31 Then, opening his mouth, and cursing the day of his birth, 2 Job made answer and said, 3 Let destruction take the day of my birth, and the night on which it was said, A man child has come into the world. 4 That day—let it be dark; let not God take note of it from on high, and let not the light be shining on it; 5 Let the dark and the black night take it for themselves; let it be covered with a cloud; let the dark shades of day send fear on it. 6 That night—let the thick dark take it; let it not have joy among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. 7 As for that night, let it have no fruit; let no voice of joy be sounded in it; 8 Let it be cursed by those who put a curse on the day; who are ready to make Leviathan awake. 9 Let its morning stars be dark; let it be looking for light, but may it not have any; let it not see the eyes of the dawn. 10 Because it did not keep the doors of my mother's body shut, so that trouble might be veiled from my eyes.
11 Why did death not take me when I came out of my mother's body, why did I not, when I came out, give up my last breath? 12 Why did the knees take me, or why the breasts that they might give me milk? 13 For then I might have gone to my rest in quiet, and in sleep have been in peace, 14 With kings and the wise ones of the earth, who put up great houses for themselves; 15 Or with rulers who had gold, and whose houses were full of silver; 16 Or as a child dead at birth I might never have come into existence; like young children who have not seen the light. 17 There the passions of the evil are over, and those whose strength has come to an end have rest. 18 There the prisoners are at peace together; the voice of the overseer comes not again to their ears. 19 The small and the great are there, and the servant is free from his master.
20 Why does he give light to him who is in trouble, and life to the bitter in soul; 21 To those whose desire is for death, but it comes not; who are searching for it more than for secret wealth; 22 Who are glad with great joy, and full of delight when they come to their last resting-place; 23 To a man whose way is veiled, and who is shut in by God? 24 In place of my food I have grief, and cries of sorrow come from me like water. 25 For I have a fear and it comes on me, and my heart is greatly troubled. 26 I have no peace, no quiet, and no rest; nothing but pain comes on me.
41 And Eliphaz the Temanite made answer and said, 2 If one says a word, will it be a weariness to you? but who is able to keep from saying what is in his mind? 3 Truly, you have been a helper to others, and you have made feeble hands strong; 4 He who was near to falling has been lifted up by your words, and you have given strength to bent knees. 5 But now it has come on you and it is a weariness to you; you are touched by it and your mind is troubled. 6 Is not your fear of God your support, and your upright way of life your hope?
7 Have you ever seen destruction come to an upright man? or when were the god-fearing ever cut off? 8 What I have seen is that those by whom trouble has been ploughed, and evil planted, get the same for themselves. 9 By the breath of God destruction takes them, and by the wind of his wrath they are cut off. 10 Though the noise of the lion and the sounding of his voice, may be loud, the teeth of the young lions are broken. 11 The old lion comes to his end for need of food, and the young of the she-lion go wandering in all directions.
12 A word was given to me secretly, and the low sound of it came to my ears. 13 In troubled thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep comes on men, 14 Fear came on me and shaking, and my bones were full of trouble; 15 And a breath was moving over my face; the hair of my flesh became stiff: 16 Something was present before me, but I was not able to see it clearly; there was a form before my eyes: a quiet voice came to my ears, saying: 17 May a man be upright before God? or a man be clean before his Maker? 18 Truly, he puts no faith in his servants, and he sees error in his angels; 19 How much more those living in houses of earth, whose bases are in the dust! They are crushed more quickly than an insect; 20 Between morning and evening they are completely broken; they come to an end for ever, and no one takes note. 21 If their tent-cord is pulled up, do they not come to an end, and without wisdom?
44 Our fathers had the Tent of witness in the waste land, as God gave orders to Moses to make it after the design which he had seen. 45 Which our fathers, in their turn, took with them when, with Joshua, they came into the heritage of the nations whom God was driving out before the face of our fathers, till the time of David, 46 Who was pleasing to God; and he had a desire to make a holy tent for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon was the builder of his house. 48 But still, the Most High has not his resting-place in houses made with hands, as the prophet says, 49 Heaven is the seat of my power, and earth is a resting-place for my feet: what sort of house will you make for me, says the Lord, or what is my place of rest? 50 Did not my hand make all these things?
51 You whose hearts are hard and whose ears are shut to me; you are ever working against the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets was not cruelly attacked by your fathers? and they put to death those who gave them the news of the coming of the Upright One; whom you have now given up and put to death; 53 You, to whom the law was given as it was ordered by angels, and who have not kept it.
54 Hearing these things, they were cut to the heart and moved with wrath against him. 55 But he was full of the Holy Spirit, and looking up to heaven, he saw the glory of God and Jesus at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, Now I see heaven open, and the Son of man at the right hand of God. 57 But with loud cries, and stopping their ears, they made an attack on him all together, 58 Driving him out of the town and stoning him: and the witnesses put their clothing at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And Stephen, while he was being stoned, made prayer to God, saying, Lord Jesus, take my spirit. 60 And going down on his knees, he said in a loud voice, Lord, do not make them responsible for this sin. And when he had said this, he went to his rest.
(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.
