John Trapp on Job 3:12

Verſe 12. Why did the knees prevent me?] Why did the over-officious Midwife lay me on her lap, and not let me alone to periſh by my fatall helpleſsneſs? Man is a poor ſhiftleſſe creature; and Pliny railes at nature for producing him ſo forlorn, naked, and unable to help himſelf; but he knew not that this was a fruit of ſinne. Tully indeed could ſay, (whether he believed himſelf therein, I know not) Cum primùm naſcimur, in omni continuò pravitate verſamur, as ſoon as we are borne, we are head and eares all over in wickedneſſe: but Pliny was not ſo perſwaded, as I have elſwehere ſhewed.

Or why the brests that I ſhould ſuck?] Why did not my mother turn tygreſſe, and caſt me out when new born? Why was ſhe not cruell like the Oſtriches in the wilderneſſe,Lam. 4.3. that refuſe to give ſuck to their young ones? Rather we may ask, why doth Job out of his deepeſt diſcontent, think much of ſuch a mercy; and not rather bleſſe God, firſt, for filling two ſuch bottles with milk for him, ready againſt he came into the world? and then, for giving his mother an heart to ſuckle him, which ſome nice or unnaturall women will not, being therein worſe then thoſe Sea-monſters, Lam. 4.3. that ſuccour their young? The Heathens called their Ceres (Queene of plenty) Mammoſam, as the Nurſe of all living creatures: And there are that derive Gods Name Shaddai from Shad a dug: becauſe as he openeth the hand, ſo he drawes out the breſt to every living thing. And for his Saints, they may ſuck and be ſatisfied with the full-ſtrutting breſts of his conſolations, the two Teſtaments, Iſai. 66.11. And whatever Job now (under an heavy temptation, which, like lead, ſunk downward, and carried his ſoul with it) may miſ-judge, they may ſit and ſing thankfully with David, Lord thou (and not the midwife) art He that took me out of the womb; thou (and not my mother) keptſt me in ſafety when I hung upon the breſts: neither then only, but afterwards, for puerilitas eſt periculorum pelagus, and the Preſerver of men keepeth us ſtill from a thouſand deaths and dangers. And is this matter of complaint, and not rather of thankfulneſſe?