Job does not want to lie. He will not bear false witness about himself, calling himself a sinner while being sure of his righteousness. He is more ready to admit...
Job does not want to lie. He will not bear false witness about himself, calling himself a sinner while being sure of his righteousness. He is more ready to admit that God, for now, is depriving him of His judgment. He does not reject God, does not reject His righteousness, and does not doubt that God's judgment will still put everything in its place. But right now that judgment is absent, and Job speaks directly about what he sees and how he sees it. He does not want to lie to himself and to others for "pious" reasons. More than that, he regards such a lie as a very serious sin. A sin of which, among others, he accuses his friends. And of course the point here is not the words they said. One cannot pick fault with their words; they are so correct and self-evident that, in essence, they need not have been said at all.
The issue is why and for what purpose all these correct general words are being spoken. That is where the lie begins. Insincerity, when words that are perfectly correct in themselves are spoken not in defense of what they say, but in defense of one's own, at the least ambiguous, position. And sometimes a plainly deceitful one: the longer the conversation continues, the more the situation begins to lean precisely in that direction.
When general correct words hide from those who say them both the person and the real situation in which that person has found himself, this is, at minimum, a serious spiritual mistake. But when those saying them begin to suspect what is going on and understand the true motives for their insistence on correct words, it is no longer a mistake but a more or less conscious lie. And if the liars do not want to admit their lie even to themselves, so much the worse for them: unwillingness to see one's lie does not make a conscious sin into a mistake.
And here a question arises: what is such a person to do on the day of God's judgment? Then one will have to meet God face to face. What then? Will God really forgive deceit and falsehood merely because they were covered with pious words? The questions asked required a direct and honest answer. And a no less honest look at themselves.
27 Job protests his integrity, Job 27:1-6.
And his dread of hypocrisy, Job 27:7-10.
Shews the miserable end of the wicked, notwithstanding their long prosperity, Job 27:11-23.
27:1 Parable - His grave and weighty discourse.
27:2 Who - Though he knows my integrity, yet doth not plead my cause against my friends.
27:6 Reproach - With betraying my own cause and innocency.
27:7 Let - I am so far from practicing wickedness, that I abhor the thoughts of it, and if I would wish to be revenged of my enemy, I could wish him no greater mischief than to be a wicked man.
27:8 Though - Though they prosper in the world. God, as the judge takes it away, to be tried, and determined to its everlasting state.And what will his hope be then? It will be vanity and a lie; it will stand him in no stead.
27:10 Delight - When he has nothing else to delight in? No: his delight is in the things of the world, which now sink under him.And those who do not delight in God, will not always, will not long, call upon him.
27:12 Have seen - I speak what is confirmed by your own, as well as others experiences. Vain - To condemn me for a wicked man, because I am afflicted.
27:15 Remain - Who survive that sword and famine. Widows - For they had many wives. Weep - Because they also, as well as other persons, groaned under their tyranny, and rejoice in their deliverance from it.
27:16 As clay - In great abundance.
27:18 A moth - Which settleth itself in a garment, but is quickly and unexpectedly dispossessed of its dwelling, and crushed to death.A booth - Which the keeper of a garden or vineyard suddenly rears up in fruit - time, and as quickly pulls down again.
27:19 Lie down - In death. Not gathered - Instead of that honourable interment with his fathers, his carcase shall lie like dung upon the earth.One openeth his eyes - That is, while a man can open his eyes, in the twinkling of an eye. He is as if he had never been, dead and gone, and his family and name extinct with him.
27:20 Terrors - From the sense of approaching death or judgment.Waters - As violently and irresistibly, as a river breaking its banks, or deluge of waters bears down all before it. A tempest - God's wrath cometh upon him like a tempest, and withal unexpectedly like a thief in the night.
27:21 East - wind - Some terrible judgment, fitly compared to the east - wind, which in those parts was most vehement, and pernicious.Carrieth him - Out of his palace wherein he expected to dwell forever; whence he shall be carried either by an enemy, or by death.
27:22 Cast - His darts or plagues one after another. Would flee - He earnestly desires to escape the judgments of God, but in vain. Those that will not be persuaded to fly to the arms of Divine grace, which are now stretched out to receive them, will not be able to flee from the arms of Divine wrath, which will shortly be stretched out to destroy them.
27:23 Clap - In token of their joy at the removal of such a publick pest, by way of astonishment: and in contempt and scorn, all which this gesture signifies in scripture use. His - In token of detestation and derision.