Exposition of Job, Exposition of Job · Chapter 15 · Verse 31 – Verse 35
Verſ. 31. Let not him that is deceived, truſt in vanity: for vanity ſhall be his recompenſe.
Followeth the third Branch of this part of the Chapter, and the Concluſion of this whole Diſcourſe; Containing,
1. An Exhortation, or, Counſel, to fall deluded Souls, that they ſhould not deceive themſelves with vain confidences, v. 31.—
2. Some reaſons of this counſel, taken from the diſappointments and plagues that ſuch will meet with, v.—31, 32, 33.
3. Thoſe plagues, or judgments, are amplified, and the equity thereof cleared, by pointing at ſome cauſes procuring the ſame; where he concludes thoſe plagues to be due to ſeveral ſorts of ſelf-deceiving wicked men, in particular, v. 34, 35. In all which Diſcourſe, albeit Eliphaz, notwithſtanding all his bitterneſs, expreſs his mind in general terms; Yet there is no doubt but he intends an Application thereof to Job, and points at him in the counſel he gives, and reflects on his calamities and ſuppoſed guilt, in the reſt of the purpoſe. And albeit he was unjuſt in this, yet the General Doctrine may be received with the ordinary Cautions.
In this verſe we have,
1. His Exhortation, or, Counſel, That neither Job, nor any other after what had befaln him, ſhould ever again delude themſelves with vain hopes and confidences. Whereby we may underſtand, either that men ſhould not truſt in hypocritical and deluding ſhews of Religion, or that they ſhould not reſt ſecure, or dream of Gods favour to them, becauſe of outward proſperity. Both thoſe may be comprehended under this General, of truſting in vanity, and both ſeem to be intended by Eliphaz, as agreeing (in his opinion) with Job's caſe, who had proſpered, and (as he judged) was an Hypocrite.
2. We have in this verſe the firſt Argument preſſing this counſel; which is, that all thoſe confidences will diſappoint deluded men, Job had already found it ſo; and ſo ſhould all others, and himſelf alſo, were he put in never ſo good a condition again.
Whence Learn,
1. There are many deluded and deceived ſouls in the world; For, ſo is here implied, there are who are deceived. All who are not utterly ignorant of God, or madly deſperate, and yet are not ſeeking God in ſincerity, they are under the power of ſome one deluſion or other. And no wonder many be thus deluded; For, being by nature ignorant of right and wrong in many things, and loving caſe, we are ready to be take our ſelves to any courſe which may ſpare our pains, and prevent our diſquiet. Beſide, we have to do with ſuch ſubtle enemies, not only Satan, with his wiles, Epheſ. 6.11. and devices, 2 Cor. 2.11. and ſin with its inſinuations, Heb 3.13. but even our ſelves and our own hearts, Gal 6.3. Jer. 17.9. that it is a wonder if we be not deceived. This may warn every man to be jealous over himſelf, and cautious in all he goeth about.
2. A great cauſe of mens deluſions are their vain and ill-grounded confidences; For, they are deceived through truſting in vanity, from which he now diſſwades the deluded man, in order to his cure. See Iſai. 59.4. Some are apt to truſt in Idols, or a falſe Religion; Iſai. 44.20. Some in contempt and ſleighting of the Law, hoping to be dealt with and judged by another Rule; Deut. 29.18, 19. Some in an apprehenſion that God is all mercy, without any juſtice or ſeverity, who will be miſerably confounded when they find it is otherwiſe; Iſai. 33.14. Some in their external ſhews of Religion, wherewith they are puffed up, Gal. 6.3. And, ſome in their proſperity, which is not only lying in it ſelf, Pſal. 62.10. but far more deceitful when it is made a mark of Gods favour. This ſhould teach men, not to look ſo much to their confidence, as to the grounds of it; and to be very tender and cautious in bottoming themſelves, eſpecially upon the former falſe grounds of confidence.
3. Men are ſo deſperately averſe from true Piety, and ſo prone to delude themſelves; that even experience of their folly, in ſome meaſure, will not divert them, but they will perſiſt in it: For, he thinks it needful thus to adviſe Job, even after he hath been once deceived already, Let not him that is deceived truſt in vanity. He doth indeed wrong Job, yet the general holds true, that it is only grace, and no experience without it, that will divert men from deluding confidences, or any other ill courſe. See Prov. 23.35.
4. How mad ſoever men be on this courſe of ſelf-deceiving; Yet it is their great ſin and miſery to be thus deluded; Therefore, doth Eliphaz ſo ſeriouſly diſſwade from it. It will make Hell to be a double Hell, that men delude themſelves till they ſlip into it. See Matth. 7.21, 22, 23.
5. If men will not take notice of this hazard in time, from the Word; yet the iſſue will ſadly refute them: Therefore he ſubjoyns this certification, if his counſel be not followed, for vanity ſhall be his recompence. As his hope was vain, ſo the recompence can prove no better then vanity. And albeit he will not ſee this in particular diſappointments; yet he will be made to find it in end.
6. Men, by reaſon of their falſe Principles, and Prejudices, may ſo far miſtake Saints, and the grounds of their confidence, that they may account their faith to be preſumption and deluſion; For, ſo doth Eliphaz judge of Job's faith here. And it is a tryal for which a godly man ſhould be a…med.
Verſ. 32. It ſhall be accompliſhed before his time, and his branch ſhall not be green.
33. He ſhall ſhake off his unripe grape as the Vine, and ſhall caſt off his flower as the Olive.
In the firſt of theſe verſes, we have other two Arguments further preſſing this counſel: One is, That it (that is, his vain hope, or truſting in vanity) ſhall not only prove vain and come to a ſad end, but this ſhall come to paſs even in the deluded mans ſight, and before he die. It ſhall be accompliſhed (or cut off, and come to an end) before his time. The other is, his branch ſhall not be green; that is, not only ſhall his preſent flouriſhing ſtate and poſterity fade away, (as is ſaid, v. 30.) and ſo be accompliſhed, or cut off and come to an end (as is ſaid in the beginning of the verſe) but being ſo, his confidence for the future ſhall come to nothing, as a withered branch can promiſe no fruit. Theſe Arguments are illuſtrated by a ſimilitude, v. 33. That as Trees, ſometime, ſhake off thei… unripe fruit and flowers, and ſo the owner can expect no increaſe of them; So the ſelf-deluder ſhall ſee the untimely death of his Children, and the overturning of his proſperity, and ſhall loſe all future expectation. In both thoſe verſes he hath a tar… (but unjuſt) reflection upon what had befaln Job and his Family; his miſtake in which having been ſo frequently marked before, I ſhall now paſs it.
From the General Doctrine, Learn,
1. How ſtable and well rooted ſoever deluded wicked men ſeem to be; Yet they may out-live all their enjoyments and confidences; For, it ſhall be accompliſhed before his time.
2. The ſuddenneſs of calamity adds to the ſadneſs thereof; For, it is an Argument preſſing deluded ſouls, not to perſiſt in that courſe, that not only their confidence ſhall be accompliſhed and cut off, but that it ſhall be thus before their time, and they ſhall ſee their own riſe and fall. See Pſal. 37.25, 26. Lam 1.9.
3. It evidenceth the wicked mans great abuſe of mercy, and Gods great anger againſt him becauſe of that, when God not only plagues his perſon, but ſmites his enjoyments and Children, that he may refute his deluſion; For, this is threatened, as a ſad fruits of his way, His branch (his wealth that adorns him, and his Children that grow out of him as the root) ſhall not be green. And this ſhould be ſad to wicked men, that they are ſuch a plague to themſelves and to all that is theirs.
4. No preſent ſtroke on wicked men will convince them of their folly, unleſs, alſo, their hope, and future expectation be cut off; and God, when he pleaſeth, will do ſo to them; For, his branch ſhall not be green.
5. It is an eaſie thing for God to ruine all the enjoyments of deluded ſinners, and their hopes alſo; For, as the unripe Grape, and Flower, are ſoon ſhaken off; ſo he ſhall ſhake off his unripe Grape as the Vine, &c. that is, God ſhall make him loſe, and be deprived of it.
6. Wicked men are ſo ſtupid, and ſlow of heart to believe thoſe ſad things which they deſerve, and do abide them here and hereafter, that they need to be very plainly and ſeriouſly inculcated upon them; Therefore are theſe ſimilitudes here made uſe of, to explain and inculcate this threatning.
Verſ. 34. For the congregation of hypocrites ſhall be deſolate, and fire ſhall conſume the tabernacles of bribery.
Thoſe threatnings inculcated in the former Arguments, are (in the cloſe of all this Diſcourſe) amplified, and the equity thereof cleared, from the conſideration of the ſins procuring theſe judgments. Wherein he inſtanceth his aſſertion, that ſelf-deluding ſinners will be plagued, as verified on ſeveral ſorts of them. In this verſe he pitcheth upon the ſins of hypocriſie and bribery (of both which he unjuſtly ſuſpects Job was guilty) and aſſerteth that, when men are guilty of thoſe, their Societies and Families (though never ſo great, and ſtraitly combined) are juſtly laid deſolate, and wrath, like …i…e, pulls down and conſumes their houſes, however they delude themſelves in their ſinful courſes.
Whence Learn,
1. Hypocrites are under a ſpecial curſe from God, as mocking him, and wronging the holy Profeſſion; Therefore in this reaſon of the former judgments, taken from the ſins of wicked men, Hypocrites are put in the firſt rank here, as thoſe eſpecially whom God cannot endure. For the Congregation of Hypocrites ſhall be deſolate.
2. It is righteous with God, not only to plague Hypocrites in their perſons, but to ruine their families for their cauſe, as well as the families of the openly prophane; and to break their combinations, were they never ſo ſtrong or numerous. For, both theſe are included in the Congregation of the Hypocrites, which ſhall be deſolate.
3. As bribery is an horrid ſin; ſo it is a ſin wherein Hypocrites may fall, as well as the profane. They are not ſound in their Religion, nor are they mortified to their intereſts, and therefore they are ready to ſeek after the things of the world in a wicked way; and it is an evidence of their unſoundneſs, that they do ſo. Therefore is bribery here ſubjoyned, as a ſin that may go hand in hand with the former.
4. Though men may gather much wealth by bribery; yet wrath followeth it, which will conſume all that purchaſe, and all that the taker of bribes hath; For fire ſhall conſume the Tabernacles of bribery, or their who…e Houſe and Family, which ſhall prove but like a flitting Tabernacle before the Indignation of the Lord, See Hab. 2.9, 10, 11.
Verſ. 35. They conceive miſchief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.
In this verſe he pitcheth upon another ſin procuring theſe judgments, and that is, malicious hatching of wickedneſs; which provokes the Lord in juſtice to cauſe their plots miſcarry, and reſolve in vanity. As for that which is ſubjoyned, that their belly prepareth deceit, it doth not only point out that after one plot miſcarries, they ſet on again, to project new deceits. But it may be taken more generally, that in thoſe words he reſumes and repeats what he had ſaid before; ſhewing, that as they prepare and intend deceits for others, ſo God makes them prove deceits and diſappointments to themſelves.
Hence Learn,
1. Wicked men are put to much toil and pain in ſinning, and it is a puniſhment to it ſelf; For, it is a conception, and a birth prepared in the belly.
2. As ſin hath its degrees of growth; (for, there is a conceiving, a preparing in the belly, and a bringing forth) ſo miſcheivous and malicious ſins are ſo much the more hateful, that they are not the reſult of a ſit of tentation, but are ſo long in breeding and bringing to maturity: For, all theſe ſteps of their malicious plots are marked, to ſhew how hateful they are.
3. The Lord abhorrs, not only deliberation, but, affection, in projecting of ſin; That not only they conceive, and then bring ſo…th, but that their belly (which in Scripture is made the Seat of affection) prepareth deceit.
4. As all miſchief, greedily committed, is abominable; ſo alſo deceitful plots miſcheivouſly contrived againſt others, in ſpecial; Therefore the general, of miſcheifs, is inſtanced in the matter of deceit, as a miſchief ſpecially hateful to God.
5. It is Gods juſt judgment upon wicked men, that their aſſiduous projecting of ſin tends to their own ſad diſappointment at laſt; For, whatever they conceive, the birth is vanity, and their Preparations to deceive others prove deceit to themſelves alſo at laſt.