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In this and the following chapter we have Job's answer to Bildad's discourse, wherein he speaks honourably of God, humbly of himself, and feelingly of his troubles; but not one word by way of reflection upon his friends, or their unkindness to him, nor in direct reply to what Bildad had said. He wisely keeps to the merits of the cause, and makes no remarks upon the person that managed it, nor seeks occasion against him. In this chapter we have, I. The doctrine of God's justice laid down, Job 9:2. II. The proof of it, from his wisdom, and power, and sovereign dominion, Job 9:3-13. III. The application of it, in which, 1. He condemns himself, as not able to contend with God either in law or battle, Job 9:14-21. 2. He maintains his point, that we cannot judge of men's character by their outward condition, Job 9:22-24. 3. He complains of the greatness of his troubles, the confusion he was in, and the loss he was at what to say or do, Job 9:25-35.
1-35
Job's Reply to Bildad (1520 BC)
约伯记第九章
约伯答比勒达（主前1520年）
¹ 约伯回答说：
² 我真知道是这样；但人在神面前怎能成为义呢？
³ 若愿意与他争辩，千中之一也不能回答。
⁴ 他心里有智慧，且大有能力；谁向神刚硬而得亨通呢？
⁵ 他发怒把山翻倒挪移，山却不知不觉。
⁶ 他使地震动离其本位，地的柱子就摇撼。
⁷ 他吩咐太阳，太阳就不出来；他又封住众星。
⁸ 他独自铺张苍天，步行在海浪之上。
⁹ 他造北斗、参星、昴星，并南方的密宫。
¹⁰ 他行大事不可测度，行奇事不可胜数。
¹¹ 他从我旁边经过，我却不看见；他在我面前行走，我倒不知觉。
¹² 看哪，他夺去，谁能阻挡？谁敢问他：你作什么？
¹³ 神若不收回他的怒气，骄傲的扶助者必屈身在他以下。
比勒达开头责备约伯话太多（伯 8:2）。约伯不答这话——这本易反唇相讥；但比勒达接下来所立的原则——神绝不屈枉公正——约伯是同意的：「我真知道是这样」（伯 9:2）。 请留意：我们当乐意承认自己与争辩对象所同意的部分有多少，不可轻视——更不可抵挡——一项真理，纵使它是出于对手、被用来攻击我们；我们当在光中和爱中接受它，尽管它可能被误用。「真是这样：恶人必灭亡，敬虔人必在神特殊保护之下。这些真理我都同意；但人怎能向神自辩清楚呢？」——「在你面前凡活着的人没有一个是义的」（诗 143:2直译）。——「人在神面前怎能成为义呢？」 有人以为这是对神的严厉苛刻的激情之怨——他是不可与之打交道的神；无可否认，本章中确有几句暴躁的话，似乎就是这种语气。但我宁可把它看作一种敬虔的承认——承认人的罪性、尤其他自己的罪性——若神按我们罪孽所当得的待我们任何一人，我们必沉沦无疑。
一、他立定一个真理：人在争辩和争战上都不是造他之主的对手
1. 在争辩上（伯 9:3）：「若愿意与他争辩，千中之一也不能回答。」 〔1〕神能问一千个令人困惑的问题，是那些与他相争、审问他的作为的人所不能回答的。当神从旋风中向约伯说话，他问了他许多问题（「你知道这事吗？你能作那事吗？」）——约伯一个都答不上来（伯 38:1-39:30）。神能轻易显出那些自命智慧者之愚妄。 〔2〕神能指控我们一千样过犯，能起草一千项弹劾条款，而我们无法回答以致为自己开脱，只能以沉默承认都是真的。我们不能说这一项无关、那一项琐碎、又一项虚假；对这一项不能否认事实而 声辩无罪，对另一项不能否认过错而承认并 辩护。不，我们不能回答他，只能如约伯所作的（伯 40:4-5），「用手捂口」，喊：「有罪，有罪。」 2. 在争战上（伯 9:4）：「谁向神刚硬而得亨通呢？」 答案十分容易。 从创世至今，你不能举出一例：任何胆敢*「向神刚硬」——执意背叛他——的罪人，不发觉神比他更强、不为自己的愚妄付重价。这样的悖逆者未曾亨通、未曾平安；其路无安慰，其事无成功。人曾藉着与造物主比巧、与造物主争权，得到过什么？一切对神的反对，不过如荆棘蒺藜放在烈火之前（赛 27:4；结 28:24；林前 10:22）——如此愚蠢、如此无果、如此毁灭性的尝试。堕落的天使向神刚硬，却未亨通（彼后 2:4）。龙虽争战，却被摔出去（启 12:9）。恶人向神刚硬——辩论他的智慧、违背他的律法、犯罪不悔改、受苦不改过、拒绝他恩典的邀请、抗拒他灵的感动、轻看他的警告、抵挡他在世上的作为。但他们亨通了吗？能亨通吗？不；他们不过是「为自己积存愤怒直到愤怒之日」（罗 2:5）。* 那滚这石头的，必见它反滚到自己身上。
二、他以我们所要面对的是怎样一位神来证明
「他心里有智慧」——所以我们不能在法律上答他；他*「大有能力」*——所以我们不能与他争战。以为能与一位无所不知、无所不能——不能被智取、也不能被制服——的神较量，是最大的疯狂。魔鬼曾指望约伯在受苦之日咒诅神、说他的坏话；他反倒立志尊崇神、论他说高尚的话。他虽如此痛苦、如此被自己的灾难所占据，一旦论到神的智慧和大能，他便忘了自己的怨言，欢然地、滔滔不绝地在这高尚有益的题目上发挥。他所引神智慧大能的证据——
1. 取自自然界之国——在其中自然之神以不可控制之权行事、随己意而作；因为自然的一切秩序和一切能力都源于他、倚靠他。 〔1〕他乐意之时便更改自然的常道、逆转其流（伯 9:5-7）。 按自然之通律，山是稳定的，故称*「永山」；地已坚定、不能移动（诗 93:1），其柱稳固，太阳按时升起，众星向下界发光；但神乐意之时，不仅能将它们赶出常轨，更能颠倒自然之序、改变自然之法。 ① 没有比山更坚固的。我们说移山，意指不可能之事；但神能使之易位：他「挪移它们，它们却不知不觉」——不论它们愿否，他移之；他能使之低头；他能夷平，在怒中倾覆；他能如农夫平土堆一般铺散众山——无论多高多大多石。人翻越它们已大费周章，神乐意之时却能使它们消逝。他使西奈震动（诗 68:8）；「大山踊跃」（诗 114:4）；「永山分裂」（哈 3:6）。* ② 没有比地在轴上更稳固的；但神乐意之时，能*「使地震动离其本位」——抬它离中心，使「其柱也摇撼」；那看似支撑地的，神一震撼，它本身也需要支撑。请看我们多么欠神的忍耐。神有能力把这满了罪、使地因罪的重担而叹息的人类种族从地底摇出去——如此「把恶人从其中抖出来」（伯 38:13）；他仍延续地和其上的人，不像从前使地吞灭叛徒。 ③ 没有比日出更恒常的，从不误时；但神乐意之时能将它悬挂。那起初命日头升起的，能取消其命。曾一次日头被命「站住」，另一次被命「退后」——表明它始终受其大创造者的节制。神的大能如此伟大；他使日头照在恶人和忘恩之人身上的良善又何等伟大——虽然他本可扣留！那造众星的，若乐意便能封住它们，叫我们看不见。地震和地下之火有时挪移了山、震动了地；在极暗极阴的日夜里，我们看日头如被禁不起、众星如被封住（徒 27:20）。说约伯在此论神所能作的便已足；但我们若必须解作事实上已行的，这一切经文也许可指挪亚洪水——那时地上诸山震动、日星变暗；我们现在所知的世界，我们信是为火存留——那火要烧尽诸山、熔化大地、使日头变为黑暗。 〔2〕他乐意之时便维持自然的固定秩序和常轨；这是连续的创造。 他独自以己之力、无任何帮助—— ① 「铺张苍天」（伯 9:8）——不仅起初铺张，至今仍铺张（即维持其铺张）；否则它们必自卷如皮卷。 ② 「他步行在海浪之上」——即他压制它们、使之在下属，不使之回流淹没大地（诗 104:9）——这是给我们都当敬畏神的理由（耶 5:22）。他比骄傲的波浪更有能力（诗 93:4；诗 65:7）。 ③ 他造众星宿；三名为代表其余（伯 9:9）：「北斗、参星、昴星」，并总称「南方的密宫」。组成这些的星，他起初所造、列于其位，他至今仍「造」它们——保守它们存在、引导它们运行；他使它们对人成为它们所是，又使人心倾向于观察它们——这是兽所不能作的。不仅我们所见、所命名的星，连另一半球、南极附近、永不入我们视线的星——此处称为「南方的密宫」*——也在神的指导和主权之下。他何等智慧！何等大能！
2. 取自护理之国——那特别关乎世人事务的护理。 思想神在治理世界中所作的，你就要说：他*「心里有智慧」、「大有能力」。** 〔1〕他行许多大事——许多令人钦佩的大事（伯 9:10）。 约伯在此所说的，与以利法所说相同（伯 5:9），原文也用相同的话——他虽如今是对手，并不避讳跟从他说。神是伟大的神，「行大事」；他是行奇事的神；他的奇事多到我们不能数，奥秘到我们不能寻。「他的判断何其难测！」（赛 40:28直译）* 〔2〕他无形无踪地行事（伯 9:11）：「他从我旁边经过，我却不看见。」——他在他作为中经过，我却不看他、不觉他。「他的道在海中」（诗 77:19）。 次因的运行通常显于感官，但神在我们周围作一切，我们却「不见他」（徒 17:23）。 我们有限之悟性不能测透他的谋略、领会他的行动、明了他的措施；所以我们不是神作为的合格审判者，因为我们不知他所作的、所图的。** arcana imperii——治理的奥秘——是高于我们的，所以我们不可妄图解释、妄加批注。 〔3〕他以无争议的主权行事（伯 9:12）。 他随己意夺去我们所造的安慰和倚靠——夺去健康、产业、关系、朋友、甚至性命本身；无论何去，都是他夺去；无论借何手挪去，他的手必须在其挪去中被承认。主*「夺去」，「谁能阻挡他？谁能使他归还？（旁注）」* 谁能劝他、改他的谋略？谁能挡他、反他的作为？谁能管他、向他算账？能向他提起什么诉讼？或*「谁敢问他：你作什么？」（但 4:35）* 神不欠我们对他所作之工的理由的解释。他作为之意我们如今不知；日后知也不迟——那时要显明如今看似出于特权的，实在是出于无限智慧、为最好而作。 〔4〕他以无可抵挡之权能行事——无受造之物能挡（伯 9:13）。 「神若不收回他的怒气」（他乐意时便能如此，因他是*「怒气的主」——随意放出或收回），「骄傲的扶助者必屈身在他以下」——即他必粉碎那些骄傲地彼此相助抵挡他的人。骄傲人起来反对神和他的作为。他们在反对中携手：「世上的君王一齐起来，臣宰一同商议」（诗 2:2）——为脱去他的轭、推翻他的真理、逼迫他的子民。「以色列人哪，帮忙」（徒 21:28直译；诗 83:8）。神国的一个仇敌若在他审判下倒下，其余的便骄傲地来助他，想要救他脱离神手；但都是徒然——除非他乐意收回怒气（他常如此行，因这是他忍耐之日）——骄傲的扶助者必屈身于他之下，与他们所要助的人一同倒下。「谁知道神怒气的权能？」（诗 90:11）* 那些以为自己有力助人的，连自己也助不了。
¹⁴ 既是这样，我怎能回答他，选用言语与他辩论呢？
¹⁵ 我虽有义，也不回答他，只要向那审判我的恳求。
¹⁶ 我若呼吁，他虽应允我，我仍不信他真听我的声音。
¹⁷ 他用暴风折断我，无故地加增我的损伤。
¹⁸ 我就是喘一口气，他都不容，倒使我满心苦恼。
¹⁹ 若论力量，他真有能力；若论审判，谁能给我定期呢？
²⁰ 我虽有义，自己的口要定我为有罪；我虽完全，我口要显我为弯曲。
²¹ 我本完全；自己却不在乎自己；我厌恶我的生命。
约伯所说人不能与神相争的话，他在此应用到自己身上，实际上是放弃了得神恩惠的盼望——（有人以为）这是出于他对神的苛刻之念，以为神不论对错都与他作对、且必胜他。我宁可以为这是出于他对自己义之不完全的感觉，以及他目前对神怒气的昏暗阴翳的看法。
一、他不敢与神争辩（伯 9:14）：*「骄傲的扶助者既屈身在他以下，我（一个可怜软弱的受造之物——非但不是扶助者，反是非常无助）怎能回答他？我能对神所作的说什么？我若想与他辩论，他必胜过我。」
若窑匠把泥作成卑贱的器皿，或把所作的器皿打破，泥或破器能与窑匠理论吗？向神回嘴、或想与他谈条件的人，也是如此荒谬。不，凡有血气的都当在他面前静默。
二、他不敢在神面前坚持自己的义
他虽向朋友为自己的正直辩护、不肯承认如他们所说自己是假冒为善的恶人，他却不肯将之作为自己在神面前的义申诉。「我绝不敢靠无罪之约，也不妄想靠它过关。」 约伯深知神、也深知自己，所以他不敢在神面前坚持己义。 1. 他深知神，所以不敢与他受审（伯 9:15-19）。他知道如何与朋友们争辩，自以为能与他们周旋；但他的事业比现有的更好，他知道与神辩论是无用的。 〔1〕神比他更认识他自己——所以（伯 9:15）「我虽在自己看来为义，自己的心也不责备我，神却比我的心大」——他知道那些我所不知、也不能明白的隐秘过错和错误，能以此指控我——「所以我不回答。」 保罗也说过同样意思的话：「我虽不觉得自己有错，却也不能因此得以称义」（林前 4:4）。**「我不敢把自己放在这问题上，免得神指控我那在自己里所不觉察的。」 约伯所以放弃这 辩护，转而*「向审判他的恳求」——即投靠神的怜悯，不指望靠自己的功劳过关。 〔2〕**他没有理由以为自己的祷告有何可推荐 神圣悦纳之处，或能招来平安的回答——其中毫无价值或功劳可言可以归结其成功，它必纯归于神的恩典和怜悯——他在我们求告之前便回答，并非因为我们求告；他以恩惠回答我们的祷告，却非因我们的祷告（伯 9:16）：「我若呼吁，他应允了——把所求的赐给我——然而我的祷告如此软弱有缺，以至我不信他因此*「听了我的声音」；我不能说他「以右手拯救了我，应允了我」（诗 60:5），只能说他纯因自己的名如此行。」** 帕特里克主教如此解：「我若恳求，他应允了我的心愿，我也不以为是我的祷告成了这事。」——「你们要知道，这不是为你们的缘故」（结 36:32直译）。 〔3〕他目前的苦境——神虽知他正直却仍使他陷入——太过切实地使他觉悟：在安排和分配人在此世外面的境遇上，神按主权行事；虽他从不亏负任何人，却在此世不常把完全的公平分给众人（即最好的不总受最好的待遇、最坏的不总受最坏的），因为他把完全精确的赏罚留到将来。 约伯不觉自己有何格外之罪，却落在格外之苦中（伯 9:17-18）。人人都当料到风吹到自己、扰乱自己，但约伯被*「暴风折断」。* 人在荆棘蒺藜之中都当料到被刮伤；但约伯受了伤，伤口又被加增。人都当料到日日有十字、有时要尝苦杯；但可怜约伯的苦接踵而至，他无喘息之时，满心苦恼。他竟敢说这一切都*「无故」——未给什么大冒犯。我们虽尽力为约伯至今所说作最佳解释——尽管与许多好解经家的判断相反——但此处无疑「他用嘴唇说了轻率的话」；他怪神不让他「喘一口气」（其实他仍能如此清楚地运用理智和言语）、又怪神不公说这是无故。然而这话确实也是真的：一方面，有许多人所犯的罪多于人性共通的软弱、所受的苦却不多于人世共通的灾祸；另一方面，也有许多人所受的苦多于人世共通的灾祸、所觉的己罪却不多于人性共通的软弱。 〔4〕他在任何方面都无力在神面前为自己申辩（伯 9:19）。 ① **不能靠武力：「我若论力量，他真有能力」——胜过我，必胜过我。** 与那命众军的不可争辩；何况与那有众天使之军的，更不可了。「你的心能忍耐呢？你的手能有力呢？在我与你对付你的日子？」（结 22:14直译）* ② 不能靠论证：「若论审判，谁能给我定期呢？」——没有更高的权能可上诉，没有更高的法庭可审此案；因他是至高的，各人的审判从他而出，必须服从。 2. 他深知自己，所以不敢受审（伯 9:20-21）：「我若想「自辩」、为自己之义辩护，我的辩护便是我的过犯，「自己的口要定我为有罪」——就在它设法为我开脱之时。」* 好人知己心之诡诈、以敬虔的警醒防备之、又屡次发现久未发现的过失——这样的人怀疑自己里面比自己实际所觉的更多恶，所以绝不想到神面前自辩。「我们若说自己无罪」（约一 1:8）——不仅是*「自欺」，更是冒犯神；因为我们如此说时已犯了罪，又给圣经——「把众人都圈在罪中」（加 3:22）——抹黑。「我若说：我完全——无罪——神没有可指控我的——我如此说本身就*「显我为弯曲」——骄傲、无知、僭妄。不，「我本完全」——纵神宣告我为义——「自己却不在乎自己」——在这一切苦境重压下、不挂虑延寿。」 或作：「我纵免于大罪、纵良心不指控我犯了什么重罪，仍不敢信自己的心到坚持自己无辜的地步，也不以为自己的命值得与神力争。」 简言之：与神相争是愚妄，顺服他、投在他脚前是我们的智慧，也是本分。
²² 我又说一件事，就是：神灭绝完全人和恶人。
²³ 若忽然遭杀害，他必笑无辜人之试炼。
²⁴ 地交在恶人手中；他遮断审判官的脸；若不是他，是谁呢？
约伯在此简略触及他目前与朋友之间的主要争点。他们坚持义人好人在此世总是兴旺，唯恶人才遭灾受难；他反过来说：恶人兴旺、义人大遭苦难是常事。这就是他和朋友主要分歧的一件事；他们又未证其所说，所以他坚持己见：「我说了，再说一次——众人所遇相同。」
1. 当承认：约伯所意有大量真理。 暂时的审判发出之时，义人恶人都受；灭命天使少有分辨（虽曾一次分辨）以色列人之家和埃及人之家。在所多玛的审判——那称为*「永火的刑罚」（犹 7）——之中，神「断不将义人与恶人同杀，将义人与恶人一样看待」（创 18:25）；但在仅属暂时的审判中，义人有份，有时更有最大的份。「刀剑吞灭这人如吞灭那人」（撒下 11:25直译）——约西亚如亚哈。神如此「灭绝完全人和恶人」——把他们同卷入共同的灭亡中；好人和坏人一同被掳到巴比伦（耶 24:5、9）。「若鞭笞突然杀人」、扫荡一切，神也要喜乐地看见：同一鞭笞——恶人因此灭亡、义人却是因此受试炼——又他们的信心因此「得着称赞、荣耀、尊贵」（彼前 1:7；诗 66:10）。* 让这使神的儿女与苦难和好——它们不过是试炼，为他们的尊荣和益处而设；神既喜悦其中，他们也不当不悦；他既*「笑无辜人之试炼」——知道其结局何等荣耀——他们在毁灭和饥荒面前也当笑（伯 5:22）、胜过它们，说：「死啊，你的毒钩在哪里？」（林前 15:55）* 另一方面，恶人远非神审判的记号——「地交在他们手中」（伯 9:24）（他们享广大产业、有大权能，要什么有什么、作什么作什么），交在那恶者手中（原文是单数）——魔鬼，那恶者，被称为*「这世界的神」（林后 4:4），又夸口说世界已交他手中（路 4:6）。或交在恶人手中——意（如帕特里克主教和《威斯敏斯特注解》所推测）当时某位著名暴君，其大恶大旺为约伯和朋友所共知。恶人得地，义人得天；哪一个更好——有天无地、还是有地无天？神在护理中抬举恶人，却「遮断」那配作「审判官」之人的脸——那些智慧良善、适合治理的人——将他们活埋于无名之中，也许任他们被推翻、定罪，被那些地交其手的恶人如罪犯般蒙脸。我们日日见这事成全；「若不是神所作的，作这事的是谁、在哪里？」——除了那位在人国中掌权、随己意赐给人的（但 4:32），还能归给谁？然而 2. 当承认：约伯在此所说带有太多激情。 表达的方式是暴躁的。他意是神苦待人，便不该说神「灭绝完全人和恶人」；他意是神喜悦试炼无辜人，便不该说神「笑」*这事，因他不甘心使人受苦（哀 3:33）。灵或因辩论、或因不满而火热之时，我们需要在嘴唇的门前置守，使我们在论神圣之事时保持应有的端庄。
²⁵ 我的日子比跑信的更快，急速过去，不见福乐。
²⁶ 他们急去如快船，如鹰急落抓食。
²⁷ 我若说：我要忘记我的哀情，放下愁容，心中得安慰；
²⁸ 我因一切的烦恼惧怕，我知道你必不以我为无辜。
²⁹ 我既被定为有罪，为何徒然劳苦呢？
³⁰ 我若用雪水洗身，用碱洁清我的手，
³¹ 你还要扔我在坑里，我的衣服都憎嫌我。
³² 他本不像我是人，使我可以回答他，又使我们同去受审。
³³ 我们中间没有听讼的人，可以向我们两造按手。
³⁴ 愿他把杖离开我，使他的威严不惊吓我；
³⁵ 我便说话，不惧怕他；但我现在却不是这样。
约伯在此越发诉苦，并不以他开头那样敬畏神智慧公义的表达来结束本章。纵容诉苦之习的人，不知这习要驱他们到何等不相宜——甚至不虔——的地步。「与神争辩之始，如水之泄；所以在争闹之先，当息了它」（箴 17:14直译）。 我们在苦难中可向神诉苦——如诗篇作者多次所作——却绝不可怨神——如约伯在此所作。
一、他对兴旺日子飞逝的抱怨是恰当的（伯 9:25-26）：*「我的日子（即我一切的好日子）都去了，永不复返，突然去了，我不觉察。」
从未有带好信息的跑信之人（如古示和亚希玛斯）像我的安慰离开我那样急速。从未有船驶向港口、未有鹰飞向猎物那样奇快的速度；我兴旺的痕迹也不留——如鹰在空中、船在海中不留痕迹一样（箴 30:19）。请看： 1. 时间的运动何等迅速。 它总在飞，急向终点；不待人。光阴飞逝、奔向永恒——永恒随时间同来——我们何其少需消遣、何其多需赎回光阴！ 2. 时间的享受何等虚空。 我们在时间尚存之时，可能被完全剥夺。我们的日子可能比兴旺的阳光更长；那既去，便如从未有过。日后记念自己尽了本分，将令人欣慰；记念自己积攒了许多世上财富——在一切失尽之时——却不如是。「它们飞去，不能追回；不见福乐，也不留福乐。」
二、他对自己目前不安的抱怨是可谅解的（伯 9:27-28）
1. 他似乎尽力安静、收敛自己——如朋友们所劝的。 那是他要作的好事：他愿意*「忘记哀情」赞美神，「放下愁容、心中得安慰」——好适于与神与人交往。 2. **他发觉自己作不到：「我因一切的烦恼惧怕。」* 我越挣扎着抵挡烦恼，它越胜过我、证明比我更强！」** 在这种情形中，知所当为易于为之；知当处何种心境，易于进入并保持那种心境。向苦难中人讲忍耐、告诉他们要忘忧自慰，是容易的；但说来容易作来难。惧怕和忧愁是暴虐之物，不易归服于宗教和正理所当守的次序。但
三、他对神不可挽回、不可平息的抱怨，绝不可原谅
这是他败坏之语。他心里明白，在别的时候也绝不存这样的苛刻之念——如今却闯入他灵、爆发于这些激情之言。好人并不总是说自己所说的话；但那顾念他们本体和试探之力的神，事后容他们藉悔改收回不当之言，不归罪于他们。 1. 约伯在此似乎—— 〔1〕以从神得搭救或冤屈之昭雪为绝望，纵他提出何等好的正直凭据：「我知道你必不以我为无辜。我的苦难既如此之久、又如此之速加增，我不指望你会以救拔我出苦难、复我兴旺来为我昭雪。不论对错，我必被当作恶人对待；我的朋友们必如此看我，神也必将以使他们如此看的苦难继续加在我身上。我为何徒然劳苦去为自己澄清、维持自己的正直呢？」（伯 9:29） 在已经 预断的案中说话是徒然的。在人中间，最无辜的人要为自己澄清常常是徒然——尽管证据再明显，他们必被判为有罪。 但我们与神之间并非如此——他是受欺压无辜者的保护者，向他交托正直之案从不徒然。不，他不仅绝望于搭救，还怕自己澄清的 尝试会让他更惹麻烦（伯 9:30-31）：「我若用雪水洗身，把自己的正直显明得再清楚，都归无用；判决必对我不利。你还要扔我在坑里（有人解作灭亡之坑，或更当作污秽的沟渠、下水道），使我如此令周围人厌恶，以至「我的衣服都憎嫌我」，我自己也厌恶摸自己。」 他视苦难为从神而来——这些正是使他在朋友们眼中变黑之事；正因这个，他抱怨它们、又抱怨它们的延续，视为不仅毁了他的安慰、更毁了他名誉之灾。然而这话也可作好的解：我们无论多么努力在人前自辩、保住名誉，无论多么使手免于世人眼中的大罪之污，神——他知道我们的心——能指控我们如此多的隐秘之罪，以至永远取消我们一切自洁自辩的借口，使我们在圣洁的神眼中看见自己是可憎的。保罗为法利赛人时把手洗得很净；但诫命来到、向他显出他心之罪、使他认识*「欲」之时——那便「扔他在坑里」。 〔2〕以为在神面前得不到公正审问而绝望——这实在苛刻。 ① 他抱怨与神不站在平等地位（伯 9:32）：「他本不像我是人。」——我敢与自己一样的人辩论（瓦片可与地上的瓦片相争），但他无限超越我，所以我敢不与他较量；我若与他相争，必败。请留意： 第一，神不像我们这样是人。论最伟大的君王，我们可说：「他们与我们一样是人」；论伟大的神却不能。他的意念和道路无限高于我们，我们不可拿自己量他。人愚蠢软弱、脆弱善变；神不是。我们是倚靠的、必死的受造；他是独立的、不死的创造者。 第二，想到这点当使我们十分谦卑、在神面前十分静默。我们不可把自己与神等同，总要视他无限在我们之上。 ② 没有仲裁或 裁决者调解他与神之间的分歧、裁定此争（伯 9:33）：「我们中间没有听讼的人。」* 这抱怨没有，实际上等于愿望有；七十士译本如此读：「但愿我们中间有仲裁者！」 约伯乐意把事提交，但无受造之物能胜任 公断，所以他必须仍将之交神自己、决心服从他的判断。我们的主耶稣是那蒙福的听讼者——他在天地之间调解，向我们两造按手；父已将一切审判交给他，我们也当如此。但这事当时未如今日藉福音得如此清楚的光照——如今再无这种抱怨的余地。 ③ 神的威严列阵攻击他，使他混乱，不知如何以从前所有的信心来就近神（伯 9:34-35）。「除我被其无限超越所隔的距离之外，他目前的待我也十分令人灰心：「愿他把杖离开我」——他主要不是指外面的苦难，而是他灵因神怒气的 惶恐所负的重担；那是「惊吓他」的「他的可畏」。「愿那被挪去；愿我得见他怜悯的光，不再因只见他威严而惊惶——那时「我便说话」，在他面前陈明我的案。「但我现在却不是这样」；云未散；神的怒气仍紧抓住我、吞食我的心神，一如既往；我不知如何是好。」 2. 从这一切，让我们乘机—— 〔1〕敬畏神、畏惧他怒气的权能。 若好人已被之惊惶，「那不敬虔和犯罪的人将在何处现身呢？」（彼前 4:18直译） 〔2〕怜恤灵里受伤的人，为他们切切祷告，因为他们在那种光景中不知如何为自己祷告。 〔3〕小心在心中维持对神的好意念，因对他的苛刻之念是多祸之媒。 〔4〕感谢神我们不在这位可怜约伯所在的凄凉光景中，乃在主的光中行；让我们因此喜乐——却是*「存战兢而喜乐」（诗 2:11直译）。*
英文原文
Job's Reply to Bildad (1520 BC)
¹ Then Job answered and said,
² I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?
³ If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.
⁴ He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?
⁵ Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger.
⁶ Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.
⁷ Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars.
⁸ Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.
⁹ Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
¹⁰ Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number.
¹¹ Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not: he passeth on also, but I perceive him not.
¹² Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, What doest thou?
¹³ If God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him.
Bildad began with a rebuke to Job for talking so much, Job 8:2. Job makes no answer to that, though it would have been easy enough to retort it upon himself; but in what he next lays down as his principle, that God never perverts judgment, Job agrees with him: I know it is so of a truth, Job 9:2. Note, We should be ready to own how far we agree with those with whom we dispute, and should not slight, much less resist, a truth, though produced by an adversary and urged against us, but receive it in the light and love of it, though it may have been misapplied. "It is so of a truth, that wickedness brings men to ruin and the godly are taken under God's special protection. These are truths which I subscribe to; but how can any man make good his part with God?" In his sight shall no flesh living be justified, Ps 143:2. How should man be just with God? Some understand this as a passionate complaint of God's strictness and severity, that he is a God whom there is no dealing with; and it cannot be denied that there are, in this chapter, some peevish expressions, which seem to speak such language as this. But I take this rather as a pious confession of man's sinfulness, and his own in particular, that, if God should deal with any of us according to the desert of our iniquities, we should certainly be undone.
I. He lays this down for a truth, that man is an unequal match for his Maker, either in dispute or combat.
1. In dispute (Job 9:3): If he will contend with him, either at law or at an argument, he cannot answer him one of a thousand. (1.) God can ask a thousand puzzling questions which those that quarrel with him, and arraign his proceedings, cannot give an answer to. When God spoke to Job out of the whirlwind he asked him a great many questions (Dost thou know this? Canst thou do that?) to none of which Job could give an answer, Job 38:1-39:30 God can easily manifest the folly of the greatest pretenders to wisdom. (2.) God can lay to our charge a thousand offences, can draw up against us a thousand articles of impeachment, and we cannot answer him so as to acquit ourselves from the imputation of any of them, but must, by silence, give consent that they are all true. We cannot set aside one as foreign, another as frivolous, and another as false. We cannot, as to one, deny the fact, and plead not guilty, and, as to another, deny the fault, confess and justify. No, we are not able to answer him, but must lay our hand upon our mouth, as Job did (Job 40:4,5), and cry, Guilty, guilty.
2. In combat (Job 9:4): "Who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered?" The answer is very easy. You cannot produce any instance, from the beginning of the world to this day, of any daring sinner who has hardened himself against God, has obstinately persisted in rebellion against him, who did not find God too hard for him and pay dearly for his folly. Such transgressors have not prospered or had peace; they have had no comfort in their way nor any success. What did ever man get by trials of skill, or trials of titles, with his Maker? All the opposition given to God is but setting briers and thorns before a consuming fire; so foolish, so fruitless, so destructive, is the attempt, Isa 27:4, Eze 28:24, 1Co 10:22. Apostate angels hardened themselves against God, but did not prosper, 2Pe 2:4. The dragon fights, but is cast out, Re 12:9. Wicked men harden themselves against God, dispute his wisdom, disobey his laws, are impenitent for their sins and incorrigible under their afflictions; they reject the offers of his grace, and resist the strivings of his Spirit; they make nothing of his threatenings, and make head against his interest in the world. But have they prospered? Can they prosper? No; they are but treasuring up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath. Those that roll this will find it return upon them.
II. He proves it by showing what a God he is with whom we have to do: He is wise in heart, and therefore we cannot answer him at law; he is mighty in strength, and therefore we cannot fight it out with him. It is the greatest madness that can be to think to contend with a God of infinite wisdom and power, who knows every thing and can do every thing, who can be neither outwitted nor overpowered. The devil promised himself that Job, in the day of his affliction, would curse God and speak ill of him, but, instead of that, he sets himself to honour God and to speak highly of him. As much pained as he is, and as much taken up with his own miseries, when he has occasion to mention the wisdom and power of God he forgets his complaints, dwells with delight, and expatiates with a flood of eloquence, upon that noble useful subject. Evidences of the wisdom and power of God he fetches,
1. From the kingdom of nature, in which the God of nature acts with an uncontrollable power and does what he pleases; for all the orders and all the powers of nature are derived from him and depend upon him.
(1.) When he pleases he alters the course of nature, and turns back its streams, Job 9:5-7. By the common law of nature the mountains are settled and are therefore called everlasting mountains, the earth is established and cannot be removed (Ps 93:1) and the pillars there of are immovably fixed, the sun rises in its season, and the stars shed their influences on this lower world; but when God pleases he can not only drive out of the common track, but invert the order and change the law of nature. [1.] Nothing more firm than the mountains. When we speak of removing mountains we mean that which is impossible; yet the divine power can make them change their seat: He removes them and they know not, removes them whether they will or no; he can make them lower their heads; he can level them, and overturn them in his anger; he can spread the mountains as easily as the husbandman spreads the molehills, be they ever so high, and large, and rocky. Men have much ado to pass over them, but God, when he pleases, can make them pass away. He made Sinai shake, Ps 68:8. The hills skipped, Ps 114:4. The everlasting mountains were scattered, Hab 3:6. [2.] Nothing more fixed than the earth on its axletree; yet God can, when he pleases, shake the earth out of its place, heave it off its centre, and make even its pillars to tremble; what seemed to support it will itself need support when God gives it a shock. See how much we are indebted to God's patience. God has power enough to shake the earth from under that guilty race of mankind which makes it groan under the burden of sin, and so to shake the wicked out of it (Job 38:13); yet he continues the earth, and man upon it, and does not make it, as once, to swallow up the rebels. [3.] Nothing more constant than the rising sun, it never misses its appointed time; yet God, when he pleases, can suspend it. He that at first commanded it to rise can countermand it. Once the sun was told to stand, and another time to retreat, to show that it is still under the check of its great Creator. Thus great is God's power; and how great then is his goodness, which causes his sun to shine even upon the evil and unthankful, though he could withhold it! He that made the stars also, can, if he pleases, seal them up, and hide them from our eyes. By earthquakes and subterraneous fires mountains have sometimes been removed and the earth shaken: in very dark and cloudy days and nights it seems to us as if the sun were forbidden to rise and the stars were sealed up, Ac 27:20. It is sufficient to say that Job here speaks of what God can do; but, if we must understand it of what he has done in fact, all these verses may perhaps be applied to Noah's flood, when the mountains of the earth were shaken, and the sun and stars were darkened; and the world that now is we believe to be reserved for that fire which will consume the mountains, and melt the earth, with its fervent heat, and which will turn the sun into darkness.
(2.) As long as he pleases he preserves the settled course and order of nature; and this is a continued creation. He himself alone, by his own power, and without the assistance of any other, [1.] Spreads out the heaven (Job 9:8), not only did spread them out at first, but still spreads them out (that is, keeps them spread out), for otherwise they would of themselves roll together like a scroll of parchment. [2.] He treads upon the waves of the sea; that is, he suppresses them and keeps them under, that they return not to deluge the earth (Ps 104:9), which is given as a reason why we should all fear God and stand in awe of him, Jer 5:22. He is mightier than the proud waves Ps 93:4, Ps 65:7. [3.] He makes the constellations; three are named for all the rest (Job 9:9), Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and in general the chambers of the south. The stars of which these are composed he made at first, and put into that order, and he still makes them, preserves them in being, and guides their motions; he makes them to be what they are to man, and inclines the hearts of man to observe them, which the beasts are not capable of doing. Not only those stars which we see and give names to, but those also in the other hemisphere, about the antarctic pole, which never come in our sight, called here the chambers of the south, are under the divine direction and dominion. How wise is he then, and how mighty!
2. From the kingdom of Providence, that special Providence which is conversant about the affairs of the children of men. Consider what God does in the government of the world, and you will say, He is wise in heart and mighty in strength. (1.) He does many things and great, many and great to admiration, Job 9:10. Job here says the same that Eliphaz had said (Job 5:9), and in the original in the very same words, not declining to speak after him, though now his antagonist. God is a great God, and doeth great things, a wonder-working God; his works of wonder are so many that we cannot number them and so mysterious that we cannot find them out. O the depth of his counsels! (2.) He acts invisibly and undiscerned, Job 9:11. "He goes by me in his operations, and I see him not, I perceive him not. His way is in the sea," Ps 77:19. The operations of second causes are commonly obvious to sense, but God does all about us and yet we see him not, Ac 17:23. Our finite understandings cannot fathom his counsels, apprehend his motions, or comprehend the measures he takes; we are therefore incompetent judges of God's proceedings, because we know not what he does or what he designs. The arcana imperii—secrets of government, are things above us, which therefore we must not pretend to expound or comment upon. (3.) He acts with an incontestable sovereignty, Job 9:12. He takes away our creature-comforts and confidences when and as he pleases, takes away health, estate, relations, friends, takes away life itself; whatever goes, it is he that takes it; by what hand so ever it is removed, his hand must be acknowledged in its removal. The Lord takes away, and who can hinder him? Who can turn him away? (Margin, Who shall make him restore?) Who can dissuade him or alter his counsels? Who can resist him or oppose his operations? Who can control him or call him to an account? What action can be brought against him? Or who will say unto him, What doest thou? Or, Why doest thou so? Da 4:35. God is not obliged to give us a reason of what he does. The meanings of his proceedings we know not now; it will be time enough to know hereafter, when it will appear that what seemed now to be done by prerogative was done in infinite wisdom and for the best. (4.) He acts with an irresistible power, which no creature can resist, Job 9:13. If God will not withdraw his anger (which he can do when he pleases, for he is Lord of his anger, lets it out or calls it in according to his will), the proud helpers do stoop under him; that is, He certainly breaks and crushes those that proudly help one another against him. Proud men set themselves against God and his proceedings. In this opposition they join hand in hand. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, to throw off his yoke, to run down his truths, and to persecute his people. Men of Israel, help, Ac 21:28, Ps 83:8. If one enemy of God's kingdom fall under his judgment, the rest come proudly to help that, and think to deliver that out of his hand: but in vain; unless he pleases to withdraw his anger (which he often does, for it is the day of his patience) the proud helpers stoop under him, and fall with those whom they designed to help. Who knows the power of God's anger? Those who think they have strength enough to help others will not be able to help themselves against it.
¹⁴ How much less shall I answer him, and choose out my words to reason with him?
¹⁵ Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge.
¹⁶ If I had called, and he had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice.
¹⁷ For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.
¹⁸ He will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness.
¹⁹ If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead?
²⁰ If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.
²¹ Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.
What Job had said of man's utter inability to contend with God he here applies to himself, and in effect despairs of gaining his favour, which (some think) arises from the hard thoughts he had of God, as one who, having set himself against him, right or wrong, would be too hard for him. I rather think it arises from the sense he had of the imperfection of his own righteousness, and the dark and cloudy apprehensions which at present he had of God's displeasure against him.
I. He durst not dispute with God (Job 9:14): "If the proud helpers do stoop under him, how much less shall I (a poor weak creature, so far from being a helper that I am very helpless) answer him? What can I say against that which God does? If I go about to reason with him, he will certainly be too hard for me." If the potter make the clay into a vessel of dishonour, or break in pieces the vessel he has made, shall the clay or the broken vessel reason with him? So absurd is the man who replies against God, or thinks to talk the matter out with him. No, let all flesh be silent before him.
II. He durst not insist upon his own justification before God. Though he vindicated his own integrity to his friends, and would not yield that he was a hypocrite and a wicked man, as they suggested, yet he would never plead it as his righteousness before God. "I will never venture upon the covenant of innocency, nor think to come off by virtue of that." Job knew so much of God, and knew so much of himself, that he durst not insist upon his own justification before God.
1. He knew so much of God that he durst not stand a trial with him, Job 9:15-19. He knew how to make his part good with his friends, and thought himself able to deal with them; but, though his cause had been better than it was, he knew it was to no purpose to debate it with God. (1.) God knew him better than he knew himself and therefore (Job 9:15), "Though I were righteous in my own apprehension, and my own heart did not condemn me, yet God is greater than my heart, and knows those secret faults and errors of mine which I do not and cannot understand, and is able to charge me with them, and therefore I would not answer." St. Paul speaks to the same purport: I know nothing by myself, am not conscious to myself of any reigning wickedness, and yet I am not hereby justified, 1Co 4:4. "I dare not put myself upon that issue, lest God should charge that upon me which I did not discover in myself." Job will therefore wave that plea, and make supplication to his Judge, that is, will cast himself upon God's mercy, and not think come off by his own merit. (2.) He had no reason to think that there was anything in his prayers to recommend them to the divine acceptance, or to fetch in an answer of peace, no worth or worthiness at all to which to ascribe their success, but it must be attributed purely to the grace and compassion of God, who answers before we call and not because we call, and gives gracious answers to our prayers, but not for our prayers (Job 9:16): "If I had called, and he had answered, had given the thing I called to him for, yet, so weak and defective are my best prayers, that I would not believe he had therein hearkened to my voice; I could not say that he had saved with his right hand and answered me" (Ps 60:5), "but that he did it purely for his own name's sake." Bishop Patrick expounds it thus: "If I had made supplication, and he had granted my desire, I would not think my prayer had done the business." Not for your sakes, be it known to you. (3.) His present miseries, which God had brought him into notwithstanding his integrity, gave him too sensible a conviction that, in the ordering and disposing of men's outward condition in this world, God acts by sovereignty, and, though he never does wrong to any, yet he does not ever give full right to all (that is, the best do not always fare best, nor the worst fare worst) in this life, because he reserves the full and exact distribution of rewards and punishments for the future state. Job was not conscious to himself of any extraordinary guilt, and yet fell under extraordinary afflictions, Job 9:17,18. Every man must expect the wind to blow upon him and ruffle him, but Job was broken with a tempest. Every man, in the midst of these thorns and briers, must expect to be scratched; but Job was wounded, and his wounds were multiplied. Every man must expect a cross daily, and to taste sometimes of the bitter cup; but poor Job's troubles came so thickly upon him that he had no breathing time, and he was filled with bitterness. And he presumes to say that all this was without cause, without any great provocation given. We have made the best of what Job said hitherto, though contrary to the judgment of many good interpreters; but here, no doubt, he spoke unadvisedly with his lips; he reflected on God's goodness in saying that he was not suffered to take his breath (while yet he had such good use of his reason and speech as to be able to talk thus) and on his justice in saying that it was without cause. Yet it is true that as, on the one hand, there are many who are chargeable with more sin than the common infirmities of human nature, and yet feel no more sorrow than that of the common calamities of human life, so, on the other hand, there are many who feel more than the common calamities of human life and yet are conscious to themselves of no more than the common infirmities of human nature. (4.) He was in no capacity at all to make his part good with God, Job 9:19. [1.] Not by force of arms. "I dare not enter the lists with the Almighty; for if I speak of strength, and think to come off by that, lo, he is strong, stronger than I, and will certainly overpower me." There is no disputing (said one once to Cæsar) with him that commands legions. Much less is there any with him that has legions of angels at command. Can thy heart endure (thy courage and presence of mind) or can thy hands be strong to defend thyself, in the days that I shall deal with thee? Eze 22:14. [2.] Not by force of arguments. "I dare not try the merits of the cause. If I speak of judgment, and insist upon my right, who will set me a time to plead? There is no higher power to which I may appeal, no superior court to appoint a hearing of the cause; for he is supreme and from him proceeds every man's judgment, which he must abide by."
2. He knew so much of himself the he durst not stand a trial, Job 9:20,21. "If I go about to justify myself, and to plead a righteousness of my own, my defence will be my offence, and my own mouth shall condemn me even when it goes about to acquit me." A good man, who knows the deceitfulness of his own heart, and is jealous over it with a godly jealousy, and has often discovered that amiss there which had long lain undiscovered, is suspicious of more evil in himself than he is really conscious of, and therefore will by no means think of justifying himself before God. If we say we have no sin, we not only deceive ourselves, but we affront God; for we sin in saying so, and give the lie to the scripture, which has concluded all under sin. "If I say, I am perfect, I am sinless, God has nothing to lay to my charge, my very saying so shall prove me perverse, proud, ignorant, and presumptuous. Nay, though I were perfect, though God should pronounce me just, yet would I not know my soul, I would not be in care about the prolonging of my life while it is loaded with all these miseries." Or, "Though I were free from gross sin, though my conscience should not charge me with any enormous crime, yet would I not believe my own heart so far as to insist upon my innocency nor think my life worth striving for with God." In short, it is folly to contend with God, and our wisdom, as well as duty, to submit to him and throw ourselves at his feet.
²² This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.
²³ If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent.
²⁴ The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, and who is he?
Here Job touches briefly upon the main point now in dispute between him and his friends. They maintained that those who are righteous and good always prosper in this world, and none but the wicked are in misery and distress; he asserted, on the contrary, that it is a common thing for the wicked to prosper and the righteous to be greatly afflicted. This is the one thing, the chief thing, wherein he and his friends differed; and they had not proved their assertion, therefore he abides by his: "I said it, and say it again, that all things come alike to all." Now, 1. It must be owned that there is very much truth in what Job here means, that temporal judgments, when they are sent abroad, fall both upon good and bad, and the destroying angel seldom distinguishes (though once he did) between the houses of Israelites and the houses of Egyptians. In the judgment of Sodom indeed, which is called the vengeance of eternal fire (Jude 1:7), far be it from God to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked (Ge 18:25); but, in judgments merely temporal, the righteous have their share, and sometimes the greatest share. The sword devours one as well as another, Josiah as well as Ahab. Thus God destroys the perfect and the wicked, involves them both in the same common ruin; good and bad were sent together into Babylon, Jer 24:5,9. If the scourge slay suddenly, and sweep down all before it, God will be well pleased to see how the same scourge which is the perdition of the wicked is the trial of the innocent and of their faith, which will be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, 1Pe 1:7, Ps 66:10.
Let this reconcile God's children to their troubles; they are but trials, designed for their honour and benefit, and, if God be pleased with them, let not them be displeased; if he laugh at the trial of the innocent, knowing how glorious the issue of it will be, at destruction and famine let them also laugh (Job 5:22), and triumph over them, saying, O death! where is thy sting? On the other hand, the wicked are so far from being made the marks of God's judgments that the earth is given into their hand, Job 9:24 (they enjoy large possessions and great power, have what they will and do what they will), into the hand of the wicked one (in the original, the word is singular); the devil, that wicked one, is called the god of this world, and boasts that into his hands it is delivered, Lu 4:6. Or into the hand of a wicked man, meaning (as bishop Patrick and the Assembly's Annotations conjecture) some noted tyrant then living in those parts, whose great wickedness and great prosperity were well known both to Job and his friends. The wicked have the earth given them, but the righteous have heaven given them, and which is better—heaven without earth or earth without heaven? God, in his providence, advances wicked men, while he covers the faces of those who are fit to be judges, who are wise and good, and qualified for government, and buries them alive in obscurity, perhaps suffers them to be run down and condemned, and to have their faces covered as criminals by those wicked ones into whose hand the earth is given. We daily see that this is done; if it be not God that does it, where and who is he that does it? To whom can it be ascribed but to him that rules in the kingdoms of men, and gives them to whom he will? Da 4:32. Yet, 2. It must be owned that there is too much passion in what Job here says. The manner of expression is peevish. When he meant that God afflicts he ought not to have said, He destroys both the perfect and the wicked; when he meant that God pleases himself with the trial of the innocent he ought not to have said, He laughs at it, for he doth not afflict willingly. When the spirit is heated, either with dispute or with discontent, we have need to set a watch before the door of our lips, that we may observe a due decorum in speaking of divine things.
²⁵ Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good.
²⁶ They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey.
²⁷ If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness, and comfort myself:
²⁸ I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.
²⁹ If I be wicked, why then labour I in vain?
³⁰ If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean;
³¹ Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me.
³² For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment.
³³ Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.
³⁴ Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me:
³⁵ Then would I speak, and not fear him; but it is not so with me.
Job here grows more and more querulous, and does not conclude this chapter with such reverent expressions of God's wisdom and justice as he began with. Those that indulge a complaining humour know not to what indecencies, nay, to what impieties, it will hurry them. The beginning of that strife with God is as the letting forth of water; therefore leave it off before it be meddled with. When we are in trouble we are allowed to complain to God, as the Psalmist often, but must by no means complain of God, as Job here.
I. His complaint here of the passing away of the days of his prosperity is proper enough (Job 9:25,26): "My days (that is, all my good days) are gone, never to return, gone of a sudden, gone ere I was aware. Never did any courier that went express" (like Cushi and Ahimaaz) "with good tidings make such haste as all my comforts did from me. Never did ship sail to its port, never did eagle fly upon its prey, with such incredible swiftness; nor does there remain any trace of my prosperity, any more than there does of an eagle in the air or a ship in the sea," Pr 30:19. See here, 1. How swift the motion of time is. It is always upon the wing, hastening to its period; it stays for no man. What little need have we of pastimes, and what great need to redeem time, when time runs out, runs on so fast towards eternity, which comes as time goes! 2. How vain the enjoyments of time are, which we may be quite deprived of while yet time continues. Our day may be longer than the sun-shine of our prosperity; and, when that is gone, it is as if it had not been. The remembrance of having done our duty will be pleasing afterwards; so will not the remembrance of our having got a great deal of worldly wealth when it is all lost and gone. "They flee away, past recall; they see no good, and leave none behind them."
II. His complaint of his present uneasiness is excusable, Job 9:27,28. 1. It should seem, he did his endeavour to quiet and compose himself as his friends advised him. That was the good he would do: he would fain forget his complaints and praise God, would leave off his heaviness and comfort himself, that he might be fit for converse both with God and man; but, 2. He found he could not do it: "I am afraid of all my sorrows. When I strive most against my trouble it prevails most over me and proves too hard for me!" It is easier, in such a case, to know what we should do than to do it, to know what temper we should be in than to get into that temper and keep in it. It is easy to preach patience to those that are in trouble, and to tell them they must forget their complaints and comfort themselves; but it is not so soon done as said. Fear and sorrow are tyrannizing things, not easily brought into the subjection they ought to be kept in to religion and right reason. But,
III. His complaint of God as implacable and inexorable was by no means to be excused. It was the language of his corruption. He knew better, and, at another time, would have been far from harbouring any such hard thoughts of God as now broke in upon his spirit and broke out in these passionate complaints. Good men do not always speak like themselves; but God, who considers their frame and the strength of their temptations, gives them leave afterwards to unsay what was amiss by repentance and will not lay it to their charge.
1. Job seems to speak here, (1.) As if he despaired of obtaining from God any relief or redress of his grievances, though he should produce ever so good proofs of his integrity: "I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent. My afflictions have continued so long upon me, and increased so fast, that I do not expect thou wilt ever clear up my innocency by delivering me out of them and restoring me to a prosperous condition. Right or wrong, I must be treated as a wicked man; my friends will continue to think so of me, and God will continue upon me the afflictions which give them occasion to think so. Why then do I labour in vain to clear myself and maintain my own integrity?" Job 9:29. It is to no purpose to speak in a cause that is already prejudged. With men it is often labour in vain for the most innocent to go about to clear themselves; they must be adjudged guilty, though the evidence be ever so plain for them. But it is not so in our dealings with God, who is the patron of oppressed innocency and to whom it was never in vain to commit a righteous cause. Nay, he not only despairs of relief, but expects that his endeavour to clear himself will render him yet more obnoxious (Job 9:30,31): "If I wash myself with snow-water, and make my integrity ever so evident, it will be all to no purpose; judgment must go against me. Thou shalt plunge me in the ditch" (the pit of destruction, so some, or rather the filthy kennel, or sewer), "which will make me so offensive in the nostrils of all about me that my own clothes shall abhor me and I shall even loathe to touch myself." He saw his afflictions coming from God. Those were the things that blackened him in the eye of his friends; and, upon that score, he complained of them, and of the continuance of them, as the ruin, not only of his comfort, but of his reputation. Yet these words are capable of a good construction. If we be ever so industrious to justify ourselves before men, and to preserve our credit with them,—if we keep our hands ever so clean from the pollutions of gross sin, which fall under the eye of the world,—yet God, who knows our hearts, can charge us with so much secret sin as will for ever take off all our pretensions to purity and innocency, and make us see ourselves odious in the sight of the holy God. Paul, while a Pharisee, made his hands very clean; but when the commandment came and discovered to him his heart-sins, made him know lust, that plunged him in the ditch. (2.) As if he despaired to have a fair hearing with God, and that were hard indeed. [1.] He complains that he was not upon even terms with God (Job 9:32): "He is not a man, as I am. I could venture to dispute with a man like myself (the potsherds may strive with the potsherds of the earth), but he is infinitely above me, and therefore I dare not enter the lists with him; I shall certainly be cast if I contend with him." Note, First, God is not a man as we are. Of the greatest princes we may say, "They are men as we are," but not of the great God. His thoughts and ways are infinitely above ours, and we must not measure him by ourselves. Man is foolish and weak, frail and fickle, but God is not. We are depending dying creatures; he is the independent an immortal Creator. Secondly, The consideration of this should keep us very humble and very silent before God. Let us not make ourselves equal with God, but always eye him as infinitely above us. [2.] That there was no arbitrator or umpire to adjust the differences between him and God and to determine the controversy (Job 9:33): Neither is there any days-man between us. This complaint that there was not is in effect a wish that there were, and so the LXX. reads it: O that there were a mediator between us! Job would gladly refer the matter, but no creature was capable of being a referee, and therefore he must even refer it still to God himself and resolve to acquiesce in his judgment. Our Lord Jesus is the blessed days-man, who has mediated between heaven and earth, has laid his hand upon us both; to him the Father has committed all judgment, and we must. But this matter was not then brought to so clear a light as it is now by the gospel, which leaves no room for such a complaint as this. [3.] That the terrors of God, which set themselves in array against him, put him into such confusion that he knew not how to address God with the confidence with which he was formerly wont to approach him, Job 9:34,35. "Besides the distance which I am kept at by his infinite transcendency, his present dealings with me are very discouraging: Let him take his rod away from me." He means not so much his outward afflictions as the load which lay upon his spirit from the apprehensions of God's wrath; that was his fear which terrified him. "Let that be removed; let me recover the sight of his mercy, and not be amazed with the sight of nothing but his terrors, and then I would speak and order my cause before him. But it is not so with me; the cloud is not at all dissipated; the wrath of God still fastens upon me, and preys on my spirits, as much as ever; and what to do I know not."
2. From all this let us take occasion, (1.) To stand in awe of God, and to fear the power of his wrath. If good men have been put into such consternation by it, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? (2.) To pity those that are wounded in spirit, and pray earnestly for them, because in that condition they know not how to pray for themselves. (3.) Carefully to keep up good thoughts of God in our minds, for hard thoughts of him are the inlets of much mischief. (4.) To bless God that we are not in such a disconsolate condition as poor Job was here in, but that we walk in the light of the Lord; let us rejoice therein, but rejoice with trembling.
在本章及下一章，我们看到约伯对比勒达发言的回应。其中他以尊崇之辞论及神，以谦卑之辞论及自己，又以深切感受之辞论及自己的苦楚；却没有一句话是对朋友们或他们对他的冷漠的影射，也没有直接回答比勒达所说的话。他明智地紧扣事理本身，对发言者本人不作任何评断，也不寻找针对他的把柄。本章之中：I. 首先确立神公义的教义（伯9:2）。II. 从神的智慧、大能与至高的主权来加以证明（伯9:3-13）。III. 加以应用，其中：1. 他定自己的罪，承认自己无论在法庭或战场都无法与神争辩（伯9:14-21）。2. 他坚持自己的论点：我们不可凭人外在的境遇来判断其品格（伯9:22-24）。3. 他抱怨自己苦难的深重、内心的困惑，以及不知当说何话、当行何事的茫然（伯9:25-35）。