But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,
who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’
There they cry, but no one answers, because of the pride of evil men.
Parallel Translations
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But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,
who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’
There they cry, but no one answers, because of the pride of evil men.
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But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night;
Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?
There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men.
Show all 3 translations
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But none saith: 'Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night;
Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?'
There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men.
Cross-references (27)
- Psalms 94:12 (v11) Blessed is the man whom you discipline, Yah, and teach out of your law,
- Psalms 42:8 (v10) Yahweh will command his loving kindness in the daytime. In the night his song shall be with me: a prayer to the God of my life.
- Psalms 149:5 (v10) Let the saints rejoice in honor. Let them sing for joy on their beds.
- Acts 16:25 (v10) But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
- Job 32:8 (v11) But there is a spirit in man, and the Spirit of the Almighty gives them understanding.
Show all 27 cross-references
- Job 36:22 (v11) Behold, God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him?
- Psalms 77:6 (v10) I remember my song in the night. I consider in my own heart; my spirit diligently inquires:
- Proverbs 1:28 (v12) Then they will call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me;
- John 9:31 (v12) We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God, and does his will, he listens to him.
- Isaiah 51:13 (v10) Have you forgotten Yahweh your Maker, who stretched out the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth? Do you live in fear continually…
- Genesis 1:26 (v11) God said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky,…
- Genesis 2:7 (v11) Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
- Job 36:13 (v10) “But those who are godless in heart lay up anger. They don’t cry for help when he binds them.
- Psalms 123:3-4 (v12) Have mercy on us, Yahweh, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt. Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scoffing of those…
- Ecclesiastes 12:1 (v10) Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near, when you will say, “I have no…
- Isaiah 54:5 (v10) For your Maker is your husband; Yahweh of Armies is his name. The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. He will be called the God of the…
- 1 Peter 4:19 (v10) Therefore let them also who suffer according to the will of God in doing good entrust their souls to him, as to a faithful Creator.
- 1 Chronicles 10:13-14 (v10) So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against Yahweh, because of Yahweh’s word, which he didn’t keep; and also because he asked…
- 2 Chronicles 28:22-23 (v10) In the time of his distress, he trespassed yet more against Yahweh, this same king Ahaz. For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, which…
- Job 27:10 (v10) Will he delight himself in the Almighty, and call on God at all times?
- Job 32:22 (v10) For I don’t know how to give flattering titles, or else my Maker would soon take me away.
- Job 36:3 (v10) I will get my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
- Psalms 18:41 (v12) They cried, but there was no one to save; even to Yahweh, but he didn’t answer them.
- Psalms 73:6-8 (v12) Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. Violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with fat. Their minds pass the…
- Psalms 119:62 (v10) At midnight I will rise to give thanks to you, because of your righteous ordinances.
- Isaiah 8:21 (v10) They will pass through it, very distressed and hungry. It will happen that when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse by their king…
- Isaiah 14:14-17 (v12) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds! I will make myself like the Most High!” Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (16 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v12 Because they pray not in faith, as feeling God’s…
Because they pray not in faith, as feeling God’s mercies.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv10–12 Job 35:10 But none saith, Where [is] God my…
Job 35:10 But none saith, Where [is] God my maker, who giveth songs in the night;
Ver. 10. But none saith, Where is God my maker] Heb. my makers; to note the Trinity, {Hebrew Text Note} say some; others think that he speaks of God in the plural number only for honour’s sake. They call not upon God as their Creator, they praise him not as their preserver and benefactor, saith Elihu in this and the next verse; but express a great deal of pride and vanity, Job 35:12-13; and thence it is that their prayers are unanswered and themselves unrelieved. The oppressed should not only make moan and fill the air, vagis clamoribus, with brutish outcries (the fruit of the flesh for ease, rather than of the spirit for grace), but beg help of God by faithful prayer, and say, "Where is God my maker?" as Elisha once said, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" Did he not make me, and will he not maintain me? built he not the earthly house of this tottering tabernacle, and is not he bound to repairs? will he cast off the care of his own handiwork? Qui nos fecit, idem ille est qui nos fovet, conservat ac sustentat, &c. (Brent.). Is he not my master as well as my maker? and shall other lords beside him have dominion over me, and do with me at their pleasure? Lord, look upon the wounds of thy hands (said Queen Elizabeth while she was a prisoner at Woodstock, and had like to have been burnt in her bed one night), and despise not the work of thine hands. Thou hast written me down in thy book of preservation with thine own hand; oh read thine own handwriting, and save me, &c.
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Who giveth songs in the night] As the oppressed pray not, and therefore are not eased (they are deservedly miserable, that might, but will not, make themselves happy by asking), so they praise not, God for former deliverances by day and night conferred upon them. Thou hast compassed me about, saith David, with songs of deliverance, Psa 32:7, that is, Thou hast given me plentiful matter of praising thy name. So here, Qui dat Psalmormn argumentum de nocte, as Tremellius translateth it; who giveth cause to praise him with psalms by night, as David did, Psa 119:62, and as Paul and Silas, Act 16:25; and as Mr Philpot and his fellows did in the Bishop of London’s coal house. In the night season it is that God giveth his beloved sleep, and keepeth them and theirs then in safety. Or, if he hold them waking, he filleth them with many sweet meditations (their reins, at that time especially, instructing them, Psa 16:7), shineth upon them by his moon and stars (which praise God in their courses, and twinkle as it were at us to do the like), and remindeth them by the melody made by the nightingale, which singeth for fifteen nights and days together without intermission, if Pliny may be believed, putting a thorn to her breast to keep her waking for that purpose, Plin. 1. x. c. 29. Luscinia dicitur quia ante lucem canit. Nec quantum lnsciniae dormiunt. Hereupon Epictetus hath this savoury saying, Si luscinia essem, facerem quod luseinia; Cure autem homo rationulls sire, quid faciam? Laudabo Denm, nee cessabo unquam; Vos vero ut idem faciatis hortor: that is, If I were a nightingale, I would do as the nightingale doth; but since I am a man endued with reason (since God hath taught me more than the fowls of heaven, as Elihu hath it in the next verse), what shall I do? I will incessantly praise God; and I exhort you to do the like. But this is not done, saith Elihu here, or very slenderly; and hence it is that men complain of their many and mighty oppressions without remedy from God, who seeth that his favours and benefits would be even lost and spilt upon them; according to that of the philosopher, Ingrato quicquid donatur deperditur, All is cast away that is conferred upon an ungrateful person.
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 vv10–12 None, i.e. few or none (for few are oft…
None, i.e. few or none (for few are oft called and accounted as none, both in Scripture and other authors) of the great numbers of oppressed persons.
None saith, to wit, seriously or sincerely, and it may be not so much as in word and profession.
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Where is God? they howl and cry out of men, and to men, but they seek not after God; they do not acknowledge him in all their ways; they praise him not for that ease, and liberty, and estate, and other mercies which God gave them; and by this unthankfulness they forfeit their mercies; and therefore if God suffer oppressors to take them away, they have no cause to complain of God, but only of themselves: they will not vouchsafe to pray to God seriously and fervently, either to continue or to restore their lost mercies; and therefore if God do not hear nor regard their brutish cries, arising only from a natural sense of their misery, it is not strange nor unjust.
My Maker; who alone made me, and whose power and providence preserveth me every day, and who only can protect and deliver me; all which were obligations upon them to praise God, and pray to him, and depend upon him, and aggravations of their gross neglect of God. Heb. my Makers, in the plural number; which being used not only here, but also Ecc 12:1; Isa 44:5, and that without any necessity, when it might as well have been put in the singular number, yea, though Elohim be plural, as it is Gen 1:1, plainly implies a plurality of persons in the Divine essence, of which see on Gen 1:26. Songs, i.e. matter of songs; great occasion to rejoice and praise God.
In the night; either,
1. Metaphorically taken, i.e. in the night of affliction; implying that they want not cause to bless God even in their afflictions. Or rather,
2. Properly, as this word is always used in Job, one place excepted, which is doubtful, to wit, Job 36:20; which he may mention rather than the day, either because oppressed persons, who in the day time are cruelly used by their oppressors, are permitted to rest in the night; or because the hand and mercy of God is more manifest in the preservation, and rest, and sleep of the night, than in the blessings of the day, which are procured by man’s industry; or because the day is the time of action, the night of contemplation, when we do and ought to remember God’s mercies with thanksgiving: compare Psa 42:8; 119:62.
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 On vv10–12 But none saith, where is God my Maker?.... Or…
But none saith, where is God my Maker?.... Or "Makers" (y), as in Psa 149:2; for there are more concerned in the formation of man, Gen 1:26; even the Father, Son, and Spirit, who are the one God that has made all men, Mal 2:10. Now not one of the oppressed ones that cry by reason of their oppression, or very few of them, inquire after God, seek unto him for help and deliverance from their oppressions, or desire to enjoy him and his gracious presence under their afflictions and distresses; and that is one reason why they are not heard: they do not so much as consider him as the author of their beings, and be thankful to him for them; nor as the preserver of them in their beings; nor as their kind benefactor, who gives them all that they enjoy, and who is the disposer of all their affairs in providence: and if they are new creatures, or are remade, they are his workmanship; and therefore should upon all accounts seek him and submit to his will, and patiently bear all their afflictions, waiting his time to deliver them out of them: but there are few or none that regard him in this light, or make an inquiry after him, even though he has not only made them, but is he
who giveth songs in the night; which respects not the praises of the angels in the night, as the Targum; nor the shining of the moon and stars in the night, which cause praise and thankfulness; nor the singing of birds in the night, as of the nightingale; senses some give into: but matter and cause of rejoicing in the night, either taken literally, as the mercies of the day, which, when reflected upon when men come to lie down on their beds at night, and commune with their hearts there, afford them songs of praise, see Psa 42:8. Or the mercies of the night, as sweet refreshing sleep, and preservation in safety from all dangers by fire, thieves, &c. all which are of God; and, when duly considered, will direct to encompass him with songs of deliverance, see Psa 137:2. Or, figuratively, the night sometimes signifying a time of calamity, affliction, and distress, either on temporal or spiritual accounts; and when men seek to him in such a night with their whole hearts, and he is pleased to visit them in a gracious manner, and favour them with his presence and the discoveries of his love, this occasions songs of praise to him, Isa 26:9. But when men are unconcerned about and not thankful for the mercies of the day and of the night, though these administer songs unto them, it is no wonder that, when they cry through oppression, they are not heard.
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(y) "factores mei"; Drusius, Mercerus, Piscator, Cocceius, Michaelis, Schultens; so Broughton.
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 vv10–12 None - Few or none of the great numbers…
None - Few or none of the great numbers of oppressed persons. God - They cry out to men, but they seek not God, and therefore if God do not hear their cries it is not unjust. Maker - Who alone made me, and who only can deliver me. Who when our condition is ever so dark and sad, can turn our darkness into light, can quickly put a new song in our mouth, a thanksgiving unto our God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv10–12 Verse 10. Where is God my Maker] They have…
Verse 10. Where is God my Maker] They have no just apprehension of his being; they do not consider themselves his creatures, or that he who created them still preserves them, and would make them happy if they would pray unto him.
Who giveth songs in the night] This is variously translated. "Before whom the high angels give praise in the night." - CHALDEE.
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"Who sets the night-watches." - SEPTUAGINT.
"Gives meditations in the night." - SYRIAC and ARABIC.
"And that shyneth upon us that we might prayse him in the night." - COVERDALE.
A holy soul has continual communion with God: night and day its happiness is great; and God, from whom it comes, is the continual subject of its songs of praise.
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 vv11–12 Job 35:11. Who teacheth us more than the beasts…
Job 35:11. Who teacheth us more than the beasts — This is mentioned as a further aggravation of men’s neglect of God in their misery. God hath given to men those gifts which he hath denied to beasts, reason and understanding, whereby they might become acquainted with God and themselves, and with their obligations to him, and their dependance upon him. And therefore they are inexcusable for not using that reason and understanding, by calling on God, and seeking help of him in the time of trouble. If they thus take no notice of God, it is no wonder if God takes no notice of them.
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 vv10–12 But none saith - That is, none of the…
But none saith - That is, none of the oppressed and down-trodden say. This is the solution which Elihu gives of what appeared so mysterious to Job, and of what Elihu regarded as the source of the bitter complaints of Job. The solution is, that when people are oppressed they do not apply to God with a proper spirit, and look to him that they may find relief. It was a principle with Elihu, that if when a man was afflicted he would apply to God with a humble and penitent heart, he would hear him, and would withdraw his hand; see this principle fully stated in Job 33:19-26. This Elihu now says, was not done by the oppressed, and this, according to him, is the reason why the hand of God is still upon them.
Where is God my Maker - That is, they do not appeal to God for relief. They do not inquire for him who alone can help them. This is the reason why they are not relieved.
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Who giveth songs in the night - Night, in the Scriptures, is an emblem of sin, ignorance, and calamity. Here “calamity” is particularly referred to; and the idea is, that God can give joy, or impart consolation, in the darkest season of trial. He can impart such views of himself and his government as to cause the afflicted even to rejoice in his dealings; he can raise the song of praise even when all external things are gloomy and sad; compare Act 16:25. There is great beauty in this expression. It has been verified in thousands of instances where the afflicted have looked up through tears to God, and their mourning has been turned into joy. Especially is it true under the gospel, that in the day of darkness and calamity, God puts into the mouth the language of praise, and fills the heart with thanksgiving. No one who has sought comfort in affliction with a right spirit has found it withheld, and all the sad and sorrowful may come to God with the assurance that he can put songs of praise into their lips in the night of calamity; compare Psa 126:1-2.
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 vv10–11 Songs. Arabic, "thoughts," by means of visions. Chaldean, "where…
Songs. Arabic, "thoughts," by means of visions. Chaldean, "where is the Lord, in whose presence the angels sing canticles of praise in the night?" (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "who has ordered the night watches;" (Haydock) the stars, which display the power of God? His servants also are filled with interior joy, even in the midst of afflictions. (Calmet)
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 vv10–12 But the reason is that the innocent sufferers often…
But the reason is that the innocent sufferers often do not humbly seek God for succor; so to their "pride" is to be laid the blame of their ruin; also because (Job 35:13-16) they, as Job, instead of waiting God's time in pious trust, are prone to despair of His justice, when it is not immediately visible (Job 33:19-26). If the sufferer would apply to God with a humbled, penitent spirit, He would hear.
Where, &c.-- (Jer 2:6, Jer 2:8; Isa 51:13).
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songs--of joy at deliverance (Psa 42:8; Psa 149:5; Act 16:25).
in the night--unexpectedly (Job 34:20, Job 34:25). Rather, "in calamity."
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 vv10–12 10. But none saith — But they do not…
10. But none saith — But they do not say. The reason that they are not heard is, that their cry has no element of faith or regard for God, in this respect resembling the instinctive cries of beasts and birds.
My maker — עשׂי. The plural form does not so much express “excellency” as point to the multiplicity and richness of the divine benefits, “so that the one is instar multorum,” (Hengstenberg,) that is, the one God bestows as if he himself were many beings in one. Compare “thy Creator” (plural form) in Ecc_12:1.
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Songs in the night — As with Paul and Silas at midnight in prison. Act_16:25. The Talmud gives a pleasing allegory entitled “The Songs of the Night.” “As David in his youthful days was tending his flocks on Bethlehem’s fertile plains, the Spirit of the Lord descended upon him, and his senses were opened, and his understanding enlightened, so that he could understand the songs of the night. The heavens proclaimed the glory of God, the glittering stars formed one general chorus, their harmonious melody resounded upon earth, and the sweet fulness of their voices vibrated to its utmost bounds. “Light is the countenance of the Eternal,” said the setting sun. “I am the hem of his garment,” responded the soft and rosy twilight. The clouds gathered themselves together and said, “We are his nocturnal tent.”… “We bless thee from above,” said the gentle moon. “We too bless thee,” responded the stars; and the lightsome grasshopper chirped, “Me too he blesses in the pearly dewdrop.” — See KITTO’S Journal of S.L., 6:67; also, sermon, in loc., by H. Melvill.
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 vv10–12 10. The explanation of the anomaly.
10. The explanation of the anomaly.
Where is God] The language of one devoutly seeking God.
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songs in the night] They seek not God in truth, who by sudden deliverances (comp. ch. Job_34:20; Job_34:25) fills the mouth of the afflicted with singing, Psa_32:7.
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 vv10–11 (10) But none saith.—Some render this, “But he who…
(10) But none saith.—Some render this, “But he who giveth songs in the night saith not, Where is God my Maker,” i.e., the selfish and luxurious oppressor, who spendeth the night in feasting and revelry. This is an intelligible meaning. On the other hand, though the phrase, “who giveth songs in the night,” has become proverbial, and, with the meaning assigned to it, is very beautiful, it may be doubted whether it is so obvious or natural in this place. This is a matter for individual taste and judgment to decide. If it is understood of God, it ascribes to Him the turning of sorrow into gladness, and the night of affliction into joy—an office which is, indeed, frequently assigned to God, but of which the appropriateness is not so manifest here. The decision of this question will perhaps partly depend upon the view we take of the words which follow—“Where is God my Maker?”—whether they are part of the cry of the oppressed or whether they are the words of Elihu. If the latter, then they become more intelligible; if otherwise, it is difficult to see their special appropriateness in this particular place. Perhaps it is better to regard them as the words of Elihu.
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 vv10–12 But none saith, Where is God my Maker? The…
But none saith, Where is God my Maker? The oppressed, in many eases, do not appeal to God at all. They mutter and complain and groan because of their afflictions; but they have not enough faith in God to cry to him. Or, if they do so cry, it is not in a right spirit; it is despondingly, despairingly, not confidently or cheerfully. God is one who giveth songs in the night. The truly pious man sings hymns of praise in his affliction, as Paul and Silas did in the jail at Philippi, looking to God with faith and a lively hope for deliverance.
Man"s forgetfulness of God" and God"s remembrance of man.
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I MAN"S FORGETFULNESS OF GOD. "None saith, Where is God my Maker?
1. The cause of it.
(1) Generally, the sinfulness of the human heart. That man should so habitually neglect God is inexplicable except upon the hypothesis of a fall. But sin, having intervened to separate man from God, has caused man to turn his back upon God, and to contrive to live without any sort of acquaintance with him.
(2) Particularly, man"s neglect of God may be traced to three things:
(a) a sense of guilt, which instinctively urges man to shun God"s presence; (Gen_3:8)
(b) the dominion of the world, which over every sinful heart exercises an almost resistless fascination; (1Jn_2:15) and
(c) an absorption in self, which, by magnifying all its own little interests and concerns, its sorrows no less than its joys, prevents the human soul from seeking after God.
2. The criminality of it.
(1) The character of God as Eloah, the all-sufficient and all-powerful One, demonstrates the wickedness of man in living so habitually in neglect of his service.
(2) The relation of God to man as his Maker attests the sinfulness of such behaviour on the part of man.
(3) The favour of God to man in first bestowing upon him a superior nature to that possessed by the animal creation, and secondly in making these lower creatures his instructors, gives additional evidence of man"s heinous guilt in thus neglecting to inquire after God.
(4) The power of God to assist man by giving "songs in the night" is a further proof of man"s amazing criminality in not remembering God.
II GOD"S REMEMBRANCE OF MAN. He "giveth songs in the night.
1. In the night of natural day. By spreading out the star-illumined canopy above man"s head, he stirs, at least in thoughtful minds, such exalted ideas and holy emotions as frequently break out in anthems of praise: witness David, (Psa_8:3, Psa_8:4) Job, (Job_9:4-10) Isaiah,and (Isa_40:26) the unknown Hebrew singer. (Psa_147:4)
2. In the night of devout meditation. "Let the saints sing aloud upon their beds"; (Psa_149:5) and oftentimes when wrapt in heavenly contemplation, remembering God upon their beds, and meditating on him in the night-watches, the mouths of saints praise him with joyful lips. (Psa_63:5, Psa_63:6)
3. In the night of spiritual conviction. In such a night David sang some of his sweetest songs (Psalm It.). And as God put a new song into David"s mouth when he was lifted out of the horrible pit and miry clay, (Psa_40:3) so does he put a happy anthem of praise for forgiving mercy into the lips of every believing penitent: witness the jailor of Philippi. (Act_16:34)
4. In the night of temporal affliction Israel, escaping from the land of Egypt in a night which at one period seemed dark enough, (Exo_14:10) sang a song of deliverance before the morning dawn had fully risen. (Exo_15:1) A dark dismal night of adversity it was for David when he was driven forth from his palace, from his capital, from his people, from the temple; (2Sa_15:30) and yet then it was that David sang, "But thou, O Lord, art a Shield for me, and the Lifter-up of mine head". (Psa_3:3) Paul and Silas had their songs in the prison of Philippi; (Act_16:25) and there is not a saint, however feeble, that may not chant in the darkest night of trouble a psalm of holy confidence in God.
5. In the night of approaching dissolution. Job himself at times was not without his song, though he felt that he was standing on the verge of the tomb. (Job_19:25-27) So did God give an anthem to Hezekiah, when he raised that weeping and praying monarch from what seemed a couch of death. (Isa_38:20) David, too, had a song ready for that dark sad night which he knew to be inevitable. (Psa_23:4) It was a noble hymn which St. Paul sent forth from the Roman prison to his young son Timothy. (2Ti_4:6) And so does God give to all saints, who seek after him in humility, penitence, and faith, a song to cheer them in the dying hour; (1Co_15:55) and when the dark night of death breaks away, puts into their mouths the never-ending song of Moses and the Lamb.
Learn:
1. The advantage of seeking after God.
2. The kindness of God in thinking upon man.
"Songs in the night.
I SONGS IN THE NIGHT ARE PECULIARLY HELPFUL. The thought is of a lonely and desolate night a night of weary watching or painful suffering, when sleep cannot, or should not, be enjoyed. Travellers who dare not sleep in a perilous region infested by wild beasts, sing songs as they sit round their camp fire. Poor sufferers on beds of sickness welcome strains of well-known hymns in the long, wakeful night. The dreadful night of sorrow needs the cheering of some song of Zion. In the sunny day songs come readily enough; but then we could dispense with them. It is when darkness lies about our path that we need some uplifting and cheering influence.
II SONGS IN THE NIGHT MAY BE ENJOYED. Elihu speaks in the present tense. Christian history tells of many a soul cheered by heavenly songs in darkest hours. Paul and Silas sang in prison with their feet in the stocks. (Act_16:25) Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage. Sufferers have been cheerful with interior joy, even when their outer life has been hard and cruel The joy of God is never so real as when it breaks out in the midst of the deepest earthly trouble. This is an actual experience that lies within the reach of benighted souls, if only they will seek its cheering helpfulness.
III SONGS IN THE NIGHT DO NOT ARISE SPONTANEOUSLY. There is something paradoxical in the phrase, "songs in the night," for of course the context shows that it does not point to the noise of those who turn night into day with unseemly revelry. Elihu"s night-songs are of holy thoughts and heavenly music, or at least of pure and refreshing gladness, as his indication of the Source of them proves. Now, sorrow is not the parent of gladness. If we are to enjoy deep harmonies of thought, or to soar into high heavens of emotion among the depressing influences of treble, we must not look for the trouble to produce the songs. We must turn elsewhere, and if we have no higher than earthly supplies, we shall have no songs such as Elihu spoke of.
IV SONGS IN THE NIGHT ARE GIVEN BY GOD. In the still hours of darkness he draws near to the soul. When the desolation and misery are greatest, God is most compassionate. He is not dependent on external circumstances. Night and day am alike to him. Thus it is possible for him to inspire his sweetest songs when we are drinking the most bitter cup. We must not delude ourselves into the notion that we shall not feel suffering if God is with us, although martyrs have been known to lose consciousness of the devouring flames in the ecstasy of their spiritual joy. The song does not dispel the darkness of night. But it drives out the terror and the despair, and brings peace and a deep joy that is nearer the true heart of man than the waves of sorrow which sweep over the surface of his life. The lark that soars to heaven"s high gate rises from a lowly nest on the ground. The sweetest songs of Zion that ascend to the gates of glory begin on the tearful earth. W.F.A.
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 v10 But none saith, Where is God my Maker?
Job_35:10-11
But none saith, Where is God my Maker?
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Questions which ought to be asked
Elihu perceived the great ones of the earth oppressing the needy, and he traced their domineering tyranny to their forgetfulness of God. None said, Where is God my Maker? Surely, had they thought of God, they could not have acted so unjustly. Worse still, if I understand Elihu aright, he complained that even among the oppressed there was the same departure in heart from the Lord: they cried out by reason of the arm of the mighty, but unhappily they did not cry unto God their Maker, though He waits to be gracious unto all such, and executeth righteousness and judgment for all the oppressed.
I. Think over these neglected questions.
1. Where is God? Pope said, The proper study of mankind is man; but it is far more true that the proper study of mankind is God. Let man study man in the second place, but God first. Some men have a place for everything else, but no place in their heart for God. They are most exact in the discharge of other relative duties, and yet they forget their God.
2. Where is God thy Maker? Oh! unthinking man, God made you. Do you never think of your Maker? Have you no thought for Him without whom you could not think at all?
3. Where is God our Comforter? Who giveth songs in the night? Though you have had very severe trials, you have always been sustained in them when God has been near you. It will be very sad if we poor sufferers forget our God, our Comforter, our Song-giver.
4. Where is God our Instructor? Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of the heaven? God has given us intellect. It is not by accident, but by His gift, that we are distinguished from the beasts and the fowls. If animals do not turn to God, we do not wonder, but shall man forget? Why, O man, with thy superior endowments, art thou the sole rebel, the only creature of earthly mould that forgets the creating and instructing Lord?
II. There are questions which God will ask of you. Adam heard the voice cry, Where art thou? There will come such a voice to you if you have neglected God. Though you hide in the top of Carmel, or dive with the crooked serpent into the depths of the sea, you will hear that voice, and be constrained to answer it. You will hear a second question by and by, Why didst thou live and die without Me? Such questions as these will come thick upon you--What did I do that thou shouldst slight Me? Did I not give you innumerable mercies? Why did you never think of Me? You will have no answer to these questions. Then will come another question--How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?
III. Give the answers to the grave inquiries of the text. Where is God? He is everywhere. Where is God your Maker? He is within eyesight of you. You cannot see Him, but He sees you. Where is your Comforter? He is ready with songs in the night. Where is your Instructor? He waits to make you wise unto salvation. Where then may I meet Him? says one. You cannot meet Him--you must not attempt it--except through the Mediator. If you come to Jesus, you have come to God. Believe in Jesus Christ, and your God is with you. (C.H. Spurgeon.)
Neglect of God in seasons of need
I. That seasons of affliction should induce men to seek after God.
1. All men are exposed to trouble.
(1) Temporal visitations of Divine displeasure. When God visits a nation with war, famine, or pestilence, then it is a time of darkness. When families or individuals are subjected to poverty, to disappointment in their plans, hopes, etc. Happy are they who have then the God of light for their refuge.
(2) Bodily and mental afflictions may be compared to night
(3) The season of temptation is a dark season (1Pe_1:6).
(4) Declensions and backslidings lead to darkness (Rev_2:4-5).
(5) Death is compared to night (Joh_9:4).
2. It is the duty of all to inquire after God. Where is God my Maker?
(1) A conviction that He is the source of all that is good and excellent, and that without an interest in Him the soul will be ruined forever.
(2) Investigation of His character by the light of revelation.
(3) A deep conviction of our state of alienation from Him, which induces repentance, godly sorrow, etc.
(4) A knowledge of Christ as the Mediator, the way to the Father--a cordial reception of His own terms of reconciliation, and the exercise of faith in the Redeemers sacrifice.
(5) Frequent prayer to Him, especially in seasons of darkness, believing that in Him alone is our help found.
II. That God can and will afford relief in the darkest seasons. Who giveth songs in the night. He can give deliverance, grant support and consolation, and sanctify all the trials of His people, which will make them utter songs of gladness and praise.
1. It is evident from His power. Who has an arm like God? etc. (Psa_66:3; Psa_46:1, etc.; Deu_33:27). The Psalmist might well sing of His power (Psa_21:13).
2. It is evident from His love. He loves as a father, and will defend them, and save them.
3. It is evident from His promises.
4. It is evident from what He has done. Call to remembrance the former days.
(1) He has given songs in the night of spiritual alarm (Act_16:34).
(2) He has given songs in the time of deprivation and want (Hab_3:17-19; 1Co_5:11); yet the apostles uttered songs of triumph (2Co_1:3-4).
(3) He has given songs under bodily afflictions (2Co_12:7-10).
(4) He has given songs in the time of persecution (Rom_8:36-37, etc.; 2Ti_1:12; Mat_5:10).
(5) He has given songs in the hour of temptation (1Co_10:13; Jam_1:12; 1Pe_1:6).
(6) He has given songs in the night of death (Psa_23:4; Act_21:13; 1Co_15:55).
III. Why it is that so few are inquiring after God.
1. Because man naturally hates God (Rom_8:7).
2. From the want of spiritual perception (1Co_2:14).
3. Because they are intoxicated with the vain pleasures of earth.
4. Pride also prevents them (Psa_10:4).
5. Because they are captives to Satan. They are his servants--him they obey (Eph_2:2).
Application--
1. The happiness of those who inquire after God.
2. The present and future misery of the wicked.
3. Seek the Lord while He may be found. (Helps for the Pulpit.)
Inquiry after God
It is the height of ingratitude to forget God in the day of prosperity. Considering, however, the deep corruption of mans fallen nature, there is little in such ingratitude, culpable as it is, to excite our surprise. The great subject for wonder is, that while God has revealed Himself as the refuge of the oppressed, a friend in the day of calamity, a Saviour from guilt, and sin, and hell, a comforter in darkness, and a deliverer in trouble, He should be neglected in circumstances and times when no other being and no other object can cheer the heart, or interpose any effectual relief. There is no deficiency of complaint in the hour of affliction, come from what source it may. The charge of the text is one involving deep criminality. It implies an affectation of independence of God; it argues ingratitude; it evinces all the temerity of rebellion; it is the expression of contempt. For it is the duty, and it ought to be esteemed the delight of the rational soul to be inquiring after God, to be climbing up the ascent to an intimate acquaintance and near fellowship with Him, who is the Father of our spirits and the God of glory. But wherefore is it necessary to inquire after God? Whence this language importing difficulty--language which supposes the absence of God our Maker? There is no local distance to separate between the soul of any living thing and Him the former of it. The only absence of God from men is one of reserve, of restrained manifestation: it is the cold distance of offence created by human guilt; for we have compelled Him to stand aloof; we have insulted Him in the manifestation of His glory. Therefore it is necessary to seek God, and to say, Where is God my Maker? To solicit, not His presence, for that necessarily fills heaven and earth, but His favourable presence, the spiritual union of our souls with Him. We must seek Him as He is in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. What are the motives which ought to influence everyone to ask, Where is God my Maker? and to seek Him as He reveals Himself in Christ Jesus?
1. His glory, that we may give Him the worship due to His name and majesty.
2. That we may express our gratitude.
3. That we may obtain assurance of His favour.
4. That we may learn His will.
5. That we may secure His help.
But the charge is aggravated. Were God a being regardless of the worship, the miseries, and discomforts of His creatures, although such neglect could not then be justified, yet it would seem to be palliated to a certain extent. But when God is a strength to the poor, when it is in the ordinary course of His government to heal the broken in heart, the neglect is greatly aggravated. The night is a general symbol for what is melancholy and sorrowful; as the day, illuminated by the splendour of the sun, is the image of joy and exhilaration. Whatever the darkness we contemplate, we shall find that for that night season God has provided consolations, has given songs to cheer the heart of the believer. Life itself is a time of darkness. It is a scene of sin, trial, and temptation. There are seasons of gloomy night to individuals, as well as to the world. The seasons of temptation, affliction, and death, are times of darkness, on which Christ arises as the light. Then let reason have her just sway, and you will inquire after God your Maker. You will become penitent, humble believers in Christ. You will become new creatures. (T. Kennion, M.A.)
Men who do not ask for God
None sayeth, Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night? They do not betake themselves to God thus revealed for consolation in their trials. There are some who ask not for God at all, speculative or practical--atheists, who, in conscious fear of Divine holiness and justice and truth, set themselves resolutely to disbelieve in the Divine existence, and strangely choose to be creatures of chance and slaves to inexorable fate, rather than the creatures of a personal God--the children of a Heavenly Father. So, instead of asking for God, they go groping amid old geologic ruins for some substitute for the Eternal One, crying into every skeleton and spectre, Where is this monstrous thing, force or law, that hides itself in the night? And in this reference there is an undesigned but withering irony in Jobs foregoing confession, I said to corruption, Thou art my father, and to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister. And we leave the whole school to the raptures of such a brotherhood and sisterhood--to all the consolation, in coming trials, of the promise unto those who honour such a father and mother, to fill all the death caverns of unbelief with the sibilation inspired by such a genesis. But be it our blessed privilege to honour a nobler parentage, to cherish holier hopes and higher memories, and to go forth amid present glooms crying, Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night? (C. Wadsworth, D.D.)
Song in the night of sorrow
The late Sir Arthur Sullivan had long admired the words of The Lost Chord, and had made up his mind to set them to music. Relating the circumstances of the composition of the best-known sacred solo of the day, Sir Arthur said, One night I was in the room next to that in which my brother lay dying. I had been watching at his bedside, and was thoroughly tired out and weary. I chanced to sit down in the room and there the noble words were before me. I did not rise from the seat until I had composed the music. The lovely strains were composed in the hour of sorrow. The dark night gave birth to the sweet song! Perhaps we do not know what we are producing when we travel the rough road--we are only conscious of the pains, and not of the products. But we may rest assured that our Father knows the ministry of every circumstance through which He makes us pass. (J.H. Jowett, M.A.)
Mens neglect of God
I. What is meant by inquiring after God our maker?
1. When we investigate the important question, Is there a Deity? what notions are we to form of His nature, perfections, and providence?
2. When we apply to Him in the exercise of religious duty, particularly prayer (Job_8:5; Isa_55:6).
3. When we are solicitous to discover His will concerning our duty and privilege, as moral and reasonable beings (Rom_12:2; 1Th_4:3).
4. When we earnestly pant after His approbation, and give ourselves no rest till we obtain it, through repentance for sin, and faith in the atonement of the Son of God (Rom_3:25-26).
5. When we thirst after that better country, where God is enjoyed, and where our inquiries after Him shall meet with ample success. There we shall have the justest and the brightest ideas of Him, the most glorious resemblance of His holy and benevolent nature (1Jn_3:2).
II. Why is it that so new are making this inquiry?
1. Because mankind are so much engaged about visible things: these strike the senses more than things of a spiritual and invisible nature; and seem to be the only things which command their attention.
2. Dissipation. They have no taste but for play and amusement, one scene of diversion after another; the hours which should be spent in intercourse with heaven, are prostituted to folly, vanity, and idleness.
3. They make a God of this world, by placing their affections supremely upon it (Jam_2:4); its gold and silver, honour, fame, power, dominion, popular applause.
4. They are sensual, making a God of pleasure, sensuality, lascivious gratifications. How can a soul, thus fettered to earth, elevate itself to inquire after God its Maker? no more than a bird can ascend without wings.
5. Some live so criminally, that God is the object of their dread: they wish there was no God; are glad to hear religion opposed; would be happy to hear its truths confuted, if they could; they would obliterate the doctrine of providence, and the souls immortality.
III. Consider the amiable account here given of God. He giveth songs in the night; or matter of songs, etc.
1. By exhibiting those bright orbs which fill the expanse of heaven (Psa_8:3-4).
2. Night may be taken figuratively. Day is put for prosperity, success, joy, and comfort. Night for adversity, calamity, grief, and vexation. God cheereth the mourners heart, and solaceth His people in the night of adversity, grants support, unexpected relief (Psa_66:19).
3. He giveth songs in the night of death, of praise and thanksgiving, of victory (1Co_15:55; 1Co_4:7).
Improvement--
1. Let us rejoice in Him, who lifteth up the hands that hang down, and giveth songs of praise in adversity.
2. Let us adore the wisdom of Providence, in whose dispensations day and night, good and evil, are so seasonably blended, enjoy the good thankfully, suffer the evil with resignation.
3. Let us fortify ourselves under every calamity by looking forward. (T. Hannam.)
The apparent intentions of Divine wisdom
To inquire after God our Maker, with a view of understanding, so far as we are able, His designs, and conforming to His will, is our highest wisdom. But what are we able to know of Him? Are we able to attain no knowledge of Him? That would be denying our own reason, and degrading ourselves to a level with the brute creatures. God has distinguished us with a rational nature above them. It is therefore our privilege and duty to inquire, Where and what is God our Maker? His infinite unsearchable perfection ought not to discourage our humble and sincere inquiries; but is a consideration proper only to damp that pride, conceit, and self-sufficiency which would obstruct our inquiries, and prevent our attainment of real knowledge. All His works discover something of Him; and we are utterly ignorant of ourselves and of the world around us, if we know nothing of God. The apprehension of a Deity results immediately from the very consciousness of our own existence. Every creature around us points to a Creator. Our acquisition of knowledge was an intention of the Almighty Creator. All instruction comes from God, the original fountain of wisdom and knowledge. The Divine intention will strike our minds, if we attend to the gradual process by which men arrive at that portion of knowledge which they are severally possessed of. In the beginning of life the human soul subsists with few ideas, according to its minute capacity. But they multiply fast; the inquisitive curiosity is adapted to and gratified with a continual accession of new objects. When the stock of ideas is sufficiently increased, the comparing and judging faculty begins to operate. Here reason commences, and is henceforth continually employed in disposing the intellectual furniture of the mind, arranging everything in due place and order. Is there no design of creative wisdom in this admirable and evident process of nature? Did not God thus intend to disclose to us His works, and consequently lead us to the study and contemplation of Himself? The first branch of knowledge is that which respects ourselves and mankind around us, the relations, dependencies, connections, interests, inclinations, customs, and laws of human society. This qualifies me to live in society, and to behave as subjects of law and government, and in a manner proper to domestic and national obligations. The second branch of knowledge is that of a Supreme Being, as the maker and disposer of all things, the all-wise Governor of the whole world, the just Judge of mankind, and the original Author of all good. This knowledge is constantly taught by the still eloquence of universal nature. These two kinds of knowledge, so important and so beneficial, are common to mankind in general. Reflections--
1. It becomes us to acknowledge with all gratitude the liberality and kindness of our Creator, in forming and designing us for the acquisition of such excellent and valuable knowledge, and in bringing us to the possession of it.
2. Let us observe and pursue the Divine intention, by a diligent improvement of our advantages.
3. The knowledge of God, and of the visible intentions of His wisdom and goodness in the frame of our world, in the faculties of our minds, and in the order of society, is the best preparation for understanding and embracing the Gospel of our Saviour. We must believe in God, before we can have faith in Christ; we must previously hear and learn of the Father Almighty, before we come to Christ duly qualified for His instructions. If we wisely improve present advantages, there is a glorious everlasting constitution, which God hath established in Christ Jesus our Lord, in order to our rising again from the dead to the enjoyment of immortality. (E. Bown.)
Who giveth songs in the night.--
Songs in the night
I. What season of our lives is described under the image of night? Night is the time of darkness and of gloominess; when we can see nothing and can do nothing, as we can in the bright and cheerful light of day. As such it fitly represents a time of ignorance, and unbelief, and sin. It also represents a time of adversity and of affliction, whether of a public or a private nature. The season of suffering is, to the unconverted person, a season of gloom and heaviness. How cheerless is the chamber of sickness to the eye and the heart of an unsanctified sufferer!
II. What is the real Christians spirit and temper and condition in these dark seasons of suffering? Singing bespeaks an easy, contented, and happy state of mind. We seldom if ever hear a person singing who is very unhappy. But this excellent gift and faculty may be and often is abused. There are different sorts of song, and different characters who sing them. We should not understand the word songs in our text, only in its literal meaning. It also represents that sweet and composed and resigned spirit which the Christian sufferer experiences inwardly when all outward things are dark about him. Songs in the night describe that peaceful and composed frame of mind and soul which the Christian sufferer enjoys in his darkest night of suffering or sorrow.
III. Who is to give us this Christian spirit, temper, and condition? Even the Lord, our Maker, and Preserver, and Saviour, and Comforter. A heavenly mind and spirit can only proceed from heaven. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; and as such he receives a new nature, and a new spirit, and he sings a new song. He sees everything with different eyes; he receives everything with a different spirit; he bears everything with a different temper; he no longer looks upon himself, or his condition in this world, as he once did. It is no longer his rest; it is a school in which he is to learn lessons of heavenly wisdom; a warfare, in which he is to fight the good fight of faith. (Robert Grant, B.C.L.)
Songs in the night
Elihu suggests one possible reason why the cry of the afflicted is not oftener redressed. The reason suggested is, that it is a godless cry. Surely God will not hear vanity. But if he sufferer would apply to God with a humbled, penitent, and believing spirit, the darkness might be more readily dispelled. God, our Maker, giveth songs in the night, songs at an unwonted time, melody when least expected. Here then we have a forcible and effective contrast. An ever-helpful truth this, that when the cry of deep disquietude and great unrest is changed into a prayer, when it assumes the form of an intelligent and patient faith, it loses in the act its plaintiveness and becomes triumphant. It is no longer the wail of hopelessness, it is the hallelujah of thanksgiving.
1. Young has these lines--
Earth, turning from the sun, brings night to man;
Man, turning from his God, brings endless night.
And we have no more fit image than night for the occasion of our heaviest woes. What a pall sin will bring over our souls! We are all of us learning by experience. Are not our moods ofttimes of a sombre character? We cannot always control the moods of our soul. It is not easy to sing the song of faith when the voice refuses to sing the song of glad and happy love. Yet let the true soul wait on God, and the songs will come. Cry first, and you will sing presently.
2. So, too, faith may lose its assurance. It may want some of the links that give perfection and continuity to a personal trust. The shades of unbelief, or a faith that has lost its clearer lights, will sometimes take the place of a well-evidenced trust. If the time should ever come that you lose your early trust, do not let your cry lose aught of its devoutness; do not lose your hold upon God; still cling to Him. He is still with you in all those earnest questionings; and He will give you songs even in that dark night if you cry to Him.
3. At midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises to God. It was a strange place for the voice of thanksgiving, for the melody of praise. That night seemed a fit image of their circumstances, dark enough in all truth. Not much, to human seeming, that could inspire songfulness; everything to beget fear and alarm. Not more so, perhaps you are thinking, than the circumstances of some you know--your own, perhaps. Little outwardly to cheer your life, very much to depress it. And yet you, too, may have songs of trust and loving confidence; songs of hope, and triumph in that hope. We must not spend the time of our trial in fruitless complaining. Let us besiege heaven with our suppliant tones.
4. But I think it would be easier to die for Christ than to live through the commonplace life of thousands of modern Christians, who have to drink of the water of affliction, and eat the bread of adversity, and yet be Christ-like. Yes, to live thus, and still keep ones hold of God, and lift in consequence a hymn of glad thankfulness or patient hope, is it not yet more difficult? I often think so.
5. What is the aggregate life of the Church, with all its blessed fruits of love, joy, and peace, but a song in the night? If then, God has given any of us songs in the night; songs of happy love, songs of quiet hope, songs of deep trust, songs of true thankfulness, no night will last forever. (G.J. Proctor.)
Songs in the night
There is sufficient in our God to give every saint a song even during his darkest night of sorrow.
1. Our sufficiency in God is in no way affected by our outward circumstances. Have you never rejoiced in the purposes of your God? Another well of comfort is found in the love of God. The thought of Gods having pardoned us is a fountain of joy. Have you not often rejoiced in the anticipation of heaven? What is your night? Perhaps it is one of changed prospects; or of changed health; or it is a night of bereavement; or, may be, of spiritual depression.
2. Some of the songs God gives to His saints. The song of faith; hope; tranquillity; sympathy with Jesus; heavenly anticipation. (Archibald G. Brown.)
Songs in the night
The world hath its night. It seems necessary that it should have one. Night is one of the greatest blessings man enjoys. Yet night is to many a gloomy season. Yet even night has its songs. Man, too, like the great world in which he lives, must have his night. And many a night do we have--nights of sorrow, of persecution, of doubt, of bewilderment, of anxiety, of oppression, of ignorance--nights of all kinds, which press upon our spirits, and terrify our souls.
I. Who is the author of these songs in the night? God our Maker. Any fool can sing in the day. It is easy enough for an AEolian harp to whisper music when the wind blows; the difficulty is for music to come when no wind blows. What does the text mean, when it asserts that God giveth songs in the night? Two answers.
1. Usually in the night of a Christians experience God is his only song. We can sacrifice to ourselves in daylight--we only sacrifice to God by night.
2. He is the only one who inspires songs in the night. It is marvellous how one sweet word of God will make whole songs for Christians.
II. What is generally the matter contained in a song in the night? What do we sing about? About the yesterday that is over; or else about the night itself; or else about the morrow that is to come.
III. What are the excellencies of songs in the night above all other songs? A song in the night of trouble is sure to be a hearty one. The songs we sing in the night will be lasting. They will be those which show a real faith in God. Such songs prove that we have true courage and true love to Christ.
IV. Show the use of such songs. It is useful to sing in the night of our troubles, because thus we may cheer ourselves: because God loves to hear His people sing. Because it will cheer your companions. Because it is one of the best arguments in favour of your religion. (C.H. Spurgeon.)
Songs in the night
In regard of Gods dealings with our race, there is an almost universal disposition to the looking on the dark side, and not on the bright; as though there were cause for nothing but wonder, that a God of infinite love should permit so much misery in any section of His intelligent creation. We cannot deny, that if we merely regard the earth as it is, the exhibition is one whose darkness it is scarcely possible to overcharge. But when you seek to gather from the condition of the world the character of its Governor, you are bound to consider, not what the world is, but what it would be, if all which that Governor has done on its behalf were allowed to produce its legitimate effect. When you set yourselves to compute the amount of what may be called unavoidable misery--that misery which must equally remain, if Christianity possessed unlimited sway--you would find no cause for wonder, that God has left the earth burdened with so great a weight of sorrow, but only of praise, that He has provided so amply for the happiness of the fallen. The greatest portion of the misery which exists, arises in spite of Gods benevolent arrangements, and would be avoided, if men were not bent on choosing the evil and rejecting the good. There must be sorrow on the earth, so long as there is death; but, if this were all, the certain hope of resurrection and immortality would dry every tear, or cause at least triumph so to blend with lamentation, that the mourner would almost be lost in the believer. For wise ends, a certain portion of suffering has been made unavoidable. When we come to give the reasons why so vast an accumulation of wretchedness is to be found in every district of the globe, we cannot assign the will and appointment of God; we charge the whole on mans forgetfulness of God; on his contempt or neglect of remedies and assuagements Divinely provided; yea, we offer in explanation the words of our text,--None saith, Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night? Elihu represents it as a most strange and criminal thing, that, though our Maker giveth songs in the night, He is not inquired after by those on whom the calamity presses.
1. What an aggravation it is of the guilt of mens forgetting their Creator, that He is a God who giveth songs in the night. It is one beautiful instance of the adaptation of revelation to our circumstances, that the main thing which it labours to set forth is the love of our Maker. Natural theology, whatever its success in delineating the attributes of God, could never have proved that sin had not excluded us from all share in His favour. The revelation, which alone can profit us, must be a revelation of mercy, a revelation which brings God before us as not made irreconcilable by our many offences. This is the character of the revelation with which we have been favoured. But if God has thus revealed Himself in the manner most adapted to the circumstances of the suffering, does not the character of the revelation vastly aggravate the sinfulness of those by whom God is not sought?
2. With how great truth and fitness this touching description may be applied to our Maker. Take the cases of death in a family, or the times of sorrow a minister meets with. And how accurate the description is, if referred generally to Gods spiritual dealings with our race. Who would not be a believer in Christ? when such are the privileges of righteousness, the privileges through life, the privileges in death, the wonder is, that all are not eager to close with the offers of the Gospel, and make these privileges their own. (Henry Melvill, B.D.)
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 On v12 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Elihu continues speaking.
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they cry out
"the oppressed people cry out"
How much less will he answer you ... that you are waiting for him!
Since God will not hear the prayers of prideful, evil men, it is even less likely that he will hear Job, who is complaining against him. AT: "So he certainly will not answer you ... that you are waiting for him!" (See: Exclamations)
that your case is before him
"you have presented your case to him"
you are waiting for him
"you are waiting for him to respond"
translationWords
fool
Almighty
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.