Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
Parallel Translations
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Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
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Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?
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To a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Job 3:23 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Job 19:8 He has walled up my way so that I can’t pass, and has set darkness in my paths.
- Lamentations 3:7 He has walled me about, so that I can’t go out. He has made my chain heavy.
- Isaiah 40:27 Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, “My way is hidden from Yahweh, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God?”
- Job 12:14 Behold, he breaks down, and it can’t be built again. He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
- Job 19:12 His troops come on together, build a siege ramp against me, and encamp around my tent.
- Psalms 31:8 You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have set my feet in a large place.
- Psalms 88:8 You have taken my friends from me. You have made me an abomination to them. I am confined, and I can’t escape.
- Lamentations 3:9 He has walled up my ways with cut stone. He has made my paths crooked.
- Hosea 2:6 Therefore behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she can’t find her way.
- Job 19:6 know now that God has subverted me, and has surrounded me with his net.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That seeth not how to come out of his…
That seeth not how to come out of his miseries, because he dependeth not on God’s providence.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 3:23 [Why is light given] to a man…
Job 3:23 [Why is light given] to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?
Ver. 23. Why is light given to a man whose way is hid?] i.e. Why is the light of life continued to him who is in a maze or labyrinth of miseries, whereof he can see no cause, and whereout he can descry no issue? no hope at all appeareth of ever either mending or ending. Therefore Vale lumen amicum, as he in St Jerome said, Sweet light, adieu; Quin morere ut merita es, as she in the poet, Be thine own death’s man. Seneca counts it a mercy to a man in misery that he may, by commiting suicide, let out his life when he will; and this he calls valour and manhood. But we have not so learned Christ, neither may we leave our station till called for by our Captain, but must stand to our arms, and, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, suffer hardship, 2Ti 2:4. His word to us is the same as the king’s was to his son, the Black Prince, Either vanquish or die (Speed.); and as she in the story said to her son when she gave him his target, See that thou either bring this back with thee, or else be thou brought back dead upon it out of the battle, ταν η επι ταν. It troubled Job that he could not see his way, and that God had hedged him in, viz. with a thorn hedge of afflictions, Lam 3:7; Lam 3:9 Hos 2:6, so that he could find no way out. But what if he could not, nor any man alive? yet the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, 2Pe 2:9. He hath his way in the whirlwind, and his judgments are a great deep, Psa 36:6. Sometimes secret they are, but ever just. Surely it had been more meet for Job to have said unto God, "That which I see not, teach thou me," Job 34:32. "Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have I waited for thee; the desire of my soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee," Isa 26:8.
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 Why is light given? these words are conveniently supplied…
Why is light given? these words are conveniently supplied out of Job 1:20, where they are, all the following words hitherto being joined in construction and sense with them.
Whose way is hid, to wit, from him who knows not his way, i.e. which way to turn himself, what course to take to comfort himself in his miseries, or to get out of them; what method to use to please and reconcile that God who is so angry with him, seeing his sincere and exact piety, to which God is witness, doth not satisfy him; or what the end of these calamities will be.
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Whom God hath hedged in; not with a hedge of defence, like that Job 1:10, but of offence and restraint, i.e. whom God hath put as it were in prison or pound, or like cattle in grounds enclosed with a high and strong hedge, over or through which they cannot get; so that he can see no way nor possibility to escape, but all refuge fails him.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Why is light given to a man whose way…
Why is light given to a man whose way is hid,.... Some of the Jewish writers connect this with Job 3:22, thus; "who rejoice and are glad when they find a grave for a man", &c. but it should be observed that such are said to rejoice at finding a grave, not for others, but for themselves; the words stand in better connection with Job 3:20, from whence the supplement is taken in our version and others; and so it is a continuation or repetition of the expostulation why light and life, or the light of the living, should be given to persons as before described, and here more largely; and Job himself is principally designed, as is generally thought, whose way, according to him, was hid from the Lord, neglected and not cared for by him but overlooked and slighted, and no regard had to the injuries done him, as the church also complains, Isa 40:27; or front whom the way of the Lord was hid; his way in the present afflictive dispensations of Providence, the causes and reasons of which he could not understand; not being conscious of any notorious sin committed, indulged, and continued in, that should bring these troubles on him: or the good and right way was hid from him in which he should walk; he was at a loss to know which was that way, since by his afflictions he was ready to conclude that the way he had been walking in was not the right, and all his religion was in vain; and according to this sense he laboured under the same temptation as Asaph did, Psa 73:13; or his way of escape out of his present troubles was unknown to him; he saw no way open for him, but shut up on every side: or there was no way for others to come to him, at least they cared not for it; he who had used to have a large levee, some to have his counsel and advice, and to be instructed by him, others to ask relief of him, and many of the highest rank and figure to visit, caress, and compliment him; but now all had forsaken him, his brethren and acquaintance, and his kinsfolk and familiar friends kept at a distance from him, as if they knew not the way to him:
and whom God hath hedged in? not with the hedge of his power, providence, and protection, as before; but with thorns and afflictions, and in such manner as he could not get out, or extricate himself; all avenues and ways of escape being blocked up, see Lam 3:7; though, after all, the words may be considered as a concession, and as descriptive of a man the reverse of himself, and be supplied thus; "indeed light may be given to a man", a mighty man, as the word (e) signifies, a man strong, hale, and robust; "whose way is hid", or "covered" (f); who is hid in the secret of God's presence, and in the pavilion of his power; who dwells in his secret place, and under the shadow of the Almighty, Psa 31:20; who is under the shelter of his providence, preserved from diseases of body, and protected from the plunder and depredations of enemies, and enjoys great affluence and prosperity, as his three friends about him did, and whom he may point at: "and whom God hath hedged in"; as he had formerly set a hedge about him in his providence, though now he had plucked it up; see Job 1:10.
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(e) "emphatice ponitur saepe, ut notetur praepollentia", Coccei. Lexic in rad (f) "tecta", Cocceius; "velo septa est", Schultens.
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 Hid - From him; who knows not his way,…
Hid - From him; who knows not his way, which way to turn himself, what course to take to comfort himself in his miseries. Hedged in - Whom God hath put as it were in a prison, so that he can see no way or possibility of escape.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 23. To a man whose way is hid]…
Verse 23. To a man whose way is hid] Who knows not what is before him in either world, but is full of fears and trembling concerning both.
God hath hedged in?] Leaving him no way to escape; and not permitting him to see one step before him.
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There is an exact parallel to this passage in Lam 3:7; Lam 3:9: He hath hedged me about that I cannot get out. He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone. Mr. Good translates the verse thus: To the man whose path is broken up, and whose futurity God hath overwhelmed. But I cannot see any necessity for departing from the common text, which gives both an easy and a natural sense.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Job 3:23. Why is light given to a man…
Job 3:23. Why is light given to a man whose way is hid? — Hid from him; who knows not his way, that is, which way to turn himself, what course to take to obtain comfort in his miseries, or to get out of them. And whom God hath hedged in — Whom God hath put, as it were, in a prison, so that he can see no way or possibility of escape; but all refuge fails him.
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 Why is light given “to a man uhose way…
Why is light given “to a man uhose way is hid?” That is, who does not know what way to take, and who sees no escape from the misery that surrounds him.
Whom God hath hedged in - See Notes, Job 1:10. The meaning here is, that God had surrounded him as with a high wall or hedge, so that he could not move freely. Job asks with impatience, why light, that is, life, should be given to such a man? Why should he not be permitted to die? This closes the complaint of Job, and the remaining verses of the chapter contain a statement of his sorrowful condition, and of the fact that he had now been called to suffer all that he had ever apprehended. - In regard to the questions here proposed by Job Job 3:20-23, we may remark, that; there was doubtless much impatience on his part, and not a little improper feeling. The language shows that Job was not absolutely sinless; but let us not harshly blame him. What he says, is a “statement” of feelings which often pass through the mind, though they are not often expressed. Who, in deep and protracted sorrows, has not found such questions rising up in his soul - questions which required all his energy and all his firmness of principle, and all the strength which he could gain by prayer, to suppress? To the questions themselves, it may be difficult to give an answer; and it is certain that none of the friends of Job furnished a solution of the difficulty. When it is asked, why man is kept in misery on earth, when he would be glad to be released by death, perhaps the following, among others, may be the reasons:
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(1) Those sufferings may be the very means which are needful to develope the true state of the soul. Such was the case with Job.
(2) They may be the proper punishment of sin in the heart, of which the individual was not fully aware, but which may be distinctly seen by God. There may be pride, and the love of ease, and self-confidence, and ambition, and a desire of reputation. Such appear to have been some of the besetting sins of Job.
(3) They are needful to teach true submission, and to show whether a man is willing to resign himself to God.
(4) They may be the very things which are necessary to prepare the individual to die. At the same time that people often desire death, and feel that it would be a relief, it might be to them the greatest possible calamity. They may be wholly unprepared for it. For a sinner, the grave contains no rest; the eternal world furnishes no repose.
One design of God in such sorrows may be, to show to the wicked how “intolerable” will he future pain, and how important it is for them to be ready to die. If they cannot bear the pains and sorrows of a few hours in this short life. how can they endure eternal sufferings? If it is so desirable to be released from the sorrows of the body here, - if it is felt that the grave, with all that is repulsive in it, would be a place of repose, how important is it to find some way to be secured from everlasting pains! The true place of release from suffering for a sinner, is not the grave; it is in the pardoning mercy of God, and in that pure heaven to which he is invited through the blood of the cross. In that holy heaven is the only real repose from suffering and from sin; and heaven will be all the sweeter in proportion to the extremity of pain which is endured on earth.
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 To. Why is life given to? &c. The uncertainty…
To. Why is life given to? &c. The uncertainty whether a man be worthy of love or hatred, (Ecclesiastes ix. 1.) and whether he will persevere to the end, is what fills Job with distress; though we must trust that God will suffer none to be tempted above their strength, 1 Corinthians x. 13. --- He finds himself surrounded with precipices, and in the dark. (Calmet) --- So God often tries this faithful servants. (Du Hamel)
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 whose way is hid--The picture of Job is drawn…
whose way is hid--The picture of Job is drawn from a wanderer who has lost his way, and who is hedged in, so as to have no exit of escape (Hos 2:6; Lam 3:7, Lam 3:9).
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 b. By making an application to himself of the…
b. By making an application to himself of the preceding monody, Job brings his generalization to an end, Job_3:23-26.
23. To a man — Job means himself, as is seen in the following verse. The antecedent is in Job_3:20. Job_3:21-22 are parenthetical.
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Whose way is hid — That is, so covered or obscure that he cannot see his way before him. “A man’s way is the exit for his energies of action or thought to go in; it is hidden when action and thought are paralyzed, and unable to find a passage through surrounding contradictions.” — Davidson. Umbreit thinks the picture is taken from a wanderer who has lost his way, and, bewildered, falls into the most distressing solicitude.
God hath hedged in — (Comp, Job_19:8; Lam_3:7; which may be regarded as a comment on the passage; and Hos_2:6.) A gradation in thought; for not only is his “way hid,” but whichever way he may turn there is no egress: Eloah hath “hedged him around.” But a little before he would not mention the name of Deity; now that he does, it helps us to see down into the depth of his despair.
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 23. whose way is hid] Job now narrows his…
23. whose way is hid] Job now narrows his view from the general sorrows of mankind to himself. His way is hid or lost, the clear path of his former life has suddenly broken off, or as the second clause of the verse expresses it, has been shut in by a hedge, set by God across it. The reference is not merely to his physical calamities, but much more to the speculative and religious perplexities which his calamities wove about his mind, and from which he can find no outlet, cf. Job_19:8.
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 (23) Hedged in.—The same expression was used in an…
(23) Hedged in.—The same expression was used in an opposite sense in Job_1:10.
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 Why is light given to a man whose way…
Why is light given to a man whose way is hid? "Obscured," that is, "darkened," "placed under a cloud" (comp. ver. 20, where the sentiment is nearly the same). And whom God hath hedged in. Not in the way of protection, as in Job_1:10, but of obstruction and confinement. (Job_19:8 and Hos_2:6) Job feels himself confined, imprisoned, blocked in. He can neither see the path which he ought to pursue nor take steps in any direction.
The mystery of limitations.
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Job here refers to two kinds of limitations limits to knowledge and limits to power. Each is mysterious and perplexing.
I THE MYSTERY OF LIMITED KNOWLEDGE. There are many kinds of knowledge that are of no immediate and practical importance to us. It would satisfy our curiosity if an answer could be found for our inquiries about such subjects; but it is by no means necessary that an answer should be forthcoming, and we can very well be content to go on without it. But the case is very different where we have to do with our own lives and their course of experience. Here the mystery is as perplexing and distressing as it is profound and insoluble. This is just Job"s trouble. His way is hid.
1. The mean ing of the present is not seen. The events that happen are so contrary to expectation and apparently to reason. Changes seem to happen like the aimless shiftings of a kaleidoscope. Useless troubles appear to fall upon us, Undeserved calamities seem to assail us.
2. The prospect of the future is obscure. If we could discern a happy issue out of our troubles, they might be endured with equanimity. But perhaps, as in Job"s case, it is often impossible to see whither they are leading us. There is no bow in the cloud.
3. The discipline of life is conducted in mystery. Assuredly there is a purpose in the mystery, though we cannot see it. It would be bad for us to know all. Job could not have proved his disinterested devotion so effectively as he did prove it if he had known that the eye of the universe was on Satan"s experiment of which he was the subject. God trains us in faith by means of obscurity. In the mean time he does not leave us. Our way may be hidden, but it is known to God. He is able to lead us safely over the darkest paths.
II THE MYSTERY OF LIMITED POWER.
1. Human faculties are limited. They must be, or we should be infinite beings, i.e. we should be as God. But if there are necessarily some bounds to our power, we have only a question of degree when we are considering where this boundary is set. Still, the weak man wonders why he is not strong. Why should not the pigmy be a giant? Why should not the commonplace man have the intellect of a Plato? Why cramp him with a small mind? This is all mysterious, as it seems to bring injustice. But God only expects according to what is given, and surely there are some who cannot be trusted with the powers which others are capable of using.
2. Human circumstances are limited. A man has great powers; but he is hedged in. How hard this seems! If only he were at liberty what grand feats would he perform! So the poor man thinks he would do wonders if he were but a millionaire. But we have all to learn that "he shall choose our inheritance for us," because he knows us better than we know ourselves. Meanwhile the very hedge has its good effect. Satan had complained that God had set a hedge about Job (Job_1:10) for protection. Job apparently sees another hedge, and thinks it a hindrance. But may not the hindrance be a protection? The river runs the swifter when its channel is narrowed. There is a gathering of strength from the concentration of effort that limited circumstances require. There is an inspiration in difficulty. If we all had perfect liberty and power, we should lose the bracing discipline which now helps to train us. Finally, observe, no hedge set up by God can keep us from our true mission or our rightful heritage. Job did not fail, but, on the contrary, did his great life"s work the better through" the mysterious cramping of his circumstances. W.F.A.
Along with Job_1:10The two hedges; of the hedge of prosperity and the hedge of adversity.
I IN WHAT THEY COMPARE.
1. In being planted by God. Job"s prosperity was from God; his adversity was not without God.
2. In encircling the saint. Job was equally a pious man in both positions.
3. In being both removable. If Job"s prosperity was exchanged for adversity, his adversity was afterwards succeeded by prosperity,
II IN WHAT THEY CONTRAST.
1. In the frequency of their setting. Adversity a more frequent experience than prosperity.
2. In the comfort they afford. Prosperity a hedge of roses; adversity of thorns.
3. In the effects they produce. Prosperity more dangerous to a man"s spiritual interests than adversity.
III IN WHAT THEY SUGGEST.
1. That God"s hand is in everything.
2. That the saint"s good may be advanced by everything.
3. That the devil"s arrows shoot at everything.
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 Why is light given to a man whose way…
Job_3:23
Why is light given to a man whose way is hid?
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The light given-the way hidden
How immediately this question speaks to us! How it seems to describe that mental and moral incongruity of which we are more or less the subjects--that feeling in which we are so often disposed to say to our Maker, Why hast Thou made me thus? This is the subject of the Book of Job--the mystery of life--the vanity of knowledge--the mysterious conflict of what man feels he is, and what he feels he might be, and desires indeed to be. In the text is--
I. A great certainty. Light is given. Man is the subject of supernatural light. The light of nature, as it is called, is not generated and developed in the order and course of mere nature. The light within the soul falls from other worlds, from unseen, unrealised heights beyond the soul God lights up the faculties, kindles the imagination, informs the judgment, and animates the hope. I take it as a great certainty that we have a strange light kindled within our being, unaccountable and awful. How is Christ the light of the world? It is as He imparts to the world by His words a new consciousness. Christ deepens the springs and widens the horizons of our knowledge. God has never left Himself without a witness. Light is given.
II. A great perplexity. The way is hid. It seems that the light only reveals itself, neither the objects nor the way. It seems as if our consciousness became paralysed at the touch of speculation, a dark, black wall rises where we anticipated we should find a way. The great conflict now, as ever, waging here, is the conflict between light and will. The light faculty in us disports itself over a wide field of intelligence, and scans and comprehends all objects; but the will finds itself powerless, and inquires of the light, To what good is it that thou art here? Mans happiness is in the equilibrium of these two. In human life there are heretics of the understanding; these are those properly called such--heresiarchs: and heretics of the will; the infirm of purpose. How happy are they who, small as their circle of light and life may be, find no disharmony; small, but a state in which the understanding is in harmony with the will. Does it not seem to thee, frequently, that thou art a man whose way is hid? This smiting perplexity, why, it occasionally strikes us all. God is love, but what a world of pain! Man is free, but what a hemming in of his being in every direction! Then come the errors and mistakes of actual life.
III. The great solution--the consolations of the light. I advance beyond the text. Light can only be seen in Christ. God only known in Him.
1. It is so from the very nature of the soul. The soul in its nature is light. Divinely derived, it can never forfeit its light power, but it is in eclipse. God has made the soul the fountain of light in its intentions, in its innate power to reason correctly on natural data. There is a light within, but it is unavailing without help from without; for the corruptions and the powers of the senses all tend to embase the light.
2. Why is light given? This is comfort--some light is given. He who has given some will give more.
3. Why is light given to a man whose way is hid? To enable him to find his way, and to escape beyond the hedge. Light is not its own end. It has an end beyond itself. Light is given to teach a man his dependence; to teach him to look beyond himself. Is it not humbling to find our entire inadequacy to even the most ordinary occasions of life? We step constantly into a labyrinth where our greatest cunning will not avail for us.
4. That which is naturally illegible to sense, and to the apprehension of sense, is legible to faith. Life, hidden still to the spirit of speculation, is revealed to the spirit of prayer. (E. Paxton Hood.)
Light and life
My object is to call your attention to life itself, and the reason why it is given. We do not ask the question, Why do I live? until trouble comes. Life is not a mystery to the little child, or the maiden, or the young man. It is when adversity comes to us, that we ask, Wherefore is light given and life? Why do we live? We are to recognise the fact that all things and all persons are of God, and exist for the pleasure of God, if we would solve this problem, If you leave God out of your reckoning, then it matters not what conclusion you may come to. There are some who think that God is equally glorified by the salvation or the ruin of a sinner. He is not. The very end of God is defeated in the ruin of the sinner. God has created us, and placed us here, not simply that we may live in this world, but that we may live for evermore. God has made us living men and women that we may serve and enjoy Him forever. (Charles Williams.)
Light on a hidden way
When Job put this question he was as far down in the world as a man can be who is not debased by sin. Two things, in this sad time, seem to have smitten Job with most unconquerable pain.
1. He could not make his condition chord with his conviction of what ought to have happened. He had been trained to believe in the axiom; that to be good is to be happy. Now he had been good, and yet here he was as miserable as it was possible for a man to be. And the worst of all was, he could not deaden down to the level of his misery. The light given him on the Divine justice would not let him rest. His subtle spirit, restless, dissatisfied, tried him every moment.
2. There appeared to by light everywhere, except on his own life. If life would strike a fair average; if other good men had suffered too, or even bad men, then he could bear it better. But the world went on just the same. Other homes were full of gladness. Perhaps not many men ever fall into such supreme desolation as this, that is made to centre in the life of this most sorrowful man. But one may reach out in all directions and find men and women who are conscious of the light shining, but who cannot find the way; who, in a certain sense, would be better if they were not so good. The very perfection of their nature is the way by which they are most easily bruised. Keen, earnest, onward, not satisfied to be below their own ideal, they are yet turned so woefully this way and that by adverse circumstances, that, at the last, they either come to accept their life as a doom, and bear it in grim silence, or they cut the masts when the storm comes, and drift a helpless hull broadside to the breakers, to go down finally like a stone. In men and nations you will find everywhere this discord between the longing that is in the soul, and what the man can do. Try to find some solution of the question of the text. We cannot pretend to make the mystery all clear, so that it will give no more trouble. Job, in his trouble, would have lost nothing and gained very much, if he had not been so hasty in coming to the conclusion that God had left him, that life was a mere apple of Sodom, that he had backed up to great walls of fate, and that he had not a friend left on earth. His soul, looking through her darkened windows, concluded the heavens were dark. Is not this now, as it was then, one of the most serious mistakes that can be made? I try to solve great problems of providence, perhaps, when I am so unstrung as to be entirely unfitted to touch their more subtle, delicate, and far-reaching harmonies. As well might you decide on some exquisite anthem when your organ is broken, and conclude there is no music in it because you can make no music of it, as, in such a condition of the life, and such a temper of the spirit, try to find these great harmonies of God. Job and his friends speculate all about the mystery, and their conclusions from their premises are generally correct, but they have forgotten to take in the separate sovereign will of God, as working out a great purpose in the mans life, by which he is to be lifted into a grander reach of insight and experience than ever he had before. They were both wrong and all wrong, God often darkens the way that the melody may grow clear and entire in the soul. If this man could have known--as he sat there in the ashes, bruising his heart on this problem of providence--that, in the trouble that had come upon him, he was doing what one man may do to work out the problem for the world, he might again have taken courage. No man lives to himself. Jobs life is but your life and mine, written in larger text . . . God seldom, perhaps never, works out His visible purpose in one life: how, then, shall He in one life work out His perfect will? Then while we may not know what trials wait on any of us, we can believe, that as the days in which this man wrestled with his dark maladies are the only days that make him worth remembrance, so the days through which we struggle, finding no way, but never losing the light, will be the most significant we are called to live. Men in all ages have wrestled with this problem of the difference between the conception and the condition. But it is true that men who suffered countless ills, in battles for the true and just, have had the strongest conviction, like old Latimer, that a way would open in those moments when it seemed most impossible. (Robert Collyer.)
The sorrowful mans question
Jobs case was such that life itself became irksome. He wondered why he should be kept alive to suffer. Could not mercy have permitted him to die out of hand? Light is most precious, yet we may come to ask why it is given. See the small value of temporal things, for we may have them and loathe them.
I. The case which raises the question. A man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in. He has the light of life, but not the light of comfort.
1. He walks in deep trouble, so deep that he cannot see the bottom of it. Nothing prospers, either in temporals or in spirituals. He is greatly depressed in spirit, he can see no help for his burden, or alleviation of his misery. He cannot see any ground for comfort either in God or in man, His way is hid.
2. He can see no cause for it. No special sin has been committed. No possible good appears to be coming out of it. When we can sea no cause we must not infer that there is none. Judging by the sight of the eyes is dangerous.
3. He cannot tell what to do in it. Patience is hard, wisdom is difficult, confidence scarce, and joy out of reach, while the mind is in deep gloom. Mystery brings misery.
4. He cannot see the way out of it. He seems to hear the enemy say, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in (Exo_14:3). He cannot escape through the hedge of thorn, nor see an end to it: his way is straitened as well as darkened. Men in such a case feel their griefs intensely, and speak too bitterly. If we were in such misery, we, too, might raise the question; therefore let us consider--
II. The question itself. Why is light given? etc. This inquiry, unless prosecuted with great humility and childlike confidence, is to be condemned.
1. It is an unsafe one. It is an undue exaltation of human judgment. Ignorance should shun arrogance. What can we know?
2. It reflects upon God. It insinuates that His ways need explanation, and are either unreasonable, unjust, unwise, or unkind.
3. There must be an answer to the question; but it may not be one intelligible to us. The Lord has a therefore in answer to every wherefore; but He does not often reveal it; for He giveth not account of any of His matters (Job_33:13).
4. It is not the most profitable question. Why we are allowed to live in sorrow is a question which we need not answer. We might gain far more by inquiring how to use our prolonged life.
III. Answers which may be given to the question.
1. Suppose the answer should be, God wills it. Is not that enough? I opened not my mouth; because Thou didst it (Psa_39:9).
2. To an ungodly man sufficient answers are at hand. It is mercy which, by prolonging the light of fife, keeps you from worse suffering. For you to desire death is to be eager for hell. Be not so foolish. It is wisdom which restrains you from sin, by hedging up your way, and darkening your spirit. It is better for you to be downcast than dissolute. It is love which calls you to repent. Every sorrow is intended to whip you Godward.
3. To the godly man there are yet more apparent reasons. Your trials are sent to let you see all that is in you. In deep soul trouble we discover what we are made of. To bring you nearer to God. The hedges shut you up to God; the darkness makes you cling close to Him. Life is continued that grace may be increased. To make you an example to others. Some are chosen to be monuments of the Lords special dealings; a sort of lighthouse to other mariners. To magnify the grace of God. If our way were always bright we could not so well exhibit the sustaining, consoling, and delivering power of the Lord. To prepare you for greater prosperity. To make you like your Lord Jesus, who lived in affliction. Improvement--Be not too ready to ask unbelieving questions. Be sure that life is never too long. Be prepared of the Holy Spirit to keep to the way even when it is hid, and to walk on between the hedges, when they are not hedges of roses, but fences of briar. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Whom God hath hedged in.
Hedged in
We often read of God loving man, of God punishing man, but not of His hedging him in. And yet the idea is as solemn as it is striking, and as beautiful as it is solemn. Its application depends upon the manner in which we regard it, for the fact may be applied in different ways. Let us consider--
I. Who it is God hedges in.
1. Sometimes it is the wicked. When the violent man rages against God and is calculated to injure the cause of righteousness, he is restrained. The voice comes, Thus far shalt thou go and no further. Pharaoh was hedged in. Even Satan is hedged in.
2. Sometimes it is the righteous. Here we have an instance before us in the case of Job. He had done nothing to merit punishment. So it was with Jeremiah. He was shut up. Good men must be expected to be surrounded by a hedge. Such a position often causes suffering, sorrow, and pain.
II. How does God hedge in? He manifests His power to do so--
1. By providential government. How often do people realise practically the power of these words! They have wished to enter upon a different sphere of labour, to remove from one place to another, or to stay in the place they inhabit. But difficulty after difficulty has arisen, obstacle after obstacle has presented itself, till the person has found that he could not break through the hedge which surrounds him.
2. By affliction, sorrow, and distress.
3. By bodily pain or weakness. The Divine purposes are inscrutable.
III. Why does God hedge in?
1. To keep evil men from doing mischief. The unbridled lusts and passions of the wicked are not satisfied with self-satisfaction; they must persecute, injure, and destroy. Almighty God puts a bound to their licence for the benefit of the world.
2. To prevent good men from sin. To save the souls of weak but righteous men; He will keep them from the opportunity of being led astray.
3. To save His servants from danger.
4. To keep them engaged in some particular work.
5. To teach patience and resignation. (Homilist.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Why is light given to a man whose way…
Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, a man whom God has hedged in?
Job asks this question in order to make a statement. AT: "God should not give life to a man and then take away his future and confine him." (See: Rhetorical Question)
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Why is light given to a man
Here light represents life. AT: "Why does God keep a man alive" (See: Metaphor)
whose way is hidden
Here Job speaks of his future, which he does not know in advance, as if God had hidden it from him. (See: Metaphor)
a man whom God has hedged in
Here being in difficulties and dangers is spoken of as if it were being confined within narrow limits. (See: Metaphor)
For my sighing happens instead of eating; my groaning is poured out like water
Job expresses his anguish in two ways. (See: Parallelism)
my sighing happens instead of eating
"Instead of eating, I mourn"
my groaning is poured out like water
Moral qualities and emotions such as grief are often spoken of as if they were water. (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
light
God
water
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.