Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Job 10:13 - 10:22

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Job 10:13 - 10:22


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Job Renews his Complaint of his Affliction

v. 13. And these things hast Thou hid in Thine heart; I know that this is with Thee,
that is: In spite of all God's care in the creation and preservation of Job, in spite of all His apparent kindness in the past, His hidden purpose had planned Job's destruction.

v. 14. If I sin, then Thou markest me,
that is, If Job should sin, God had intended to watch very carefully and immediately charge it against him, and Thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity; He carefully notes down every evidence of wickedness.

v. 15. If I be wicked, woe unto me!
He must expect a sudden and violent punishment. And if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head, even if he were right, he would not dare to look up with freedom and confidence, for this would not be acknowledged. I am full of confusion, filled with shame; therefore see Thou mine affliction. He always had his misery in sight and must hang his head in shame, like a wicked sinner who was getting his just deserts,

v. 16. For it increaseth,
rather, "and should my head lift itself up," should Job dare to show a cheerful courage, Thou huntest me as a fierce lion; and again Thou showest Thyself marvelous upon me, God would show His wonderful power in destroying him,

v. 17. Thou renewest Thy witnesses against me,
God would cause ever new witnesses to appear against Job, and increasest Thine indignation upon me, with an ever new amount of displeasure. Changes and war are against me; Job would have to consider ever new troops and a whole army opposed to him, He alone is the mark of God's displeasure,

v. 18. Wherefore, then, hast Thou brought me forth out of the womb?
He renews his complaint, bewailing the fact that he was ever born. Oh, that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me! He would have died, never have seen the light of day, if God had not called him into being.

v. 19. I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave,
still-born, a corpse, and out of misery.

v. 20. Are not my days few?
Was not the time of his life short enough? Could not God take from him some of the burden which was weighting him down? Cease, then, and let me alone, turning His attention elsewhere, that I may take comfort a little, enjoy just a little brightness and cheerfulness,

v. 21. before I go whence I shall not return,
or, "go hence and return not," even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;

v. 22. a land of darkness, as darkness itself,
black as the shades of midnight; and of the shadow of death, without any order, filled with chaotic confusion, and where the light is as darkness, literally, "where it is light as midnight," said of the most intense darkness, an utterly sunless gloom. Job here, in the bitterness of his soul, gave way to a hopelessness which should never be found in a believer, but which sometimes threatens to overwhelm him, It is only the remembrance of God's unwavering kindness, as a characteristic of faith, that will keep us from such depths of despair.