Exposition of Job, Exposition of Job · Chapter 30 · Verse 21 – Verse 23
Verſe 21. Thou art become cruel to me: with thy ſtrong hand thou oppoſeſt thy ſelf againſt me.
The ſecond Evidence of Gods anger in his calamities (to v. 25.) is, That God (as he apprehended) was become cruel and hoſtile in his diſpenſations toward him. In this Verſe, he propounds his grievance, That God, who formerly had been kind to him, was now become cruel in his actings and diſpenſations toward him; and whereas he was wont to ſupport him, he did now employ his power, as an enemy, in oppoſition to him. As for theſe expreſſions of his ſenſe of Gods dealing, albeit it cannot be ſaid they flowed from wickedneſs, yea, it was grace in him, that made him reſent this change and diſpenſation of providence, and that made him tell all his hard thoughts of God, to himſelf, (as Jeremiah alſo doth, Jer. 15.18.) which is, in effect, to complain of himſelf, that he ſhould think God cruel: Yet, in expreſſing his ſorrow and reſentments, he is too pathetick, and expreſſeth much paſſion and weakneſs; for which he is reproved by Elihu. Here,
Obſ. 1. If we conſider this complaint in it ſelf, It teacheth,
1. It is the way of Gods people to take up God, as their chief party, in all their troubles; For, ſo doth Job here. See alſo, 2 Sam. 16.10. And though it be very humbling to conſider this, yet to loſe ſight of God in trouble, produceth many bad effects (ſuch as, neglecting to goe to him, betaking our ſelves to ill ſhifts, bitterneſs, &c.) when we ſhould be ſtooping and humbling our ſelves under the mighty hand of God.
2. God may ſeem, for a time, not only not to hear godly ſupplicants, but even to be a ſevere foe unto them; For, unto what is complained of, v. 20. this is added, Thou art become cruel; which not only imports, that he accounted it cruelty, that God did not hear him, but that he was very ſevere againſt him, inſtead of giving him an anſwer. See Pſ. 8….4. Jer. 30.14. Lam. 2.5. Saints muſt not miſtake this lot; for he may have a friends heart, when his diſpenſations ſeem to be hoſtile, that he may try them. And let us not count him cruel, only becauſe he gives us much work, and will not ſpare our luſts; and whatever he ſeem to do to us, let us beware of turning foes to him.
3. It is a character of a godly man, that he is ſadly afflicted with any ſign of Gods indignation, or even with the want of an evidence of Gods favour and affection in trouble; For, here it is Jobs complaint, that God was become cruel, and oppoſed himſelf againſt him, as an enemy. See Pſ. 6.1. Jer. 10.24. But wicked men look rather to their lot in it ſelf, without minding Gods favour, or anger, in it.
4. Whatever the wicked think of Gods favour, who never knew it; yet the want of it will be ſad to the godly, who have taſted by experience how ſweet it is: For, Job complains that he was turned to be cruel, as it is in the Original. Severe dealing cannot eaſily be digeſted by them who have taſted of his love, and none can live comfortably without the ſenſe of his favour, but they who know it not.
5. As Gods power, when he lets it forth in effects, is irreſiſtable, and inſupportable for any creature to endure it, however fools do harden themſelves; So godly men will ſoon groan under the apprehenſion thereof; For, Job reſents that by his ſtrong hand he oppoſed himſelf againſt him. It is indeed the character of godly men, that they are ſenſible of their own weakneſs, and therefore are ſoon made to ſtoop under the mighty hand of God. See Job 7.12.
Obſ. 2. If we conſider Jobs weakneſs in his complaint, it may further teach,
1. All men by nature are apt to have hard thoughts of God in trouble; as here Job gives proof, in his apprehenſions of Gods cruelty and oppoſition. So alſo did Jeremiah evidence his inclination to miſtake God, Jer. 15.18. But unrenewed men do come to a greater height in theſe diſtempers, Rev. 16.19. Therefore we ſhould guard againſt that evil, as being incident to men in trouble, and being the great deſign that Satan drives in it, Chap. 1.11. and 2.5.
2. Tentation may over-drive, even ſuch as are truly godly, to ſpeak that which is unbeſeeming; yea, and worſe than they think; For, here Job is over-driven by tentations. As Saints muſt not be judged by what they are at fits, ſo they ſhould be upon their guard, when under tentations, and muſt not think that their hard condition will aſſoil them, let them do what they will.
3. Senſe is Faiths great un-friend, under tentation, if it he hearkned unto; For, it was his ſenſe that drave him to ſay all this.
4. When godly men are ready to complain of God without cauſe, or to give credit to ſenſe, they will readily find their complaints grow upon their hand; For, Job being in this diſtemper, he proceeds from complaining that God did not hear him, but added to his trouble, v. 20. to complain that he was become cruel, &c. This, as it evidenceth our weakneſs, and ſhould keep us from engaging in ſuch a way; So God makes uſe of it as a mean to drive us from our complaints, when we ſee whether they would tend, if way were given to them.
Verſe 22. Thou lifteſt me up to the wind: thou cauſeſt me to ride upon it, and diſſolveſt my ſubſtance.
In this, and the following Verſe, Job propounds two particular grounds of his apprehenſions of Gods cruelty and oppoſition. One is held out in terms borrowed from Chaffe toſſed and diſſipated in the air by a ſtrong wind; Or, from Vapours drawn up into the air, and there diſſolved and melted into rain; Or, rather from a perſon carried up by a whirlwind into the air, and toſſed there till he be over-charged and ſuffocated. The meaning is, That he was violently toſſed and hurried with a whirlwind of outward troubles, under which he was kept till all his means and outward enjoyments were gone and diſſolved; and with a tempeſt of vexations upon ſoul and body, to the diſſipation of his ſubſiſtence and life, and of his wit alſo, as the word ſignifieth. In ſumm, He who rode proſperouſly, and in ſtate before, is now made to ride in a chariot of ſtrong and fierce afflictions, which had ruined him; Afflictions had blown away his ſubſtance and wealth, his body was melted (as the word imports) and ready to be diſſolved, and his ſoul was over-charged, ſo that he is at his wits end.
Doct. 1. How ſure ſoever men think they ſit, yet when God ſends affliction, it will toſs and hurry them; Therefore it is compared to a wind, or a whirlwind, becauſe it brings ſudden, violent and vehement vexation and toſſing. Thus Job, when he was firſt aſſaulted, did ſit divers charges, Chap. 1. and 2. yet at laſt tentation and trouble did prevail. And it is one of the effects of trouble, to ſhake thoſe who are ſetled upon their lees, and to keep godly men from fixing themſelves upon the things of time.
2. As men cannot keep themſelves at eaſe, when God hath them to toſs and ſift; So they can put no period to their own toſſings, till he interpoſe: For, he not only lifts them up to the wind, and ſo engageth them, but he cauſeth them to ride, when they are thus lifted up; Or, locks them, as it were, in the ſaddle, that they cannot get free of toſſing. The continuance, as well as the violence, of trouble is in Gods hand, and he is to be eyed in the one and the other. See Jer. 47.6, 7.
3. Gods deſign in trouble, is, to ſift man, and to diſcover, and let it be known, what he is; For, ſo Job finds in the iſſue, that God deſigned, by cauſing him ride upon the wind, to diſſolve and melt, or ſift him out (as when corn or chaffe is lifted up to the wind) that he may give proof what is in him, and what he is able to endure.
4. Whatever man ſeem to be at another time; yet in trouble he will be found to be light, and vain, like a feather, or chaffe, in the wind; and that nothing in him can abide the tryal, but his ſtrength, and wi…, and all, will be ſoon confounded and over-charged; For, ſaith he, Thou diſſolveſt my ſubstance; or, even that which is moſt ſubſtantial in me, and in my enjoyments. Learn we to truſt to nothing in our ſelves, as able to bear out in tryal, and to try our profiting under trouble, by our being emptied and abaſed in our ſelves.
5. God may diſcover thoſe to be weak and very empty in trouble, of whom he will yet give a good account; For, after all his toſſing, and diſſolving of his ſubstance, Job got a good iſſue at laſt. If men could wait for the end of the Lord, they would not be ready to apprehend cruelty in his preſent diſpenſations, and they ſhould learn to ſuſpend ſuch thoughts, when they are not able to refute them.
Verſe 23. For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the houſe appointed for all living.
Another ground of his apprehenſion of Gods cruelty, is, That God had given him ſuch mortal and deadly wounds, that he is ſure to dye, and to goe to the grave, which is the common lodging of all. He joyns this with the former, by the particle, For, as taking it up to be Gods deſign in toſſing him, even to cut him off. Or, it may be tranſlated, Surely, to intimate how perſwaded he was of theſe his apprehenſions.
Doct. 1. It is an uſeful ſtudy, eſpecially under afflictions, to be mindful of mortality; For, in ſo farr Jobs exerciſe was right, that he minds Death, and the grave, or, the houſe appointed for all living. See Pſ. 90.12. Deut. 32.29. Lam. 1.9. Men are never in a right frame, when they eſtrange themſelves from thoughts of mortality.
2. It is of great uſe to conſider, that Death will truly diſcover what we are in our Original; For, ſaith he, Thou wilt bring me to death, and the grave; Or, Thou wilt return me to death, and the grave; that is, Thou wilt then turn me to be duſt, as I was before.
3. It is of great uſe, alſo, to look upon death, and the grave, as the common lot of all mankind; For, ſo doth Job deſcribe the grave here, that it is the houſe appointed for all living; For however ſome get not a grave when they dye, yet they get ſomewhat in place of it; and though ſome (as Enoch and Elijah) were caught up to Heaven immediately, yet they had a change in place of death, and thoſe inſtances are ſo rare and ſingular, that they need not be ſtood upon as exceptions to this general aſſertion. See Joſh. 23.4. 1 King. 2.2. Pſ. 89.48. Heb. 9.27. The ſtudy hereof ſhould cauſe men more eaſily digeſt death, as a common lot; and ſhould excite all to prepare for it, it being none of theſe tryals wherewith ſome only are exerciſed. It may, alſo, let men ſee, that there is no cauſe why they ſhould glory in their advantages within time, ſeeing death and the grave will make all equal. See Chap. 3.13, 14, &c. Ezek. 32.18.—27.
4. It is alſo uſeful to know, that God is the diſpenſer and orderer of all our tryals, and particularly, that he hath the ſupreme hand in bringing us to death; that ſo we may know that our times are in his hands, and not in the hands of men, Pſ. 31.15. For, ſaith he, Thou wilt bring me to death, &c.
5. Albeit godly men are not unwilling to dye, when God calls them to reſign their life to him; yet, it cannot but be ſad to them, to be taken away in a ſtorm: For, this is the ſcope of Jobs complaint, that he was put to expect death, when God was ſo cruel and oppoſite to him, v. 21. So that when men are called to cloſe their courſe in peace, they ſhould not decline it, conſidering that God, if be pleaſe, can make death more formidable to them.
6. The people of God in trouble, are ordinarily too raſh in their conjectures and apprehenſions for the future; They may be more afraid than really hurt, and when they have diſcovered their weakneſs and fears, God may be pleaſed mercifully to diſappoint them: For, though Job was certain that he would preſently dye, I know thou wilt bring me to death, yet he was diſappointed. See 2 Cor. 1.8, 9, 10.