Job 2:4 And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yes, all that a man has will he give for his life. The love of life is a principle which evidently belongs to our race. The attachment to life has not been engendered since the fall. It is rather the marred and mutilated relic of one of the features of man's early perfection. This love of life was a fragment of immortality. The love of life survives all that can make life desirable. Take away this principle of the love of life, and the whole fabric of human society would be shaken. The power of the civil magistrate would lose its strong hold on the minds of the rebellious; vice would set no limits to the extent of its profligacy, for no dread would attach to the sternest of penalties. It may be true that the love of life is seldom or never completely lost in the desire for immortality. Life may be lawfully loved — there is not necessarily anything sinful in the love of life. But what are our reasons for loving life? Do we love it because we employ it on worldly pleasures or pursuits, or because it may be consecrated to the glory of God and to the high purposes of eternal salvation? If the latter, then it is an actual duty to desire length Of days. Where the heart is converted by the power of the Holy Spirit, the chief longing is to live to God's honour. While it is the great end of our being to promote God's glory, we cannot do this and not at the same time promote our own everlasting happiness. (Henry Melvill, B. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.WEB: Satan answered Yahweh, and said, "Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. |
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