his Cattell were 7000. Sheepe c. So then his substance sc of Cattell was seven thousand Sheepe Sheepe Sheepe for meate and Sheepe for cloathing the flesh and the fleece both are of great use And three thousand Camels Camels were used in those Countries for burthens and for travell especially in long journeyes Merchants travell'd with Camels as you may reade Gen. 37.25 Iosephs bretheren beheld a company of Ishmaelites which came from Gilead with their Camels and these were very strong for travell being able to abide much hunger and thirst as the naturall History affirmes Some affirme they will travell six dayes together in those hot Countries without drinke and therefore those Easterne parts are stock't and stor'd with Camels beasts so fit for service there And five hundred yoke of Oxen. Oxen for the tillage of the ground Their Oxen are strong to labour Psal 144. The Asses were for ordinary travell and for ordinary burthens about the house But you may say We reade in the Inventory which here is made of Iobs Estate that he had Sheepe and Camels Oxen and Asses but where was the Silver and the Gold where was the goodly Housholdstuffe the Jewels and the Plate here is no mention made of these I answer first that without doubt Job had silver and gold anâ— precious things It is cleere that he had when he saith Chap. 31 24. If I have made gold my hope or have said to the fine golâ— thou art my confidenee it had not beene proper for him to deâ— that gold was his hope in this sence if he had not had gold 〈◊〉 his possession or to say he did not confide in fine gold when hâ— had no gold to confide in Then he had gold and silver Anâ— for Jewels the holy story tells us Chap. 42.12 That God gaâ—â— Job twice as much as he had before and a part of what was reâ—stored to him was Jewels and Eare-rings Every man gave hiâ— a piece of Money and every one an Eare-ring of gold therefoâ— he had Jewels also in his possession at first or else they could 〈◊〉 be doubled to him in the day of his deliverance We find frequent mention in those ancient times of the riches of the Patriarcks and others in gold and silver It is exprest concerning Abraham Gen. 13.2 That Abraham was very rich in cattell in silver and in gold And Abrahams servant Gen. 24.35 saith of him The Lord hath blessed my Master greatly and he hath given him flocks and heards and silver and gold And verse 53. The servant brought forth Iewels of silver and Iewels of gold and gave them to Rebeckah he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things And Gen. 23.16 we reade of Abrahams paying foure hundred shekels of silver unto Ephron the Hittite which was called currant money with the Merchants So that it is plaine in those dayes gold and silver and Jewels were substance But here the Estate of Iob is reckoned and cast up by Cattell there is no mention of gold and silver and Jewels and precious stones and the like His substance was 7000. Sheepe c. Two reasons may be given for this accompt The first is this Because those ancient times were so much given to and imployed in the feeding of Cattell therefore they did reckon their estates by Cattell as we now doe by Money by gold and by silver or by yearely rents and revenues If a man had so many Cattell so many Sheepe so many Oxen c. they knew his Estate what gold and silver or other riches he might have When the sonnes of Iacob came before Pharaoh Gen. 46.32 they are called Shepheards The men are Shepheards for their trade hath beene to feede Cattell They are men of Cattell as if he should say the speciall commodity the maine thing these trade in is about Cattell and that gives the denomination They had gold and silver but they are men of Cattell And then againe for this reason Cattell are living substance Gold and silver are dead substance Cattell in their owne nature are more excellent then gold and silver because they have life Every thing that hath life is better in its degree then that which hath no life The lowest creature that hath life is better then the best without life the lowest of a superiour order is better then the highest of an inferiour Now all things without life are put into a degree into a Classis or forme below and inferiour to those that have life It is true that Money answereth all things Money is equivolently Sheepe and Oxen and Asses and Camels Money is equivolently bread and meate and drinke and cloathing and whatsoever you need it is virtually all that you may and can receive so that by way of commutation and exchange Money is all things but formally and in it selfe so these things are the life and sustenance and support of man therefore these goe away with the name and the title of the estate the estate or substance of Iob was in these naturall and living riches not in artificiall or dead riches Hence it was that the Antients gave the name Pecunia to Money which comes a Pecude from Cattell so the Criticks observe because they stamp'd the forme of a Sheepe or an Oxe upon Money noting that Cattell were the riches and the estate of a man properly and chiefely This may suffice for the reasons why the estate or riches of Iob is set forth by Cattell and not by gold and silver and other like possessions Further with this abundance of Cattell that Iob had we must understand though it is not exprest that he had Land sutable to such a stock And when these Numbers are set downe because we usually say he is but poore that can number his Cattell we are not to stand strictly upon the precise Number of seven thousand or five hundred c. But here are great quantities mentioned to note that Iob had many very many Cattell but that he had great numbers of all these Then it followes He had these and a very great houshold The words in the Originall doe signifie Servants or Tillage and Husbandry concerning Isaac Gen. 26. it is said that he had possessions of flocks and of heards and great store or servants so some reade it others that he had great store of husbandry It comes all to one purpose for the greatnesse of the houshold or multitude of servants were for those uses to mannage and order those Flocks that Tillage and Estate that God had blessed him with He had a very great houshold many attendants upon the severall services of his estate Lastly We have the summe and result as it were of all his estate in the close of the verse So that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East He was the greatest divers wayes greatest in riches greatest in power greatest in honour greatest in grace which is the best greatnesse
of spirituall priviledges and benefits so death takes away all distinctions in regard of civill priviledges In death there is neither small nor great neither male nor female neither bond nor free the greatest shall lie as low as the smallest and the highest as low as the meanest every one there shall be but as his neighbour and as his brother in the flesh There is but one distinction that will out-live death and death cannot take it away the distinction of holy and unholy cleane and uncleane beleever and an infidell these distinctions remaine after death and shall remaine for ever but rich and poore honourable and base high and low King and subject these distinctions shall be done away and forgotten as if they had never been no difference no distinction but that which God makes and that which grace makes can stand out against the power and stroake of death There the small and great are the same And the servant is free from his Master The servant There are two sorts of servants There are some who are voluntary servants and others who are servants by constraint There are some who might be free but they will not and there are others who would be free but they cannot Of the former sort we reade a Law Exod. 21.5 where the servant that loved his master and refused his freedome saying I will not goe out free must be brought before the Judges and have his eare bored thorow with an awle in token of his willingnesse to serve that Master for ever Others are servants by constraint as the people of Israel in Egypt who were made to serve with rigour Exod. 1.14 to serve whether they would or no which is servitude rather then service We may understand the Text of both The servant that is either he that doth voluntarily serve and willingly puts himselfe under the command of another or he which is under the command of another whether he will or no to both these death giveth freedome whether their Masters will or no The servant is free from his Master The word which we translate is free noteth that formall manumission or setting at liberty which is used in places or Corporations where freedomes are either purchased by money or deserved by appointed service And the word here translated Master is plurall Masters it is one of the Names of God Adonai which Name the Lord hath from government That very name is given to Masters of Families because they ought to governe and order the affaires and businesse of the family with wisedome and justice Every master of a family is a governour of the family he is as it were a King in his own family The servant is free from his Master Hence note first this Sinne brought in servility and the subjection of man to man I ground it thus because Iob speakes of service as of an estate of affliction as of an estate of trouble under which many groane and from which they can get no release till death breake the bands and sets them free In the state of innocency there was a dominion granted to man over the beasts but there was no dominion granted to man over man In the state of integrity relations should have continued but subjection should not have been found only that naturall subjection of children to Parents but as for civill subjection there had been no such thing in the world Before man forsooke the service of God he needed none to serve him service comes in by sinne and the increase of it by the increase of sinne As we see when Canaan was so vile as to forget the duty of a sonne he is set below or in the worst condition of a servant Gen. 9.5 Cursed be Canaan a servant of servants shall he be unto his bretheren that is the lowest and most abject servant As God of Gods is the greatest God and Lord of Lords is the Highest Lord so servant of servants is the lowest the basest servant So then as civill subjection came at first from sin so the increase of subjection which is to be a servant of servants came from the increase and progresse of sin Observe secondly A servant is not in his own dispose Though he be a voluntary servant yet he must serve the lawfull will of his master He may yea he ought in every ingenuous service to serve willingly but he is not at his own will to serve when or where or how he will Some have thought they have a freedome from service by the liberty of the Gospell or Gospel-priviledge and that is the reason why the Apostle 1 Tim. 6.1 gives that rule Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own Masters worthy of all honour c. He speakes of beleeving servants Some presumed they had such freedome by Christ that they might cast off subjection to men No saith the Apostle as many as are under the yoke that is while they continue servants they must submit to their condition yea though their Masters be unbeleevers as the next verse shewes And they that have beleeving Masters let them not despise them c. nothing takes away subjection but death for as he that is called in the Lord being a servant is the Lords free-man 1 Cor. 7.22 So he that is the Lords free-man being called to it is and ought to be mans servant The Centurion in the Gospell shewes the servants duty I say unto one goe and he goeth and to another come and he cometh and to my servant doe this and he doth it The servant is at his Masters beck not at his own dispose and nothing can free him but death so long as he continues under the yoke in that relation Hence observe thirdly That death concludes the subjection of man to man In the grave or there the servant is free from his Master there is no more service due to man when once death that king of terrours hath carried us into his dominions JOB 3. Ver. 20 21 22. Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery and life unto the bitter in soule Which long for death but it cometh not and dig for it more then for hid treasures Which rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they can find the grave c. AT this 20th verse the third and last Section of the Chapter begins Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery and life to the bitter in soule In the former part of the Chapter Job wished that death had surprised him assoone as ever he set his foot into the world yea before he came into the world that he might have died in the very wombe Here Job begins to expostulate why he having made so long a journey and in his latter time so troublesome a journey in the world why I say he is not at his request cut off and taken away by the stroake of death Why is light given to him that is in misery and life to the
it is a giving of glory to God and our giving glory to God is our blessing of God Josh 7.19 Give glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession unto him Thus blesse God that is confesse thy sin and so prepare thy selfe to die in a holy manner seeing thou art past hope of life addresse thy selfe piously for death Thus he and all upon these grounds First because he could not be perswaded that a wife the Governesse of such a holy family as Jobs was a wife the companion of such a holy man as Job was should be so full of the Devill so wicked to speake the Devils words with the Devils heart And secondly because Satan himself could not be so sencelesse as to beleeve or hope that such desperate counsell could ever take upon Jobs heart And therefore he conceives that she advised him only as any one would a dying friend or a malefactor condemned and ready to be carried to execution yet persisting in his sin or unlamenting the wickednesse which procur'd that sentence Her errour saith he was only this that she judged him wicked because he was thus smitten and that he trusted upon his integrity because he held it fast whereas indeed Job looked for no good but out of the hand of Free-grace and accounted his very Integrity but dung to the righteousnesse and redemption of the promised Messiah But with humble respect to so reverend an Authour there are two reasons strong against this Exposition in my apprehension which I shall propose and submit to the readers judgement The first is this It had been quite against Satans designe that Jobs wife should give her husband good counsell For it had been so farre from being an addition to Jobs affliction that it had been a great abatement of it to heare his wife speake so holily and administring such wholesome counsell in the substance of it though mistaken in the application of it to him And surely a heart so composed as Jobs was under all these pressures would have shaped out such an answer as this My deare wife I thanke thee for thy care and counsell thou hast a holy jealousie over me that I am not in such a posture of spirit as becomes a dying man Though there be an errour in thy advise as applied to me yet I take it as an errour of love and thy reproofe though misplaced is very acceptable and pretious unto me But which makes my second reason He reproves her for it and tells her plainely Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh Whereas if that had been the meaning of her words she spake as one of the wise women like a wise woman indeed It is an act of wisedome and of love both to suspect ill of another when that suspition leads us only to advise him for his good It is an excellent thing when jealousies are improved into faithfull counsels Surely then Job had never numbred her with the foolish women if that speech of hers had imported only an humble preparation for his approaching death In the second place Some who translate the words Blesse God and die doe yet expound them as very sinfull counsell though the words sound faire yet the sense is made very foule These understand them as an Ironie as if his wife scoffing and jeering her husband had said Doest thou still retaine thine integrity blesse God and die thou shalt have enough of thine integrity take thy fill of blessing of God thou art all for blessing God and holding fast thy integrity goe on if thou wilt and blesse God still and see what thou shalt get by it thou shalt have no other reward but a wound thou shalt receive no wages of this Master but death blesse God and die repeate that speech now which you used under the first affliction Repeate againe that beloved maxime with which you seeme to be so much delighted The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord you shall see it will not fright death away or be any security from the graveâ— you thought when you spoke those words first that they would have prevented a second trouble and that God who saw you take the former stroake so kindly at his hands would not strike you againe But you see good words are no defence against blowes And if thou shouldest be so foolish to flye for refuge to the same submissive language experience would quickly teach thee that as before it could not protect thee from this soare disease so now it would be no protection from the arrest of death Blesse God and die Some strengthen this sense from the forme of speaking here used which is imperative Blesse God and die She bids him doe it I doe it and spare not Such expressions import a mixture of scorne as Lam. 4.21 Rejoyce and be glad O daughter of Edom Here is a grant if not a command a seeming direction if not an injunction to rejoyce and be glad what is given as the occcasion of this joy The Cup also shall passe thorough unto thee What cup A cup of blood a cup of trembling And is this to be rejoyced in Surely in such joy the heart must be heavy and the acting of such mirth is sorrow yet he bids her rejoyce as if he had said be as merry as you can yet the cup shall passe thorough unto thee thou shalt not escape So Eccles 11.9 Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thine heart cheere thee and walke in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes doe so but know that for all these things God will bring thee into judgement Thus here Blesse God and die Goe on I pray take thy fill of blessing God blesse him as much and as long as thou wilt yet I see the image of death in thy face die thou shalt Mr. Broughton seemes to encline to such a meaning in his translation doest thou still hold thine integrity blessing God and dying As if she had said wilt thou be such a foole to goe on blessing God and dying blessing God while he is killing thee which was indeed Jobs wisedome and his resolution a little after Though he kill me yet will I trust in him So farre of those who translate the text blesse God and die with that two-fold exposition upon it I shall now consider what sense we are to make out of these words as we translate them and as they are indeed most generally translated Curse God and die This reading of the text seemes most answerable to Satans designe which being to provoke Job to curse God it was most proper to sute his wives spirit with such thoughts and to put his own words into her mouth Curse God and die This thred is of the same spinning with the former and carries Satans plot home upon his own principles She speakes this adversaries mind as fully as he could himselfe when she bids her