Who will grant me that my words may be written? Who will grant me that they may be marked down in a book?

“O that my words were now written! O that they were graven in a book with an iron pen, and a plate of lead, or surely that they were hewed in the flint! ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION Whereas all that blessed Job underwent, that heavy Jewish people, being instructed by the strong declaration of the Fathers, was brought to know, they were written with 'an iron pen' and 'a plate of lead;' but whereas the hard hearts of the Gentiles also were made acquainted with them, what is this but that we see them 'hewn in the flint?' And observe, that what is written on lead, by the mere softness of the metal, is quickly obliterated; but upon the flint letters may be more slowly stamped indeed, but more hardly obliterated. Therefore it is not unsuitably that by 'the plate of lead' Judaea is represented, which at once received the precepts of God without labour, and lost them with speed; and rightly by 'the flint' the Gentile world is represented, which could with difficulty receive the words of sacred revelation to keep, but kept them when received fixedly. Now by the 'iron pen' what else is denoted save the strong sentence of God? Whence too it is said by the Prophet, The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron on a diamond nail. The end of the body is in the nail, and a diamond is so hard a stone, that it cannot be cut with iron. Now by 'an iron pen' there is denoted a strong sentence, but by a 'diamond nail' the eternal end; so the sin of Judah is said to be written with a 'pen of iron upon a diamond nail,' in that the guilt of the Jews is reserved by the strong sentence of God for an end that is endless. Rightly too by 'a plate of lead' we understand those, whom the load of avarice weighs down, to whom it is said by the Prophet with upbraiding, O ye sons of men, how long heavy in heart! For by lead, the nature whereof is of a heavy weight, the sin of avarice is in a special manner denoted, which renders the mind it has infected so heavy, that it call never be raised to aim at things on high. Hence it is written in Zechariah, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth. And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their eye throughout all the earth. And behold there was lifted up a talent of lead, and, lo, one woman sitting in the midst of the ephah. And he said, This is wickedness; and he cast her into the midst of the ephah, and he cast the weight of lead on her face. And with reference to this vision of 'the ephah,' and 'the woman,' and 'the lead,' that he might shew more fully what he had been made to know, he yet further added going on, Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and behold there came out two women, and a spirit was in their wings, for they had wings like the wings of a kite, and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? And he said, To build it an house in the land of Shinar. Which testimony of the Prophet we have brought forward as a proof of the lead to no purpose, if we do not also explain it going over it again. Thus he says, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth; and I said, What is this? And he said, It is an ephah that goeth forth. God desiring to shew to the Prophet, by what sin above all others the human race fell away from Him, by the figure of an ephah as it were denoted the wide-opened mouth of avarice. For avarice is like an ephah, in that it keeps the mouth of the heart open and agape on the stretch. And he said, This is their eye through all the world. We see many men of dull sense, and yet we see them sharp in bad practices, as the Prophet too testifies, who saith, They are wise to do evil; but to do good they have no knowledge. And so these are dull in sense, but in those things which they desire, they are urged on by the goads of avarice; and they that are blind to see good, under the incitements of rewards are quick-eyed to the doing evil things. Hence it is rightly said of this same avarice, This is their eye in all the world. And behold there was lifted up a talent of lead. What is 'a talent of lead' but the weight of sin from that very avarice. And, lo, one woman sitting in the midst of the ephah. Which same woman, lest perchance we should doubt who she was, the Angel thereupon made known; for it follows there immediately, And he said, This is impiety; and he cast her into the midst of the ephah. Impiety is 'cast into the midst of the ephah,' in that in avarice there is always impiety taken in. And he cast the weight of lead on her face. The mass of lead is cast on the woman's face, in that the impiety of avarice is borne down by the very weight of its own sin; for if it did not reach after things that are below, it would never prove impious towards God and our neighbour. Then, lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and behold there came out two women and a spirit was in their wings. What do we understand by these 'two women' but the two principal vices, i.e. pride and vain glory, which are without any doubt united to impiety? Which two are described as having 'a spirit in their wings;' in that they are subservient to the will of Satan in their actions; for the Prophet calls that one 'a spirit,' concerning whom Solomon saith, If the spirit if him that hath power rise above thee, leave not thy place; and of whom the Lord saith in the Gospel; When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places. 'A spirit is in their wings,' in that in whatsoever they do, pride and vain glory render obedience to the will of Satan. And they had wings like the wings of a kite. Now the kite is always busied in plotting against the chicken kind. So these women have 'wings like the wings of a kite,' in that surely their doings are like the devil, who is always plotting against the life of the little ones. And they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. Pride and vain glory have this peculiar to them, that whosoever is infected by them, they lift up in his own conceit above the rest of his fellow creatures: at one time by pursuit of the gifts of fortune, at another time by the desire of dignities, the man whom they have once gotten captive, they, as it were, lift up into the height of honour. And he that is between the earth and the heaven, at once leaves things below, and fails altogether to attain the things on high. These women, then, 'lift up the ephah between the earth and the heaven,' in that pride and vain glory so exalt the mind taken captive through greediness of honour, that looking down upon all their neighbours, men do, as it were, leave things below, and in proud boasting seek high things. But all such persons, while they give themselves up to pride, at once in imagination mount above those, with whom they are placed, and are far from ever being united to the citizens above. Thus the ephah is said to be 'lifted up between earth and heaven,' in that all covetous persons through pride and vain glory at once despise their neighbours at their side, and never lay hold of the things above, which are beyond them; and so they are carried 'between the earth and the heaven,' in that they neither keep equality of brotherhood in this lower world by charity, nor yet are able to attain the world above by setting themselves up. And I said to the Angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? and he said, To build it an house in the land of Shinar. That same ephah has a 'house built it in the land of Shinar,' for 'Shinar' is rendered 'their ill savour;' and as there is a sweet savour from virtue, as Paul bears witness, who saith; and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place; For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ; so reversely there is an ill savour from vice. For covetousness is the root of all evil. And whereas every thing evil is engendered by avarice, it is meet that the house of avarice should be erected in 'ill savour.' Moreover it is necessary to be known that 'Shinar' is a very wide valley, wherein the tower was begun to be built by men giving themselves to pride, which, when the diversity of tongues was brought to pass, came to destruction; which same tower was called Babylon, forsooth on account of that very confusion of minds and tongues: nor is it inappropriately that the 'ephah' of avarice is placed there, where 'Babylon,' i.e. 'confusion,' is building, in that whereas it is certain that from avarice and impiety all things bad have their origin, this same avarice and impiety are rightly described as dwelling in confusion. We have said these things in few words out of course, that we might shew that the weight of sin is set forth by the 'plate of lead.' Yet these very words of blessed Job are also applicable to Holy Church, who while keeping the two testaments of sacred revelation, as it were begs a second time that her words should be written, saying, Oh! that my words were now written! Oh! that they were printed in a book! Which same, in that she speaks with a strong sentence at one time to hearts heavy from the weight of avarice, at another time to hardened hearts, 'writes with a pen of iron upon a plate of lead,' or, surely, 'upon the flint.' Now we say with justice that blessed Job uses the accents of our Redeemer and His Church, if we find any thing that he says explicitly of that same Redeemer of us men; for how is it to be believed that he teaches us any thing connected with Him in a figure, if he does not point Him out to us in express words? But now let him disclose to us what he is sensible of concerning Him, and let him take away from us all misgivings in our thoughts.”

“Job, answering, said: How long do you afflict my soul, etc. In these opening words Baldad seems to have intended two things: first, to refute Job for folly and pride and fury, by which he intended to afflict him just as his other friends did; and therefore he says, How long do you afflict my soul? Second, to confirm his own opinion that the adversities of the present life come upon men for their sins — an opinion which he had pursued at length by enumerating various adversities without adducing any other proof; and as to this Job adds, and bruise me with words, that is, you wear me out with words, you do not convince me with proofs. Now it is tolerable if someone speaks once against his friend, but if a man multiplies words of this kind it seems to be a sign of settled malice; hence he adds, behold, ten times you have confounded me, both by speaking yourselves and by hearing me with a certain indignation. Now before this reply Job is found to have spoken five times, if we begin from where he said, Let the day perish in which I was born, and his friends are found to have answered him five times; but at least out of shame, even if not out of friendship, they ought to have ceased afflicting one already afflicted; hence he adds, and are you not ashamed to oppress me, namely, weighing me down both with reproaches and with the length of your words. Among the other reproaches, Baldad seems to have taxed him with ignorance, when he said, understand first, and so let us speak — an ignorance which ought to have been tolerated by friends and excused on that account, and ought not to have been thrown in his face, especially in a time of adversity; and therefore he adds, and if indeed I have been ignorant, my ignorance shall be with myself, as if to say: it burdens no one but me, and so it was not your business, amid my adversities, to reproach me with ignorance; and therefore he adds, but you rise up against me, namely, displaying your own excellence, and you argue against me with my reproaches, that is, with things that pertain to me alone and burden no others. Having premised these things pertaining to the refutation of his friends, he proceeds to pursue his principal proposal, intending to show that what they said is false — that present adversities always come on account of past sins. From this supposition he immediately, from the very outset, draws out an absurdity, saying, at least now understand that God has not afflicted me with an equal judgment, as if to say: if adversities do not come except for sins, then God's judgment is not equitable, by which he has afflicted me grievously when I have not sinned grievously; and he says at least now, because up to this point he had not enumerated his adversities so particularly as now. Now he says that he is not only afflicted by adversities but also hemmed in by them so that he cannot find a way of escape; hence there follows, and has encompassed me with his scourges, because, namely, these very scourges have cut off the way of remedies; and he begins to pursue this in the following order. Now a remedy can be found in adversities, first through human help, and this in two ways: in one way, in the very deed, as when someone is violently oppressed by another and receives aid from a third party; and to exclude this he says, behold, I will cry out suffering violence, and no one will hear, as if to say: if I should cry out against those who oppress me violently, no one would hear so as to bring help. In another way, after the deed, as when someone who has suffered an injury complains to a judge who restores and vindicates him by sentence; and excluding this he adds, I will cry aloud, and there is none to judge, that is, if I should cry out complaining, there would be no judge present to free me by his judgment. Second, a remedy in adversities is found in the man himself who escapes the adversities, and this in two ways: in one way through power, and this he excludes, saying, he has hedged in my path round about, and I cannot pass, as if to say: he has placed so many obstacles in the way of my progress that I cannot remove them. In another way through prudence, and to exclude this he adds, and he has set darkness in my path, namely, so that I cannot see how I ought to proceed. Then, the remedies having been excluded, he goes on to add the adversities, beginning from the external goods which he lost. Among these he first places the loss of honor and glory, when he says, he has stripped me of my glory, because whereas before he had been held in honor and reverence, then even the younger men mocked him in time, as is said below in chapter 30. Second, he places the loss of dignity, when he adds, and has taken the crown from my head, because he who before sat as it were a king with the army standing about him, as is said below in chapter 29, now sitting on a dunghill scraped his sores with a potsherd, as was said above in chapter 2. Third, he places the loss of external goods when he says, he has destroyed me on every side, namely, all his external goods having been laid waste, and I perish, the adversity enduring, because there is no hope of recovery; hence he adds, and he has taken away my hope like a tree torn up: for a tree, as long as it clings to the earth by its roots, has hope, if its branches are cut off, of growing green again; but if its roots are torn out of the ground, it must necessarily dry up and perish; so too he himself, his roots as it were torn out, had no hope of recovering temporal prosperity. Now the root of hope is twofold: one on the side of divine help, the other on the side of human help. The root of hope that is on the side of divine help seemed to have been torn out by this, that God seemed to be gravely angry with him, according to the opinion of those who located divine punishment solely in the adversities of this life; hence he says, his fury is enraged against me, which he says to designate the vehemence of the anger: for fury is inflamed anger. Now the more vehement fury is, the sooner it is wont to pass, and so hope can remain for the future concerning one who is angry; but if anger passes over into hatred, then no hope at all seems to remain; and to signify this he adds, and thus he has treated me as his enemy: for no remedy is hoped for from an enemy. Now he places a sign of divine anger and hatred when he adds, his robbers have come together at once: he calls the Sabeans and the Chaldeans and the demons robbers, who had laid waste his goods all at once as if by agreement; and he calls them God's robbers, as though this had happened by divine ordinance, just as Job's friends also said. Now these aforesaid robbers plundered Job publicly, without any reverence or fear; hence he adds, and they have made themselves a way over me, as if to say: they have plundered me just as an enemy who is found on the road plunders. They also assailed him universally and persistently, and as to this he adds, and they have besieged, namely persistently, round about, that is, universally in every respect, my tabernacle, that is, the goods of my household. Then he shows that the root of hope which is on the side of human help has been torn out, showing that he could expect no help from those from whom it seemed most likely, and he enumerates first those who are separated from him in the dwelling of the house, beginning with his brothers, saying, he has made my brothers to be far from me, namely so that they either are unwilling or unable to bring me help; then he sets down familiar friends, when he adds, and my acquaintances have withdrawn from me like strangers, namely, not bringing me help; and as to blood relations, or those joined by any other tie of kinship, he adds, my kinsmen have forsaken me, not bringing help; and as to those with whom he had at some time associated, he adds, and they who knew me, namely formerly as a familiar friend, have now in my tribulation forgotten me, namely, not caring about me. After these he goes on to enumerate the members of his household, saying, the tenants of my house, namely those who used to be accustomed to serve me, and my maidservants have held me as a stranger, namely, not caring about my afflictions, and I was as a stranger in their eyes, namely, utterly despising me. Then, concerning the disobedience of his servants, he adds, I called my servant, and he did not answer me; and he adds also a proud contempt: I entreated him with my own mouth, that is, I had to deal with him not by command but by entreaties, because he despised me. Then he enumerates the persons most closely joined to him, namely his wife and children. Now the presence of a husband is wont to be most pleasing to a wife, unless perhaps he is rendered horrible by some grave corruption; and to signify this he adds, my wife has abhorred my breath, namely on account of the stench of the ulcers by which he was rendered horrible to her. Now it belongs to children to fulfill the parent's will at his mere nod; but it comes from a great contempt of the parent that the father, to whom reverence ought to be shown by the son, should have to entreat the son suppliantly; and to show this he adds, and I begged the sons of my own body. But this seems to be against what was said above in chapter 1, verse 19, that his sons and daughters were crushed by the collapse of the house; but it can be said that some little ones had remained who had not been present at that feast, or perhaps some children of his sons, who, imputing the death of their own parents to their own sins, held Job himself in contempt for it because of his sins. After he has said, therefore, that he was despised by his household and by outsiders, he next shows that he was despised also by fools and by the wise. Now it is proper to fools to despise those whom they see in miseries, because they think only earthly goods are to be honored; and therefore he says, even fools also despised me, namely while present in their sight, and when I had withdrawn from them they spoke against me, namely, pronouncing with their mouth what they were afraid to say in my presence. Then he also says he was despised by wise men whom he had once held as intimates, hence he says, they that were once my counselors have abhorred me, namely, whom I used to admit to my counsel on account of their wisdom, and he whom I loved most has turned against me: and perhaps he says this on account of one of them who was present, who was opposing him more grievously. Thus, then, the adversities pertaining to external things having been set forth, he adds concerning the wasting away of his own body, saying, my bone has cleaved to my skin, my flesh being consumed, because, namely, on account of the severity of his sickness his flesh had been consumed so that his skin cleaved to his bones. But because the lips are fleshy parts which cleave to the teeth as to bones, therefore, to except these, he adds, and only my lips are left around my teeth, by which he seems covertly to intimate that, all the other functions of his members having ceased, only the function of speech remained to him. His adversities having thus been enumerated, he invites them to compassion, doubling the petition for mercy on account of the multitude of his miseries, saying, have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you, my friends, since I have been forsaken by others; now the cause of pitying is misery, which is the graver the more forcibly it is brought on; and therefore he adds, because the hand of the Lord has touched me: for he understood himself to have been struck by God. Now it does not seem fitting that a man should add affliction to one already afflicted; and therefore he adds, why do you persecute me as God does? As if to say: the persecution that comes from God is enough for me; but it would be more fitting for you to offer consolation instead. And how they were persecuting him he shows by adding, and are you filled with my flesh? Which properly pertains to detractors, who are said to feed on human flesh insofar as they take delight in the infirmities of others: for the flesh is the weaker part of an animal. Who will grant me that they may be written, etc. Job had said above that his hope had been taken away like that of a tree torn up, which indeed he said referring to the hope of recovering temporal prosperity, to which his friends had incited him in many ways; and that this hope was not to be held he had shown above at length by leading it to various absurdities. But now he openly discloses his intention, showing that he had not said the foregoing as one despairing of God, but because he bore a loftier hope concerning him, referred not indeed to present goods but to future ones. And because he was about to say great and wondrous and certain things, he shows beforehand his desire that the statement he was about to make might be perpetuated in the faith of those who come after; now we transmit our thoughts and words to posterity through the office of writing, and therefore he says, who will grant me that my words may be written — namely, those which I am about to say concerning the hope which I have fixed in God — lest they be blotted out by oblivion? Now things that are written in ink are wont to be effaced through length of time, and therefore, when we wish some writing to be preserved for a long time, we do not merely write it in the manner of ordinary script but by some impression, whether in leather, or in metal, or in stone; and because that which he was hoping for was not to come about in the near future but was reserved to be fulfilled at the end of time, therefore he adds, who will grant that they may be engraved in a book with an iron pen — as it were by some impression made in leather — or, if this is too little, by an impression made more strongly on a sheet of lead, or, if this too seems too little, that they may surely be carved with an iron pen into flint? Now what these words are, which he wished to be preserved with such great care, he shows by adding, for I know that my Redeemer lives, and he pointedly assigns this in the manner of a cause: for we are not careful to commit to memory those things which we do not hold as certain, and therefore he pointedly says, for I know, namely, through the certitude of faith. Now this hope concerns the glory of the future resurrection, regarding which he first assigns the cause when he says, my Redeemer lives. Here it must be considered that man, who had been constituted immortal by God, incurred death through sin, according to that saying of Romans 5:12, by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin, death — from which sin indeed the human race was to be redeemed through Christ, which Job foresaw through the spirit of faith. Now Christ redeemed us from sin through death, dying for us; but he did not die in such a way that death swallowed him up, because although he died according to his humanity, he could not die according to his divinity; and from the life of the divinity even the humanity was restored to life by rising again, according to that saying of 2 Corinthians, the last chapter, for although he was crucified out of our weakness, yet he lives by the power of God; and the life of Christ rising will be diffused to all men in the common resurrection, whence the Apostle adds in the same place: for we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God in us; whence also the Lord says in Job 5:25 — the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they who hear shall live: for as the Father has life in himself, so has he given to the Son also to have life in himself. The primordial cause of human resurrection, therefore, is the life of the Son of God, which did not take its beginning from Mary, as the Ebionites said, but always was, according to that saying of Hebrews, the last chapter, Jesus Christ, yesterday and today, the same also forever; and therefore he pointedly does not say, my Redeemer will live, but lives. And from this cause he foretells the future resurrection, determining its time, when he adds, and on the last day I shall rise again from the earth, where it must be considered that certain persons, positing that the motion of the heavens and this present state of the world will endure forever, held that after certain revolutions of years, the stars returning to the same positions, dead men would be restored to life; but since a day is caused by the motion of the heavens, if the motion of the heavens should endure forever there would be no last day: and therefore, to remove the aforesaid error, he pointedly says, on the last day, and this agrees with the saying of the Lord, who says in John 6:40, I will raise him up on the last day. There were others who said that men will rise again resuming not earthly but certain celestial bodies; but to exclude this he adds, and again I shall be surrounded with my skin, which he says pointedly because he had said above that only the skin remained around his bones; and from this very manner of speaking he assigns the reason for the resurrection, namely, lest the soul should always remain stripped of its own garment. Again, there were others who said that the soul would resume the same body it had laid down, but under the same condition, namely so that it would need food and drink and would carry out the other fleshly works of this life; but this he excludes by adding, and in my flesh I shall see God. For it is manifest that the flesh of man, according to the state of the present life, is corruptible; but the body which is corrupted weighs down the soul, as is said in Wisdom 9:15, and therefore no one living in this mortal flesh can see God; but the flesh which the soul will resume in the resurrection will indeed be the same in substance, but will have incorruption by a divine gift, according to that saying of the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 15:53, this corruptible must put on incorruption; and therefore that flesh will be of such a condition that it will in no way impede the soul from being able to see God, but will be entirely subject to it. Not knowing this, Porphyry said that, in order for the soul to become blessed, every body must be fled from, as though it were the soul that would see God, not the man; and to exclude this he adds, whom I myself shall see, as if to say: not only my soul will see God, but I myself, who subsist from soul and body. And to show that the body too will in its own way be a partaker of that vision, he adds, and my eyes shall behold — not because the eyes of the body will see the divine essence, but because the eyes of the body will see God made man; they will also see the glory of God shining forth in the creature, according to Augustine at the end of the City of God. And so that man might be believed to be restored to see God the same not only in species but in number, he adds, and not another, namely in number, lest it be believed that he expects such a restoration of life as Aristotle describes in the second book of On Generation, saying that whatsoever things are of corruptible substance, when set in motion, are repeated the same in species, not the same in number. These things having thus been premised concerning the cause of the resurrection, its time and manner, and the glory of the one rising and the identity of the same, he adds, this my hope is laid up in my bosom, as if to say: my hope is not in earthly things, which you vainly promise, but in the future glory of the resurrection. He pointedly says, it is laid up in my bosom, to show that he held this hope not merely in words but hidden in his heart — not doubtful but most firm, not as something cheap but as something most precious: for what is hidden in the bosom is kept in secret, and is firmly preserved, and is reckoned dear. Thus, then, the loftiness of his hope which he had concerning God having been shown, he excludes their calumnies which they sought against him, as though he had cast aside hope in God and fear of him because he did not place his hope in temporal things; hence he adds, why then do you now say: let us persecute him, namely, as one despairing of God or not fearing God, and let us find a root of the matter against him — by disproving my words as though I had denied the providence of God? Which I do not deny, but assert, saying that rewards and punishments are prepared by God for men even after this life; and therefore he adds, flee then from the face of the sword, that is, of the divine vengeance reserved for you in the future life, although you flourish in temporal prosperity, since the sword is the avenger of iniquities, that is, the vengeance which he himself will properly bring after death; and know that there is a judgment, not only in this life but also after this life, in the resurrection of the good and the wicked.”

“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, Job 23:9; Job 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, Psa 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, Co1 4:3, Co1 4:4. 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, Job 19:24. 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 Goel which is used for the next of kin, to whom, by the law of Moses, the right of redeeming a mortgaged estate did belong, Lev 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; Rev 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, Rev 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, Co1 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, Job 23:9), 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," Rev 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, Jo1 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 (Mat 24:49), and therefore (v. 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, Mat 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.”

“That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! Or "that they were written with an iron pen and lead, that they were cut or hewn out in a rock for ever"; not with both an iron and leaden pen, or pencil; for the marks of the latter are not durable, and much less could it be used on a rock according to our version; but the sense seems to be, that they might be written with an iron pen, which was used in writing, Jer 17:1; upon a sheet of lead, as the Vulgate Latin version; for it was usual in ancient times, as Pliny (q) and others relate, for books to be made of sheets of lead, and for public records to be engrossed, as in plates of brass, so sometimes in sheets of lead, for the perpetuity of them; or else it refers to the cutting out of letters on stones, as the law was on two tables of stone, and filling up the incisions or cuttings with lead poured into them, as Jarchi suggests: so Pliny, (r) speaks of stone pillars in Arabia and the parts adjacent, with unknown characters on them; also this may have respect to the manner of writing on mountains and rocks formerly, as the Israelites at or shortly after the times of Job did. There are now, in the wilderness through which the Israelites passed, hills called Gebel-el-mokatab, the written mountains, engraved with unknown ancient characters, out into the hard marble rock; supposed to be the ancient Hebrew, written by the Israelites for their diversion and improvement which are observed by some modern travellers (s). In the last age, Petrus a Valle and Thomas a Novaria saw them; the latter of which transcribed some of them, some of which seemed to be like to the Hebrew letters now in use, and others to the Samaritans; and some agreed with neither (t); and Cosmoss the Egyptian (u), who wrote A. D. 535, declares on his own testimony, that all the mansions of the Hebrews in the wilderness were to be seen in stones with Hebrew letters engraved on them, which seemed to be an account of their journeys in it. The inscription on a stone at Horeb, brought from thence by the above mentioned Thomas a Novaria, and which Kircher (w) has explained thus, "God shall make a virgin conceive, and she shall bring forth a son,'' is thought by learned men to be of a later date, and the explication of it is not approved of by them. (x) Job may have in view his sepulchre hewn out of a rock, as was usual, and as that was our Lord was laid in; and so his wish might be that the following words were his funeral epitaph, and that they might be cut out and inscribed upon his sepulchral monument, his rocky grave; that everyone that passed by might read his strong expressions of faith in a living Redeemer, and the good hope he had of a blessed resurrection. (q) Nat. Hist. l. 13. c. 11. Alex. ab Alex. l. 2. c. 30. Pausaniae Messenica, sive, l. 4. p. 266. & Boeotica, sive, l. 9. p. 588. (r) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. & 29. (s) See a Journal from Cairo, &c. in 1722, p. 45, 46. and Egmont and Heyman's Travels, vol. ii. p. 171, 181. (t) Antiqu. Eccles. Orient. p. 147. (u) Apud Montfaucon, tom. 2. p. 205. (w) Prodrom. Copt. c. 8. p. 201, 207. (x) Vide Hottinger. Praefat. ad Cipp. Hebr. p. 6, 7, 8. Wagenseil Carmin. Lipman. Confut. p. 429, &c.”