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Job Chapter
Seventeen
Job 17
Chapter Contents
Job appeals from man to God. (1-9) His hope is not in
life
but in death. (10-16)
Commentary on Job 17:1-9
(Read Job 17:1-9)
Job reflects upon the harsh censures his friends had
passed upon him
and
looking on himself as a dying man
he appeals to God. Our
time is ending. It concerns us carefully to redeem the days of time
and to
spend them in getting ready for eternity. We see the good use the righteous
should make of Job's afflictions from God
from enemies
and from friends.
Instead of being discouraged in the service of God
by the hard usage this
faithful servant of God met with
they should be made bold to proceed and
persevere therein. Those who keep their eye upon heaven as their end
will keep
their feet in the paths of religion as their way
whatever difficulties and
discouragements they may meet with.
Commentary on Job 17:10-16
(Read Job 17:10-16)
Job's friends had pretended to comfort him with the hope
of his return to a prosperous estate; he here shows that those do not go wisely
about the work of comforting the afflicted
who fetch their comforts from the
possibility of recovery in this world. It is our wisdom to comfort ourselves
and others
in distress
with that which will not fail; the promise of God
his
love and grace
and a well-grounded hope of eternal life. See how Job
reconciles himself to the grave. Let this make believers willing to die; it is
but going to bed; they are weary
and it is time that they were in their beds.
Why should not they go willingly when their Father calls them? Let us remember
our bodies are allied to corruption
the worm and the dust; and let us seek for
that lively hope which shall be fulfilled
when the hope of the wicked shall be
put out in darkness; that when our bodies are in the grave
our souls may enjoy
the rest reserved for the people of God.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Job》
Job 17
Verse 1
[1] My
breath is corrupt
my days are extinct
the graves are ready for me.
The graves — He
speaks of the sepulchres of his fathers
to which he must be gathered. The
graves where they are laid
are ready for me also. Whatever is unready
the
grave is ready for us: it is a bed soon made. And if the grave be ready for us
it concerns us
to be ready for the grave.
Verse 2
[2] Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their
provocation?
Are not — Do
not my friends
instead of comforting
mock me? Thus he returns to what he had
said
chap. 16:20
and intimates the justice of his
following appeal.
Verse 3
[3] Lay
down now
put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with
me?
Surety —
These words contain
an humble desire to God that he would be his surety
or
appoint him a surety who should maintain his righteous cause against his
opposers.
Strike hands — Be
surety to me; whereof that was the usual gesture.
Verse 4
[4] For
thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt
them.
Hid —
Thou hast blinded the minds of my friends: therefore I desire a more wise and
able judge.
Therefore —
Thou wilt not give them the victory over me in this contest
but wilt make them
ashamed of their confidence.
Verse 7
[7] Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow
and all my members are as a
shadow.
As a shadow — I
am grown so poor and thin
that I am not to be called a man
but the shadow of
a man.
Verse 8
[8]
Upright men shall be astonied at this
and the innocent shall stir up himself
against the hypocrite.
Astonied — At
the depth and mysteriousness of God's judgments
which fall on innocent men
while the worst of men prosper.
Yet —
Notwithstanding all these sufferings of good men
and the astonishment which
they cause
he shall the more zealously oppose those hypocrites
who make these
strange providences of God an objection to religion.
Verse 10
[10] But
as for you all
do ye return
and come now: for I cannot find one wise man
among you.
Come —
And renew the debate
as I see you are resolved to do.
Verse 11
[11] My
days are past
my purposes are broken off
even the thoughts of my heart.
My days —
The days of my life. I am a dying man
and therefore the hopes you give me of
the bettering of my condition
are vain.
Purposes —
Which I had in my prosperous days
concerning myself and children.
Verse 12
[12] They
change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
They — My
thoughts so incessantly pursue and disturb me
that I can no more sleep in the
night
than in the day.
The light —
The day-light
which often gives some comfort to men in misery
seems to be
gone as soon as it is begun.
Darkness —
Because of my grievous pains and torments which follow me by day as well as by
night.
Verse 13
[13] If I
wait
the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.
Wait —
For deliverance
I should be disappointed; for I am upon the borders of the
grave
I expect no rest but in the dark grave
for which therefore I prepare
myself. I endeavour to make it easy
by keeping my conscience pure
by seeing
Christ lying in this bed
(so turning it into a bed of spices) and by looking
beyond it to the resurrection.
Verse 14
[14] I
have said to corruption
Thou art my father: to the worm
Thou art my mother
and my sister.
Corruption —
Heb. to the pit of corruption
the grave.
Father — I
am near a-kin to thee
and thou wilt receive and keep me in thy house
as
parents do their children.
Verse 15
[15] And
where is now my hope? as for my hope
who shall see it?
Hope —
The happiness you would have me expect.
Verse 16
[16] They
shall go down to the bars of the pit
when our rest together is in the dust.
They — My
hopes
of which he spake in the singular number
verse 15
which he here changes into the plural
as is
usual in these poetical books.
Bars —
Into the innermost parts of the pit: my hopes are dying
and will be buried in
my grave. We must shortly be in the dust
under the bars of the pit
held fast
there
'till the general resurrection. All good men
if they cannot agree now
will there rest together. Let the foresight of this cool the heat of all
contenders
and moderate the disputers of this world.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Job》
17 Chapter 17
Verses 1-16
The righteous also shall hold on his way
and he that hath clean
hands shall be stronger and stronger.
The way of the righteous
It may seem a work of supererogation to say anything upon such a
subject as righteousness. But the subject labours under some obscurity. Many
seem to think that righteousness in the Old Testament means something entirely
different from righteousness in the New. We are enabled by the New Testament
distinctly to recognise that which is in itself eternal truth in the Old
Testament as well as the New. The righteousness of faith is grounded in the
loyalty of the soul to God
and consists in the manifestation of this loyalty
in words
in thoughts
and in deeds. Here
cleanness of hands is spoken
of--singleness of intent
perfect simplicity of motive
There is no
righteousness without this to some extent. The text speaks of the perseverance
of such a man. “He shall hold on his way.” Still
all promises concerning the
moral nature must necessarily be conditional. It does not follow with a
mechanical certainty that every righteous soul shall hold on his way. He has a
way. It is not everyone in this world that has a way in the sense of the text.
Some have no definite aim or way. Others have a way
but it is a wrong way. The
righteous shall hold on his way. His way is before him
clear and plain
though
steep. He has nothing to do but to keep on day by day in the Divinely appointed
path
for every step brings him nearer to the goal. And the strength here
spoken of is moral strength. It springs from energy of conviction
and grasp of
faith
and fervour of resolution
and depth of emotion. They are of the new
life
the sense of Divine life in the soul. If you will believe in God
do the
right
and leave everything to Him
you also shall find that the righteous
shall hold on his way
and he that hath clean hands shall wax stronger and
stronger. (J. A. Picton
M. A.)
The laws of spiritual progress
Weakness of all kinds is painful
inconvenient
and humiliating.
So much indeed is power valued by us
that not a little of the world’s hero
worship has been the ardent adoration of strength in some one of its three
principal manifestations
of either physical
or intellectual
or moral might.
And all three have a glory
though not an equal glory. Intellectual power
by
comparison with spiritual power
has had a large
and on the whole
a growing
share of glory assigned to it. But physical force has had the most extensive
sway in the world
and the longest reign. Look--
I. At the kind of
strength and progress that is promised in the text to the righteous. Our text
speaks of a strength whose greatest triumphs in this world are still future
as
Christ’s greatest triumphs in and over men are still future. It is a benign
strength this that lies calmly resting on the sure promises and unchanging
faithfulness of God. This kind of strength is moral and spiritual might
active
aggressive
victorious goodness. The strength of our text is the
strength of right in vanquishing wrong
the strength of moral goodness in
overcoming moral evil
both in its possessor and around him. This spiritual
strength is counted weakness by the world
because its triumphs are not only
like itself
spiritual
but they are often not immediate. Men who walk by
sense
seeing not the things which are invisible
cannot wait God’s time and
way. And yet to conquer sin and self is man’s best and greatest triumph. Every
man’s noblest battlefield lies within
not without himself; lies within
not
without his fellow man. In harmony with the world’s prevailing false idea of
greatness
the idol gods
and the human heroes that men have made or chosen for
themselves
have for the most part been powerful
but not goad. Look at the
gods of the heathen. Superhuman in power always
but human
and almost
infra-human
in character often. It is not moral and spiritual power
but
grosser forms of power
that most people admire most. The suffering attitude of
Jesus seemed to His contemporaries
and still seems to the eye of the natural
man
the weakest of all Divine displays of power. And yet this in truth is not
only the highest kind of power
but it is the mightiest in moral result. For
the Cross of Christ is the very “power of God unto salvation.” Here in the
Cross of Christ we see more of the peculiar power of God “who is love
” than
anywhere else. Here lies the power of the Gospel. It is the revelation of God’s
rich grace and love to the evil. God instructs us to seek as our best personal
attainment
the possession of a goodness so strong
and pure
and lofty
that
evil from within
us and from without us shall flee away ashamed and vanquished
before its overcoming and subduing power. This strength needs to be all the
more diligently cultivated by us because it is not natural to us. In our fallen
state we are spiritually weak. But this best kind of strength may be obtained.
It is the life of God in the soul of man
and it re-creates in God’s image the
soul that it enters
and its presence becomes in part visible. The men in whom
this life not only exists
but is abundant
by their very presence
both at
rest and in action
exert a beneficent moral power and influence. These are the
men from whose moral being a felt virtue goes forth that good men seek
and bad
men shun. For there are men
every movement of whose mind creates currents of
healthful
healing
spiritual influence
and such God-inspired men are strong.
The text holds before us the encouraging prospect
that the really good man
shall
by the inherent laws of goodness
go on his way
and become stronger and
stronger in goodness
more and more successful in gaining victories over evil.
Intellectual greatness we ought all profoundly to revere as one of God’s best
gifts to man; but we ought not to dishonour the Holy God and His moral image in
man by an unholy worship of intellect as disjoined from goodness. How much even
in the service of religion is talent often exalted above grace! View the text
as a Divine direction
and also as a positive promise of success
to every
renewed soul that is trying to make progress in the Divine life
and asks by
what means he may become strong. An answer to this inquiry is much needed.
II. Who are they
that obtain the strength promised in the text? All do not. The man who would be
strong and hold on his way must be in God’s sense “righteous
and keep his
hands clean.”
1. The righteous
--the upright
honest
virtuous
pious. Our
obligations to God and man not only lie near together
but at many points
intersect and overlap each other. Righteousness is a name which covers over and
enters into the whole web of human duty. The Bible name “righteous” denotes a
well-defined class of men who are not now what they once were
but have been “born
again.” Our text does not speak of any man in his natural unrenewed state; but
it speaks of man when under a supernatural tuition
of man the subject of
Divine grace. Life comes before strength
and is more important. Get life
and
strength will fellow.
III. The laws that
regulate this growth of strength. The reasons why the righteous grow stronger
are both natural and supernatural. Note--
1. The operation of the natural law that the exercise of our
faculties strengthens them. This is a law of the mind as well as a law of the
body. The religion of the Bible perfectly harmonises with all Divine law. It is
a reasonable service which yet rises above reason. Mature piety is ordinarily
the ripened product of years well spent.
2. The righteous man who has clean hands holds on his way
and ever
grows stronger through the ordinary operation of the great law of habit. Habit
makes all things castor
and among others the most difficult Christian duties.
The law of habit comes into action in favour of duty as well as in favour of
sin.
3. The righteous man
and of clean hands
holds on his way
and waxes
stronger and stronger by the teachings of experience.
4. The righteous man holds on his way
because religion is a life of
which Christ is the source. But all life is much affected by food
climate
and
exercise; and so is this higher life. Divine truth is the fit food of this
life.
5. The great reason is that the righteous man’s God and Father holds
him up and strengthens him. And He is the living God. When others stumble and
fall
the righteous man rises and stands upright
because God strengthens and
upholds him. Clean hands
and such alone can lay a firm hold upon God
and
lovingly constrain Him in His visits to leave a blessing behind Him. Polluted
hands have no such power. The man who seeks and finds this Helper must hold on
his way and grow stronger. The whole atmosphere of Scripture is strongly
provocative of robust spiritual health. The Godward attitude continued in makes
weak men to become strong
and strong men to become stronger and stronger. (J.
C. Macintosh.)
The nature of the doctrine of the saint’s final perseverance
I. A character
spoken of. “Righteous.” As persons who are taught to discard their own
righteousness
and are clothed upon with the righteousness of another. Clad in
that righteousness
they are taught to live “soberly
righteously
and godly in
this present evil world.”
II. These righteous
ones are described as on their “way.” There is but one way
and Jesus is that
way--the way of acceptance with God
the way in which alone we can walk so as
to please God. It is the only way of happiness
and may be a way of
self-denial.
III. The promise.
“Shall hold on.” It is as positive as language can express it. He shall do it.
Discouragements he may have
and shall have; trial of his patience
his hope
and his love--this he stands continually in need of
day by day
and hour by
hour; through want of watchfulness he may slumber; through want of diligence he
may stumble; withholding prayer
he ceases to fight; through self-confidence he
may fall; but “the righteous shall hold on his way.” It is the “mouth of the
Lord that hath spoken it.” (J. H. Evans
M. A.)
The hope of Job
What does “righteous” mean? We understand by it one in whom there
is something more than a moral life; more than convictions of sin; more than
religious impressions; more than sensations of joy arising from the Word of
God; more even than one on whose mind there are certain influences of the
Spirit; for the grace of God may enlighten the understanding
arouse the
conscience
and move the affections
and yet with all this
the will may be
unsubdued
and there may be no full and complete surrender of the heart to God.
By the “righteous
” then
we understand one who believes with the heart in
Jesus. Nor is there any essential difference between the Old Testament and the
New in this; for the righteous under the first dispensation
believed in a
Saviour to come. The righteous now believe in a Saviour already come. A
righteous man is one who trusts in a Redeemer; who
in a special sense
belongs
to Christ
and in Christ to God. Of such an one the text speaks. It is a
difficult way on which he holds his way. The word “his” refers to the righteous
man
and yet it is God’s way. The way which God has marked out for him; the way
into which God has led him. It is no easy way. It is so narrow that you cannot
carry the world with you along it; so steep
that if self-indulgent
you will
never get up it; so rough
that if faint-hearted
you will fear the labour; and
so long
that it requires much perseverance. But it is a happy way
the only
happy way. It is a wonderful thing to see the righteous hold on his way; to see
him out of weakness made strong
defeat changed into victory
his soul
restored
his strength renewed. How are we to account for this triumph? The
secret lies not in himself
but in God the Father who loved him
the Son who
redeemed him
the Spirit who sanctifies him. (George Wagner.)
The saint’s perseverance
The Christian is frequently compared to a traveller; but no
traveller reaches his journey’s end merely by starting upon the road. If it
should be a journey of seven weeks’ length
if he shall sit down after
journeying six weeks
he certainly will not reach the goal of his desires. It
is necessary
if I would reach a certain city
that I should go every mile of
the road; for one mile would not take me there; nor if the city be a hundred
miles distant
would ninety-nine miles bring me to its streets. I must journey
all the length if I would reach the desired place. Frequently
in the New
Testament
the Christian is compared to a runner--he runs in a race for a great
prize; but it is not by merely starting
it is not by making a great spurt
it
is not by distancing your rival for a little time
and then pulling up to take
breath
or sauntering to either side of the road
that you will win the race:
we must never stop till we have passed the winning post; there must be no
loitering throughout the whole of the Christian career
but onward
like the
Roman charioteer
with glowing wheels
we must fly more and more rapidly till
we actually obtain the crown. The Christian is sometimes
by the apostle Paul
who somewhat delights to quote from the ancient games
compared to the Grecian
wrestler
or boxer. But it is of little avail for the champion to give the foe
one blow or one fall: he must continue in the combat until his adversary is
beaten. Our spiritual foes will not be vanquished until we enter where the
conquerors receive their crowns
and therefore we must continue in fighting
attitude. It is in vain for us to talk of what we have done or are doing just
now
he that continueth to the end
the same shall be saved
and none but he.
The believer is commonly compared to a warrior--he is engaged in a great
battle
a holy war. Like Joshua
he has to drive out the Canaanites
that have
chariots of iron
before he can fully take possession of his inheritance; but
it is not the winning of one battle that makes a man a conqueror: nay
though
he should devastate one province of his enemies’ territories
yet
if he should
be driven out by-and-by
he is beaten in the campaign
and it will yield him
but small consolation to win a single battle
or even a dozen battles
if the
campaign as a whole should end in his defeat. It is not commencing as though
the whole world were to be cleared by one display of fire and sword
but
continuing
going from strength to strength
from victory to victory
that
makes the man the conqueror of his foe. The Christian is also called a disciple
or scholar. But who does not know that the boy by going to school for a day or
two does not therefore become wiser? If the lad should give himself most
diligently to his grammar for six months
yet he will never become a linguist
unless he shall continue perseveringly in his classic studies. The great
mathematicians of our times did not acquire their science in a single year;
they pressed forward with aching brow; they burnt the midnight oil and tortured
their brains; they were not satisfied to rest
for they could never have become
masters of their art if they had lingered on the road. The believer is also
called a builder
but you know of whom it was said
“This man began to build
but was not able to finish.” The digging out of the foundation is most
important
and the building up of stone upon stone is to be carried on with
diligence; but though the man should half finish the walls
or even complete
them
yet if he do not roof in the structure
he becomes a laughing stock to
every passer-by. A good beginning
it is said
is more than half
but a good
ending is more than the whole. Better is the end of a thing than the beginning
thereof. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Christian’s persistency
That master allegorist
John Bunyan
has not pictured Christian as
carried to heaven while asleep in an easy chair. He makes Christian lose his
burden at the cross foot
he ascribes the deliverance of the man from the
burden of his sin
entirely to the Lord Jesus; but he represents him as
climbing the Hill Difficulty--ay
and on his hands and knees too. Christian has
to descend into the Valley of Humiliation
and to tread that dangerous pathway
through the gloomy horrors of the Shadow of Death. He has to be urgently
watchful to keep himself from sleeping in the Enchanted Ground. Nowhere is he
delivered from the necessities incident to the way
for even at the last he
fords the black river
and struggles with its terrible billows. Effort is used
all the way through
and you that are pilgrims to the skies will find it to be
no allegory
but a real matter of fact: your soul must gird up her loins; you
need your pilgrim’s staff and armour
and you must foot it all the way to
heaven
contending with giants
fighting with lions
and combating Apollyon himself.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Completing the good work
The present life is the only scene of probation of man; if he
should fail in the scene in which he is now placed
he fails forever. How
encouraging
then
to be assured that he who has begun the good work will carry
it on amid all the perils of our present state
until we reach the state where
no danger can arrive.
I. The character
of those who are here introduced. They have already commenced the course of the
Christian life. The expression “clean hands” denotes their freedom from those
pollutions which are connected with human nature in its unconverted state. The
language further suggests an open and honest profession of their attachment to
the ways of God and righteousness. The man who partakes of this character will
necessarily be concerned that he may hold on his way
and wax stronger and
stronger.
II. The
considerations which led you to separate yourself from the world and to devote
yourself to God. All these claims are now at hand
and possess all the claim
they ever possessed. Hold on your way
and look to the exercise of that
cleanness of spirit which every honest mind will be concerned to possess. Look
to the exercise of purity of intention
to the testimony which God has
connected with His Word
that it may come home to your heart
and work mightily
there. (R. Vaughan.)
Clean-handed righteousness
I. The persons
spoken of. The “righteous” are those who have “clean hands.” The former term
describes their state
the latter their character. Righteous is a forensic
term. There can only be two ways of being righteous--either by never having
sinned
or by being delivered
in some way or other
from the condemnation due
to sin. The former applies to the angels. For fallen man another kind of
righteousness must be devised
which is
the imputation of Christ’s
righteousness unto him.
II. What is said
concerning them? “Shall hold on his way.” They are going onward in the way to
heaven; in this way they meet many obstacles--as from false brethren
false
teachers
false waymarks. There are obstacles both in the way of faith and of
conduct. Nevertheless
they shall “hold on their way.” This must necessarily
follow.
1. From a consideration of the character of God. He is faithful and
immutable.
2. From a consideration of the death of Christ. He died for us
not
leaving it doubtful what effects would be produced by His death.
3. From a consideration of the nature and constitution of the
covenant of grace. It is God’s will that saints should have strong consolation
upon the ground of their final perseverance.
4. From a consideration of the nature of real conversion
and the
work of God the Holy Spirit.
5. From a consideration of the intercession of Christ
which must be
ever prevalent.
6. From a consideration of the nature of that principle which is
implanted within them. It is an immortal principle; an “incorruptible seed.” (John
Davies.)
The godly man
Consider the character in the text.
I. He is
righteous. The character in the text is right with God. Abraham believed God
and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
II. He is holy. He
has “clean hands.” The hand is the instrument of action; it is moved by the
heart--the pulsations of which are right
and so he can lift them up to God
“without wrath or doubting.” He is not afraid for God to see them
nor for Him
to know the principles whence these actions emanate. A man has just as much
religion in his business as he has in his closet; the same in the counting
house as he has on his knees. There is no reason why labour should not be a
psalm
and commerce a ritual in the best sense of the word. The time shall come
when “holiness to the Lord” shall be written upon the bells of the horses; and
then
whether men eat or drink
or whatever they do
they “do all for the glory
of God.”
III. He is persistent.
“He shall hold on
” etc. At an important period of his existence
Gibbon said
of his prospects
“All is dark and doubtful.” Of this character’s future
all
is bright and hopeful--“Glory
honour
immortality
eternal life
” are in the
future. “He shall hold on his way.” The wind
and tide
and sea may be against
the steamers which reach your port
but through the power of the steam within
they hold on their way. Outward circumstances may appear to be all against the
character of the text; but by the power of the principle within he “holds on
his way.” This is a moral duty. Final perseverance is an article for the code
rather than for the creed. This is a law of the Divine life. The leaven is put
in to leaven the whole lump. You must go on
or recede; you cannot stand still.
The purest water that ever fell from heaven will corrupt if it be stagnant.
IV. He is growing.
The Bible beckons you on to better things
and urges you to “grow in grace
and
in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is also confirmed by
experience. There is also a power in the habit of goodness. The more you
exercise faith
the easier you can do so. The more you do for God
the more
delightful becomes the exercise. In every conflict with hell in which you
conquer
you learn the tactics of war
and become mightier for further
engagements. What a bright vista opens before the soul which is morally right!
(G. Warner.)
The penitence of perfect Job
(verse 9
with Job 42:5-6):--
1. It is not possible to set out the salient features of Job’s
strength with even a slight approximation to completeness
without taking
into account the immense energy he derived from his burning consciousness of
unimpeachable integrity. Not that Job made no mistakes. He made many. He
misconceived God’s methods
misjudged God’s heart
flung censures to right of
him and censures to left of him
spoke rashly and petulantly. But never did he
sink into an insincerity
or clothe himself with a sham; but maintained an
unbroken consciousness of integrity of spirit and purity of heart. Integrity is
power. Sincerity is a high form of human energy. Righteousness as a passion of
the heart
and an element in character and life
is a manifest and undeniable
source of imperial force. Wickedness is
in spite of seeming strength
actual
imbecility.
2. Nevertheless
the closing picture of this hero
Job
is not that
of a conqueror
but a confessor; not of an enthroned prince
but a kneeling
penitent. This is not what we expected. The language of genuine sorrow and deep
self-abasement loads his lips
and his far-shining integrity is not worth a
moment’s lip defence by the side of his failure to keep the law of God.
Sincerity is good
but it is not sinlessness. Indisputable integrity of
purpose
and inflexible honesty of heart
are jewels of unspeakable worth
but
they will not atone for rash speech
misjudgment of God
and hatred of weak and
faulty men. Be true
by all means; but think of Job’s penitence
and remember
that the heroic virtue of integrity and wholeness
superlatively good as it is
is not enough.
3. It is the special charm of Job’s story that it exhibits this
high-strung and strenuous integrity dwelling in the same spirit with the
acutest penitence and throbbing self-loathing. We can recognise these qualities
apart
and appreciate them in their singleness
but that they should blend in
the same life
tenant the same spirit
and be sources of power to the same
character
conflicts with our habitual thought. Yet the minds of culminating
power in the vast brotherhood of the world’s workers and redeemers
have not
been more deeply marked by their persistent devotion to purity of thought
uncompromising fidelity to fact
and aspiration after perfection
than by their
quivering sensitiveness to the smallness of their achievements
acute sense of
personal fault
and prevailing consciousness--often attended by spasms of
weakening pain--of absolute failure. The righteous Job in his penitence
anticipates the Church of the first-born in heaven. It is fidelity to the
clearest laws of advancing human life which marries in one and the same
progressive spirit
inflexible consecration to reality and right
and deep and
true penitence for failure and sin.
4. Whence came this penitential mood? What induced this change of
feeling? The unexpected revolution is effected by the revelation of God to the
eye of the soul. “Mine eye seeth Thee.” He passes out of the realm of mere
“hearsays” about God
to that of inward experience and actual communion. The
eyes give fuller and clearer knowledge than the ear. Job knows God as he did
not know Him before. The character of his knowledge is changed
heightened
vitalised
intensified
personalised.
5. Was not Job led to this renewing sight of God by the voice that
addressed
startled
and overwhelmed him out of the whirlwind
forcing in upon
his mind an oppressive and overwhelming conception of the creative and
administrative power of the Almighty? Is not the ear the way to the
spiritual eye
as surely as the sight of God is the way to repentance
and
repentance the way to life?
6. Here
then
is one signal value of the knowledge of God
even of
His immense power and greatness. It is the ground and spring of a true
conception of ourselves
of our limitations and possibilities
our actual
condition and ethical ideal.
7. Such God-inspired penitence swiftly vindicates itself in the pure
sincerity and holy brotherliness it creates
and the reconciliations it effects
between man and man
and man and his lot. Sin divides; repentance unites.
Humbled before the Lord
Job becomes a priest. Set the tree of penitence in
such a Divine soil
and it must bear this kind of fruit. (J. Clifford
D. D.)
The righteous holding on his way
I remind you that while final perseverance is necessary
it
is extremely difficult. The way itself renders if so. The way to heaven is no
smooth-shaven lawn.
1. It is a rough road
up hill
down dale
across rivers
and over
mountains.
2. Moreover
the road is long. It is a life-long road.
3. Besides that
the road is so contrary to fallen nature. It is a
way of faith. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The wise are not always wise:--All the ways of sin and error are
ways of folly.
But was not Job censorious and rigid
too bold and adventurous to speak thus
concerning men of such gravity
authority
and reputation for wisdom and
learning
yea for holiness too
as these three were? Job did not speak this
from any ill-will to his friends.
1. It is no fault to speak of men as we find them.
2. A wise man may do or speak that which is a just forfeiture of his
present reputation for wisdom.
3. Wise men are rarely to be found. There are store of subtle men
and crafty men there are too many; but the wise man is a rare jewel.
4. Wise men are apt to show themselves unwise in expounding and
judging the providences and dealings of God towards men. The works of the most
wise God are all right
but few men are wise enough to pick out the right
meaning of them. This arises--
Verse 11
My purposes are broken off.
Broken purposes
What mental anguish is concentrated in these few words! They raise
the sufferings of Job from one of mere physical pain to one of mental despair:
Let us glance
first
at some objects of human ambition--their wreck
their
loss
and their gain.
I. The cherished
purposes of life. The generality of persons live without forming any purposes
at all. They drift along the current
and laying aside the strength and glory
of manhood are nothing but logs. The true purposes of life are not mere languid
dreams
or objectless hopes
or anticipations of pleasure
and we must not
confound these with the ambition alluded to by Job. But they are the thought
out plans and aspirations of a vigorous mind in true earnest.
1. Sometimes these purposes are selfish.
2. Sometimes these ambitions are philanthropic.
3. Sometimes these purposes are religious.
There is the longing to lead a notably pious life
to be a pattern
for others to copy
to bring up a godly family
to convert sinners
and to be
worthy soldiers of the cross.
II. The broken
purposes of life. How often are ambitions formed; how seldom are they realised!
Our purposes are always being broken. We have had a cherished plant
and longed
to see it flower. But the frost has nipped the bud
and it has withered and
drooped. We have had a loved child for whom we cherished a hope of carrying
forward the work of our lives. But the loved one had been taken from us
altogether or has turned out a sorrow instead of a joy. We have intended to go
hither or thither
but the storm has intervened and we have been left behind.
III. The hand of God
in the purposes of life. Job did not realise that his purposes had been cut off
by God
and that there was an object underlying the sorrow which filled his
heart. Neither do men understand that there may be a reason that they cannot
fathom which has hindered the success of their cherished hopes. Eternity will
show that man’s purposes are broken--
1. Because if successful they would have been injurious to ourselves.
Many souls have been saved by being kept from riches or power. Many have been
kept from ruin by having their cherished idol taken away.
2. Because they might work some evil for others. We often see
instances of misdirected philanthropy. But how seldom we can see behind the
scenes
and how little do we know what will really benefit our fellow creatures!
3. Because God sees that we are not fitted for the work
4. Because He has higher and better purposes for us.
5. Because He desires to bring us to a state of perfect trust in
Himself. He crushes our plans to show us how weak
how foolish we are
and to
lay us low in humility. How much wiser are His arrangements! (J. J. S. Bird.)
Broken purposes
I. Men form
purposes. Mind is active and made to think. Men speculate and resolve. Pleasure
and wealth
honour and worldly position eagerly sought.
II. These purposes
not always fulfilled. Broken off as threads of the web cut off from the loom (Isaiah 32:1-20). Impossible to
realise. Providence intervenes; man proposeth
God disposeth. Greeks
represented the fates as spinning the threads of human life. Procrastination
prevents performance. Satan hinders (1 Thessalonians 2:18).
III. This is a sad
fact in experience. “My” purposes. Good resolutions formed and never carried
out; plans adopted and forsaken; principles never come to maturity
and life
wasted in attempting
and nothing done! (The Study.)
Broken purposes
The world is full of broken columns. Every heart carries its own
crowded cemetery. The cemeteries in which you lay dead flesh and bones are not
the true cemeteries. The graveyards are in the heart. “My purposes are broken
off”; this is the cry of a disappointed man; the muffled moan of a baffled
hope. It is not the peculiar cry of a Jew
or of a Gentile
of an Orientalist
or an Occidentalist
it is simply the voice of universal man. God has
graciously enriched the world with example men; men who have been made to show
in their melancholy experience how vain is ambition
how uncertain is
expectation
how unstable is strength. Job is such man.
I. As revealing
the speculative side of human life. All men have purposes. Man cannot live by
history alone; he must strengthen himself by hope. Man puts out his hand and
plucks of the tree of tomorrow. Every man speculates concerning the future
and
feels himself inspired as he dwells on the charms of the coming time. Man’s
power of speculation always exceeds man’s power of realisation. The poetic
fancy is in advance of the toiling hand. The wanderer’s mind is at the
destination long before the wanderer’s foot has taken the first step of the
journey! The power of speculation and the power of realisation are not
coordinate. We paint many a fire which we never can enkindle. We plant olive
yards which bear no fruit
and dig wells which hold no water. Yet we would not
give up this power of projecting ourselves into the future! We would not like
to be barred in the small prison called “today.” Not a man but is pleasing himself
with some dream of fancy. Each is saying
“The times will change for the
better; the cold winds will die out; the sky will be a cloudless arch; I shall
walk on a carpet of violets through palaces of perfume.”
II. As disclosing
the real side of human experience. “Purposes”!--that is poetry; “Broken”! -
that is history! This is a sad combination of words! Life is full of half-built
towers. Men had begun to build
but were not able to finish. Life is a pile of
fragments. Nowhere is there aught complete. Life is all beginnings; there is no
finished pinnacle!
III. As suggesting
man’s true course as a speculatist and as a worker. “Go to now
ye that say
today or tomorrow
” etc. There is a “tonight” between today and tomorrow.
Learn--
1. All purposes against God must be broken off.
2. Form the loftiest purposes for God
and they will be fulfilled.
3. Remember the moral import of uncertainty. (Anon.)
If I wait
the grave is mine house.
The house of the grave
I. Describe the
house.
1. The grave is a very spacious house.
2. It is very dark and dreary.
3. It is a house of silence. It is empty.
4. It is the house of corruption.
5. It is the house of oblivion.
II. All men are going
to this house.
1. This lot is ours by the appointment of God.
2. Ever since God appointed death
He has been carrying mankind to
the grave in a constant and uninterrupted succession.
3. We not only see the mortality in others
but feel it coming upon ourselves.
III. Why we should
keep this serious truth in mind.
1. Because God requires men to keep their mortality in view.
2. God takes many methods to impress this important truth upon men’s
hearts.
3. It is necessary in order to their forming all their worldly
schemes with wisdom and propriety.
4. In order to form a just estimate of the world and its inhabitants.
5. In order to prepare them to endure the trials and afflictions of
the present life with patience and fortitude.
6. It will have a direct tendency to prepare men for death when it
comes. Improvement. Every way of thinking and acting is sinful
which tends to
banish the thoughts of death from our minds. (N. Emmons
D. D.)
And where is now my hope?
Where now my hope
I. Occasions in
life which force upon us this inquiry.
1. In those seasons when the troubles of life press heavily.
2. When our human dependencies have failed.
3. When the terrors of a guilty conscience seize us.
4. The question irresistibly presses upon all as death seems to
approach.
II. The
disappointment of those who have not provided against these seasons of trial.
1. All earthly hopes are
in their very nature
inadequate to our
exigencies.
2. All the hopes which are derived from the world and the creatures
are temporal in their duration.
3. If they could endure and go with us into eternity
or the separate
state of souls
--yet they would not stand the test of the final day of account.
III. See the
necessity of close self-exaltation.
1. This examination should refer to the object of our hope.
2. We should examine whether we have a well-grounded and scriptural
prospect of attaining to the object of our hope. It is possible that we may
practise self-delusion.
3. Your hope may be good as to its object
its foundation may be the
work of Jesus Christ
an anchor sure and steadfast
but have you a valid title
to appropriate that hope to yourself?
4. Inquire whether your hope has borne any trials. Application--
2. But
if our hope is found vain and weak
or absolutely false
it
is high time to abandon it and seek a better. (The Evangelist.)
Hope held out to anxious inquirers
I. The inquiry.
“Where is my hope?”
1. Is your hope in the world? This is the case with multitudes. Then
your hope is set on that which is not good.
2. Is your hope in sin? Is that possible? The pleasures of sin are
but for a season
the pains of sin are for eternity.
3. Is your hope in your works? This was the case with the ancient
Pharisees. They “went about to establish their own righteousness
” but failed
in the attempt. All who are “of the works of the law” are under it as a
covenant; and as such it requires perfect obedience
or there is no
justification by it.
4. Is your hope in your knowledge? “Knowledge puffeth up.” “The
Kingdom of God is not in word
but in power.”
5. Is your hope in Christ? Then it is in the right place. The hope of
Job was in him--the Redeemer; so was the hope of the primitive Christians.
II. The cases in
which inquirers are warranted to hope. We are not warranted to hold out hope in
every case. You must be made to feel your guilt
before you will give up your
false hope. You must be made to feel your insufficiency before you will apply
to Christ for relief.
1. If you repent you are warranted to hope.
2. If you believe
you are warranted to hope.
3. If you obey
you are warranted to hope.
4. If you love Christ
you are warranted to hope.
5. So you are
if you love the house of prayer.
6. And if you love the brethren.
7. And if you seek the Divine glory.
III. The qualities
of the hope which the gospel inspires.
1. It is a Divine hope.
2. A lively hope.
3. A joyful hope.
4. A liberal hope.
5. A permanent hope.
In conclusion
let us consider the inquiry in the text in
reference to ourselves
and thus endeavour to make a suitable improvement of
the subject. Where is now my hope? (Thomas Hitchin.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》