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An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, and thirty-seventh chapters of…
An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, and thirty-seventh chapters of the book of Job being the substance of thirty-five lectures / by Joseph Caryl ...
London: printed by M. Simmons, 1664
AN EXPOSITION WITH Practical Observations UPON The Thirty-fifth, Th… › Chapter 35 › Verses 15-16
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain.
To open the mouth is a Periphrasis of speaking; As if he had said, therefore Job speaks in vain. To speak in vain, or to use vain words, is to speak to little or no purpose, as I have had occasion to show upon other places of this Book (Chap. 15.2. Chap. 16.3.) and therefore shall not stay upon it here. Job was no vain speaker, he used to speak words of weight, words of soberness and truth, yet was overborne by passion, though not to speak vain words in the matter, yet to speak or open his mouth in vain.
To open the mouth is a Pariphrasis of speaking; As if he had said, therefore Job speaks in vain. To speak in vain, or to use vain words, is to speak to little or no purpose, as I have had occasion to shew upon other places of this Book (Chap. 15.2. Chap. 16.3.) and therefore shall not stay upon it here. Job was no vain speaker, he used to speak words of weight, words of soberness and truth, yet was overborn by passion, though not to speak vain words in the matter, yet to speak or open his mouth in vain.
Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain. Consider the Inference, therefore, that is, First, Because he doth not humble himself in a patient dependence upon God; Secondly, because he doth not, as he ought, duly take notice of the purpose of God in visiting him; Thirdly, because he seems more solicitous and zealous in defending his own right and credit, than the honour and righteousness of God: for all these Reasons he openeth his mouth in vain, that is, he loseth his labour, in all this discourse, and might (as we speak proverbially) have saved his breath to cool his broth: Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain. Taking the Charge which Elihu brought against Job in the former verse, to be well grounded and true, we may Note, All our complaints to, and debates with God, as also all our Apologies for our selves in affliction, are fruitless and successless, till we give Glory to God, and answer his purposes, in laying his hand upon us.