“My spirit is consumed. My days are extinct, and the grave is ready for me.
Surely there are mockers with me. My eye dwells on their provocation.
“Now give a pledge. Be collateral for me with yourself. Who is there who will strike hands with me?
For you have hidden their heart from understanding, Therefore you will not exalt them.
He who denounces his friends for plunder, Even the eyes of his children will fail.
“But he has made me a byword of the people. They spit in my face.
My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow. All my members are as a shadow.
Upright men will be astonished at this. The innocent will stir himself up against the godless.
Yet the righteous will hold to his way. He who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.
But as for you all, come back. I will not find a wise man among you.
My days are past. My plans are broken off, as are the thoughts of my heart.
They change the night into day, saying ‘The light is near’ in the presence of darkness.
If I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness,
if I have said to corruption, ‘You are my father;’ to the worm, ‘My mother,’ and ‘My sister,’
where then is my hope? as for my hope, who will see it?
Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol, or descend together into the dust?”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 I see still that they seek but to vex…
I see still that they seek but to vex me.
Instead of comfort, being now at death’s door, he had but them that mocked at him, and discouraged him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–16 Job 17:1 My breath is corrupt, my days are…
Job 17:1 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves [are ready] for me.
Ver. 1. My breath is corrupt] Which argueth that my inwards are imposthumated and rotten, so that I cannot in likelihood have long to live; Oh therefore that I might have a day of hearing and clearing before I die! But Job should have remembered that there will be at the last day a resurrection of names as well as of bodies; which he that believeth maketh not haste. Howsoever, it was not amiss for Job, so grievously diseased, and now well in years, to have thought himself to be dying and to discourse about these three particulars, that speak of him as a dying man. In the old the palm tree is full of blooms, the map of age is figured on his forehead, the calendars of death appear in the furrows of his face, the mourners are ready to go about the streets, and he is going to his long home, according to that elegant description, Ecc 12:1-7 He should therefore say with Varro, Annus octogesimus me admonet, ut farcinas colligam, &c., It is high time for me to pack up, and to be gone out of this life; or rather, as Simeon, Lord, now let thou thy servant depart in peace, &c.
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My days are extinct] As a candle, Pro 13:9. Or cut off, as a web, so some read it. The original word is found only here.
The graves are ready for me] Heb. The graves for me; q.d. I bid adieu to all things else, and as the grave gapes for me, so do I gape for the grave, Eιθε μοι τουτο γενοιτο. I would it were even so, as Basil said, when Valens, the Arian emperor, threatened him with death. But why doth Job speak of graves in the plural? Surely, to show that he was besieged with many deaths; or else, because the dead are buried (as it were) first in their grave clothes, and then in the coffin, and then in the bier or hearse, and lastly in the sepulchre, which every place did, as it were, proffer to Job, and threaten him with death, in regard to his many pains and pressures, by the scoffs and taunts of his friends. For,
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–16 My breath is corrupt, i.e. it stinks, as it…
My breath is corrupt, i.e. it stinks, as it doth in dying persons. Or, my spirit is corrupted, or spent, or lost, i.e. my vital spirits and natural powers are wasted; my soul is ready to leave the body.
My days are extinct; the lamp of my life is wasted, and upon the point of going out, and that in a snuff.
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The graves, i.e. the grave; the plural number being put for the singular, as sepulchres, 2Ch 21:20, cities, Jdg 12:7, asses, Zec 9:9, are put for one of each of these.
Are ready for me; open their mouths as ready to receive me. The sense and scope of this verse is the same with the former.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 10 Job's discourse is here somewhat broken and interrupted, and…
Job's discourse is here somewhat broken and interrupted, and he passes suddenly from one thing to another, as is usual with men in trouble; but we may reduce what is here said to three heads: -
I. The deplorable condition which poor Job was now in, which he describes, to aggravate the great unkindness of his friends to him and to justify his own complaints. Let us see what his case was.
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1. He was a dying man, Job 17:1. He had said (Job 16:22), "When a few years have come, I shall go that long journey." But here he corrects himself. "Why do I talk of years to come? Alas! I am just setting out on that journey, am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. My breath is already corrupt, or broken off; my spirits are spent; I am a gone man." It is good for every one of us thus to look upon ourselves as dying, and especially to think of it when we are sick. We are dying, that is, (1.) Our life is going; for the breath of life is going. It is continually going forth; it is in our nostrils (Isa 2:22), the door at which it entered (Gen 2:7); there it is upon the threshold, ready to depart. Perhaps Job's distemper obstructed his breathing, and short breath will, after a while, be no breath. Let the Anointed of the Lord be the breath of our nostrils, and let us get spiritual life breathed into us, and that breath will never be corrupted. (2.) Our time is ending: My days are extinct, are put out, as a candle which, from the first lighting, is continually wasting and burning down, and will by degrees burn out of itself, but may by a thousand accidents be extinguished. Such is life. It concerns us therefore carefully to redeem the days of time, and to spend them in getting ready for the days of eternity, which will never be extinct. (3.) We are expected in our long home: The graves are ready for me. But would not one grave serve? Yes, but 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," graves in consort, the congregation of the dead. Wherever we go there is but a step between us and the grave. Whatever is unready, that is ready; it is a bed soon made. If the graves be ready for us, it concerns us to be ready for the graves. The graves for me (so it runs), denoting not only his expectation of death, but his desire of it. "I have done with the world, and have nothing now to wish for but a grave."
2. He was a despised man (Job 17:6): "He" (that is, Eliphaz, so some, or rather God, whom he all along acknowledges to be the author of his calamities) "has made me a byword of the people, the talk of the country, a laughing-stock to many, a gazing-stock to all; and aforetime (or to men's faces, publicly) I was as a tabret, that whoever chose might play upon." They made ballads of him; his name became a proverb; it is so still, As poor as Job. "He has now made me a byword," a reproach of men, whereas, aforetime, in my prosperity, I was as a tabret, deliciae humani generis - the darling of the human race, whom they were all pleased with. It is common for those who were honoured in their wealth to be despised in their poverty.
3. He was a man of sorrows, Job 17:7. He wept so much that he had almost lost his sight: My eye is dim by reason of sorrow, Job 16:16. The sorrow of the world thus works darkness and death. He grieved so much that he had fretted all the flesh away and become a perfect skeleton, nothing but skin and bones: "All my members are as a shadow. I have become so poor and thin that I am not to be called a man, but the shadow of a man."
II. The ill use which his friends made of his miseries. They trampled upon him, and insulted over him, and condemned him as a hypocrite, because he was thus grievously afflicted. Hard usage! Now observe,
1. How Job describes it, and what construction he puts upon their discourses with him. He looks upon himself as basely abused by them. (1.) They abused him with their foul censures, condemning him as a bad man, justly reduced thus and exposed to contempt, Job 17:2. "They are mockers, who deride my calamities, and insult over me, because I am thus brought low. They are so with me, abusing me to my face, pretending friendship in their visit, but intending mischief. I cannot get clear of them; they are continually tearing me, and they will not be wrought upon, either by reason or pity, to let fall the prosecution." (2.) They abused him too with their fair promises, for in them they did but banter him. He reckons them (Job 17:5) among those that speak flattery to their friends. They all came to mourn with him. Eliphaz began with a commendation of him, Job 4:3. They had all promised him that he would be happy if he would take their advice. Now all this he looked upon as flattery, and as designed to vex him so much the more. All this he calls their provocation, Job 17:2. They did what they could to provoke him and then condemned him for his resentment of it; but he thinks himself excusable when his eye continued thus in their provocation: it never ceased, and he never could look off it. Note, The unkindness of those that trample upon their friends in affliction, that banter and abuse them then, is enough to try, if not to tire, the patience even of Job himself.
2. How he condemns it. (1.) It was a sign that God had hidden their heart from understanding (Job 17:4), and that in this matter they were infatuated, and their wonted wisdom had departed from them. Wisdom is a gift of God, which he grants to some and withholds from others, grants at some times and withholds at other times. Those that are void of compassion are so far void of understanding. Where there is not the tenderness of a man one may question whether there be the understanding of a man. (2.) It would be a lasting reproach and diminution to them: Therefore shalt thou not exalt them. Those are certainly kept back from honour whose hearts are hidden from understanding. When God infatuates men he will abase them. Surely those who discover so little acquaintance with the methods of Providence shall not have the honour of deciding this controversy! That is reserved for a man of better sense and better temper, such a one as Elihu afterwards appeared to be. (3.) It would entail a curse upon their families. He that thus violates the sacred laws of friendship forfeits the benefit of it, not only for himself, but for his posterity: "Even the eyes of his children shall fail, and, when they look for succour and comfort from their own and their father's friends, they shall look in vain as I have done, and be as much disappointed as I am in you." Note, Those that wrong their neighbours may thereby, in the end, wrong their own children more than they are aware of.
3. How he appeals from them to God (Job 17:3): Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee, that is, "Let me be assured that God will take the hearing and determining of the cause into his own hands, and I desire no more. Let some one engage for God to bring on this matter." Thus those whose hearts condemn them not have confidence towards God, and can with humble and believing boldness beg of him to search and try them. Some make Job here to glance at the mediation of Christ, for he speaks of a surety with God, without whom he durst not appear before God, nor try his cause at his bar; for, though his friends' accusations of him were utterly false, yet he could not justify himself before God but in a mediator. Our English annotations give this reading of the verse: "Appoint, I pray thee, my surety with thee, namely, Christ who is with thee in heaven, and has undertaken to be my surety let him plead my cause, and stand up for me; and who is he then that will strike upon my hand?" that is, "Who dares then contend with me? Who shall lay any thing to my charge if Christ be an advocate for me?" Rom 8:32, Rom 8:33. Christ is the surety of the better testament (Heb 7:22), a surety of God's appointing; and, if he undertake for us, we need not fear what can be done against us.
III. The good use which the righteous should make of Job's afflictions from God, from his enemies, and from his friends, Job 17:8, Job 17:9. Observe here,
1. How the saints are described. (1.) They are upright men, honest and sincere, and that act from a steady principle, with a single eye. This was Job's own character (Job 1:1), and probably he speaks of such upright men especially as had been his intimates and associates. (2.) They are the innocent, not perfectly so, but innocence is what they aim at and press towards. Sincerity is evangelical innocency, and those that are upright are said to be innocent from the great transgression, Psa 19:13. (3.) They are the righteous, who walk in the way of righteousness. (4.) They have clean hands, kept clean from the gross pollutions of sin, and, when spotted with infirmities, washed with innocency, Psa 26:6.
2. How they should be affected with the account of Job's troubles. Great enquiry, no doubt, would be made concerning him, and every one would speak of him and his case; and what use will good people make of it? (1.) It will amaze them: Upright men shall be astonished at this; they will wonder to hear that so good a man as Job should be so grievously afflicted in body, name, and estate, that God should lay his hand so heavily upon him, and that his friends, who ought to have comforted him, should add to his grief, that such a remarkable saint should be such a remarkable sufferer, and so useful a man laid aside in the midst of his usefulness; what shall we say to these things? Upright men, though satisfied in general that God is wise and holy in all he does, yet cannot but be astonished at such dispensations of Providence, paradoxes which will not be unfolded till the mystery of God shall be finished. (2.) It will animate them. Instead of being deterred from and discouraged in the service of God, by the hard usage which this faithful servant of God met with, they shall be so much the more emboldened to proceed and persevere in it. That which was St. Paul's care (Th1 3:3) was Job's, that no good man should be moved, either from his holiness or his comfort, by these afflictions, that none should, for the sake hereof, think the worse of the ways or work of God. And that which was St. Paul's comfort was his too, that the brethren in the Lord would wax confident by his bonds, Phi 1:14. They would hereby be animated, [1.] To oppose sin and to confront the corrupt and pernicious inferences which evil men would draw from Job's sufferings, as that God has forsaken the earth, that it is in vain to serve him, and the like: The innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite, will not bear to hear this (Rev 2:2), but will withstand him to his face, will stir up himself to search into the meaning of such providences and study these hard chapters, that he may read them readily, will stir up himself to maintain religion's just but injured cause against all its opposers. Note, The boldness of the attacks which profane people make upon religion should sharpen the courage and resolution of its friends and advocates. It is time to stir when proclamation is made in the gate of the camp, Who is on the Lord's side? When vice is daring it is no time for virtue, through fear, to hide itself. [2.] To persevere in religion. The righteous, instead of drawing back, or so much as starting back, at this frightful spectacle, or standing still to deliberate whether he should proceed or no (allude to Sa2 2:23), shall with so much the more constancy and resolution hold on his way and press forward. "Though in me he foresees that bonds and afflictions abide him, yet none of these things shall move him," Act 20:24. 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 meet with in it [3.] In order thereunto to grow in grace. He will not only hold on his way notwithstanding, but will grow stronger and stronger. By the sight of other good men's trials, and the experience of his own, he will be made more vigorous and lively in his duty, more warm and affectionate, more resolute and undaunted; the worse others are the better he will be; that which dismays others emboldens him. The blustering wind makes the traveller gather his cloak the closer about him and gird it the faster. Those that are truly wise and good will be continually growing wiser and better. Proficiency in religion is a good sign of sincerity in it.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–16 My breath is corrupt,.... Through the force of his…
My breath is corrupt,.... Through the force of his disease, which made it have an ill smell, so that it was strange and disagreeable to his wife, Job 19:17; passing through his lungs, or other parts, which were affected with some disorder, or as frequently is the case of dying persons, and so Job thought himself to be. The word (n) used has the signification of pain, even of the pains of a woman in travail; and so may signify, that Job drew his breath with great pain, as people troubled with an asthma do, or dying persons in the hiccups, or just fetching their last breath; or "my spirit" (o), as it may be rendered, that is, his vital spirits which were exhausted and spent, there were scarce any left in him; or "my mind" (p), or soul, which was overwhelmed with grief, and so disturbed, that he was not himself, but in a manner distracted with the terrors of God, and the severity of his hand upon him:
my days are extinct; here Job corrects himself; he had spoken of a few years before, but it is as if he should say now, why do I talk of a few years, when I have but a few days to live, and even those are as good as gone? meaning not only his days of prosperity, which were at an entire end, as he thought, but the days of his natural life; the lamp of life was almost burnt out, the oil was spent, the wick was just extinguished, it was like the snuff of a candle going out:
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the graves are ready for me; the place of his fathers' sepulchres, the burial place of his ancestors, where many graves were; or he may have respect to various things into which the dead are put, as into so many graves; as besides their being rolled up in linen, as was the way of the eastern countries, there was the coffin, a sort of a grave, and which sometimes was made of stone; and then the place dug in the earth, more properly called the grave, and often over that a sepulchral monument was erected; so that there was grave upon grave. Job does not seem to have any respect to the usage of kings, and great personages, preparing stately monuments for themselves while living, such as the pyramids of Egypt, built by and for their kings, as is supposed; for the words "are ready" are not in the text, only supplied, though they are also by the Targum; they are very short and significant in the original text, "the graves for me", or they are mine; the grave is my property, my house, where I expect shortly to be, and there to abide and dwell until the resurrection, and which was desirable to him; "a grave to me"; that is all that I desire, or can expect; here he wished to be, as he did not doubt he quickly should be; and it is as if he should say, I am ready for that, and so Jarchi paraphrases it; and happy is the man that is ready for the grave, for death, and eternity, for the coming of his Lord, having the grace of God wrought in him, and the righteousness of his living Redeemer on him, which was Job's case; such an one shall go into the nuptial chamber at once, and be received into everlasting habitations.
(n) Pineda. (o) "spiritus meus", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, &c. (p) "Anima mea", Piscator, Schmidt.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 Job still bemoans himself, ver. 1-7. Encourages good men…
Job still bemoans himself, ver. 1-7. Encourages good men to hold on their way, ver. 8, 9. Declares he looks for no ease but in the grave, ver. 10-16. Job in this chapter suddenly passes from one thing to another as is usual for men in much trouble.
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.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–16 Job complains of the injustice of his friends, and…
CHAPTER XVII
Job complains of the injustice of his friends, and compares his
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present state of want and wo with his former honour and
affluence, 1-6.
God's dealings with him will ever astonish upright men; yet the
righteous shall not be discouraged, but hold on his way, 7-9.
Asserts that there is not a wise man among his friends, and
that he has no expectation but of a speedy death, 10-16.
NOTES ON CHAP. XVII
Verse 1. My breath is corrupt] Rather, My spirit is oppressed, רוחי חבלה ruchi chubbalah: My days are extinct, and the sepulchral cells are ready for me. - PARKHURST. There is probably a reference here to cemeteries, where were several niches, in each of which a corpse was deposited. See on Job 17:16.
For חבלה chubbalah, corrupted or oppressed, some MSS. have חלה chalah, is made weak; and one has is worn down, consumed: this is agreeable to the Vulgate, Spiritus meus attenuebatur; "My spirit is exhausted."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16 Job 17:1. My breath is corrupt — Is offensive…
Job 17:1. My breath is corrupt — Is offensive to those around me, through my disease. But, as the word חבלה, chubbalah, here rendered corrupt, may signify bound, straitened, or distressed with pain, as a woman in travail, Chappelow thinks the phrase had better be rendered: Spiritus meus constringitur, vel, cum dolore emititur; that is, I have such an oppression, that I can hardly breathe. The reading of the margin, however, is not to be overlooked, My spirit is spent, or lost, that is, my vital spirits and animal powers are wasted; my soul is ready to leave the body: I am a gone man. My days are extinct — The lamp of my life is far spent, and upon the point of going out. The graves are ready for me — That is, the grave; the plural number being put for the singular. Or, he speaks of the sepulchres of his fathers, to which he was to be gathered. Sol. Jarchi’s comment is, “I am ready for the grave.” The text is only קברים לי, kebarim li, sepulchra mihi: The grave for me, or, I have the grave. Any addition seems to spoil that elegancy of expression which consists in a sudden, quick turn of thought; as if Job had said, My breath is gone; my days extinct; I have a grave. Thus the Vulgate, Solum mihi superest sepulchrum, The grave only remains for me. Wherever we go there is but a step between us and the grave. The sepulchres where our fathers are laid are ready for us also. Whatever is unready, the grave is ready. It is a bed soon made. And, if the grave be ready for us, it concerns us to be ready for the grave.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–16 My breath is corrupt - Margin or “spirit is…
My breath is corrupt - Margin or “spirit is spent.” The idea is, that his vital powers were nearly extinct; his breath failed; his power was weakened, and he was ready to die. This is connected with the previous chapter, and should not have been separated from it. There was no necessity of making a new chapter here, and we have one of those unfortunate breaks in the middle of a paragraph, and almost of a sentence, which are too common in the Scriptures.
The graves are ready for me - The Hebrew is plural, but why so used I know not. The Vulgate is singular - sepulchrum. The Septuagint renders it, “I pray for a tomb (singular, ταφῆς taphēs), but I cannot obtain it.” Possibly the meaning is, “I am about to be united “to the graves,” or “to tombs.”” Schultens remarks that the plural form is common in Arabic poetry, as well as in poetry in general.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 Spirit. Hebrew, "breath is corrupt," (Haydock) or spent. I…
Spirit. Hebrew, "breath is corrupt," (Haydock) or spent. I cannot breathe without the greatest difficulty. (Calmet) --- Only. Septuagint, "But I want the grave, and do not obtain it." (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–16 UMBREIT, more emphatically, "had I only not to endure…
UMBREIT, more emphatically, "had I only not to endure mockery, in the midst of their contentions I (mine eye) would remain quiet."
eye continue--Hebrew, "tarry all night"; a figure taken from sleep at night, to express undisturbed rest; opposed to (Job 16:20), when the eye of Job is represented as pouring out tears to God without rest.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16 1. Now follow short ejaculatory clauses in which “Job…
1. Now follow short ejaculatory clauses in which “Job chants his own requiem,” (Delitzsch,) reminding the reader of the requiem chanted by Mozart shortly before his death.
My breath is corrupt — Literally, My life (rouahh) is destroyed. Some still read as in the text.
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The graves — The Arabians, according to Schultens, frequently use “graves” for the grave. Around the sides of the tomb of the ancient Hebrew there were cells for the reception of sarcophagi containing the bodies of the dead. To such cells Job may refer.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–16 1. my breath] Rather as margin, my spirit is…
1. my breath] Rather as margin, my spirit is spent, i. e. consumed. The “spirit” is the principle of life.
the graves are ready for me] lit. graves are mine; the meaning being: the grave is my portion; cf. Job_17:13 seq. Coverdale: I am harde at deathes dore.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16 (1) My breath is corrupt.—As it is said to…
XVII.
(1) My breath is corrupt.—As it is said to be in Elephantiasis. Some understand it, “My spirit is consumed.” (See margin.)
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The graves.—i.e., the grave is mine—my portion. The plural is frequently used for the singular in Hebrew, as, e.g., in the case of the word blood, which is commonly plural, though with us it is never so used.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–16 Vers. 1-16. The general character of this chapter has…
Vers. 1-16. The general character of this chapter has been considered in the introductory section to Job 16. It is occupied mainly with Job"s complaints of his treatment by his friends, and his lamentations over his sufferings (vers. 1-12). At the end he appeals to the grave, as the only hope or comfort left to him (vers. 13-16).
My breath is corrupt; or, my spirit is oppressed. But the physical meaning is the more probable one. A fetid breath is one of the surest signs of approaching dissolution. My days are extinct; or, cut off . The verb used does not occur elsewhere. The graves are ready for me; or, the chambers of the grave are mine already. The plural form is best explained by regarding it as referring to the niches commonly cut in a sepulchral chamber to receive the bodies of the departed (see Smith"s "Dictionary of the Bible," vol. 3. pp. 1528-1536).
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Vers. 1-16. Job to God: 3. The requiem of a dying man.
I ANTICIPATING HIS IMMEDIATE DISSOLUTION. With three pathetic sighs the patriarch bemoans his dying condition.
1. The total collapse of his vital powers. Indicated by the shortness and offensiveness of his breath, announcing the approach of suffocation and decay. "My breath is corrupt." And to this at last must all come. The most vigorous physical health, as well as the feeblest, contains within it germs of putridity. Essentially, notwithstanding all its strength and beauty, the corporeal frame is "this corruptible." Therefore, Thus saith the Lord... let not the mighty man glory in his might". (Jer_9:23)
2. The speedy termination of his life. The complete extinction of the already feebly burning taper of his terrestrial existence was at hand. "My days are extinct." Life is fittingly compared to a candle, (Job_21:17 Pro_24:20; cf. "Macbeth," act 5. sc. 5) in respect of its definite extent, the rapidity with which it burns, the facility with which it can be extinguished, and the certainty that it shall at lest burn out.
3. The actual opening of his grave. Contemplated as having already taken place. "The graves are ready for me." Job"s wasted skeleton made it all too evident that he was prepared for them, and could with propriety exclaim, as afterwards the aged Gaunt"Gaunt am I for the graye, gaunt as a grave, Whose hollow womb inherits nought but bones. It is well betimes to contemplate the narrow house appointed for all the living; to "sit upon the ground," and "talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs;" to reflect that"Nothing can we call our own, but death: And that small model of the barren earth, Which serves as paste and cover to our bones. ("King Richard II," Act 2: So 1 Ac 3. sc. 2.) It is well to realize that the tomb is but a step from the youngest, the fairest, the wisest, the strongest of Adam"s children, and prepare ourselves for it, as already it is prepared for us.
II BIDDING FAREWELL TO HIS FRIENDS.
1. Describing their character. He calls them mockers, who had trifled with his misery, laughed at his innocence, openly accused him of flagrant wickedness, consummate hypocrisy, and daring impiety. (cf. Job_12:4) This vehement reassertion of Job"s estimate of their behaviour would fall with the greater force and impressiveness upon their ears, because of proceeding from the lips of a dying man (cf. "King Richard II," Ac 2. sc. 1, and "King Henry VIII," Ac 2. sc. 1, in which John o" Gaunt and Buckingham call attention to the weightiness of dying men"s words). It would sound like the malediction of an expiring prophet.
2. Brooding over their calumnies. Their wicked insinuations had stung him to the quick, and were still rankling in his bosom. Not even death"s shadow or the grave"s gloom could hide them from his mental vision. As if with an evil fascination, his soul"s eye fastened on them, found a lodging with them, and could not shake them off. Easily had they been spoken, but not so easily could their remembrance be effaced. "Cutting words and cruel reproaches are not easily banished," especially when spoken by those from whom sympathy and kindness were expected. Hence the care which should be exercised not to inflict with the tongue wounds that only death can heal.
3. Predicting their discomfiture. "Therefore thou shalt not exalt them" (ver. 4). Job means that in the hotly waged controversy between himself and his friends they will not be allowed to triumph, but be utterly routed and put to shame. And of this he points out the premonitory symptom, in that moral and spiritual blindness with which God had suffered them to be overtaken thou hast hid their heart from understanding" (ver. 4). Either they had wilfully called good evil, and put darkness for light, or they were wholly incapable of understanding true religion or appreciating spiritual integrity. Hence, in either case, it was impossible that they could be right. Apart altogether from their applicability to the friends, Job here lays hold of important truths; as e.g.
(1) that the highest function of the spiritual understanding is to "discern spirits"; (1Co_12:10 1Jn_4:1)
(2) that the capacity of distinguishing the true from the false in religion belongs to no man by nature, but must be imparted by God; (1Co_12:11 1Jo 1:20)
(3) that the absence of this power to recognize true moral worth and spiritual integrity not only disqualifies an individual from acting as a judge in the sphere of religion, but, ipso facto, proclaims him to be as yet outside of that sphere altogether; and
(4) that God will certainly in the long run award the triumph to his own people and his own cause.
4. Announcing their punishment.
(1) Its severity. Their wickedness should be avenged, not alone upon themselves, but upon their children, whose "eyes should fail," or languish (ver. 5). That children suffer for the sins of parents is a fact of everyday experience; e.g. the families of drunkards, profligates, murderers, traitors, etc. It is a special sign of excessive wickedness when its results affect the innocent descendants of its perpetrators. Hence God is said to visit the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate him. (Exo_20:5) The sin of Achan was visited on himself and his sons and daughters. (Jos_7:24, Jos_7:25) The wickedness of Ahab was avenged on himself and his posterity. (1Ki_21:20) The leprosy of Naaman clung to Gehazi and his descendants. (2Ki_5:27) Over against this, however, stands the blessed fact that, though grace does not run in the blood, the piety of parents has a tendency to reproduce itself in the characters, as certainly it draws down blessings on the heads, of children. And as no greater felicity can be bestowed upon a parent than to contemplate the happiness of his household, so no greater sorrow can be his than to witness its destruction or dishonour. And such was the portion Job foretold for his mocking friends.
(2) Its naturalness. It would be a punishment in all respects befitting their offence. They had trampled on their best affections, delivering up him, their friend, to be a spoil (ver. 5); and so would they in turn be wounded in their parental loves. God"s retributions often show a striking correspondence to the crimes they avenge. Though the lex talionis has been abrogated by the gospel, it is still not unfrequently observed that they who take the sword perish by the sword, (Mat_26:52) and that" with what measure a man metes it is measured to him again". (Mat_7:2)
5. Proclaiming their folly. With contemptuous disdain he invites them to renew their efforts to establish his guilt, to attack him with another round of arguments, telling them he has no fear of their success, knowing them, as he does, to be essential fools (ver. 5). If the language evinces
(1) amazing self-confidence, Job standing with his foot in the grave, and yet lifting up his head with unfaltering assurance to the skies; and
(2) keen intellectual penetration, the speaker clearly discerning the fallacious character of the friends" consolation that, if he repented, he would yet be restored to a life of prosperity; it also displays
(3) extraordinary acerbity of feeling for a good man who might have been expected to hush his angry passions before lying down to sleep in the grave; and
(4) excessive heat of language which ill became a saint, even of the days of Job.
III SEEKING REFUGE IN THE MERCY OF GOD.
1. The bold request. Turning from his friends and confronting death, Job entreats with a sublimely daring faith, which rises clear above the mists of despondency and the hurricanes of passion that alternately fill his breast, that God himself would strike hands with him, and engage to be Surety for his innocence against himself (ver. 3). It is a by no means dim anticipation of the fundamental notion of the gospel, that, for the answering of all that God, as a righteous Lawgiver, can lay to the charge of man, God has himself become the Sponsor or Bondsman. What Job"s faith, standing as it were on the headlands of human thought, and looking out with prophetic eye into the vast terrain incognitam that spread out before him, craved for himself, that God would undertake the task of replying for him, not alone to the aspersions of his human calumniators, but also to the accusations and charges preferred against him by his Divine assailant, viz. God himself this astounding entreaty on the part of poor, feeble, sinful humanity, as represented by Job, has been answered by the gospel of Jesus Christ, who came in the fulness of the times as God incarnate to champion the cause of lost man, and vindicate, not his innocence, but his righteousness before God.
2. The fourfold reason. Job bases his supplication on a variety of grounds.
(1) The impossibility of finding help in any other quarter but with God. Who else but God should furnish surety to me?" (ver. 3). Not man, since Job"s friends rather exulted in his conviction and condemnation as a criminal. Hence, if any one could act the part of bondsman, it must be God himself. So is it God alone who can either clear up the saint"s integrity or establish the sinner"s righteousness before God. "No hope can on the Law be built of justifying grace;" nay"Vain is all human help for me: I dare not trust an earthly prop! My sole reliance is on thee; Thou art my Hope. (Elliot.)
(2) The fact that God himself was the Author of his troubles. Humiliating as these were (ver. 6), they had not come upon him accidentally, but by Divine permission. In so far, therefore, as they proclaimed him an object of God"s judicial wrath, they likewise made it clear that only God could effectually interpose for his deliverance. As Job was made a proverb and an object of contempt to his age, (Job_30:9, Job_30:10) so was David, (Psa_35:15, Psa_35:16) and the Messianic Sufferer spoken of in the Psalter, (Psa_22:6, 7 69:7, 11, 12, 19) and the prophets, (Isa_50:6 Isa_53:3) and Christ, (Mat_26:67 Mat_27:28, Mat_27:29, Mat_27:41-44) and so may Christians expect to be. (1Co_4:9, 1Co_4:11, 1Co_4:13)
(3) The circumstance that under the pressure of deep debasement he had wasted to a skeleton. Nothing impairs the strength or exhausts the vitality of the body like mental sorrow. Such inward anguish as Job had been subjected to makes the eye dim, the hair gray, the face old, and the entire frame feeble. Man"s frailty, and even man"s guiltiness, are recognized in Scripture as an argument for God"s merciful interposition. (Psa_6:2, Psa_6:5, 7 25:11)
(4) The danger of all moral distinctions becoming confused if his integrity were not cleared up. If allowed to pass away under a cloud, the truly pious would be astonished at so mysterious a dispensation, as afterwards they were at Christ, (Isa_52:14) and might even be led, like David, (Psa_37:7) Asaph, (Psa_73:3) and Jeremiah, (Jer_12:1) to envy the lot of the ungodly, who, notwithstanding their impiety, are allowed to prosper. This danger is hardly possible under the gospel, which has made it patent, first in Christ, and then in his people, that a righteous servant el God may be a sufferer. Still the suretyship of God in Christ for man has established moral distinctions on a firmer basis than they ever were before. (Rom_3:31)
IV EXULTING IN FINAL VICTORY. Job"s life is seemingly about to expire in gloom. Job himself, nevertheless, avows his confident expectation that the righteous and pure-handed man, like himself, shall be ultimately vindicated (ver. 9). The words suggest:
1. The purity of the righteous. They are a people who have "clean hands." Not that they are righteous or justified because of their clean hands. Even, (Job_9:2) as well as David (Psa_143:2) and St. Paul, (Gal_2:16) proclaimed that a man could not be justified by works before God. But clean hands are evidence of a pure heart. And holiness is a sure mark of faith. Nay, if purity of life be absent, the spirit of piety is not present. Faith without works is dead. Hence we are justified (as to the sincerity of our faith) by works; hence also "without holiness no man shall see the Lord.
2. The progress of the righteous. They shall "wax stronger and stronger;" "They shall go from strength to strength." They shall progress:
(1) Certainly. Wherever life is there must be growth. The soul possessed of grace cannot remain stagnant. A Christian not advancing towards the stature of a perfect man is unhealthy and unnatural.
(2) Gradually. The full measure of their advancement will not be attained at once. From stage to stage go the heavenward pilgrims. First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear, is the law according to which the seed of the Word, no less than the seed of the field, ripens. First the newborn babe, then the youth, and after that the mature man, is the order of development for life spiritual as well as life physical.
(3) Proportionately. They shall grow in such a way as to wax stronger and stronger. That is, they shall advance in all the parts and properties of the Christian life in brightness and tenacity of faith, in depth and sincerity of penitence, in ripeness and beauty of outward holiness, in warmth and fulness of love, in cheerfulness and joyousness of hope.
3. The perseverance of the righteous. They shall hold on their way
(1) in spite of every sort of difficulty the accusations of conscience, the power of indwelling corruption, the feebleness of faith, the pressure of affliction, the opposition of the world, the misrepresentations of friends, the wiles of the devil;
(2) with willing determination, whatever else may be helpful to their progress, the co-operation of their own personal faith, intelligence, purpose, will, being absolutely indispensable, and these never failing entirely in the case of those who are truly upright in their hearts;
(3) by the help of Divine grace, since, after all, "it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps," neither is it by man"s unaided strength alone, but rather by the power of God, that he is kept unto salvation; and
(4) to the journey"s end, for it is written of God"s pilgrims that they shall all come to Zion, and of Christ"s sheep that they shall never perish.
V PLUNGING AGAIN INTO DARKNESS. Descending from the lofty altitude upon which his faith had for a moment stood, the patriarch a second time takes his stand beside the opened tomb, and finishes his requiem where he began it, by contemplating:
1. The approach of death"as:
(1) The ending of his days, days are past" (ver. 11); which it is to every one the finishing of life"s years and moments, the termination of days pleasant and prosperous as well as of days miserable and adverse, of days of toil and days of rest, days of suffering and days of rejoicing, days of sinning and days of praying, alas! also days of grace and days of discipline.
(2) The interrupting of his thoughts, purposes are broken off, even the thoughts," or cherished possessions, "of my heart" (ver. 11); which again is true of all, of good and bad, of wise and foolish, of rich and poor alike, death"s hand remorselessly arresting the subtle thoughts of the busy brain, be it of philosopher or poet, statesman or merchant, and marring with equal unconcern the projects of the pious and the plots of the ungodly, the schemes of the tradesman and the intrigues of the diplomatist, the ambitious enterprises of the rich and the modest plans of the poor.
(3) The disappointing of his hopes of life, the utter extinction of that expectation which his friends had so often urged him to cherish, viz. the hope of a return to prosperity on this side the grave, but which he had never seriously entertained, and which, if he had entertained it, was now completely shattered, the bare idea of looking for a restoration when one was manifestly stepping into darkness being as foolish as to look for daylight when the night was near. And so death deals with all men"s hopes hopes of life, of prosperity, of happiness, of usefulness on earth, intercepts them, cuts them off, engulfs them in darkness as the night does the day.
2. The descent into Sheol"which he regards as:
a. The resting-place of his body. "If I hope, it is for Sheol as my house. In darkness I make my bed" (ver. 13). The grave is frequently spoken of as a, (Job_38:17) the house appointed for all living, (Job_30:23) the long home of the departed; (Ecc_12:5) and the only expectation of a worldly sort entertained by Job was that of entering this sepulchral habitation, in which already he had as it were spread his couch.
b. The habitation of his relatives, these relatives being corruption whom he esteemed as his father, and the worm whom he named his sister or his mother. "What an impressive description, and yet how true it is of all. The most vigorous frame, the most beautiful and graceful form, the meat brilliant complexion, has a near relationship to the worm, and will soon belong to the mouldering family beneath the ground" (Barnes).
c. The shelter of his true hope, the hope of a vindication, which, descending with him to the bars of the unseen world, might be lost to the eye of man, and in large measure to himself, but would rest beside him in the dust till the moment arrived for its public manifestation.
Learn:
1. That death is never more than a step from any man.
2. That those who are daily travelling towards the grave should begin betimes to prepare for their future homes.
3. That the whips and scorns of time, the mockings and calumniations of friends or foes, can pursue a man no further than to the bounds of life.
4. That God"s people have already been delivered from their greatest adversary by the willing suretyship of Christ.
5. That the royal road to heavenly exaltation is the inward illumination of the mind.
6. That good men should never rejoice in, though they may sometimes foresee, and even foretell, the punishment of their enemies.
7. That the best safeguard of a saintly man in trouble is to trace every affliction to the hand of God.
8. That Christ"s followers should not now be astonished at the tribulation of themselves or others.
9. That the just man who perseveres in holiness will attain to everlasting life.
10. That if death terminates the life of man on earth, it begins the existence of a saint in heaven.
11. That man possesses nobler relatives than the worms and corruption.
12. That death may finish all terrestrial hopes, but it cannot injure the hope of everlasting life, laid up for us in heaven.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON Vers. 1-16. The just holds on his way.
"The pencil of the Holy Ghost hath laboured more in describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon," says Lord Bacon. "Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes, and adversity is not without comfort and hopes. We see in needleworks and embroideries it is more pleasing to have a lively work upon a sad and solemn ground than to have a dark and melancholy work upon a lightsome ground; judge, therefore, of the pleasure of the heart by the pleasure of the eye." On this dark monotonous background of trouble, the bright colours of a spiritual faith and hope stand from time to time most brilliantly forth. Another example of this occurs in the present chapter.
I The first feeling presented is that of RELUCTANCE TO DIE UNDER MISCONSTRUCTION. (Vers. 1, 2) But for this, he is resigned to his fate. He must in the course of a short time renounce life, for disease is fulfilling its course; and he would do so willingly, if only the mockery of his friends did not continually vex him, and his eye were not provoked by their incessant irritation. There is generally something, even in a state of extreme suffering, which makes it hard to die. But to die misunderstood; under the cloud of a false accusation; like one who, mistakenly condemned, has languished in the cell of a prison, and gone to a felon"s grave; this must surely be the sharpest sting of death.
II The agony of this thought impels him to RENEWED RECOURSE TO GOD. (Ver. 8) As none among men will give the promise and take upon him to vindicate Job"s innocence after death, will God be bound as Surety for him, and undertake this duty? Thus once more we see how the extremity of suffering forces Job upon his deepest faith, can 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 RELAPSE INTO DESPONDENCY. (Vers. 4-7) He looks without, at the irritating spectacle of those complacent, unfriendly friends, and complains of their want of understanding, defying their authority. He accuses them of betraying him (ver. 5 should probably be, "he that maketh a spoil of his friends," etc.), and threatens them with sorrow in consequence. Then again he turns to God as the source of all his sufferings, who has made his name, once so fair in reputation, now a byword and a scoff, and has brought him into his present utter languor and exhaustion (ver. 7).
IV But once again there is a REVIVAL OF HIGH COURAGE AND HOPE. (Vers. 8, 9) He contemplates himself in this light as a reproach to all who behold him or know of his fate. The upright are thrown into amazed confusion, they are shocked at the spectacle; and the. innocent are stirred up against the profligate in indignation at their prosperity. But the just man will hold on his way, until the light again shines upon it; and he who has clean hands will, despite his present weakness, increase in strength. His words are "like a rocket which shoots above the tragic darkness of the book, lighting it up suddenly, though only for a short time" (comp. Psalm 73).
V He then turns again upon his friends with a SHARP REPROOF OF THEIR FOOLISH UNCONSOLATORY WORDS. (Vers. 10-16) The sharp rebuke of ver. 10 is followed by reasons. His strength is consumed, and his end is drawing near; his days are past, his plans cut off, and the fondest desires of his heart; and the light which they think to bring in consolation, is like to darkness (vers. 11, 12). He goes on to justify himself for seeing nothing but darkness and night before him, and to reject the hope which they hold out of better days. His hope is fixed on Hades, on the dark, lower world alone (ver. 13). He has said to corruption, "Father!" the worm he has designated "mother and sister"! And where, then, is this hope of restored health and prosperity of which you vainly talk? It disappears through the gates of Hades, and yonder in the dust will be alone his rest (vers. 14-16). But how unlike are God"s thoughts and ways to those of man! Job thinks his fate is scaled; he will neither live nor recover his former joy. Yet God has strangely and gloriously ordained that both life and joy restored shall be his, as the happy issue of his sufferings shows. Thus does he lead to the gates of hell and bring up again, (1Sa_2:6) leads through suffering to conquest over the fear of death, and to the germination and unfolding of a hope that is centred in the unseen. J.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 11, 13, 15 The righteous also shall hold on his way, and…
Job_17:9
The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
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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 worlds 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 Christs 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 Gods time and way. And yet to conquer sin and self is mans best and greatest triumph. Every mans noblest battlefield lies within, not without himself; lies within, not without his fellow man. In harmony with the worlds 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 Gods 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 Gods 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 Gods 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 Gods 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 mans 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 saints 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 Gods 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 saints perseverance
The Christian is frequently compared to a traveller; but no traveller reaches his journeys 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 Christians 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 pilgrims 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 Christs 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 Gods 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 characters 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 Jobs 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 Gods methods, misjudged Gods 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 moments 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 Jobs 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 Jobs 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 worlds 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 Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 I. Bemoans his dying condition (Job_17:1).
CONTINUATION OF JOB’S REPLY TO ELIPHAZ
I. Bemoans his dying condition (Job_17:1).
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“My breath is corrupt (or, ‘my spirit or vital energy is destroyed’), my days are extinct (or, extinguished, as a lamp or taper whose flame is expiring), the graves are ready for me” (or, the place of graves, or chambers of the tomb, are destined for me,—Heb., ‘are for me,’ or, ‘are mine’). Job takes a calm but gloomy view of his condition. Now views himself always as a dying man. Speaks the language of deep despondency. Vital powers exhausted. Energy of spirit broken. The lamp of life all but extinguished. His only expected home the grave. This mentioned now—
(1) As his reason for desiring to have his case speedily tried and his character vindicated;
(2) In opposition to the flattering prospect held out by his friends as the result of his repentance. Observe—
1. Good for us frequently to take a calm view of our condition as mortal and dying men. Philip of Macedon kept a person for the sole purpose of daily reminding him of his mortality. Sad to be surprised by the summons of death, like the rich fool (Luk_12:20). A good man, able, like Job, to chant his own dirge, both in the midst of life’s joys and sorrows.
2. True in reference to each what Job says of himself—
“The graves are ready for me.”
(1) Death is appointed to us. The lot of all but those who shall be living at the Lord’s appearing. The sentence of death entailed on Adam’s offspring as well as himself (Rom_5:12). Death an enemy which all have to meet. No discharge in that war. The grave the home appointed for all living. Death a visitor whom no wealth can bribe, no power resist, no artifice elude.—
(2) Death is near to us. “But a step between me and death.” Death or the Lord’s appearing not far from each of us. The grave probably much nearer both to reader and writer than to Job, when uttering these words. Job after this lived a hundred and forty years. Our entire life probably not more than half this amount. “Where is to-morrow? In another world. For numbers this is certain.” Death probably much nearer to us than we think. Uses to be made of this fact:—(i.) To make careful preparation for death. While the body enters the grave the spirit enters the invisible and eternal world. Prepare to meet thy God.—(ii.). To make right use of time while it lasts. Much to be done, and but a short time to do it in (Ecc_9:10).—
(3). To sit loose to the things of a present world. The world to be used, but not abused or used eagerly as if our all (1Co_7:29). “Why all this toil for triumphs of an hour?”—(iv.). To examine faithfully our views and prospects in regard to the grave. How do I regard it? With comfort or with dread? Is the prospect of it a gloomy or a pleasant one? To the believer to die is gain, because to depart is to be with Christ. To Him, the grave is only “a dark lattice letting in eternal day,” the avenue
“To festive bowers,
Where nectars sparkle, angels minister,
And more than angels share.”
Am I prepared for my final resting-place? Are my accounts made straight with God? Am I at peace with my Maker? Are my sins cancelled with the blood of Jesus?
II. Job complains of the conduct of his friends (Job_17:2).
“Are there not mockers (or mockings) with me? Doth not mine eye continue (Heb., remain all night) in their provocation?” Cutting words and cruel reproaches not easily banished. What the eye sees and the ear hears by day, the thoughts dwell upon by night. Such, with Job, the unkind looks and bitter words of those who should now have been his comfort. These things now his “sorrowful meat” (ch. Job_6:7). The conduct of his friends one great part of his affliction. “Man is to man the sorest, surest ill.” Instead of sympathy to soothe his sufferings, Job had only scorn to aggravate them. Such painful experience, especially from friends, happily the lot of few sufferers. Yet that of the Man of sorrows standing in our room. Complained of by Him as one of his keenest trials (Psa_22:7; Mat_27:39). “The Contradiction of sinners against himself” mentioned as the burden of his sufferings (Heb_12:4). His heart broken by reproach (Psa_69:20). In proportion to the sweetness of true friendship and sympathy in sorrow, is the bitterness of the want, and especially the opposite, of it. Friendship the “wine of life;” unkind reproaches from professed friends, especially in trouble, distilled wormwood.
III. Earnestly beseeches God to grant a speedy trial of his case (Job_17:3).
“Lay down now (or, ‘give a pledge, I pray thee’; put me in a surety with thee (or, ‘give,’ or, ‘be surety to me [in this controversy of mine] with thee,’—that thou wilt afford me a trial and act as a party); who is he that will strike hands with me?” (or, ‘who else is there that will,’ &c.,—that is able to enter into the controversy? or, who is there, when such a pledge is given me by Thee, that will enter into the controversy with me? I will challenge anyone to prove me a wicked dissembler). Always the great burden of Job’s desire to have his case fairly tried. The result and evidence of his conscious integrity. The most painful part of his suffering, that he was treated as a wicked man, and, in consequence of that treatment, was regarded as such by his friends. A good man’s name more precious to him than life. The cutting taunt of David’s enemies, and those of David’s antitype in trouble, where is now thy God? (Psa_42:10; Mat_27:41-43). Christ esteemed by His enemies, “stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted,” as a man under God’s displeasure, and suffering for his sins (Isa_53:4). For the consolation of anxious souls, God has given what Job desired, His promise and His oath (Heb_6:17-18). These given, not that they shall have their case tried, but that, on accepting Christ as their substitute and righteousness, they shall be accepted as righteous with God, just as they are. God Himself a surety to such that no evil shall befal them (Psa_119:122). David’s comfort that God had made with him an everlasting covenant (2Sa_23:5). Christ provided by God as the surety of that covenant (Heb_7:22). The Divine pledge that on receiving Him, no good thing shall be witheld from us (Rom_8:32).—The reason for Job’s request (Job_17:4) “For thou hast hid their heart from understanding (withheld from his friends the wisdom and intelligence necessary to qualify them for giving a right judgment in his case, or to make them successful parties in the controversy); therefore shalt thou not exalt them” (as righteous judges, or as those who have had the better in the case). A two-fold ground of Job’s request for a fair trial of his case by God Himself—
(1) The incapacity of his friends to judge in the matter;
(2) His consciousness of his innocence, and that in the controversy he will gain the cause. Job called to wage a double controversy—
(1) As against God, in His appearing to afflict him as a wicked man;
(2) As against his friends, in their charging him with being such.
Observe—
1. The highest “understanding” to judge correctly between right and wrong in principle and conduct, and rightly to interpret God’s dealings and dispensations with men. No understanding as to moral and spiritual subjects, but as the gift of God. With God either to give or withhold this understanding (Mat_11:25). A measure of it given to all men (Joh_1:9). That measure capable of being increased or diminished. The increase or diminution according to the improvement made of it, and the means employed for increasing it. “To him that hath,” &c. “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise.”—The want of a clear and correct moral judgment the consequence of sin. A dim perception and unsound judgment in moral and spiritual things one of the natural, as well as judicial, effects of transgression. The most upright, not the most learned, the most capable of forming a correct judgment on great moral questions. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. “A good understanding have all they that keep thy testimonies.”
2. The true “exaltation” that which comes from God (Psa_76:5-7; Dan_4:37). The possession and exercise of a sound moral judgment the ground of exaltation with God as of commendation with men (Pro_12:8). Prejudice and partiality in judging of an individual’s state and character a serious ground of Divine displeasure. Harsh and uncharitable judgment of and conduct towards a faithful and suffering servant of His the object of His disapprobation. Hence—
(1) The frequent denunciations in the Psalms in reference to David’s enemies and persecutors;
(2) The fearful judgments made to follow the Jewish nation for their treatment of God’s righteous servant, their own Messiah. Job’s friends not only not “exalted” by God, but deeply humbled and abased by Him in the end (ch. Job_42:7-8). The enemies and persecutors of Christ and His cause ultimately clothed with shame (Psalms 132). A bad cause only for a time apparently triumphant. “Magna est veritas,” &c.
IV. A denunciation against treacherous and unfaithful friends (Job_17:5).
“He that speaketh flattery to his friends (or the man who betrays his friends to [become a] spoil or prey; who deserts and betrays his friends from selfish considerations) the eyes of his children shall fail;” his sin is so grievous in the sight of God that it shall be visited not only on himself, but on his children. The treacherous and unfaithful conduct of Job’s friends already the subject of his sorrowful complaint (ch. Job_6:15-27). Observe—
(1) Treachery and unfaithfulness on the part of professed friends one of the most cutting trials with men, and the most condemning sins with God. These concentrated in the conduct of Judas Iscariot. The frequent complaint of David, and the painful experience of David’s antitype (Psa_40:9; Psa_55:12; Joh_13:18).
(2) Some sins more heinous in themselves and more disastrous in their consequences than others.
(3) Sin in many cases entails its consequences on a man’s children as well as on himself. Gehazi’s sin followed by the infliction of Naaman’s leprosy on himself and his posterity for ever. On the other hand, the virtuous conduct of parents entails a blessing on their offsprings. So the faith of Abraham, the zeal of Phinehas, the piety of Obed-Edom. In the text, Job retorts upon his friends their cruel allusion to his children’s calamity (ch. Job_5:4; Job_8:4; Job_15:30). Not only speaks according to the Old Testament platform, but announces a general law in God’s moral government. The consequences of parents sins upon their children often natural and in the ordinary course of Divine Providence; at the same time judicial, whatever may be the instrumentality or natural causes.
V. Returns to his own distressed condition
His sufferings the cause of the suspicion resting upon his character. Mentions—
1. The contempt to which his circumstances exposed him (Job_17:6). “He (i.e. God—frequently spoken of without being named) hath made me also a by-word (or proverb) of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret” (or, “and I am become an object to spit before,” or, “to spit at in the face”). Distressing contrast. Formerly the object of universal reverence and respect; now of public contempt and insult (ch. Job_30:10). To spit at or in the presence of another still a common mode of showing contempt among the Arabs. Mahommedans often thus exhibit their contempt of Christians. Trouble greatly aggravated by contrast with former prosperity. Contempt a bitter ingredient in a noble-minded man’s cup of sorrow. A frequent subject of complaint in the Psalms (Psa_22:6-7; Psa_35:15-16; Psa_49:7; Psa_49:11-12; Psa_49:19; Psa_123:3-4). The experience of the Man of Sorrows (Mat_27:28-29; Mat_27:41-44; Isa_53:3). Jesus, like Job, spit upon by the rabble (Isa_50:6; Mat_26:67; Mat_27:30).
2. The effect of grief upon his physical frame (Job_17:7). “Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members (or features) are as a shadow.” The eye dimmed by weeping and nervous exhaustion. The emaciation consequent on protracted sorrow still more common. Grief preys on the whole frame. Digestive organs retarded in their operation; nutrition at a stand. Job’s case (ch. Job_19:20). David’s complaint (Psa_22:17). So the prophet representing the Jewish Church in its trouble (Psa_102:5; 2Sa_4:8). Job’s trouble now of some continuance. The change in his appearance already such as to render him scarcely recognizable by his friends (ch. Job_2:12). The Man of Sorrows, when little above thirty, spoken of as “not yet fifty years old” (Joh_8:57). Job already a “by-word,” or proverb, of suffering or sorrow. Probably regarded as an example of the justice of God overtaking a secret transgressor, and of the sudden overthrow of those who have made themselves rich. Similar experience of David as a type of the Messiah (Psa_69:11). Job now for thousands of years a proverb of patience. His tears already gems. “Our sorrow the inverted image of our nobleness; perhaps, also, the measure of our sympathy” [Carlyle]. In Job three superlatives combined—nobleness of mind and character; trouble, with grief as its natural effect; patience, at least for a time, in enduring it.
VI. The contemplated effect of his sufferings on others
This twofold—
1. The encouragement of suffering innocence (Job_17:8). “Upright men shall be astonished at this [so aggravated is suffering in an innocent man, who yet maintains his integrity under it]; and the innocent [encouraged by my example] shall stir up himself against the hypocrite (or ungodly man).” Probably contemplates the effect, not merely of his suffering, but of the future public vindication of his character, at times confidently anticipated (ch. Job_19:25-29; Job_23:10). Hence, another reason for wishing a speedy decision of his case. Job’s experience an encouragement to all suffering believers—
(1) Not to be surprised if overtaken by signal affliction. God’s dealings with His people often dark and mysterious. Suffering saints Asaph’s perplexity (Psa_73:10-15).
(2) Not to wonder if subjected to misapprehension and suspicion even with good men. Job’s antitype also an object of astonishment on account of unparalleled sufferings borne with unparalleled patience (Isa_52:11; Isa_53:7) The support given to believers under suffering often an astonishment to themselves, as well as admiration to others. Astonishing trials bring astonishing consolations and deliverances. The anticipated result of Job’s sufferings realized as long as there shall be suffering believers in the world. The encouragement of such one great object of the book. Job read by the early Church every year in Passion-week. The subject of frequent meditation with the Man of Sorrows—Job’s great antitype. One means of building up his manhood and preparing him for patient suffering. Job the example of suffering patience especially for the Old Testament Church, as Jesus is for the New (Heb_12:2-3. As the result of Job’s sufferings, the pious should “stir up himself” against the profane, however prosperous in this world; not against their persons, but their principles and practice. Saints to love the sinner but to hate and oppose his sin. Observe—
(1) The duty of believers to stir themselves up (Isa_64:7). Godliness requires energy and zeal for its maintenance and practice. This especially in times of persecution, of general backsliding and apostacy, or of prevailing lukewarmness and worldliness. No small matter to hold on against prosperous ungodliness.
(2) The effect of God’s providential dealings with His church and people often very different from what is and might be expected. God makes both the wrath of man and the sufferings of the saints—even their sins—to praise Him. The blood of the martyrs the seed of the Church. Hopeful’s conversion due to Faithful’s martyrdom.
(3) A mark of sincerity to take part with suffering piety. The case of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. Believers at Rome waxed confident through Paul’s bonds (Php_1:14).
2. Encouragement to perseverance in Godliness (Job_17:9). “The righteous also shall hold (or take firm hold) on his way, and he that is of clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.” The example of perseverance in one an important means of promoting it in others. God’s wisdom and kindness in providing such an example as Job at so early a period of the world. Men more influenced by example than abstract reasoning or simple precept. The value of biography. Hence the large proportion of the Bible occupied with the life and history of individuals. Patient suffering a powerful sermon.
Perseverance in Holiness
The great duty of believers. Not without strenuous effort. Much to discourage and oppose. The current of the world and the flesh to swim against. Principalities and powers to be resisted. Many adversaries. The epistle to the Hebrews written to strengthen believers to hold on their way. Perseverance the test of sincerity (1Jn_2:19). “The path of the just as the shining light, shining more and more unto the perfect day.” Promised to believers (Php_1:6). The source of it, the power of God; the means, faith (1Pe_1:5). God’s printing done with fast colours. God able to keep His people, and as willing as He is able. Christ both the Author and Finisher of our faith. Believers not of them that draw back unto perdition (Heb_10:39; Heb_12:2).
The godly, from Job’s sufferings, not only to hold on their way, but to become “stronger and stronger” (Heb., “add strength”). Not only perseverance the duty and mark of believers, but
Growth
Growth in holiness God’s will—“Grow in grace.” Provision made for it—“He giveth more grace.” The object of Christ’s advent that we “might have life, and have it more abundantly.” Believers to be adding—“add to your faith virtue or courage, &c.” “From strength to strength.” Must either advance or retrograde. The character of those who grow—“He that is of clean hands.” Clean hands the index and result of a clean heart. Hands only clean when washed by faith in the blood of cleansing. Growth necessary. New strength for new and sorer trials, new and harder duties, new and severer battles. Means of growth—
(1) Waiting on the Lord in prayer and otherwise (Isa_40:30-31).
(2) Converse with the word of God, the food of the soul (1Pe_2:2).
(3) Faith in Christ as our strength and life (Heb_12:2).
(4) Fellowship with God’s faithful servants, and especially Christ himself (Pro_13:20).
(5) Contemplation of Christ’s glory. His character, and His cross (2Co_3:18).
(6) Exercise and improvement of the grace already given—“To him that hath, &c.”
(7) Discipline of Divine providence. Strength of religious principle heightened by suffering and trial. Tried grace is growing grace. The more Israel were afflicted in Egypt, “the more they grew.”
VII. Job’s dismission of his friends (Job_17:10).
“But as for you all (contrasting them with the upright innocent persons just mentioned), do ye return and come now (return again, i.e., to the discussion—spoken ironically; or, return and depart, i.e., to your own home).” The reason of this dismission of them twofold:—
1. The want of wisdom they had manifested. “For I do not find one wise man among you.” Want of capacity shown for the office they had undertaken. Had all proved themselves “miserable comforters,” “physicians of no value.” Had either applied bad remedies or misapplied good ones. Observe—
(1) Men to hold an office no longer than they exhibit capacity for it. Preachers listened to only as long as they are able to produce “words of truth and soberness.”
(2) Great pretension to wisdom often only covers the want of it. Shallow streams make greatest sound.
(3) Wisdom required in ministering to minds diseased. “He that winneth souls,” and he that rightly comforts mourners, “is wise.” A “wise man,” one who can “show out of a good conversation (or life) his works with meekness of wisdom” (Jas_3:13). Two kinds of wisdom: one, “earthly, sensual, devilish;” the other “from above,—pure, peaceable, gentle, full of mercy and good fruits.” True wisdom is to know the truth and do it. To choose right ends, and seek them by right means. The wise man one who—(i.) Has understanding of God’s character and ways, and is able to interpret them to others; (ii.) “knows both time and judgment;” “has understanding of the times;” and knows what both himself and others ought to do, and does it; (iii.) Faithfully and intelligently aims at the best interests of himself and his fellow men. True wisdom the gift of God, and to be asked in believing prayer (Jas_1:5-6; Jas_1:17; Jas_3:17). Christ made wisdom to those who are in Him (1Co_1:30).
2. The certainty and nearness of his own death which contradicted their promises of future prosperity (Job_17:2). “My days (perhaps his happy ones) are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts (margin ‘possessions’) of my ‘heart’ (the purposes and hopes which he had fondly cherished,—probably, according to Job’s character, having reference more to the welfare of others than himself; these all dashed to the ground by his calamities and approaching death). Observe—
(1) The part of a good man to form plans of usefulness for his fellow man;
(2) Necessary not to defer the execution of such plans. Sickness, trouble, and death may intervene to prevent their accomplishment. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” (Ecc_9:10). Hence the folly and unreasonableness of the friends’ counsel and promises. Their attempt that of those who (Job_17:12) “change (or make) the night into day” (talking of future prosperity in such dark and hopeless circumstances); the light is short because of darkness (or, they make “the light near in the very presence of darkness,”—talk of light when there is only darkness and death; the same idea repeated according to Hebrew parallelism). Like that in the Proverbs, under another figure,—“As vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to a heavy heart” (Pro_25:20). Words in order to be useful must be spoken in season.
Re-asserts the certainty and nearness of his end, to show the vanity of his friends’ counsel (Job_17:13). “If I wait (indulge, hope, or expection), the grave is mine house (the only home I can look for, instead of the pleasant and prosperous habitation you hold out to me); “I have made my bed in darkness” (have already taken possession of the tomb as my abode, by spreading my couch in its darkness). (Job_17:14)—“I have said to corruption (or ‘the pit,’ i.e., of the grave), Thou art my father (as being now bethrothed to death, and so made a member of his family), and to the worm (that preys upon the lifeless corpse—an idea frequent in Arab poetry), Thou art my mother and sister” (as already allied to these pulchral household). (Job_17:15).—And where is now (or where is then) my hope (the hope you counsel me to entertain); as for my hope, who shall see it?” (such a hope would be soon quenched in death without any seeing its realization). (Job_17:16)—“They (or it, viz., my hope) shall go down to the bars of the pit (to the gates or chambers of the grave), when our rest together is in the dust” (or, “it [or we] shall lie down together in the dust,” my hopes should be buried with myself in the grave). Observe.—
1. The grave viewed by a believer with calmness and with comfort. To such, a home or resting place, where “the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest.” To a believer, death is “of all pain the period, not of joy.”
“Death is the privilege of human nature,
And life without it were not worth the taking.”
Relationship with the grave (i.) of an endearing kind. In a sense, our father, mother, and sister. Contains the dust of some of our dearest friends. A husband or a wife, a parent or a child; these give the grave a in regard to it. Contains the bodies of a home-like aspect, and inspire a home-feeling believer’s brethren and sisters, while heaven contains their spirits. (ii.) Of a humbling kind. Man himself a worm, sprung from the same ground. Worms the companions and sharers of his final resting place. Worms his future guests who shall feed upon himself.
2. Man’s duty to guard against delusion in the matter of his hope. Good to ask with Job
What is my hope?
The hope of many, only such as to be buried with them in the same grave. Such the case if our hope is only of an earthly nature, or resting on a false foundation.
“Who builds on less than an immortal base,
Fond as he seems, condemns his joys to death.”
Our hope may be either a cable or a cobweb; may either rest on solid rock or yielding sand. The believer’s hope is—(i.) “a good hope,” as having (a) a good object—the heavenly inheritance; (b) a good foundation,—Christ himself and his finished work. (ii.) A “lively hope,” as one that shall survive the grave. Having Christ “as our hope,” we plant our foot on the grave and sing our pæan over it: O grave where is thy victory? O death where is thy sting?
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 These words assure us of two things which our…
Job 17:9
These words assure us of two things which our minds need—a security of our continuance and of our growth.
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I. Who are the righteous? (1) A righteous man is a true man; (2) a righteous man is upright in his daily life and conversation; (3) a righteous man understands, and recognises, and puts on another righteousness—the righteousness of Christ; (4) a righteous man is therefore a justified man, a man pleasing and dear to God for the sake of Jesus Christ.
II. "The righteous shall hold on his way." Can we read these words and deny the perseverance of saints? An unseen hand will be over you, attractions too strong to be resisted will draw you, a spirit not your own will animate you, and you will hold on your way.
III. "He that hath clean hands." To have clean hands means two things: (1) it is to be washed in the fountain that cleanseth from all sin; (2) to have clean hands is the Scriptural expression for a man who is living without any one known, wilful, deliberate sin.
IV. The forgiven man who lives purely "shall be stronger and stronger." (1) His conceptions of truth will grow continually firmer; (2) his faith in that truth will strengthen; (3) his power over his besetting sin will be greater; (4) his ability for service will grow; (5) his happy sense of God’s love and favour will increase.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 4th series, p. 125.
Job 17:9; Job 42:5-6
I. It is not possible to set out the salient features of Job’s strength without taking into account the immense energy he derived from his burning consciousness of unimpeachable integrity. 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. The strongest of beings is the holiest, and we men reach the very spring-head of power as we become partakers of the Divine purity.
II. But, strange to tell, the closing picture of Job is not that of a conqueror, but a confessor, not of an enthroned prince, but of a kneeling penitent. The unexpected revolution is effected by the revelation of God to the eye of the soul. Job knows God as he did not know Him before. The character of his knowledge is changed, heightened, vitalised, intensified, personalised. God is no longer a voice crying in the wilderness, but a Presence in his heart and before his spiritual eye.
III. Here then is one signal value of the knowledge of God, even of His immense power and greatness. By the knowledge of God is the knowledge of self, in the knowledge of self is the knowledge of sin, through the knowledge of personal sin we come to repentance, and by a baptism in the fiery waters of repentance we pass to the reality and strength of life.
IV. Such God-inspired penitence swiftly vindicates itself in the pure sincerity and holy brotherhood it creates and the reconciliation it effects between man and men and man and his lot. The voice of prayer is exchanged for the clash of debate; the incense of reconciling sacrifice ascends in place of the smoke of anger and scorn.
J. Clifford, Daily Strength for Daily Living, p. 325.
References: Job 17:9.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiii., No. 749, and vol. xxiii., No. 1361; J. H. Evans, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 435; J. A. Picton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. i., p. 211. Job 17:11.—Old Testament Outlines, p. 94. Job 17:13.—S. Baring-Gould, One Hundred Sermon Sketches, p. 201. Job 17:14.—J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College, vol. ii., p. 169. Job 17—D. Moore, Penny Pulpit, No. 3171.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Job's Fourth Speech (concluded)
Job's Fourth Speech (concluded)
1-9. Job prays God to pledge Himself to vindicate his innocence in the future, for his friends have failed him, and he rejects their promises of restoration in the present life.
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1. RV 'My spirit is consumed, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me.' The v. is connected with Job_16:22.
2. Job rejects the delusive hopes of restoration held out by the friends.
3. RV 'Give now a pledge, be surety for me with thyself; who is there that will strike hands with me?' Job begs that God will promise to testify to his innocence after he is dead. There is no one else who will do this. To 'strike hands' was the Hebrew sign of becoming surety for another.
4. The friends are too prejudiced against Job to speak on his behalf. Not exalt them] i.e. not let their views triumph.
5. RV 'He that denounceth his friends for a prey, even the eyes of his children shall fail.'
6. He hath made me] Render, 'I am made.' And aforetime, etc.] RV 'And I am become an open abhorring.'
8, 9. The upright, astonished at Job's calamities, will rise against the ungodly, while the righteous holds on his way with increasing strength. This does not fit in well with Job's attitude, so that there is plausibility in the view of some scholars that the vv. are a misplaced fragment of Bildad's speech.
10. Job invites the friends to renew their arguments, although he expects nothing worth hearing from them.
11, 12. The thoughts, etc.] Render, perhaps,' The thoughts of my heart put night for day. Darkness is nearer than light.'
13-16. Job declares that it is vain to look for any restoration or justification (my hope) in this life. His hope will go to the grave with him.
13. RM 'If I hope, Sheol is mine house.'
16. They] RV 'it' (i.e. his hope). Bars of the pit] the gates of the world of the dead: cp. Isa_38:10. When, etc.] RV 'when once there is rest in the dust.' Job moves forward in this speech to the great thought that after he is dead, God will clear his reputation of the stain placed upon it by his disasters, which seemed to the world to prove his guilt. He does not expect the old relations between God and himself to be renewed, but since he cannot bear the thought that he will be permanently branded as an evil-doer, he wins the conviction that he will ultimately be righted. And since God alone can or will clear his honour (for man cannot and will not) he is assured that God, who is now slaying him by slow torture, will at last vindicate him. God's present mood is not an index to His permanent character.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v16 Heb. "Sheol," (See Scofield "Hab 2:5")
grave
Heb. "Sheol," (See Scofield "Hab 2:5")
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 11 Job Complains of his Weakness
Job Complains of his Weakness
v. 1. My breath is corrupt, or, "my spirit is violently disturbed"; his power of life was fast waning as his bodily organism was succumbing to the illness racking him. My days are extinct, the graves are ready for me; his life was like a lamp whose oil was about consumed, and so he saw nothing but the tomb before him.
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v. 2. Are there not mockers with me? or, "truly, mockery surrounds me," namely, in the persons of these false friends. And doth not mine eye continue in their provocation? The eyes of Job were obliged to rest, to dwell, on their quarreling, on their contentions, a fact which increased his misery.
v. 3. Lay down now, Job pleads with God to furnish him a pledge, or security, to bind Himself as surety; put me in a surety with Thee, He Himself being bondsman for Job before the tribunal of divine justice. Who is he that will strike hands with me? or, "who else would guarantee or furnish me surety?" Both parties in a trial were obliged to pledge a sum or guarantee before court was opened, and it is with reference to this custom that Job asks God to go on his bond.
v. 4. For Thou hast hid their heart from understanding, his friends were so short-sighted and narrow-minded that they were prevented from seeing and acknowledging Job’s innocence; therefore shalt Thou not exalt them, not let them prevail against Job, whom they were unjustly accusing. And the attitude of his friends forces another exclamation from his lips.
v. 5. He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail, literally, "he who offers his friends for a prey," exposing them to unjust accusations, as did the three friends of Job, the eyes of his children will languish. The thought is that God certainly could not favor these false friends, since they had betrayed Job’s friendship and thus had incurred judgment in which their children were bound to share.
v. 6. He hath made me also a byword of the people, God had set him as a proverb before the whole world, the name of Job suggested to the minds of men everywhere a great misery inflicted by the Lord; and aforetime I was as a tabret, one into whose face the passers-by could freely spit, the object of the most unqualified contempt.
v. 7. Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, the light of his eyes was expiring from weeping and grief, and all my members are as a shadow, wasted away like phantoms.
v. 8. Upright men shall be astonied at this, they are astonished and horrified that such a fate can strike the righteous, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite, roused up in anger against the ungodly, his sense of justice being outraged by the prosperity of the wicked.
v. 9. The righteous also shall hold on his way, that is, in spite of such happenings the truly pious person will cling to his righteousness, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger, increase in inward, spiritual strength. This is one of the passages which show the purpose of the book, lighting up its darkness like a flash of encouraging brightness.
v. 10. But as for you all, Job here addressing himself once more to his false friends, do ye return and come now, he challenged them to come forward with some real wisdom; for I cannot find one wise man among you, their hearts remained closed to the right understanding of Job’s condition, they were still deceiving themselves concerning the actual state of the case before them. Thus false friends everywhere, if once they have rendered judgment, are most unwilling to retract their false statements, preferring, rather, to have their victim suffer unjustly.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, 16 General Information:
General Information:
Job continues to speak.
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My spirit is consumed
Job refers to himself by his "spirit" to emphasize his inner emotions. He speaks of not having any strength left as if he were something that has been used up. AT: "I am consumed" or "I have lost all of my strength" (See: Synecdoche and Metaphor)
my days are over
"my time is over" or "I am going to die soon"
the grave is ready for me
This phrase describes "the grave" as if it is a person who will receive Job as a guest. AT: "soon I will be dead and buried" (See: Personification)
Surely there are mockers with me
"Those who are around me are mocking me"
Surely
"Certainly" or "There is no doubt that"
my eye must always see
Job refers to himself by his "eyes" to emphasize what he sees. AT: "I must always see" or "I must always hear" (See: Synecdoche)
their provocation
"their insults." The word "provocation" can be expressed as a verb. AT: "them provoking me" or "them, trying to make me angry" (See: Abstract Nouns)
Give now a pledge, be a guarantee for me with yourself
Job begins to speak to God. Here he speaks of his situation as if he were in prison. He is asking God to provide a pledge so that he may be released. AT: "God, give now a pledge so that I may be released from this prison" or "pay for my release from prison" (See: Metaphor)
who else is there who will help me?
Job uses this rhetorical question to emphasize that there is no one else to help him. This question can be written as a statement. AT: "there is no one else who will help me." (See: Rhetorical Question)
translationWords
spirit
consume
grave
mock
pledge
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 10, 13, 14, 16 17:1 My spirit is crushed: This can refer to…
17:1 My spirit is crushed: This can refer to a properly contrite attitude (Ps 51:17), but more often it connotes an unbearably sad heart (Prov 18:14).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.