Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/3_100_t.lzh/3_193.TXT

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religious exercise enjoined in those times; the apostle
uses the like phrase of the saints' social worship, Rom.
xii. 1. now for this there was a day; though I very
much question whether any sabbath, or much less a
seventh-day sabbath, was as yet instituted; but inas-
much as men agreed together to call on the name of
the Lord, or to worship him in a social way, Gen. iv.
26. as it was necessary that tt place should be appointed
to meet at, so a time fixed by consent and agreement;
even as now, the seventh-day-sabbath being abrogated,
Christians agree to meet on the first day of the week,
called the Lord's day, in imitation of the apostles or'
Christ; andon one of these days thus fixed and agreed
on was the bove meeting, at which Satan came among
them, as he frequently does in the assembly of the
saints, to do what mischief he can; by snatching
away the word from inattentive hearers, and by di-
recting the eye to such objects, and putting. such
things into the mind, as divert from the service of
God; or by suggesting to the saints themselves, that
what is artended to does not belong to them, with many
other things of the like kind: the Targum interprets
this day of the day of judgment, at the beginning ot
the year, and th sons of God of angels, as do other
Jewish writers.
Vet. 7. And the Lord said unto Satan, whence comest
thou ? &c.] This question is put, not as ignoraut of
the place from whence he came; for the omniscient
God knows all persons and things, men and angels,
and these good and bad, where they are, from whence
they come, and what they do, see Gen. iii. 9. and iv.
.O. but it is put either as being angry with him, and re-
senting his coming among the sons of God, and chiding
him for it, as having no proper business there, like the
question in Matt. xxii. l2. or rather in order to lead
on to another, and to bring out from him what he in-
tended to have expressed by him, of what he had seen
and taken notice of in the place from whence he came,
and particularly concerning Job: how God and spirits
converse together we are not able to say; but no doubt
there is a way in which God talks with spirits, even
with evil ones, as well as good ones, and in which they
speak to him; and so this does not at all affect the
reality of this narrative: then Satan answered the Lord
and said, from going to and fro in the earth, and from
walking up and down in it; this he said as swaggering
and boasting, as if he was indeed the God of the whole
world, the Prince and King of it, and had and exer-
cised a sovereign dominion over it, and as such had
been making a tour through it, and taking a survey of
it, see Matt-iv. 8. and as if he was at fiffi liberty to
go where he pleased, and was under no control, when
he was in chains of darkness, and could go nowhere,
nor do any thing, without divine permission; could
not touch Job, nor his substance, nor, as in the days
of Christ, so much as enter into a herd of swine with-
out leave: fike.wise this may denote the disquietude
and restlessness of this evil spirit, who could not
abide long in a place, but moving to and fro, seeking
rest, but finding none, Matt. xii. 43. as also his dili-
gence and indefatigablehess in doing and seeking to do
mischief, going about like a roaring lion, seeking whom
he may devour, taking all opportunities of doing in-
jury, sowing his tares while men are asleep and off'
their guard, 1 Pet. v. 8. Matt. xiii. 25. and so the
tirst word here used signifies a diligent search, and is
rendered by some, and particularly by Mr. Broughton,
from searching about the earth °, and from wallcing in it;
and so the Targum, "from going about in the earth,
"to search the works of the children of men, and from
"wallSing in it ;" and it points at the place of Satan's
abode, the earth, with the circumambient air, Eph.
ii. 2. and the extent of his influence, which reaches
not to heaven, and to the saiuts there, out of which
he i.s cast, and can nevor re-enter, but to the earth
only, and men on it; and here no place is free from
him; he and his angels are roving about everywhere,
city and country; public and private places, men's
own houses, or the house of God, are not exempt
fi'om them; and theretbre all here need to watch and
pray, lest they enter into temptation, Matt. xxvi. 41.
Schultens interprets the word of Satan going through
the earth with great force and violence, whipping and
scourging miserable mortals.
Ver. 8. And the Lord said unto Satan, hast thou
considered my servant Job, &c.] Or, hast thou put
thine heart on my servant P; not in a way of love and
affection to him, to do him any good or service, there
being an original and itnplacable enmity in this old
serpent to the seed of the woman; but rather his
heart was set upon him iu a way of desire to have
him in his hands, to do him all the mischief he could,
as the desire of his heart was toward Peter, Luke xxii.
31. but the sense of the question is, since thou sayest
thou hast been walking up and down in the eartb, hast
thou not taken notice of Job, and cast an eye upon
him, and wished in thine heart to have him in thine
hands to do him hurt ? I know that thou hast; hast
thou not contrived in thine heart how to attack him,
tempt him, and draw him from my service, and into
sins and snares, in order to reproach and accuse him ?
thou hast, but all in vain; and so it is a sarcasm upon
Satan, as well as an expression of indignation at him
for such an attempt upon him, and as anticipating his
accusation of Job; for it is as if he should further say,
I know he is in thine eye, and upon thine heart, now
thou art come with a full intent to accuse and charge
him; so Jarchi, "lest thou set thine heart, &c. so as
"to have a good will to accuse him ;" he had, but the
Lord prevents him, by giving a high character of him,
in these and the following words: here he calls him
my servant; not a servant of men, living according
to the lusts and will of men, and their customs and
forays of worship, superstition, and idolatry; nor a
servant of sin and the lusts of the flesh; nor of Satan,
who boasted of the whole earth being his; but the
Lord's servant, not only by creation, but by special
choice, by redemption, by efficacious grace, and the
voluntary surrender of himself to the Lord under the
influence of it; and by his cheerful and constant obe-
dience he answered this character; and the Lord here
claims iris property in him, acknowledges him as his


{o} So Rambam and Ben Melech.
{p} \^ydbe le Kbl tmvh\^ nunquid posuisti cor tuum super servum
meum, Pagninus, Montanus, Bolducius, Schmidt.