The Book of Job
Job 3
Chapter III · Vol. II, pp. 942–944
1 Job curses the day and services of his birth. 13 The ease of death. 20 He complaineth of life, because of his anguish.
A.M. cir. 2484. B.C. cir. 1520.
c Heb. answered, ch.4.1; 6.1; 8.1; 11.1; 15.1; 16.1.
3 Letd the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man-child conceived.
4 Let that day be edarkness; let not fGod regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
e Ex.10.22,23. Am.5.8. Ac.27.20.
5 Let darkness and the gshadow of death stain it;1 let a cloud dwell upon it; hlet the blackness of the day terrify it.2
6 As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days3 of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.
3 Or, let it not rejoice among the days.
7 Lo, let that night be isolitary, let no joyful voice come therein.
i Is.13.21; 24.8. Re.18.22,23. Je.7.34.
8 Let them curse it kthat curse the day, who are ready to raise up ltheir mourning.4
k 2 Ch.35.25. Je.9.17-20. Am.5.16.
l Or, a leviathan, ch.41.1. Ps.74.14; 104.26.
4 The margin and best authorities render it leviathan. To stir him up is represented as inevitable destruction, ch. 41. 8, 10. The meaning therefore is, 'Let them curse it who are in such anguish and despair that, to escape their torments, they court any danger in order to obtain a speedy death.'—C.
9 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it mlook for light, but have none; neither let it see nthe dawning of the day:
10 Because it oshut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid psorrow from mine eyes.
o Ge.20.17,18; 29.31,32; 30.22.
p ver.24; ch.6.2,3; 10.1; 23.2.
14 Witht kings and counsellors of the earth, which built udesolate places for themselves;
t Ps.49.6-10,14; 89.48. ch.30.23.
u Tombs, ch.15.28. Eze.26.20.
19 The csmall and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.
c Je.5.4,5. Ps.49.2,10; 89.48. ch.30.23.
20 Wherefore is dlight given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;6
d Ps.56.13. ch.7.15,16; 14.13; 6.9.
6 Twice is testimony borne to Job (ch.1.22; 2.10), that 'he sinned not (sinned not with his lips), nor charged God foolishly.' But after he begins this unparalleled wailing, and proceeds with his argument against his friends, this favourable testimony is never repeated. On the contrary (ch. 42. 6), he accuses himself heavily, and proclaims his deep abasement and repentance. It will be evident when Elihu appears (ch. xxxii.), that both Job and his friends are in some degree in error, and their several statements are therefore to be received under the correction of those principles by which Elihu expounds and defends the principles of the divine government.—C.
21 Whiche long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
e Re.9.6. ch.6.8,9; 7.15,16. Nu.11.15. 1 Ki.19.4. Jonah 4.3,8.
22 Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me,8 and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
8 Heb. I feared a fear, and it came upon me.
Notes
Ver. 1, 2. After these seven days were finished, Job gave vent to that grief which had so long stupified him, in the most bitter lamentations, and in imprecating mischiefs upon the day of his conception and birth. 3. Let, said he, the day of my birth, and the night of my conception, be utterly forgotten as if they had never been. 4. Let that unhappy day be covered with horrible darkness, and turned into night. And never let one ray of daylight appear thereon. 5. Let the most frightful darkness, and the most extensive and thick clouds, wholly possess it. Let black burning vapours, and the most fearful disasters, render it terrible to men. 6. Let gross darkness, or absolute extinction, seize upon the night of my conception. 7. Let that wretched night be as barren of everything comfortable as a flinty rock: and let men never meet together on it for feasting or mirth: nor let a single whisper of joy be heard on it. 8. Let the most skilful mourners, who imprecate woe upon the days of uncommon disasters, effectually curse it by name as the direful mother of monsters, redoubled terrors, and mischiefs. 9. Let nothing but the most frightful darkness seize upon it, without a single glimmering of a star, or the smallest dawn of a long-looked-for morning; 10. Because it did not bury me in my mother's womb, and thus secure me from those miseries which I now feel. 11. What a wretched misfortune was it that I did not die in the womb in the birth, or immediately after! 12. What a misfortune that they who received me from the womb did not let me fall on the ground, and dash out my brains; or that the nurse did not refuse to give me suck! 13. For thus should I have lain still as a ship at anchor; I should have felt none of those miseries which I now endure: but had lain quiet and undisturbed in the grave; 14. Equal to kings and great men, who lie alone in the tombs which they built for themselves; 15. And to princes, who in their life had heaped up riches and wealth; 16. Or like a concealed abortive infant, which was never numbered among men. 17. There, in the grave, the most wicked can hurt no one; and they who had been restlessly tossed and wearied with violence, enjoy the profoundest safety and rest. 18. There the condemned prisoners and enslaved captives enjoy the most perfect ease, and do not so much as hear the voice of an oppressor or exacter of labour. 19. There every person is on an equal level of power and greatness; and the servant is as free as his master. 20. Is it not strange that a man should be forced to live when his miserable condition makes him heartily abhor it; 21. Who in vain wishes for death, and seeks it more eagerly than the greatest riches; 22. And who would more gladly leap into his grave than the covetous miser can meet with a rich vein of silver; 23. Being so oppressed and shut up with God's indignation that he knows no other way to turn himself? 24. For my meat doth but sustain a miserable life, which is filled up with heart-sinking sobs and loud roarings, on account of my troubles. 25. For whatever dreadful things I fear they immediately come upon me, notwithstanding all my care to prevent them. 26. In my prosperity I never securely trusted in my riches, nor indulged myself in carnal ease; yet that has not preserved me from being miserable. And in this distress I have had no rest; and yet further billows of tossing troubles are still coming upon me.
Ver. 1. [The close connection between the end of the second and beginning of the third chapter ought not to be overlooked. 'After this opened Job his mouth,'—after the seven days of silent pantomime that ushered them in. Could anything have been more trying to the temper, more crushing to the spirit, more harrowing to the feelings of the poor bereaved, plague-stricken sufferer than the conduct of these three men? They came professedly to mourn with and comfort him; but justly has their heartless conduct been made the basis of the ironical proverb, 'Job's comforters.' The loud lamentations, the rending of their garments, the throwing of dust on their heads, and the seven days and nights of blank silence, were all, by the wasted and heart-broken sufferer, interpreted, and, as the sequel shows, rightly interpreted, in the light of insults rather than sympathy. The visit of the three friends was probably a part of Satan's work; and if so, it was surely his masterpiece. To assail the isolated, exhausted, agonized man with hypocritical professions of sympathy, with illogical arguments, and finally with coarse and cruel invective, was enough to drive him to despair. We can scarcely wonder that, under such circumstances, even the patience of Job was exhausted, and that he broke forth into those passionate utterances, of which an example is given in this third chapter. P.]
Ver. 14. [Desolate places. No country is more remarkable for its splendid and desolate tomb-palaces than the land of Edom, where Job resided. See Laborde or any other descriptions of Idumæa, especially of the city of Petra. C.]
Ver. 26. [This sublime and pathetic, and yet humiliating speech, must be regarded as the commencement of Job's 'sin with his lips.' Hitherto his outward conduct and language had been pure and perfect; now under unparalleled trial and temptation he bursts forth into passionate exclamations. What a sad comment is this on his noble declaration: 'The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!' P.]
Reflections.—How dreadful are the days, the ages, in hell, on which heaven frowns, and which earth forgets, joy forsakes, and curses attend. The best, when left to themselves, may fall into the greatest folly and guilt; become mad in their wishes, liberal of their curses, cruel to their friends, and unthankful to their God! but how much better is the never-cursed day of our spiritual and eternal birth than that of our natural! How helpless are men when they come into this world! But kind is the care of Providence about them. How levelling are the strokes of death! None of our earthly honours dare enter the grave. Happy only those in it who die in the Lord! What relief from trouble, what rest, what liberty they enjoy! But sad is the case when inflicted troubles, and want of prospect of deliverance, make even saints to long for death and bid it welcome. To quarrel with the life which God bestows, is to sin against our own mercies. Fretfulness and impatience at our lot can only aggravate our sufferings. And to reflect on God's providence is to accuse himself. It is our happiness that our time is in God's hand. The more irksome this life is we should be the more solicitous to prepare for a better. And they only are fit to die who are content to live, and, satisfied under every burden, wait cheerfully the Lord's pleasure.