(19) He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes. (20) I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not. (21) Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me. (22) Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance. (23) For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living. (24) Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction. (25) Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor? (26) When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. (27) My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me. (28) I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation. (29) I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. (30) My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat. (31) My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.
Job is here changing his manner of complaint. In the former part of the chapter, he was reasoning with his friends; in this latter part, he seems speaking of GOD, and complaining to GOD. No doubt Job's sorrows were very great and oppressive, when we consider how he was smitten with sore boils. But, added to his bodily ailments, his mind was deeply exercised. And what lay chiefly upon Job's heart was, that the LORD did not comfort him; nay, so far from comforting him, that he seemed to be coming forth against him as an enemy. But we lose all the beauty of this scripture, if we look no further than to Job, the man of Uz, in all that is here said. If we are led by this scripture to have our minds exercised in beholding Him, who, by way of striking distinction, is called the Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief, then, I conceive, we shall come nearer to the design of the HOLY GHOST, in giving this scripture. Job complaineth of the force of his disease, as a garment binding him about. But JESUS, though he complained not, had the disease, and whole weight and burden of our sins laid upon his precious soul, as a burden which none short of GOD could hear. Job complains of being cast into the mire, and that he is become like dust and ashes. JESUS speaks of all the billows, and water-spouts of divine wrath, when he stood forth the Surety of his people, going over him. Psalms 42:7. Job looked forward to the grave, as the house appointed for all living; but JESUS voluntarily gave his life for the redemption of his people, when his strength was dried up like a potsherd, and his tongue cleaved to his jaws, and he was brought into the dust of death. Psalms 22:15. See, Reader, and mark with me, while consulting these precious scriptures, how gracious JESUS stood forth, and what he endured, without a complaining thought, when passing through these unequalled sorrows, for the salvation of his people. Psalms 22:1-31; Psalms 22:1-31. I cannot close this chapter without once more desiring the Reader to pause over it, and to ask his own heart, for I presume not to decide the question, whether we may not safely conclude, that the HOLY GHOST had an eye to JESUS, when setting forth the man of Uz, in this representation made of him? and whether he is not, in this light, an illustrious type of the ever blessed JESUS?