---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Job 3"
description: "CHAPTER 3   THE
POEM OR DEBATE ITSELF ( :-). FIRST
SERIES IN IT ( :-). JOB
FIRST (Job 3:1-26).  Job 3:1-18.3.26- :. JOB CURSES
THE DAY OF HIS
BIRTH AND WI"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/job/3"
---

CHAPTER 3

THE
POEM OR DEBATE ITSELF ().
FIRST
SERIES IN IT ().
JOB
FIRST ([Job 3:1-26](../../../kjv/job/3/1-26)).

[Job 3:1-18](../../../kjv/job/3/1-18). JOB CURSES
THE DAY OF HIS
BIRTH AND WISHES
FOR DEATH.

**1. opened his mouth**—The
Orientals speak seldom, and then sententiously; hence this formula
expressing deliberation and gravity (). He formally began.
**cursed his day**—the
strict *Hebrew* word for "cursing:" not the same as in
[Job 1:5](../../../kjv/job/1/5). Job cursed his
birthday, but not his God.

**2. spake**—*Hebrew,*
"answered," that is, not to any actual question that
preceded, but to the question virtually involved in the case. His
outburst is singularly wild and bold (). To desire to die so as to be free from sin is a mark of
grace; to desire to die so as to escape troubles is a mark of
corruption. He was ill-fitted to die who was so unwilling to live.
But his trials were greater, and his light less, than ours.

**3. the night*****in which*******—rather "the night which said." The words in italics
are not in the *Hebrew.* Night is personified and poetically
made to speak. So in [Job 3:7](../../../kjv/job/3/7),
and in [Psalms 19:2](../../../kjv/psalms/19/2). The birth of a
male in the East is a matter of joy; often not so of a female.

**4. let not God regard it**—rather,
more poetically, "seek it out." "Let not God stoop
from His bright throne to raise it up from its dark hiding-place."
The curse on the *day* in , is amplified in [Job 3:4](../../../kjv/job/3/4);
[Job 3:5](../../../kjv/job/3/5); that on the *night,*
in [Job 3:6-10](../../../kjv/job/3/6-10).

**5. Let . . . the shadow of
death**—("deepest darkness," ).
**stain it**—This is a
later sense of the verb [GESENIUS];
better the old and more poetic idea, "Let darkness (the ancient
night of chaotic gloom) resume its rights over light (), and claim that day as its own."
**a cloud**—collectively, a
gathered mass of dark clouds.
**the blackness of the day
terrify it**—literally, "the obscurations"; whatever
darkens the day [GESENIUS].
The verb in *Hebrew* expresses sudden terrifying. May it be
suddenly affrighted at its own darkness. UMBREIT
explains it as "magical incantations that darken the day,"
forming the climax to the previous clauses; speaks of "cursers of the day" similarly. But the
former view is simpler. Others refer it to the poisonous simoom wind.

**6. seize upon it**—as its prey,
that is, utterly dissolve it.
**joined unto the days of the
year**—rather, by poetic personification, "Let it not
*rejoice* in the circle of days and nights and months, which
form the circle of years."

**7. solitary**—rather,
"unfruitful." "Would that it had not *given birth*
to me."

**8. them . . . curse the day**—If
"mourning" be the right rendering in the latter clause of
this verse, these words refer to the hired mourners of the dead (). But the *Hebrew* for "mourning" elsewhere
always denotes an animal, whether it be the crocodile or some huge
serpent ([Isaiah 27:1](../../../kjv/isaiah/27/1)), such as is
meant by "leviathan." Therefore, the expression, "cursers
of day," refers to magicians, who were believed to be able by
charms to make a day one of evil omen. (So Balaam, [Isaiah 27:1](../../../kjv/isaiah/27/1)). This accords with UMBREIT'S
view ([Job 3:7](../../../kjv/job/3/7)); or to the
Ethiopians and Atlantes, who "used to curse the sun at his
rising for burning up them and their country" [HERODOTUS].
Necromancers claimed power to control or rouse wild beasts at will,
as do the Indian serpent-charmers of our day ([Job 3:7](../../../kjv/job/3/7)). Job does not say they had the power they claimed; but,
supposing they had, may they curse the day. SCHUTTENS
renders it by supplying words as follows:—Let those that are ready
*for anything, call it* (the day) the raiser up of leviathan,
that is, of a host of evils.

**9. dawning of the day**—literally,
"eyelashes of morning." The Arab poets call the sun the eye
of day. His early rays, therefore, breaking forth before sunrise, are
the opening eyelids or eyelashes of morning.

**12. Why did the knees prevent
me?**—*Old* English for "anticipate my wants." The
reference is to the solemn recognition of a new-born child by the
father, who used to place it on his knees as his own, whom he was
bound to rear ([Genesis 30:3](../../../kjv/genesis/30/3); [Genesis 50:23](../../../kjv/genesis/50/23);
[Isaiah 66:12](../../../kjv/isaiah/66/12)).

**13. lain . . . quiet . . . slept**—a
gradation. I should not only have *lain,* but been *quiet,*
and not only *been quiet,* but *slept.* Death in Scripture
is called "sleep" (); especially in the New Testament, where the
resurrection-awakening is more clearly set forth ([1 Corinthians 15:51](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/15/51);
[1 Thessalonians 4:14](../../../kjv/1-thessalonians/4/14); [1 Thessalonians 5:10](../../../kjv/1-thessalonians/5/10)).

**14. With kings . . . which built
desolate places for themselves**—who built up for themselves what
proved to be (not palaces, but) ruins! The wounded spirit of Job,
once a great emir himself, sick of the vain struggles of mortal great
men, after grandeur, contemplates the palaces of kings, now desolate
heaps of ruins. His regarding the repose of death the most desirable
end of the great ones of earth, wearied with heaping up perishable
treasures, marks the irony that breaks out from the black clouds of
melancholy [UMBREIT]. The
"for themselves" marks their selfishness. MICHAELIS
explains it weakly of mausoleums, such as are found still, of
stupendous proportions, in the ruins of Petra of Idumea.

**15. filled their houses with
silver**—Some take this to refer to the treasures which the
ancients used to bury with their dead. But see .

**16. untimely birth**— (); preferable to the life of the restless miser ().

**17. the wicked**—the original
meaning, "those ever restless," "full of desires"
([Isaiah 57:20](../../../kjv/isaiah/57/20); [Isaiah 57:21](../../../kjv/isaiah/57/21)).
**the weary**—literally,
"those whose strength is wearied out" ([Isaiah 57:21](../../../kjv/isaiah/57/21)).

**18. There the prisoners rest**—from
their chains.

**19. servant**—The slave is there
manumitted from slavery.
. HE COMPLAINS
OF LIFE BECAUSE OF
HIS ANGUISH.

**20. Wherefore giveth he
light**—namely, God; often omitted reverentially ([Job 24:23](../../../kjv/job/24/23);
[Ecclesiastes 9:9](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/9/9)). Light, that is, life.
The joyful light ill suits the mourners. The grave is most in unison
with their feelings.

**23. whose way is hid**—The
picture of Job is drawn from a wanderer who has lost his way, and who
is hedged in, so as to have no exit of escape ([Hosea 2:6](../../../kjv/hosea/2/6);
[Lamentations 3:7](../../../kjv/lamentations/3/7); [Lamentations 3:9](../../../kjv/lamentations/3/9)).

**24. my sighing cometh before I
eat**—that is, prevents my eating [UMBREIT];
or, conscious that the effort to eat brought on the disease, Job must
sigh before eating [ROSENMULLER];
or, sighing takes the place of good () [GOOD]. But the
first explanation accords best with the text.
**my roarings are poured out
like the waters**—an image from the rushing sound of water
streaming.

**25. the thing which I . . . feared
is come upon me**—In the beginning of his trials, when he heard
of the loss of one blessing, he feared the loss of another; and when
he heard of the loss of that, he feared the loss of a third.
**that which I was afraid of is
come unto me**—namely, the ill opinion of his friends, as though
he were a hypocrite on account of his trials.

**26. I was not in safety . . . yet
trouble came**—referring, not to his former state, but to the
*beginning* of his troubles. From that time I had no rest, there
was no intermission of sorrows. "And" (not, "yet")
a fresh trouble is coming, namely, my friends' suspicion of my being
a hypocrite. This gives the starting-point to the whole ensuing
controversy.

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