Job 3:19

_THE SMALL AND GREAT ARE THERE; AND THE SERVANT IS FREE FROM HIS MASTER._ The small and great are there - on the same footing, without distinction of rank (Proverbs 22:2). SERVANT. The slave is there manumitted from slavery....

11-19 Job complained of those present at his birth, for their tender attention to him. No creature comes into the world so helpless as man. God's power and providence upheld our frail lives, and his pity and patience spared our forfeited lives. Natural affection is put into parents' hearts by God. To desire to die that we may be with Christ, that we may be free from sin, is the effect and evidence of grace; but to desire to die, only that we may be delivered from the troubles of this life, savours of corruption. It is our wisdom and duty to make the best of that which is, be it living or dying; and so to live to the Lord, and die to the Lord, as in both to be his, Romans 14:8. Observe how Job describes the repose of the grave; There the wicked cease from troubling. When persecutors die, they can no longer persecute. There the weary are at rest: in the grave they rest from all their labo...

Verse Job 3:19. _THE SMALL AND GREAT ARE THERE._] All sorts and conditions of men are equally blended in the grave, and ultimately reduced to one common dust; and between the bond and free there is no difference. The _grave_ is "The appointed place of rendezvous, where all These travellers meet." _Equality_ is absolute among the sons of men in their _entrance_ into and _exit_ from the world: all the intermediate state is _disparity_. All men _begin_ and _end life alike_; and there is no difference between the king and the cottager. A contemplation of this should equally humble the _great_ and the _small_. The saying is trite

THE SMALL AND THE GREAT ARE THERE - The old and the young, the high and the low. Death levels all. It shows no respect to age; it spares none because they are vigorous, young, or beautiful. This sentiment has probably been expressed in various forms in all languages, for all people are made deeply sensible of its truth. The Classic reader will recall the ancient proverb, _Mors sceptra ligonibus aequat,_ And the language of Horace: _Aequae lege Necessitas_ _Sortitur insignes et imos._ _Omne capax movet urna nomen._ _Tristis unda scilicet omnibus,_...

EXPOSITION The "Historical Introduction" ended, we come upon a long colloquy, in which the several _dramatis personae_ speak for themselves, the writer, or compiler, only prefacing each speech with a very few necessary words. The speeches are, one and all of them, metrical; and are well represented in the Revised Version. The first colloquy extends from Job 3:1 to Job 14:22. JOB 3:1 AFTER THIS OPENED JOB HIS MOUTH. The first to take the word is Job, as, indeed, etiquette made necessary, when the visit paid was one of condolence. It can only be conjectured what the feelings were which had kept him silent so long. We may, perhaps, suggest that in the countenances and manner of his fr

THE SMALL AND GREAT ARE THERE,.... Both as to age, and with respect to bulk and strength of body, and also to estate and dignity; children and men, or those of low and high stature, or in a mean or more exalted state of life, as to riches and honour, these all come to the grave without any difference, and lie there without any distinction y "little and great are there all one"; as Mr. Broughton renders the words, see Revelation 20:12; AND THE SERVANT [IS] FREE FROM HIS MASTER; death dissolves all relations among men, and takes away the power that one has legally over another, as the husband over the wife, who at death is loosed from the law and power of her husband, Romans 7:2; and so parents over their children, and masters over their servants; there the master and the servant are tog

CHAPTER 3 JOB'S LAMENT _ 1. Job curses the day of his birth (Job 3:1)_ 2. He longs for death (Job 3:10) 3. The reason why (Job 3:24) Job 3:1. The silence is broken by Job. Alas! his lips do not utter praises now, but he cursed the day of his birth. It was a sore trial for Job to look into the faces of these pious friends, in perfect health and strength, and he, even more pious than they, stricken and smitten of God. It was an aggravation of Job's grief and sorrow. But let us notice though Job gives way to his feelings in this passionate outburst, he did not renounce God, nor is there a word of rebellion against Him. All through his a

JOB'S LAMENTATION. Here the later poem begins, and at once we pass into another world. The patient Job of the Volksbuch is gone, and we have instead one who complains bitterly that ever he was born. This cry of misery is thrice repeated, ever in deepening pathos (Job 3:1; Job 3:11; Job 3:20). JOB 3:1. The first cry of misery Would to God I had never been born. This is the idea when Job curses his day, and wishes it blotted out of existence. First he curses the day of his birth and the night of his conception together (Job 3:3) and then each separately, the day in two verses and th

MASTER. masters. Hebrew, plural for emphasis....

Would God I had died from my birth If he must be born, Job asks, Why he did not die from the womb? his eye turning to the next possibility and chance of escaping sorrow. Had he died he would have been at peace; and the picture of the painless stillness of death fascinates him and he dwells long on it, counting over with a minute particularity all classes, kings and prisoners, slaves and masters, small and great, who there drink deep of a common peace, escaping the unquietness of life, for life upon the earth, however lived, is full of a painful restlessness. The thought of this stillness of death brings a certain calm to the sufferer's mind, and the passionateness of his former words subsides....