[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 1:21-22, pt. 1 - Naked I Came, Naked I Return    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). Words are or ought to be the interpreters of the heart, and the comment of our actions. This speech of Job does indeed interpret his heart and expound the meaning of his former actions. This speech (I say) of Job is the true comment of his own actions; for some seeing Job renting his garments and shaving his head, and casting himself down upon the ground, they might not know the meaning of all this; they could not read his heart in these strange behaviors; they might not understand what his intentions were; probably they might judge that he was enraged and mad, that he was distracted or drunk with sorrow: that he was either desperate or impatient, at the report of those losses. Therefore now, to confute all such surmises, he speaks forth, the words of truth and soberness. And by what he said, sets so fair and true a gloss upon his actions, as might then render them, not only rational and ingenuous, but holy and gracious in the eyes of all men, as they were before in the eyes of God, who knew his heart. Satan was now, like the servants of Benhadad before Ahab, watching for words. He had done his business and now he was trying how it would work, what the event and issue would be; he hearkened when some irreverent speech should come from the mouth of Job; he looked presently that he should blaspheme God: he could not but smile surely, when he saw him renting his garments and shaving his head and falling down on the ground. O now it works. I shall hear him blaspheme and curse God presently. He that is thus distempered in the carriage of the other members of his body, will not surely be able long to rule (that unruly piece) his tongue. One undutiful or dishonorable word cast upon God, would have been music to Satan’s ear and joy to his heart. He would have caught it up as nimbly as the men before spoken of did, brother Benhadad from the mouth of Ahab. But how blank looked Satan; how was he clothed with shame at the fall of those words from Job, Naked came I out of… etc. What David spoke concerning the words of his enemies—“Their words were smoother than butter, but war was in their heart, they were sweeter than honey and softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords” (Ps. 55:21)—we may speak of these words of Job considered in reference to Satan, and in reference to God. These words of Job in reference to God were as sweet as honey, as smooth as butter. For this breath had nothing in it, but meekness and patience, humility and holiness, in all which God delights; but in reference to Satan they were a drawn swords, as poisoned arrows; Satan was hardly ever so smitten before, as he was by these words of Job. There is no word in this sentence, but gave Satan the lie, and refuted all his slander. And in the close, Job gives him the deepest stab of all, it was a dagger at the very heart of the devil, when he heard him say, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.” No words could be uttered upon the longest study, more cross to Satan’s expectation, or more answerable to the former testimony of God; and therefore the Lord crowns all, both his actions and his speeches with a new testimony, “In all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly.” So much for Job’s words in general. I shall now examine them distinctly in the parts. Some conceive that Job at that time spoke out his mind more largely, but that the Holy Ghost in the penning of this story did gather and sum up the strength of all his speech into these two conclusions. 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. We will consider the words a little first in the grammatical sense of them, and then we will consider the reason of them: For here they are used logically as a strong and mighty argument, both for the supporting of his own spirit under those afflictions, and for the justifying and acquitting God in so afflicting him. Naked came I out of my mother’s womb… Naked – There is a two-fold nakedness: there is an internal nakedness, and there is an external nakedness; there is a nakedness of the soul as well as of the body. The nakedness of the soul is, when it is divested of all it’s gracious ornaments and endowments. When Job said, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither,” it refers especially to the nakedness of the body; for though it be a truth that Job came naked into the world in regard of his soul, yet he knew he should not go naked out of the world, in regard of his soul. Seeing then, he refers nakedness to his going out of the world as well as to his coming in, therefore it cannot be here meant of an inward nakedness. His soul came naked in, but he knew his soul should go out clothed. Neither can it be meant of a then present spiritual nakedness, for Job was never so richly and gorgeously attired in his soul, never appeared in such glorious ornaments of grace, as when he was stripped of all worldly comforts. Therefore, the nakedness here is bodily nakedness, that which Moses speaks of Gen. 2:25, describing our first parents, “They were both naked,” said he, “the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed.” Yet that nakedness and this which Job speaks of (though they were both bodily and external) were very different and unlike, for that nakedness of Creation needed no covering: nakedness was then an ornament. Man was richly attired when he had no garments. The nakedness of creation was the absence of clothing, or a not using of clothes; it was not the want of clothing. But the nakedness Job speaks of, is the nakedness after the fall properly, where nakedness imports not only a not having of clothes, but a want of clothing; and so nakedness is a part of that curse and punishment which followed sin. “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb,” that is, I came into the world in a sad and miserable condition, weak and poor. And so nakedness is put not strictly as opposed only to clothing, but we may take it more largely for the want of all outward comforts whatsoever, I came a poor destitute creature into the world; I had not only no clothing upon my back, but I had no comfort for my body; I brought neither sheep nor oxen, nor children nor servants into the world with me; I had none of these things, nothing to help me of my own, when I first set footing into the world. Some naturalists considering this kind of nakedness, have fallen out into great complaints against nature, or indeed rather against the God of nature; as Pliny, in the preface to his 7 th  book of his natural history, does as it were chide with nature for turning man into the world in such a helpless forlorn condition, as if man were dealt with more hardly than any other creature, than any beasts of the field or souls of the air. Other creatures, said he, come into the world with hair, or fleeces, or bristles, or seals, or feathers, or wings, or shells, etc. to defend and cover them, but nature casts man naked upon the naked ground. This he spoke, not considering that nakedness was once no trouble, but rather an honor and an ornament, and this he spoke not knowing whence or how that kind of troublesome nakedness came into the world. And this he spoke, not observing as he might, how many ways God provided for the help and supply of that nakedness; giving man understanding and reason instead of weapons and clothes, which also are a means for the procuring of all things necessary for the supporting of that naked and weak perishing condition. … Naked shall I return thither. The difficulty that is in this lies only in that word thither; the doubt is, what place he means or whither? What into my mother’s womb? There is no such return, as Nicodemus said, “Shall a man that is old go into his mother’s womb and be born again?” (John 3). Some answer it thus: the adverb thither does not necessarily refer to the literal antecedent; but in Scripture sometimes relatives refer to somewhat in the mind or in the thought of the speaker, and not to that which was before spoken by him; as that of Mary shows in John 20:15, when she comes into the garden and finds that Christ was risen, “She meets Christ and supposing him to be the gardener, said unto him, ‘Sir, if you have borne him hence…’” Him, what him? There was no antecedent mentioned to which Him  should relate, only Mary’s mind was so full of Christ, that she thought everyone would understand what him, or whom she spoke of: as if none could speak of or think anything but of Christ only. Therefore, she made the relation to that which was in her own spirit, and not to what was formerly expressed. So, some interpreters make the thither to be God or the grave, I shall return to God, or I shall return to the grave, to the house of the grave, as the Chaldee paraphrase has it. For they suppose Job had his mind full of those thoughts, therefore he may make a relation to that. Another consideration for the clearing of it is this, that such adverbs of place as this is, do not only signify place, but a state or a condition, wherein any one is, or to which anything or person is brought; as it is ordinary in our speech to say, hitherto, I have brought the matter, that is, to this state or to this condition. So, when Job said, “Naked shall I return thither,” that is, I shall return to such a condition or to such an estate, as I was naked before, so I shall return to a state of nakedness again. But thirdly, that which may more clearly carry it, the thither which Job here speaks of may be understood of the earth or the grave, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither,” to the womb of the earth which is the grave: and so there may be in the latter a reference to the former, taking the one properly and the other improperly, taking the earth for his mother’s womb in an improper sense, that is, the earth which is the common parent from whence we all came, and to which we all return; the earth shall receive and take in all mankind again, when man dies the earth opens her bowels and receives him in, and which makes her once more a mother, the earth at last being, as it were, with-child, or rather big with children, shall travel in pain, groaning to be delivered, shall by the mighty power of God bring forth mankind again. There shall be a mighty birth from the womb of the earth at the last day. In Scripture the resurrection is called a birth. In the day of the resurrection mankind is newly begotten by God, and mankind is new-born. This is supported by Ps. 2:7: “Thou art my son this day have I begotten thee,” which words are applied by Paul, in Acts 13:33, to the resurrection of Christ. God has fulfilled the promise made to the fathers, to us their children, in that he has raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second Psalm, “Thou art my son this day have I begotten thee.” And as Christ, so all men, but especially all Christians, shall be again begotten by the power of God, and born from the womb of the earth in the day of their resurrection. So much for the understanding of these words, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb and naked shall I return thither.” I shall collect some observations from the two ways. First as they contain a general truth. Second, as they are an argument or a reason for the support of a man in such a sad condition as Job was then reduced unto. In the former way observe, First, That every man is born a poor, helpless, naked creature. The soul is naked of all that is good, there is not a rag of grace upon it, when we come into the world. Our bodies are naked too, so that we are born with nothing upon us, but only an ugly dress of sin, such as may justly make God loath us, and us a terror to ourselves. Secondly, Naked shall I return. Note, When death comes, it shakes us out of all our worldly comforts and possessions. Death is called an unclothing: “We that are in this Tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed” (2 Cor. 5:4), that is, not that we would die. Death is called an unclothing, because it pulls all outward things off from a man; it pulls off all his raiment, his riches, his lands, his honors; yea death unclothes the very bones, our flesh wears off quickly in the grave. We have a usual phrase among us, and it is a very proper one: when a rich man dies (we say) he left a great estate; he leaves it indeed, for he cannot carry it with him; he must go out naked, how well clothed soever he was while he was here. The Apostle does more than intimate, that some rich men do scarce believe this for found doctrine; he speaks as if he would beat them off from some thought of carrying the world with them out of the world. While they live they are buried in their riches, and when they die, they hope their riches will be buried with them, yea and rise with them again. Such a conceit (I say) the Apostle seems to meet with, for in 1 Tim. 6:7, having said, “We brought nothing with us in to this world,” he adds in the next words, “and it is certain we can carry nothing out;” he does not say, We brought nothing into the world, and we can carry nothing out, as Job here speaks, but as if Job’s assertion had come into question in Paul’s time, he said, “We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain,” never doubt of the truth of it, “we can carry nothing out,” we shall go out as we came in.  “Many,” as the prophet Habakkuk speaks, “lade themselves with thick clay” (Hab. 2:6). But as the question there follows, “How long?” This lading must be laid down again. If riches end not before thee as thine, they must end with thee. Yet if any would carry riches and clothing out of the world, it will be their wisdom to labor for spiritual riches, for spiritual clothing, when such die, as they shall not be found naked, so they shall not go out naked. All your other clothing and riches must be left on this side the grave, but get spiritual clothing and riches, and you shall go out of the world adorned and enriched forever: the clothing of grace, the robe of righteousness, a vesture of spiritual ornaments will endure to all eternity. Thirdly, note further, how the Holy Ghost describes the life of man, “Naked came I into the world, and naked shall I return.” The life of man it is nothing else but a coming and a returning. Here is nothing said of staying or abiding; we have here no continuing city, while we are here, we can hardly be said to continue here, and after a few days we shall not be here at all. It is but a coming and a going; it is but a flood and an ebb, and then we are carried into the ocean of eternity. We may yet consider the words as they are an argument (and so I shall note two things from them). So Job uses them as an argument both to support himself and to acquit God. Then observe, First, That a godly man in Job’s straits studies arguments to acquit and justify God in all his dealings with him. Job could not have found out upon longest study a better or a stronger argument for the acquitting of God than this is: I have as much as I brought, then what wrong is done me in all this. As wicked men when they fall into straits or troubles, especially when they fall into sin, study arguments how to shift themselves out and lay all the blame upon God; as Adam and Eve our first parents in paradise (there it began) when they had sinned and were naked, they began to devise shifts how to put it from themselves and to fasten the fault upon God. David, on the other side, labors as much to clear God, if ever he should be stripped naked, “I will confess my sin, that thou mayest be justified when thou speakest and clear when thou judgeth” (Ps. 51:4). Weigh the reason why David confesses his sin in that Psalm, I do it, says he, that I may by this means acquit God, whatsoever God shall do with me hereafter, whatsoever affliction God shall bring upon me. Men, it may be, will begin to judge God for it, and to say that he has dealt hardly with me, notice having been taken what an eminent servant of God I have taken: “Behold,” said he, “I confess my sin before thee that thou mayest be clear when thou judgest,” or as the Apostle Paul quotes the place, according to the Septuagint, in Rom. 3:4, “That thou mightest overcome when thou art judged.” David knew men would be apt to judge God, if they saw him afflicted, and therefore to stop their mouths, or to give God the day against them, he confessed his sin, thereby showing cause why God might chastise him, either for correction of sin past, or prevention of sin to come. Secondly, as the argument refers to Job himself, we may observe this, That the consideration of what we once were, and of what at last we must be, may relieve our spirits in the greatest outward afflictions of this life. Art thou for the present in a naked condition? Consider you were naked once, and before long shall be naked again. Consider the two extremes: the beginning and the ending and that will bear you up in the middle condition. There is many a man that complains and says, I have nothing but the clothes on my back left me, and they are but rags:  Why! With nothing but the clothes upon thy back? Know O man that you were born with nothing but your skin on your back. Consider this, and leave complaining; this was one thought which helped Job to bear this burden, the want of all. And the Apostle Paul uses this argument to the very same purpose, in 1 Tim. 6:6, having said that, “Godliness with contentment is great gain,” he subjoins presently this argument of Job, for says he, “we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we shall carry nothing out.” To consider what (not long ago) we were, and what very shortly we must be, will mightily work the soul to contention in what estate soever we are. 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