John Trapp on Job 2:8

Verſe 8. And he took him a pot ſheard] a piece of a broken pot, for want of better: oyntments he had none, nor baths to lenifie his ſoreneſſe. Phyſicians and friends were farre from him. He looked on his right hand, and beheld, Pſal. 14.2.4 Beza. but there was no man that would know him: refuge failed and periſhed from him; no man cared for his ſoule. He had ſtill a wife and ſervants, and (as ſome think) his houſhold-ſtuffe left him. He ſhould therefore by them have been helped; but they helped on his miſery, jeering him, and jeſting at him, as he afterwards complaineth. Himſelf therefore in this neceſſity, taketh a potſheard, a piece of an earthen-pot, thereby to mind himſelf, ſaith Gregory, that he was of the earth, earthy. For which cauſe alſo

He ſate down among the aſhes] or duſt, as repenting in duſt and aſhes, chap. 42.6. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. So Jonah 3.6. Matth. 11.22. The Septuagint ſay, that he ſat upon the dirt or dung, for want of a better cuſhion, and that he was laid without the City, as if for the ſtink and ill ſavour that came from him, he was not ſuffered to be in the City: as Ʋzziah afterwards being a Leper, dwelt in a houſe by himſelf alone, 2 Chron. 26.21. Diſce hîc, ſi aegrotas, ſaith Lanater, Learn here, if thou be ſick, and have help about thee, of friends, food, phyſick, clean linnen, and the like,In loc. to ſhew thy ſelf patient: poor Job had none of all this. Nay, the Lord Chriſt had not whereon to reſt his head. Sin autem omni curâ & ſolatio es deſtitutus, ſaith he. But ſay thou be deſtitute of all cure and comfort, forced to lie without doors, and upon the hard ground; ſay thou be in ſuch a condition, that thou canſt neither ſtand nor go, nor ſit, nor lie, nor eat (either for want of meat, or want of ſtomack): comfort thy ſelf with this, and the like examples of the Saints. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and what end the Lord made, James 5.11. He raiſeth the poor out of the duſt, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to ſet them among Princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory, 1 Sam. 2.8. Againe, let no man truſt to his preſent proſperity: Job, who heretofore ſpake not to his ſubjects but from his throne, was now ſeated upon a dung-hill: and his hands accuſtomed to bear the Scepter, were employed to wipe the matter which diſtilled from his ſores, as the French Paraphraſt hath it.