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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
J O B
CHAP. XXVII.
Job had sometimes complained of his friends that they were so eager in
disputing that they would scarcely let him put in a word: “Suffer me
that I may speak;” and, “O that you would hold your peace!” But now, it
seems, they were out of breath, and left him room to say what he would.
Either they were themselves convinced that Job was in the right or they
despaired of convincing him that he was in the wrong; and therefore
they threw away their weapons and gave up the cause. Job was too hard
for them, and forced them to quit the field; for great is the truth and
will prevail. What Job had said
was a sufficient answer to Bildad’s discourse; and now Job paused
awhile, to see whether Zophar would take his turn again; but, he
declining it, Job himself went on, and, without any interruption or
vexation given him, said all he desired to say in this matter.
I. He begins with a solemn protestation of his integrity and of his
resolution to hold it fast,
II. He expresses the dread he had of that hypocrisy which they charged
him with,
III. He shows the miserable end of wicked people, notwithstanding their
long prosperity, and the curse that attends them and is entailed upon
their families,
| Job’s Protestation of His Sincerity. | B. C. 1520. |
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1 Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,
2 As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the
Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;
3 All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God
is in my nostrils;
4 My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter
deceit.
5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not
remove mine integrity from me.
6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my
heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
Job’s discourse here is called a parable (mashal), the title of
Solomon’s proverbs, because it was grave and weighty, and very
instructive, and he spoke as one having authority. It comes from a word
that signifies to rule, or have dominion; and some think
it intimates that Job now triumphed over his opponents, and spoke as
one that had baffled them. We say of an excellent preacher that he
knows how dominari in concionibus–to command his hearers. Job
did so here. A long strife there had been between Job and his friends;
they seemed disposed to have the matter compromised; and therefore,
since an oath for confirmation is an end of strife
(Heb. vi. 16),
Job here backs all he had said in maintenance of his own integrity with
a solemn oath, to silence contradiction, and take the blame entirely
upon himself if he prevaricated. Observe,
I. The form of his oath
(v. 2):
As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment. Here,
1. He speaks highly of God, in calling him the living God (which
means everliving, the eternal God, that has life in himself) and
in appealing to him as the sole and sovereign Judge. We can swear by no
greater, and it is an affront to him to swear by any other.
2. Yet he speaks hardly of him, and unbecomingly, in saying that he had
taken away his judgment (that is, refused to do him justice in this
controversy and to appear in defence of him), and that by continuing
his troubles, on which his friends grounded their censures of him, he
had taken from him the opportunity he hoped ere now to have of clearing
himself. Elihu reproved him for this word
(ch. xxxiv. 5);
for God is righteous in all his ways, and takes away no man’s judgment.
But see how apt we are to despair of favour if it be not shown us
immediately, so poor-spirited are we and so soon weary of waiting God’s
time. He also charges it upon God that he had vexed his soul,
had not only not appeared for him, but had appeared against him, and,
by laying such grievous afflictions upon him had quite embittered his
life to him and all the comforts of it. We, by our impatience, vex our
own souls and then complain of God that he has vexed them. Yet see
Job’s confidence in the goodness both of his cause and of his God, that
though God seemed to be angry with him, and to act against him for the
present, yet he could cheerfully commit his cause to him.
II. The matter of his oath,
1. That he would not speak wickedness, nor utter deceit–that,
in general, he would never allow himself in the way of lying, that, as
in this debate he had all along spoken as he thought, so he would never
wrong his conscience by speaking otherwise; he would never maintain any
doctrine, nor assert any matter of fact, but what he believed to be
true; nor would he deny the truth, how much soever it might make
against him: and, whereas his friends charged him with being a
hypocrite, he was ready to answer, upon oath, to all their
interrogatories, if called to do so. On the one hand he would not, for
all the world, deny the charge if he knew himself guilty, but would
declare the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and take
to himself the shame of his hypocrisy. On the other hand, since he was
conscious to himself of his integrity, and that he was not such a man
as his friends represented him, he would never betray his integrity,
nor charge himself with that which he was innocent of. He would not be
brought, no, not by the rack of their unjust censures, falsely to
accuse himself. If we must not bear false witness against our
neighbour, then not against ourselves.
2. That he would adhere to this resolution as long as he lived
(v. 3):
All the while my breath is in me. Our resolutions against sin
should be thus constant, resolutions for life. In things doubtful and
indifferent, it is not safe to be thus peremptory. We know not what
reason we may see to change our mind: God may reveal to us that which
we now are not aware of. But in so plain a thing as this we cannot be
too positive that we will never speak wickedness. Something of a reason
for his resolution is here implied–that our breath will not be always
in us. We must shortly breathe our last, and therefore, while our
breath is in us, we must never breathe wickedness and deceit, nor allow
ourselves to say or do any thing which will make against us when our
breath shall depart. The breath in us is called the spirit of
God, because he breathed it into us; and this is another reason why
we must not speak wickedness. It is God that gives us life and breath,
and therefore, while we have breath, we must praise him.
III. The explication of his oath
(v. 5, 6):
“God forbid that I should justify you in your uncharitable
censures of me, by owning myself a hypocrite: no, until I die I will
not remove my integrity from me; my righteousness I hold fast, and will
not let it go.”
1. He would always be an honest man, would hold fast his integrity,
and not curse God, as Satan, by his wife, urged him to do,
Job here thinks of dying, and of getting ready for death, and therefore
resolves never to part with his religion, though he had lost all he had
in the world. Note, The best preparative for death is perseverance to
death in our integrity. “Until I die,” that is, “though I die by
this affliction, I will not thereby be put out of conceit with my God
and my religion. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.”
2. He would always stand to it that he was an honest man; he would not
remove, he would not part with, the conscience, and comfort, and credit
of his integrity; he was resolved to defend it to the last. “God knows,
and my own heart knows, that I always meant well, and did not allow
myself in the omission of any known duty or the commission of any known
sin. This is my rejoicing, and no man shall rob me of it; I will never
lie against my right.” It has often been the lot of upright men to be
censured and condemned as hypocrites; but it well becomes them to bear
up boldly against such censures, and not to be discouraged by them nor
think the worse of themselves for them; as the apostle
We have a good conscience in all things, willing to live
honestly.
| Hic murus aheneus esto, nil conscire sibi.
Be this thy brazen bulwark of defence, Still to preserve thy conscious innocence. |
Job complained much of the reproaches of his friends; but (says he)
my heart shall not reproach me, that is, “I will never give my
heart cause to reproach me, but will keep a conscience void of offence;
and, while I do so, I will not give my heart leave to reproach me.”
Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that
justifies. To resolve that our hearts shall not reproach us when we
give them cause to do so is to affront God, whose deputy conscience is,
and to wrong ourselves; for it is a good thing, when a man has sinned,
to have a heart within him to smite him for it,
But to resolve that our hearts shall not reproach us while we still
hold fast our integrity is to baffle the designs of the evil spirit
(who tempts good Christians to question their adoption, If thou be
the Son of God) and to concur with the operations of the good
Spirit, who witnesses to their adoption.
| Condition of Hypocrites. | B. C. 1520. |
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7 Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up
against me as the unrighteous.
8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath
gained, when God taketh away his soul?
9 Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?
10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call
upon God?
Job having solemnly protested the satisfaction he had in his integrity,
for the further clearing of himself, here expresses the dread he had of
being found a hypocrite.
I. He tells us how he startled at the thought of it, for he looked upon
the condition of a hypocrite and a wicked man to be certainly the most
miserable condition that any man could be in
(v. 7):
Let my enemy be as the wicked, a proverbial expression, like
that
(Dan. iv. 19),
The dream be to those that hate thee. Job was so far from
indulging himself in any wicked way, and flattering himself in it,
that, if he might have leave to wish the greatest evil he could think
of to the worst enemy he had in the world, he would wish him the
portion of a wicked man, knowing that worse he could not wish him. Not
that we may lawfully wish any man to be wicked, or that any man who is
not wicked should be treated as wicked; but we should all choose to be
in the condition of a beggar, an out-law, a galley-slave, any thing,
rather that in the condition of the wicked, though in ever so much pomp
and outward prosperity.
II. He gives us the reasons of it.
1. Because the hypocrite’s hopes will not be crowned
(v. 8):
For what is the hope of the hypocrite? Bildad had condemned it
and Zophar
(ch. xi. 20),
and Job here concurs with them, and reads the death of the hypocrite’s
hope with as much assurance as they had done; and this fitly comes in
as a reason why he would not remove his integrity, but still hold it
fast. Note, The consideration of the miserable condition of wicked
people, and especially hypocrites, should engage us to be upright (for
we are undone, for ever undone, if we be not) and also to get the
comfortable evidence of our uprightness; for how can we be easy if the
great concern lie at uncertainties? Job’s friends would persuade him
that all his hope was but the hope of the hypocrite,
“Nay,” says he, “I would not, for all the world, be so foolish as to
build upon such a rotten foundation; for what is the hope of the
hypocrite?” See here,
(1.) The hypocrite deceived. He has gained, and he has hope;
this is his bright side. It is allowed that he has gained by his
hypocrisy, has gained the praise and applause of men and the wealth of
this world. Jehu gained a kingdom by his hypocrisy and the Pharisees
many a widow’s house. Upon this gain he builds his hope, such as it is.
He hopes he is in good circumstances for another world, because he
finds he is so for this, and he blesses himself in his own way.
(2.) The hypocrite undeceived. He will at last see himself wretchedly
cheated; for,
[1.] God shall take away his soul, sorely against his will.
Thy soul shall be required of thee. God, as the Judge, takes it
away to be tried and determined to its everlasting state. He shall then
fall into the hands of the living God, to be dealt with immediately.
[2.] What will his hope be then? It will be vanity and a lie; it will
stand him in no stead. The wealth of this world, which he hoped in, he
must leave behind him,
The happiness of the other world, which he hoped for, he will certainly
miss of. He hoped to go to heaven, but he will be shamefully
disappointed; he will plead his external profession, privileges, and
performances, but all his pleas will be overruled as frivolous:
Depart from me, I know you not. So that, upon the whole, it is
certain that a formal hypocrite, with all his gains and all his hopes,
will be miserable in a dying hour.
2. Because the hypocrite’s prayer will not be heard
(v. 9):
Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him? No, he will
not; it cannot be expected he should. If true repentance come upon him,
God will hear his cry and accept him
(Isa. i. 18);
but, if he continue impenitent and unchanged, let him not think to find
favour with God. Observe,
(1.) Trouble will come upon him, certainly it will. Troubles in the
world often surprise those that are most secure of an uninterrupted
prosperity. However, death will come, and trouble with it, when he must
leave the world and all his delights in it. The judgment of the great
day will come; fearfulness will surprise the hypocrites,
(2.) Then he will cry to God, will pray, and pray earnestly. Those who
in prosperity slighted God, either prayed not at all or were cold and
careless in prayer, when trouble comes will make their application to
him and cry as men in earnest. But,
(3.) Will God hear him then? In the troubles of this life, God has told
us that he will not hear the prayers of those who regard iniquity in
their hearts
and set up their idols there
(Ezek. xiv. 4),
nor of those who turn away their ear from hearing the law,
Get you to the gods whom you have served,
Judg. x. 14.
In the judgment to come, it is certain, God will not hear the cry of
those who lived and died in their hypocrisy. Their doleful lamentations
will all be unpitied. I will laugh at your calamity. Their
importunate petitions will all be thrown out and their pleas rejected.
Inflexible justice cannot be biassed, nor the irreversible sentence
revoked. See
Matt. vii. 22, 23; Luke xiii. 26,
and the case of the foolish virgins,
3. Because the hypocrite’s religion is neither comfortable nor constant
(v. 10):
Will he delight himself in the Almighty? No, not at any time
(for his delight is in the profits of the world and the pleasures of
the flesh, more than in God), especially not in the time of trouble.
Will he always call upon God? No, in prosperity he will not call
upon God, but slight him; in adversity he will not call upon God but
curse him; he is weary of his religion when he gets nothing by it, or
is in danger of losing. Note,
(1.) Those are hypocrites who, though they profess religion, neither
take pleasure in it nor persevere in it, who reckon their religion a
task and a drudgery, a weariness, and snuff at it, who make use of it
only to serve a turn, and lay it aside when the turn is served, who
will call upon God while it is in fashion, or while the pang of
devotion lasts, but leave it off when they fall into other company, or
when the hot fit is over.
(2.) The reason why hypocrites do not persevere in religion is because
they have no pleasure in it. Those that do not delight in the Almighty
will not always call upon him. The more comfort we find in our religion
the more closely we shall cleave to it. Those who have no delight in
God are easily inveigled by the pleasures of sense, and so drawn away
from their religion; and they are easily run down by the crosses of
this life, and so driven away from their religion, and will not always
call upon God.
| Heritage of the Wicked. | B. C. 1520. |
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11 I will teach you by the hand of God: that which is with
the Almighty will I not conceal.
12 Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it; why then are ye
thus altogether vain?
13 This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the
heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the
Almighty.
14 If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and
his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
15 Those that remain of him shall be buried in death: and his
widows shall not weep.
16 Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as
the clay;
17 He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the
innocent shall divide the silver.
18 He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the
keeper maketh.
19 The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered:
he openeth his eyes, and he is not.
20 Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him
away in the night.
21 The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: and as a
storm hurleth him out of his place.
22 For God shall cast upon him, and not spare: he would fain
flee out of his hand.
23 Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out
of his place.
Job’s friends had seen a great deal of the misery and destruction that
attend wicked people, especially oppressors; and Job, while the heat of
disputation lasted, had said as much, and with as much assurance, of
their prosperity; but now that the heat of the battle was nearly over
he was willing to own how far he agreed with them, and where the
difference between his opinion and theirs lay.
1. He agreed with them that wicked people are miserable people, that
God will surely reckon with cruel oppressors, and one time or other,
one way or other, his justice will make reprisals upon them for all the
affronts they have put upon God and all the wrongs they have done to
their neighbours. This truth is abundantly confirmed by the entire
concurrence even of these angry disputants in it. But,
2. In this they differed–they held that these deserved
judgments are presently and visibly brought upon wicked oppressors,
that they travail with pain all their days, that in prosperity
the destroyer comes upon them, that they shall not be
rich, nor their branch green, and that their destruction
shall be accomplished before their time (so Eliphaz,
that the steps of their strength shall be straitened, that
terrors shall make them afraid on every side (so Bildad,
that he himself shall vomit up his riches, and that in the
fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits, so Zophar,
Now Job held that, in many cases, judgments do not fall upon them
quickly, but are deferred for some time. That vengeance strikes slowly
he had already shown
now he comes to show that it strikes surely and severely, and that
reprieves are no pardons.
I. Job here undertakes to set this matter in a true light
(v. 11, 12):
I will teach you. We must not disdain to learn even from those
who are sick and poor, yea, and peevish too, if they deliver what is
true and good. Observe,
1. What he would teach them: “That which is with the Almighty,”
that is, “the counsels and purposes of God concerning wicked people,
which are hidden with him, and which you cannot hastily judge of; and
the usual methods of his providence concerning them.” This, says Job,
will I not conceal. What God has not concealed from us we must
not conceal from those we are concerned to teach. Things revealed
belong to us and our children.
2. How he would teach them: By the hand of God, that is, by his
strength and assistance. Those who undertake to teach others must look
to the hand of God to direct them, to open their ear
(Isa. l. 4),
and to open their lips. Those whom God teaches with a strong hand are
best able to teach others,
3. What reason they had to learn those things which he was about to
teach them
(v. 12),
that it was confirmed by their own observation–You yourselves have
seen it (but what we have heard, and seen and known, we have need
to be taught, that we may be perfect in our lesson), and that it would
set them to rights in their judgment concerning him–“Why then are
you thus altogether vain, to condemn me for a wicked man because I
am afflicted?” Truth, rightly understood and applied, would cure us of
that vanity of mind which arises from our mistakes. That particularly
which he offers now to lay before them is the portion of a wicked
man with God, particularly of oppressors,
v. 13.
Compare
Their portion in the world may be wealth and preferment, but their
portion with God is ruin and misery. They are above the control of any
earthly power, it may be, but the Almighty can deal with them.
II. He does it, by showing that wicked people may, in some instances,
prosper, but that ruin follows them in those very instances; and that
is their portion, that is their heritage, that is it which they must
abide by.
1. They may prosper in their children, but ruin attends them. His
children perhaps are multiplied
(v. 14)
or magnified (so some); they are very numerous and are raised to
honour and great estates. Worldly people are said to be full of
children
(Ps. xvii. 14),
and, as it is in the margin there, their children are full. In
them the parents hope to live and in their preferment to be honoured.
But the more children they leave, and the greater prosperity they leave
them in, the more and the fairer marks do they leave for the arrows of
God’s judgments to be levelled at, his three sore judgments, sword,
famine, and pestilence,
2 Sam. xxiv. 13.
(1.) Some of them shall die by the sword, the sword of war perhaps
(they brought them up to live by their sword, as Esau,
and those that do so commonly die by the sword, first or last), or by
the sword of justice for their crimes, or the sword of the murderer for
their estates.
(2.) Others of them shall die by famine
(v. 14):
His offspring shall not be satisfied with bread. He thought he
had secured to them large estates, but it may happen that they may be
reduced to poverty, so as not to have the necessary supports of life,
at least not to live comfortably. They shall be so needy that they
shall not have a competency of necessary food, and so greedy, or so
discontented, that what they have they shall not be satisfied with,
because not so much, or not so dainty, as what they have been used to.
You eat, but you have not enough,
Hag. i. 6.
(3.) Those that remain shall be buried in death, that is, shall
die of the plague, which is called death
(Rev. vi. 8),
and be buried privately and in haste, as soon as they are dead, without
any solemnity, buried with the burial of an ass; and even their
widows shall not weep; they shall not have wherewithal to put
them in mourning. Or it denotes that these wicked men, as they live
undesired, so they die unlamented, and even their widows will think
themselves happy that they have got rid of them.
2. They may prosper in their estates, but ruin attends them too,
(1.) We will suppose them to be rich in money and plate, in clothing
and furniture. They heap up silver in abundance as the
dust, and prepare raiment as the clay; they have heaps of
clothes about them, as plentiful as heaps of clay. Or it intimates that
they have such abundance of clothes that they are even a burden to
them. They lade themselves with thick clay,
Hab. ii. 6.
See what is the care and business of worldly people–to heap up worldly
wealth. Much would have more, until the silver is cankered and the
garments are moth-eaten,
But what comes of it? He shall never be the better for it himself;
death will strip him, death will rob him, if he be not robbed and
stripped sooner,
Nay, God will so order it that the just shall wear his raiment and
the innocent shall divide his silver.
[1.] They shall have it, and divide it among themselves. In some way or
other Providence shall so order it that good men shall come honestly by
that wealth which the wicked man came dishonestly by. The wealth of
the sinner is laid up for the just,
Prov. xiii. 22.
God disposes of men’s estates as he pleases, and often makes their
wills against their wills. The just, whom he hated and persecuted,
shall have rule over all his labour, and, in due time, recover with
interest what was violently taken from him. The Egyptians’ jewels were
the Israelites’ pay. Solomon observes
that God makes the sinners drudges to the righteous; for the sinner
he gives travail to gather and heap up, that he may give to him that is
good before God.
[2.] They shall do good with it. The innocent shall not hoard the
silver, as he did that gathered it, but shall divide it to the poor,
shall give a portion to seven and also to eight, which is laying
up the best securities. Money is like manure, good for nothing if it be
not spread. When God enriches good men they must remember they are but
stewards and must give an account. What bad men bring a curse upon
their families with the ill-getting of good men bring a blessing upon
their families with the well-using of. He that by unjust gain
increaseth his substance shall gather it for him that will pity the
poor,
Prov. xxviii. 8.
(2.) We will suppose them to have built themselves strong and stately
houses; but they are like the house which the moth makes for herself in
an old garment, out of which she will soon be shaken,
He is very secure in it, as a moth, and has no apprehension of danger;
but it will prove of as short continuance as a booth which the
keeper makes, which will quickly be taken down and gone, and his
place shall know him no more.
3. Destruction attends their persons, though they lived long in health
and at ease
(v. 19):
The rich man shall lie down to sleep, to repose himself in the
abundance of his wealth (Soul, take thy ease), shall lie down in
it as his strong city, and seem to others to be very happy and very
easy; but he shall not be gathered, that is, he shall not have
his mind composed, and settled, and gathered in, to enjoy his wealth.
He does not sleep so contentedly as people think he does. He lies
down, but his abundance will not suffer him to sleep, at
least not so sweetly as the labouring man,
Eccl. v. 12.
He lies down, but he is full of tossings to and fro till the dawning of
the day, and then he opens his eyes and he is not; he sees
himself, and all he has, hastening away, as it were, in the twinkling
of an eye. His cares increase his fears, and both together make him
uneasy, so that, when we attend him to his bed, we do not find him
happy there. But, in the close, we are called to attend his exit, and
see how miserable he is in death and after death.
(1.) He is miserable in death. It is to him the king of terrors,
When some mortal disease seizes him what a fright is he in! Terrors
take hold of him as waters, as if he were surrounded by the flowing
tides. He trembles to think of leaving this world, and much more of
removing to another. This mingles sorrow and wrath with his
sickness, as Solomon observes,
These terrors put him either
[1.] Into a silent and sullen despair; and then the tempest of God’s
wrath, the tempest of death, may be said to steal him away in the
night, when no one is aware or takes any notice of it. Or,
[2.] Into an open and clamorous despair; and then he is said to be
carried away, and hurled out of his place as with a storm, and with
an east wind, violent, and noisy, and very dreadful. Death, to a godly
man, is like a fair gale of wind to convey him to the heavenly country,
but, to a wicked man, it is like an east wind, a storm, a tempest, that
hurries him away in confusion and amazement, to destruction.
(2.) He is miserable after death.
[1.] His soul falls under the just indignation of God, and it is the
terror of that indignation which puts him into such amazement at the
approach of death
(v. 22):
For God shall cast upon him and not spare. While he lived he had
the benefit of sparing mercy; but now the day of God’s patience is
over, and he will not spare, but pour out upon him the full vials of
his wrath. What God casts down upon a man there is no flying from nor
bearing up under. We read of his casting down great stones from
heaven upon the Canaanites
(Josh. x. 11),
which made terrible execution among them; but what was that to his
casting down his anger in its full weight upon the sinner’s conscience,
like the talent of lead?
Zech. v. 7, 8.
The damned sinner, seeing the wrath of God break in upon him, would
fain flee out of his hand; but he cannot: the gates of hell are locked
and barred, and the great gulf fixed, and it will be in vain to call
for the shelter of rocks and mountains. Those who will not be persuaded
now to fly to the arms of divine grace, which are stretched out to
receive them, will not be able to flee from the arms of divine wrath,
which will shortly be stretched out to destroy them.
[2.] His memory falls under the just indignation of all mankind
(v. 23):
Men shall clap their hands at him, that is, they shall rejoice
in the judgments of God, by which he is cut off, and be well pleased in
his fall. When the wicked perish there is shouting,
Prov. xi. 10.
When God buries him men shall hiss him out of his place, and leave on
his name perpetual marks of infamy. In the same place where he has been
caressed and cried up he shall be laughed at
and his ashes shall be trampled on.
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