AN
EXPOSITION,
W I T H P R A C T I C A L O B S E R V A T I O N
S,
OF THE BOOK OF
J O B
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, which perhaps has given
occasion to some learned men to imagine it to have been written by Isaiah or
some of the later prophets. But, as the subject appears to have been much more
ancient, so we have no reason to think but that the composition of the book
was, and that therefore it is most fitly placed first in this collection of
divine morals: also, being doctrinal, it is proper to precede and introduce
the book of Psalms, which is devotional, and the book of Proverbs, which is
practical; for how shall we worship or obey a God whom we know not? As to this
book,
I. We are sure that it is given by inspiration of God, though we are not
certain who was the penman of it. 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 v. 11)
and one passage (ch. v. 13) is quoted by another apostle, with the
usual form of quoting scripture, It is written, 1 Cor. iii. 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. Some conjecture that it was written originally in Arabic, and
afterwards translated into Hebrew, for the use of the Jewish church, by
Solomon (so Monsieur Jurieu) or some other inspired writer. It seems most
probable to me that Elihu was the penman of it, at least of the discourses,
because (ch. xxxii. 15, 16) he mingles the words of a historian with
those of a disputant: but Moses perhaps wrote the first two chapters and the
last, to give light to the discourses; for in them God is frequently called Jehovah,
but not once in all the discourses, except ch. xii. 9. That name was
but little known to the patriarchs before Moses, Exod. vi. 3. If Job wrote it
himself, some of the Jewish writers themselves own him a prophet among the
Gentiles; if Elihu, we find he had a spirit of prophecy which filled
him with matter and constrained him, ch. xxxii. 18.
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, Ezek. xiv. 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, no doubt is exactly true, though the inspired
penman is allowed the usual liberty of putting the matter of which Job and his
friends discoursed into his own words.
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 its hoary hairs, 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 (Gen. xxii. 21), and
in whose family religion was for some ages kept up, as appears, Gen. xxxi. 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, and while yet there was no other idolatry known than the worship
of the sun and moon, and that punished by the Judges, ch. xxxi. 26-28.
He lived while God was known by the name of God Almighty more than by
the name of Jehovah; for he is called Shaddai--the Almighty,
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, ch.
viii. 8; xxi. 29; xv. 18; v. 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. xxvi.
12): He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he
smiteth through Rahab, which name Egypt is frequently called by in
scripture, as Ps. lxxxvii. 4; lxxxix. 10; Isa. li. 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 dark and hard to be
understood. We cannot perhaps be confident of the true meaning of every Arabic
word and phrase we meet with in it. 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
five 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, fulness, 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 (the beauty of the one and the
deformity of the other) than in this book; nor 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.
These are not questions of the schools to keep the learned world in action,
nor engines of state to keep the unlearned world in awe; no, 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 (Gen. xxv. 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 favourite of
heaven upon this earth. It was a truth therefore, before St. Peter perceived
it, that in every nation he that fears God and works righteousness is
accepted of him, Acts x. 35. There were children of God scattered
abroad (John xi. 52) besides the incorporated children of the kingdom,
Matt. viii. 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 the sorest calamities. Sir Richard Blackmore's most ingenious pen, in
his excellent preface to his paraphrase on this book, makes Job a hero proper
for an epic poem; for, says he, "He appears brave in distress and valiant
in affliction, maintains his virtue, and with that his character, under the
most exasperating provocations that the malice of hell could invent, and
thereby gives a most noble example of passive fortitude, a character no way
inferior to that of the active hero," &c. (5.) It presents us with an
illustrious type of Christ, the particulars of which we shall endeavour to
take notice of as we go along. In general, 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. The learned bishop Patrick quotes St.
Jerome more than once speaking of Job as a type of Christ, who for the job
that was set before him endured the cross, who was persecuted, for a time,
by men and devils, and seemed forsaken of God too, but was raised to be an
intercessor even for his friends and had added affliction to his misery. When
the apostle speaks of the patience of Job he immediately takes notice
of the end of the Lord, that is, of the Lord Jesus (as some understand
it), typified by Job, James v. 11.
2. In this book we have, (1.) The history of Job's sufferings, and his
patience under them (ch. i., ii., not without a mixture of human
frailty, ch. iii. (2.) A dispute between him and his friends upon them,
in which, [1.] The opponents were Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. [2.] The
respondent was Job. [3.] The moderators were, First, Elihu, ch.
xxxii.-xxxvii. Secondly, God himself, ch. xxxviii.-xli. (3.) The
issue of all in Job's honour and prosperity, ch. xlii. Upon the whole,
we learn that many are the afflictions of the righteous, but that when
the Lord delivers them out of them all the trial of their faith will
be found to praise, and honour, and glory.
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