My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. Ver. 1. _My soul is weary of my life_] Because it is a lifeless life. _Mortis habet vires,_ a death more like. Life is sweet, and every creature maketh much of it, from the highest angel i... [ Continue Reading ]
I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me. Ver. 2. _I will say unto God, do not condemn me_] You may say so as a humble suppliant, but not as holding yourself innocent, and therefore harshly dealt with. The Hebrew is, Do not make me wicked; rather do good, O... [ Continue Reading ]
Job 10:3 [Is it] good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked? Ver. 3. _Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress?_] It is the guise of wicked judges to take this counsel, to follow this course; whom... [ Continue Reading ]
Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth? Ver. 4. _Hast thou eyes of flesh?_] Which see but the surface of things, and not that neither in the dark. Hast thou not fiery eyes, Revelation 1:14, that need no outward light, but see by sending out a ray, and pierce the inward parts also? Hast... [ Continue Reading ]
Job 10:5 [Are] thy days as the days of man? [are] thy years as man's days, Ver. 5. _Are thy days as the days of man?_] Art thou mortal and short lived, as sorry man is, that thou proceedest in this sudden and severe manner, as if thou shouldest not have time enough to try me, and to take an order w... [ Continue Reading ]
That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin? Ver. 6. _That thou inquirest after mine iniquity, &c._] viz. By strong pains and mighty terrors, as judges sometimes make inquisition by torture, to find out treason or other heinous offences. What, wouldest thou that I should con... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and [there is] none that can deliver out of thine hand. Ver. 7. _Thou knowest that I am not wicked_] A lewd liver, and a rank hypocrite, as these men would make of me. A sinner I am, but I allow not, wallow not in any known sin; there is no way of wickedness found... [ Continue Reading ]
Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me. Ver. 8. _Thine hands have made me_] Or, throughly and accurately wrought me, as it were, with much pains and labour; thou hast exactly fashioned all my members: not that God either hath hands, or putteth himse... [ Continue Reading ]
Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again? Ver. 9. _Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay_] Remembrance and foreknowledge are not properly in God. _See Trapp on "_ Job 10:4 _"_ But he is said to remember us when he re... [ Continue Reading ]
Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese? Ver. 10. _Hast thou not poured me out as milk_] Or, melted me, that is, made me of some such thing as liquid and white milk. _Generationem hominis describit_ (Vatab.). Man is a very mean thing in his first conception, modestly here se... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews. Ver. 11. _Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh_] Out of that soft and liquid substance (the slime of my parents' loins), grossed first into a rude fleshy mass, and consolidated, thou hast made not only a thin sk... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit. Ver. 12. _Thou hast granted me life_] _i.e._ Into my body, thus formed and organized, thou hast infused a soul; that principle of life quickened me in the womb, and brought me alive out of it; which, because it is a... [ Continue Reading ]
And these [things] hast thou hid in thine heart: I know that this [is] with thee. Ver. 13. _And those things hast thou hid in thine heart_] _Legendum hoc cum stomacho,_ saith Mercer: And hast thou indeed hid these things in thine heart? What things meaneth Job? his afflictions, which God was long b... [ Continue Reading ]
If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity. Ver. 14. _If I sin, then thou markest me_] Though through human frailty only I offend (_et nimis dedignatur mortalitatem qui peccasse erubescit_), thou soon notest it, thou followest me up and down, as it were, with pen... [ Continue Reading ]
If I be wicked, woe unto me; and [if] I be righteous, [yet] will I not lift up my head. [I am] full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction; Ver. 15. _If I be wicked, woe unto me_] Here he bringeth a dilemma, whereby he declareth himself every way miserable, saith Mercer; whether he be bad... [ Continue Reading ]
For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me. Ver. 16. _For it increaseth_] Heb. For it lifteth up itself; it even boileth up to the height, or it waxeth proud, as the proud surges of the sea. Broughton rendered it, Oh how it fleeth up! Why... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war [are] against me. Ver. 17. _Thou renewest thy witnesses against me_] These fresh witnesses were devils, say some; Job's friends, say others; his dolorous sufferings rather, saith Austin; those open wit... [ Continue Reading ]
Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me! Ver. 18. _Wherefore hast thou brought me forth out of the womb?_] Why? but was not that a mercy? David esteemed it so, and gives God the glory, Psalms 22:9. But discontent is an utte... [ Continue Reading ]
I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave. Ver. 19. _I should have been as though I had not been_] Here he sings the same song as Job 3:1-26 Job 4:1,21. It is hard to say how oft a child of God may discover the same infirmity. Our lives are f... [ Continue Reading ]
Job 10:20 [Are] not my days few? cease [then, and] let me alone, that I may take comfort a little, Ver. 20. _Are not my days few?_] And oh that they might not be also evil! since I shall not much trouble the world, oh that I might not find much trouble in the world! What man is he that would fain s... [ Continue Reading ]
Before I go [whence] I shall not return, [even] to the land of darkness and the shadow of death; Ver. 21. _Before I go whence I shall not return_] Before I go out of this world, never more to return hither to enjoy the comforts that are here to be had. Death is a departure hence, 1Pe 1:15 Luke 9:31... [ Continue Reading ]
A land of darkness, as darkness [itself; and] of the shadow of death, without any order, and [where] the light [is] as darkness. Ver. 22. _A land of darkness, &c._] This is not a description of hell, and of the state of the damned (as some would have it), for Job never meant to come there, no more... [ Continue Reading ]