Job 2:12 Kommentar

We left Job honourably acquitted upon a fair trial between God and Satan concerning him. Satan had leave to touch, to touch and take, all he had, and was confident that he would then curse God to his face; but, on the contrary, he blessed him, and so he was proved an honest man and Satan a false accuser. Now, one would have thought, this would be conclusive, and that Job would never have his reputation called in question again; but Job is known to be armour of proof, and therefore is here set up for a mark, and brought upon his trial, a second time. I. Satan moves for another trial, which should touch his bone and his flesh (Job 2:1-5). II. God, for holy ends, permits it (Job 2:6). III. Satan smites him with a very painful and loathsome disease (Job 2:7, Job 2:8). IV. His wife tempts him to curse God, but he resists the temptation (Job 2:9, Job 2:10). V. His friends come to condole with him and to comfort him (Job 2:11-13). And in this that good man is set forth for an example of suffering affliction and of patience.

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 2 This chapter gives an account of a second trial of Job's constancy and integrity, the time and occasion of it, Job 2:1; the motion made for it by Satan, which being granted, he smote him from head to foot with sore boils, which he endured very patiently, Job 2:4; during which sad affliction he is urged by his wife to give up his integrity, which he bravely resisted, Job 2:9; and the chapter is concluded with an account of a visit of three of Job's friends, and of their conduct and behaviour towards him, Job 2:11.

So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights,.... Which was the usual time of mourning, Gen 50:10; not that they were in this posture all this time, without sleeping, eating, or drinking, and other necessaries of life; but they came and sat with him every day and night for seven days and nights running, and sat the far greater part of them with him, conforming themselves to him and sympathizing with him: and none spake a word unto him; concerning his affliction and the cause of it, and what they thought about it; partly through the loss they were at concerning it, hesitating in their minds, and having some suspicion of evil in Job; and partly through the grief of their own hearts, and the vehemence of their passions, but chiefly because of the case and circumstances Job was in, as follows: for they saw that his grief was very great; and they knew not well what comfort to administer, and were fearful lest they should add grief to grief; or they saw that his "grief increased exceedingly" (r); his boils, during these seven days, grew sorer and sorer, and his pain became more intolerable, that there was no speaking to him until he was a little at ease, and more composed and capable of attending to what might be said; they waited a proper opportunity, and which they quickly had, by what Job said in the following chapter: this account is given of his three friends in this place, because the greater part of the book that follows is taken up in giving an account of a dispute which passed between him and them, occasioned by what he delivered in the next chapter. (r) "quod creverat dolor valde", Pagninus, Montanus; so Mercerus Schultens, Michaelis, and the Targum. Next: Job Chapter 3

HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION. And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent everyone his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. Because the scourge had altered the appearance of the stricken man, his friends 'lift up their voice and weep,' 'rend their garments,' 'sprinkle dust upon their heads;' that seeing him altered to whom they had come, their voluntary grief might likewise alter the very appearance even of the comforters also. For the order in consolation is, that when we would stay one that is afflicted from his grief, we first essay to accord with his sorrow by grieving. For he can never comfort the mourner who does not suit himself to his grief, since from the very circumstance that his own feelings are at variance with the mourner's distress, he is rendered the less welcome to him, from whom he is parted by the character of his feelings; the mind therefore must first be softened down, that it may accord with the distressed, and by according attach itself, and by attaching itself draw him. For iron is not joined to iron, if both be not melted by the burning effect of fire, and a hard substance does not adhere to a soft, unless its hardness be first made soft by tempering, so as in a manner to become the very thing, to which our object is that it should hold. Thus we neither lift up the fallen, if we do not bend from the straightness of our standing posture. For, whereas the uprightness of him that standeth disagreeth with the posture of one lying, he never can lift him to whom he cares not to lower himself; and so the friends of blessed Job, that they might stay him under affliction from his grief, were of necessity solicitous to grieve with him, and when they beheld his wounded body, they set themselves to rend their own garments, and when they saw him altered, they betook themselves to defiling their heads with dust, that the afflicted man might the more readily give ear to their words, that he recognised in them somewhat of his own in the way of affliction. But herein be it known, that he who desires to comfort the afflicted, must needs set a measure to the grief, to which he submits, lest he should not only fail of soothing the mourner, but, by the intemperance of his grief, should sink the mind of the afflicted to the heaviness of despair. For our grief ought to be so blended with the grief of the distressed, that by qualifying it may lighten it, and not by increasing weigh it down. And hence perhaps we ought to gather, that the friends of blessed Job in administering consolation gave themselves up to grief more than was needed, in that while they mark the stroke, but are strangers to the mind of him that was smitten, they betake themselves to unmeasured lamentation, as if the smitten man who was of such high fortitude, under the scourge of his body, had fallen in mind too.

ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION. And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept. All heretics, in contemplating the deeds of Holy Church, lift up their eyes, in that they are themselves down below, and when they look at her works, the objects, which they are gazing at, are set high above them. Yet they do not know her in her sorrow, for she herself covets to 'receive evil things' here, that so being purified she may attain to the reward of an eternal recompence, and for the most part she dreads prosperity, and joys in the hard lessons of her training. Therefore heretics, who aim at present things as something great, know her not amidst her wounds. For that, which they see in her, they recognise not in the reading of their own hearts. While she then is gaining ground even by her adversities, they themselves stick fast in their stupefaction, because they know not by experiment the things they see. And they rent everyone his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. Like as we take the garments of the Church for the whole number of the faithful; (and it is hence that the Prophet saith, Thou shalt clothe thee with them all as with an ornament;) so the garments of heretics are all they that attaching themselves with one accord to them are implicated in their errors. But heretics have this point proper to themselves, that they cannot remain stationary for long in that stage wherein they leave the Church, but they are day by day precipitated into further extremes, and by hatching worse opinions they split into manifold divisions, and are in most cases parted the wider from one another by their contention and disorderment. Thus because all those, whom they attach to their ill faith, are further torn by them in endless splitting, it may well be said that the friends who come rend their garments, but when the garments are rent, the body is shewn through; for it oftentimes happens, that when the followers are rent and torn, the wickedness of their imaginings is disclosed, for discord to lay open the artifices, which their great guilt in agreeing together had heretofore kept close. But now, they 'sprinkle dust upon their heads to heaven.' What is represented by dust, saving earthly senses; what by the head, saving that which is our leading principle, viz. the mind? What is set forth by 'heaven,' but the law of heavenly revelation? So, to 'sprinkle dust upon the head to heaven,' is to corrupt the mind with an earthly perception, and to put earthly senses upon heavenly words. Now they generally canvas the words of God more than they take them in, and for this reason they sprinkle dust upon their heads, forasmuch as they strain themselves in the precepts of God, following an earthly sense, beyond the powers of their mind.

MORAL INTERPRETATION. And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept. For the vices do not know us in our afflictions, in that so soon as they have knocked at the dejected heart, being reproved they start back, and they, which as it were knew us in our joy, because they made their way in, cannot know us in our sadness, in that they break their edge on our very rigidity itself. But our old enemy, the more he sees that he is himself caught out in them, and that with a good courage, cloaks them with so much the deeper disguise under the image of virtues; and hence it is added, They lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. For by the weeping pity is betokened, discretion by the cutting of the garments, the affecting of good works by the dust upon the head, humility by the sitting. For sometimes the enemy in plotting against us feigns somewhat that is full of pity, that he may bring us down to an end of cruelty. As is the case, when he prevents a fault being corrected by chastisement, that that, which is not suppressed in this life, may be stricken with the fire of hell. Sometimes he presents the form of discretion to the eyes, and draws us on to snares of indiscretion, which happens, when at his instigation we as it were from prudence allow ourselves too much nourishment on account of our weakness, while we are imprudently raising against ourselves assaults of the flesh. Sometimes he counterfeits the affecting of good works, yet hereby entails upon us restlessness in labours, as it happens, when a man cannot remain quiet, and, as it were, fears to be judged for idleness. Sometimes he exhibits the form of humility, that he may steal away our affecting of the useful, as is the case when he declares to some that they are weaker and more useless than indeed they are, that whereas they look upon themselves as too unworthy, they may fear to administer the things wherein they might be able to benefit their neighbours.

What provoked these signs of compassion is now introduced. "When they saw him from afar, they did not recognize him," for his face was changed by sores, his clothing and his refinement gone because of the loss of his possessions. The term "from afar" should be understood to mean that measure by which a man can be recognized from a distance. This change in their friend stirred them to sadness and compassion which they showed by external signs, for there follows, "and raising their voices," out of the great depth of their sorrow, "they wept, and they rent their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads," as a sign of humility and dejection, as though they felt themselves to be cast down by the casting down of their friend. The text adds, "heavenward" as though they might provoke the mercy of heaven by this humiliation. Consider that the compassion of friends is a consolation, either because adversity like a burden is more lightly born when it is carried by many, or even more because all sorrow is alleviated when mixed with pleasure. To have the experience of someone's friendship is very pleasurable, which especially derives from their compassion in adversity and so offers consolation.

The vanity of human courses in the works of pleasure, planting, building, equipage, amassing wealth, etc., Ecc 2:1-11. Wisdom preferable to folly, Ecc 2:12-14; yet little difference between the wise and the foolish in the events of life, Ecc 2:15-17. The vanity of amassing wealth for heirs, when whether they will be foolish or wise cannot be ascertained, Ecc 2:18-21. There is much sorrow in the labor of man, Ecc 2:22, Ecc 2:23. We should enjoy what the providence of God gives, Ecc 2:25, Ecc 2:26.

They rent every one his mantle - I have already had frequent occasions to point out and illustrate, by quotations from the ancients, the actions that were used in order to express profound grief; such as wrapping themselves in sackcloth, covering the face, strewing dust or ashes upon the head, sitting upon the bare ground, etc., etc.; significant actions which were in use among all nations.

SATAN FURTHER TEMPTS JOB. (Job 2:1-8) a day--appointed for the angels giving an account of their ministry to God. The words "to present himself before the Lord" occur here, though not in Job 1:6, as Satan has now a special report to make as to Job.

toward heaven--They threw ashes violently upwards, that they might fall on their heads and cover them--the deepest mourning (Jos 7:6; Act 22:23).

Their Arrival: 12 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 threw dust upon their heads toward heaven. They saw a form which seemed to be Job, but in which they were not able to recognise him. Then they weep and rend their outer garments, and catch up dust to throw up towards heaven (Sa1 4:12), that it may fall again upon their heads. The casting up of dust on high is the outwards sign of intense suffering, and, as von Gerlach rightly remarks, of that which causes him to cry to heaven.