John Trapp on Job 2:10

Verſe 10. But he ſaid unto her] He did not ſtart up, and lay upon her with his unmanly fiſt, (Chryſostome ſaith, it is the greateſt reproach in the world for a man to beat his wife) but he reproveth her, and that ſharply, as ſhe deſerved: and ſo did Jacob his beſt beloved Rachel, when the offence was againſt God, Gen. 30.2. A wiſe husband, ſaith Marcus Aurelius, muſt often admoniſh, never ſmite, and but ſeldome reprove, and that with the ſpirit of meekneſſe too, Gal. 6.1. Meekneſſe of wiſedome, Jam. 3.13. That was wonderful patience that was exerciſed by D. Youngs Benef. of Afflict. 153. Cowper Biſhop of Lincoln, who, when his wife had burnt all his Notes which he had beene eight years in gathering, left he ſhould kill himſelf with overmuch ſtudy (for ſhe had much ado to get him to his meales) ſhewed not the leaſt token of paſſion, but only replyed, Indeed wife, it was not well done; ſo falling to work again, he was eight years in gathering the ſame Notes, wherewith he compoſed his Dictionary. Job, though ſomewhat more tart, as reaſon required, the offence being of ſo high a nature; yet he breaks not out into fierce and furious language: he ſaith not, Go, go, thou art an arrant fool, a wicked woman, an abominable wretch, but

Thou ſpeakeſt like one of the fooliſh women] like one of the women of Idumea that have no ſap of wiſdome or goodneſſe in them, but do whip their gods, (as the Chinois are ſaid to do at this day) when they cannot have what they would have of them, and revile them for neglecting their worſhippers. Note here, that Jobs wife might be a good woman for the main, though in this particular ſhe did amiſſe: but it is a fault in Gods people, when it ſhall be ſaid unto them, Are ye not carnal, and walk, as men? when it ſhall be ſaid of Gods daughters, that they ſpeak or act like one of the fooliſh women. Davids daughters were known by their party-coloured garments, ſo ſhould Gods by the law of wiſdome in their lips and lives, by their patient minde made known to all men, by their eximious and exemplary holineſſe. What ſhould Jobs wife, the Governeſſe of ſuch a religious Family, the yoak-fellow of ſuch an holy Husband, be talking of curſing God? be ſpeaking after the rate of profane Edomites? The Heathen Comedian can ſay, that ſhe is a wiſe woman who can be well content to ſuffer hardſhip; and not repine, that it is now worſe with her then formerly it hath been: Job would fain bring his wife to this,Quae aquo animo pati poteſt ſibi eſſe pejus quam fuit. and therefore addeth,

What? ſhall we receive good &c] He ſeeketh to ſet her down, not with rage, but with reaſon: and that indeed is the right way of backing a reproof: wherein as there muſt be ſome warmth, ſo it may not be ſcalding hot. Words of reviling and diſgrace, they ſcald, as it were: But words that tend to convince the judgment, and to ſtir up the conſcience to a due conſideration of the fault, they be duely warm, and tend to make the phyſick work the more kindly.

Shall we receive good at the hands of God, and not evill?] Shall we not eat the cruſt with the crumbs? drink the ſowr with the ſweet? bleſſe God as well for taking away, as for giving; accept of the chaſtiſement of our iniquity? receive it patiently, thankfully, fruitfully? Shall we be all for comforts, and nothing at all for croſſes? Is it not equall that we ſhould ſhare in both, ſith it is the Lords mercy that we are not conſumed? Gen. 49.28. Jacob is ſaid to have bleſſed all his ſonnes. Now he ſeemed rather to curſe Reuben, Simeon and Levi; for he ſpeaks only of evill to them: But becauſe they were not rejected from being among Gods people, becauſe they were not cut out of the liſt (as Dan afterwards was, 1 Chron. 7. Revel. 7.7.) though they were under great and ſore afflictions, they are counted bleſſed. Doles quòd amiſiſti? gaude quòd [illegible: 1 letter] vaſiſti, ſaith Seneca: Grieveſt thou at thy loſſes? be glad that thy ſelf art eſcaped. Be ready at all hours, to ſend God home again the bleſſings which he lent us, with thankfulneſſe. There is a complaint of ſome men, ſo ungratefull, that if you do them nineteen courteſies,Auſon. and then deny them the twentieth, you loſe all your thank with them: Carry them on your back to the very ſuburbs of Rome, and not into the City it ſelf, you do nothing for them. God is not to be thus dealt with; eſpecially, ſince he altereth the property of thoſe evils and croſſes which he layeth upon us, turning them to our greateſt good, Rom. 8.28. like as the skilfull Apothecary turneth a poyſonfull Viper into a wholeſome Triacle. Good therefore and worthy of all acceptation is that counſell of the Wiſe-man, In the day of proſperity be joyfull, but in the day of adverſity conſider. Conſider? What? This, that God alſo hath ſet the one over againſt the other, Eccleſ. 7.14. and therefore thou muſt take the one as well as the other: that's but reaſonable and equitable. Plato ſaith, that God doth alwayes [non-Latin text not transcribed], act the Geometrician, do and diſpoſe of all things in number weight and meaſure: ſuch an order and viciſſitude he hath ſet of good and evill in the life of man, that they are as it were interwoven. Accept them therefore, and acquieſce in them both, as the Hebrew word here ſignifieth.

In all this Job ſinned not with his lips.] Hitherto he did not, though in a pitifull pickle, and much provoked by the wife of his boſome. He did not murmure againſt God, nor let fly at his wife; he did not threaten her as Lamech, nor fall out with the whole ſex, as he that ſaid, Foemina nulla bona est. He doth not wiſh himſelf ſingle againe,Sylla foelix, ſi non habuiſſes uxorem. Chaldaus Paraphraſtes & Talmudici. as Auguſtus did, or hold himſelf therefore onely unhappy becauſe married, as Sylla did. No ſuch unſavoury ſpeech falls from Jobs lips, as the Divel wiſhed and waited for it. Neither doth it follow (as ſome Rabbines would inferre from this Text) that Job ſinned in his heart, though not with his lips: for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth would have ſpoken. Look what water is in the Well, the like will be in the Bucket: and what ſtuff is in the ware-houſe, the like will be in the ſhop. If his heart had been exulcerate, he would not meekly and wiſely have withſtood his Wives motion to blaſpheme. Hitherto certainly, God had helped him. It was the uncouth and unkind carriage of his friends concurring with the increaſe of his bodily paine, beſides the eclipſe of inward comforts, that drew from him thoſe paſſionate expreſſions, chap. 3.