31 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. 2 And Job answered and said, 3 Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night that said, There is a man child conceived. 4 That day—let it be darkness, let not +God care for it from above, neither let light shine upon it: 5 Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it; let clouds dwell upon it; let darkeners of the day terrify it. 6 That night—let gloom seize upon it; let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. 7 Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful sound come therein; 8 Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to rouse Leviathan; 9 Let the stars of its twilight be dark; let it wait for light, and have none, neither let it see the eyelids of the dawn: 10 Because it shut not up the doors of the womb that bore me, and hid not trouble from mine eyes.
11 Wherefore did I not die from the womb,—come forth from the belly and expire? 12 Why did the knees meet me? and wherefore the breasts, that I should suck? 13 For now should I have lain down and been quiet; I should have slept: then had I been at rest, 14 With kings and counsellors of the earth, who build desolate places for themselves, 15 Or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver; 16 Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants that have not seen the light. 17 There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the wearied are at rest. 18 The prisoners together are at ease; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster. 19 The small and great are there, and the bondman freed from his master.
20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in trouble, and life to those bitter of soul, 21 Who long for death, and it [cometh] not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures; 22 Who rejoice even exultingly and are glad when they find the grave?— 23 To the man whose way is hidden, and whom +God hath hedged in? 24 For my sighing cometh before my bread, and my groanings are poured out like the waters. 25 For I feared a fear, and it hath come upon me, and that which I dreaded hath come to me. 26 I was not in safety, neither had I quietness, neither was I at rest, and trouble came.
41 And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, 2 If a word were essayed to thee, wouldest thou be grieved? But who can refrain from speaking? 3 Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands; 4 Thy words have upholden him that was stumbling, and thou hast braced up the bending knees: 5 But now it is come upon thee, and thou grievest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. 6 Hath not thy piety been thy confidence, and the perfection of thy ways thy hope?
7 Remember, I pray thee, who that was innocent has perished? and where were the upright cut off? 8 Even as I have seen, they that plough iniquity and sow mischief, reap the same. 9 By the breath of +God they perish, and by the blast of his nostrils are they consumed. 10 The roar of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken; 11 The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the whelps of the lioness are scattered.
12 Now to me a word was secretly brought, and mine ear received a whisper thereof. 13 In thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men:— 14 Fear came on me, and trembling, and made all my bones to shake; 15 And a spirit passed before my face—the hair of my flesh stood up— 16 It stood still; I could not discern the appearance thereof: a form was before mine eyes; I heard a slight murmur and a voice: 17 Shall [mortal] man be more just than +God? Shall a man be purer than his Maker? 18 Lo, he trusteth not his servants, and his angels he chargeth with folly: 19 How much more them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed as the moth! 20 From morning to evening are they smitten: without any heeding it, they perish for ever. 21 Is not their tent-cord torn away in them? they die, and without wisdom.
44 Our fathers had the tent of the testimony in the wilderness, as he that spoke to Moses commanded to make it according to the model which he had seen; 45 which also our fathers, receiving from their predecessors, brought in with Joshua when they entered into possession of [the lands of] the nations, whom God drove out from [the] face of our fathers, until the days of David; 46 who found favour before God, and asked to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob; 47 but Solomon built him a house. 48 But the Most High dwells not in [places] made with hands; as says the prophet, 49 The heaven [is] my throne and the earth the footstool of my feet: what house will ye build me? saith [the] Lord, or where [is the] place of my rest? 50 has not my hand made all these things?
51 O stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers, ye also. 52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain those who announced beforehand concerning the coming of the Just One, of whom ye have now become deliverers up and murderers! 53 who have received the law as ordained by [the] ministry of angels, and have not kept [it].
54 And hearing these things they were cut to the heart, and gnashed their teeth against him. 55 But being full of [the] Holy Spirit, having fixed his eyes on heaven, he saw [the] glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, Lo, I behold the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God. 57 And they cried out with a loud voice, and held their ears, and rushed upon him with one accord; 58 and having cast [him] out of the city, they stoned [him]. And the witnesses laid aside their clothes at the feet of a young man called Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen, praying, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60 And kneeling down, he cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And having said this, he fell asleep.
(Read Acts 7:42-50)
Stephen upbraids the Jews with the idolatry of their fathers, to which God gave them up as a punishment for their early forsaking him. It was no dishonour, but an honour to God, that the tabernacle gave way to the temple; so it is now, that the earthly temple gives way to the spiritual one; and so it will be when, at last, the spiritual shall give way to the eternal one. The whole world is God's temple, in which he is every where present, and fills it with his glory; what occasion has he then for a temple to manifest himself in? And these things show his eternal power and Godhead. But as heaven is his throne, and the earth his footstool, so none of our services can profit Him who made all things. Next to the human nature of Christ, the broken and spiritual heart is his most valued temple.
(Read Acts 7:51-53)
Stephen was going on, it seems, to show that the temple and the temple service must come to an end, and it would be the glory of both to give way to the worship of the Father in spirit and in truth; but he perceived they would not bear it. Therefore he broke off, and by the Spirit of wisdom, courage, and power, sharply rebuked his persecutors. When plain arguments and truths provoke the opposers of the gospel, they should be shown their guilt and danger. They, like their fathers, were stubborn and wilful. There is that in our sinful hearts, which always resists the Holy Ghost, a flesh that lusts against the Spirit, and wars against his motions; but in the hearts of God's elect, when the fulness of time comes, this resistance is overcome. The gospel was offered now, not by angels, but from the Holy Ghost; yet they did not embrace it, for they were resolved not to comply with God, either in his law or in his gospel. Their guilt stung them to the heart, and they sought relief in murdering their reprover, instead of sorrow and supplication for mercy.
(Read Acts 7:54-60)
Nothing is so comfortable to dying saints, or so encouraging to suffering saints, as to see Jesus at the right hand of God: blessed be God, by faith we may see him there. Stephen offered up two short prayers in his dying moments. Our Lord Jesus is God, to whom we are to seek, and in whom we are to trust and comfort ourselves, living and dying. And if this has been our care while we live, it will be our comfort when we die. Here is a prayer for his persecutors. Though the sin was very great, yet if they would lay it to their hearts, God would not lay it to their charge. Stephen died as much in a hurry as ever any man did, yet, when he died, the words used are, he fell asleep; he applied himself to his dying work with as much composure as if he had been going to sleep. He shall awake again in the morning of the resurrection, to be received into the presence of the Lord, where is fulness of joy, and to share the pleasures that are at his right hand, for evermore.
