Job 27:22
It hurls itself against him without mercy as he flees headlong from its power.
Sermons
Job a Victor in the ControversyE. Johnson Job 27:1-23
God's Treatment of Wicked MenHomilistJob 27:11-23
Zophar's Missing SpeechAlbert Barnes.Job 27:11-23
The Portion of a Wicked ManW.F. Adeney Job 27:13-23
The Reward of IniquityR. Green Job 27:13-23














Kingsley wrote an ode to the east wind. But few men have a good word for it. We in England, however, have quite our share of the presence of this unwelcome visitor. Has the east wind any religious significance to us.

I. THERE ARE DESTRUCTIVE FORCES IN NATURE. The east wind is destructive. It brings blight to plants and illness to men. We might have expected that a perfect world would have only fresh, healthy west winds. Yet we must recognize the fact that, like the east wind, lightning, tempest, earthquakes, drought, and deluge are naturally hurtful influences. We need not resort to a Manichaean explanation, and suppose that a malignant being is at the root of these things. For scientific research teaches us that the destroying agencies of nature minister to its progress. The biting east wind that cuts off the more tender plants leaves the hardier ones to flourish with greater freedom, and so tends to promote their growth and propagation. The buffeting of the world helps to develop robustness of character.

II. INFLUENCE PARTAKES OF THE CHARACTER OF ITS ORIGIN. The east wind is gendered on the dreary steppes of Russia. Arid plains suck out of it all its exhilarating properties. Cold regions lend it cruel barbs of ice. Even in beautiful, smiling England, the east wind comes as a blast from Siberia, and the desolation of the land of exile accompanies it. Spiritual influence is like its origin. Cruel natures can only spread an atmosphere of cruelty and distress about them. No man can influence others excepting through what he possesses. We cannot permanently disguise our characters. As we are in our hearts and homes, so shall we be ultimately in our work and in the outcome of our lives.

III. CHILDHOOD DETERMINES MANHOOD. Leagues away beyond whole empires the east wind is born in the far-off Russian solitude. Yet when it flies over our fields and rushes in at our doors it is true to the character it received in the land of its birth. Not only is its influence true to its origin, but the wind itself continues of the same harsh character, although it is now surrounded by very genial circumstances. The tone and set of life are determined in youth. Some asperity may be softened and mellowed by the discipline of later years; but in the main most men are of the character of their youth. Hence the great importance of a right life at the start.

IV. EAST WINDS ARE CONFINED TO EARTH. There are none in heaven. The storms and terrors of life that beset God's children are peculiar to this brief time of discipline. The fruits of the heavenly Eden are not touched by frost or blighting blast. Those people who have no portion in the better land may well dread the destructive agencies of nature, which tear away all that they have to live for. But true Christians should learn to face the east wind of cutting calamity, knowing that they have but to cross the moor, and a cheerful home will welcome them on the other side. - W.F.A.

The Almighty hath vexed my soul.
The word "who" was put into this verse by the translators, but it is not wanted; it is better as I have read it to you, "The Almighty hath vexed my soul." The marginal reading is perhaps a more exact translation of the original: "The Almighty hath embittered my soul." From this we learn that a good man may have his soul vexed; he may not be able to preserve the serenity of his mind. There is a needs be, sometimes, that we should be "in heaviness through manifold temptations." Even to rivers there are rapids and cataracts, and so, methinks, in the most smoothly flowing life, there surely must be breaks of distraction and of distress. At any rate, it was so with Job. It is also clear, from our text, that a good man may trace the vexation of his soul distinctly to God. It was not merely that Job's former troubles had come from God, for he had borne up under them; when all he had was gone, he had still blessed the name of the Lord with holy serenity. But God had permitted these three eminent and distinguished men, mighty in speech, to come about him, to rub salt into his wounds, and so to increase his agony. Advancing a step further, we notice that, in all this, Job did not rebel against God, or speak a word against Him. He swore by that very God who had vexed his soul. See how it stands here: "As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment, and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul." He stood fast to it that this God was the true God, he called Him good, he believed Him to be almighty; it never occurred to Job to bring a railing accusation against God, or to start aside from his allegiance to Him. Now go another step, and notice that this embittering of Job's soul was intended for his good. The patriarch was to have his wealth doubled, and he therefore needed double grace that he might be able to bear the burden. When that end was accomplished, all the bitterness was turned into sweetness.

I. First, I shall speak upon A PERSONAL FACT. Many a person has to say, "The Almighty hath embittered my soul."

1. This happened to you, perhaps, through a series of very remarkable troubles.

2. It may be, however, that you have not had a succession of troubles, but you have had one trial constantly gnawing at your heart.

3. I hope that it has become saddened through a sense of sin.

4. It may be that this is not exactly your case, but you are restless and weary.

5. Beside all this, there is an undefined dread upon you. "The Almighty hath embittered my soul."

II. From this personal fact of which I have spoken I want to draw AN INSTRUCTIVE ARGUMENT, which has two edges.

1. If the Almighty — note that word "Almighty" — has vexed your soul as much as He has, how much more is He able to vex it! Now turn the argument the other way.

2. If it be the Almighty who has troubled us, surely He can also comfort us. He that is strong to sink is also strong to save.

III. Here is A HEALTHFUL INQUIRY for everyone whose soul has been vexed by God.

1. The inquiry is, first, is not God just in vexing my soul? Listen. Some of you have long vexed Him; you have grieved His Holy Spirit for years. Well, if you vex God's people, you must not be surprised if He vexes you.

2. Another point of inquiry is this: What can be God's design in vexing your soul? Surely He has a kind design in it all. God is never anything but good. Rest assured that He takes no delight in your miseries. You forgot Him when everything went merry as a marriage peal. It may be, too, that He is sending this trial to let you know that He thinks of you.

3. May it not be also for another reason — that He may wean you entirely from the world? He is making you loathe it. I think I hear someone say, "As the Almighty hath vexed my soul, what had I better do?" Do? Go home, and shut to your door, and have an hour alone with yourself and God. That hour alone with God may be the crisis of your whole life; do try it! "And when I am alone with God, what had I better do?" Well, first, tell Him all your grief. Then tell Him all your sin. Hide nothing from Him; lay it all, naked and bare, before Him. Then ask Him to blot it all out, once for all, for Jesus Christ's sake.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

People
Job
Places
Uz
Topics
Arrows, Cast, Casteth, Diligently, Fain, Flee, Flees, Fleeth, Flight, Goes, Headlong, Hurl, Hurleth, Hurls, Itself, Mercy, Pity, Power, Sends, Spare, Spareth, Sparing, Surely, Try, Yea
Outline
1. Job protests his sincerity
8. The hypocrite is without hope
11. The blessings which the wicked have are turned into curses

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Job 27:21-23

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Library
The Touchstone of Godly Sincerity
Who, then, is this "wicked man," thus portrayed before us? And what are the first symptoms of his depravity? We ask not the question idly, but in order that we take heed against the uprise of such an evil in ourselves. "Beneath the saintly veil the votary of sin May lurk unseen; and to that eye alone Which penetrates the heart, may stand revealed." The hypocrite is very often an exceedingly neat imitation of the Christian. To the common observer he is so good a counterfeit that he entirely escapes
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

Whether Hypocrisy is Contrary to the virtue of Truth?
Objection 1: It seems that hypocrisy is not contrary to the virtue of truth. For in dissimulation or hypocrisy there is a sign and a thing signified. Now with regard to neither of these does it seem to be opposed to any special virtue: for a hypocrite simulates any virtue, and by means of any virtuous deeds, such as fasting, prayer and alms deeds, as stated in Mat. 6:1-18. Therefore hypocrisy is not specially opposed to the virtue of truth. Objection 2: Further, all dissimulation seems to proceed
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

On the Interior Man
The interior man is the rational soul; in the apostle: have in your hearts, in the interior man, Christ through faith. [Eph. 3:16] His head is Christ; in the apostle: the head of the man is Christ. [I Cor. 11:3] The crown of the head is the height of righteousness; in Solomon: for the crown of your head has received the crown of grace. The same in a bad part: the crown of hairs having walked about in their own delights, that is, in the height of iniquity. [Prov. 4:9; Ps. 67(68):22(21)] The hair is
St. Eucherius of Lyons—The Formulae of St. Eucherius of Lyons

Wesley in St. Albans Abbey
Monday, July 30.--l preached at Bingham, ten miles from Nottingham. I really admired the exquisite stupidity of the people. They gaped and stared while I was speaking of death and judgment, as if they had never heard of such things before. And they were not helped by two surly, ill-mannered clergymen, who seemed to be just as wise as themselves. The congregation at Houghton in the evening was more noble, behaving with the utmost decency. Tuesday, 31.--At nine I preached in the market place at Loughborough,
John Wesley—The Journal of John Wesley

The Work of Jesus Christ as an Advocate,
CLEARLY EXPLAINED, AND LARGELY IMPROVED, FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL BELIEVERS. 1 John 2:1--"And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." By JOHN BUNYAN, Author of "The Pilgrim's Progress." London: Printed for Dorman Newman, at the King's Arms, in the Poultry, 1689. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. This is one of the most interesting of Bunyan's treatises, to edit which required the Bible at my right hand, and a law dictionary on my left. It was very frequently republished;
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Sinner Arraigned and Convicted.
1. Conviction of guilt necessary.--2. A charge of rebellion against God advanced.--3. Where it is shown--that all men are born under God's law.--4. That no man hath perfectly kept it.--5. An appeal to the reader's conscience on this head, that he hath not.--6. That to have broken it, is an evil inexpressibly great.--7. Illustrated by a more particular view of the aggravations of this guilt, arising--from knowledge.--8. From divine favors received.--9. From convictions of conscience overborne.--10.
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul

God's Sovereignty and Prayer
"If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us" (1 John 5:14). Throughout this book it has been our chief aim to exalt the Creator and abase the creature. The well-nigh universal tendency now, is to magnify man and dishonour and degrade God. On every hand it will be found that, when spiritual things are under discussion, the human side and element is pressed and stressed, and the Divine side, if not altogether ignored, is relegated to the background. This holds true of very much of the
Arthur W. Pink—The Sovereignty of God

Job
The book of Job is one of the great masterpieces of the world's literature, if not indeed the greatest. The author was a man of superb literary genius, and of rich, daring, and original mind. The problem with which he deals is one of inexhaustible interest, and his treatment of it is everywhere characterized by a psychological insight, an intellectual courage, and a fertility and brilliance of resource which are nothing less than astonishing. Opinion has been divided as to how the book should be
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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