The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 63

aforesaid counsellors, kings, and princes, who, notwithstanding their l\mbitious great- ness, which had led them to construct gorgeous sepulchres and amaee untold hoards of wealth, were now lying cold and stiff within their desolate palaces. Behold the vanity of earthly greatness I-monarchs mouldering in the dust (Isa, xiv.11; Ezek. xxxii. 23). See the impotence of wealth-it cannot arrest the footsteps or death (Jes. i. 11; Luke xvi. 22). Note that death is a great leveller (Eccles. ii. 14, 16; Ps. fxxxix. 48; Heh, iL 27), and the grave a place where distinctions are unknown (ver. 19; Eccles, iii. 20). 4,. Complete tranquillity. "As a hidden untimely birth I h11d not been, and as children that have never seen the light" (ver. 16; cf. Eccles. vi. 4, 6); unconscious and still as non-existence it6elf, a.• those" upon whose unopened ear no cry of misellf ever fell, and on whose unopened eye the light, and the evil which the light reveals, never brol1e;" a tranquillity deeper (and, in Job's estimation, more blessed) than that of those who only attain rest after passing through life's ills-a doctrine against which both the, light of nature and the voice or revelation protest (vide homily on ver. 16). 6. Entire eman- cipation. A perfect cessation from all life's troubles, and a final escape from the exactions of his unseen oppressor. "There the wicked cease from troubling," etc. (vers. 17-19; cf. Eccles. ix. 5-10)-a sentiment, again, which is only partiaRy correct, u. so far as it relates to the ills of life. LESSONS. 1. God's best gifts are often least appreciated. 2. Men frequently mis- take ill for good. 3. What we have not commonly appears more desirable than what we have. 4. "Better is a living dog than a dead lion." 6. The grave is a poor place for a man to hide his sorrows in. 6. It is better to bear the ills we have than fly to others that we know not of. 7. It is well to scrutinii:e keenly all that we either think or say in trouble. 8. There is a greater sin than despising the gift of temporal existence; viz. despising the offer of eternal life. Vers. 13-19.-The grave. I. A B.EGION OF DD'ENETB.ABLE D.A.BKNEB& Il. A B.EALH OF UKBROKEN SILENCE. Ill. AN ABODE OF DEEP TRANQUILLITY, JV. A BED OF PEACEFUL SLUMBER. V, A WORLD OF ABSOLUTE EQUALITY. VL A PLACE OF UNIVERSAL RENDEZVOUS. Vil. A BOUSE OF TEMPORARY LODGING, LESSOKS. 1. Humility. 2. Contentment. 3. Diligence. 4. Watchfulness, Ver. 16.-" To be or not to be." I. AGAINST BEING A:t.'D IN FAVOUR OF NOT-BEING, 1. Life is little other than a capacity for suffering affliction. 2. At the best, life is ao short, and man's powers so feeble, that nothing he undertakes can attain t-0 perfection. 3. In every instance life involves the terrible necessity and painful experience of dying, 4. Life always carries in its bosom the possibility of coming short of everlasting felicity. II. IN FAVOUR OF BEING ..U."D AGAINST NOT-BEING, 1. Life in itself is n. thing of pure enjoyment. 2. Man's powers, though imperfect, are susceptible of infinite improvement. 3. The day of existence, whether long or short, atrords a noble oppor- tunity for serving God. 4. The fact that one is born gives him a chance, by being born again, of attaini □ g to salvation and eternal life. LESSONS. 1. Notwithstanding all the miseries of human life, it is better to have been born than to have remained in non-existence. 2. Notwithstanding all its brevity and imperfection, life is worth living. 3. Because of all its hardships and sorrows, it should be given up with resignation when God recalls it to himself. Vers. 20-26.-The stricken patriarch's lament: 3. IJesiring his death. I. DOLEFUL LAHENTATION. Job pitifully waili forth that his soul was in bitterness because of: 1. Tl.e miBerieii of life. Which he depicts as: (1) inward trouble; not merely bodily pain, but mental anguish, bitterness of soul (ver. 20); the acutest form of all distress (l'rov, xviii. 14; cf. ' Macbeth,' act v. sc. 3). (2) Constant trouble, which came to him ae regularly as his daily bread: "My sighing cometh before I eat" (cf. Ps. lxxx. 5; Isa. xxx. 20). (3) Abundant trouble, like the gushing forth of waters: "My roarings are poured out like the waters" (ver. 24)-a frequent image for affliction ( cf. 2 Sam. x:x.ii. 17; Pe, xlii. 7; lxxxviii. 7). (4) Paralyzing trouble, terror overtaking him the moment he !lit, 1lI, 1-26,] THE BOOR OF JOB. 67