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This chapter is Job's answer to Bildad's discourse in the foregoing chapter. Though his spirit was grieved and much heated, and Bildad was very peevish, yet he gave him leave to say all he designed to say, and did not break in upon him in the midst of his argument; but, when he had done, he gave him a fair answer, in which, I. He complains of unkind usage. And very unkindly he takes it. 1. That his comforters added to his affliction, Job 19:2-7. 2. That his God was the author of his affliction, Job 19:8-12. 3. That his relations and friends were strange to him, and shy of him, in his affliction, Job 19:20-22. II. He comforts himself with the believing hopes of happiness in the other world, though he had so little comfort in this, making a very solemn confession of his faith, with a desire that it might be recorded as an evidence of his sincerity, Job 19:23-27. III. He concludes with a caution to his friends not to persist in their hard censures of him, Job 19:28,29. If the remonstrance Job here makes of his grievances may serve sometimes to justify our complaints, yet his cheerful views of the future state, at the same time, may shame us Christians, and may serve to silence our complaints, or at least to balance them.
1-7
The Reply of Job to Bildad (1520 BC)
简体中文
约伯回答比勒达（1520 BC）
¹ 约伯回答说： ² 「你们要搅扰我的心要到几时呢？用言语压碎我要到几时呢？ ³ 你们这十次羞辱我；你们苦待我，竟不以为耻。 ⁴ 果真我有错，这错乃是在我身上。 ⁵ 你们果然要向我自大，以我的羞辱责备我， ⁶ 就当知道，神已经倾覆我，用网罗围绕我。 ⁷ 我因呼冤蒙了不听；我呼求，却不得公断。」
约伯的朋友因他受苦深重，便断定他为恶人，给了他极严厉的责难；此处他便告诉他们，他如何看待这样的责难。比勒达两次以「要到几时」（伯 8:2，18:2）作开场；因此约伯如今要专门回答他，也以「要到几时」起首（伯 19:2）。人所不喜欢的，常觉其时间长久；但约伯比他们更有理由觉得那些攻击他的人久长，胜过他们觉得那仅是为自己辩白的他久长。我们若站在正义一边，为自己辩护的理由，比我们虽在正义一边而冒犯弟兄的理由更为充分。当观察如下，
一、他如何描述他们对他的无情，并怎样评述其事。1. 他们「搅扰他的心」，这比骨头的搅扰更为难堪（诗 6:2-3）。他们原是他的朋友；他们是来安慰他，假意为他的好处劝谏他；却以极大的矜持，装出智慧敬虔的模样，竭力要夺去他现今仅存的安慰——良善的神、无亏的良心与美名；这便搅扰他到心底。2. 他们「用言语压碎他」，那必定是又硬又极残忍的言语，才能把人压碎：他们使他忧愁，因而压碎他；因此将来必有为着一切向基督和祂百姓所说的刚硬之话的清算（犹 15）。3. 他们「羞辱他」（伯 19:3），给他劣评，把许多他所不知道的事归到他身上。对坦荡的心怀，羞辱是尖锐的伤害。4. 他们「对他显得生疏」，在他遭难时回避他，仿佛不认识他（伯 2:12），不如他在兴旺时那样与他无拘无束。当朋友、或神的朋友遭难时，对他们显出生疏之态的人，乃是受世俗之灵所支配，并非受任何真正的尊荣或爱心之原则所引导。「朋友乃时常相爱。」5. 他们不仅自己与他疏远，更「向他自高」（伯 19:5），不仅回避的眼光，更以倨傲的眼光看他，欺凌他，借自高来压低他。践踏那已经倒下的人，是卑鄙的事，是可耻的事。6. 「他们以他的羞辱控告他」，意即他们拿他的苦难作为攻击他的论据，以证明他是恶人。他们本应以他的正直为他辩护，帮助他在苦难中得着那正直所带来的安慰，并以正直来反驳那羞辱（如圣保罗，林后 1:12）；但他们非但不如此行，反以他的羞辱来反驳他的正直，这不仅不仁，更极不义；因为倘若羞辱可以作为控告的依据，那我们在何处还能找到正直的人呢？
二、他如何加重他们的不仁。1. 他们如此苦待他已是屡次（伯 19:3）：「你们这十次羞辱我」，意即非常多次，如创 31:7、民 14:22 所言。他们五次发言，每一次都是双重的羞辱。他说话，仿佛把他们的羞辱逐笔记账，能确切说出共有多少次。这样记账，是性情急躁、不友善的事，看起来像是为报复与雪恨而设。我们若忘却所受的伤害与不仁，比记念它们、把它们一一登录在册，更能益于自己的平安。2. 他们仍继续苦待他，似乎决意坚持到底：「你们要这样做到几时呢？」（伯 19:2，5）「我看你们还要向我自大，不顾我为自己的辩护中所说的一切。」话说太多的人，少有自以为已说够了；口在怒气中既开，耳便向理智关闭。3. 他们对自己所行的并不以为耻（伯 19:3）。他们本当为自己的硬心——那与人不相称的硬心——感到羞耻，为自己的不仁——那与好人不相称的不仁——感到羞耻，为自己的诡诈——那与朋友不相称的诡诈——感到羞耻：但他们羞耻吗？不，虽一次又一次地受提醒，他们却仍不能脸红。
三、他如何回答他们严厉的责难，向他们指明他们所定罪的，实有可原之处，这是他们本应思量的。1. 他判断上的错误是可以原谅的（伯 19:4）：「『果真我有错』，我因无知或误失而错误」——这一点对于人、对于好人都可以合理假定。「人非圣贤，孰能无过」（humanum est errare）；我们也当乐意把这一点假定在自己身上。以为自己无误的，乃是愚妄。「但即便如此」，约伯说，「『这错乃是在我身上』」，意即「我乃尽我判断之所能，存全然诚实的心说话，并非出于反驳争辩之灵。」或者：「我若有错，我把它留给自己，并不像你们那样强加于人。我只以此来考验自己与自己的作为。我并不干预别人，既不教导他们，也不论断他们。」人的错误若只留在自己身上、不打扰别人，便更可原谅。「你有信心，就当留给自己。」有人如此领会此话：「我若有错，必是我自己为此受苦；因此你们不必挂心；不，我正是为此受苦、且受苦极重，因此你们不必用你们的羞辱加重我的苦难。」2. 他激情之下的言语，虽无可辩护，却是可原谅的，因要考虑到他极大的忧伤与极度的苦境。「你们若要对我每一句怨言吹毛求疵，要把它作最坏的解释来攻击我，那么在判定那怨言、把它变为我的羞辱之前，也当把怨言的原因一并拿来权衡一下：『就当知道，神已经倾覆我』」（伯 19:6）。有三件事他愿他们思量：（1）他的苦难极大。他被倾覆，自己不能助己；被围困如入网罗，不能逃脱。（2）神是这事的发动者，在其中是祂与他相争：「倾覆我的乃是祂的手；围困我的乃是祂的网罗；因此你们不必这样与我作对。我应付神的怒气已足够吃力，不要再加上你们的。愿神与我的争辩先告结束，然后你们再开始你们的。」迫害那神所击打的人，对那神所击伤的人讲述他的忧愁，乃是残暴的事（诗 69:26）。（3）他对自己苦难的伸冤不能得着任何解救的指望（伯 19:7）。他投诉自己的痛苦，却得不着舒解；求问受苦之因，却查究不出；向神的法庭申诉以求清白，却既得不着听讼，更得不着判语：「我因呼冤蒙了不听。」神有时似乎把耳转向不听祂的百姓，似乎向他们的祈祷发怒，似乎忽视他们的申诉；在这样的光景中，他们若苦苦抱怨，是可以原谅的。神若与我们为敌，我们就有祸了！
英文原文
The Reply of Job to Bildad (1520 BC)
¹ Then Job answered and said,
² How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?
³ These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me.
⁴ And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.
⁵ If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach:
⁶ Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.
⁷ Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.
Job's friends had passed a very severe censure upon him as a wicked man because he was so grievously afflicted; now here he tells them how ill he took it to be so censured. Bildad had twice begun with a How long (Job 8:2,18:2), and therefore Job, being now to answer him particularly, begins with a How long too, Job 19:2. What is not liked is commonly thought long; but Job had more reason to think those long who assaulted him than they had to think him long who only vindicated himself. Better cause may be shown for defending ourselves, if we have right on our side, than for offending our brethren, though we have right on our side. Now observe here,
I. How he describes their unkindness to him and what account he gives of it. 1. They vexed his soul, and that is more grievous than the vexation of the bones, Ps 6:2,3. They were his friends; they came to comfort him, pretended to counsel him for the best; but with a great deal of gravity, and affectation of wisdom and piety, they set themselves to rob him of the only comfort he had now left him in a good God, a good conscience, and a good name; and this vexed him to his heart. 2. They broke him in pieces with words, and those were surely hard and very cruel words that would break a man to pieces: they grieved him, and so broke him; and therefore there will be a reckoning hereafter for all the hard speeches spoken against Christ and his people, Jude 1:15. 3. They reproached him, (Job 19:3), gave him a bad character and laid to his charge things that he knew not. To an ingenuous mind reproach is a cutting thing. 4. They made themselves strange to him, were shy of him now that he was in his troubles, and seemed as if they did not know him (Job 2:12), were not free with him as they used to be when he was in his prosperity. Those are governed by the spirit of the world, and not by any principles of true honour or love, who make themselves strange to their friends, or God's friends, when they are in trouble. A friend loves at all times. 5. They not only estranged themselves from him, but magnified themselves against him (Job 19:5), not only looked shy of him, but looked big upon him, and insulted over him, magnifying themselves to depress him. It is a mean thing, it is a base thing, thus to trample upon those that are down. 6. They pleaded against him his reproach, that is, they made use of his affliction as an argument against him to prove him a wicked man. They should have pleaded for him his integrity, and helped him to take the comfort of that under his affliction, and so have pleaded that against his reproach (as St. Paul, 2Co 1:12); but, instead of that, they pleaded his reproach against his integrity, which was not only unkind, but very unjust; for where shall we find an honest man if reproach may be admitted for a plea against him?
II. How he aggravates their unkindness. 1. They had thus abused him often (Job 19:3): These ten times you have reproached me, that is, very often, as Ge 31:7, Nu 14:22. Five times they had spoken, and every speech was a double reproach. He spoke as if he had kept a particular account of their reproaches, and could tell just how many they were. It is but a peevish and unfriendly thing to do so, and looks like a design of retaliation and revenge. We better befriend our own peace by forgetting injuries and unkindnesses than by remembering them and scoring them up. 2. They continued still to abuse him, and seemed resolved to persist in it: "How long will you do it?" Job 19:2,5. "I see you will magnify yourselves against me, notwithstanding all I have said in my own justification." Those that speak too much seldom think they have said enough; and, when the mouth is opened in passion, the ear is shut to reason. 3. They were not ashamed of what they did, Job 19:3. They had reason to be ashamed of their hard-heartedness, so ill becoming men, of their uncharitableness, so ill becoming good men, and of their deceitfulness, so ill becoming friends: but were they ashamed? No, though they were told of it again and again, yet they could not blush.
III. How he answers their harsh censures, by showing them that what they condemned was capable of excuse, which they ought to have considered. 1. The errors of his judgment were excusable (Job 19:4): "Be it indeed that I have erred, that I am in the wrong through ignorance or mistake," which may well be supposed concerning men, concerning good men. Humanum est errare—Error cleaves to humanity; and we must be willing to suppose it concerning ourselves. It is folly to think ourselves infallible. "But be it so," said Job, "my error remaineth with myself," that is, "I speak according to the best of my judgment, with all sincerity, and not from a spirit of contradiction." Or, "If I be in an error, I keep it to myself, and do not impose it upon others as you do. I only prove myself and my own work by it. I meddle not with other people, either to teach them or to judge them." Men's errors are the more excusable if they keep them to themselves, and do not disturb others with them. Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself. Some give this sense of these words: "If I be in an error, it is I that must smart for it; and therefore you need not concern yourselves: nay, it is I that do smart, and smart severely, for it; and therefore you need not add to my misery by your reproaches." 2. The breakings out of his passion, though not justifiable, yet were excusable, considering the vastness of his grief and the extremity of his misery. "If you will go on to cavil at every complaining word I speak, will make the worst of it and improve it against me, yet take the cause of the complaint along with you, and weigh that, before you pass a judgment upon the complaint, and turn it to my reproach: Know then that God has overthrown me," Job 19:6. Three things he would have them consider:—(1.) That his trouble was very great. He was overthrown, and could not help himself, enclosed as in a net, and could not get out. (2.) That God was the author of it, and that, in it, he fought against him: "It was his hand that overthrew me; it is in his net that I am enclosed; and therefore you need not appear against me thus. I have enough to do to grapple with God's displeasure; let me not have yours also. Let God's controversy with me be ended before you begin yours." It is barbarous to persecute him whom God hath smitten and to talk to the grief of one whom he hath wounded, Ps 69:26. (3.) That he could not obtain any hope of the redress of his grievances, Job 19:7. He complained of his pain, but got no ease—begged to know the cause of his affliction, but could not discover it—appealed to God's tribunal for the clearing of his innocency, but could not obtain a hearing, much less a judgment, upon his appeal: I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. God, for a time, may seem to turn away his ear from his people, to be angry at their prayers and overlook their appeals to him, and they must be excused if, in that case, they complain bitterly. Woe unto us if God be against us!
8-22
Job Complains of God's Displeasure; Job Complains of His Friends (1520 BC)
简体中文
约伯抱怨神的不悦；约伯抱怨朋友（1520 BC）
⁸ 神用篱笆挡住我的道路，使我不能经过；又使黑暗在我的路径上。 ⁹ 他剥去我的荣耀，将冠冕从我头上摘下。 ¹⁰ 他在四围攻击我，我便过去；他将我的指望如树一样拔出来。 ¹¹ 他的怒气向我发作，他看我如仇敌一般。 ¹² 他的军旅一齐上来，修路攻击我，在我帐棚的四围安营。 ¹³ 他使我的弟兄远离我；我所认识的人全然与我生疏。 ¹⁴ 我的亲戚断绝；我素来所认识的人都忘记了我。 ¹⁵ 在我家寄居的，和我的使女，都以为我是外人；我在他们眼中看为外人。 ¹⁶ 我呼唤仆人，他却不回答；我只好用口求他。 ¹⁷ 我的气味使妻子生厌；我虽为自己骨肉之亲的儿女恳求她。 ¹⁸ 连小孩子也藐视我；我一起来，他们就说话攻击我。 ¹⁹ 我亲爱的密友都憎嫌我；我所爱的人都转身攻击我。 ²⁰ 我的骨头紧贴皮肉；我只剩牙皮逃脱。 ²¹ 我的朋友啊，可怜我！可怜我！因为神的手摸着我。 ²² 你们为什么如神逼迫我？吃我的肉还以为不足吗？
比勒达十分不诚实地曲解了约伯的抱怨，把它们当作对恶人祸患光景的描写；然而约伯在此重述之，为要打动他们的怜悯，并击动他们那若还剩下的善性。
一、他抱怨自己所受神不悦的标记——正是这些将茵陈和苦胆注入他的苦难之中。他的抱怨是何等凄凉！"「他的怒气向我发作」——火焰惊吓我、灼烧痛苦我」（伯 19:11）。地狱之火除了神的怒气还能是什么？烙惯的良心将来要感觉它，如今却不畏惧。蒙光照的良心如今畏惧它，将来却不感觉。约伯如今的领会是：「神看他如仇敌一般」；然而同时神却爱他，以他为忠实的朋友而夸奖他。以为凡神所惩治的便是待之如仇敌——这是大错，却是极常见的错误；相反，「祂所爱的，祂必责备管教」；这正是祂儿子们的纪律。约伯无论朝哪个方向看，都以为看见了神不悦的标记。1. 他回顾先前的兴旺吗？他看见神的手把那段时期了结（伯 19:9）：「『他剥去我的荣耀』——我的财富、尊荣、权势，以及我行善的一切机会。我的儿女是我的荣耀，但我已经失去他们；无论什么曾是我头上的冠冕，他都摘下来，把我一切的尊荣都放在尘土中。」请看属世荣耀的虚空：我们不久便可能被剥去它；无论剥去的是什么，我们都当看见并承认神的手在其中，顺从祂的旨意。2. 他俯视眼下的苦难吗？他看见神给他们发出委任、下令攻击他。他们是「他的军旅」，奉祂的指示行动，「修路攻击我」（伯 19:12）。困扰他的，不是苦难成群结队而来，而是它们是「神的」军旅，在其中似乎神与他争战，要毁灭他。神的军旅「在他帐棚的四围安营」，如同士兵围攻坚城，截断一切供给、不断轰击；约伯的帐棚就是这样被围困。曾有一时神的军旅为护卫他安营四围：「你不是四面圈上篱笆围护他吗？」如今却反过来，为他的惊恐而围困他，「在四围攻击他」（伯 19:10）。3. 他前瞻拯救吗？他看见神的手剪断一切拯救的指望（伯 19:8）：「『他用篱笆挡住我的道路，使我不能经过。』我如今已无路可助己——既不能从苦难中脱身，也不能在其中得舒解。我若要为拯救作什么举动、采取什么步骤？我发觉『我的道路被堵』；我不能作所要作的；不但如此，我若要借日后拯救的远景自慰，也不能；拯救不仅在我所能及之外，更在我视线之外：神『使黑暗在我的路径上』，又无人告诉我『这事还要多久』」（诗 74:9）。他断言（伯 19:10）：「我过去了，对今世而言完全丧失、完全毁了；『他将我的指望如树一样拔出来』——被砍下或被连根拔起，永不再生。」今生之盼望本是会朽坏之物，但敬虔人当其从这世界被剪断时，不过是如树被移栽，从这苗圃移到主园中。神若这样把我们的指望从沙土上移到磐石上、从暂时之事上移到永远之事上，我们便无理由抱怨。
二、他抱怨自己的亲族与一切旧识的无情。在这点上他也承认神的手（伯 19:13）：「他使我的弟兄远离我」，意即「他把那些苦难加在我身上，使他们害怕我、远远避开我的疮痍。」就他们的罪而言，神不是这事的作者；使人与遭难弟兄疏远的，乃是撒但。但就约伯的苦难而言，神安排了这事，为要完成他的试炼。我们既当在仇敌所加的伤害中看见神的手（「主吩咐示每咒诅大卫」），也当在朋友所加的轻慢与无情中看见神的手——这有助于我们更耐心地忍受。每一受造物对我们是怎么样（慈爱或不慈爱、安慰或不安慰），全在乎神使他如此。然而这并不免除约伯亲族朋友的罪——他们对约伯行了可怖的忘恩负义与不义，他大可抱怨；少有人能像他那样忍受。他注意到，1. 亲族与相识——他的邻舍，并他从前与之亲密的人——的无情。他们理当借一切友谊与礼节的法则来关怀他、探访他、询问他、并随时准备尽其所能向他行一切善事；然而这些人都「与他生疏」（伯 19:13）。他们对他不再关心，如同全然不认识的陌生人。他在兴旺时声称与他有亲戚关系的，如今失败了；他们既不及从前对他的友谊声明，也不及他现今对他们的善意期待。连他素来留意的密友也忘记了他——既忘记了他从前对他们的友谊，也忘记了他如今的苦难：他们曾听说他的患难，定意前来探访；可惜他们忘了，因为他们对此漠然无动。不但如此，他的至交——他最亲密、放在怀中的密友——不仅忘记他，更憎嫌他，远远避开他，因为他穷，不能再像从前那样款待他们，又因为他浑身疮痍、令人憎恶。他素来所爱的人——他们如今若不爱他，便比税吏还不如——不仅转离他，更反身攻击他，竭力使他可憎，借此为自己与他如此生疏辩护（伯 19:19）。人的友谊如此不可靠；但神若作我们的朋友，在需要之时祂必不离弃我们。但凡自称有仁道或基督教信仰的人，绝不可像约伯的朋友对待约伯那样对待自己的朋友：逆境是友谊的试金石。2. 家人亲属的无情。有时我们确见「有一朋友比弟兄更亲密」，出乎我们意料；但一家之主通常指望家中的人服事他、看顾他，纵然他因身心软弱已为别人所轻视。但可怜的约伯却被自己的家人所虐待，他最坏的仇敌竟在自己家里。他没有提儿女；他们都死了，我们可设想，他尚存的亲属的无情，使他越发为儿女的死哀哭：「他们若还活着，我在他们身上必得安慰。」至于如今在他身边的人，（1）他自己的仆人轻慢他。他的使女不在他病中服事，反把他「当作外人、看作外邦人」（伯 19:15）。别的仆人毫不理会他；他若呼唤他们，他们不肯应声前来，假装听不见。他若问他们一句话，他们也不肯「回答他」（伯 19:16）。约伯向来作他们的好主人，「仆人求告的时候不藐视他们的案件」（伯 31:13），他们如今却无礼待他，藐视他的案件。我们从自己善待过的人手中受恶，不必以为希奇。他虽病重，却不像常人那样对仆人发脾气、横眉竖目，而是用口恳求仆人——本可命令之时；他们仍对他不礼貌，既不仁又不义。当记取：在病痛忧愁中的人易于把事看坏、易疑被轻慢、易把最小的无情放在心上：约伯受苦时，连仆人的疏忽也搅扰他。（2）但是，人必以为众人既都离弃他，怀中之妻总该对他温柔了：不，因为他不肯照她所劝的去「弃掉神、死掉」，他的「气味」对她「生疏」；她不愿近前，也不理他所说的话（伯 19:17）。他向她说话，不带丈夫的权威，却带丈夫的温柔，不命令，却以夫妻之爱——以他们的儿女为凭证的夫妻之爱——恳求她，她仍不理他。有人如此读：「我虽为儿女哀哭悲叹」，意即「为我自己骨肉之儿女的死」，在这苦难中她与他同等有份。由此可见，魔鬼留下她，不仅是要作他的试探者，更是要作他的刑求者。从她起初对他所说「弃掉神、死了吧」看来，她显然没有多少宗教信仰；一个人眼中没有神的敬畏、不受良心管辖，你还能从他期待什么善良美好呢？（3）连生在他家的小孩子——他自己仆人的孩子，生下来就是他仆人的——也藐视他、说话攻击他（伯 19:18）；他礼貌地起来友善地对他们说话，或带着权威要责备他们，他们却让他知道，他们既不怕他、也不爱他。
三、他抱怨自己身体的衰败；身体的美与力都已尽失。当周围的人轻慢他时，他若健康安逸，尚可自得其乐。但他从自己所得的乐趣，与别人从他所得的乐趣一样少（伯 19:20）：「我的骨头如今紧贴皮肉」，如从前紧贴肥肉一样；这正是「使他满了皱纹」（伯 16:8）之故；他成了完全的骷髅，只剩皮包骨。不但如此，连他的皮也几乎尽去，除了「牙皮」——他的牙龈、或许还有嘴唇——之外，全身几乎没有完好的皮；其余都被毒疮剥去。请看我们有何理由纵情于肉体——这肉体经过我们一切照顾，仍可能因它自身内含的疾病种子而被如此消耗。
四、基于这一切，他把自己交托给朋友的怜悯，并公正地责备他们对他苛刻。从他这可悲光景的描述中，不难推论：1. 他们应当怜悯他（伯 19:21）。他以所能说的最动人最融化的话语恳求——足以（如人所想）破碎铁石心肠：「『我的朋友啊，可怜我！可怜我！』你们若不愿为我作别的事，至少为我悲伤，向我表示关切；『可怜我，因为神的手摸着我。』我的境况实在悲惨，因为我已落入永生神的手中；我的灵被祂怒气的觉悟所摸——这是一切灾祸中最可怜的。」当记取：朋友在苦难中彼此怜悯，并不关闭怜悯的肠肚，乃是合宜的。2. 然而，他们不应当逼迫他；他们若不肯以怜悯减轻他的苦难，也不可如野蛮人那样以责难毁谤加重它（伯 19:22）：「『你们为什么如神逼迫我？』祂的责备对一个人承受已足够了；你们不必在祂交在我手中的苦杯里再加茵陈和苦胆；没有那些，它已够苦。神对我有绝对的主权，可凭祂心意待我；但你们以为你们也可以这样行吗？」不，我们当致力效法至圣至怜者，却不可效法至高至能者。神不就祂任何事交账，我们却当就我们的事交账。他们若以他的灾难为乐，便当以他已消瘦枯干「满足于他的肉」，却不可像嫌那还不够一样，又创伤他的灵、毁坏他的美名。对受苦之人当大加温柔，对心中烦恼的人更是如此。
英文原文
Job Complains of God's Displeasure; Job Complains of His Friends (1520 BC)
⁸ He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.
⁹ He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
¹⁰ He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.
¹¹ He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.
¹² His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.
¹³ He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.
¹⁴ My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵ They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.
¹⁶ I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth.
¹⁷ My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children's sake of mine own body.
¹⁸ Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.
¹⁹ All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.
²⁰ My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
²¹ Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
²² Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
Bildad had very disingenuously perverted Job's complaints by making them the description of the miserable condition of a wicked man; and yet he repeats them here, to move their pity, and to work upon their good nature, if they had any left in them.
I. He complains of the tokens of God's displeasure which he was under, and which infused the wormwood and gall into the affliction and misery. How doleful are the accents of his complaints! "He hath kindled his wrath against me, which flames and terrifies me, which burns and pains me," Job 19:11. What is the fire of hell but the wrath of God? Seared consciences will feel it hereafter, but do not fear it now. Enlightened consciences fear it now, but shall not feel it hereafter. Job's present apprehension was that God counted him as one of his enemies; and yet, at the same time, God loved him, and gloried in him, as his faithful friend. It is a gross mistake, but a very common one, to think that whom God afflicts he treats as his enemies; whereas, on the contrary, as many as he loves he rebukes and chastens; it is the discipline of his sons. Which way soever Job looked he thought he saw the tokens of God's displeasure against him. 1. Did he look back upon his former prosperity? He saw God's hand putting an end to that (Job 19:9): "He has stripped me of my glory, my wealth, honour, power, and all the opportunity I had of doing good. My children were my glory, but I have lost them; and whatever was a crown to my head he has taken it from me, and has laid all my honour in the dust." See the vanity of worldly glory: it is what we may be soon stripped of; and, whatever strips us, we must see and own God's hand in it and comply with his design. 2. Did he look down upon his present troubles? He saw God giving them their commission, and their orders to attack him. They are his troops, that act by his direction, which encamp against me, Job 19:12. It did not so much trouble him that his miseries came upon him in troops as that they were God's troops, in whom it seemed as if God fought against him and intended his destruction. God's troops encamped around his tabernacle, as soldiers lay siege to a strong city, cutting off all provisions from being brought into it and battering it continually; thus was Job's tabernacle besieged. Time was when God's hosts encamped round him for safety: Hast thou not made a hedge about him? Now, on the contrary, they surrounded him, to his terror, and destroyed him on every side, Job 19:10. 3. Did he look forward for deliverance? He saw the hand of God cutting off all hopes of that (Job 19:8): "He hath fenced up my way, that I cannot pass. I have now no way left to help myself, either to extricate myself out of my troubles or to ease myself under them. Would I make any motion, take any steps towards deliverance? I find my way hedged up; I cannot do what I would; nay, if I would please myself with the prospect of a deliverance hereafter, I cannot do it; it is not only out of my reach, but out of my sight: God hath set darkness in my paths, and there is none to tell me how long," Ps 74:9. He concludes (Job 19:10), "I am gone, quite lost and undone for this world; my hope hath he removed like a tree cut down, or plucked up by the roots, which will never grow again." Hope in this life is a perishing thing, but the hope of good men, when it is cut off from this world, is but removed like a tree, transplanted from this nursery to the garden of the Lord. We shall have no reason to complain if God thus remove our hopes from the sand to the rock, from things temporal to things eternal.
II. He complains of the unkindness of his relations and of all his old acquaintance. In this also he owns the hand of God (Job 19:13): He has put my brethren far from me, that is, "He has laid those afflictions upon me which frighten them from me, and make them stand aloof from my sores." As it was their sin God was not the author of it; it is Satan that alienates men's minds from their brethren in affliction. But, as it was Job's trouble, God ordered it for the completing of his trial. As we must eye the hand of God in all the injuries we receive from our enemies ("the Lord has bidden Shimei curse David"), so also in all the slights and unkindnesses we receive from our friends, which will help us to bear them the more patiently. Every creature is that to us (kind or unkind, comfortable or uncomfortable) which God makes it to be. Yet this does not excuse Job's relations and friends from the guilt of horrid ingratitude and injustice to him, which he had reason to complain of; few could have borne it so well as he did. He takes notice of the unkindness, 1. Of his kindred and acquaintance, his neighbours, and such as he had formerly been familiar with, who were bound by all the laws of friendship and civility to concern themselves for him, to visit him, to enquire after him, and to be ready to do him all the good offices that lay in their power; yet these were estranged from him, Job 19:13. They took no more care about him than if he had been a stranger whom they never knew. His kinsfolk, who claimed relation to him when he was in prosperity, now failed him; they came short of their former professions of friendship to him and his present expectations of kindness from them. Even his familiar friends, whom he was mindful of, had now forgotten him, had forgotten both his former friendliness to them and his present miseries: they had heard of his troubles, and designed him a visit; but truly they forgot it, so little affected were they with it. Nay, his inward friends, the men of his secret, whom he was most intimate with and laid in his bosom, not only forgot him, but abhorred him, kept as far off from him as they could, because he was poor and could not entertain them as he used to do, and because he was sore and a loathsome spectacle. Those whom he loved, and who therefore were worse than publicans if they did not love him now that he was in distress, not only turned from him, but were turned against him, and did all they could to make him odious, so to justify themselves in being so strange to him, Job 19:19. So uncertain is the friendship of men; but, if God be our friend, he will not fail us in a time of need. But let none that pretend either to humanity or Christianity ever use their friends as Job's friends used him: adversity is the proof of friendship. 2. Of his domestics and family relations. Sometimes indeed we find that, beyond our expectation, there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother; but the master of a family ordinarily expects to be attended on and taken care of by those of his family, even when, through weakness of body or mind, he has become despicable to others. But poor Job was misused by his own family, and some of his worst foes were those of his own house. He mentions not his children; they were all dead, and we may suppose that the unkindness of his surviving relations made him lament the death of his children so much the more: "If they had been alive," would he think, "I should have had comfort in them." As for those that were now about him, (1.) His own servants slighted him. His maids did not attend him in his illness, but counted him for a stranger and an alien, Job 19:15. His other servants never heeded him; if he called to them they would not come at his call, but pretended that they did not hear him. If he asked them a question, they would not vouchsafe to give him an answer, Job 19:16. Job had been a good master to them, and did not despise their cause when they pleaded with him (Job 31:13), and yet they were rude to him now, and despised his cause when he pleaded with them. We must not think it strange if we receive evil at the hand of those from whom we have deserved well. Though he was now sickly, yet he was not cross with his servants, and imperious, as is too common, but he entreated his servants with his mouth, when he had authority to command; and yet they would not be civil to him, neither kind nor just. Note, Those that are sick and in sorrow are apt to take things ill, and be jealous of a slight, and to lay to heart the least unkindness done to them: when Job was in affliction even his servants' neglect of him troubled him. (2.) But, one would think, when all forsook him, the wife of his bosom should have been tender of him: no, because he would not curse God and die, as she persuaded him, his breath was strange to her too; she did not care for coming near him, nor took any notice of what he said, Job 19:17. Though he spoke to her, not with the authority, but with the tenderness of a husband, did not command, but entreated her by that conjugal love which their children were the pledges of, yet she regarded him not. Some read it, "Though I lamented, or bemoaned myself, for the children," that is, "for the death of the children of my own body," an affliction in which she was equally concerned with him. Now, it appeared, the devil spared her to him, not only to be his tempter, but to be his tormentor. By what she said to him at first, Curse God and die, it appeared that she had little religion in her; and what can one expect that is kind and good from those that have not the fear of God before their eyes and are not governed by conscience? (3.) Even the little children who were born in his house, the children of his own servants, who were his servants by birth, despised him, and spoke against him (Job 19:18); though he arose in civility to speak friendly to them, or with authority to check them, they let him know that they neither feared him nor loved him.
III. He complains of the decay of his body; all the beauty and strength of that were gone. When those about him slighted him, if he had been in health, and at ease, he might have enjoyed himself. But he could take as little pleasure in himself as others took in him (Job 19:20): My bone cleaves now to my skin, as formerly it did to my flesh; it was this that filled him with wrinkles (Job 16:8); he was a perfect skeleton, nothing but skin and bones. Nay, his skin too was almost gone, little remained unbroken but the skin of his teeth, his gums and perhaps his lips; all the rest was fetched off by his sore boils. See what little reason we have to indulge the body, which, after all our care, may be thus consumed by the diseases which it has in itself the seeds of.
IV. Upon all these accounts he recommends himself to the compassion of his friends, and justly blames their harshness with him. From this representation of his deplorable case, it was easy to infer, 1. That they ought to pity him, Job 19:21. This he begs in the most moving melting language that could be, enough (one would think) to break a heart of stone: "Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O you my friends! if you will do nothing else for me, be sorry for me, and show some concern for me; have pity upon me, for the hand of God hath touched me. My case is sad indeed, for I have fallen into the hands of the living God, my spirit is touched with the sense of his wrath, a calamity of all other the most piteous." Note, It becomes friends to pity one another when they are in trouble, and not to shut up the bowels of compassion. 2. That, however, they ought not to persecute him; if they would not ease his affliction by their pity, yet they must not be so barbarous as to add to it by their censures and reproaches (Job 19:22): "Why do you persecute me as God? Surely his rebukes are enough for one man to bear; you need not add your wormwood and gall to the cup of affliction he puts into my hand, it is bitter enough without that: God has a sovereign power over me, and may do what he pleases with me; but do you think that you may do so too?" No, we must aim to be like the Most Holy and the Most Merciful, but not like the Most High and Most Mighty. God gives not account of any of his matters, but we must give account of ours. If they did delight in his calamity, let them be satisfied with his flesh, which was wasted and gone, but let them not, as if that were too little, wound his spirit, and ruin his good name. Great tenderness is due to those that are in affliction, especially to those that are troubled in mind.
23-29
Job's Confession of Faith; Happiness of the Redeemed (1520 BC)
简体中文
约伯的信仰告白；蒙救赎之人的福乐（主前1520年）
²³ 惟愿我的言语现在写上，都印在书上；
²⁴ 用铁笔镌刻，用铅灌在盘石上，直到永远！
²⁵ 我知道我的救赎主活着，末了必站立在地上；
²⁶ 我这皮肉灭绝之后，我必在肉体之外得见神；
²⁷ 我自己要见他，亲眼要看他，并不像外人。我的心肠在我里面消灭了。
²⁸ 你们若说：我们为何逼迫他呢？因为事根乃是在于我；
²⁹ 你们就当惧怕刀剑；因为忿怒惹动刀剑的刑罚，使你们知道有审判。
约伯与朋友们之间一切的交谈之中，我们不见比这些更有分量、更值得留意的话；人岂能预料得到呢？这些经文里既有许多关于基督的事，也有许多关于天堂的事：说出这样话的人「是表明自己要寻找一个更美的家乡，就是在天上的」（来11:14原文意），正如那时代的列祖所作的。我们在这里看见约伯的信经，或信仰告白。他对父神——全能者、天地的创造主——的信仰，以及自然宗教的原则，他常常宣告：但在这里我们发现他对启示的宗教并非陌生；尽管那应许之「后裔」和应许之「产业」的启示，那时只如黎明之光被人辨识，约伯却蒙神教导，相信一位活的救赎主，并「盼望死人复活和来世的永生」（原文意）——无疑他必须被理解是指着这些事说的。这些是他用以自慰所指望的事，而不是指望从苦难中得释放，或指望在今世复兴他的幸福，如有人所理解的；因为他在这里所用的话——救赎主「末了必站立在地上」、他要见神、「自己要见他」——若理解为指着今世的释放而言，便被极其勉强地曲解了；并且十分明显，他全然不指望在今世回到兴旺的状态。他刚才说过，他的「道路被阻塞」（伯19:8），他的「指望如树被拔出来」（伯19:10）。不，在这事之后他也表明对今世任何安慰都不抱希望（伯23:8,9；30:23）。所以我们必须把他理解为指着他的灵魂从坟墓权势中得救赎、并被接进荣耀里而言——这正是诗49:15所说的事。我们有理由想，约伯此刻正在圣灵格外的感动之下，这感动把他提升到自己之上，赐他亮光，又赐他口才，连他自己也惊奇。有人观察，在这事之后，我们不见约伯的讲话像以前那样充满激愤、暴躁、不合宜的对神和他护理的抱怨：这指望使他的心灵平静，止息了风暴；他既在此「在幔内抛锚」（来6:19原文意），他的心从此便保持稳定。让我们观察，
一、约伯在这里以何意作此信仰告白。从来没有比这话更贴切、更有目的的。1. 约伯此刻正受控告，这就是他的上诉。他的朋友们斥他为假冒为善者，把他视为恶人；他却上诉到他的信经、他的信仰、他的指望，并他自己的良心——这良心不但免他掌权之罪的罪债，更以蒙福复活的指望安慰他。「这些不是那被鬼附之人所说的话。」他向救赎主的再来上诉，从法庭辩论之席上诉到审判席的判断——向那位「审判全交在他手里」的上诉，他知道他必为他伸冤。想到神的日临到，便使「被别人论断」成为「极小的事」（林前4:3,4原文意）。当我们期望我们的救赎主和他所救赎的在末日荣耀显现，并且那时名字也要与身体一同复活之时，我们何等容易忍受人所加的不公诽谤和羞辱！2. 约伯此刻正受苦，这就是他的强心剂；当他受压过重之时，这使他免于灰心——他相信他必「在活人之地得见耶和华的恩惠」（诗27:13原文意）；不是在今世，因为今世是死人之境。
二、他用何等庄重的引言来引入它（伯19:23,24）。他突然中止怨言，转为夸胜他的安慰，他如此行不仅为自己的满足，更为别人的造就。他怕身边如今的人轻看他所要说的，结果也确实如此。所以他愿这话被记下来，传给后代。「惟愿我的言语现在写上」——就是我现在将要说的那些话！仿佛他说：「我承认我曾说许多失言的话，我愿那些话被遗忘，因为它们既不能为我增光，也不能使人得益。但我现在要郑重地说，并愿这话向全世界发表，为后代保存——in perpetuam rei memoriam——作永远的记念；所以愿它被清楚地写下、被印出，或用大而清晰的字画出，以致跑着的人也能读；又愿它不留在散页中，而被收入「书」中；或那若失落，愿它如碑文一般被「镌刻」，「用铁笔用铅，或在石头上」；愿刻工尽他一切技艺使之成为向后世耐久的呼吁。」约伯在此略带激情所愿望的，神恩惠地赐给他了。他的话被写下了；它们被印在神的书上；所以那书在哪里被读，约伯的这事就在那里被述说作记念。他「就信了，所以说话」（林后4:13原文意）。
三、他告白本身是什么；他愿被写下的是哪些话；我们在这里有它们被写下（伯19:25-27）。让我们观察它们。
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他相信救赎主的荣耀，并他自己在他里面的利益（伯19:25）：「我知道我的救赎主活着」，他在存在，他是我的生命，「他末了必站立」——或最后站立，或在末后的日子——「在地上」（或地之上）。他必被举起来；或，他在末后的日子（那就是说，在时候满足之时：福音的日子被称为「末时」，因为那是末后的安排）必在地上：所以这指向他的道成肉身；或，他必被举起来离开地（所以指向他的钉十字架）；或被举起来出离地（所以可应用于他的复活）；或如我们平常所领会的，在末了之时他必显在地之上，因为「他必驾云降临，众目要看见他」，他必如此贴近这地。他必站立「在尘土上」（原文意），站在他一切仇敌之上，他们必作他脚下的尘土；他必践踏他们、夸胜他们。在此请注意，〔1.〕有一位为堕落之人预备的救赎主，耶稣基督就是那位救赎主。这字是「Goël」，用于至近的亲属——按摩西律法，赎回抵押产业的权属他（利25:25）。我们天上的产业因罪抵押了；我们自己完全无力赎回；基督与我们至亲，是能赎的最近亲属；他付了我们的债，为罪满足了神的公义，于是解除了抵押，并为产业另立新约。我们这些人也需要一位救赎主；我们因罪被卖、被卖在罪之下；我们的主耶稣为我们成就了救赎，向我们宣告救赎，所以他是真正的救赎主。〔2.〕他是一位活的救赎主。我们既由一位活神所造，也由一位活的救赎主所救，他既全能又永恒，所以能拯救到底。「为他作见证的就是他活着」（来7:8；启1:18原文意）。我们正在死，他却活着，并向我们保证「他活着，我们也必活着」（约14:19原文意）。〔3.〕借着恩典有些人在这位救赎主里有分，并能以充分根据称他为自己的。当约伯失去了一切财富和一切朋友，他仍未与基督隔绝，仍未被切断与他的关系：「他仍是『我的』救赎主。」那位至近的亲属在他其余亲属离弃他时仍依附他，他得着其中的安慰。〔4.〕我们与救赎主的分乃是可以知道的事；在哪里知道，便可以在其中夸胜，足以平衡我们一切的忧伤：「我知道」（请注意他以何等确信的口气说话，如同对这事十分有把握的人），「我知道我的救赎主活着。」他的朋友们常指控他无知或虚妄的知识；但认识基督是他的救赎主，他所知的便足够，并且知道得合用。〔5.〕必有一个末后的日子，一个最后的日子，一个「时间不再有了」（启10:6原文意）的日子。那是一个我们每日当思想的日子。〔6.〕我们的救赎主必在那日站在地上、或地之上，要召死人出坟墓，并定他们到不可改变的状态；因为审判全交在他手里。他末了必站在尘土上——就是这地在大火销化之时所要变成的。
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他相信蒙救赎之人的福乐，并他自己对那福乐的资格——在基督再来之时，信徒必在荣耀里复活，并如此在异象和享用神之中成为完全有福；并且他这样相信，并应用到自己身上。〔1.〕他预料自己身体在坟墓中朽坏，并以圣洁的淡然和不介意论到这事：「我这皮肉」（已经消耗殆尽，除了「牙皮」之外一无所留，伯19:20）灭绝之后，他们（那被指定要毁灭的，他所曾论到的坟墓和其中的虫，伯17:14）「灭绝这身体」。这里「身体」是加上去的：「他们虽灭绝这，这骨头架子，这影子（伯17:7），这我以手按着的」，或（也许指着他的软弱枯槁的肢体）「这你们所看见的，你们要怎么称呼就怎么称呼吧；我预料不久它必作虫子的筵席。」基督的身体不见朽坏，但我们的身体必朽坏。约伯提到这事，为使他信和所望的复活之荣耀更加照耀。请注意，常常想到我们身体不仅临近的死亡，还有它在坟墓中的毁灭和分解，对我们是有益的；却不要让那事拦阻我们对其复活的盼望，因为起初用尘土造人身体的同一个权能，也能从它自己的尘土中使它复活。我们如今如此小心保养、如此为之预备的这个身体，不久必被毁坏。连「我的肾」（约伯说）「也必在我里面消灭」（伯19:27原文意）；这是身体最深处的部分，也许是最先腐烂的。〔2.〕他以死亡和坟墓彼岸福乐的指望自慰：「我醒了之后」（旁注如此读），「虽然这身体被毁，然而从我的肉体之外我必见神」。〔一〕灵魂与身体必再相聚。那必在坟墓中被毁的身体必再起来，成为荣耀的身体：「我这皮肉灭绝之后，我必在肉体之外得见神」。分离的灵魂有眼睛可以见神，就是心灵的眼睛；但约伯说的是用肉体的眼睛见他，「在肉体之中，用我自己的眼睛」；那死的同一个身体必复活，是真的身体，却是荣耀的身体，配作那世界的工夫和娱乐，所以是「灵性的身体」（林前15:44原文意）。所以我们当「用身体荣耀神」，因为有一个荣耀是为身体预备的。〔二〕约伯与神必再相聚：「我必在肉体之外得见神」，那就是说，见那得荣耀的救赎主——他是神。「我必在我肉体之中见神」（有人如此读），见披上身体的神的儿子——那身体甚至肉体的眼睛也能看见。身体虽然在坟墓中似乎卑鄙可悲，却必在见神的异象中被尊荣、成为有福。约伯如今抱怨不能见神（伯23:8,9），却盼望不久必见他，再也不失那看见，并且那看见在现今黑暗和隔断之后必更加可悦。请注意，那有福之人的福分就是「他们必见神」，必「见他的真体」，必「面对面」见，不再「对着镜子观看模糊不清」（林后13:12原文意；约壹3:2原文意）。请看圣洁的约伯何等乐意地在此发挥（伯19:27）：「『我自己要见他』」，那就是说，「见而享用，见而得着我自己说不出的安慰和满足。我必见他为我所有，借着一个『取用』的看见而见。」启21:3：「神要亲自与他们同在，作他们的神」；「我们必要像他，因为我们必得见他的真体」，那就是为自己而见（约壹3:2原文意）。「我的肉眼要看他，并不像外人。」第一，「是他，不是别的为他而被看见；不是他的预表或形像，而是他自己。」得荣耀的圣徒完全确知自己没有受骗；这不是感官的幻觉。第二，「是我，不是别人为我而见他。虽然我的肉体身体被消没，我也不需要代理人；我必用自己的眼睛见他。」这就是约伯所盼望、所热切渴求的——有人以为末了的话意思正是如此：「我的肾在我胸中耗尽」，那就是说，「我一切愿望都归结于此；这要加冕并完成它们一切；让我得着这个，我便无所更求；够了；这就是一切。」大卫耶西的儿子之祈祷，便是以此为终。
四、这话对其朋友们之应用。他的信经向他自己是安慰，向那些与他作对的人却是警告和惊恐。
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这是对他们的一句提醒，叫他们不要继续、坚持苦待他（伯19:28）。他曾因他们所说的话责备他们，如今告诉他们当说什么，好使自己彼此归回更好的心境。「『我们为何逼迫他呢？』为何这样因定罪、判罪而使他忧愁、使他烦恼，既然『事的根』（或话语的根）在他里面寻得呢？」愿这指引我们，〔1.〕在关乎自己的谨慎上。我们都当留意看「事的根」是否在我们里面。心中活的、苏醒的、掌权的恩典原则，就是「事的根」，对我们的宗教而言正如树根对树一样必要——树的固定和结果都靠它。爱神、爱弟兄，信基督，恨罪恶——这些是「事的根」；与这些相比，别的事不过是叶子。认真的敬虔是那唯一需要的事。〔2.〕在我们待弟兄的行为上。我们当相信许多人里面有「事的根」，虽然他们并非凡事与我们同心——他们有他们的愚昧、软弱和错误——并当断定：我们若逼迫这样的人，必自取其祸。那使一个小子跌倒的有祸了！神必为之怀恨报仇。约伯和他的朋友们在某些关于护理之方法的概念上不同，但他们在「事的根」上——另一个世界的信仰——上是一致的，所以他们不该为这些差异彼此逼迫。
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这是对他们的一句惊吓。基督的再来对那些被「发现打同伴」（太24:49原文意）的人来说十分可怕；所以（伯19:29）「『你们当惧怕刀剑』」——神公义的火焰之剑，四面转动；当惧怕，免得你们自己惹上它。善人也需要被全能者的可畏从罪中惊吓，特别是从鲁莽论断弟兄的罪中（太7:1；雅3:1）。那些对弟兄暴躁动怒、苛责他们、恶意待他们的人，当知道不仅他们的怒气无论怎么装腔作势都「成就不了神的义」（雅1:20原文意），而且，〔1.〕他们可能在今世为此受报：「忿怒惹动刀剑的刑罚」。怒气引到使人在官长刀剑之下的罪行。神自己常为此报仇；那不施怜悯的，必得不着怜悯。〔2.〕他们若不悔改，那就是更坏之事的预尝。借着这些你们可以知道「有审判」——不仅是现今的治理，更是将来的审判，在其中严苛的话都要交账。
英文原文
Job's Confession of Faith; Happiness of the Redeemed (1520 BC)
²³ Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!
²⁴ That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!
²⁵ For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
²⁶ And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
²⁷ Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
²⁸ But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me?
²⁹ Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.
In all the conferences between Job and his friends we do not find any more weighty and considerable lines than these; would one have expected it? Here is much both of Christ and heaven in these verses: and he that said such things as these declared plainly that he sought the better country, that is, the heavenly; as the patriarchs of that age did, Heb 11:14. We have here Job's creed, or confession of faith. His belief in God the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, and the principles of natural religion, he had often professed: but here we find him no stranger to revealed religion; though the revelation of the promised Seed, and the promised inheritance, was then discerned only like the dawning of the day, yet Job was taught of God to believe in a living Redeemer, and to look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come, for of these, doubtless, he must be understood to speak. These were the things he comforted himself with the expectation of, and not a deliverance from his trouble or a revival of his happiness in this world, as some would understand him; for besides that the expressions he here uses, of the Redeemer's standing at the latter day upon the earth, of his seeing God, and seeing him for himself, are wretchedly forced if they be understood of any temporal deliverance, it is very plain that he had no expectation at all of his return to a prosperous condition in this world. He had just now said that his way was fenced up, (Job 19:8) and his hope removed like a tree, Job 19:10. Nay, and after this he expressed his despair of any comfort in this life, Job 23:8,9,30:23. So that we must necessarily understand him of the redemption of his soul from the power of the grave, and his reception to glory, which is spoken of, Ps 49:15. We have reason to think that Job was just now under an extraordinary impulse of the blessed Spirit, which raised him above himself, gave him light, and gave him utterance, even to his own surprise. And some observe that, after this, we do not find Job's discourses such passionate, peevish, unbecoming, complaints of God and his providence as we have before met with: this hope quieted his spirit, stilled the storm and, having here cast anchor within the veil, his mind was kept steady from this time forward. Let us observe,
I. To what intent Job makes this confession of his faith here. Never did any thing come in more pertinently, or to better purpose. 1. Job was now accused, and this was his appeal. His friends reproached him as a hypocrite and contemned him as a wicked man; but he appeals to his creed, to his faith, to his hope, and to his own conscience, which not only acquitted him from reigning sin, but comforted him with the expectation of a blessed resurrection. These are not the words of him that has a devil. He appeals to the coming of the Redeemer, from this wrangle at the bar to the judgment of the bench, even to him to whom all judgment is committed, who he knew would right him. The consideration of God's day coming will make it a very small thing with us to be judged of man's judgment, 1Co 4:3,4. How easily may we bear the unjust calumnies and reproaches of men while we expect the glorious appearance of our Redeemer, and his redeemed, at the last day, and that there will then be a resurrection of names, as well as bodies! 2. Job was now afflicted, and this was his cordial; when he was pressed above measure this kept him from fainting—he believed that he should see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living; not in this world, for that is the land of the dying.
II. With what a solemn preface he introduces it, Job 19:23,24. He breaks off his complaints abruptly, to triumph his comforts, which he does, not only for his own satisfaction, but for the edification of others. Those now about him, he feared, would little regard what he said, and so it proved, He therefore wished it might be recorded for the generations to come. O that my words were now written, the words I am now about to say! As if he had said, "I own I have spoken many unadvised words, which I could wish might be forgotten, for they will neither do me credit nor do others good. But I am now going to speak deliberately, and that which I desire may be published to all the world and preserved for the generations to come, in perpetuam rei memoriam—for an abiding memorial, and therefore that it may be written plainly and printed, or drawn out in large and legible characters, so that he that runs may read it; and that it may not be left in loose papers, but put into a book; or, if that should perish, that it may be engraven like an inscription upon a monument, with an iron pen in lead, or in the stone; let the engraver use all his art to make it a durable appeal to posterity." That which Job here somewhat passionately wished for God graciously granted him. His words are written; they are printed in God's book; so that, wherever that book is read, there shall this be told for a memorial concerning Job. He believed, therefore he spoke.
III. What his confession itself is; what are the words which he would have to be written; we here have them written, Job 19:25-27. Let us observe them.
1. He believes the glory of the Redeemer and his own interest in him (Job 19:25): I know that my Redeemer liveth, that he is in being and is my life, and that he shall stand at last, or stand the last, or at the latter day, upon (or above) the earth. He shall be raised up, or, He shall be, at the latter day, (that is, in the fulness of time: the gospel day is called the last time because that is the last dispensation) upon the earth: so it points at his incarnation; or, He shall be lifted up from the earth (so it points at his crucifixion), or raised up out of the earth (so it is applicable to his resurrection), or, as we commonly understand it, At the end of time he shall appear over the earth, for he shall come in the clouds, and every eye shall see him, so close shall he come to this earth. He shall stand upon the dust (so the word is), upon all his enemies, which shall be put a dust under his feet; and he shall tread upon them and triumph over them. Observe here, (1.) That there is a Redeemer provided for fallen man, and Jesus Christ is that Redeemer. The word is Goël which is used for the next of kin, to whom, by the law of Moses, the right of redeeming a mortgaged estate did belong, Le 25:25. Our heavenly inheritance was mortgaged by sin; we are ourselves utterly unable to redeem it; Christ is near of kin to us, the next kinsman that is able to redeem; he has paid our debt, satisfied God's justice for sin, and so has taken off the mortgage and made a new settlement of the inheritance. Our persons also want a Redeemer; we are sold for sin, and sold under sin; our Lord Jesus has wrought out a redemption for us, and proclaims redemption for us, and proclaims redemption to us, and so he is truly the Redeemer. (2.) He is a living Redeemer. As we are made by a living God, so we are saved by a living Redeemer, who is both almighty and eternal, and is therefore able to save to the uttermost. Of him it is witnessed that he liveth, Heb 7:8, Re 1:18. We are dying, but he liveth, and hath assured us that because he lives we shall live also, Joh 14:19. (3.) There are those that through grace have an interest in this Redeemer, and can, upon good grounds, call him theirs. When Job had lost all his wealth and all his friends, yet he was not separated from Christ, nor cut off from his relation to him: "Still he is my Redeemer." That next kinsman adhered to him when all his other kindred forsook him, and he had the comfort of it. (4.) Our interest in the Redeemer is a thing that may be known; and, where it is known, it may be triumphed in, as sufficient to balance all our griefs: I know (observe with what an air of assurance he speaks it, as one confident of this very thing), I know that my Redeemer lives. His friends have often charged him with ignorance or vain knowledge; but he knows enough, and knows to good purpose, who knows Christ to be his Redeemer. (5.) There will be a latter day, a last day, a day when time shall be no more, Re 10:6. That is a day we are concerned to think of every day. (6.) Our Redeemer will at that day stand upon the earth, or over the earth, to summon the dead out of their graves, and determine them to an unchangeable state; for to him all judgment is committed. He shall stand, at the last, on the dust to which this earth will be reduced by the conflagration.
2. He believes the happiness of the redeemed, and his own title to that happiness, that, at Christ's second coming, believers shall be raised up in glory and so made perfectly blessed in the vision and fruition of God; and this he believes with application to himself. (1.) He counts upon the corrupting of his body in the grave, and speaks of it with a holy carelessness and unconcernedness: Though, after my skin (which is already wasted and gone, none of it remaining but the skin of my teeth, Job 19:20) they destroy (those that are appointed to destroy it, the grave and the worms in it of which he had spoken, Job 17:14) this body. The word body is added: "Though they destroy this, this skeleton, this shadow (Job 17:7), this that I lay my hand upon," or (pointing perhaps to his weak and withered limbs) "this that you see, call it what you will; I expect that shortly it will be a feast for the worms." Christ's body saw not corruption, but ours must. And Job mentions this, that the glory of the resurrection he believed and hoped for might shine the more brightly. Note, It is good for us often to think, not only of the approaching death of our bodies, but of their destruction and dissolution in the grave; yet let not that discourage our hope of their resurrection, for the same power that made man's body at first, out of common dust, can raise it out of its own dust. This body which we now take such care about, and make such provision for, will in a little time be destroyed. Even my reins (says Job) shall be consumed within me (Job 19:27); the innermost part of the body, which perhaps putrefies first. (2.) He comforts himself with the hopes of happiness on the other side death and the grave: After I shall awake (so the margin reads it), though this body be destroyed, yet out of my flesh shall I see God. [1.] Soul and body shall come together again. That body which must be destroyed in the grave shall be raised again, a glorious body: Yet in my flesh I shall see God. The separate soul has eyes wherewith to see God, eyes of the mind; but Job speaks of seeing him with eyes of flesh, in my flesh, with my eyes; the same body that died shall rise again, a true body, but a glorified body, fit for the employments and entertainments of that world, and therefore a spiritual body, 1Co 15:44. Let us therefore glorify God with our bodies because there is such a glory designed for them. [2.] Job and God shall come together again: In my flesh shall I see God, that is, the glorified Redeemer, who is God. I shall see God in my flesh (so some read it), the Son of God clothed with a body which will be visible even to eyes of flesh. Though the body, in the grave, seem despicable and miserable, yet it shall be dignified and made happy in the vision of God. Job now complained that he could not get a sight of God (Job 23:8,9), but hoped to see him shortly, never more to lose the sight of him, and that sight of him will be the more welcome after the present darkness and distance. Note, It is the blessedness of the blessed that they shall see God, shall see him as he is, see him face to face, and no longer through a glass darkly. See with what pleasure holy Job enlarges upon this (Job 19:27): "Whom I shall see for myself," that is, "see and enjoy, see to my own unspeakable comfort and satisfaction. I shall see him as mine, as mine with an appropriating sight," Re 21:3. God himself shall be with them and be their God; they shall be like him, for they shall see him as he is, that is seeing for themselves, 1Jo 3:2. My eyes shall behold him, and not another. First, "He, and not another for him, shall be seen, not a type or figure of him, but he himself." Glorified saints are perfectly sure that they are not imposed upon; it is no deceptio visus—illusion of the senses. Secondly, "I, and not another for me, shall see him. Though my flesh and body be consumed, yet I shall not need a proxy; I shall see him with my own eyes." This was what Job hoped for, and what he earnestly desired, which, some think, is the meaning of the last clause: My reins are spent in my bosom, that is, "all my desires are summed up and concluded in this; this will crown and complete them all; let me have this, and I shall have nothing more to desire; it is enough; it is all." With this the prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.
IV. The application of this to his friends. His creed spoke comfort to himself, but warning and terror to those that set themselves against him.
1. It was a word of caution to them not to proceed and persist in their unkind usage of him, Job 19:28. He had reproved them for what they had said, and now tells them what they should say for the reducing of themselves and one another to a better temper. "Why persecute we him thus? Why do we grieve him and vex him, by censuring and condemning him, seeing the root of the matter, or the root of the word, is found in him?" Let this direct us, (1.) In our care concerning ourselves. We are all concerned to see to it that the root of the matter be found in us. A living, quickening, commanding, principle of grace in the heart, is the root of the matter, as necessary to our religion as the root to the tree, to which it owes both its fixedness and its fruitfulness. Love to God and our brethren, faith in Christ, hatred of sin—these are the root of the matter; other things are but leaves in comparison with these. Serious godliness is the one thing needful. (2.) In our conduct towards our brethren. We are to believe that many have the root of the matter in them who are not in every thing of our mind—who have their follies, and weaknesses, and mistakes—and to conclude that it is at our peril if we persecute any such. Woe be to him that offends one of those little ones! God will resent and revenge it. Job and his friends differed in some notions concerning the methods of Providence, but they agreed in the root of the matter, the belief of another world, and therefore should not persecute one another for these differences.
2. It was a word of terror to them. Christ's second coming will be very dreadful to those that are found smiting their fellow servants (Mt 24:49), and therefore (Job 19:29), "Be you afraid of the sword, the flaming sword of God's justice, which turns every way; fear, lest you make yourselves obnoxious to it." Good men need to be frightened from sin by the terrors of the Almighty, particularly from the sin of rashly judging their brethren, Mt 7:1, Jam 3:1. Those that are peevish and passionate with their brethren, censorious of them and malicious towards them, should know, not only that their wrath, whatever it pretends, works not the righteousness of God, but that, (1.) They may expect to smart for it in this world: It brings the punishments of the sword. Wrath leads to such crimes as expose men to the sword of the magistrate. God himself often takes vengeance for it, and those that showed no mercy shall find no mercy. (2.) If they repent not, that will be an earnest of worse. By these you may know there is a judgment, not only a present government, but a future judgment, in which hard speeches must be accounted for.
本章是约伯对比勒达在上一章那篇言论的回答。虽然他的灵里忧伤、极其激动，而比勒达又十分急躁，他仍任凭他说完他要说的一切话，没有在他的论证中途打断他；待他说完之后，才给予他公正的回答。在其中，I. 他抱怨所受的冷酷对待，并且极为介怀。1. 安慰他的人反倒加增了他的苦难，约伯记 19:2-7。2. 他的 神正是他苦难的制造者，约伯记 19:8-12。3. 他的亲属朋友在他受苦时对他疏远、回避，约伯记 20-22。II. 他虽在今世少有安慰，却以在来世得福的信心盼望自慰，极其庄严地宣告他的信仰，并盼望这一切被记录下来，作为他真诚的证据，约伯记 19:23-27。III. 他以对朋友们的警戒作结，劝他们不要坚持对他苛刻的论断，约伯记 19:28-29。约伯在此对其冤屈所发的申诉，若有时可作为我们抱怨的合理依据，那么他同时对来世所存的乐观眼光，却足以叫我们基督徒羞愧，也可作为沉默我们抱怨的依据，至少使之得以平衡。