Exposition of Job, Exposition of Job · Chapter 32 · Verse 3
Verſe 3. Alſo againſt his three Friends was his wrath kindled, becauſe they ha… found no anſwer, and yet had condemned …ob.
In this Verſe, we have Elihu's verdict and cenſure of the Friends part in the debate; where he is angry at them, that they had found no anſwer, and yet had condemned Job. The Particle, Yet, is not in the Original, but is added to clear the ſenſe, though the Copulative, And, may be ſo rendred, They found no anſwer, yet, or, nevertheleſs, they condemned Job. And the meaning of the words ſo tranſlated, is not, that they had juſtly charged him with wickedneſs and hypocriſie, only they had not ſtrongly proved their charge; For Elihu doth not undertake to prove any ſuch charge againſt him. But the meaning is, They had condemned him as a wicked Hypocrite, without producing any ſolid Argument to prove it, and without giving any ſufficient anſwer to thoſe convincing evidences of his integrity, and other arguments, which he had produced for himſelf. And ſo, upon the matter, whatever flouriſhes of diſcourſe they had, yet they had condemned him unjuſtly (in aſſerting him to be a wicked man) meerly upon a prejudicate opinion and principle of their own; whereas he is reſolved to accuſe him for theſe things whereof he is indeed guilty, and which he can prove againſt him, by convincing arguments, that they are ſins, and ſins committed by him. The words may alſo be read thus, word for word from the Original, They found no anſwer, and they condemned Job. And ſo they will contain his cenſure of a double fault whereof they were guilty; One is, that already mentioned, That they had unjuſtly condemned Job▪ And the other is, That by their finding no anſwer to Jobs Apologies, they had quit Gods cauſe (which he is now about to maintain againſt Job) as overcome; And by their ſilence in what they might and ſhould have ſpoken in anſwer to his diſcourſes, they had condemned God, no leſs than they had unjuſtly condemned Job by what they had ſpoken. Though the former reading be moſt agreeable to the ſcope here, yet both may very well be joyned together; For as they were faulty in condemning Job without a reaſon, and without anſwering his defences for himſelf; So they were no leſs guilty in finding no anſwer (ſuch as he afterward produceth) on Gods behalf, againſt Jobs complaints and quarrellings.
From this Verſe, Learn, 1. It is an evidence of a truly ſober and gracious Spirit, ſo to be taken up with one evil or errour, as not to be blind in diſcerning others alſo, upon another hand; For, Elihu diſcerns exactly the errours of both parties, and on both hands, in this debate, and paſſeth his cenſure upon both; And did not as the three Friends, who, to avoid the errour upon the one extreme, of impeaching the righteouſneſs of God who had afflicted Job, do run to an errour on the other extreme, and conclude Job to be wicked becauſe afflicted. As it is too uſual for men, while they are eagerly oppoſing one errour, to ruſh into another on the other hand.
2. As mens light ſhould be univerſally clear, in diſcerning errours and miſtakes; So their zeal ought to be uniform, and againſt every one of them: For, againſt his three Friends was his wrath kindled, for their errour, as well as againſt Job, for his; Not as many, who, in their heat of oppoſition to one errour (which it may be is their preſent exerciſe, and in ſo farr it is commendable that their zeal is moſt bent againſt it) do look with more indifferency upon another which ſeems to be oppoſite unto it, as being upon the other extreme.
3. It is a very great, and yet a very uſual fault in many, to condemn men, and bury them, and their opinions and way, under imputations and calumnies, which neither are nor can be proved and made out: For, this was their practice, and Elihu is angry becauſe of this, that they condemned Job, when they had found no anſwer to his diſcourſes proving his integrity, as he tells them, v. 12. Malice, prejudices, ſerving of deſignes, &c. as well as ignorance and errour (which were the cauſe of their miſcarriage) may drive men to take ſuch courſes, whereby they commit great cruelty, and do juſtly provoke the anger and zeal of godly men againſt them; As Elihu is hereby provoked to anger againſt Jobs Friends.
4. Though it be a fault, at any time, or in any caſe, to condemn men unjuſtly; yet this fault is much aggravated, and true zeal and indignation is provoked thereby, when men deal ſo with afflicted men, and ſo add to their affliction: For, this was an addition to their fault, and helped to kindle Elihu's anger, that they had ſo condemned Job, who was now ſo ſadly afflicted, as himſelf ſtates the caſe in this very particular, Chap. 19.5, 6, &c. It is very ſad, when men are ſo cruel, as to give a godly man a load above a burden. See Pſa. 69.26.
5. Albeit a multitude of words and fine diſcourſes may blind many, who think they have the beſt cauſe who talk moſt, and who are eaſily deceived with good words and fair ſpeeches, Rom. 16.18. Yet that will not ſatisfie conſciencious and rational men; For, theſe Friends ſpake enough (as themſelves thought, to purpoſe) and ſeemed to plead much for God, and againſt impiety; and yet Elihu diſcerns that they found no anſwer, even to clear theſe things they intended to conclude againſt Job; farr leſs did they hit upon the true anſwer, which ſhould have been returned to Job. See Prov. 18.17. Men have need of ſolid wiſdome, that they may diſcern what is truth or errour in well-busked diſcourſes, and they who would ſpeak to purpoſe in a debate, ought to beware that unſound principles, and heat in diſpute, do not blind-fold them, and ſo cauſe them miſs their mark, as befell theſe Friends.
6. In whatever caſe ſilence be lawful, in ſome debates; yet it is a great fault, in any caſe, to deſert a cauſe of God, when it is controverted and oppoſed; For, thus according to the other reading, it is a fault by it ſelf, that they found no anſwer for God, as well as that they condemned Job.