Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Job
Book: Job
Chapter: 23
Overview:
Job complains that
God has withdrawn.
(1-7) He asserts his own
integrity.
(8-12) The Divine terrors.
(13-17)
1-7 Job appeals from his friends to the just judgement of
God.
He wants to have his cause tried quickly. Blessed be
God, we may
know where to find him. He is in
Christ, reconciling the world
unto himself; and upon a
Mercy-seat, waiting to be gracious.
Thither the sinner may go; and there the believer may order his
cause before Him, with arguments taken from his promises, his
Covenant, and his
Glory. A patient waiting for
Death and
Judgment is our
Wisdom and duty, and it cannot be without a holy
fear and trembling. A passionate wishing for
Death or judgement
is our
Sin and folly, and ill becomes us, as it did
Job.
8-12 Job knew that the
Lord was every where present; but his
mind was in such confusion, that he could get
No fixed view of
God's merciful presence,
So as to find comfort
By spreading his
case before him. His views were all gloomy.
God seemed to stand
at a distance, and frown upon him. Yet
Job expressed his
Assurance that he should be brought forth, tried, and approved,
for he had obeyed the precepts of
God. He had relished and
delighted in the truths and
Commandments of
God. Here we should
notice that
Job justified himself rather than
God, or in
opposition to him, ch. 32:2.
Job might feel that he was clear
from the charges of his friends, but boldly to assert that,
though visited
By the
Hand of
God, it was not a chastisement of
Sin, was his error. And he is guilty of a second, when he denies
that there are dealings of
Providence with men in this present
Life, wherein the injured find redress, and the evil are visited
for their sins.
13-17 As
Job does not once question but that his trials are
from the
Hand of
God, and that there is
No such thing as
Chance,
how does he account for them? The principle
On which he views
them is, that the
Hope and reward of the
Faithful servants of
God are only laid up in another
Life; and he maintains that it
is
Plain to all, that the wicked are not treated according to
their deserts in this
Life, but often directly the reverse. But
though the obtaining of
Mercy, the
First-fruits of the
Spirit of
Grace, pledges a
God, who will certainly finish the work which
he has began; yet the afflicted believer is not to conclude that
all
Prayer and entreaty will be in vain, and that he should sink
into despair, and faint when he is reproved of Him. He cannot
tell but the intention of
God in afflicting him may be to
produce penitence and
Prayer in his
Heart. May we learn to obey
and trust the
Lord, even in
Tribulation; to live or die as he
pleases: we know not for what good ends our lives may be
shortened or prolonged.