Charles Spurgeon

You will come to the grave in full vigor, like a sheaf of grain gathered in season.

“WE DO NOT BELIEVE all that Job’s friends said. They spoke very often as uninspired men, for we find them saying many things that are not true; and if we read the book of Job through, we might say with regard to them, “miserable comforters…”

Indeed, we have investigated, and it is true! So hear it and know for yourself.”

“THUS closed a forcible speech by Eliphaz the Temanite—it may be called his "summing up." He virtually says, "What I have testified in the name of my friends is no dream of theirs.”

Is tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the white of an egg?

“THIS is a question which Job asked of his friends who turned out to be so unfriendly. Thus he battles with those "miserable comforters" who inflamed his wounds by pouring in salt and vinegar instead of oil and wine.”

It still brings me comfort, and joy through unrelenting pain, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

“JOB'S dire distress was aggravated by the remarks of his friends. Eliphaz the Temanite opened fire against him in such words as these—"Behold, you have instructed many and you have strengthened the weak hands.”

Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep, that You must keep me under guard?

“JOB was in great pain when he thus bitterly complained. These moans came from him when his skin was broken and had become loathsome and he sat upon a dunghill and scraped himself with a potsherd.”

Why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity?

“NO man should rest until he is sure that his sin is forgiven. It may be forgiven and he may be sure that it is forgiven—and he ought not to give rest to his eyes, nor slumber to his eyelids till he has been assured…”

Though your beginnings were modest, your latter days will flourish.

“THIS WAS the reasoning of Bildad the Shuhite. He wished to prove that Job could not possibly be an upright man, for if he were so, he here affirms that his prosperity would increase continually, or that if he fell into any trouble, God would…”

“Yes, I know that it is so, but how can a mortal be righteous before God?

“THE great question for the human race to answer has always been this, "How can man be just with God?"”

Nor is there a mediator between us, to lay his hand upon us both.

“THE Patriarch Job, when reasoning with the Lord concerning his great affliction, felt himself to be at a disadvantage and declined the controversy, saying, "He is not a man, as I am, that I should answer Him and we should come together in judgment."”

You have granted me life and loving devotion, and Your care has preserved my spirit.

“IT is well, sometimes, to sit down and take a grateful review of all that God has done for us, and with us, from our first day until now.”

For you will forget your misery, recalling it only as waters gone by.

“JOB'S misery was extreme and it seemed as if he could never forget it. He never did forget the fact of it, but he did forget the pain of it.”

Who can bring out clean from unclean? No one!

“JOB considered himself to be unclean in the sight of God. Yet, if we speak the plain truth about him, we must say that he was as clean as any man who lived in that age, or, indeed, in any other!”

But you even undermine the fear of God and hinder meditation before Him.

“THIS is one of the charges brought by Eliphaz the Temanite against Job, "Yes, you cast off fear, and restrain prayer before God."”

Are the consolations of God not enough for you, even words spoken gently to you?

“THESE are the words of Eliphaz, one of those three friends of Job who blundered dreadfully over his case. Their words are not to be despised. For they were men in the front rank of knowledge and experience.”

Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.

“THE man who is righteous before God has a way of his own. It is not the way of the flesh, nor the way of the world. It is a way marked out for him by the Divine command in which he walks by faith.”

His strength is depleted, and calamity is ready at his side.

“Bildad was declaring the history of the hypocritical, presumptuous and wicked man. And he intended, no doubt, to insinuate that Job was just such a person—that he had been a deceiver and that, therefore, God's Providence had at last revealed him and was visiting him…”

Will you stay on the ancient path that wicked men have trod?

“Antiquity is, moreover, no excuse for sin. It may be that men have long transgressed, but use in rebellion will not mitigate the treason before the eternal Throne.”

Surely then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.

“THE Lord said to Eliphaz and his friends, "you have not spoken of Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job has." And, therefore, we must always regard what they said with careful discrimination.”

If only I knew where to find Him, so that I could go to His seat.

“Oh, that I knew where I might find Him!" Observe that Job is so taken up with his one great desire that he forgets that everybody else is not thinking in the same way—and he uses a pronoun, though he has not before uttered the…”

My feet have followed in His tracks; I have kept His way without turning aside.

“THUS Job speaks of himself, not by way of boasting, but by way of vindication. Eliphaz the Temanite and his two companions had brought distinct charges against Job's character.”

“As surely as God lives, who has deprived me of justice—the Almighty, who has embittered my soul—

“THE word, "who," was put into this verse by the translators, but it is not needed. It is better as I have read it to you, "The Almighty has vexed my soul."”

No bird of prey knows that path; no falcon’s eye has seen it.

“IN this chapter Job is speaking of the hidden treasures that are to be found deep down in the bowels of the earth.”

“How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me,

“FOR THE MOST part the gracious Shepherd leads his people beside the still waters, and makes them to lie down in green pastures; but at times they wander through a wilderness, where there is no water, and they find no city to dwell in.”

“How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me,

“IF Job here refers to the temporal prosperity which he had lost, we cannot condemn him for his complaint, neither can we commend him.”

My glory is ever new within me, and my bow is renewed in my hand.’

“THE first text tells us of the renown of Job and of the way in which the Providence of God continued to maintain the glory of his estate, his bodily health and his prosperity. He was for many days, months, years, continuously prospered of God.”