Job 1:13-22 - Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

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Stripped of Every Possession

Job 1:13-22

There are dark days in our lives, when messenger follows on the heel of messenger, and we sit down amid the ruins of our happiness. All that made life gay and beautiful has withered and we are treading a dreary waste; our soul is almost dead within us and our feet are blistered.

Then our friends come and lay the blame on the Chaldeans and lightning, the Sabeans and the hurricane. They pity us as unfortunate and miserable. But we say to ourselves, looking beyond the secondary causes to the Cause beyond them all, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.” Sometimes we can get no farther than this, but how happy we are when we can go on to say, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.” The true soul is reckless of what happens to himself, so long as the glory of the Lord's name remains unsullied and enhanced. Let us, above all, never charge God with foolishness by impeaching His love or the rectitude of His decisions.

Related Commentaries of Job 1:13

Job 1:13-22

13 And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:

14 And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:

15 And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

16 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fireg of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

17 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fellh upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

18 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:

19 And, behold, there came a great wind fromi the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle,j and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,

21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

22 In all this Job sinned not, nor chargedk God foolishly.