The Sunday next before Advent
The Collect.
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TIR up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the
wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit
of good works, may by thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen.
14.And
when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their
voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon
their heads toward heaven. 13. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven
days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief
was very great. (Job 2:12-13)
As mentioned in the study of the Second Chapter of Job, his three friends,
Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, came to visit Job when they heard of his
suffering. They came with the best of intentions, yet failed to comfort him. In
the final analysis, only the Holy Ghost can comfort those whose miseries arise
from strong faith tested. They wept in grief of their friend’s hurt. Satan,
like all times, is responsible for tears. The first tears were shed by the
fallen couple in Eden. They still rain down all over the world because of the
evil antics of Satan in his cunning deceptions. Only Christ can take our tears
upon Himself and keep them in His Bottle. These friends rent their mantle,
another sign of deep grieving. The sign is never the ultimate proof, for the
hypocritical Pharisees did likewise in making the false claim against Christ of
blasphemy. (Matt 26:65) The ultimate grief was that of God at the death of His
Son, Jesus, on the cross that dark and dreadful day at Calvary. The Temple Veil
was rent at His grief, but to our great satisfaction. No longer would there be
a Veil of Separation between the Father and His people. God initiated the rent,
for it was from top to bottom. Job’s three friends also threw dust in the air
to express their grief. They sat with Job without speaking for seven days (the
period of completeness). We are told that Joseph mourned for his father
likewise: he made a mourning for his father seven days.
(Gen 50:10) Job was so disfigured by his disease that he was unrecognizable as
one near death. That is the result of Satan’s doing to every child that is
born. The only remedy is Christ! It was also customary to allow the afflicted
to speak first, so the friends sat silent with Job for seven days. The
only remedy for such grief, caused by Satan, is Christ!
The concluding words of Job in verse 2:11 is prophetic in its anticipation, for
Job would soon cross over the line of keeping his speech free of doubting his
Maker’s purposes. Job was most likely moved by the presence of his friends, and
wanted to openly express his dismay to gain their full sympathy. Job breaks hi
sin in chapter 3 with an unseemly outburst of doubt which is shocking in view
of his previous strength of faith. 3. Let the day perish wherein I was
born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.
(Job 3:3) Though Job does not directly challenge God’s Providence, his
words are full of implied doubt. Job rejects the gift of his life as a
blessing, but rather labels it a curse. Life is a gift of God and never a
curse. From Job’s perspective, everything is lost;his wealth, his livestock,
his servants, his children, his home, and even his wife denies him. Job is
looking upon the present circumstances only. He is not unlike many good
Christians who view the wickedness of the world and are tempted to believe
there can be no remedy. We cannot see what beauty lies just over the horizon.
Neither could Job see what wonderful blessings God had in store for him. As we
have said before, man judges by the present instant; but God judges by the
whole scope of time. Job literally describes Hell as the kind of night for
which he was born: 6 As for that night, let darkness
seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come
into the number of the months. 7 Lo, let that night be solitary,
let no joyful voice come therein. Job asks that the hired mourners
deliver his own curse: 8. Let them curse it that curse the day, who are
ready to raise up their mourning. Job selfishly hopes for the stars of
twilight to give no light. If they do not, look at the beauty and wonder that
is lost, not just to Job, but to all the world. (vv 10 & 11)
In verses 11 thru 19, Job bewails his birth. In so doing, he is perhaps
unintentionally cursing his very parents. He yearns for the long dark night in
which there is no consciousness, either of trouble or of blessing, either of
good or of evil, either of God or of the devil. Such is death and such is that
outer darkness into which Judas slunk away that fateful night. Job is
unfortunately comparing the reward of the righteous to that of the wicked. An
eternal night would eternally blot out Job’s view of God. This is not at all
commendatory of Job’s blamelessness before God. Point to Ponder:
Fault not Job for this human failure for, until we have suffered as did Job,
how can we deny that our response would be the same? Job makes one mighty error
of judgment in saying the servant is free of his master for the master of Hell
is spiritually the devil himself.
Job questions (vv 20-22) why he is given light, being in pain. He rebels
against the Light itself which is God for all Light comes from the Father of
Lights (James 1:17). The devil is the author of darkness, but darkness cannot
abide a single candle. 23 Why is light given to a man whose way is
hid, and whom God hath hedged in? 24 For my sighing cometh before I eat,
and my roarings are poured out like the waters. 25 For the thing which I
greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
26 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet
trouble came. A rather irrational question. Light is given to a man
lost in the wilderness of pain and suffering so that he might find his way out.
How many lives have been brought into the bright Sun of God by the presence of
an exceptional moment, a Gideon bible on the night stand, an importunate
stranger, or the witness of a little child? Job here seems to deny even the
blessings of God of which he was heir BEFORE his illness. Suddenly, Job can see
virtue in nothing! His mental faculties are grown stronger to recognize truths
that are not truths, informed of a failing faith.
Allow me the license to anticipate the words of Job in the 14th
chapter: 1 Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of
trouble. 2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also
as a shadow, and continueth not. (Job 14:1-2) These words of Job convey
such a mournful spirit that they are incorporated in the Prayer Book Funeral
Order. All of these dreadful thoughts are conjured up by the painful loss and
sickness of Job and, ultimately, by Satan himself. While in a worldly way,
these words bear certain truth, to the Christian, they are meaningless for
physical death is only the beginning of life. Hard times and experiences can
throw each of us a bit off balance. We, too, would question our core values and
beliefs in times of unbearable adversity. But, like Job, we shall examine the
treasures of our hearts even when the treasure box itself is in ruins, and find
that God is still the Master and Keeper thereof despite the weary soul. There
is little doubt that, when this ordeal is over, Job shall emerge stronger and
fuller of faith than ever before the devil’s meddling.
