JOB CHAPTER 8 Bildad's reproof: Job's words said to be as wind: God just in all his ways, and in his dealings towards Job's children: if he would pray to God, and was indeed pure and upright, God would arise for him, JOB 8:1. For this he appealeth to the history of ancient times, which declare the b... [ Continue Reading ]
i.e. Boisterous and violent, swelling and furious, opposing all persons and things that stand in thy way, not sparing either God or men.... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD, Heb. _the mighty God_, as this word signifies; _the almighty or all-sufficient God_, as the next name of God here implies. These names are emphatically used, to prove that God cannot deal unjustly or falsely with men, because he hath no need of it, nor temptation to it, being self-sufficient fo... [ Continue Reading ]
What though thou wast in a great measure innocent, thy children, upon whom a great part of these calamities fell, might be guilty of great sins; and therefore God is not unrighteous in these proceedings. HE HATH CAST THEM AWAY, expelled, or cast them out, (to wit, out of the world, or out of his fav... [ Continue Reading ]
But, God hath spared thee, whom he might justly have destroyed with thy children, and thou art yet capable of his favour, if thou seek for it; and therefore cease from these causeless and unthankful complaints. SEEK UNTO GOD BETIMES, Heb. _rise early to seek him_, i.e. if thou wouldst seek him speed... [ Continue Reading ]
If thou wert in truth what thou pretendest, and hast been thought by others, to be, PURE AND UPRIGHT, i.e. of a sincere heart and blameless life towards God and men. But God's severe dealing with thee is an evident token, that notwithstanding all thy fair shows, thou art but a hypocrite and secret s... [ Continue Reading ]
The sense is either, 1. Though thou hadst possessed but very little at first, yet God would have wonderfully blessed and increased thy estate; whereas now God hath brought thee down from a great estate almost to nothing; which is an evidence of his displeasure, and thy hypocrisy. Or, 2. Though the... [ Continue Reading ]
OF THE FORMER AGE, i.e. of our predecessors, who had the advantage of longer life and more experience, besides more frequent revelations from God, than we have; who also will be more impartial judges of this cause than we may be thought to be. Inform thyself from them by the instructions which they... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT OF YESTERDAY; but lately born, and therefore have but little knowledge and experience, as it follows. OUR DAYS UPON EARTH ARE A SHADOW: this is meant either, 1. Of their lives in particular, which were far shorter than the lives of their ancestors, the patriarchs, whose long lives gave them opp... [ Continue Reading ]
Assuredly they will inform thee that it is as we say. OUT OF THEIR HEART; not partially, but sincerely, speaking their inward thoughts; not rashly, but from deep consideration; not by hearsay from others, but their own knowledge and experience.... [ Continue Reading ]
WITHOUT MIRE, i.e. if it be not in moist and miry ground. This and what follows he mentions as it were in the person of those ancients to whom he had referred him, of whom he saith that they would give him such instructions as these. THE FLAG; or, _the grass_; or, _the meadow_, as this word is used,... [ Continue Reading ]
YET IN HIS GREENNESS; whereby it promiseth long continuance. NOT CUT DOWN; though no man cut it down, it withereth of itself, and will save a man the labour of cutting or plucking it up. It gives not a man so much warning that he can cut it down in time, as other green herbs do, but suddenly withere... [ Continue Reading ]
OF ALL THAT FORGET GOD, i.e. of wicked men, who are branded with this same character, PSALMS 9:17, PSALMS 50:22; or hypocrites, as the next words explain it, who are described by their first and fundamental miscarriage, which is, that they _forget_, i.e. neglect, forsake, and despise, (for so this p... [ Continue Reading ]
i.e. Whose wealth and outward glory, which is the matter of his _hope_ and _trust_, shall be cut off, i.e. suddenly and violently taken away from him. _Whose hope shall be irksome or tedious to him_, by the succession of earnest expectation and great disappointment. A SPIDER'S WEB; which though it b... [ Continue Reading ]
HE, either the spider, or rather, the wicked man signified by it, SHALL LEAN UPON HIS HOUSE, i.e. he shall trust to the multitude and strength of his children and servants. and to his wealth, all which come under the name of a man's house in Scripture use. IT SHALL NOT STAND, i.e. not be able to uph... [ Continue Reading ]
HE; either, 1. The perfect man, here understood out of JOB 8:20, where it is expressed; or rather, 2. The hypocrite, of whom he hath hitherto treated, to whom this and the following verses very well agree; whom he before compared to a rush, and then to a spider's web, and now to a tree, which is o... [ Continue Reading ]
ABOUT THE HEAP, to wit, of stones, which word may be here understood out of the latter branch of the verse, as is very usual in Scripture use. This circumstance of the tree is added to signify, either, 1. Its firmness and strength, that it was not in loose and sandy ground, which a violent wind mig... [ Continue Reading ]
IF HE; either God, who is the Saviour of good men, and the Destroyer of the wicked; or the owner; or any other man; for this is an indefinite speech, and may be taken passively and impersonally; which is very common in the holy text and language. FROM HIS PLACE, in which he was planted. THEN IT, i.e... [ Continue Reading ]
This is the joyful and happy issue of the flourishing course, state, and condition (which is frequently called a way) of this tree, or of the hypocrite, manifestly represented by it, and expressed JOB 8:13. It is a sarcasm or irony, and is to be understood contrariwise of his sad and unhappy end. OU... [ Continue Reading ]
Heb. _God will not despise or reject_, i.e. he will not deny them his help, as appears by the opposite and following branch of the verse; he will not suffer them to be utterly lost. _Help_, i.e. deliver them out of their troubles. Hence it may seem that thou, O Job, art not a perfect or upright man,... [ Continue Reading ]
And what I have said in general of all perfect men, shall be made good to thee, if thou be such a one; God will not forsake time, nor desist from doing thee good, TILL HE FILL, & c., i.e. God will give thee such abundant matter of rejoicing, that thy heart shall not be able to hold it, but it shall... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY THAT HATE THEE, that rejoice in thy calamities, shall be wholly covered with shame, shall be utterly confounded, when they shall observe thee, whom they have despised and insulted over, to be so wonderfully and surprisingly restored to thy former or a greater felicity. OF THE WICKED; either par... [ Continue Reading ]