[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 1:20-22, pt. 2 - What Job Did, and What Job Said   20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, 21  And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither:  The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. 22  In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. (KJV). The other two acts are: 1. He falleth upon the ground. 2. He worshippeth. The original words do both signify a bowing to the ground; He fell upon the ground and bowed, so some translate it, you shall see the reason by and by. He fell upon the ground and worshipped, that is, He fell upon the ground to worship. To fall upon the ground is a gesture of worship, and not only is it a posture of worship when the worshipper mourns, but it is likewise a posture of worship when the worshipper rejoices. Great joy, as well as great sorrow transports a man in his next actions. It is said, in Matt. 2:10-11, that the wise men when they found Christ, rejoiced with exceeding great joy, and presently, they fell down and worshipped him. Neither is this posture peculiar to worship in times or upon occasions of extraordinary joy and sorrow (unless in the degree of it) for the ordinary invitation was, “O come let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our maker” (Ps. 95:6). I said in the degree, for to fall down, is more than to bow down. Falling down in worship proceeds not only from sorrow, but from joy, when the heart is filled with joy, then we fall down and worship. And it is probably observed that the ancient Prophets and holy men, the servants of God were called Nephalim (from Naphal, which is the original word of the text), Cadentes, or Prostrantes, that is, prostraters or fallers, because in their worship they usually fell down upon the earth to humble themselves before God. And because adoration was so commonly made by falling to the ground, by bowing the head, by bowing the knee, by bowing the whole body, therefore the same original word which Hebrews use for worshipping doth properly signify to bow down the body. And that phrase to bow the body, as it is often joined with worshipping; to sometime to bow the body, put alone, signifies to worship, as in 2 Kings 5:18: “When I bow myself in the house of Rimmon…” i.e., When I worship… So likewise the Greek word to worship has the same sense in it, for that word signifies (as a learned writer observes upon it) to bow after the manner of dogs that crouch at the feet of their Masters for favor, or for fear. So, in worship the people of God crouch down and abase themselves at God’s feet, as not worthy in themselves to eat the crumbs  under his table. Yet we are not to look upon this as if it were the only true and acceptable worship-gesture; for we shall find in scripture that there were other worship-gestures with which God was well pleased. Some have worshipped God standing, some sitting, some walking, all these are worship-postures. For standing we find it at the dedication of the Temple, in 1 Kings 8:22: “Solomon stood before the Altar of the Lord, and made that prayer.” For sitting, we have 2 Sam. 2:18. When Nathan brought that message unto David concerning the building of the house of God, that it should be deferred till his sons time. The text says that “David went in and sat before the Lord and said, ‘Who am I, O Lord?” And in the end, he says, “Therefore have I found in my heart to pray this prayer unto thee.” We also find walking in prayer: “Isaac went out into the field to pray” (Gen. 24:63). He walked and prayed; we translate it to meditate, but in the margin of your books, you find it to pray, as being nearer the Hebrew. So that walking and sitting and standing are likewise praying gestures or postures of holy worship, but chiefly that posture of bowing down the body or bending the knee is the worship posture; so it follows in the text. “…He fell upon the ground and worshipped…” “…and worshipped” – To worship is to give to anyone the honor due unto him: So the rendering unto God that love, and fear, that service, that honor which is due unto him is the worshipping of God, that’s the scripture definition: “Give unto the Lord the honor due unto his name” (Ps. 29:2). Then follows by way of exposition, “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness,” that is, “in his holy Temple, in his beautiful Sanctuary,” or, in the comely honor of his Sanctuary. So that worship is the tendering of honor to the Lord, in a way honorable to him, namely according to his own will and laws of worship: which is intimated by coming to worship him in his beautiful Sanctuary, where all things about the service of God were exactly prescribed by God. And then there was beauty or comely honor in the Sanctuary, when all things were ordered there by the rule of his prescription; varying and departing from which would have filled that holy place with darkness and deformity, notwithstanding all the outward luster and beauty had been preserved. The worship of God is two-fold: there is internal worship and there is external worship. Internal worship is to love God, to fear God, and to trust upon him. There are acts of inward worship. These are the sum of our duty and God’s honor contained in the first commandment: And so you may understand worship in the text. Job fell down and worshipped, that is, presently upon those reports, he put forth an act of love and holy fear, acts of dependence and holy trust upon God, in his Spirit, saying to this effect within himself. Lord, though all this has come upon me, yet I will not depart from thee, or deal falsely in thy Covenance. I know thou art still the same Jehovah, true, holy, gracious, faithful, all-sufficient; and therefore behold me prostrate before thee, and resolving, still to love thee, still to fear thee, still to trust thee. Thou art my God still and my portion forever. Though I had nothing left in the world that I could call mine, yet thou Lord alone art enough. Yet thou alone art All. Such doubtless was the language of Job’s heart, and these were mighty actings of inward worship. Then likewise there is external worship, which is the sum of the second commandment, and it is nothing else but the serving of the Lord according to his own ordinances and institution in those several ways wherein God will be honored and served. This is outward worship, and as we apply ourselves to it, so we are reckoned to worship God. Job worshipped God outwardly by falling to the ground, by powering out supplications, and by speaking good words of God (as we read afterward), words tending to his own abasement and the honor of God, clearly and fully acquitting and justifying the Lord in all those works of his providence and dispensations towards him. This is worship both internal and external. Internal worship is the chief, but God requires both: and there is a necessity of joining both together, that God may have honor in the world. Internal worship is complete in itself, and pleasing to God without the external. The external may be complete in itself, but is never pleasing to God without the internal. Internal worship pleases God most, but external honors God most: for by this God is known, and his glory held forth in the world. External worship is God’s name. Hence the Temple was called the place where God put his Name, meaning his worship, by which God is known, as a man by his name. They that worship God must worship him in Spirit and in Truth: In Spirit, that is with inward love and fear, reverence and sincerity. In Truth, that is, according to the true rule prescribed in his word. Spirit  respects the inward power; Truth, the outward form. The former strikes at hypocrisy; the latter strikes at idolatry. The one opposes the inventions of our heads; the other the looseness of our hearts in worship. Observe further, that it is only said, “Job fell down and worshipped”; nothing is said of the object to whom he did direct his worship, or whom he did worship. The object is not expressed but understood, or presupposed. And indeed worship is a thing so proper and peculiar to God, that when we name worship, we need to understand that God is the object. For nothing but God, or that which we make a god, is or can be worshipped. Either he is God whom we worship, or (as much as in us lies) we make him one. Whatsoever creature shares in this honor, this honor (ipso facto) sets it up above, and makes it more than a creature. The very heathens thought everything below a God, below worship. Therefore, there needed not be an expression of the object; when the text says, “Job worshipped”, that implies his worship was directed to God, yet there is a kind of worship which is due to creatures. There is a civil worship mentioned in Scripture, as well as divine worship. Civil worship may be given to men. And there is a two-fold civil worship (spoken of in Scripture). There is a civil worship of duty, and there is a civil worship of courtesy. That of duty is from inferiors to their superiors, from children to their parents, from servants to their masters, from subjects to kings and magistrates. These gods must have civil worship. As in Gen. 48:11, when Joseph came into the presence of Jacob his father, “He bowed down to the ground.”  This was a civil worship and a worship of duty from an inferior to a superior. And it is said of the brethren of Judah, in Gen. 49:8, when Jacob on his death-bed blessed the twelve tribes: “Thy brethren shall worship thee” or “bow down to thee.” It is the same word used here in this text. Judah’s honor was to wield the scepter, the government was laid upon his shoulders; now he being the chief magistrate, all the rest of the tribes, all his brothers must worship him or give civil honor unto him. Secondly, there is likewise a worship of courtesy, which is from equals, when on equal will bow to another, or when a superior (as sometimes in courtesy he will) bows down or worships his inferior: as it is noted concerning Abraham, that when he came before the men of the country of Heth, he bowed himself. Now, Abraham was the superior; he was a prince and a great man; yet coming before the men of the country, he bowed himself, and it is the same word. So then this civil worship may lawfully be given unto men. But as for divine worship, that is only proper and peculiarly given to God; that glory he will not give to graven images, man or angel, and there we must not. Hence, we find that when Cornelius and John did act their civil worship a little too far, they were presently taken off for fear they should entrench upon the divine worship. Civil worship when it is excessive and goes too far is sinful, as in Acts 10:25. Luke relates that as soon as Peter came in, “Cornelius met him and fell at his feet and worshipped him.” The worship was to Peter, for we are not to think that Cornelius was so grossly ignorant as to take Peter for a god, and give him divine worship; but the meaning of it is, that he fell down at his feet and gave an honor and respect beyond what he ought to have done; he was excessive in it. Therefore, Peter takes him off, “Stand up” (said he) “I myself also am a man,” that is, I am a man as you are, though being an apostle gives me such respect as becomes a minister of Christ, take heed that you give me no more than belongs to a man. So also, the angel in Rev. 22:8: “When John falleth down at his feet, and worshippeth”, he takes him up, “See thou do it not,”  said he, “for I am thy fellow servant.” This is too much for man; “worship God,” as it is in the end of the verse; such worship belongs properly and peculiarly to God. So much for the opening of these two latter actions of Job in reference to God. We shall now give you some observations: “He fell down upon the ground and worshipped.” You see how Job divides himself and his affections in this time of his affliction: part he bestowed upon his children and servants, and losses; they shall have his sorrow and tears; “He rent his mantle and shaved his head;” but they shall not have all. God shall have the better part: his love; his fear; his trust; his body to bow to him, and his soul to worship him. Learn from hence: That a godly man will not let nature work alone; he mixes and tempers acts of grace with acts of nature. We must not sorrow as those that are without hope (said the Apostle in 1 Thess. 4:13); qualify sorrow with hope; these mixed do well. A man must not sorrow for outward things, as though we had nothing else to do, but to sorrow, he must remember that he has a God to worship and honor. Job bestows somewhat upon his children, but more upon his God; while his body fell to the earth, his heart was raised up to heaven: “He fell down and worshipped.” Secondly observe, That afflictions send the people of God home to God; afflictions draw a godly man nearer to God.  Then Job fell down and worshipped. Afflictions are a great advantage to the servants of God; for when the world frowns most, then they beg most for the smiles of God; when the world is strange to them, and will not look on them, then they get more familiarity and closer communion with God; they seek his face. Wicked men in their afflictions, in their sorrows, are either quite drowned in and overwhelmed with them, so that there is nothing but sorrow; or else, they go out to help and relieve themselves with worldly refreshment; trouble drives them to sin; it may be as low as hell to seek relief. The more poor they are, the more wicked they are; such are not poor as Job, though they are as poor as Job. Job’s poverty sent him to God, rich in mercy. “He fell down and worshipped.” Thirdly learn, That the people of God turn all their afflictions into prayers or into praises. When God is striking, then Job is praying; when God is afflicting, then Job falls to worshipping. Grace makes every condition work glory to God, as God makes every condition work good to them who have grace. Fourthly, Job falls down and worships, observe here: That it becomes us to worship God in a humble manner. Though God (as we showed before) may be worshipped in another posture, yet we should rather choose that posture which is most humble, and may lay our bodies as low as our souls, if it may be. There were some lately among us, who cried aloud, as great patrons for humble postures in worship: and all were censured for a stiff neck and an elephant’s knee, who refused to bow with them, or to bow their way. I may well add their way, for God’s way of bowing was neither questioned nor refused; all their humility in bowing went but one way. They must bow towards the east, and towards the altar, at least, if not to it. Some of their stomachs, I believe, would have digested that before this time, especially being a little helped with a distinction. Lastly, we may here observe, That divine worship is to God alone. Papists have worship for creatures, and they have a distinction for it, but no Scripture for it. They tell us of Latria, which is they say worship proper only to God, and their Dulia, which is for saints, and the their Hyperdulia, which is for the Virgin Mary and for the sign of the cross. Thus they make vain distinctions which God and the scripture make not. Vain distinctions are good enough to maintain vain superstitions. They that invent a worship, must invent a doctrine to maintain it by. Some perhaps may stumble at that text in Rev. 3:9, where this promise is made to the church of Philadelphia: “Behold I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie; behold I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.” May not worship then be given to a creature? Answer 1. This worship may be taken for civil worship; namely, for that submission which the enemies of the Church, shall be forced by the power of Christ to make to her, as was promised by the prophet in Isa. 60:14: “The sons also of them that afflicted thee, shall come bending unto thee, and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet.” Answer 2. If this be divine worship, then worshipping at the feet of the Church, notes worshipping in the Church, not worshipping of the Church. The worship is not terminated in the Church, but in Christ, who dwells and rules in the Church, who is both head and husband of the Church. These enemies being convinced of the presence of Christ in his Church shall worship him. Thus, David prophesies of Christ, speaking in his own person: “Thou hast made me the head of the heathen, a people whom I have not known shall serve me. As some as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me” (Ps. 18:43-44). That of the Apostle will more illustrate this sense, who speaking of the great benefit of prophesying in a known tongue, concludes his discourse thus: “If all prophecy and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all. And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest, and so falling down on his face, he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth” (1 Cor. 14:24- 25). The worship then is not given to the Church, but to God, who in such ordinances, or other acts of his power and goodness, is evidently revealed as present in the Church. So much for the actions or gestures of Job; what he did.  “He rent his mantle and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground and worshipped.” This article is taken from:  Caryl, Joseph.  An Exposition with Practical Observations upon the Book of Job. London: G. Miller, 1644.  A PDF file of this book can be downloaded, free of charge, at http://www.ClassicChristianLibrary.com