He hath hedged in my path round about, and I cannot pass, and in my way he hath set darkness.

“He hath fenced up my way, that I cannot pass: and He hath set darkness in my paths. He saw his 'way fenced up' with strokes, when anxiously desiring to pass into a state of security, he was not able to escape the scourges, and whereas he saw himself smitten, and yet did not find in himself a life worthy of such smiting, as it were 'in the paths' of the heart he met with 'the darkness' of his own ignorance, in that he could not fathom the cause wherefore he was so scourged. And this is not unfitly applied to the weak members of Holy Church too, when from this which they remember to have done wickedly, they are made backward in good practice as well, and, frightened by their own weakness, do not venture to attempt strong acts of goodness to match them. For they fear to begin great acts of goodness, who call to mind that they are infirm in their ways; and whereas they very often do not know the very good, which they should choose, they, as it were, shrink from the 'darkness placed in their paths.' For the mind often becomes so doubtful of its own doings, as not to know at all which is the virtue and which the fault. Thus he 'finds darkness in his path,' who in those things which he desires to do, is ignorant what he ought to choose. Therefore seeing that there is sin often from infirmity, and sometimes from ignorance, it is said in the person of the members that go weakly, He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass. While in the person of those who see not clear as to the very good work itself which they should choose, it is added; and He hath set darkness in my paths. For it is punishment of sin, to see the good which we ought to do, and yet not to have the power to fulfil it; and again it is in still worse punishment of sin, not even to see what we ought to do; and hence against both of these it is said by the voice of the Psalmist, The Lord is my Light and my Salvation; whom then shall I fear? For against the darkness of ignorance the Lord is a 'Light;' against weakness 'Salvation,' whilst He both shews what ought to be desired for the doing it, and supplies the powers, that what He shews may be fulfilled.”

“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.”

“Bildad had very disingenuously perverted Job's complaints by making them the description of the miserable condition of a wicked man; and yet he repeats them here, to move their pity, and to work upon their good nature, if they had any left in them. I. He complains of the tokens of God's displeasure which he was under, and which infused the wormwood and gall into the affliction and misery. How doleful are the accents of his complaints! "He hath kindled his wrath against me, which flames and terrifies me, which burns and pains me," Job 19:11. What is the fire of hell but the wrath of God? Seared consciences will feel it hereafter, but do not fear it now. Enlightened consciences fear it now, but shall not feel it hereafter. Job's present apprehension was that God counted him as one of his enemies; and yet, at the same time, God loved him, and gloried in him, as his faithful friend. It is a gross mistake, but a very common one, to think that whom God afflicts he treats as his enemies; whereas, on the contrary, as many as he loves he rebukes and chastens; it is the discipline of his sons. Which way soever Job looked he thought he saw the tokens of God's displeasure against him. 1. Did he look back upon his former prosperity? He saw God's hand putting an end to that (Job 19:9): "He has stripped me of my glory, my wealth, honour, power, and all the opportunity I had of doing good. My children were my glory, but I have lost them; and whatever was a crown to my head he has taken it from me, and has laid all my honour in the dust." See the vanity of worldly glory: it is what we may be soon stripped of; and, whatever strips us, we must see and own God's hand in it and comply with his design. 2. Did he look down upon his present troubles? He saw God giving them their commission, and their orders to attack him. They are his troops, that act by his direction, which encamp against me, Job 19:12. It did not so much trouble him that his miseries came upon him in troops as that they were God's troops, in whom it seemed as if God fought against him and intended his destruction. God's troops encamped around his tabernacle, as soldiers lay siege to a strong city, cutting off all provisions from being brought into it and battering it continually; thus was Job's tabernacle besieged. Time was when God's hosts encamped round him for safety: Hast thou not made a hedge about him? Now, on the contrary, they surrounded him, to his terror, and destroyed him on every side, Job 19:10. 3. Did he look forward for deliverance? He saw the hand of God cutting off all hopes of that (Job 19:8): "He hath fenced up my way, that I cannot pass. I have now no way left to help myself, either to extricate myself out of my troubles or to ease myself under them. Would I make any motion, take any steps towards deliverance? I find my way hedged up; I cannot do what I would; nay, if I would please myself with the prospect of a deliverance hereafter, I cannot do it; it is not only out of my reach, but out of my sight: God hath set darkness in my paths, and there is none to tell me how long," Psa 74:9. He concludes (Job 19:10), "I am gone, quite lost and undone for this world; my hope hath he removed like a tree cut down, or plucked up by the roots, which will never grow again." Hope in this life is a perishing thing, but the hope of good men, when it is cut off from this world, is but removed like a tree, transplanted from this nursery to the garden of the Lord. We shall have no reason to complain if God thus remove our hopes from the sand to the rock, from things temporal to things eternal. II. He complains of the unkindness of his relations and of all his old acquaintance. In this also he owns the hand of God (Job 19:13): He has put my brethren far from me, that is, "He has laid those afflictions upon me which frighten them from me, and make them stand aloof from my sores." As it was their sin God was not the author of it; it is Satan that alienates men's minds from their brethren in affliction. But, as it was Job's trouble, God ordered it for the completing of his trial. As we must eye the hand of God in all the injuries we receive from our enemies ("the Lord has bidden Shimei curse David"), so also in all the slights and unkindnesses we receive from our friends, which will help us to bear them the more patiently. Every creature is that to us (kind or unkind, comfortable or uncomfortable) which God makes it to be. Yet this does not excuse Job's relations and friends from the guilt of horrid ingratitude and injustice to him, which he had reason to complain of; few could have borne it so well as he did. He takes notice of the unkindness, 1. Of his kindred and acquaintance, his neighbours, and such as he had formerly been familiar with, who were bound by all the laws of friendship and civility to concern themselves for him, to visit him, to enquire after him, and to be ready to do him all the good offices that lay in their power; yet these were estranged from him, Job 19:13. They took no more care about him than if he had been a stranger whom they never knew. His kinsfolk, who claimed relation to him when he was in prosperity, now failed him; they came short of their former professions of friendship to him and his present expectations of kindness from them. Even his familiar friends, whom he was mindful of, had now forgotten him, had forgotten both his former friendliness to them and his present miseries: they had heard of his troubles, and designed him a visit; but truly they forgot it, so little affected were they with it. Nay, his inward friends, the men of his secret, whom he was most intimate with and laid in his bosom, not only forgot him, but abhorred him, kept as far off from him as they could, because he was poor and could not entertain them as he used to do, and because he was sore and a loathsome spectacle. Those whom he loved, and who therefore were worse than publicans if they did not love him now that he was in distress, not only turned from him, but were turned against him, and did all they could to make him odious, so to justify themselves in being so strange to him, Job 19:19. So uncertain is the friendship of men; but, if God be our friend, he will not fail us in a time of need. But let none that pretend either to humanity or Christianity ever use their friends as Job's friends used him: adversity is the proof of friendship. 2. Of his domestics and family relations. Sometimes indeed we find that, beyond our expectation, there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother; but the master of a family ordinarily expects to be attended on and taken care of by those of his family, even when, through weakness of body or mind, he has become despicable to others. But poor Job was misused by his own family, and some of his worst foes were those of his own house. He mentions not his children; they were all dead, and we may suppose that the unkindness of his surviving relations made him lament the death of his children so much the more: "If they had been alive," would he think, "I should have had comfort in them." As for those that were now about him, (1.) His own servants slighted him. His maids did not attend him in his illness, but counted him for a stranger and an alien, Job 19:15. His other servants never heeded him; if he called to them they would not come at his call, but pretended that they did not hear him. If he asked them a question, they would not vouchsafe to give him an answer, Job 19:16. Job had been a good master to them, and did not despise their cause when they pleaded with him (Job 31:13), and yet they were rude to him now, and despised his cause when he pleaded with them. We must not think it strange if we receive evil at the hand of those from whom we have deserved well. Though he was now sickly, yet he was not cross with his servants, and imperious, as is too common, but he entreated his servants with his mouth, when he had authority to command; and yet they would not be civil to him, neither kind nor just. Note, Those that are sick and in sorrow are apt to take things ill, and be jealous of a slight, and to lay to heart the least unkindness done to them: when Job was in affliction even his servants' neglect of him troubled him. (2.) But, one would think, when all forsook him, the wife of his bosom should have been tender of him: no, because he would not curse God and die, as she persuaded him, his breath was strange to her too; she did not care for coming near him, nor took any notice of what he said, Job 19:17. Though he spoke to her, not with the authority, but with the tenderness of a husband, did not command, but entreated her by that conjugal love which their children were the pledges of, yet she regarded him not. Some read it, "Though I lamented, or bemoaned myself, for the children," that is, "for the death of the children of my own body," an affliction in which she was equally concerned with him. Now, it appeared, the devil spared her to him, not only to be his tempter, but to be his tormentor. By what she said to him at first, Curse God and die, it appeared that she had little religion in her; and what can one expect that is kind and good from those that have not the fear of God before their eyes and are not governed by conscience? (3.) Even the little children who were born in his house, the children of his own servants, who were his servants by birth, despised him, and spoke against him (Job 19:18); though he arose in civility to speak friendly to them, or with authority to check them, they let him know that they neither feared him nor loved him. III. He complains of the decay of his body; all the beauty and strength of that were gone. When those about him slighted him, if he had been in health, and at ease, he might have enjoyed himself. But he could take as little pleasure in himself as others took in him (Job 19:20): My bone cleaves now to my skin, as formerly it did to my flesh; it was this that filled him with wrinkles (Job 16:8); he was a perfect skeleton, nothing but skin and bones. Nay, his skin too was almost gone, little remained unbroken but the skin of his teeth, his gums and perhaps his lips; all the rest was fetched off by his sore boils. See what little reason we have to indulge the body, which, after all our care, may be thus consumed by the diseases which it has in itself the seeds of. IV. Upon all these accounts he recommends himself to the compassion of his friends, and justly blames their harshness with him. From this representation of his deplorable case, it was easy to infer, 1. That they ought to pity him, Job 19:21. This he begs in the most moving melting language that could be, enough (one would think) to break a heart of stone: "Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O you my friends! if you will do nothing else for me, be sorry for me, and show some concern for me; have pity upon me, for the hand of God hath touched me. My case is sad indeed, for I have fallen into the hands of the living God, my spirit is touched with the sense of his wrath, a calamity of all other the most piteous." Note, It becomes friends to pity one another when they are in trouble, and not to shut up the bowels of compassion. 2. That, however, they ought not to persecute him; if they would not ease his affliction by their pity, yet they must not be so barbarous as to add to it by their censures and reproaches (Job 19:22): "Why do you persecute me as God? Surely his rebukes are enough for one man to bear; you need not add your wormwood and gall to the cup of affliction he puts into my hand, it is bitter enough without that: God has a sovereign power over me, and may do what he pleases with me; but do you think that you may do so too?" No, we must aim to be like the Most Holy and the Most Merciful, but not like the Most High and Most Mighty. God gives not account of any of his matters, but we must give account of ours. If they did delight in his calamity, let them be satisfied with his flesh, which was wasted and gone, but let them not, as if that were too little, wound his spirit, and ruin his good name. Great tenderness is due to those that are in affliction, especially to those that are troubled in mind.”

“He hath stripped me of my glory,.... The metaphor of a traveller may be still continued, who falling among thieves is stripped of his clothes, to which the allusion may be: Job was not stripped of his glory in a spiritual sense, not of the glorious robe of Christ's righteousness, nor of the graces of the Spirit, which makes saints all glorious within; but in a civil sense, and is to be understood not merely of his rich apparel, or of his robe, which he might wear as a civil magistrate, as an ensign of honour, and which made him look glorious; but either of his wealth, riches, and substance, which are a man's glory, and which he too often and too much glories in, though Job might not; see Psa 49:16; or of his children, Hos 9:11, Est 5:11; and indeed of everything that made him look magnificent among men; as an abundance of this world's good, a numerous family, fine clothes, sumptuous living, and a stately palace; all which Job might have had, but was now stripped of all by one means or another; and whoever were the instruments, he ascribes it all to God, as being according to his sovereign will and pleasure; and these things are very properly and significantly expressed by clothes a man is stripped of, because they are outward things, as garments are, adorn and make externally glorious, as they do, and of which a man may be as soon and as easily deprived as to be stripped of his clothes by one or more of superior power to him: and taken the crown from my head: meaning much the same as before, either his wealth and riches, which are the crown of a wise man, Pro 14:24; or his children, which are the crown of old then, Pro 17:6; or everything that gave him honour, reputation, and esteem with men; all was taken away from him, and his honour laid in the dust. Some from hence have wrongly concluded that Job was a king, and wore a royal diadem, of which he was now deprived, mistaking him for Jobab, a king of Edom, Gen 36:33; but he had and wore a better diadem, and which he did not lose, but held fast, even his righteousness, justice, and integrity, Job 29:14; and much less could the crown of life, righteousness, and glory, to which he was entitled, be taken from him.”