Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Job
Book: Job
Chapter: 2
Overview:
Satan obtains leave to try
Job.
(1-6) Job's sufferings.
(7-10)
His friends come to comfort him.
(11-13)
1-6. How
Well is it for us, that neither men nor devils are to
be our
Judges! but all our
Judgment comes from the
Lord, who
never errs.
Job holds
Fast his integrity still, as his weapon.
God speaks with pleasure of the power of his own
Grace.
Self-
Love and self-preservation are powerful in the hearts of
men. But
Satan accuses
Job, representing him as wholly selfish,
and minding nothing but his own ease and safety. Thus are the
ways and people of
God often falsely blamed
By the
Devil and his
agents. Permission is granted to
Satan to make trial, but with a
limit. If
God did not
Chain up the roaring lion, how soon would
he devour us!
Job, thus slandered
By Satan, was a
Type of
Christ, the first
Prophecy of whom was, that
Satan should bruise
his heel, and be foiled.
7-10 The
Devil tempts his own children, and draws them to
Sin,
and afterwards torments, when he has brought them to ruin; but
this
Child of
God he tormented with affliction, and then tempted
to make a bad use of his affliction. He provoked
Job to
Curse
God. The disease was very grievous. If at any time we are tried
with sore and grievous distempers, let us not think ourselves
dealt with otherwise than as
God sometimes deals with the best
of his saints and servants.
Job humbled himself under the mighty
Hand of
God, and brought his mind to his condition. His
Wife was
spared to him, to be a troubler and tempter to him.
Satan still
endeavours to draw men from
God, as he did our first parents,
By
suggesting hard thoughts of Him, than which nothing is more
false. But
Job resisted and overcame the
Temptation. Shall we,
guilty, polluted, worthless creatures, receive
So many unmerited
blessings from a just and holy
God, and shall we refuse to
accept the
Punishment of our sins, when we suffer
So much less
than we deserve? Let
Murmuring, as
Well as boasting, be for ever
done away. Thus far
Job stood the trial, and appeared brightest
in the
Furnace of affliction. There might be risings of
corruption in his
Heart, but
Grace had the upper
Hand.
11-13 The friends of
Job seem noted for their rank, as
Well as
for
Wisdom and
Piety. Much of the comfort of this
Life lies in
friendship with the prudent and virtuous. Coming to
Mourn with
him, they vented grief which they really felt. Coming to comfort
him, they sat down with him. It would appear that they suspected
his unexampled troubles were judgments for some crimes, which he
had veiled under his professions of
Godliness. Many look upon it
only as a compliment to visit their friends in sorrow; we must
look upon it as a duty: if religion live in the
Heart, this will
be a
Fruit in the
Life. And if the
Example of
Job's friends is
not enough to lead us to pity the afflicted, let us seek the mind
that was in
Christ.