[Here we continue a reprint of a small portion of Joseph
Caryl’s study in Job. Mr. Caryl wrote twelve volumes on
the book of Job. His study is a great example of how deep
one can dig into the truths of the Bible.]
A Study by Joseph Caryl (1644)
Job 1:13-15 (part 1) -
The Time of Affliction
13
And
there
was
a
day
when
his
sons
and
his
daughters
were
eating
and
drinking
wine
in
their
eldest
brother’s
house:
14
And
there
came
a
messenger
unto
Job,
and
said,
The
oxen
were
plowing,
and
the
asses
feeding
beside
them.
15
And
the
Sabeans
fell
upon
them,
and
took
them
away;
yea,
they
have
slain
the
servants
with
the
edge
of
the
sword;
and
I
only
am
escaped
alone
to
tell thee.
(KJV)
In
the
former
context
we
showed
you
the
affliction
of
Job,
moved
by
Satan
and
permitted
by
God,
Touch
all
that
he
hath
,
is
Satan’s
motion;
All
that
he
hath
is
in
thine
hand,
is
God’s
permission.
From
this
13
th
verse
to
the
end
of
the
19
th
the
afflictions
of
Job
are
particularly
described;
and
we
may
observe
six
particulars
in
the
context concerning his afflictions.
1
.
The
time
or
season
of
his
afflictions
:
“And
there
was
a
day
when
his
sons
and
his
daughters
were
eating
and
drinking
wine
in
their
eldest
brother's
house”
(vs. 13).
2
.
The
instruments
or
the
means
of
his
afflictions
.
Satan
who
undertook
the
afflicting
of
Job,
stands
as
it
were
behind
the
door;
he
does
not
appear
in
it,
but
sets
on
others.
His
instruments
were
first
cruel
and
bloody-minded
men,
the
Sabeans
(see
vs.
15),
and
the
Chaldeans
(see
vs.
17).
Secondly,
those
active
creatures,
devouring
fire
(see
vs.
16),
and
stormy
winds (see vs. 19).
3
.
The
matter
of
his
affliction
,
or
in
what
he
was
afflicted, it was in his outward estate.
4
.
The
variety
of
his
affliction
.
He
was
not
smitten
in
some
one
thing,
in
some
one
part
of
his
outward
estate,
but
he
was
afflicted
in
all:
his
oxen,
his
asses,
and
his
camels
violently
taken
away;
his
sheep
burnt
up
by
the
fire;
his
sons
and
his
daughters
overwhelmed
and
crushed
by
the
fall
of
a
house;
all
his
servants
attending
upon
these
slain,
consumed,
destroyed,
excepting
only
one
from
every
stroke,
to
be the sad relater or messenger of these calamities.
5
.
The
suddenness
of
his
afflictions
.
They
came
all
upon
him in one day.
6
.
The
incessantness
of
the
report
of
these
afflictions
.
The
sound
of
them
all
was
in
his
ears
at
once,
as
they
were
all
brought
upon
him
in
one
day,
so
they
are
all
told
him
in
one
hour,
yea
by
the
story
it
appears
there
were
but
very
few
moments
between
the
first
and
the
last.
For
the
text
says
that
no
sooner
had
one
messenger
ended
his
doleful
news,
but
another
begins,
nay
they
did
not
stay
so
long
as
to
let
one
another
make
an
end;
but
the
text
says,
“While
the
former
was
yet
speaking,
there
came
another
and
said...”
And
so,
while
the
next
was
yet
speaking,
there
came
another.
So
Satan
did
not
give
Job
so
much
as
the
least
minute
of
intermission
to
breathe
a
while
or
recollect
himself.
His
troubles
both
in
the
acting
and
in
the
reporting,
were
close
linked
together,
like
a
chain
one
within
another,
and
him
within them all
fast bound, and yet free
.
These
are
observable,
through
the
whole
context
concerning
this
great
affliction
of
Job.
Now
we
will
consider
the
afflictions
themselves,
their
several
parts,
and open the words in which they are presented to us.
“And
there
was
a
day
when
his
sons
and
his
daughters
were
eating
and
drinking
wine
in
their
eldest brother’s house”
(vs. 13)
“And
there
was
a
day…”
–
To
everything
there
is
a
season,
said
Solomon,
and
a
time
for
every
purpose
under
the
sun
(Eccl.
3:1).
God
has
a
time
for
his
purposes;
God
has
his
day.
Man
has
a
time
for
his
purposes,
and
so
does
Satan:
not
just
any
day
will
serve
his
turn;
he
picks
and
chooses.
There
was
a
day
:
it
intimates
an
extraordinary
day,
and
there
is
an
express
addition
in
the
original,
which
puts
an
emphasis
upon
it,
and
makes
it
more
than
a
day.
There
was
that
day,
or
that
special
day
.
So
it
is
used
in
II
Kings
4:8:
“And
it
fell
on
a
day
that
Elisha
passed
to
Shunem,”
or
upon
that
day,
a
notable
day
wherein
so
many
great
things
were
done.
But
what
day
was
this?
It
is
explained
in
the
words,
in
the
latter
part
of
the
verse.
It
was
a
notable
day,
for
it
was
a
day
or
that
day,
“when
his
sons
and
his
daughters
were
eating
and
drinking
wine
in
their
eldest brother’s house.”
There
are
three
things
in
those
words,
which
prove
that this was an extraordinary day:
1
.
It
was
a
feasting
day,
and
feasting
days
are
extraordinary days.
2
.
It
was
an
extraordinary,
not
an
ordinary
feasting
day,
for
it
is
said:
“…they
were
eating
and
drinking
wine.”
In
the
beginning
of
the
chapter
(where
the
feasts
of
Job’s
children
are
described)
it
is
said
only,
that
“his
sons
went
every
one
their
day,
to
eat
and
to
drink”
(Job
1:4).
But
here
it
is
said
that
they
did
“eat
and
drink
wine,”
which
notes
an
extraordinary
feast.
For
still
in
Scripture,
when
we
read
of
a
banquet
of
wine,
or
of
a
feast
of
wine,
an
extraordinary
feast
is
meant.
For
instance,
Queen
Esther
invited
the
king
and
Haman
to
a
banquet
of
wine
(Esth.
5:6),
not
that
there
was
nothing
but
wine
at
the
banquet,
but
that
addition
implies
that
it
was
a
plentiful
banquet,
a
solemn
banquet.
It
is
more
to
make
a
banquet
of
wine
,
than
to
make
a
banquet
,
though
scarce
any
banquet
is
made
without
wine.
So
when
there
wanted
wine,
the
solemnity
and
glory
of
the
feast
was
thought
to
be
blemished.
“They
have
no
wine”
(John
2:4),
said
the
mother
of
Christ
to
him
at
the
marriage
feast
in
Cana.
And
when
the
spouse
would
set
forth
the
wonderful
fulness
of
spiritual
delights,
which
she
had
from
Christ,
she
expresses
it
thus,
“He
brought
me
into
the
banqueting
house”
(Song.
2:4);
the
Hebrew
word
is,
he
brought
me
into
the
house
of
wine
;
the
house
of
wine
notes
extraordinary
spiritual
refreshing.
What
sort
of
banquet
had
the
spouse
for
her
soul
there?
Christ
called
her
to
eat
and
drink
abundantly,
to
be
filled
with
his
love.
See
the
like
in
Isa.
25:6.
So
Job’s
children
were
eating
and
drinking
wine,
so
they
were
at
a
plentiful
and
solemn
feast
that day.
3
.
It
was
a
day
of
feasting
in
their
“eldest
brother’s
house”
;
that
is
another
which
proves
it
was
an
extraordinary
feast
day.
It
was
a
feast,
and
a
feast
of
wine,
and
a
feast
of
wine
in
their
eldest
brother’s
house,
who
had
a
larger
estate,
a
fuller
portion,
and
to
answer
the
dignity
of
his
primogenitor,
ought
to
make
a
more
solemn
feast
than
the
rest
did.
This
was
the
day
that
Satan
picks
out
and
chooses
to
bring
all
these
sad
afflictions
upon
Job;
an
ordinary
day
would
not
serve
his
turn.
Without
doubt
this
was
not
the
immediate
day
or
time,
after
which
he
got
that
commission
from
God,
“All
that
he
hath
is
in
thine
hand…”
(vs.
12).
Satan
went
away;
he
would
have
been
at
it
as
soon
as
he
could
but
yet
he
waited
for
a
special
time,
wherein
he
might
do
it
with
greatest
advantage;
and
that
is
the
point
I
shall
observe from this:
That
Satan
observes
and
watches
his
time
to
fasten
his
temptations
most
strongly
upon
the
soul
.
He
watches
a
day,
“There
was
a
day…”
,
and
there
was
not
a
day
in
the
whole
year,
upon
which
he
could
have
done
it
with
greater
advantage
than
upon
that
day.
This
is
just
as
the
mercies
of
God
are
exceedingly
endeared
to
us
by
the
season
in
which
they
come
to
us.
When
they
come
to
us
in
our
special
need,
how
sweet
is
a
mercy
then!
And
as
our
obedience
is
exceedingly
commended
to
the
acceptation
of
God,
when
it
is
upon
a
fit
day,
when
it
is
on
the
day
wherein
he
calls
for
and
expects
it,
so
are
our
sins
exceedingly
aggravated
by
the
season
and
time
wherein
they
are
committed.
What!
Sin
upon
this
day?
A
day
of
trouble,
a
day
of
humiliation?
Just
as
Elisha
rebuked
Gehazi,
“Is
this
a
time
to
receive
money
and
to
receive
garments”
etc.
(II
Kings
5:26).
Is
this
a
time
for
your
heart
to
run
out
sinfully
after
the
world?
So
likewise,
the
temptations
of
Satan
and
the
afflictions
which
he
brings
upon
the
servants
of
God,
are
exceedingly
embittered
by
the
season,
and
he
knows
well
enough
what
seasons
will
make
them
most
bitter.
What
can
more
embitter
a
cup
of
sorrow
than
to
have
it
brought
us
upon
a
day
of
rejoicing?
Solomon
tells
us,
that
“as
he
that
taketh
away
a
garment
in
cold
weather,
and
as
vinegar
upon
nitre,
so
is
he
that
sings
a
song
to
a
heavy
heart”
(Prov.
25:20).
If
joy
be
troublesome
in
our
sorrows,
how
troublesome
is
sorrow in the midst of our joys.
So
then,
Satan
could
never
have
found
out
such
a
time
as
this.
Must
he
needs
be
afflicting
the
father,
when
the
children
were
feasting?
Could
he
find
out
no
other
time
but
this?
Must
his
tears
be
mingled
with
their
wine?
Must
the
children’s
rejoicing
day
be
the
father’s
mourning
day?
Must
Satan
show
malice
against
the
father,
when
the
children
were
showing
their love to one another? It was a love-feast.
Thus
he
did
with
Christ;
it
is
observed
that
when
Christ
had
fasted
40
days
and
40
nights,
and
afterwards
was
hungry,
then
the
tempter
came.
He
lays
hold
of
this
advantage;
he
would
not
come
till
Christ
was
hungry,
to
persuade
him
to
turn
stones
into
bread.
What
a
strength
had
this
temptation
from
the
season?
Who
would
not
make
bread
for
himself
if
he
can,
when
he
is
hungry?
Had
Christ
been
full,
there
had
not
been
such
an
edge
upon,
such
a
weight
in
the
temptation.
How
many
does
Satan
provoke
to
turn
stones
into
bread,
when
he
comes
to
them
in
their
hunger?
You
who
are
in
a
strait,
likely
to
starve
and
perish,
turn
stones
into
bread;
that
is,
procure
for
yourself
meat
and
provision
by
unlawful
and
sinful
ways.
This
is
indeed
to
turn
stones
into
bread.
So
here,
at
this
time,
when
Job
was
rejoicing
(as
doubtless
he
did)
to
see
the
love
and
unity
of
his
children,
now
at
this
time
Satan
attempts
to
turn
their
bread
into
a
stone,
to
bruise
and
break
the
heart
of
their
tender
father.
Afflictions
press
most when they are least expected.
Let
us
observe
then
this
mixture
of
malice
and
cunning
in
Satan,
in
choosing
his
time.
To
carry
a
man
from
one
extremity
to
another
puts
him
upon
the
greatest
extremity.
To
make
the
day
of
a
man’s
greatest
rejoicing
to
be
the
day
of
his
deepest
sorrows,
this
is
cutting,
if
not
killing
sorrow.
To
be
brought
from
extreme
sorrow
to
extreme
joy
suddenly,
does
amaze
rather
than
comfort
the
spirit
of
man.
It
is
said
that,
“When
the
Lord
turned
again
the
captivity
of
Zion,
the
people
were
like
them
that
dream”
(Ps.
126:1).
The
change
was
so
great,
so
sudden,
that
they
were
rather
astonished
and
amazed,
rather
than
comforted
with
it,
for
a
while.
So,
much
more
to
be
hurried
from
extreme
joy
to
extreme
sorrow,
from
the
borders
of
comfort
to
the
brink
of
death
all
of
the
sudden,
is
not
so
much
to
afflict
a
man
as
to
confound
and
distract
him.
This
course Satan takes with Job.
It
would
be
well
if
we
could
be
wise
in
this
respect
to
imitate
Satan,
to
choose
out
our
day
to
do
good
when
there
is
greatest
probability
of
success,
as
he
chose
out
his
day
to
do
mischief.
It
is
the
Apostle’s
rule,
“as
you
have
opportunity
do
good”
(Gal,
6:10);
if
we
could
be
wise
to
lay
hold
upon
opportunities,
it
would
be
a
wonderful
advantage
to
us;
as
a
“word
fitly
spoken”
is
a
word
upon
the
wheel,
so
a
work
fitly
done
is
a
work
upon
the
wheel:
it
goes
on,
takes
upon
the
heart
both
of
God
and
man.
Let
us
consider
whether
now
we
have
not
a
season,
whether
this
be
not
a
day
that
holds
forth
to
us
a
glorious
opportunity.
Surely,
we
may
present
this
day
to
you,
as
a
day
to
be
doing
in.
Let
us
therefore
be
as
quick
in
this
our
day
to
do
good,
as
Satan
was
in
that
day
to
do
hurt.
This
is
a
day
wherein
great
things
are
a-doing,
and
grievous
things
are
a-
suffering
by
many
of
our
brethren.
Therefore
you
should
be
working
this
day,
make
a
day
of
it.
This
is
a
day
in
which
sons
of
Belial,
men
that
will
not
bear
Christ’s
yoke,
are
combining
to
break
it,
and
to
cast
his
cords
from
them.
Then
join,
this
day,
to
help
Christ;
else,
as
Mordecai
said
to
Esther,
“If
thou
altogether
holdest
thy
peace
at
this
time”
(this
was
a
day
for
Esther
to
work
in)
“then
shall
there
enlargement
and
deliverance
arise
to
the
Jews
from
another
place,
but
thou
and
thy
father’s
house
shall
be
destroyed”
(Esth.
4:14).
So
I
may
say
to
you
in
reference
to
the
present
opportunity,
if
you
altogether
hold
your
peace,
hold
your
purses,
and
hold
your
hands
at
this
time,
at
such
a
day
as
this,
enlargement
will
come
to
the
church
some
other
way,
but
you
may
be
destroyed,
who
think
to
hold
and
keep
your
peace
either
by
saying
or
doing
nothing.
If
ever
you
will
appear,
this
is
a
day
to
appear
in
to
do
good.
Let
us
be
wise
to
manage
and
improve
our
day,
that
it
may
never
be
said
of
us
as
our
Lord
Christ
did
of
Jerusalem:
“If
ye
had
known,
even
ye,
in
this
your
day,
the
things
which
belong
unto
your
peace”
(Luke
19:42).
It
is
a
sadder
thing
to
have
had
a
season
and
not
to
know
it
(or
not
to
use
it)
than
not
to
have
had
it.
Solomon
tells
us
that
“Because
to
every
purpose
there
is
a
time
and
judgement,
therefore
the
misery
of
man
is
great
upon
him”
(Eccl.
8:6).
Misery
cannot
be
great
to
a
man,
because
there
is
a
time
for
every
purpose,
but
because
men
are
either
so
blind
that
they
cannot
see,
or
so
sluggish
that
they
will
not
make
use
of
the
proper
time
for
every
purpose.
Thus
the
preacher
himself
expounds
it,
“For
man
knoweth
not
his
time,
as
the
fishes
that
are
taken
in
an
evil
net,
and
as
the
birds
are
taken
in
a
snare,
so
are
the
sons
of
men
snared
in
an
evil
time,
when
it
falleth
suddenly
upon
them”
(Eccl.
9:12).
Consider
what
Solomon’s
experience
taught
him.
Let
not
your
inadvertency
of
these
times
make
you
a
new
experiment
of
that
ancient
truth.
And
leave
men
that
should
be
wise,
especially
that
pretend
to
wisdom,
to
be
numbered
among,
and
compared
with
a
silly
bird,
a
silent fish.
Then
again,
forasmuch
as
it
was
the
day
of
their
great
feast,
of
their
feast
with
wine,
upon
which
this
great
affliction assaulted Job, observe,
That
the
fairest
and
clearest
day
of
our
outward
comfort
may
be
clouded
and
overcast
before
the
evening.
It
was
as
fair
a
day
as
ever
began
in
Job’s
family,
a
feast,
and
a
feast
with
wine,
and
that
in
the
eldest
brother’s
house,
and yet all was darkness before night.
This
is
true
in
reference
to
ungodly
men,
great
and
terrible
judgements
fall
suddenly
upon
them;
their
light
is
turned
into
darkness
in
a
moment,
as
Christ
compares
it
to
the
days
of
Noah
and
the
days
of
Lot:
“As
I
was”
(said
he)
“in
the
days
of
Noah,
they
did
eat,
they
drank,
they
married
wives,
they
were
given
in
marriage
until
the
day
that
Noah
entered
into
the
Ark,
and
the
flood
came
and
destroyed
them
all;
and
as
it
was