JOB CHAPTER 10 His life a burden; his complaint that he could not see the cause or end of God's punishment: God delighteth not to oppress; nor was his innocence, though suspected by men, hid from God, JOB 10 1-7. He argueth that, being God's work, in his hands, receiving all from him, God would not... [ Continue Reading ]
DO NOT CONDEMN ME; or, _Pronounce me not to be a wicked man_, as my friends do; neither deal with me as such, as I confess thou mightest do by thy sovereign power and in rigorous justice. O discover my integrity by removing this stroke, for which my friends so highly censure and condemn me. WHEREFOR... [ Continue Reading ]
Dost thou take any pleasure in it? Hast thou any advantage or honour by it? Dost thou think it right and just, and becoming the Ruler of the world? THAT THOU SHOULDEST OPPRESS, by thy absolute and irresistible power, without any regard to that justice, and equity, and clemency by which thou usest to... [ Continue Reading ]
OF FLESH, i.e. of a man, who is called _flesh_, as GENESIS 6:13 ISAIAH 40:6. SEEST THOU AS MAN SEETH? Man seeth outsides only, and judgeth by appearances, and is liable to many mistakes, and cannot search out secret faults without forcing men by cruel usage to accuse themselves: but thou needest non... [ Continue Reading ]
Man's time is short and uncertain, and therefore he must improve his time whilst he hath it, and diligently search out the crimes of malefactors, and punish them whilst he may, lest by death he lose the opportunity of doing justice, and the criminal get out of his power. But it is not so with thee,... [ Continue Reading ]
Keeping me so long as it were upon the rack to compel me to accuse myself, as men sometimes do.... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM NOT WICKED, i.e. a hypocrite, or an ungodly man, as my friends account me; and therefore deal not with me as such. THERE IS NONE THAT CAN DELIVER OUT OF THINE HAND: the sense is, either, 1. Thou dost not need to keep me fast in thy prison, lest I should make an escape, or any should rescue me... [ Continue Reading ]
TOGETHER ROUND ABOUT, i.e. all of me; all the faculties of my soul, and all the parts of my body, which are now overspread with sores and ulcers; I am wholly thy creature and workmanship, made by thee and for thee. THOU DOST DESTROY ME, or _swallow me up_, to wit, without cause, or any eminent provo... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THE CLAY, i.e. of the clay; the note of similitude here expressing the truth of things, as it doth 1 THESSALONIANS 1:14, and elsewhere, as hath been before observed. Or, as a potter maketh a vessel of the clay; and so this may note both the frailty of man's nature, which of itself decays and peri... [ Continue Reading ]
Thus he modestly and accurately describes God's admirable work in making man out of a small and liquid, and as it were milky, substance, by degrees congealed and condensed into that exquisite frame of man's body.... [ Continue Reading ]
CLOTHED ME, i.e. covered my inward and more noble parts; which, as philosophers and physicians observe, are first formed. So he proceeds in describing man's formation gradually. WITH BONES AND SINEWS; which are the stay and strength of the body; and some of them, as the skull and ribs, enclose and d... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou didst not only give me a curious body, but also a living and a reasonable soul: thou didst at first give me life, and then maintain it in me; both when I was in the womb, (which is a marvellous work of God,) and afterward, when I was unable to do any thing to preserve my own life. FAVOUR, or _b... [ Continue Reading ]
This place may be understood either, 1. Of Job's present afflictions. So the sense is this, Yet in the midst of all those manifestations of thy grace and kindness to me, thou didst retain a secret purpose of changing thy course and carriage towards me, and of bringing these dreadful calamities upon... [ Continue Reading ]
If I commit the least sin, (as who is there that liveth, and sinneth not?) thou dost not wink at or pass by my sins, as thou usually dost other men s, but dost severely and diligently observe them all, that thou mayst punish them: compare JOB 14:16, JOB 31:4. THOU WILT NOT ACQUIT ME FROM MINE INIQUI... [ Continue Reading ]
IF I BE WICKED, i.e. an ungodly hypocrite, as my friends esteem me, then I am truly and extremely, and must be eternally, miserable. RIGHTEOUS, i.e. an upright and good man: so, whether good or bad, all comes to one; I have no relief. YET WILL I NOT LIFT UP MY HEAD; or, yet _can I not_, &c; the futu... [ Continue Reading ]
AS A FIERCE LION; which hunteth after his prey with great eagerness, and when he overtakes it, falls upon it with great fury. AND AGAIN THOU SHOWEST THYSELF MARVELLOUS UPON ME, Heb. AND THOU RETURNEST AND SHOWEST THYSELF MARVELLOUS UPON, or _in_, or _against me_. The lion tears its prey speedily, an... [ Continue Reading ]
THY WITNESSES, i.e. thy judgments, which are the witnesses and evidences, both of my sins, and of thy wrath. _Thy indignation_, i.e. my miseries, the effects of thine anger. These words are added to explain what he meant by renewing witnesses. CHANGES AND WAR; or, _changes and an army_; which may be... [ Continue Reading ]
To wit, alive, i.e. that I had never been born alive.... [ Continue Reading ]
I SHOULD HAVE BEEN, or, _Oh that I had been_ ! and so in the following branch, OH THAT I HAD BEEN CARRIED! For why should not these verbs of the future tense be so rendered here, as that JOB 10:18 is, the reason being wholly the same?... [ Continue Reading ]
My life is short, and of itself hastens apace to an end; there is no need that thou shouldst push it forward, or grudge me some ease for so small a moment. LET ME ALONE; or, _lay aside_, or _remove_, thy hand or anger from me.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO THE PLACE WHENCE I SHALL NOT RETURN into this world and life: see JOB 7:9,10. DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH, i.e. a dark and dismal shade: SEE POOLE ON "JOB 3:5".... [ Continue Reading ]
A LAND OF DARKNESS; either in things, without any succession of day and night, winter and summer; or among persons, where great and small are in the same condition, JOB 3:19. WHERE THE LIGHT IS AS DARKNESS; where there is no difference between light and darkness, where the day is as dark as the nigh... [ Continue Reading ]