Bible Commentaries
Job 9

Introduction

Job Chapter 9

Job 9:1 "Then Job answered and said,"

Job 9:2 "I know [it is] so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?" Job was agreeing that a righteous man generally would not face these problems. We must remember, in all of this, that God did not forewarn Job of the challenge of Satan. It would not have had the impact on the angels, and even on us, if Job had endured these hardships, because he knew God would restore him at the end. The thing that made Job’s stand for God so powerful was the fact that he did not know. Job had made an humble statement "how should a man be just with God?" Job was saying that man was not perfect. He had attempted to live perfect before God, and it appeared to him at this point, that he must have failed in some way.

Job 9:3 "If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand." If a man would be so foolish to try to contend with God, the man would not be able to answer one of a thousand things that God would ask.

Job 9:4 "[He is] wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened [himself] against him, and hath prospered?" Who is man that he should contend with God? God is all powerful. He is the source of all strength. He is Wisdom to the utmost. No man who hardens his heart against God could ever prosper.

Job 9:5 "Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger." The main thing we must see in this verse through verse 13, is that God is in total control of all the elements of the earth. Not only must we know that he is in control, but we must notice that Job knew this, and he was the one who was making this statement. There will be a time, at the Word of God when the mountains will be no more. This is spoken of clearly during the wrath of God, which is yet to come.

Job 9:6 "Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble." It is God who sends the earthquake, to cause people to repent and come to Him. The pillars are speaking of the supports for the earth’s crust. We learned that a movement of rock deep beneath the earth’s surface, is really what causes the earthquake.

Job 9:7 "Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars." The sun is no more than a container for light. There will be a time, when there will be no need for the sun, or the moon. Revelation 21:23 "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb [is] the light thereof."

Job 9:8 "Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea." The heavens surround the earth. One of His very first creations was the heavens. Jesus showed a manifestation of His ability to tread upon the waves, when He walked on the Sea of Galilee.

Job 9:9 "Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south." These are speaking of constellations in the sky. These, too, were created by God, and are under His complete control. Arcturus {the great bear} is one of the three most brilliant stars in the southern hemisphere. Orion is south of Taurus and Gemini, and is made up of a myriad of stars. Pleiades is a constellation of large stars and numerous small stars. It is seen in the eastern sky. The chambers of the south are unnamed stars. It is unusual that a man in history, as early as Job, would know of the stars.

Job 9:10 "Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number." Job had said this same thing in answer to Eliphaz. Job knew all of the greatness of God that Bildad had mentioned, and even more. He never questioned the greatness of God.

Job 9:11 "Lo, he goeth by me, and I see [him] not: he passeth on also, but I perceive him not." This is another way of saying, that God is a Spirit. The natural eye cannot see God. We may be aware of His presence, but we cannot actually see Him, or touch Him with our physical hands.

Job 9:12 "Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, What doest thou?" The answer to this is no one. We can not, and should not, question the actions of God. Job had not questioned God in this at all.

Job 9:13 "[If] God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him." When the anger of God is toward those who rebel against Him, there is only one outcome. Those, who rebel against Him, fall.

Job 9:14 "How much less shall I answer him, [and] choose out my words [to reason] with him?" Job was saying, that under no circumstances would he try to change God’s mind about anything. Job knew that God is right about everything. To reason with God, would be a great error.

Job 9:15 "Whom, though I were righteous, [yet] would I not answer, [but] I would make supplication to my judge." Job was explaining that he would pray and ask God to help him, but he would not argue with God. Even a perfect righteous man, as far as a man can 40 be, would not have the right to argue with God. God’s will and His way are perfect, and they are unchangeable.

Job 9:16 "If I had called, and he had answered me; [yet] would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice." Job was saying, even if he had challenged God, and God answered him, he would know that it had been the will of God all long. It would not have been the challenge of Job, but the will of God.

Job 9:17 "For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause." God would not be likely to hear the complaint of Job, since the punishment of God had already begun. Job was thoroughly convinced, he had done nothing to cause this terrible calamity that had come upon him. He was right.

Job 9:18 "He will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness." Job was having great difficulty even in breathing. Somehow, he was beginning to be filled with bitterness toward life itself.

Job 9:19 "If [I speak] of strength, lo, [he is] strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a time [to plead]?" This plainly was saying, that Job was not strong enough to contend with God. The only strength that Job had was in the LORD.

Job 9:20 "If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: [if I say], I [am] perfect, it shall also prove me perverse." If Job tried to justify himself before the LORD, he would not be able to. His justification was like ours. He was just as if he had never sinned because he was forgiven of God. If a person tried to justify himself, he would sin in the process. He who says he had not sinned is a liar, and the truth is not in him. He would sin, because he would be lying. No one, but Jesus Christ was ever perfect.

Job 9:21 "[Though] I [were] perfect, [yet] would I not know my soul: I would despise my life." Job’s perfection was in the LORD. Job was feeling as if he hated his own life at this point.

Job 9:22 "This [is] one [thing], therefore I said [it], He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked." Job had concluded there was no difference. All have sinned. He was saying, it rains upon the just and the unjust. There seems to be no difference. The great difference is in the life to come.

Job 9:23 "If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent." The scourge, here, is, possibly, speaking of something like a war, where the good and the bad come to the same fate. It appears that Job believed God was laughing at his problem, here. This was just a man in total despair speaking.

Job 9:24 "The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, [and] who [is] he?" It appears to Job, that the wicked people of this earth were set in the high places. The covering of the faces of the judges was showing that their judgement was not fair. Job believed it was God who covered the faces of the judges. Job had suddenly begun to blame God for the conditions of society. He knew if God wanted to, He could change it.

Job 9:25 "Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good." A post is like a letter that is sent swiftly. Job was saying that it appeared that even as a person’s life began it was headed for the end. It is but for a short time at the longest. Job was so despondent at this moment, that he saw no good in life.

Job 9:26 "They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle [that] hasteth to the prey." Job was speaking of the swiftness of the passing of his life away, here. The ships leave the port, not to be seen again for a long time. The eagle swoops down, and gets his prey, and flies away.

Job 9:27 "If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness, and comfort [myself]:" Job might say that he would forget his complaint, but it would still be in his heart, even if he did not utter it. He says, perhaps, if he did not talk about it, it would not be so heavy upon him.

Job 9:28 "I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent." God thinks of murmuring as sin. Fear of anything, except God, is, also, sin. God wants us to trust and have faith.

Job 9:29 "[If] I be wicked, why then labour I in vain?" Job believed that God had already judged him, and found him guilty of some sin he was not even aware of. He was asking, why he should labor to try to find out what he had done, if he was already condemned?

Job 9:30 "If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean;"

Job 9:31 "Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me." He was saying that all the cleansing in the world could not make him clean with God.

Job 9:32 "For [he is] not a man, as I [am, that] I should answer him, [and] we should come together in judgment." God is not a man, except in Jesus Christ, who took on the form of man that He might experience man’s problems.

Job 9:33 "Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, [that] might lay his hand upon us both." The daysman is speaking of someone like a mediator. The High Priest {Jesus Christ} would become that Mediator between God the Father and all of mankind. He hung between heaven and earth on the cross as our Mediator. It was this Jesus who put mankind back into right standing with God.

Job 9:34 "Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me:" His rod was taken away from mankind, when Jesus took our stripes, and took our sin upon his body on the cross. All of these things Job was asking for, occurred for us in Jesus.

Job 9:35 "[Then] would I speak, and not fear him; but [it is] not so with me." We can come boldly before the throne of God, because Jesus opened the way for us. Job admitted he was not in such a position with God at that time. He would wait patiently for God to change his circumstances.

Job 9 Questions

1. What must we remember about the problems that came upon Job?

2. Job was feeling that he must have ________ God in some way he was unaware of.

3. It would be a _________ thing for man to contend with God.

4. No man who hardens his heart against God could ever _________.

5. From verse 5 through 13, we must see that God is in _________ __________.

6. What is Job 9:6 speaking of?

7. Quote Revelation 21:23.

8. When did Jesus manifest His control over the water?

9. What constellations that God made are mentioned by name? 10. Which one of them is called the bear?

11. Job never questioned the ____________ of God.

12. Why could Job not see God?

13. We ___ _____ and _______ _____ question the actions of God.

14. What is the outcome, when someone rebels against Him?

15. Job explains that he would pray and ask God to help him, but he would not ________ with God.

16. Job was having great __________ in breathing.

17. Quote Job 9:17.

18. The only strength that Job had was in the ________.

19. In Job 9:20, Job says his own _________ condemns him.

20. He who says he has not sinned is a _______.

21. It rains upon the ________ and on the ________.

22. It appears to Job that the wicked people were in ______ _______.

23. What is a post?

24. In Job 9:26, what did Job compare to the swiftness of life?

25. Even if Job stopped complaining out loud, he would still have the complaint in his ________.

26. God thinks of murmuring as _____.

27. Fear of anything, except God is ______.

28. How is the only way that Job 9:32 could be fulfilled?

29. Who is the daysman?

30. When was his rod taken away from mankind?

Verses 1-12

Job 9:1-12

Introduction

Job 9

JOB’S THIRD SPEECH:

JOB RESPONDED TO BILDAD’S ALLEGATIONS

In this chapter, Job replies to the false theory of Bildad that every person gets exactly what he deserves in this life. If he does right he will be rich and prosperous; and if he is wicked, he will suffer disease and hardship. The only thing wrong with that theory was its being absolutely false: (1) No man is righteous enough to deserve all of the blessings which are poured out upon all men; and (2) "Such a theory makes every poor man, and every martyr, a wicked sinner," and every wealthy person a saint of God. No fair-minded person could accept such a theory.

The response of Job begins with a sarcastic agreement with Bildad on the greatness of God; "But it closes with a vehement contradiction of Bildad’s closing and dominant contention," namely, that Job’s misfortunes are due to his wickedness. Both this and the following chapters are essentially, "A monologue in which God is addressed in the third person, although occasionally directly."

The thing missing from this whole central section of Job is the knowledge of Satan, the great enemy of mankind. If, as we believe, Moses was the author of the prologue and the conclusion, that leaves Job and his friends apparently in total ignorance regarding the part that Satan had in the fall of mankind. Not one of them made any reference whatever to Satan. This is a significant link in the chain of evidence that makes Job a far older book, even, than the Pentateuch. It indicates that Job lived and wrote his book at a time and in a part of the world which had no knowledge of the Books of Moses.

Job 9:1-12

THE INFINITE POWER AND WISDOM OF GOD

"Then Job answered and said,

Of truth I know that it is so:

But how can man be just with God?

If he be pleased to contend with him,

He cannot answer him one of a thousand.

He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength:

Who hath hardened himself against him and prospered? -

Him that removeth the mountains, and they know it not,

When he overturneth them in his anger;

That shaketh the earth out of its place.

And the pillars thereof tremble;

That commandeth the sun, and it riseth not,

And sealeth up the stars;

That alone stretcheth out the heavens,

And treadeth upon the waves of the sea;

That maketh the Bear, Orion and the Pleiades,

And the chambers of the south;

That doeth great things past finding out,

Yea, marvelous things without number.

Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not:

He passeth on also, but I perceive him not.

Behold, he seizeth the prey, who can hinder him?

Who will say unto him, What doest thou?"

Job not only extols the greatness and power of God, but he also indicates his knowledge that no man, in the infinite sense, can be just in God’s sight (Job 9:1). He perceives that God is the Creator of all things, even the great constellations, and that God is a spiritual being, invisible to mortal man, even when he "goeth by" him (Job 9:11). "Job is here saying some wonderful things about God. Man is so insignificant, and God is so great"![4]

"He commandeth the sun, and it riseth not" (Job 9:7). "The word here has the meaning of `to beam’ or `to shine forth’ and is not confined to the literal rising of the sun. It refers to abnormal obscurations of the sun such as those caused by heavy thunderstorms, dust storms, or eclipses."

"He maketh the Bear, Orion, and Pleiades" (Job 9:9). These are among the best known constellations. The Bear is Ursa Major, generally known as the Great Dipper. Orion dominates the winter skies, and the Pleiades those of the spring.

E.M. Zerr:

Job 9:1-2. Job admitted the statements that had just been made by Bildad as far as the facts were concerned. There really has not been any difference between them on that phase of the subject; the point of dispute has been the application to be made of those facts. Job was a very afflicted man and he also was a human and made mistakes in life the same as other men. But the friends claimed the afflictions were sent to punish him for his sins while he denied it. In the present paragraph the argument of Job is that if all sin is to be punished by some special lot then all men would be going through some form of punishment. This agrument is couched in his words how should man be just with God?

Job 9:3. Using nouns instead of pronouns this would read if God would contend with ’men, etc. Job did not believe that God would consent to argue with him; but if He did then he would not win one argument in a thousand.

Job 9:4. No man can harden himself against God and succeed. Job meant to admit that he could not contend with God, but that did not mean that his afflictions had been sent for a punishment.

Job 9:5. When it comes to describing the greatness of God, Job will show that his friends cannot outdo him. This and several following verses will deal with the subject of God’s greatness.

Job 9:6. We know the earth does not rest on literal pillars so the term is used figuratively. The thought is that God is able to handle the earth according to his will. That was demonstrated when he caused the shadow to go backward in the time of Hezekiah. (2 Kings 20:11.) That was done by reversing the motion of the earth.

Job 9:7. This took place in the time of Joshua when he commanded the sun to stand still. (John 10:12-13.) The word riseth in the text here is from ZARACH, and the part of Strong’s definition that applies is as follows: "a primitive root; properly to irradiate (or shoot forth beams)." That is what occurred in the case of Joshua; the sun did not shine during the period which was the same in effect as if it did not rise.

Job 9:8. Which is not in the original here and in a number of other verses nearby. It has been supplied from Job 9:5, second phrase. There it is from ASHAR which Strong defines, "a primitive relative pronoun (of every gender and number); who, which, what, that." Since the name of God was introduced in Job 9:2 we should use this word as a masculine pronoun and make the verse read, "He alone spreadeth out the heavens." It means that God is master of the earth and sky.

Job 9:9. These are names of heavenly bodies and the passage means that they were made by the Lord.

Job 9:10. The wonderful works of God are beyond the knowledge of man; therefore the present state of Job should not be allowed to cause confusion.

Job 9:11-12. This whole passage simply means that God’s power and wisdom are beyond the comprehension of man.

Verses 13-24

Job 9:13-24

Job 9:13-24

JOB DECLARES THAT GOD DESTROYS GOOD AND BAD ALIKE

"God will not withdraw his anger;

The helpers of Rahab do stoop under him.

How much less shall I answer him,

And choose out my words to reason with him?

Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer;

I would make supplication to my judge.

If I had called, and he had answered me,

Yet would I not believe that he hearkened unto my voice.

For he breaketh me with a tempest,

And multiplieth my wounds without cause.

He will not suffer me to take my breath.

But filleth me with bitterness.

If we speak of strength, lo, he is mighty!

Who will, saith he, summon me?

Though I be righteous, mine own mouth shall condemn me:

Though I be perfect, it shall prove me perverse. I am perfect; I regard not myself;

I despise my life.

It is all one; therefore I say

He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.

If the scourge slay suddenly,

He will mock at the trial of the innocent.

The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;

He covereth the faces of the judges thereof:

If it is not he, who then is it?"

If one accepts the ancient view that whatever happens is God’s will, because he allows it; and reasons from this view that God actually does all things that are done, then Job was profoundly correct in his statement here that God had turned the world over to the wicked, that the crooked judges had no regard for justice, and that the innocent and the guilty alike perish together in the great scourges that have plagued humanity. A flood, an earthquake, a deadly epidemic, a tornado, or the wholesale destructive bombing of a great city - all of these are bona fide examples of the innocent and guilty perishing together without discrimination. With this observation, Job completely destroyed the basic argument of his friends. What is wrong with the theory? It is false.

Modern men, as well as did Job, have trouble accepting such facts as those just cited. And the definitive answer to the problem lies in the existence and malignant activity of Satan. The evil one was responsible for what happened to Job; and there’s many a disaster today that must be laid squarely at the feet of him who is viciously angry with mankind, "Knowing that he hath but a short time" (Revelation 12:12). It is amazing to us that so few of the writers we have consulted take any account of the true source of Job’s wretchedness.

"The helpers of Rahab do stoop under him" (Job 9:13). The reference here is to an ancient Babylonian myth. "Rahab here, like the dragon in Isaiah 51:9 is the ancient mythological name of Tiamat, the original Chaos, whom God conquered in the Creation." In Hebrew literature it was sometimes used as a synonym for Egypt. However, "Ancient allusions to mythology by the sacred writers no more implies their acceptance of such myths than does John Milton’s allusions to classical mythology imply his acceptance of it."

Job’s argument here is that, in spite of his certainty that it is not his wickedness that has resulted in his distress, he nevertheless feels that he is too weak to contend with God about the matter. `If great dragons like the helpers of Rahab were utterly crushed and destroyed by God, how could any mortal man hope to contend with God, regardless of the justice of his case’?

"In his heart, Job is still convinced that he has wrought no evil; but he will not say so." The great marvel is that even in the bitterness of his bewilderment, he nevertheless clings to that integrity from which Satan was powerless to remove him. Job must be hailed indeed as that faithful man who trusted where he could not see.

Van Selms wrote that, "God, yes, God is the cause of all these wretched conditions. If he is not, then what is he? A God who cannot rule the world? Are not all things that happen on earth the effects of his will"? Philosophical observations such as this betray a fundamental ignorance. God gave unto men the freedom of the will; and therefore, when evil men will to do that which is contrary to God’s will, they are, of course, permitted to do it. It was that freedom of the human will that led to Adam’s election to forsake the government of God and accept in the place of it the government of the devil. The scholars who do not understand that, will never be able to make any sense out of Job. Due to Satan and to wicked men who follow him, countless things contrary to God’s will occur constantly. Yes, God could prevent such things, but not within the context of the freedom of the human will.

E.M. Zerr:

Job 9:13-14. Proud is from an original that means to bluster or urge with active strength. It means a person who is generally hard to subdue. Job’s thought is that God’s anger will cause even such determined characters to shrink away. If that is the case then a modest man like Job would have nothing to say in answer to Him.

Job 9:15. The thought in this verse is about the great difference between God and the best of men. The most righteous man living should not feel qualified to contend with Him, seeing he would not have any answer that would be just.

Job 9:16. All apparent contradictions are clear when the real thought is observed. If God should respond to man’s prayer it would not be on the ground of the merit possessed by the man; it would be purely the goodness of the Lord.

Job 9:17. Without cause. God has a good reason for all that he does. Job meant that he had not given the Lord any cause for afflicting him. We know that was true, and that it was all brought about by the challenge of Satan (Job 2:4-6). The pitiable part of this matter is the truth that Job did not know what occasioned his trials.

Job 9:18. We must not forget that one object to be accomplished by this book was to show how a man of God may be patient under trial. To do that it was necessary to give the readers an inspired account of those afflictions. This verse is one of many in the book that are given along this line.

Job 9:19-20. Job described his afflictions in many passages but did not know "what it was all about." However, he never once thought of complaining to God of any injustice having been done him. If he even thought that he had grounds for complaint, he did not feel able to contend with the Lord.

Job 9:21. Notwithstanding all that might justly be claimed for his character, Job still regarded himself as an unworthy worm of the dust.

Job 9:22-23. Job has contended all along that afflictions do not necessarily indicate the wrath of God. His basis for such a position is the fact that both good and bad men have to suffer them at times, a fact of which all of us are aware.

Job 9:24. God is said to give certain things when the literal fact is that he merely suffers men to have their own way that they might learn a lesson by their own experience. That is the meaning of Ezekiel 20:25; Ezekiel 20:39; Psalms 81:12; Acts 7:42; Romans 1:24 and 2 Thessalonians 2:11. Such is the meaning of the paragraph now being considered.

Verses 25-35

Job 9:25-35

Job 9:25-35

JOB’S PROPHETIC PLEA THAT THERE MIGHT BE AN UMPIRE

"Now my days are swifter than a post:

They flee away, they see no good.

They are passed away as the swift ships;

As the eagle that swoopeth on the prey.

If I say, I will forget my complaint,

I will put off my sad countenance, and be of good cheer;

I am afraid of all my sorrows,

I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.

I shall be condemned;

Why then do I labor in vain?

If I wash myself with snow water,

And make my hands never so clean;

Yet wilt thou plunge me in the ditch,

And mine own clothes shall abhor me,

For he is not a man that I should answer him,

That we should come together in judgment.

There is no umpire betwixt us,

That might lay his hand upon us both.

Let him take his rod away from me,

And let not his terror make me afraid:

Then would I speak and not fear him;

For I am not in myself."

"I shall be condemned" (Job 9:29). Job was prepared to accept condemnation, even though, in his heart, he was not conscious of having clone any wickedness that deserved it. It is the glory of that patriarch that his attitude toward God remained one of submission and not one of rebellion.

"There is no umpire ..." (Job 9:33). This is one of the great lines in the whole book. "Here, when Job’s faith is at its lowest ebb, there emerges in this complaining negative, the conception of the Mediator, which afterward became for Job a positive conviction, a conviction that attained its grandest expression in that marvelous speech of Job 19. which, in a sense, is the glorious climax of the Book of Job."

"We may view this cry for a daysman (umpire), for God with his majesty laid aside, as an instinctive prophecy of the Incarnation, although Job had no such thing in his mind." "This passage is strongly looking forward to Bethlehem. There was really no answer to Job’s problem short of the Incarnation. In this cry for an umpire between God and man, we see a prophetic reaching out for that One Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5)."

"For I am not so in myself" (Job 9:35). The meaning of this is quite obscure; but, "The New English Bible renders it, for I know I am not what I am thought to be, that is, deserving of all his suffering."

Honoring that immortal hope for an umpire, we wish to close this chapter with these words:

’Tis the weakness in strength that I cry for! my flesh that I seek

In the Godhead! I seek, and I find it. O Saul, it shall be

A face like my face that receives thee; a Man like to me,

Thou shalt love, and be loved by, forever; a Hand like this hand

Shall open the gates of new life to thee!

See the Christ stand!"

- Robert Browning, Saul.

E.M. Zerr:

Job 9:25-26. This paragraph will take the same comments as Job 7:6.

Job 9:27-28. Job means that it would be useless to try to forget about his troubles. It would be false cheer were he to try making himself think that nothing much was the matter with him, for he might just as well make up his mind that he was "in" for more afflictions. The word innocent is not one with a meaning concerning guilt. Moffatt renders the last words of the verse, "I know thou wilt not let me off."

Job 9:29. Job never has admitted that his afflictions were a special "judgment" sent on him. Yet he has been free to acknowledge that he partook of the same weaknesses common to man and the same tests of faith were necessary. This verse should be explained on that basis; that since he was like all other men and subject to vanity, it would be useless to expect any exceptions in his favor.

Job 9:30-31. Job’s teaching in this passage is that at best a man would not be worthy of God’s favor if measured on the basis of strict justice.

Job 9:32. God and man are not in the same class of individuals, therefore Job would not estimate the Lord on a human basis.

Job 9:33. Daysman is rendered "umpire" in the margin of some Bibles and the lexicon will sustain the translation. Job means that even if he had an umpire to decide without any par tiality he would decide in favor of the Lord.

Job 9:34-35. If God should remove all indications of human weakness then Job might feel free to justify himself. But he had no reason to form such a conclusion if his own worthiness constituted his chief basis of thought.