Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Job 7:9 - 7:21

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Job 7:9 - 7:21


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Job Arraigns God

v. 9. As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away,
the vapor disappearing in the dry air of the wilderness, so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more, if he is once in the realm of the dead, he cannot return to the former life on earth.

v. 10. He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place,
his home, know him any more, this earthly life is past forever, so far as he is concerned.

v. 11. Therefore,
since God had practically abandoned him to dwell in the realm of the dead, I will not refrain my mouth, put no restraint on his speech; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, in the bitterness and pain which possessed his soul; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul, because his soul was so disturbed and troubled; he threw aside, for once, the awe which he ordinarily showed in the presence of God.

v. 12. Am I a sea or a whale,
some monster of the deep, that Thou set test a watch over me? He felt himself watched, shut in, by God, like a dangerous creature which might threaten to overwhelm the world.

v. 13. When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease,
help bear, my complaint, a fact which is usually the case,

v. 14. then Thou scarest me with dreams,
shaking him thereby to prevent his resting in comfort, and terrifiest me through visions, in consequence of them,

v. 15. so that my soul chooseth strangling,
in wishing that the asthma which accompanied his illness might choke him, and death rather than my life, literally, "than these bones," that is, in preference to having his body reduced to a skeleton.

v. 16. I loathe it,
he was disgusted with this life; I would not live alway, on account of the unendurable pain which he suffered. Let me alone, he asked God to withdraw His chastening hand from him; for my days are vanity, a puff of breath which vanishes away.

v. 17. What is man that Thou shouldest magnify him? and that Thou shouldest set Thine heart upon him?
the bitter irony of this passage consists in Job's asking why the great and majestic God should single out him, insignificant as he was, for the object of ever new and unceasing sufferings,

v. 18. and that Thou shouldest visit him every morning and try him every moment,
putting his patience and power to a continuous test?

v. 19. How long wilt Thou not depart from me,
looking away from him, turning His attention to some other object upon which He might vent His wrath, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle, at least for a little instant, for one moment of time?

v. 20. I have sinned; what shall I do unto Thee, O thou Preserver of men?
The thought is really conditional: If I have sinned, what harm could thereby strike Thee; what detriment would be caused to Thy great glory and majesty! Why hast Thou set me as a mark against Thee, a target, or mark, for every blow, so that I am a burden to myself, which the Lord Himself would try to shake off?

v. 21. And why dost Thou not pardon my transgression and take away mine iniquity,
pardon his guilt, since the end was now so near? For now shall I sleep in the dust; and Thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be. He requests God's immediate help, fearing that else he must die. The thought in the speech of Job is that of an accusation of cruelty on the part of God, an idea which may readily become blasphemous, if not driven away by a proper regard for the righteousness of God at all times.