A35538:128
An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, fortieth, forty-first, and forty-second,…
An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, fortieth, forty-first, and forty-second, being the five last, chapters of the book of Job being the substance of fifty-two lectures or meditations / by Joseph Caryl ...
London: printed by M. and S. Simmons, 1666
Title page typeset from the transcription.
AN EXPOSITION WITH Practical Observations UPON The Thirty-eighth, T… › Chapter 38 › Verse 1-3
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.
Thirdly, If we consider the whole frame of the Lords discourse afterwards, beyond this preface, we shall find that he is not speaking for Job against Elihu, but for Elihu against Job, that is to humble Job; and therefore the Lord doth join in with Elihu, and useth the very same Arguments in the main (as will appear in opening the Chapter) which Elihu had insisted upon, namely from the works of God in the Creation, and his wonderful wisdom in ordering those works in Providence. So that the dealing of God with Job in these Chapters (as to the subject matter of it) very consentaneous or like to the matter which Elihu had handled and insisted upon, especially in the later part of his speech to Job; and therefore it doth not seem probable that God would reprove him for what he had spoken.
Thirdly, If we consider the whole frame of the Lords discourse afterwards, beyond this preface, we shall find that he is not speaking for Job against Elihu, but for Elihu against Job, that is to humble Job; and therefore the Lord doth joyn in with Elihu, and useth the very same Arguments in the main (as will appear in opening the Chapter) which Elihu had insisted upon, namely from the works of God in the Creation, and his wonderful wisdom in ordering those works in Providence. So that the dealing of God with Job in these Chapters (as to the subject matter of it) very consentaneous or like to the matter which Elihu had handled and insisted upon, especially in the later part of his speech to Job; and therefore it doth not seem probable that God would reprove him for what he had spoken.
Fourthly, the manner of this rebuke seems to fit Job very fully, ⟨p. 25⟩for therein he is not charged with any falsity or gross mistake (he indeed having spoken of God and the things of God, of his own innocency and piety, with the rewards of both, truly and worthily) but only with obscuring and darkening the things which he had uttered. His speech bearing much of the Image of his own troubled spirit and troublesome condition, was somewhat troubled and confused. Therefore I conclude that the person spoken to and reproved in this second verse was Job, not Elihu; Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? and it being resolved that he was the man, let me (before I proceed to the matter of this reproof) give out this brief Observation.