Behold, I know your thoughts— By the day of destruction, and the day of wrath, mentioned in the 30th verse, I believe it will appear, from the context, can be meant no other than the future day of judgment; which, to the wicked and ungodly, is every where represented in Scripture as a day of wrath, a day of destruction and perdition. See 2 Thessalonians 1:9. 2 Peter 3:7. And it is remarkable, that Job, when he declares to his friends that he had been all along withheld from sinning by a pious awe of the Divine Justice, (meaning, as I apprehend, the thoughts of a future judgment) uses a like expression, chap. Job 31:23. Destruction from God was a terror to me; איד aid, the very same word as is used here. To understand it of a temporal destruction, is to suppose Job to cut the neck of his own argument, and to fall in directly with the reasoning of his friends; for thus it would stand, (Job 21:27.) Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which you wrongfully imagine against me; i.e. "I know what you would insinuate, by the speeches which you make; such as this which follows: (Job 21:28.) Where is the house of the prince, and where are the dwelling-places of the wicked? As if you should say, What is become of the house of Job, who lived like a prince? or, what, in general, is the portion of the wicked? Does not a great and sure destruction overtake them?" This is evidently the meaning of the question: the answer follows immediately, Job 21:29. "Ask those who go by the way, and do ye not know their tokens? that the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction, &c." Now, if this were meant of a temporal destruction, it directly confirms the insinuation of the friends; and the inference would be unavoidable; therefore Job must needs be wicked. The sense I contend for must, therefore, be the true one; in confirmation whereof I will shew how aptly it agrees with the context, and with Job's design in this speech. The great difficulty of the passage lies at the 29th verse; and commentators have been at a loss to give a satisfactory account, why the travellers, those who go by the way, should be consulted about the question here proposed, and what are the marks or tokens here referred to. The true key to it seems to be this: it was the custom of the ancients to bury near the high roads, in the most public and conspicuous places, and to erect a pillar or monument over the dead to preserve their memory. These pillars, if they had any inscription at all upon them, recorded, no doubt, the name and titles of the person, and, perhaps, some of the happiest circumstances of his life. Moreover, these inscriptions usually addressed the traveller with a Siste, viator; Stop, traveller, or to that purpose. These then, I apprehend, are the marks or tokens to which Job directs his friends, and which he would have them either to consult themselves, or to ask the travellers about; whence they would be naturally led to make the inference in the next verse. For, as they might observe several monuments among the rest, erected for such as had been notoriously wicked in their lives, yet had run out a long course of prosperity, and been buried at last with great pomp; it was with reason he bids them infer from hence, that the punishment for such as these was reserved to a more solemn season, which was the proper time of retribution, and not the mixed uncertain state of this life: "Ask the traveller (says he,) who goes by the highway, or consult the tombs and monuments there; and from thence you may learn this important lesson, That the wicked is reserved to a future day of judgment; they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath: reserved in the grave, and in שׁאול sheol, as in a prison, from whence they shall be brought forth like criminals, to receive their sentence, or be drawn to execution." The very terms plainly lead us to this sense. See Isaiah 53:7 and the note on chap. Job 19:24. Job pursues the same way of reasoning in the following part of his speech, and shews that the wicked mighty man is so far from being punished in this world, that he does what he pleases without any to controul him, or so much as to open their lips against him, Job 21:31. That, nevertheless, such a one shall at last go down to the grave in peace, and be buried with great pomp, Job 21:32. The Hebrew is emphatical, Even he shall be brought to the grave, and over the tomb he shall watch; i.e. in his statue or effigy: "A stately monument (says Bishop Patrick) shall be raised to preserve his memory, and represent him as if he were still living." It follows, Job 21:33. The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him; and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him; i.e. according to Bishop Patrick's paraphrase, "There he lies quietly in the earth, and none disturb his ashes: he suffers nothing but what all men shall do after him, as innumerable have done before him." "See then (continues he, in the 34th verse) how ill you discharge the office of comforters, whose answers have so little truth in them; for you maintain that prosperity is the inseparable companion of piety; when every body can tell you, that none flourish more than the wicked, and that calamities are common to all mankind." Thus this passage, clearly and satisfactorily explained, affords us another plain testimony of Job's belief of a future judgment, and another state of life. See Peters, p. 241. Houbigant renders the 33rd verse, He shall suck the turf of the valley; and after him all men shall be drawn, as innumerable have been before him.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, Before Job enters on the point in hand, he begs,
1. An attentive hearing, and that pride and prejudice might not reject the conviction of the truths which he urged. Hear diligently my speech, as those who desire simply to investigate the truth, and wish, if mistaken, to be undeceived; and let this be your consolations; you will yourselves find the comfort of having used all proper means of coming to the knowledge of the truth; or this is all the consolation I expect from you, a fair and candid hearing. Suffer me that I may speak, without interruption, and after that I have spoken, mock on, continue to insult me, if this be your resolution in spite of all my arguments. Note; A patient hearing, at least, is due to every man. It is high injustice to condemn without permitting the accused to speak in their own defence.
2. It was not to them that he at first complained, nor would they be his judges, and therefore they need not have taken up the matter so hardly against him. Is my complaint to man? no; but to God, who knew the bitterness of his sufferings, and from whom alone he could hope for redress; and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled? when all his prayers and tears had yet met no relief, but rather provoked the rash censures of his friends, who condemned him for hypocrisy. Note; If God were not kinder to us than our dearest friends, we should sometimes have hard measure.
3. He bids them behold his case; and surely it deserved their pity. Mark me, my words, my sufferings, and be astonished at the strangeness of my afflictions; and lay your hand upon your mouth, pretend not to fathom the ways of God's unsearchable providence, and forbear to judge of men's characters by their outward lot in this world. Even when I remember the days that are past, the afflictions that had befallen himself, or the instances of the prosperity of the wicked that he was about to mention, I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh. What I feel, though it shakes not my confidence or my integrity, yet it greatly distresses me; and what I see of the ways of God's providence with the wicked, astonishes me. I wonder and adore, waiting in affecting suspense the awful issue. Note; (1.) There are mysterious dispensations of Providence, which sometimes stagger the faith and hope of good men. (2.) We must wait till the great day of God for the final vindication of his ways to man.
2nd, Job's friends had insisted upon it, that there was no such thing as prosperous iniquity; at least, that it was momentary. Experience, says Job, contradicts your assertion; the wicked live and die in ease and affluence, yea, are hardened by it; yet God often permits this, without being chargeable either with want of wisdom or justice in his government of the world.
1. He describes their prosperity, Wherefore do the wicked live, if it be as you say? how do they become old, and are not cut off with any remarkable judgments, yea, are mighty in power? so far from being destitute or desolate, they bear the sway in the world. How is this consistent with your assertions? yet there are undeniable instances of what I advance. Their families are built up, and they live to see them well settled. Their substance is protected, and no rod of affliction falls upon them. Their worldly affairs in the minutest instances prosper. Their children are numerous as a flock, their houses are full of joy and mirth, and they devote to dance and song the jocund day. The hours pass along in pleasure and sensual indulgence, and without a groan they go down to the grave, in a moment, without any of the miseries that Zophar had described; or, quietly stupid and insensible, without apparent fear or terror. Note; (1.) No man is to be judged of by his outward prosperity; we must take in eternity to make a right estimate of man's estate. (2.) Worldly wealth abused, to gratify sensual appetite, is a curse instead of a blessing.
2. He suggests the ill effects of their prosperity; it hardened their hearts against God, and led them to infidelity. Therefore, because possessed of such wealth, and living, in consequence thereof, in a round of vanity and worldly lusts, they say unto God, Depart from us; they wish to leave him far above out of their sight, that no remembrance of him should disturb their conscience, and interrupt their joys; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. The paths of godliness appear forbidding and melancholy, compared with pleasure's flowery way; and they wish for no unwelcome interruption, from grave lessons and religion's needful restraints. Their lives make it their interest that God should not interfere with the concerns of men; and therefore, though perhaps not in words expressed, the sentiments of their hearts are, What is the Almighty; or who is he, that we should serve him? Perhaps there is no God; or, if there be, he cares not about the petty affairs of men: the terrors of his arm are but the bugbears of priests, to frighten the minds of the superstitious; and what profit should we have if we pray unto him? a talk useless and unnecessary, whence nothing can be gained. So thinks the blinded sinner, lost in indulgence, and enslaved by divers foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in perdition and destruction. Note; (1.) A pleasure-loving world is ever jealous of the incroachments of religion, and wishes to be ignorant, lest, coming for a moment to the light, they should not be able, with such quietness of conscience, to return to the pursuit of their vanities. (2.) Irreligion is the parent of infidelity: we easily persuade ourselves to believe what we desire. (3.) Though a wicked and careless world sees no profit in prayer, a child of God by blessed experience finds that his richest acquisitions are made upon his knees.
3. Job puts in a caveat, not to be misinterpreted, as if in this description of the wicked he concurred with, or approved of, their ways. No; he knew their slippery steps. Lo, their good is not in their hand. They have their portion in this life alone, and no hope hereafter; but the counsel of the wicked is far from me; I neither say as they say, nor do as they do. Note; When we are speaking with those whom we know to be captious, we had need be the more explicit, that we may not be misunderstood.
3rdly, Having described the prosperity of the ungodly, he maintains,
1. The continuance of it. How oft is the candle of the wicked, his prosperity, put out? does it not often burn to the last? How oft cometh their destruction upon them? is not the very contrary seen to be very frequently the case? Doth God distribute sorrows in his anger? no; he lives at ease, and knows no affliction. How oft, as his friends had suggested, are they as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away? experience shews the reverse to be true. Note; Though many instances of God's interposition against the wicked appear,—more commonly, perhaps, they live and die undisturbed in their possessions.
2. He answers an objection, that, though themselves do not suffer, God layeth up iniquity for his children; but admitting it, that would not at all prove the conclusions which Job's friends would draw; for they require that God should reward him in this life, and he should know it. His eyes should see the destruction, and he should drink of the wrath of the Almighty, in his own person, according to their principles; for else, what pleasure, or what business hath he in his house after him? after death, when their joys or sorrows cannot affect him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst, and he goes down to the grave.
Perhaps this whole passage may bear a different view, as a concession, that oftentimes the wicked might suffer, but it was not always the case, and that were sufficient to invalidate their arguments. Note; (1.) A wicked parent entails the curse of God upon his family. (2.) There is a cup of trembling filled with the wine of the wrath of God, which will shortly be put into the hand of the ungodly.
3. He maintains the sovereignty of God in all these dispensations. Shall any teach God knowledge? pretend to direct his procedure, seeing he judgeth those that are high, who must shortly appear at his bar, when righteous judgment will be administered. Till then it were presumption to judge of men's characters by their outward circumstances; for here men equally wicked have very different ends: one goes down to the grave in the midst of prosperity, ease, and affluence; another, after lingering long in misery. Or it may intimate the different kinds of death that men meet; some by a sudden and unexpected stroke, others wasted by sickness and long decay: but in the dust all difference will be at an end, and the worms alike cover all. Note; (1.) God is not only sovereign but just; he doth indeed what he will; but what he wills is always holy, just, and good. (2.) The strongest health is no protection from the stroke of sudden death: it becomes us every moment to be prepared. (3.) If we have ease and appetite, while others groan in pain and loath their food, let us be thankful, and improve the mercy before the evil days come. (4.) However the wicked die, they will meet in one place; whether they go from the palace or the dunghill, they will lie down in flames, and the worm that never dies shall alike prey upon them.
4thly,
1. Job intimates his thorough knowledge of his friends' design in their former speeches. He saw that they concluded him to be a hypocrite, though wrongfully, and that merely because his dwelling was desolate, as they argued was the constant case with the wicked. Note; Men's looks and inuendoes often speak as plainly as any language can.
2. He refers them to any traveller for confutation of their assertions, who could give them sure proofs and tokens that wicked men were very commonly in prosperity. This is not the place of recompence, but the next world; there they will receive according to their deeds; and every good man, a traveller to glory, would inform them, if they asked, that the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction; they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath; certain and eternal wrath is their portion hereafter, though now they are great and prosper. Here they are too high to be reproved, and too mighty to be restrained by the arm of human justice; but there they will be convicted and condemned, without the power of resistance. Here, notwithstanding their wickedness, they go in pomp to the grave; a gorgeous sepulchral monument and attendant crowds do them honour even in the dust, to make the clods of the valley sweet unto them; but they shall awake to shame and everlasting contempt. And thus, in death at least, which is the common lot, the wicked will meet their desert, and every man must draw after him, as there are innumerable before him. Note; Death is a beaten road, which, sooner or later, every man must tread. Semel calcanda est via Lethi.
3. He concludes from hence the futility and falsehood of their answers, and the vanity of their pretended consolations. They accused him as a hypocrite, and promised him comfort on his repentance, as if his sufferings, the effect of his sins, would be then removed; whereas he hath proved, that sufferings are not the necessary punishment of guilt here below, seeing that the wicked very commonly prosper; nor was he conscious of the least of those accusations which they suggested.