Job 7:11-15

6. He finds no mercy, neither from God or from his friends. (Job 7:11-15)

TEXT 7:11-15

11 Therefore I will not refrain my month;

I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

12 Am I a sea, or a sea-monster,

That thou settest a watch over me?

13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me,

My couch shall ease my complaint;

14 Then thou scarest me with dreams,

And terrifiest me through visions:

15 So that my soul chooseth strangling,

And death rather than these my bones.

COMMENT 7:11-15

Job 7:11For the first time, Job charges God with being his tormentor. Bitterness oozes out of the disease of soul sickness.

Job 7:12God has set limits to the seaGenesis 1:10 and watches that it does not violate its appointed boundary. Do I, cries Job, need to be watched like that great inanimate ocean?[101] God is creator of the universe and, thus, Lord of the waters.[102] Job reminds God that he cannot threaten Him. The word translated A. V. set a watch means guard, or perhaps with Dahood, a muzzlePsalms 39:2; Psalms 68:23; and Psalms 141:3. God, you are trying to put a muzzle on me, so I will be silent.

[101] Buttenweiser's (The Book of Job) claim that this verse refers to the Babylonian creation myth is unsubstantiated and unnecessary in order to understand this verse, neither is it necessary to compare this verse with the West Semitic Ugaritic myths; but see for both I. B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (Princeton, 1955).

[102] For discussion of the claim of the influence of the Ugaritic creation myth, see M. Dahood, Journal of Biblical Literature, LXXX, 1961, 270ff; O. Kaiser, Die mythische Bedeutung des Meeres in Agypten, Ugarit und Israel, Beihefte zur Zeitschriftfur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 78, 1959.

Job 7:13See Eliphaz's description of his nightmareJob 4:12-16, and Job's discussion of his restless tossingJob 7:4.

Job 7:14Job accuses God of causing his nightmares. Terrify is a major word in Job's theology, where it occurs in intensive form eight, out of the total of thirteen, times in the entire Old Testament.

Job 7:15This verse means that my soul prefers choking, my bones prefer death.[103]

[103] N. M. Sarna, Journal of Jewish Studies, 6, 1955, 109.