PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Pulpit Commentary — Job
George Rawlinson [1812-1902] · 615,689 words · 663 reading sections
The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 241
Vcrs. 16-22.-Job to God: 4-. Falling back into tM darkness. I. BROODING OVEB HIS MISERY. 1. .A sudden transition. Job's anticipation of the future resurrection-life was a momentary inspiration ; not a calm, clear, steady light, diffusing a cheerful radiance within his soul, and shining on his onward progress to the g…
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ein wae hie own Bon (Isa, !iii. 6, 10; Rom, iv. 25; 2 Cor. v. 21). In view of Ubriet't1 propitio.tory work he deah with men in a way of mercy even before the a.dvent ; eince the eo.crifice of Calvary God is in Christ reconciling the worlrl unto himself, not imputing unto men their trespasses (2 Cor. v. Hl). Yet the …
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co':°ple~ly at an end (Eccles, ix. 6). He returns no more to his house (cb, vii, 10), neither is he more concerned wilh the fortunes of bis family (ver. 21). Bow far this correctly represents the Ha.dean world it is impossible to eay. That aieembodied spirits should retain the power of apprehending what transpires on e…
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of God. And yet, asks Job, how is it possible that pnrity should be exacted or him? How can the product be diverse from the cause; the stream be of purer quality than the source? III. REASONING AND EXPOSTULATION FOUNDED ON T~IESE FACTS. (Vars. 5, 6.) If man, then, is so weak, and his life determined by so narrow bound…
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Ven1. 17-22.-Self-defence before God: 4. Relapse into despondenttmagina4ions. I. HE ~TILL AB0ll!WS WITH VARIED FIGUIIES, THE VERY ELOQUENOE OF COMPLAINT, God has taken his sins and placed them as in a.bag, sealed for safety of deposit, that they may be reproduced against him. He appears like an accuser who heaps up …
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Vere. 7-10.-Sad views of life. If the tree be cut down, it springs again; but if man dieth, he wasteth away. Certainly, then, man's hope is not in this life. The disr;nal views given in these few verses demand the full assurance of the resurrection. This, is a feature of the Book of Job. It presents a negative view of …
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J, THE EAGER, UNSATISFIED ORY OF MEN APAUT FROM DIVINE REVJ;lLATION. II. THE PARTIAL UNFOLDING OF THE TRUTH IN THE EARLIER REVELATIONS. Ill. THE PERF.ftCT AND UNEQUIVOOAL BF.VELATION' MADE BY JEBUB OHRIST. or this last we may notice: 1. Christ's teachings all proceed on the assumption that there is a future Ii fe. 2.…
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of God, he ie cBlled to eh1ue a larger life than thi\t of the natural world. The Chriatirin who is out down as a frail flower on earth will yet bloom as an immortal flower in Paradiee.-W. F. A. Ver. 4:.-" .A clean thing out of an unclean." Job seems to mean that man cannot trnnsoend hie origin. He comes from the frail…
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what they would have cboeen for themselves. Still, if the thought of duty is foremoat, all may see that there is something that duty calls them to do. It gives ue a great i:en~e of confidence to clisoover this, and to fling all wild fancies Mlde In the single desire to accomplish our true lire-task. Often the only r…
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lncorruptlon to light through the goepel " (2 Tim. i. 10), 1. By Mll revelation of God. In Ohriat we see God as our Father. Such a God cannot mock us with a delusion cannot plant an instinct in us for which there is no satisfaction. All other instincts hav~ their objects providecl. A good Father will not let this starv…
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erosion. A emall trickling stream oute through a gree.t·hill, and me.kes a deep winding valley. We.ter oonatRntly flowing over gre.nite rocks IIIJlootha the he.rd atone e.nd wears It a.way, eating its oourse through the most 110lid cliffs. The falls of Niagara. are receding, and in front of them is seen an ever-leng…
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Eliphaz doce not point oht what part of need he.ve we of witueaees? behold, now ye Job's discourses he considers objectionable, have heard hie blasphemy. What think but condemns the whole of them under ye? They answered and Mid, He is guilty this broad and general description, which of <1,,ath " (Matt, xxvi. 65, 66)…
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Divine ntme, tbaa thOl!e of hie advertmiee. of thy mouth 1 It is remarkable th a\ neither In hb! raply, without claiming any apecial Eliphaa nor either of his ftienda ever poinll wisdom, be po11n1 -contempt on their pre• out what parliaul.M words of Job they •ntiollll to apiritual understanding (oh. xvii. objeot to …
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water1 rnther, HO'UI muoh les, 11116 that '8 escape being miserable, but- that the p11nieh- abominab~ and impure, a man that drinketh me11t whioh they have so richly dese:rved in iniquity, eto. ? It cannot be doubted the.t A.Beuredly awaits them, and is to be inflicted Job Is iudividue.lly pointed e.t. Not man- on them…
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BUpport of the Septuagint, rra'l'fl'ri-r-GJM'1&1 •is riohea shall make tbemaelves wings, and ui'Ta ,..,.,,iv. But it requiree a slight ohange take their departure. Reither shall he pro- in the pointing. He ku.oweth that the day long the perfecition thereof upon the earth ; of darku.BB& is nigh at hand. " The day of …
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HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-16.-.Eliphaz to Job: Resumption of the second controversy: I. An overwhelm- ing indictment. I. OLD ACCUSATIONS REPEATED. 1. Unprofitable talk. The replies given by Job in the preceding colloquy Elipbaz characterizes as (1) unbecoming, altogether unworthy of a wise man such as Job bad professed (eh.…
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80ft anaftr turneth away W111th," while "grievous word& lltit up anger" (Prov. xv. 1). Eliphaz retorts, with a keen-edged irony sca.roely second to Job's, thAt no doubt Job was a wise man, a very wise man, in fact the only wise man, since (1) Job bad been born first of men (ver. 7), and 88 a consequence enjoyed "the…
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the Seed of the wom11n, was untainted by hereditary cormptioa. Holy in hla birth (Luke i. 36), he conHnued throughout life "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from einnere" (Heb. vii. 26). The moral purity of Jesus was indispensable to hie mediator- ehip (Heh. vii. 27), 3. Man'a in/lJ'T'iority to the angels. Man o…
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fhe things he regards 1111 constituting the rummum boftum of e:x:ist.enoe-waalth, pleABure, fame, power, e.nd 1mch like-seem to belong to a sphere that Is not much affected by prayer ; while, having never experienced any desire for those spiritual realities compre- hended in the gospel, blessing of IIAlvetion, viz. …
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33). 3, Oertain; i.e. verified by experience. In the preceding colloquy Eliphaz he.d treated Job to wisdom he bad learnt in ecstatic vision (eh. iv. 12); here be Jaye before him the results of observation through the ordinary channels of information. He does not claim for hie approRChing utterances the high authority o…
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robbel'l!of Job'etime (oh. xii. 6; u.19) were men of thie type. (2) Defiant antagonism to God (vers. 25, 26). Hostility to God is the n11tural chraoterietio of the sinful heart (Rom. viii. 7); but all tyrannical oppression of men is practically a fighting age.inet God. And the particulBr aggravation of the wioked m1…
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by hie prayers the beni110n of love. (4) Utterly; toe judgmentl of the Almighty oonsuming the tabernacles of bribery and their wicked inhabitants, who conceive mischief and bring forth vanity, and whose belly prepareth deceit (ver. 35). A description, again, which, though inapplicable to Job, for whom it was wrongfully…
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Vers. 20-35.- Warning• from the wisdom of ezpmence. I. TltE TEBBmLB TORMENTS OF THE WICKED. (Vere. 20-24.) 1. Li/dong pain. Notwithstanding all appearances of ease and prosperity, the bad man inly suffers. 'l'he sword seems ever suspended above the tyrant's head. The serpent is ever busy with the tooth of remorse at…
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- Vere. 14-16.-Human sinfulness. Elipbaz accuses Job of his attempt to justify himself, and speaks with great apparent acerbity of spirit. His words are cutting and . cruel. He seoretly declares Joh to be sinful in proportion to bis sufferings. He branches into genere.lities, and e,ffirms the ge11eral hume.o sinh.il~e…
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tenure, B. He ehall dwell in gloom, "He shall not depart out of darkneu." 4. He finolly perishes by the breath of God. "By the breath of his mouth shall he go a.way." '!'hie is the portion of the man who "stretcheth ont his hand against God." 'l'he nesured Christi11n hope is bright, clear, comforting. It change~ cc the…
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self-condemnation, e.nd it is the most honourable. It is shameful to eln, but it is more she.me~1l to ~eny our guilt and try to hush np our evil-doing, There is something manly m darmg to own one's own wrong deeds. It would be better if we could do it more among men, confessing our faults one to e.nother (Jas. v. 16…
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II. WrrEN THl!I FAULT 18 WITH THE SUFFERER. 1. lmpmitence. It might have been as Eliphaz had suppoaed, and in some cases it is so, and then the guilty man excludes the Divine consolations by refusing to confess his sine. Bo long as the sinner declines to admit his ~uilt he cannot receive God's comfort. The grace of Goe…
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wa.ndering in apite of 1111 our care. Therefore we ha.ve t.o find safety in obeying a lleCOnd oommand, "My son, give me thy heart" (Prov. xxiii 26).-W. F. A. Vere. U-16.-God's boUness and man's 11in. Elipha.z takes up Job's words (eh. xiv. 1-4), but turns them &gRinst their author. Job had spoken of inherited frailty…
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EXPOSITION. OHAPTER XVI. 10-16) he alternates between reproaches addressed to his friends ( vers. 10, 12) and Job answers the second speech of Eliphaz lamentations over his own condition (vers. in a discourse which occupies two (short) 11, 13-16). chapters, o.nd is thus not much more lengthy than the speech of his a…
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a cloee? Or wh~t emboldeneth thee that company. The lose of hie children baa thou amwereat 1 rn.thar, ,chat provoket1, desolated hie household; hie other nffiioliona thed (Re¥ised Vereion) Job had begged have alienated his friends. ~he.! his friends would be silent (oh. xiii. 5, Ver. 8.-And thou hut filled me with …
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lont triumph, a.nd tho rude jeers of the denuded himeelf of his honour and diantty "abjeote," who made him their" song" 1tnd an<l as it were trailed them in the ,Just. ' their'' byword" (oh. xxx. 9). And turned Ver. 16.-:My face ia foul with weeping. me over into the hands of the wicked. Job Ho hag wept so much that hi…
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HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-6.-Job to Eliphaz: I. Unacceptable comfort and unassuaged grief. I. UNACCEM'ADLE COMFORT. Job characterizes the offered consolation of Eliphaz and his companions a.s: 1. In its nature commonplau. "I have heard many such thinas." Not that Job imagined self-evident and obvious maxims could not be t…
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do : if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up wordu against you, and shake mine hel\d at you," 'fhe allusion seems to be to the glibness with which Eliphaz and his copo.rtners tossed their trite maxims from their tongues; which, says Job, is not a greo.t thing o.fter nll, hut, on the contrary, is rathn a p…
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a Jong time be b&d Btruggled bravely, against the eloquent reprelient&tlone of hla frienns, to maintAin his confidence in God's affection, notwithstanding all untoward appearances. But now, under extreme presrure of misery, he is on the eve of giving way-talking quite openly of God as his enemy, whose wrath tears hi…
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against himself by means of three striking figures, in which he represents God as (1) a mighty Hunter, with wrathful soul and gnashing teeth and flaming eyes (ver. 9) pursning a poor frail, timid creature with a pack of fierce and yelping curs (ver. 10), to which the prey when caught Id mercilessly thrown (var. 11); (2…
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Vers. 18-22.-Job to God: 2. An appeal, to God against God. I. A BUDLtllE I'KVOCATION. "0 earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place I" (ver. 18). I. The explanation of the language. The allusion seems to be to Gen. iv. 10, where the blood of Abel is represented as crying to God from the ii:round fo…
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. 1-22.-Deep dtjection and irrepressible hope. In this reply Job refuses to make IL direct rejoinder to the atta.ck upon him; he ill too utterly bowed do1vn in his weakness. But- I. The first part of his speech consists of A BITTER BABCABlll UPON THE IDLE TALK OF ms FRIENDS, (Vers.1-5…
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Ver. 6.-Sorrow without hope. Unalleviated by the words of his friends, Job turns round upon them, and in painful, half-passionate words retorts upon them their incom- petency to gi~e him consolation. "Miserable comforters are ye all." He is driven almost to despair. The painful alternative of speech or silence is be…
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AWARD, The upright, einoere, but misunderstood ~ufferur leaves all to the final judg- ment. The "witness" and the" record" are "on high." To that tribunal which is also on high be appeals, and with the "scorn" of hie "friends" breaking hie already afflicted spirit he turns his tearful eyes "unto God." Self-assured i…
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Ver. 6 . - I ~ grief. Job does not know what to do; neither speech nor silence will &Sllu.&ge his grief. It appears to be incurable. I. GREAT GRIEF SEEMS INCURABLE TO THE SUFFl!RER. 1. It CQ,11,not be mea,.~ured, Feeling destroys the sense of proportion. Every ooe who suffers much is tempted to think himself the great…
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Ver. 17 (last clanse, "My prayer is pure ").-Purity of prayer. The impure prayer cannot be beard by God. It may be earnest, passionate, vehement, yet it must fall back rejected and confounded. Let us, then, consider in what purity of prayer consists. L REALITY. The prayer that is not felt and meant in the heart is a…
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la misjudged, but in heaven there is One who Rees all, and can witness both bis woe and his Integrity, More than this; he turns from God as the source of his cali!.mity to God as bis Saviour, Dr, S. Cox has pointed out that Job has here made a great discovery, He bas found a higher God, a God of love, above the God who…
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this chapter has been considered in the in- Ver. 3.-La.y down now;; or; giflfl•Mf.D a troductory seotion to eh. xvi. It is occu- pl.edge (see the Revised Verdion), · · The terms pied ID.Rinly with Job's complaints of his used in this verse are law terms. Job calls treatment by his .friends, and his lamen- upon •God. .…
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thou not e:11,lt them. God will not exe.lt righteous conree, neither devil\ting from it those who are without underetnnding. to tho right hand nor to the left, but hold- Ver. 5.-He that ape11keth ffattery to hie ing to tho strict line of re<ititurle witl,out friends; rnther, lie that d.enounceth liis frie11ds waveri…
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&rt 1111 father j i.e. I do not murmur; I might seem that to one in Bheol there could aooept my lot; I am ready to lie down with be no hope. Bui Job is too oonsoious of his corruption, and embrace it, and call it "my own ignorance to dogrnatize on suoh a sub- father," and heoocforth remain with it. The ject. What dO…
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"sit upon the ground," and "talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs;" to reflect that,- "Nothing can we oall our own, but death : And that small model of the bnrren earth, Which servos na peate and oover to our bones." (' King RicharJ II.,' act ii. sc. 1; act iii. sc. 2.) It I.a well to realize that the tomb is but …
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their frklnd, to be a spoil (ver. 6); and so would they in torn be wounded in their parent11.l loves. C'TOd's retributions often show a striking correspondence lo the crimes they avenge. Though the 7a: talionis has been abrogated. by the gospel, it is still not unfrequently ob~erved that they who take the sword peri…
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pious would be 11sl;oniehed at RO mysterious a dispensation; as arterwards they were at Christ (Isa. Hi. 14), and might e;oen be led, like David (PR. xxXV'ii. 7), Asaph (Ps. lu:iii. 8), and Jeremiah (xii, 1), to envy the lot of the ungo<lly, who, notwithstanding their im11iety, are 1tllowed to prosper. This danger ie h…
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the bare idea of looking for a restoration when one waa mo.nifestly stepping Into dark- net111 being &a foolish &a to look for d11ylight when the night was near. .And eo death deals with all men's hopes-hopes of life, of prosperity, of happineBB, of usefulness on eo.rth,-intercepte them, cute them olf, engulfs them …
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faith, co.n never force him from it. And he is bound to exchange his darker thoughts of God for these truer ones, apparently unconscious that they are inconsistent with one another. III. But there comes another BELAPSE INTO DESPONDENCY. (Vera. 4-7.) He looks without, at the irritating spectacle of those complacent, un…
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Ver. 11.-The premature arrest <!f the purposes of life. Job looks out from the 1111dness of his present condition, and turns in thought to his past days, to the purposes of those days--the hopes he had cherished, the plans he had laid, even the thoughts of his heart. Alas! they are dashed-broken off. His purposes not a…
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the ending of the day, Pain may ce&Be then; but no ell.l!e comes thence to the e.ffiictcd one. To ory "father," "mother," "sister," to the worm and to corruption bas no element of cheerfulness in it, no inspiration of brightening hope to relieve the gloomy sorrowfulness of the present. Such a future could not be antici…
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unflinching faith. It must be on\y of faith, however; for we have not the lnherit,mce aa yet, but only a pledge of it. Still God'a pledge ie an absolutely lll\fe security,-W, F. A, Ver. 4.-7'1re hf/arl that ia hitl<lml from -understwn.d,ng, Job is pereuRded that God vdll not desert him. He even takes the very delusi…
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II. Bonrow SHOULD Ll:AD us TO EXERCISE FAITH, What if the eye be dim? We are not dependen\ on eight. Our part ie to walk by faith. Too clear a landscape excludes the sense of mystery, and absorbs our attention in connection with thinga oarthLy an<l visible, It is w~Il to feel our littleness, our darknesR, our limitatio…
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Ver. 11.-Broke,i, purposes. Job seems to be sinking back into despair after thll hopeful and confident utterance of vcr. 9. Perhaps the explanation of the situation li~ in ~he difficulty the p~t:iar<::h ex~riencee in 9;4uaring the convictions of bis rising faith with the actual condition in which he now lies. He won…
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CHAPTER XVIIL ye make an end of words t (So Rosenmiiller, Gesenins, Welte, Merx, Lee, and Canon Vars. 1-21.-Bildad's second speech is Cook.) Others render, "How long will ye no improvement upon bis first (eh. viii.). lay B11ares for words?" which is a possible He has evidently been exceedingly nettled translation, bu…
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gloomy 11nd terrifying thoughts which come Ver. 16. -Ri• root, 1he.ll be dried up over him from time to time (eh. iii. 25; vii. beneath, He shall be like e. tree whoee 14 ; ix. 28; xiii. 21) e.nd fill him with con- roots no moisture reaches, e,nd which, there. 1tero11tion. And ahe.11 drive him to bis feet; fore, wither…
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HOMILETICS. Vera. I-21.-Bildad to Job: an .Arabian o,·ator's d6SOOurse.. I. TaE FAULTY IJ;."TnonuCTION. Bildad possessed at least three qualifications indispensable tp suc- cessf'ul speaking-fen-id imagination, glowing eloquence, and vehement passion. Ho was characterized also by three fatal defects-want of calmnes…
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of a epeoial providence (Ps, xl. 17; Matt. x. 30); since tbe first can be proved by ndeque.te testimony, while the second and third are supported and confirmed by the Inner witness of conscienco. Even the case pronounced by Bilde.d to be impossible. viz. the suspension of the moral law of retribution, bas come to pass.…
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lepTOBy, which, when it apprehe11d11 a sinner, (1) devo11r11 the strength (or bal'I!) of his 11kin, (e. oonaumet1 either the members of the body (DelitzBOh), or" the muscles which &re to the akin what hara &re to a gate, or those pusages and orifices, those inlets and out.Jell! of the body, at whioh many forms of di…
923 wordsSource & rights
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.