Life is called light, because pleasant and serviceable for walking and working; it is candle-light, the longer it burns, the shorter, and the nearer to the socket, it grows. This light is said to be given us; for if it were not daily renewed to us by a fresh gift, it would be lost. But Job reckons, that, to those who are in misery, it is δῶρον ἄδωρον—gift and no gift, a gift that they had better be without, while the light only serves them to see their own misery by. Such is the vanity of human life, that it sometimes becomes a vexation of spirit; and so alterable is the property of death, that, though dreadful to nature, it may become even desirable to nature itself. He speaks of those here, (1.) Who long for death, when they have out-lived their comforts and usefulness, are burthened with age and infirmities, with pain or sickness, poverty or disgrace, and yet it comes not; while, at the same time, it comes to many who dread it, and would put it far from them. The continuance and period of life must be according to God's will, not according to our's. It is not fit that we should be consulted how long we would live, and when we would die; our times are in a better hand than our own. (2.) Who dig for it as for hid treasures; that is, would give any thing for a fair dismission out of this world, which supposes that then the thought of men's being their own executioners was not so much as entertained or suggested, else those who longed for it needed not take much pains for it, they might soon come at it, (as Seneca tells them,) if they pleased. (3.) Who bid it welcome, and are glad when they can find the grave, and see themselves stepping into it. If the miseries of this life can prevail, contrary to nature, to make death itself desirable, shall not much more the hopes and prospects of a better life, to which death is our passage, make it so, and set us quite above the fear of it? It may be a sin to long for death, but I am sure it is no sin to long for heaven.
2. He thinks himself, in particular, hardly dealt with, that he might not be eased of his pain and misery by death, when he could not get ease any other way. To be thus impatient of life, for the sake of the troubles we meet with, is not only unnatural in itself, but ungrateful to the Giver of life, and argues a sinful indulgence of our own passion, and a sinful inconsideration of our future state. Let it be our great and constant care to get ready for another world, and then let us leave it to God to order the circumstances of our removal thither as he thinks fit; "Lord, when and how thou pleasest;" and this with such an indifferency, that if he should refer it to us, we would refer it to him again. Grace teaches us, in the midst of life's greatest comforts, to be willing to die, and, in the midst of its greatest crosses, to be willing to live.
Job, to excuse himself in this earnest desire which he had to die, pleads the little comfort and satisfaction he had in life.
(1.) In his present afflicted state, troubles were continually felt, and were likely to be so. He thought he had cause enough to be weary of living, for, [1.] He had no comfort of his life; My sighing comes before I eat, v. 24. The sorrows of life prevented and anticipated the supports of life; nay, they took away his appetite for his necessary food. His griefs returned as duly as his meals, and affliction was his daily bread. Nay, so great was the extremity of his pain and anguish, that he did not only sigh, but roar, and his roarings were poured out like the waters in a full and constant stream. Our Master was acquainted with grief, and we must expect to be so too. [2.] He had no prospect of bettering his condition, his way was hid, and God had hedged him in, v. 23. He saw no way open of deliverance, nor knew he what course to take; his way was hedged up with thorns, that he could not find his path. See ch. xxiii. 8. Lam. iii. 7.
(2.) Even in his former prosperous state troubles were continually feared; so that then he was never easy, v. 25, 26. He knew so much of the vanity of the world, and the troubles to which, of course, he was born, that he was not in safety, neither had he rest then. That which made his grief now the more grievous, was, that he was not conscious to himself of any great degree either of negligence or security in the day of his prosperity, which might provoke God thus to chastise him. [1.] He had not been negligent and unmindful of his affairs, but kept up such a fear of trouble as was necessary to the maintaining of his guard: he was afraid for his children, when they were feasting, lest they should offend God; (ch. i. 5.) afraid for his servants, lest they should offend his neighbours; he took all the care he could of his own health, and managed himself and his affairs with all possible precaution; yet all would not do. [2.] He had not been secure, nor indulged himself in ease and softness, had not trusted in his wealth, nor flattered himself with the hopes of the perpetuity of his mirth; yet trouble came, to convince and remind him of the vanity of the world, which yet he had not forgotten when he lived at ease. Thus his way was hid, for he knew not wherefore God contended with him. Now this consideration, instead of aggravating his grief, might rather serve to alleviate it: nothing will make trouble easy so much as the testimony of our consciences for us, that, in some measure, we did our duty in a day of prosperity: and an expectation of trouble will make it sit the lighter when it comes. The less it is a surprise, the less it is a terror.
CHAP. IV.
Job having warmly given vent to his passion, and so broken the ice, his friends here come gravely to give vent to their judgment upon his case; which perhaps they had communicated to one another apart, compared notes upon it, and talked it over among themselves, and found they were all agreed in their verdict, that Job's afflictions certainly proved him to have been a hypocrite; but they did not attack Job with this high charge, till by the expressions of his discontent and impatience, in which they thought he reflected on God himself, he had confirmed them in the bad opinion they had before conceived of him and his character. Now they set upon him with great fear. The dispute begins, and it soon becomes fierce. The opponents are Job's three friends, Job himself is respondent, Elihu appears, first, as moderator, and, at length, God himself gives judgment upon the controversy, and the management of it. The question in dispute, is, whether Job was an honest man or no? The same question that was in dispute between God and Satan in the two first chapters. Satan had yielded it, and durst not pretend that his cursing of his day was a constructive cursing of his God; no, he cannot deny but that Job still holds fast his integrity; but Job's friends will needs have it, that, if Job were an honest man, he would not have been thus sorely and thus tediously afflicted, and therefore urge him to confess himself a hypocrite in the profession he had made of religion: "No," says Job, "that I will never do; I have offended God, but my heart, notwithstanding, has been upright with him;" and still he holds fast the comfort of his integrity. Eliphaz, who, it is likely, was the senior, or of the best quality, begins with him in this chapter; in which, I. He bespeaks a patient hearing, v. 2. II. He compliments Job with an acknowledgment of the eminency and usefulness of the profession he had made of religion, v. 3, 4. III. He charges him with hypocrisy in his profession, grounding his charge upon his present troubles, and his conduct under them, v. 5, 6. IV. To make good the inference, he maintains, that man's wickedness is that which always brings God's judgments, v. 7..11. V. He corroborates his assertion by a vision which he had, in which he was reminded of the incontestable purity and justice of God, and tho meanness, weakness, and sinfulness, of man, v. 12..21.
