(1) В¶ But Job answered and said, (2) Oh that my grief were throughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together! (3) For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up. (4) For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.
There is a great beauty here manifesting itself, in the wish of Job for a Mediator; for I hope the Reader will not overlook what is plainly implied, in all these several expressions. Job tells Eliphaz and his friends with him, that their incompetency of knowing what his grief was, made both him and them, think lighter of it than it really was. Therefore saith Job, Oh! that it were weighed! Are not these the cries both of nature and grace, after one that could weigh them? Job perfectly knew that the Almighty, whose arrows he says were within him, could not be ignorant of the depth of his sorrows. But if there was a day's man, a mediator, who from a perfect knowledge of his state, could graciously stand up between GOD and his soul, to plead his cause and make his peace: this would be the desire of his heart. Reader! how sweet is it to remark, the universal voice of every enlightened mind; from the first transgressor in the garden of Eden, to the coming of the promised seed, all sending forth their most fervent cries, for this glorious, gracious Mediator! Did not Adam say as much when he cried out, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid? Genesis 3:10. And did not Israel do the same, when they cried unto Moses: go thou near and hear all that the LORD our GOD shall say, and speak thou unto us, all that the LORD our GOD shall speak? Deuteronomy 5:27. What are these instances, with many others that might be brought forward in proof, but testimonies, that it is a Mediator, the soul oppressed with sin and sorrow, hath been longing for in all ages. Reader! think of your happiness in having one, so sweetly revealed to you, and one so near to you, and so near to GOD?