Tremellius, Cocceius,
¥. 12. Bebold, be taketh away, &¢.] There are fome things God never takes away trom his people; he never takes away his love from them, he always refts in that towards them, let them be in what condition they will; he never takes away his grace from them, when once beftowed on them, or wrought in them; he never takes away his fpecial gifts of grace, particularly the unfpeakable gift of his fon Chrift Jefus, which is that good part when chofen, which fhall not be taken away; nor any of the fpiritual bleffings wherewith they are bleffed in Chrift; thefe are irreverfible and irrevocable: but temporal bleffings he takes away at pleafure; fo he had taken away the children, the fervants of Fob, his fubftance, wealth, and riches, and alfo his bodily health, to which he may have a particular refpect; yea, when it pleafes him, he takes a man out of the world, as the Zargum and Gerfom interpret it: who can hinder him? he does what he pleafes in heaven and earth; his will is irrefiftible, his power is uncontroulable; there is no turning his mind, nor ftaying his hand, nor turning it back; when he works, none can let or hinder. Mr. Broughton tranflates it, who /hall make bim reore‘? if a man takes away what he has no right to, he may be obliged by law to reftore it; but whatever God takes away he has a right unto, be it relations and friends, health or wealth; if he pleafes he can reftore, and does; and as he did to Fob, to whom he after gave twice as much as he had before; but then he is not obliged to do it, none can force him to it: who will fay unto him, what doft thou? not one that knows what God is,ar that knows himfelf a creature of his; no perfon will chufe or dare to afk what God does, or why he does this and not another thing, or why this in the manner he does it; for he gives no account of his matters to the fons of men, nor is he obliged to it, and it would be infolent in them to require it, fee ch. xxxiil. 13, Daz. iv. 35. this exprefles his fovereignty.
y. 13. If God will not withdraw his anger, &c.} Or God will not withdraw bis anger™, he is angry, or at leaft feems to be angry with his own people, in their apprehenfion, when he affliéts them and hides his face from them, or does not immediately appear to their relief and affiftance; but this does not always laft; he does not retain or keep anger for ever; but fhews great mercies to them, and with everlafting kindnefs has mercy on them, by difcovering his love to them, applying his pardoning grace and mercy, and comforting them with the confolations of his Spirit; but then he is angry with the wicked every day, for their continual tranfgreffions; and he never withdraws his an from them, neither here nor hereafter, but punifhes them with everlafting deftruction, and cafts them. into everlafting fire, to which his wrath and anger are compared: the confequence of which js, the
Ch. ix. ¥. 14, 18. we a 249 proud helpers do foop under him, or the helpers pride, or helpers of proud mén; proud, wicked and ungodly men, who combine together and help one another againft God, his people, caule and intereft; men of power, rule and, government, as Aven Ezra explains it; civil magiftrates, men in authority, who inftead of being terrors to evil doers, encourage them, and help them forward in their wickednefs; but though both thofe that help, and thoie that are holpen, may continue for a while; and be fupported, yet they fhail fooner or later fall under the mighty hand of God, his power and wrath, and’ be crufhed by it.
¥.15. Whom, though 1 were righteous, yet would I not anfwer, &c.| ‘Vhis is not to be underftood of pof the righteoufnelS of his caufe, that Yb made no fuppofition of, but ftrongly afferted and determined to hold it faft as long as he lived; nor of his evangelic righteoufnefs, the righteoufnels of faith he was acquainted with, even the righteoufnefs of his living Redeemer, by which he knew he was, and fhould be juttified; and by which righteoufnefs he could, and did anfwer God as every believer may, who making mention of this righteoufnefs, and of this only, fach an one may plead the rizhteoufhefs of Chriit with God as his juttifying one, and hold it up againft all charges brought Some regard may jagainft him; yea, by prefenting this to God by faith, he anfwers all the demands of the law of God, both with refpect to the precepts and penalty of it, it being magnified and made honourable hereby, and all that the juttice of God can require, and with which it is entirely fatisfied; yea, this righteoufnefs will anfwer to God for him in atime to come, in the laft judgment: but ¥ob {peaks of his own legal and civil righteoufnefs, as a good man, and a good magiftrate; as the latter, he put on righteoufnefs, and it clothed him; as the former, having grace, the root of the matter in him, as he calls it, it taught him to live foberly, righteoufly and godly; he was a man that feared God, and efchewed evil; and his fenfe is, that though he fhould fo well behave in every refpect, and {fo order his converfation aright before men, that they could have nothing to lay to his charge, yet he would not bring fuch a righteoufnefs before God, and pretend to anfwer him with it;-for he®knew that tuch a righteoufnefs is no righteoufnefs in the fight of God, in the eye of his law, and in the account of divine juttice, being not only imperfect but impure; not only rags, but filthy ones, attended with many fins, as well as. imperfection; wherefore no good man will put- his caufe before God on fuch an iffue, however he may before men; nay, Yod feems to carry this point yet farther, that though he had a finlefs righteoufnefs of his own, and were as righteous as ddam before his fall, or the holy angels in heaven, yet he would not infitt upon fuch a righteoufnefs before God, or pretend to anfwer him with it; for he knew that the inhabitants of the heavens, and fo man in his paradife on earth, in his beft eftate, were not pure in his fight, but chargeable with folly and imperfection, in comparifon of him: and when he fays he could not an/wer him, his meaning is not, that he would not anfwer to a queftion that was afked him, but that he would not anfwer him in a judicial way;. that if he fhould prefer a bill againit him, he would not put in an anfwer to it, tho’ he knew nothing by himfelf,and could not charge himéelf with any thing wrong in thought, word, or deed; yet if God charged him withit, he would not reply again{t him, he would not contradict him, he would not anfwer again, or litigate the point with him, but give it up; becaufe, though he might not know he had done any thing amifs, or. there was imperfection in him, yet God who was greater than his heart, and knows all things, is the heart-fearching and rein-trying God, he knew better than he did, and therefore was determined to fubmit to him, and be fet down by him what he was: but I would make fupplication to my judge; that is, to God the judge of the whole earth; and who is particularly the judge of his own people, their patron and de- be had either to the giants, the men of the old world, who filled the earth with violence, and were iwept away with the flood; or rather to the builders of Babel, who helped one another to build a tower to make them: a name, and fecure themfelves, and in oppofition to God; but he. being angry with them, made them defift, and they bowed under him. ' Some render it, the belpers of Rakab that is, of Egypt °, Rabab being a name of Egypt, Pf \xxxvii. 4. If li. 9. The devils are meant, whofe fin was pride, and by which they fell, and which they have endeavoured to promote and cherifh among men; but thefe proud fpirits are caft out of heaven and into hell, where they are referved in chains of darknefs to the great judgment; and are obliged, whether they will or no, to ftoop to the Lord, and even to the Son of God in human nature, which their proud ftomachs cannot well bear; but are forced to it, the anger of God lying upon them, and his wrath, which will never be withdrawn from them.
¥.14. How much lefs foall I anfwer him, &c.] Who is wife in heart, and mighty in ftrength, and has done and does the many things before related; who is invifible, pafies by, and onwards infenfibly; fo that there is no knowing where to fpeak to him, or how to guard againft him, fince he can come on on every fide, at an unawares, and unfeen; and who is a fovereign Being, who can do, and does, whatever he pleafes; and therefore there is no fuch thing as difputing any point with him, or calling him to an account for any thing done by him: and if the great men of the earth, proud and haughty tyrants, and thofe prouder {pirits, if poffible, the infernal principalities and powers, are obliged to bend and ftoop to him; how fhould fuch a poor, weak, feeble creature as od was, enter the lifts with him, contend with God, and argue with him about his difpenfations, or anfwer to any argument, objection, charge or article exhibited againft him; here ¥sb.fpeaks humbly and meanly of himielf, as he in thewhole context before fpeaks highly of God, between whom there was no comparifon: and chufe out my words to reafon with bim? faggefting, that fhould he pick out words the moft fit and proper to be ufed, and put them together in the moft exact order, and which had the greateft force of perfuafion and ftrength of reafoning in them, yet they would be of no avail with God; thefe could have. no influence upon him to turn his mind, or alter either his purpofes or his providences; and therefore concluded it was beft for him to be filent and make no reply; but if he faid any thing, to do it in a fupplicating way, as follows.
fender, their judge and law-giver, who will fave them; for though he is a juft God, and a righteous judge, yet a faviour; and it is one of the privileges of his people, that they can come to him, not only as the God of all grace, and as their God and Father in Chrift, but to him as to God the judge of all, Heb. xii. 23. and lay their cafe before him, and intreat his protection; and this ob chofe to do rather than contend with him; for by /upplication, prayer is meant, as it frequently is in both Teftaments; and it fignifies fuch prayer as confifts of petitions for grace and mercy, or for things to be beftowed in a way of grace and mercy; not according to merit, but mercy; not for works of righteoufnefs done, but through the favour and good-will of God; and which prayer is put up in a humble fupplicant manner, acknowledging a man’s unworthinefs, that he is not deferving of the leaft of mercies, nor expects any on account of any worth or worthinefs in him, or his fervices; and in fuch a way a man prevails more with God, and is moft likely to fucceed than by contending with him in a judicial way. acob had power with God and prevailed, but it was by weeping and fupplication, fee Ho/. xii. 4. fo Mr. Broughton reads the words, ‘* I would crave pity of my judge.” Some render it, my adverfary?, the oppofite party in a court of judicature, whom he would not conteft with, but fupplicate, and in the way make up matters with him. ‘ob feems refolved to take fuch a method Chrift advifes to in civil cafes, Matz. v.
' ¥. 76 Uf I bad called, and he had anfwered me, &c.] Mr. Broughton reads the words, if J cry, will be anfwer me? as if Fob had fome doubt upon his mind, whether God would vouchfafe to anfwer him, though he fhould make his fupplication to him, as he propofed.; feeing he had fo forely afflied him, and ftill continued his hand upon him; or the words may be rendered, though I bave called, and he has anfwered, in times paft. ‘Fob was a praying perfon, he had often prayed to God in his clofet, and in his family, for himfelf, and for his children, and for his friends, and he had found God to be a God hearing and anfwering prayer, but feems to queftion whether he would anfwer him now, if he did pray to him: yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my veice, or would bearken*, at this time, and under the prefent circumftances; or fhould he, the mercy would be fo great, that he could hardly believe it; o fometimes through joy men can’t believe what they hear and fee, as the apoftles, when Chrift appeared to them after his refurrection; or as it was with the Fews returned from Babylon, they were like them that dream, they could fcarcely tell whether their deliverance was a_ real fact, or whether they only dreamed of it, fee Luke xxiv. 41. Pf. cxxvi. 1. fo ‘fob intimates, that fhould he pray to God, and be heard and delivered, it would be fo aftonifhing and tranfporting, that at firft he fhould not be able to give credit to it; or however he fhould not believe that it was for his prayers and fupplications, for any worth and value, virtue and efficacy there was in them, that he was heard; but it mult be purely for his mercy-fake, for the fake of the mediation of Chrift, and becaufe thefe prayers were the breathings of his own’ Spirit: or elfe the fenfe is, that though he had heard and anfwered him formerly, when he prayed in a-fupplicating way, yet if he fhould contend with him in a judicial way, and infift upon his own righteoufnefs, and prefent his fupplication to God on that account, he could never expect.to be heard; and indeed he could not believe he fhould be heard on any account, fo long as his prefent fufferings lafted,; which feems to be the fenfe of what follows, where he gives his reafons for fuch belief, or rather unbelief. if ny y.17. For he breaketh me with a tempeft, Bee.) Which rifes fuddenly, comes powerfully, and carries all before it irrefiftibly; hereby fignifying the. nature of his prefent fore afflictions, which came upon him at once, prefied him down, and utterly deftroyed him, againft which there was no ftanding: perhaps he may have fome reference to the ftorm of wind that blew down the houfe, by which his children were deftroyed. » Sehultens renders it, @ burning tempeft*, fach as is Common in the eaftern countries, which Téevenot * often makes mention of; which kills a man at once, and his flefh becomes as black as a coal, and comes off of. his bones, and is plucked off by the hand that would lift him up; with which a man is broken to pieces indeed, to which od may allude: and multiplieth my wounds without caufe; referring, it may be, to the many boils and ulcers upon, his body; though it may alfo refpect the multiplicity of ways in which. he had wounded or afflicted him, in his perfon, in his family, and in his fubftance, and which he fays was done without caufe; not without a caufe or reafon in God, who does nothing without one, though it may not be known to men; particularly in afflicting men, it is not without. caufe or reafon; if he punifhes men, it is for fin; if he rebukes and chaftizes his people, it is for their tranfgreffions; to bring them to a fenfe- of them, to humble them for them, to bring them off from them, or to prevent them, or purge them away, and to try their graces, wean them from the world, and fic them for himfelf: but Y0d’s afflictions were without any fuch caufe intimated by his friends; it was not hypocrify, nor any moto-.
rious fin or fins he had been guilty of, and-fecretly lived and indulged himfelf in, as they imagined. ‘Fob here fuggefts his innocence, which he always infifted upon, and refers his afflictions to the fovereign will of God, and to fome hidden caufe in his own breaft, unknown to himfelf and others: however, fo long as he dealt with him after this manner, he could not believe his prayers were heard by him.; ¥.18. He will not fuffer me to take my breath, &c.] Which fome thinks refers to Fed's difeate, which, was cither an afthma, or a quinfey in his throat, which occafioned great difficulty in breathing; | fhould rather think, the allufion is to the hot burning winds in thofe countries before mentioned, which fometimes dlew fo ftrongly as almoft to take away a man’s breath; fo the above traveller“ reports, that between Suez and Cairo (in Egypt) they had for a day’s time and more fo hot a wind, that they were forced to turn their backs to-it to take a little breath. The defign of Fob is to few, that his afflictions were continued, and were without any intervals; they were repeated fo faft, and came fo thick upon hin, one after another, that he had no breathing time; the import of the phrafe is | the fame with that.in ch, vii, 19. but filleth me with —
? moves in jus me vocanti, Cocceius; ei qui mecum judicatur, i.e. parti mex adverfe, Guffetius, Pp. 880s"):
bitterne/s 5 to the full, to fatiety, to loathing, as a man may be with a bitter potion, with wormwood drink, and water of gall, with bitter afflictions comparable to fuch, whereby od’s life was embittered to him, fee Fer. ix. 15. Lem) iil. 15, 19.
y. 19. If I fpeak of firength, lo, he is /trong, &c.} Orthink of it, or betake myfelf to that, and propofe to carry my point by mere force, as fome men do by dint of power and authority they are poffefied of; alas! there is nothing to be done this way; Il ama poor, weak,. feeble creature in body, mind and eftate; Iam notable to contend with fo powerful an antagonift on any account, in any way: God is ftrong, he is the mo/ ftrong *, as fome were fo, yet not without fin; if therefore a man fhould affert this, he would not fay that which was right, but what was perverfe, as might be proved: it foall alfo prove me perverfe; to be a wicked man; either be, God fhall prove, or it, his mouth, as in the preceding claule; for to fay this, is to tell a lie, which to do is perverfenefS, fee 1 ‘fobm i. 8.
¥. 21. Vhough I were perfec, 8¢c.] Really and truly fo, not con{cious of any fin in thought, word or deed; this is only a cafe fuppofed: yet would I not know my foul; 1 would not own mytelf to be fo before God; I would not infitt upon fuch perfection in his prefence, as what would juftify me before him; fince Iam fenfible the higheft perfe&tion of render it; he is mighty, is the almighty; the weaknefs of God is ftronger than men; there is no difpating with God upon the foot of ftrength: and if of judgment, who fball fet mea time to plead? a creature is imperfection when compared with him: or the fenfe may be, fhould I fay I were perfec, I /hould not know my own foul; 1 thould plainly ap-
If I think and propofe to put things upon the foot of juftice, to have the caufe between us iffued in that way, I cannot expect to fucceed by right, any more than by might; he is fo ftrictly juft and holy, that no righteoufnefs and holinefs of mine can ftand before him; he is God, and la man, pear to be ignorant of myfelf, as all perfectionifts are; they don’t know their own fouls, the plague of their hearts, the evil of their thoughts, the vanity of their minds; they don’t take notice of thefe things, or don’t look upon them as finful, they know not the nature of fin, and the exceeding finfulnefs of it: J would de/pife my life; even it ever fo and therefore not fit to come together in and he a pure and holy Being, juft and true, and judgment; innocent, perfect and juft; his meaning is, that he would not infift upon the continuance of it on without iniquity, and I a finful polluted creature; and befides, there is none fuperior to him, that I can appeal unto, none that can appoint a place, or fix a time for the hearing of the caufe between us, or that can prefide in judgment and determine the matter in controverfy; nay, there is not one among the creatures that can be a day’s man,,an that account; he had no fuch value for it, fuch a love of life as to contend with God upon the foot of juftice about it; nor did he think it worth afking for, fo mean an opinion had he entertained of it, fee ch. vii. 16.
¥. 22. This is one thing, &c.] Or one thing there is*, in the world, as Farchi adds; or one meafure, arbiter or umpire; yea not one that can be fo much as the Tergum, to good and bad men; one event as employed as council, that can take the caufe in! defender of me; fo that let me take what courfe I hand, and plead it, and be a patron for me, and | ' WwW will, Iam fare to be non-fuited, and worfted, fee!
alike to the righteous, and to’the wicked, Zec/. ix. 2. fo that, as others render it, # is all one’, hether a man 1s righteous and perfect, or whether he is not, he is equally liable to be afflicted and di- ftrefied: and this is one thing, very /ingular*, amaz- y. 20. If I juftify myfelf, &c] Seek for juftification by his own righteoufnets, truft in ing and aftonifhing, and very unaccountable; but fo himfelf! it is, and which he differed from his three friends that he was righteous, fay that he was fo, and pronounce himfelf a righteous man, what would it fignify? mine own mouth shall condema me; the words of it being finful, vain, idle and frothy; and if a man is to be juftified and condemned by his words, he may be fure of the latter: indeed, if any man offend not in word, the fame is a perfett man, James iii. 2. but let a man be as careful as he can, and keep ever fuch a guard upon his lips, fuch is the imperfection of human nature, that though a Mofes, he will fpeak unadvifedly with his lips, at one time or another, and in many things will offend; which would be his condemnation, if there was no other way to fecure from-it; nay, for a finful man to juftify himfelf, or to fay that he is a righteous man by his own righteoufnefs, and infift upon this before God, if he is tried upon it he mutt be condemned; yea, faying he is fo is a falfhood, abominable to God, and enough to condemn him; and befides, a man that knows himfelf, as Fob did, muft be confcious of much fin within him, however externally righteous he may be before men; fo that fhould he fay he was righteous, his confcience would fpeak, or caufe his mouth to {peak and contradié and condemn him: if I fay, I am perfeé?, not in an evangelical fenfe, as he was; but in a legal fenfe, fo as to be free from fin, which no man that is perfect in a gofpelfenfe is; as Noah, Jacob, David, and others, who about; as to the juftice of God, he agreed with them.in that; yea, he believed he was righteous in whatever he did, and even in this which was fo ftrange and furprizing, though he could not account for it: and this is uniform, as Mr. Broughton tranflates it; either God aéts uniformly in what he does, treating all men alike, good and bad men; or Yoo was uniform in his fentiments, he was all of a, piece, fteady and conftant, retaining the fame fenfe of things, from which he had not departed, nor could he depart: therefore I faid it, with the greateft confidence and affurance, becaufe he believed it, and would fay it again, feeing no reafon at all to alter his judgment; the thing was quite clear to him, of which he had, at leait as he thought, unqueftionable evidence; and the thing he has re~ fpect to is as follows: be deftroyeth the perfel and the wicked; this is thought by fome to be a very bad expreffion, bordering on blafphemy, and contrary to the nature and perfections of God, and to the methods of his providence, Gen. xviii. 23—25. and that fob fpeaks in the perfon of one deiticute of the grace of God: but nothing is more certain than that this was the real fentiment of his mind, his firm belief, nor could he be perfuaded to the contrary; indeed it may be underftood in a good fenfe: by a perfec? man, we are to underftand a truly good man, one that has received the grace of God in truth, and is perfectly jultified and pardoned thro’