At the end of the book we will be informed that Job will say some things during his suffering that are not true (Job 38:2; Job 42:3-6), that actually cloud the issue rather than throwing light upon it. Therefore, as we begin to examine the first of Job's speeches let us make sure that we keep this f... [ Continue Reading ]
"JOB SAID, 'LET THE DAY PERISH ON WHICH. WAS TO BE BORN, AND THE NIGHT WHICH SAID, 'A BOY IS CONCEIVED'""If the day on which he was born had been wiped from the calendar, he could have avoided being born. Job then backed up to the moment at night when he was conceived. Apparently, he considered con... [ Continue Reading ]
"MAY THAT DAY BE DARKNESS; LET NOT GOD ABOVE CARE FOR IT, NOR LIGHT SHINE ON IT": "Job hoped that God, by not noticing that day, would therefore not notice him" _(Bible Knowledge Comm. p. 722)._ "He wished that day (the day of his birth) could be so annihilated that even God would forget it" _(Gaebe... [ Continue Reading ]
"LET DARKNESS AND BLACK GLOOM CLAIM IT; LET. CLOUD SETTLE ON IT; LET THE BLACKNESS OF THE DAY TERRIFY IT. AS FOR THAT NIGHT, LET DARKNESS SEIZE IT; LET IT NOT REJOICE AMONG THE DAYS OF THE YEAR; LET IT NOT COME INTO THE NUMBER OF THE MONTHS": "Job wanted the day lost in total darkness, not even num... [ Continue Reading ]
"BEHOLD, LET THAT NIGHT BE BARREN": Literally, "stony", because stony ground is unproductive, meaning that his mother would have been barren and thus unable to conceive him. "LET NO JOY SHOUT ENTER IT": In the ancient world, people customarily shouted when. boy was born.... [ Continue Reading ]
"LET THOSE CURSE IT WHO CURSE THE DAY, WHO ARE PREPARED TO ROUSE LEVIATHAN": This may refer to professional cursers such as Balaam (Numbers 22-24). The term "Leviathan" comes from the Hebrew _liwayh_. wreath, meaning something coiled. In ancient mythology, the term Leviathan was used for. monster of... [ Continue Reading ]
"LET THE STARS OF ITS TWILIGHT BE DARKENED; LET IT WAIT FOR LIGHT BUT HAVE NONE, AND LET IT NOT SEE THE BREAKING DAWN": "The morning stars are actually the planets Venus and Mercury, easily seen at dawn because of their brilliance. The 'breaking dawn' is literally 'eyelids of the morning',. metaphor... [ Continue Reading ]
"BECAUSE IT DID NOT SHUT THE OPENING OF MY MOTHER'S WOMB, OR HIDE TROUBLE FROM MY EYES": He prays that he would have never seen the light of day, and that being born has simply resulted in his present suffering. The term trouble here means sorrow and labor. THE WISH THAT HE HAD DIED AT BIRTH The d... [ Continue Reading ]
"WHY DID. NOT DIE AT BIRTH, COME FORTH FROM THE WOMB AND EXPIRE?": Notice the repetition of the word "why" in this section (Job 3:12). Here is the common question echoed by so many since Job, "Why God, why?... [ Continue Reading ]
"WHY DID THE KNEES RECEIVE ME, AND WHY THE BREASTS, THAT. SHOULD SUCK?": "Why was his life preserved so that after birth he was placed on his father's (Genesis 48:12; Job 50:23) or mother's knees (Isaiah 66:12), and then nourished from the beasts?" _(Jackson p. 29). _... [ Continue Reading ]
"FOR NOW. WOULD HAVE LAIN DOWN AND BEEN QUIET;. WOULD HAVE SLEPT THEN,. WOULD HAVE BEEN AT REST": Death in Scripture is at times compared to sleep (John 11:11;. Thess. Job 4:14). This imagery does not suggest that man is unconscious in death, but rather the word "sleep" describes the state of the ph... [ Continue Reading ]
"WITH KINGS AND WITH COUNSELORS OF THE EARTH": Clearly the realm of the dead is not one of unconsciousness or annihilation, for Job sees death as being. realm filled with great men of the past. He would join such exalted personalities. "WHO REBUILT RUINS FOR THEMSELVES": This does not refer to the p... [ Continue Reading ]
"OR WITH PRINCES WHO HAD GOLD, WHO WERE FILLING THEIR HOUSES WITH SILVER": "At least he would have shared the fate of kings and counselors who had built great cities upon the ruins of others, or with princes who had in life accumulated much wealth. Albert Barnes wondered if there might not be 'a lit... [ Continue Reading ]
"OR LIKE. MISCARRIAGE WHICH IS DISCARDED,. WOULD NOT BE, AS INFANTS THAT NEVER SAW LIGHT": Here he wishes that he had been miscarried and thus discarded, literally hidden or buried from. life of suffering. Notice how his present suffering has hidden from Job's mind all the happiness of his former ye... [ Continue Reading ]
"THERE THE WICKED CEASE FROM RAGING": At death the wicked cease their trouble making and turmoil. Job is not saying that at death the wicked are at rest (Luke 16:19ff), but rather death ends their life of rebellion. In this life the wicked are in. constant state of agitation, nothing satisfies them,... [ Continue Reading ]
"THE PRISONERS ARE AT EASE TOGETHER; THEY DO NOT HEAR THE VOICE OF THE TASKMASTER": Prisoners are also at ease here, no longer hearing their taskmasters shouting at them to work harder.... [ Continue Reading ]
"THE SMALL AND THE GREAT ARE THERE, AND THE SLAVE IS FREE FROM HIS MASTER": "Even prisoners and slaves are released here" _(Jackson p. 30)._ Dead slaves and prisoners presently have more peace than Job! "This picturesque language expresses the experience of rest which. dead person seemingly has, in... [ Continue Reading ]
"WHY IS LIGHT GIVEN TO HIM WHO SUFFERS, AND LIFE TO THE BITTER OF SOUL": For the fourth time in this speech, Job asked "why?". At this moment it did not make any sense to him that God would give life to someone who like himself was so miserable and in so much pain. In this passage "light" equals "li... [ Continue Reading ]
"WHO LONG FOR DEATH, BUT THERE IS NONE, AND DIG FOR IT MORE THAN FOR HIDDEN TREASURES": His suffering is so intense that at this point death seems like. hidden treasure, an exquisite pleasure! "Neither the quiet waiting nor the anxious effort to die does any good. Death does not come, and like burie... [ Continue Reading ]
"WHO REJOICE GREATLY, AND EXULT WHEN THEY FIND THE GRAVE?" Job feels that the dead rejoice because they are finally released from their suffering. Yet this would only be true for the righteous (Philippians 1:21). Many people who finally find death do not rejoice at all (Luke 16:19ff). In addition, P... [ Continue Reading ]
"WHY IS LIGHT GIVEN TO. MAN WHOSE WAY IS HIDDEN, AND WHOM GOD HAS HEDGED IN?" Satan had complained that God had created. protective hedge around Job and now Job complains that he has been hedged in by suffering. "Job is bewildered because he cannot see his way. He finds himself suddenly hedged in an... [ Continue Reading ]
"FOR MY GROANING COMES AT THE SIGHT OF MY FOOD": "Thus means either that he groaned when he looked at food (because his illness removed his appetite and made food repulsive) or that his groaning was as frequent and regular as his food; that is, it was daily and continuous" _(Zuck p. 27). _ "And my c... [ Continue Reading ]
"FOR WHAT. FEAR COMES UPON ME, AND WHAT. DREAD BEFALLS ME": Many feel that when Job had heard of the loss of one blessing he feared that he would lose others. "He probably means that as difficulties began to assault him, he commenced to fearfully suspect that others were on the way---and he was not... [ Continue Reading ]
"I AM NOT AT EASE, NOR AM. QUIET, AND. AM NOT AT REST, BUT TURMOIL COMES": Job is definitely not at peace and neither is he content (Philippians 4:10-13). CLOSING COMMENTS · Here Job voices not the injustice of his condition, but the agony of it. · We must never underestimate the pressures and tr... [ Continue Reading ]