CHAPTER 7
. JOB EXCUSES
HIS DESIRE
FOR DEATH.
1. appointed time—better, "a
warfare," hard conflict with evil (so in Isaiah 40:2;
Daniel 10:1). Translate it
"appointed time" (Daniel 10:1). Job reverts to the sad picture of man, however great,
which he had drawn (Job 3:14),
and details in this chapter the miseries which his friends will see,
if, according to his request (Job 3:14), they will look on him. Even the Christian soldier,
"warring a good warfare," rejoices when it is completed
(1 Timothy 1:18; 2 Timothy 2:3;
2 Timothy 4:7; 2 Timothy 4:8).
2. earnestly desireth—Hebrew,
"pants for the [evening] shadow." Easterners measure time
by the length of their shadow. If the servant longs for the evening
when his wages are paid, why may not Job long for the close of his
hard service, when he shall enter on his "reward?" This
proves that Job did not, as many maintain, regard the grave as a mere
sleep.
3.—Months of comfortless
misfortune.
I am made to
possess—literally, "to be heir to." Irony. "To
be heir to," is usually a matter of joy; but here it is the
entail of an involuntary and dismal inheritance.
Months—for days, to
express its long duration.
Appointed—literally,
"they have numbered to me"; marking well the unavoidable
doom assigned to him.
4. Literally, "When shall
be the flight of the night?" [GESENIUS].
UMBREIT, not so well, "The
night is long extended"; literally, "measured out" (so
Margin).
5. In elephantiasis maggots are
bred in the sores (Acts 12:23;
Isaiah 14:11).
clods of dust—rather, a
crust of dried filth and accumulated corruption (Job 2:7;
Job 2:8).
my skin is broken and . . .
loathsome—rather, comes together so as to heal up, and again
breaks out with running matter [GESENIUS].
More simply the Hebrew is, "My skin rests (for a time)
and (again) melts away" (Job 2:8).
6. (). Every day like the weaver's shuttle leaves a thread
behind; and each shall wear, as he weaves. But Job's thought is that
his days must swiftly be cut off as a web;
without hope—namely, of
a recovery and renewal of life (Job 14:19;
1 Chronicles 29:15).
7. Address to God.
Wind—a picture of
evanescence (Psalms 78:39).
shall no more see—rather,
"shall no more return to see good." This change from the
different wish in Job 3:17, c.,
is most true to nature. He is now in a softer mood a beam from former
days of prosperity falling upon memory and the thought of the unseen
world, where one is seen no more (Job 3:17), drew from him an expression of regret at leaving this world
of light (Ecclesiastes 11:7); so Hezekiah
(Isaiah 38:11). Grace rises above
nature (2 Corinthians 5:8).
8. The eye of him who beholds me
(present, not past), that is, in the very act of beholding me, seeth
me no more.
Thine eyes are
upon me, and I am not—He disappears, even
while God is looking upon him. Job cannot survive the gaze of Jehovah
(Psalms 104:32; Revelation 20:11).
Not, "Thine eyes seek me and I am not to be found"; for
God's eye penetrates even to the unseen world (Revelation 20:11). UMBREIT
unnaturally takes "thine" to refer to one of the three
friends.
9. ().
the grave—the Sheol, or
place of departed spirits, not disproving Job's belief in the
resurrection. It merely means, "He shall come up no more"
in the present order of things.
10. (). The Oriental keenly loves his dwelling. In Arabian
elegies the desertion of abodes by their occupants is often a theme
of sorrow. Grace overcomes this also (Luke 18:29;
Acts 4:34).
11. Therefore, as such is my
hard lot, I will at least have the melancholy satisfaction of venting
my sorrow in words. The Hebrew opening words, "Therefore
I, at all events," express self-elevation [UMBREIT].
12. Why dost thou deny me the
comfort of care-assuaging sleep? Why scarest thou me with frightful
dreams?
Am I a sea—regarded in
Old Testament poetry as a violent rebel against God, the Lord of
nature, who therefore curbs his violence ().
or a whale—or some
other sea monster (Isaiah 27:1),
that Thou needest thus to watch and curb me? The Egyptians watched
the crocodile most carefully to prevent its doing mischief.
14. The frightful dreams
resulting from elephantiasis he attributes to God; the common belief
assigned all night visions to God.
15. UMBREIT
translates, "So that I could wish to strangle myself—dead by
my own hands." He softens this idea of Job's harboring the
thought of suicide, by representing it as entertained only in
agonizing dreams, and immediately repudiated with horror in , "Yet that (self-strangling) I loathe." This is
forcible and graphic. Perhaps the meaning is simply, "My soul
chooses (even) strangling (or any violent death) rather than my
life," literally, "my bones" (); that is, rather than the wasted and diseased skeleton,
left to him. In this view, "I loathe it" () refers to his life.
16. Let me alone—that is,
cease to afflict me for the few and vain days still left to me.
17. (Psalms 8:4;
Psalms 144:3). Job means, "What
is man that thou shouldst make him [of so much importance], and that
thou shouldst expend such attention [or, heart-thought] upon him"
as to make him the subject of so severe trials? Job ought rather to
have reasoned from God's condescending so far to notice man as to try
him, that there must be a wise and loving purpose in trial. David
uses the same words, in their right application, to express wonder
that God should do so much as He does for insignificant man.
Christians who know God manifest in the man Christ Jesus may use them
still more.
18. With each new day (). It is rather God's mercies, not our trials, that are new
every morning (Lamentations 3:23). The
idea is that of a shepherd taking count of his flock every morning,
to see if all are there [COCCEIUS].
19. How long (like a jealous
keeper) wilt thou never take thine eyes off (so the Hebrew for
"depart from") me? Nor let me alone for a brief respite
(literally, "so long as I take to swallow my spittle"), an
Arabic proverb, like our, "till I draw my breath."
20. I have sinned—Yet what sin
can I do against ("to," ) thee (of such a nature that thou shouldst jealously watch
and deprive me of all strength, as if thou didst fear me)? Yet thou
art one who hast men ever in view, ever watchest them—O thou
Watcher (Job 7:12; Daniel 9:14)
of men. Job had borne with patience his trials, as sent by God
(Job 1:21; Job 2:10);
only his reason cannot reconcile the ceaseless continuance of his
mental and bodily pains with his ideas of the divine nature.
set me as a mark—Wherefore
dost thou make me thy point of attack? that is, ever assail me with
new pains? [UMBREIT] (Job 2:10).
21. for now—very soon.
in the morning—not the
resurrection; for then Job will be found. It is a figure, from one
seeking a sick man in the morning, and finding he has died in the
night. So Job implies that, if God does not help him at once, it will
be too late, for he will be gone. The reason why God does not give an
immediate sense of pardon to awakened sinners is that they think they
have a claim on God for it.
CHAPTER 7
. JOB EXCUSES HIS DESIRE FOR DEATH.
1. appointed time—better, "a warfare," hard conflict with evil (so in Isaiah 40:2; Daniel 10:1). Translate it "appointed time" (Daniel 10:1). Job reverts to the sad picture of man, however great, which he had drawn (Job 3:14), and details in this chapter the miseries which his friends will see, if, according to his request (Job 3:14), they will look on him. Even the Christian soldier, "warring a good warfare," rejoices when it is completed (1 Timothy 1:18; 2 Timothy 2:3; 2 Timothy 4:7; 2 Timothy 4:8).
2. earnestly desireth—Hebrew, "pants for the [evening] shadow." Easterners measure time by the length of their shadow. If the servant longs for the evening when his wages are paid, why may not Job long for the close of his hard service, when he shall enter on his "reward?" This proves that Job did not, as many maintain, regard the grave as a mere sleep.
3.—Months of comfortless misfortune.
I am made to possess—literally, "to be heir to." Irony. "To be heir to," is usually a matter of joy; but here it is the entail of an involuntary and dismal inheritance.
Months—for days, to express its long duration.
Appointed—literally, "they have numbered to me"; marking well the unavoidable doom assigned to him.
4. Literally, "When shall be the flight of the night?" [GESENIUS]. UMBREIT, not so well, "The night is long extended"; literally, "measured out" (so Margin).
5. In elephantiasis maggots are bred in the sores (Acts 12:23; Isaiah 14:11).
clods of dust—rather, a crust of dried filth and accumulated corruption (Job 2:7; Job 2:8).
my skin is broken and . . . loathsome—rather, comes together so as to heal up, and again breaks out with running matter [GESENIUS]. More simply the Hebrew is, "My skin rests (for a time) and (again) melts away" (Job 2:8).
6. (). Every day like the weaver's shuttle leaves a thread behind; and each shall wear, as he weaves. But Job's thought is that his days must swiftly be cut off as a web;
without hope—namely, of a recovery and renewal of life (Job 14:19; 1 Chronicles 29:15).
7. Address to God.
Wind—a picture of evanescence (Psalms 78:39).
shall no more see—rather, "shall no more return to see good." This change from the different wish in Job 3:17, c., is most true to nature. He is now in a softer mood a beam from former days of prosperity falling upon memory and the thought of the unseen world, where one is seen no more (Job 3:17), drew from him an expression of regret at leaving this world of light (Ecclesiastes 11:7); so Hezekiah (Isaiah 38:11). Grace rises above nature (2 Corinthians 5:8).
8. The eye of him who beholds me (present, not past), that is, in the very act of beholding me, seeth me no more.
Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not—He disappears, even while God is looking upon him. Job cannot survive the gaze of Jehovah (Psalms 104:32; Revelation 20:11). Not, "Thine eyes seek me and I am not to be found"; for God's eye penetrates even to the unseen world (Revelation 20:11). UMBREIT unnaturally takes "thine" to refer to one of the three friends.
9. ().
the grave—the Sheol, or place of departed spirits, not disproving Job's belief in the resurrection. It merely means, "He shall come up no more" in the present order of things.
10. (). The Oriental keenly loves his dwelling. In Arabian elegies the desertion of abodes by their occupants is often a theme of sorrow. Grace overcomes this also (Luke 18:29; Acts 4:34).
11. Therefore, as such is my hard lot, I will at least have the melancholy satisfaction of venting my sorrow in words. The Hebrew opening words, "Therefore I, at all events," express self-elevation [UMBREIT].
12. Why dost thou deny me the comfort of care-assuaging sleep? Why scarest thou me with frightful dreams?
Am I a sea—regarded in Old Testament poetry as a violent rebel against God, the Lord of nature, who therefore curbs his violence ().
or a whale—or some other sea monster (Isaiah 27:1), that Thou needest thus to watch and curb me? The Egyptians watched the crocodile most carefully to prevent its doing mischief.
14. The frightful dreams resulting from elephantiasis he attributes to God; the common belief assigned all night visions to God.
15. UMBREIT translates, "So that I could wish to strangle myself—dead by my own hands." He softens this idea of Job's harboring the thought of suicide, by representing it as entertained only in agonizing dreams, and immediately repudiated with horror in , "Yet that (self-strangling) I loathe." This is forcible and graphic. Perhaps the meaning is simply, "My soul chooses (even) strangling (or any violent death) rather than my life," literally, "my bones" (); that is, rather than the wasted and diseased skeleton, left to him. In this view, "I loathe it" () refers to his life.
16. Let me alone—that is, cease to afflict me for the few and vain days still left to me.
17. (Psalms 8:4; Psalms 144:3). Job means, "What is man that thou shouldst make him [of so much importance], and that thou shouldst expend such attention [or, heart-thought] upon him" as to make him the subject of so severe trials? Job ought rather to have reasoned from God's condescending so far to notice man as to try him, that there must be a wise and loving purpose in trial. David uses the same words, in their right application, to express wonder that God should do so much as He does for insignificant man. Christians who know God manifest in the man Christ Jesus may use them still more.
18. With each new day (). It is rather God's mercies, not our trials, that are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23). The idea is that of a shepherd taking count of his flock every morning, to see if all are there [COCCEIUS].
19. How long (like a jealous keeper) wilt thou never take thine eyes off (so the Hebrew for "depart from") me? Nor let me alone for a brief respite (literally, "so long as I take to swallow my spittle"), an Arabic proverb, like our, "till I draw my breath."
20. I have sinned—Yet what sin can I do against ("to," ) thee (of such a nature that thou shouldst jealously watch and deprive me of all strength, as if thou didst fear me)? Yet thou art one who hast men ever in view, ever watchest them—O thou Watcher (Job 7:12; Daniel 9:14) of men. Job had borne with patience his trials, as sent by God (Job 1:21; Job 2:10); only his reason cannot reconcile the ceaseless continuance of his mental and bodily pains with his ideas of the divine nature.
set me as a mark—Wherefore dost thou make me thy point of attack? that is, ever assail me with new pains? [UMBREIT] (Job 2:10).
21. for now—very soon.
in the morning—not the resurrection; for then Job will be found. It is a figure, from one seeking a sick man in the morning, and finding he has died in the night. So Job implies that, if God does not help him at once, it will be too late, for he will be gone. The reason why God does not give an immediate sense of pardon to awakened sinners is that they think they have a claim on God for it.