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Daily Bible Reading

Morning Bible Reading - Job 4

¹ Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, ² [If] we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking? ³ Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands. ⁴ Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. ⁵ But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. ⁶ [Is] not [this] thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways? ⁷ Remember, I pray thee, who [ever] perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? ⁸ Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same. ⁹ By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed. ¹⁰ The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken. ¹¹ The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad. ¹² Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof. ¹³ In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, ¹⁴ Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. ¹⁵ Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: ¹⁶ It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image [was] before mine eyes, [there was] silence, and I heard a voice, [saying], ¹⁷ Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker? ¹⁸ Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly: ¹⁹ How much less [in] them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation [is] in the dust, [which] are crushed before the moth? ²⁰ They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding [it]. ²¹ Doth not their excellency [which is] in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.

Matthew Henry Commentary: ^0-999 Chapter Outline Eliphaz reproves Job. (1-6) And maintains that God|s judgments are for the wicked. (7-11) The vision of Eliphaz. (12-21)

Matthew Henry Commentary: ^1-6 Satan undertook to prove Job a hypocrite by afflicting him; and his friends concluded him to be one because he was so afflicted, and showed impatience. This we must keep in mind if we would understand what passed. Eliphaz speaks of Job, and his afflicted condition, with tenderness; but charges him with weakness and faint-heartedness. Men make few allowances for those who have taught others. Even pious friends will count that only a touch which we feel as a wound. Learn from hence to draw off the mind of a sufferer from brooding over the affliction, to look at the God of mercies in the affliction. And how can this be done so well as by looking to Christ Jesus, in whose unequalled sorrows every child of God soonest learns to forget his own?

Matthew Henry Commentary: ^7-11 Eliphaz argues, 1. That good men were never thus ruined. But there is one event both to the righteous and to the wicked, Ec 9:2, both in life and death; the great and certain difference is after death. Our worst mistakes are occasioned by drawing wrong views from undeniable truths. 2. That wicked men were often thus ruined: for the proof of this, Eliphaz vouches his own observation. We may see the same every day.

Matthew Henry Commentary: ^12-21 Eliphaz relates a vision. When we are communing with our own hearts, and are still, Ps 4:4, then is a time for the Holy Spirit to commune with us. This vision put him into very great fear. Ever since man sinned, it has been terrible to him to receive communications from Heaven, conscious that he can expect no good tidings thence. Sinful man! shall he pretend to be more just, more pure, than God, who being his Maker, is his Lord and Owner? How dreadful, then, the pride and presumption of man! How great the patience of God! Look upon man in his life. The very foundation of that cottage of clay in which man dwells, is in the dust, and it will sink with its own weight. We stand but upon the dust. Some have a higher heap of dust to stand upon than others but still it is the earth that stays us up, and will shortly swallow us up. Man is soon crushed; or if some lingering distemper, which consumes like a moth, be sent to destroy him, he cannot resist it. Shall such a creature pretend to blame the appointments of God? Look upon man in his death. Life is short, and in a little time men are cut off. Beauty, strength, learning, not only cannot secure them from death, but these things die with them; nor shall their pomp, their wealth, or power, continue after them. Shall a weak, sinful, dying creature, pretend to be more just than God, and more pure than his Maker? No: instead of quarrelling with his afflictions, let him wonder that he is out of hell. Can a man be cleansed without his Maker? Will God justify sinful mortals, and clear them from guilt? or will he do so without their having an interest in the righteousness and gracious help of their promised Redeemer, when angels, once ministering spirits before his throne, receive the just recompence of their sins? Notwithstanding the seeming impunity of men for a short time, though living without God in the world, their doom is as certain as that of the fallen angels, and is continually overtaking them. Yet careless sinners note it so little, that they expect not the change, nor are wise to consider their latter end.

A Commentary By J Vernon MCgee For Job 4:1-999

A Commentary By J Vernon MCgee For Job 4:7-999

A Commentary By J Vernon MCgee For Job 4:12-999

A Commentary By J Vernon MCgee For Job 4:18-999

Morning Bible Reading - Job 5

¹ Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn? ² For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one. ³ I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation. ⁴ His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither [is there] any to deliver [them]. ⁵ Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance. ⁶ Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground; ⁷ Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward. ⁸ I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause: ⁹ Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number: ¹⁰ Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields: ¹¹ To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety. ¹² He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform [their] enterprise. ¹³ He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong. ¹⁴ They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night. ¹⁵ But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty. ¹⁶ So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth. ¹⁷ Behold, happy [is] the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: ¹⁸ For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole. ¹⁹ He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. ²⁰ In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword. ²¹ Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh. ²² At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. ²³ For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. ²⁴ And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle [shall be] in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin. ²⁵ Thou shalt know also that thy seed [shall be] great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth. ²⁶ Thou shalt come to [thy] grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season. ²⁷ Lo this, we have searched it, so it [is]; hear it, and know thou [it] for thy good.

Matthew Henry Commentary: ^0-999 Chapter Outline Eliphaz urges that the sin of sinners in their ruin. (1-5) God is to be regarded in affliction. (6-16) The happy end of God|s correction. (17-27)

Matthew Henry Commentary: ^1-5 Eliphaz here calls upon Job to answer his arguments. Were any of the saints or servants of God visited with such Divine judgments as Job, or did they ever behave like him under their sufferings? The term, "saints," holy, or more strictly, consecrated ones, seems in all ages to have been applied to the people of God, through the Sacrifice slain in the covenant of their reconciliation. Eliphaz doubts not that the sin of sinners directly tends to their ruin. They kill themselves by some lust or other; therefore, no doubt, Job has done some foolish thing, by which he has brought himself into this condition. The allusion was plain to Job|s former prosperity; but there was no evidence of Job|s wickedness, and the application to him was unfair and severe.

Matthew Henry Commentary: ^6-16 Eliphaz reminds Job, that no affliction comes by chance, nor is to be placed to second causes. The difference between prosperity and adversity is not so exactly observed, as that between day and night, summer and winter; but it is according to the will and counsel of God. We must not attribute our afflictions to fortune, for they are from God; nor our sins to fate, for they are from ourselves. Man is born in sin, and therefore born to trouble. There is nothing in this world we are born to, and can truly call our own, but sin and trouble. Actual transgressions are sparks that fly out of the furnace of original corruption. Such is the frailty of our bodies, and the vanity of all our enjoyments, that our troubles arise thence as the sparks fly upward; so many are they, and so fast does one follow another. Eliphaz reproves Job for not seeking God, instead of quarrelling with him. Is any afflicted? let him pray. It is heart|s ease, a salve for every sore. Eliphaz speaks of rain, which we are apt to look upon as a little thing; but if we consider how it is produced, and what is produced by it, we shall see it to be a great work of power and goodness. Too often the great Author of all our comforts, and the manner in which they are conveyed to us, are not noticed, because they are received as things of course. In the ways of Providence, the experiences of some are encouragements to others, to hope the best in the worst of times; for it is the glory of God to send help to the helpless, and hope to the hopeless. And daring sinners are confounded, and forced to acknowledge the justice of God|s proceedings.

Matthew Henry Commentary: ^17-27 Eliphaz gives to Job a word of caution and exhortation: Despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty. Call it a chastening, which comes from the Father|s love, and is for the child|s good; and notice it as a messenger from Heaven. Eliphaz also encourages Job to submit to his condition. A good man is happy though he be afflicted, for he has not lost his enjoyment of God, nor his title to heaven; nay, he is happy because he is afflicted. Correction mortifies his corruptions, weans his heart from the world, draws him nearer to God, brings him to his Bible, brings him to his knees. Though God wounds, yet he supports his people under afflictions, and in due time delivers them. Making a wound is sometimes part of a cure. Eliphaz gives Job precious promises of what God would do for him, if he humbled himself. Whatever troubles good men may be in, they shall do them no real harm. Being kept from sin, they are kept from the evil of trouble. And if the servants of Christ are not delivered from outward troubles, they are delivered by them, and while overcome by one trouble, they conquer all. Whatever is maliciously said against them shall not hurt them. They shall have wisdom and grace to manage their concerns. The greatest blessing, both in our employments and in our enjoyments, is to be kept from sin. They shall finish their course with joy and honour. That man lives long enough who has done his work, and is fit for another world. It is a mercy to die seasonably, as the corn is cut and housed when fully ripe; not till then, but then not suffered to stand any longer. Our times are in God|s hands; it is well they are so. Believers are not to expect great wealth, long life, or to be free from trials. But all will be ordered for the best. And remark from Job|s history, that steadiness of mind and heart under trial, is one of the highest attainments of faith. There is little exercise for faith when all things go well. But if God raises a storm, permits the enemy to send wave after wave, and seemingly stands aloof from our prayers, then, still to hang on and trust God, when we cannot trace him, this is the patience of the saints. Blessed Saviour! how sweet it is to look unto thee, the Author and Finisher of faith, in such moments!

A Commentary By J Vernon MCgee For Job 5:1-999

A Commentary By J Vernon MCgee For Job 5:7-999

A Commentary By J Vernon MCgee For Job 5:8-999

A Commentary By J Vernon MCgee For Job 5:20-999

Morning Bible Reading - Job 6

¹ But Job answered and said, ² Oh that my grief were throughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together! ³ For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up. ⁴ For the arrows of the Almighty [are] within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. ⁵ Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fodder? ⁶ Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there [any] taste in the white of an egg? ⁷ The things [that] my soul refused to touch [are] as my sorrowful meat. ⁸ Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant [me] the thing that I long for! ⁹ Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off! ¹⁰ Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. ¹¹ What [is] my strength, that I should hope? and what [is] mine end, that I should prolong my life? ¹² [Is] my strength the strength of stones? or [is] my flesh of brass? ¹³ [Is] not my help in me? and is wisdom driven quite from me? ¹⁴ To him that is afflicted pity [should be shewed] from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty. ¹⁵ My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, [and] as the stream of brooks they pass away; ¹⁶ Which are blackish by reason of the ice, [and] wherein the snow is hid: ¹⁷ What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. ¹⁸ The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish. ¹⁹ The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them. ²⁰ They were confounded because they had hoped; they came thither, and were ashamed. ²¹ For now ye are nothing; ye see [my] casting down, and are afraid. ²² Did I say, Bring unto me? or, Give a reward for me of your substance? ²³ Or, Deliver me from the enemy’s hand? or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty? ²⁴ Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred. ²⁵ How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove? ²⁶ Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, [which are] as wind? ²⁷ Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig [a pit] for your friend. ²⁸ Now therefore be content, look upon me; for [it is] evident unto you if I lie. ²⁹ Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; yea, return again, my righteousness [is] in it. ³⁰ Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things?

Matthew Henry Commentary: ^0-999 Chapter Outline Job justifies his complaints. (1-7) He wishes for death. (8-13) Job reproves his friends as unkind. (14-30)

Matthew Henry Commentary: ^1-7 Job still justifies himself in his complaints. In addition to outward troubles, the inward sense of God|s wrath took away all his courage and resolution. The feeling sense of the wrath of God is harder to bear than any outward afflictions. What then did the Saviour endure in the garden and on the cross, when he bare our sins, and his soul was made a sacrifice to Divine justice for us! Whatever burden of affliction, in body or estate, God is pleased to lay upon us, we may well submit to it as long as he continues to us the use of our reason, and the peace of our conscience; but if either of these is disturbed, our case is very pitiable. Job reflects upon his friends for their censures. He complains he had nothing offered for his relief, but what was in itself tasteless, loathsome, and burdensome.

Matthew Henry Commentary: ^8-13 Job had desired death as the happy end of his miseries. For this, Eliphaz had reproved him, but he asks for it again with more vehemence than before. It was very rash to speak thus of God destroying him. Who, for one hour, could endure the wrath of the Almighty, if he let loose his hand against him? Let us rather say with David, O spare me a little. Job grounds his comfort upon the testimony of his conscience, that he had been, in some degree, serviceable to the glory of God. Those who have grace in them, who have the evidence of it, and have it in exercise, have wisdom in them, which will be their help in the worst of times.

Matthew Henry Commentary: ^14-30 In his prosperity Job formed great expectations from his friends, but now was disappointed. This he compares to the failing of brooks in summer. Those who rest their expectations on the creature, will find it fail when it should help them; whereas those who make God their confidence, have help in the time of need, Heb 4:16. Those who make gold their hope, sooner or later will be ashamed of it, and of their confidence in it. It is our wisdom to cease from man. Let us put all our confidence in the Rock of ages, not in broken reeds; in the Fountain of life, not in broken cisterns. The application is very close; "for now ye are nothing." It were well for us, if we had always such convictions of the vanity of the creature, as we have had, or shall have, on a sick-bed, a death-bed, or in trouble of conscience. Job upbraids his friends with their hard usage. Though in want, he desired no more from them than a good look and a good word. It often happens that, even when we expect little from man, we have less; but from God, even when we expect much, we have more. Though Job differed from them, yet he was ready to yield as soon as it was made to appear that he was in error. Though Job had been in fault, yet they ought not to have given him such hard usage. His righteousness he holds fast, and will not let it go. He felt that there had not been such iniquity in him as they supposed. But it is best to commit our characters to Him who keeps our souls; in the great day every upright believer shall have praise of God.

A Commentary By J Vernon MCgee For Job 6:1-999

A Commentary By J Vernon MCgee For Job 6:4-999

A Commentary By J Vernon MCgee For Job 6:17-999

Evening Bible Reading - Acts 7

²⁰ In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father’s house three months: ²¹ And when he was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son. ²² And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. ²³ And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. ²⁴ And seeing one [of them] suffer wrong, he defended [him], and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian: ²⁵ For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not. ²⁶ And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another? ²⁷ But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? ²⁸ Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday? ²⁹ Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons. ³⁰ And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. ³¹ When Moses saw [it], he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold [it], the voice of the Lord came unto him, ³² [Saying], I [am] the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold. ³³ Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground. ³⁴ I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt. ³⁵ This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send [to be] a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶ He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years. ³⁷ This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. ³⁸ This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and [with] our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: ³⁹ To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust [him] from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, ⁴⁰ Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for [as for] this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. ⁴¹ And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. ⁴² Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices [by the space of] forty years in the wilderness? ⁴³ Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

Matthew Henry Commentary: ^30-41 Men deceive themselves, if they think God cannot do what he sees to be good any where; he can bring his people into a wilderness, and there speak comfortably to them. He appeared to Moses in a flame of fire, yet the bush was not consumed; which represented the state of Israel in Egypt, where, though they were in the fire of affliction, yet they were not consumed. It may also be looked upon as a type of Christ|s taking upon him the nature of man, and the union between the Divine and human nature. The death of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, cannot break the covenant relation between God and them. Our Saviour by this proves the future state, Mt 22:31. Abraham is dead, yet God is still his God, therefore Abraham is still alive. Now, this is that life and immortality which are brought to light by the gospel. Stephen here shows that Moses was an eminent type of Christ, as he was Israel|s deliverer. God has compassion for the troubles of his church, and the groans of his persecuted people; and their deliverance takes rise from his pity. And that deliverance was typical of what Christ did, when, for us men, and for our salvation, he came down from heaven. This Jesus, whom they now refused, as their fathers did Moses, even this same has God advanced to be a Prince and Saviour. It does not at all take from the just honour of Moses to say, that he was but an instrument, and that he is infinitely outshone by Jesus. In asserting that Jesus should change the customs of the ceremonial law. Stephen was so far from blaspheming Moses, that really he honoured him, by showing how the prophecy of Moses was come to pass, which was so clear. God who gave them those customs by his servant Moses, might, no doubt, change the custom by his Son Jesus. But Israel thrust Moses from them, and would have returned to their bondage; so men in general will not obey Jesus, because they love this present evil world, and rejoice in their own works and devices.

A Commentary By J Vernon MCgee For Acts 7:23-43