We will read the Book of Job from today.
The Book of
Job
This book of
Job stands by itself, is not connected with any other, and is therefore to be
considered alone. Many copies of the Hebrew Bible place it after the Book of
Psalms, and some after the Proverbs but it is proper to precede and introduce
the Book of Psalms, which is devotional, and the Book of Proverbs, which is
practical.
I. We are sure that it is given by inspiration
of GOD, though we are not certain who the penman of it was. The Jews,
though no friends to Job, because he was a stranger to the commonwealth of
Israel, yet, as faithful conservators of the oracles of GOD committed to them,
always retained this book in their sacred canon.
The history is
referred to by one apostle (James 5:11) and one passage (chapter 5:13) is
quoted by another apostle, with the usual form of quoting scripture, It is
written, 1 Corinthians 3:19.
It is the
opinion of many of the ancients that this history was written by Moses himself
in Midian, and delivered to his suffering brethren in Egypt, for their support
and comfort under their burdens, and the encouragement of their hope that GOD
would in due time deliver and enrich them, as he did this patient sufferer.
II. We are sure that it is, for the substance
of it, a true history, and not a romance, though the dialogues are
poetical. No doubt there was such a man as Job; the prophet Ezekiel names him
with Noah and Daniel, Ezekiel 14:14. The narrative we have here of his
prosperity and piety, his strange afflictions and exemplary patience, the
substance of his conferences with his friends, and GOD's Discourse with him out
of the whirlwind, with his return at length to a very prosperous condition.
III. We are sure that it is very ancient,
though we cannot fix the precise time either when Job lived or when the book
was written. So many, so evident, are the marks of its antiquity, that we have
reason to think it of equal date with the book of Genesis itself, and that holy
Job was contemporary with Isaac and Jacob; though not coheir with them of the
promise of the earthly Canaan, yet a joint-expectant with them of the better
country, that is, the heavenly.
Probably he was of the posterity of Nahor,
Abraham's brother, whose first-born was Uz (Genesis. 22:21), and in whose
family religion was for some ages kept up, as appears, Genesis 31:53, where GOD
is called, not only the GOD of Abraham, but the GOD of Nahor.
He lived before the age of man was shortened
to seventy or eighty, as it was in Moses's time, before sacrifices were
confined to one altar, before the general apostasy of the nations from the
knowledge and worship of the True GOD. He
also lived while GOD was known by the Name of GOD ALMIGHTY more than by the Name of JEHOVAH; for HE Is Called אֵ֣ל שַׁדַּ֔י (El) Shaddai - The ALMIGHTY(GOD), above thirty times in this book. He
lived while Divine knowledge was conveyed, not by writing, but by tradition;
for to that appeals are here made, Job 8:8; 21:29; 15:18; 5:1. And we have
therefore reason to think that he lived before Moses, because here is no
mention at all of the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, or the giving of the
Law.
There is
indeed one passage which might be made to allude to the drowning of Pharaoh
(ch. 26:12): He divides the sea with His Power, and by His Understanding HE Smites through Rahab, which name Egypt is frequently called by in Scripture, as
Psalm 87:4; 89:10; Isaiah 51:9. But that may as well refer to the proud waves
of the sea. We conclude therefore that we are here got back to the patriarchal
age, and, besides its authority, we receive this book with veneration for its
antiquity.
IV. We are sure that it is of great use to the
church, and to every good Christian, though there are many passages in it
hard to be understood. It is a book that finds a great deal of work for the
critics; but enough is plain to make the whole profitable, and it was all
written for our learning.
1. This noble
poem presents to us, in very clear and lively characters, these four things
among others:
(1.) A
monument of primitive theology. The first and great principles of the light of nature, on
which natural religion is founded, are here, in a warm, and long, and learned
dispute, not only taken for granted on all sides and not the least doubt made
of them, but by common consent plainly laid down as eternal truths, illustrated
and urged as affecting commanding truths.
Were ever the Being of GOD, His Glorious Attributes and
Perfections, His Unsearchable Wisdom, His Irresistible Power, His Inconceivable
Glory, His Inflexible Justice, and His Incontestable Sovereignty, discoursed of
with more clearness, fullness, reverence, and Divine eloquence, than in this
book?
The creation of the world, and the government of it, are here
admirably described, not as matters of nice speculation, but as laying most
powerful obligations upon us to fear and serve, to submit to and trust in, our
Creator, Owner, Lord, and Ruler. Moral good and evil, virtue and vice, were
never drawn more to the life than in this book; the inviolable rule of GOD's Judgment
more plainly laid down,
That happy are the righteous, it shall be well with them; and
Woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with them. it appears by this book that they
are sacred truths of undoubted certainty, and which all the wise and sober part
of mankind have in every age subscribed and submitted to.
(2.) It presents us with a specimen of Gentile
piety. This great saint descended probably not from Abraham, but Nahor; or,
if from Abraham, not from Isaac, but from one of the sons of the concubines
that were sent into the east-country (Genesis 25:6); or, if from Isaac, yet not
from Jacob, but Esau; so that he was out of the pale of the covenant of
peculiarity, no Israelite, no proselyte, and yet none like him for religion,
nor such a favorite of heaven upon this earth. It was a truth therefore, before
Peter perceived it, that in every nation he that fears GOD and works
righteousness is accepted of him, Acts 10:35. There were children of GOD
scattered abroad (John 11:52) besides the incorporated children of the Kingdom,
Matthew 8:11, 12.
(3.) It presents us with an exposition of the
book of Providence, and a clear and satisfactory solution of many of the
difficult and obscure passages of it. The prosperity of the wicked and the
afflictions of the righteous have always been reckoned two as hard chapters as
any in that book; but they are here expounded, and reconciled with the Divine Wisdom, Purity, and Goodness, by the end of these things.
(4.) It presents us with a great example of
patience and close adherence to GOD in the midst of calamities so it presents us with an illustrious type of
CHRIST, Job was a great sufferer, was emptied and humbled, but in order to
his greater glory. So CHRIST Abased Himself, that we might be exalted.
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