Exposition of Job, Exposition of Job · Chapter 32 · Verses 11-12
Verſe 11. Behold, I waited for your words; I gave ear to your reaſons, whileſt you ſearched out what to ſay.
12. Yea, I attended unto you, and behold, there was none of you that convinced Job, or that anſwered his words.
The ſecond Reaſon of Elihu's interpoſing to ſpeak (which is more ſpecial and particular) is, the inſufficiency of what they had ſpoken to convince Job: So that, having marked all that they had ſaid and ſearched out, all that long time that the diſpute continued, he finds that none of them had convinced Job, or convincingly proved what they had aſſerted againſt him, that he was a wicked Hypocrite. Nor yet had they anſwered his words; which imports not only that they had not refuſed his arguments, and repelled theſe evidences of his integrity, which he had produced in his own defence; …ut further, that they had not made that reply to Jobs miſcarriages in his diſcourſes, which was neceſſary for his humiliation and caſting down, as he ſpeaks, v. 13. And ſo Job is declared to be Victor in the debate betwixt him and his Friends, concerning the calamities of godly men, (of which, v. 3.) And yet ſomewhat remained to be anſwered to Jobs words, which they had not hit upon.
From theſe two Verſes, Learn, 1. When Debates are once ſtarted, they may continue very long; For, not only have there been long diſcourſes among them, but it ſeems they have taken time to ſtudy this controverſie, and ſearch out words, or, what to ſay, whereby the debate was much lengthened. Debates may be ſoon begun, but they are not ſo eaſily compoſed again. For mens wilfullneſs may continue debates long; And God in his holy providence may permit them to continue, that men may be fully tryed.
2. It is mens duty to ſearch into Controverſies, and to be well adviſed in what they ſpeak to a weighty cauſe; For, in ſo farr they did right, that they ſearched out what to ſay. Men do ſin hainouſly when they engage in debates before they underſtand them, and before they conſider to what they may tend.
3. When men are once engaged in Debates, if they be non pluſt, they are ready to bend their wits to maintain their cauſe, rather than they will yield and quit the plea; For, thus alſo they ſearched out what to ſay, when Job put them to it, but it was but words (as it is in the Original) and ſomewhat wherewith to flouriſh and make a ſhew, that they ſtudied or found. Thus when men are once engaged, and grown warm with paſſion, they will readily ſeek victory rather than truth.
4. It is mens duty, when Debates are ſtarted and agitated, not to be idle ſpectatours, but diligent obſervers, that thereby they may be edified, and may be able to know what is truth; For, Elihu profeſſeth, he was not ſleeping, but diligently attending, all the while of the debate; and no doubt this debate did edifie many Auditours, as well as him:
5. It is a duty alſo to let men ſay their minds to the full, before we judge of their Doctrine and Opinion; For, he heard them out, and did not halve their diſcourſes, by interrupting them.
6 It is alſo mens duty to ponder well what is ſaid, that they do not wilfully nor negligently miſtake the diſcourſes of them who ſpeak; For, Behold, (ſaith he, inviting them to conſider how ſeriouſly he had proceeded) I waited, I gave ear, yea, I attended unto you.
7. It is a clear and determined caſe, and a truth to be much remarked and improved, That a man may be afflicted, and yet righteous; For, here the Controverſie is determined in Jobs favours (who had maintained this truth conſtantly) againſt his friends, and that with a Behold. Not that every man may claim to this, that he is righteous when afflicted, if he want evidences of his integrity; For a wicked man may be plagued, as well as a godly man afflicted, in this life. Nor yet doth this warrant godly men not to be ſenſible of their failings, when in affliction, becauſe their perſons, or cauſe, are righteous: But that which it imports, is, That godly men may ſee love in rods, and that they are conſiſtent with love; and, That they ought not to ſuffer the weight of their afflictions to light upon their ſtate and perſonal reconciliation with God, to call that in queſtion, becauſe they are afflicted.
8. Not only may men think they have refuted their Adverſary, when it is nothing ſo; (as they gave Job over as an obſtinate man, v. 1. when yet Elihu tells them, they had neither convinced, nor anſwered him:) but God may, ſometime, be pleaſed to raiſe up ſome to own them who are for a right cauſe, when they are over-powred with multitude of oppoſers, and lye under many diſadvantages; As Elihu here takes part with Job, who had ſo many godly men againſt him. Let men abide by truth, though they were even left alone in that quarrel; and God will ſend them friends at laſt, when their tryal is perfected
9 Men may be very able, and expreſs great abilities in what they ſay, who yet do erre; For, he acknowledgeth, they had reaſons, or (as it is in the Original) underſtandings, and gave proof of their great abilities, and yet they did not convince nor anſwer Job.
10. So weak are men, that before they be convinced, they muſt not only have an aſſertion proved, but their objections againſt it anſwered; otherwiſe they will not heartily embrace a truth, how clearly ſoever it be proved; For, he deſiderates both theſe in their dealing with Job, and intimates that they ought both to have convinced him, by ſtrong arguments, and anſwered his words, or, objections, if they would have brought him to be of their opinion.
11. Men may prevail againſt men, and have the righter cauſe, and the better of them in debate, who yet are faulty before God, even in that cauſe, and deſerve a reproof from him; For, here Job is aſſoiled and declared Victor in the debate with his Friends, and yet Elihu intimates there was an anſwer, which ſhould have been given to his words, but they had not touched upon it, as he reſolves afterward to do, v. 14. Men had need to look to this, that their righteous cauſe, and the errours and miſcarriages of their Antagoniſts, do not blind their eyes, that they ſee not their own failings.