"The word for oppressor signifies also an exacter of debt, tribute, or labour; and because at times they are demanded against right and equity, often with violence and cruelty, they may well be called oppressors. "The voice of an oppressor is the voice of slander aud reproach. Ps. xlii. 10, As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me.' The tongue wounds deeper than the sword, and God will punish for hard words as well as hard blows. However he may order the outward dispensations of his providence, his people will soon be brought to the house of silence, where they shall hear the oppressor's voice no more. "Paul and Silas sung praises in a prison, but they enjoyed the presence of Christ, which can make any place or situation comfortable. But in itself imprisonment is a sad condition. Our Lord speaks of a prison visit as a special I was in prison, and ye visited me.' We should remember those that are in bonds as bound with them, and they who hear the voice of the oppressor as being ourselves yet in the body, and let this give a relish to, and make us thankful for the comforts of life. service. "Verse 19. The small and great are there, and the servant is free from his master.' "The grave knows no difference among men. There is but one distinction that outlives death. Happy are all those who are made righteous by God's grace. Both voluntary and constrained servants is free from their master. Job speaks of service as a state of affliction and trouble, under which many grean," * "Job now begins to expostulate, and his main proposition is contained, in verses 20, 23, viz. That there is no reason why a man that lives miserably, and would die willingly, should have his life prolonged. He endeavours to prove the assumption at verse 24, where he shows that he lived in great misery, which he amplifies in the two last verses. This is the sum and scope of this last section. "Verse 20. Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul?' "The Hebrew word signifies labour. It is translated sorrow, verse 10, guilt, Ps. lv. and mischief, Ps. xciv.; because by these one man molests and vexes another, and makes him miserable. This deep inward sorrow made our Lord say, My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death; that is, I am in the lowest depths of sorrow, within one step or degree of death. 6 "The will and pleasure of God is a sufficient answer to Job's question. Yet as God seldom answers by his bare prerogative, other reasons may be adduced; such as, that life is conti * The tedious pomp of state which attends the great is at an end. There all the inconveniencies of a poor and low condition are also over. Levelled by death, the conqueror and the slave, F nued to teach obedience by sufferings, and that grace may be increased; or, that God magnifies his power in supporting and delivering those whom he sets up as patterns to posterity. "Here is a man weary of light and life. The best things in the world may become burdens to us. Therefore labour after true grace, which was never a burden to any man, or unsavoury to the bitterest soul. When you are weary of all other things, faith and patience will support you. "It is a trouble to possess good things when we cannot enjoy them. The possession and enjoyment of all temporal things may be separated, but the very possession of spiritual things is joy. "Verse 21. Which long for death, but it cometh not, and dig for it more than for hid treasures.' "To long is a vehement desire, even as an hungry man for food, or as a believer who has waited long expecting the accomplishment of any promised blessing. "It cometh not. That is, not so soon as they would have it, for death will come. But is it lawful to desire death? It is an enemy that no man can desire, yet some have expressed as eager a desire after death as ever any dug for secreted treasures; but still there is somewhat else at the bottom of that desire. "Instead of following Jonah's pattern when we meet with a cross, we should seek to God for relief, for he hath a thousand ways to let us out of trouble besides sending us to the grave. As death comes to many before they look for it, so some are calling for death before they know how to die. When Solomon praises the dead as better than the living, he personifies a natural man, who says it is better to die than live under oppression. But to bear a burden well is more desirable than deliverance from it, if, while bearing it, we can be doing good. "Spiritual treasures are called mysteries. Knowledge, life, and comforts are hid. Col. iii. 3; Rev. ii. 17. The best things are hardest to be come by. Those that will have the crown must strive for it. We must dig for heavenly hid treasure! and yet both the treasure and strength to dig it are freely given. "Verse 22. Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they can find the grave.' "And finding death, they are affected as they who (seeking for treasures,) find a grave. For when they hit upon a grave they thought themselves sure of treasure. "Or rather it refers to those who bid death welcome, and are glad when they find themselves stepping into it. If the miseries of this life can make death itself desirable, then certainly the prospect of living in and with Christ will fill us with joy and earnest desires to attain it. It is desire that widens the vessel to take in abundance of joy.* "Let us live ready for death, and leave the time and every circumstance to the Lord's disposal. Grace Verse 23. Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in ?' "That which was before the object of Satan's envy is now the object of Job's complaint, a hedge. The one was for protection, the other of thorny trouble to Job. It is as if Job had said, why doth God continue my life when I am in such a condition, that I cannot discover the reason why I am brought into it, nor see any passage out of it? Affliction is not only wrapt up as to the cause and the event, but in the darkness of present duty. Neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. Ignorance of the particular cause or duty called to, under an affliction, adds greatly to the weight or smart of it. 6 "Verse 24. For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.' "Heb. Before the face of my bread my sighings come, which notes the continuance of his sorrows. Job's grief was without any intermission, for sorrow and sighing sat as guests continually at his table. 66 Sighings are mere secret sorrows, but roarings must be heard, which points out the extremity of Job's sufferings. So David, Ps. xxxii. 3, to show his extremity of pain while he did not confess his sin, says, While I kept teaches us, in the midst of life's greatest comforts, to be willing to die, and, under the greatest crosses, to be willing to live.-Henry. |