Job to God: 2. The death-wail of humanity.
I. THE WAIL OF HUMANITY IN THE EAR OF GOD.
1. The constitutional frailty of man. Moses, in the Book of Genesis (Genesis 1:26; Genesis 2:7), sets forth the dignity of man (Adam) as the crown of creation (Psalms 8:6), as the handiwork of God (Job 10:8; Psalms 100:3; Isaiah 15:1-9 :12), as the image of his Maker (Genesis 9:6; Acts 17:29; 1 Corinthians 11:7). Job here supplies the companion picture of the misery of man by representing him as:
2. The extreme brevity of human life. The period of man's continuance on earth is sorrowfully exhibited as:
"Tis but an hour ago since it was nine;
And after one hour more, 'twill be eleven;
And so, from hour to hour. we ripe and ripe,
And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot.'
('As You Like It,' act 2. sc. 5.)
3. The intense severity of human sorrow. Besides being of few days, woman-born man is full of trouble, literally, "full of unrest," of inward commotion and of outward motion, its inevitable sequence and result. Though perhaps it is not true of any that their existence on earth is so completely "satiated with sorrow," that no interludes of joy remain, it is yet true of most that affliction forms a principal ingredient in their cup (Job 5:7), while of all it may be said that a considerable portion of their troubles springs from the spirit of unrest with which they are surcharged, and of which the primal cause is sin. "A few seem favourites of fate, in pleasure's lap caressed," though even these are not "likewise truly blest" in the highest sense of the expression.
"But oh! what crowds in every land
Are wretched and forlorn,"
through bodily disease, mental anxiety, domestic sorrow, through "man's inhumanity to man," through the fierce raging of inward passion, through the terrible cankerworm of sin!
4. The inherited corruption of man's moral nature. "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one?" (verse 4). Read as a wish, "Oh that a pure one could come from an impure!" (Delitzsch), the idea is the same, that purity is impossible to man because of his origin. Descended from woman, he brings with him into life a legacy of physical frailty, and, what is worse, of uncleanness. The language may perhaps be regarded as giving enunciation to the doctrine of original sin' i.e. of the hereditary corruption of human nature—a doctrine pervading Scripture (Genesis 5:3; Genesis 6:5; Genesis 8:21; Psalms 51:5; 1 Corinthians 15:22; Romans 5:12-20; Ephesians 2:3); involved in the universal prevalence of sin (Job 11:12; Psalms 58:3; Revelation 22:15); presupposed in the necessity of regeneration (John 3:6); confirmed by the experience of God's people (Job 40:4; Psalms 51:5; Isaiah 6:5; Romans 7:14); and harmonizing with the all-pervading law of nature that like begets like.
II. THE APPEAL OF HUMANITY TO THE HEART OF GOD.
1. Deprecating judgment. "And dost thou open thine eyes upon such a one, and bringest me into judgment with thee?" (verse 3). A favourite idea with Job that the very frailty and sinfulness of man should have been his protection against the Divine inspection and judicial visitation, that it was scarcely worthy of the Divine Majesty to set a watch upon a creature so insignificant and feeble as man, or consistent with equity to arraign at his bar a being whose weakness was constitutional and hereditary. But that original sin or hereditary weakness does not destroy the consciousness of individual responsibility, is proclaimed by Scripture (Genesis 4:7; Exodus 32:33; Job 31:3; Ezekiel 18:4), attested by conscience, and believed by society. And, though man is frail, he is neither powerless for evil, nor unimportant as a factor in the history of earth. Hence he cannot safely be overlooked. Neither is he unjustly brought into judgment. Still God allows himself to be moved to compassionate forbearance by both a contemplation of man's frailty (Psalms 103:14), and a consideration of his inherited corruption (Genesis 6:3, Genesis 6:5).
2. Supplicating mercy. "Turn from him [literally, 'look away from him'], that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day" (verse 6). Considering that man has only a short day to live, Job entreats that that day may be mercifully exempted from such special sufferings as spring from a Divine marking and punishing of sin, in order that man, the poor hireling, may be able to perform his appointed task. On human life as a term of hard service, and man as a miserable hired drudge, see Job 7:1 (homiletics). The prayer tells us that no man can adequately execute the tasks assigned him by God on earth whose body is racked by pain and whose mind is tormented by spiritual fear. The soul that cannot look on God as a Friend, or upon whom God seems to look as an enemy, can never be at perfect rest (Isaiah 57:21). But he from whom God averts his face in the sense of not marking iniquity (Psalms 32:1), and much more upon whom God makes his face to shine in loving favour (Job 33:26; Psalms 89:15; John 16:22; Acts 2:28), possesses the true secret of happiness, and the noblest inspiration for Christian work In Christ the face of God is turned mercifully away from human sin, and compassionately towards human sorrow.
Learn:
1. There is no room for pride of ancestry in man, since all alike are woman-born. 2 The lowly origin of man should impress the heart with humility.
3. Since man's days are so full of trouble, it is a mercy they are few; and since they are so few, man should study to be patient under trouble.
4. The swift approach of death should stimulate to diligence and promote heavenly-mindedness.
5. The heart of God can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities.
6. God will never open his eyes to judge their sins who first open their eyes to behold his mercy.
7. One special reason of our requiring mercy is our inherited corruption, since it proves that we are, root and branch, depraved.