
prevent their breaking out into such indecencies as we here find Zophar
guilty of.
I. He represents Job otherwise than what he was,
He would have him thought idle and impertinent in his discourse, and
one that loved to hear himself talk; he gives him the lie, and calls
him a mocker; and all this that it might be looked upon as a
piece of justice to chastise him. Those that have a mind to fall out
with their brethren, and to fall foul upon them, find it necessary to
put the worst colours they can upon them and their performances, and,
right or wrong, to make them odious. We have read and considered Job’s
discourses in the foregoing chapters, and have found them full of good
sense and much to the purpose, that his principles are right, his
reasonings strong, many of his expressions weighty and very
considerable, and that what there is in them of heat and passion a
little candour and charity will excuse and overlook; and yet Zophar
here invidiously represents him,
1. As a man that never considered what he said, but uttered what came
uppermost, only to make a noise with the multitude of words, hoping by
that means to carry his cause and run down his reprovers: Should not
the multitude of words be answered? Truly, sometimes it is no great
matter whether it be or no; silence perhaps is the best confutation of
impertinence and puts the greatest contempt upon it. Answer not a
fool according to his folly. But, if it be answered, let reason and
grace have the answering of it, not pride and passion. Should a man
full of talk (margin, a man of lips, that is all tongue,
vox et præterea nihil–mere voice) be justified? Should
he be justified in his loquacity, as in effect he is if he be not
reproved for it? No, for in the multitude of words there wanteth not
sin. Should he be justified by it? Shall many words pass for valid
pleas? Shall he carry the day with the flourishes of language? No, he
shall not be accepted with God, or any wise men, for his much
speaking,
Matt. vi. 7.
2. As a man that made no conscience of what he said–a liar, and one
that hoped by the impudence of lies to silence his adversaries
(should thy lies make men hold their peace?)–a mocker, one that
bantered all mankind, and knew how to put false colours upon any thing,
and was not ashamed to impose upon every one that talked with him:
When thou mockest shall no man make thee ashamed? Is it not time
to speak, to stem such a violent tide as this? Job was not mad, but
spoke the words of truth and soberness, and yet was thus
misrepresented. Eliphaz and Bildad had answered him, and said what they
could to make him ashamed; it was therefore no instance of Zophar’s
generosity to set upon a man so violently who was already thus
harassed. Here were three matched against one.
II. He charges Job with saying that which he had not said
(v. 4):
Thou hast said, My doctrine is pure. And what if he had said so?
It was true that Job was sound in the faith, and orthodox in his
judgment, and spoke better of God than his friends did. If he had
expressed himself unwarily, yet it did not therefore follow but that
his doctrine was true. But he charges him with saying, I am clean in
thy eyes. Job had not said so: he had indeed said, Thou knowest
that I am not wicked
(ch. x. 7);
but he had also said, I have sinned, and never pretended to a
spotless perfection. He had indeed maintained that he was not a
hypocrite as they charged him; but to infer thence that he would not
own himself a sinner was an unfair insinuation. We ought to put the
best construction on the words and actions of our brethren that they
will bear; but contenders are tempted to put the worst.
III. He appeals to God, and wishes him to appear against Job. So very
confident is he that Job is in the wrong that nothing will serve him
but that God must immediately appear to silence and condemn him. We are
commonly ready with too much assurance to interest God in our quarrels,
and to conclude that, if he would but speak, he would take our part and
speak for us, as Zophar here: O that God would speak! for he
would certainly open his lips against thee; whereas, when God
did speak, he opened his lips for Job against his three friends. We
ought indeed to leave all controversies to be determined by the
judgment of God, which we are sure is according to truth; but
those are not always in the right who are most forward to appeal to
that judgment and prejudge it against their antagonists. Zophar
despairs to convince Job himself, and therefore desires God would
convince him of two things which it is good for every one of us duly to
consider, and under all our afflictions cheerfully to confess:–
1. The unsearchable depth of God’s counsels. Zophar cannot pretend to
do it, but he desires that God himself would show Job so much of the
secrets of the divine wisdom as might convince him that they are at
least double to that which is,
v. 6.
Note,
(1.) There are secrets in the divine wisdom, arcana
imperii–state-secrets. God’s way is in the sea. Clouds and
darkness are round about him. He has reasons of state which we cannot
fathom and must not pry into.
(2.) What we know of God is nothing to what we cannot know. What is
hidden is more than double to what appears,
(3.) By employing ourselves in adoring the depth of those divine
counsels of which we cannot find the bottom we shall very much
tranquilize our minds under the afflicting hand of God.
(4.) God knows a great deal more evil of us than we do of ourselves; so
some understand it. When God gave David a sight and sense of sin he
said that he had in the hidden part made him to know wisdom,
Ps. li. 6.
2. The unexceptionable justice of his proceedings. “Know therefore
that, how sore soever the correction is that thou art under, God
exacteth of thee less than thy iniquity deserves,” or (as some read
it), “he remits thee part of thy iniquity, and does not deal
with thee according to the full demerit of it.” Note,
(1.) When the debt of duty is not paid it is justice to insist upon the
debt of punishment.
(2.) Whatever punishment is inflicted upon us in this world we must own
that it is less than our iniquities deserve, and therefore, instead of
complaining of our troubles, we must be thankful that we are out of
hell,
7 Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the
Almighty unto perfection?
8 It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than
hell; what canst thou know?
9 The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader
than the sea.
10 If he cut off, and shut up, or gather together, then who can
hinder him?
11 For he knoweth vain men: he seeth wickedness also; will he
not then consider it?
12 For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild
ass’s colt.
Zophar here speaks very good things concerning God and his greatness
and glory, concerning man and his vanity and folly: these two compared
together, and duly considered, will have a powerful influence upon our
submission to all the dispensations of the divine Providence.
I. See here what God is, and let him be adored.
1. He is an incomprehensible Being, infinite and immense, whose nature
and perfections our finite understandings cannot possibly form any
adequate conceptions of, and whose counsels and actings we cannot
therefore, without the greatest presumption, pass a judgment upon. We
that are so little acquainted with the divine nature are incompetent
judges of the divine providence; and, when we censure the dispensations
of it, we talk of things that we do not understand. We cannot find out
God; how dare we then find fault with him? Zophar here shows,
(1.) That God’s nature infinitely exceeds the capacities of our
understandings: “Canst thou find out God, find him out to
perfection? No, What canst thou do? What canst thou know?”
Thou, a poor, weak, short-sighted creature, a worm of the earth, that
art but of yesterday? Thou, though ever so inquisitive after him, ever
so desirous and industrious to find him out, yet darest thou attempt
the search, or canst thou hope to speed in it? We may, by searching
find God
but we cannot find him out in any thing he is pleased to conceal; we
may apprehend him, but we cannot comprehend him; we may know that he
is, but cannot know what he is. The eye can see the ocean but not see
over it. We may, by a humble, diligent, and believing search, find out
something of God, but cannot find him out to perfection; we may know,
but cannot know fully, what God is, nor find out his work from the
beginning to the end,
Eccl. iii. 11.
Note, God is unsearchable. The ages of his eternity cannot be numbered,
nor the spaces of his immensity measured; the depths of his wisdom
cannot be fathomed, nor the reaches of his power bounded; the
brightness of his glory can never be described, nor the treasures of
his goodness reckoned up. This is a good reason why we should always
speak of God with humility and caution and never prescribe to him nor
quarrel with him, why we should be thankful for what he has revealed of
himself and long to be where we shall see him as he is,
(2.) That it infinitely exceeds the limits of the whole creation: It
is higher than heaven (so some read it), deeper than hell,
the great abyss, longer than the earth, and broader than the
sea, many parts of which are to this day undiscovered, and more
were then. It is quite out of our reach to comprehend God’s nature.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for us,
Ps. cxxxix. 6.
We cannot fathom God’s designs, nor find out the reasons of his
proceedings. His judgments are a great deep. Paul attributes such
immeasurable dimensions to the divine love as Zophar here attributes to
the divine wisdom, and yet recommends it to our acquaintance.
That you may know the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, of
the love of Christ.
2. God is a sovereign Lord
(v. 10):
If he cut off by death (margin, If he make a change, for
death is a change; if he make a change in nations, in families, in the
posture of our affairs),–if he shut up in prison, or in the net
of affliction
(Ps. lxvi. 11),–
if he seize any creature as a hunter his prey, he will gather it (so
bishop Patrick) and who shall force him to restore? or if he gather
together, as tares for the fire, or if he gather to himself
man’s spirit and breath
then who can hinder him? Who can either arrest the sentence or
oppose the execution? Who can control his power or arraign his wisdom
and justice? If he that made all out of nothing think fit to reduce all
to nothing, or to their first chaos again,–if he that separated between
light and darkness, dry land and sea, at first, please to gather them
together again,–if he that made unmakes, who can turn him away,
alter his mind or stay his hand, impede or impeach his proceedings?
3. God is a strict and just observer of the children of men
(v. 11):
He knows vain men. We know little of him, but he knows us
perfectly: He sees wickedness also, not to approve it
(Hab. i. 13),
but to animadvert upon it.
(1.) He observes vain men. Such all are (every man, at his best
estate, is altogether vanity), and he considers it in his dealings
with them. He knows what the projects and hopes of vain men are, and
can blast and defeat them, the workings of their foolish fancies; he
sits in heaven, and laughs at them. He takes knowledge of the vanity of
men (that is, their little sins; so some) their vain thoughts and vain
words, and unsteadiness in that which is good.
(2.) He observes bad men: He sees gross wickedness also,
though committed ever so secretly and ever so artfully palliated and
disguised. All the wickedness of the wicked is naked and open before
the all-seeing eye of God: Will he not then consider it? Yes,
certainly he will, and will reckon for it, though for a time he seem to
keep silence.
II. See here what man is, and let him be humbled,
God sees this concerning vain man that he would be wise, would
be thought so, though he is born like a wild ass’s colt, so
sottish and foolish, unteachable and untameable. See what man is.
1. He is a vain creature–empty; so the word is. God made him
full, but he emptied himself, impoverished himself, and now he is
raca, a creature that has nothing in him.
2. He is a foolish creature, has become like the beasts that
perish
an idiot, born like an ass, the most stupid animal, an ass’s colt, not
yet brought to any service. If ever he come to be good for any thing,
it is owing to the grace of Christ, who once, in the day of his
triumph, served himself by an ass’s colt.
3. He is a wilful ungovernable creature. An ass’s colt may be made good
for something, but the wild ass’s colt will never be reclaimed, nor
regards the crying of the driver. See
Man thinks himself as much at liberty, and his own master, as the wild
ass’s colt does, that is used to the wilderness
(Jer. ii. 24),
eager to gratify his own appetites and passions.
4. Yet he is a proud creature and self-conceited. He would be
wise, would he thought so, values himself upon the honour of
wisdom, though he will not submit to the laws of wisdom. He would be
wise, that is, he reaches after forbidden wisdom, and, like his first
parents, aiming to be wise above what is written, loses the tree of
life for the tree of knowledge. Now is such a creature as this fit to
contend with God or call him to an account? Did we but better know God
and ourselves, we should better know how to conduct ourselves towards
God.
13 If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands
toward him;
14 If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not
wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles.
15 For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou
shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear:
16 Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it
as waters that pass away:
17 And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou
shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning.
18 And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou
shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety.
19 Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid;
yea, many shall make suit unto thee.
20 But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not
escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost.
Zophar, as the other two, here encourages Job to hope for better times
if he would but come to a better temper.
I. He gives him good counsel
(v. 13, 14),
as Eliphaz did
(ch. v. 8),
and Bildad,
He would have him repent and return to God. Observe the steps of that
return.
1. He must look within, and get his mind changed and the tree made
good. He must prepare his heart; there the work of conversion
and reformation must begin. The heart that wandered from God must be
reduced–that was defiled with sin and put into disorder must be
cleansed and put in order again–that was wavering and unfixed must be
settled and established; so the word here signifies. The heart is then
prepared to seek God when it is determined and fully resolved to make a
business of it and to go through with it.
2. He must look up, and stretch out his hands towards God, that
is, must stir up himself to take hold on God, must pray to him with
earnestness and importunity, striving in prayer, and with expectation
to receive mercy and grace from him. To give the hand to the
Lord signifies to yield ourselves to him and to covenant with him,
This Job must do, and, for the doing of it, must prepare his heart. Job
had prayed, but Zophar would have him to pray in a better manner, not
as an appellant, but as a petitioner and humble suppliant.
3. He must amend what was amiss in his own conversation, else his
prayers would be ineffectual
(v. 14):
“If iniquity be in thy hand (that is, if there be any sin which
thou dost yet live in the practice of) put it far away, forsake
it with detestation and a holy indignation, stedfastly resolving not to
return to it, nor ever to have any thing more to do with it.
Hos. xiv. 9; Isa. xxx. 22.
If any of the gains of iniquity, any goods gotten by fraud or
oppression, be in thy hand, make restitution thereof” (as Zaccheus,
“and shake thy hands from holding them,”
The guilt of sin is not removed if the gain of sin be not restored.
4. He must do his utmost to reform his family too: “Let not
wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles; let not thy house harbour or
shelter any wicked persons, any wicked practices, or any wealth gotten
by wickedness.” He suspected that Job’s great household had been
ill-governed, and that, where there were many, there were many wicked,
and the ruin of his family was the punishment of the wickedness of it;
and therefore, if he expected God should return to him, he must reform
what was amiss there, and, though wickedness might come into his
tabernacles, he must not suffer it to dwell there,
Ps. ci. 3,
&c.
II. He assures him of comfort if he took this counsel,
&c. If he
would repent and reform, he should, without doubt, be easy and happy,
and all would be well. Perhaps Zophar might insinuate that, unless God
did speedily make such a change as this in his condition, he and his
friends would be confirmed in their opinion of him as a hypocrite and a
dissembler with God. A great truth, however, is conveyed, That, the
work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness
quietness and assurance for ever,
Isa. xxxii. 17.
Those that sincerely turn to God may expect,
1. A holy confidence towards God: “Then shalt thou lift up thy face
towards heaven without spot; thou mayest come boldly to the throne
of grace, and not with that terror and amazement expressed,”
If our hearts condemn us not for hypocrisy and impenitency, then have
we confidence in our approaches to God and expectations from him,
If we are looked upon in the face of the anointed, our faces, that were
dejected, may be lifted up–that were polluted, being washed with the
blood of Christ, may be lifted up without spot. We may draw near in
full assurance of faith when we are sprinkled from an evil
conscience,
Heb. x. 22.
Some understand this of the clearing up of his credit before men,
If we make our peace with God, we may with cheerfulness look our
friends in the face.
2. A holy composedness in themselves: Thou shalt be stedfast, and
shalt not fear, not be afraid of evil tidings, thy heart
being fixed,
Job was now full of confusion
(ch. x. 15),
while he looked upon God as his enemy and quarrelled with him; but
Zophar assures him that, if he would submit and humble himself, his
mind would be composed, and he would be freed from those frightful
apprehensions he had of God, which put him into such an agitation. The
less we are frightened the more we are fixed, and consequently the more
fit we are for our services and for our sufferings.
3. A comfortable reflection upon their past troubles
(v. 16):
“Thou shalt forget thy misery, as the mother forgets her
travailing pains, for joy that the child is born; thou shalt be
perfectly freed from the impressions it makes upon thee, and thou
shalt remember it as waters that pass away, or are poured out of a
vessel, which leave no taste or tincture behind them, as other liquors
do. The wounds of thy present affliction shall be perfectly healed, not
only without a remaining scar, but without a remaining pain.” Job had
endeavoured to forget his complaint
(ch. ix. 27),
but found he could not; his soul had still in remembrance the
wormwood and the gall: but here Zophar puts him in a way to forget
it; let him by faith and prayer bring his griefs and cares to God, an
leave them with him, and then he shall forget them. Where sin sits
heavily affliction sits lightly. If we duly remember our sins, we
shall, in comparison with them, forget our misery, much more if we
obtain the comfort of a sealed pardon and a settled peace. He whose
iniquity is forgiven shall not say, I am sick, but shall forget
his sickness,
4. A comfortable prospect of their future peace. This Zophar here
thinks to please Job with, in answer to the many despairing expressions
he had used, as if it were to no purpose for him to hope ever to see
good days again in this world: “Yea, but thou mayest” (says Zophar)
“and good nights too.” A blessed change he here puts him in hopes
of.
(1.) That though now his light was eclipsed it should shine out again,
and more brightly than ever
(v. 17),–
that even his setting sun should out-shine his noon-day sun, and his
evening be fair and clear as the morning, in respect both of honour and
pleasure.–that his light should shine out of obscurity
and the thick and dark cloud, from behind which his sun should break
forth, would serve as a foil to its lustre,–that it should shine even
in old age, and those evil days should be good days to him. Note, Those
that truly turn to God then begin to shine forth; their path is as the
shining light which increases, the period of their day will be the
perfection of it, and their evening to this world will be their morning
to a better.
(2.) That, though now he was in a continual fear and terror, he should
live in a holy rest and security, and find himself continually safe and
easy
(v. 18):
Thou shalt be secure, because there is hope. Note, Those who
have a good hope, through grace, in God, and of heaven, are certainly
safe, and have reason to be secure, how difficult soever the times are
through which they pass in this world. He that walks uprightly may thus
walk surely, because, though there are trouble and danger, yet there is
hope that all will be well at last. Hope is an anchor of the
soul,
Heb. vi. 19.
“Thou shalt dig about thee,” that is, “Thou shalt be as safe as
an army in its entrenchments.” Those that submit to God’s government
shall be taken under his protection, and then they are safe both day
and night.
[1.] By day, when they employ themselves abroad: “Thou shalt dig in
safety, thou and thy servants for thee, and not be again set upon
by the plunderers, who fell upon thy servants at plough,”
It is no part of the promised prosperity that he should live in
idleness, but that he should have a calling and follow it, and, when he
was about the business of it, should be under the divine protection.
Thou shalt dig and be safe, not rob and be safe, revel and be safe. The
way of duty is the way of safety.
[2.] By night, when they repose themselves at home: Thou shalt take
thy rest (and the sleep of the labouring man is sweet) in
safety, notwithstanding the dangers of the darkness. The pillar of
cloud by day shall be a pillar of fire by night: “Thou shalt lie
down
(v. 19),
not forced to wander where there is no place to lay thy head on, nor
forced to watch and sit up in expectation of assaults; but thou shalt
go to bed at bedtime, and not only shall non hurt thee, but none shall
make thee afraid nor so much as give thee an alarm.” Note, It is a
great mercy to have quiet nights and undisturbed sleeps; those say so
that are within the hearing of the noise of war. And the way to be
quiet is to seek unto God and keep ourselves in his love. Nothing
needs make those afraid who return to God as their rest and take
him for their habitation.
(3.) That, though now he was slighted, yet he should be courted:
“Many shall make suit to thee, and think it their interest to
secure thy friendship.” Suit is made to those that are eminently wise
or reputed to be so, that are very rich or in power. Zophar knew Job so
well that he foresaw that, how low soever this present ebb was, if once
the tide turned, it would flow as high as ever; and he would be again
the darling of his country. Those that rightly make suit to God will
probably see the day when others will make suit to them, as the foolish
virgins to the wise, Give us of your oil.
III. Zophar concludes with a brief account of the doom of wicked people
(v. 20):
But the eyes of the wicked shall fail. It should seem, he
suspected that Job would not take his counsel, and here tells him what
would then come of it, setting death as well as life before him. See
what will become of those who persist in their wickedness, and will not
be reformed.
1. They shall not reach the good they flatter themselves with the hopes
of in this world and in the other. Disappointments will be their doom,
their shame, their endless torment. Their eyes shall fail with
expecting that which will never come. When a wicked man dies his
expectation perishes,
Prov. xi. 7.
Their hope shall be as a puff of breath (margin), vanished and
gone past recall. Or their hope will perish and expire as a man does
when he gives up the ghost; it will fail them when they have most need
of it and when they expected the accomplishment of it; it will die
away, and leave them in utter confusion.
2. They shall not avoid the evil which sometimes they frighten
themselves with the apprehensions of. They shall not escape the
execution of the sentence passed upon them, can neither out-brave it
nor outrun it. Those that will not fly to God will find it in vain to
think of flying from him.
|
[Previous] [Next] |
Matthew Henry |
|
Back to Bibles Net . Com – Online Christian Library Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary – Free Download |
Copyright 2008. Bibles Net. Com. All Rights Reserved.