Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
back to:
Job
Book: Job
Chapter: 3
Overview:
Job complains that he was born.
(1-10) Job complaining.
(11-19) He complains of his
Life.
(20-26)
1-10 For
Seven days
Job's friends sat
By him in silence,
without
Offering consolidation: at the same time
Satan assaulted
his mind to shake his confidence, and to fill him with hard
thoughts of
God. The permission seems to have extended to this,
as
Well as to torturing the body.
Job was an especial
Type of
Christ, whose inward sufferings, both in the garden and
On the
Cross, were the most dreadful; and arose in a great degree from
the assaults of
Satan in that
Hour of
Darkness. These inward
trials show the reason of the change that took place in
Job's
conduct, from entire submission to the will of
God, to the
impatience which appears here, and in other parts of the
Book.
The believer, who knows that a few drops of this
Bitter Cup are
more dreadful than the sharpest outward
Afflictions, while he is
favoured with a sweet sense of the
Love and presence of
God,
will not be surprised to find that
Job proved a
Man of like
passions with others; but will rejoice that
Satan was
disappointed, and could not prove him a
Hypocrite; for though he
cursed the
Day of his
Birth, he did not
Curse his
God.
Job
doubtless was afterwards ashamed of these wishes, and we may
suppose what must be his
Judgment of them now he is in
Everlasting happiness.
11-19 Job complained of those present at his
Birth, for their
tender attention to him.
No Creature comes into the world
So
helpless as
Man.
God's power and
Providence upheld our frail
lives, and his pity and patience spared our forfeited lives.
Natural
Affection is
Put into parents' hearts
By God. To desire
to die that we may be with
Christ, that we may be free from
Sin,
is the effect and evidence of
Grace; but to desire to die, only
that we may be delivered from the troubles of this
Life, savours
of corruption. It is our
Wisdom and duty to make the best of
that which is, be it living or dying; and
So to live to the
Lord, and die to the
Lord, as in both to be his, Ro 14:8.
Observe how
Job describes the repose of the
Grave; There the
wicked cease from troubling. When persecutors die, they can
No
longer persecute. There the weary are at
Rest: in the
Grave they
Rest from all their labours. And a
Rest from
Sin,
Temptation,
conflict, sorrows, and labours, remains in the presence and
enjoyment of
God. There believers
Rest in
Jesus, nay, as far as
we trust in the
Lord Jesus and obey him, we here find
Rest to
our souls, though in the world we have
Tribulation.
20-26 Job was like a
Man who had lost his way, and had
No
prospect of escape, or
Hope of better times. But surely he was
in an ill frame for
Death when
So unwilling to live. Let it be
our constant care to get ready for another world, and then leave
it to
God to order our removal thither as he thinks fit.
Grace
teaches us in the midst of
Life's greatest comforts, to be
willing to die, and in the midst of its greatest crosses, to be
willing to live.
Job's way was hid; he knew not wherefore
God
contended with him. The afflicted and tempted
Christian knows
something of this heaviness; when he has been looking too much
at the things that are seen, some chastisement of his heavenly
Father will give him a taste of this disgust of
Life, and a
glance at these dark regions of despair. Nor is there any help
until
God shall restore to him the joys of his
Salvation.
Blessed be
God, the
Earth is full of his
Goodness, though full
of
Man's wickedness. This
Life may be made tolerable if we
attend to our duty. We look for eternal
Mercy, if willing to
receive
Christ as our
Saviour.