Matthew Henry Commentary Job 10
Matthew Henry Commentary
Job 10
Matthew Henry Commentary
Job 10
"My soul is weary of my life; I will give free course to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; Show me wherefore thou contendest with me. Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, That thou shouldest despise the work of thy hands, And shine upon the counsel of the wicked? Hast thou eyes of flesh? Or seest thou as man seeth? Are thy days as the days of man, Or thy years as man`s days, That thou inquirest after mine iniquity, And searchest after my sin, Although thou knowest that I am not wicked, And there is none that can deliver out of thy hand?" — Job 10:1-7 (ASV)
Job, being weary of his life, resolves to complain, but he will not charge God with unrighteousness. Here is a prayer that he might be delivered from the sting of his afflictions, which is sin. When God afflicts us, he contends with us. When he contends with us, there is always a reason, and it is desirable to know the reason, that we may repent of and forsake the sin for which God has a controversy with us.
But when, like Job, we speak in the bitterness of our souls, we increase guilt and vexation. Let us harbor no hard thoughts of God; we will in the future see there was no cause for them. Job is sure that God does not discover things, nor judges them, as people do; therefore, he thinks it strange that God keeps him under affliction, as if he must take time to inquire into his sin.
"Thy hands have framed me and fashioned me Together round about; yet thou dost destroy me. Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast fashioned me as clay; And wilt thou bring me into dust again? Hast thou not poured me out as milk, And curdled me like cheese? Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, And knit me together with bones and sinews. Thou hast granted me life and lovingkindness; And thy visitation hath preserved my spirit. Yet these things thou didst hide in thy heart; I know that this is with thee:" — Job 10:8-13 (ASV)
Job seems to argue with God, as if he only formed and preserved him for misery. God made us, not we ourselves.
How sad that those bodies should be instruments of unrighteousness, which are capable of being temples of the Holy Ghost!
But the soul is the life, the soul is the man, and this is the gift of God.
If we plead with ourselves as an inducement to duty that God made me and maintains me, we may also plead as an argument for mercy: You have made me, do make me new; I am Yours, save me.
"If I sin, then thou markest me, And thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity. If I be wicked, woe unto me; And if I be righteous, yet shall I not lift up my head; Being filled with ignominy, And looking upon mine affliction. And if [my head] exalt itself, thou huntest me as a lion; And again thou showest thyself marvellous upon me. Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, And increasest thine indignation upon me: Changes and warfare are with me. Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me. I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave. Are not my days few? cease then, And let me alone, that I may take comfort a little, Before I go whence I shall not return, [Even] to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death; The land dark as midnight, [The land] of the shadow of death, without any order, And where the light is as midnight." — Job 10:14-22 (ASV)
Job did not deny that as a sinner he deserved his sufferings; but he thought that justice was executed upon him with peculiar rigor. His gloom, unbelief, and hard thoughts of God were as much to be ascribed to Satan's inward temptations and his anguish of soul, under the sense of God's displeasure, as to his outward trials and remaining depravity.
Our Creator, who in Christ has also become our Redeemer, will not destroy the work of His hands in any humble believer; but will renew him to holiness, so that he may enjoy eternal life. If anguish on earth renders the grave a desirable refuge, what will be the condition of those who are condemned to the blackness of darkness forever? Let every sinner seek deliverance from that dreadful state, and every believer be thankful to Jesus, who delivers from the wrath to come.
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