Job 3:25

For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me,.... Some refer this to his fears about his children, lest they should sin and offend God, and bring down his judgments on them, and now what he

For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. The thing which I ... feared is come upon me.

This is another reason why he is weary of his life, and why he repents that ever he was born, because he never enjoyed any solid and secure comfort. The thing which I greatly feared is come upon me. Heb. I feared a fear, (i.e. a danger or mischief in one kind or other, the act being here put for the object, as joy and love are oft put for the things rejoiced in, or loved, and here fear for the thing feared. Or, I feared with fear, i.e. I feared greatly,) and it came. Even in the time of my peace and prosperity I was full of fears, considering the variety of God’ s providences, the course and changeableness of this vain world, the infirmities and contingencies of human nature and life, God’ s justice, and the sinfulness of all mankind. And these fears of mine were not vain, but are justified by my present calamities. So that I have never enjoyed any sound tranquillity since I was born; and therefore it hath not been worth my while to live, since all my days have been evil, and full of vexation and torment, either by the fear of miseries, or by the sufferance of them.

Job 3:25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.Ver. 25. For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me] Heb. I feared a fear, and it came upon me. Had Job been wicked, this had been no wonder, Proverbs 10:24 Job 15:21. Or had his fear been sinful, it had been less pity, Proverbs 29:25 John 11:48; for why should he, by a painful preconceit, suffer before he needed, and send for his crosses before they came? A good man should be careful (and so consequently fearful) in nothing, Philippians 4:6, he should hope the best, and bear bravely οτιαν Yεοςδιδω, saith Demosthenes, whatever God sendeth. The Epicureans held, that a good man might be cheerful under whatsoever miseries: 1. In consideration of honesty and integrity. 2. In consideration of those pleasures and comforts that formerly he had enjoyed, and now cheered up himself with, Ex praeteritarum voluptatum recordatione (Cie. de Finib. lib. 2). Of neither of these was Job to seek; but whereas it might be said unto him, Is it fit for thee, who hast hitherto been so happy, now to take on so heavily, because thus and thus afflicted? Truly, saith he, I was never so happy as you took me for; because (considering how moveable and mutable all outward things are) I always feared lest I should outlive my prosperity; that which now also is unhappily befallen me. Sulla had been happy, si eundem et vincendi et vivendi finem fecisset, saith one; that is, if he had made an end of conquering and of living together; but that he did not. In him and many others it hath appeared that mortality is but the stage of mutability. This holy Job had oft forecasted with himself: and though in his passion he here allege it as a reason why he took no comfort in his meat, &c., yet in true account it could be no grief unto him, nor offence of heart (as she once said to David, 1 Samuel 25:31), since it was a fear of wisdom and caution; a fear of the head, and not of the heart; a fear of diligence, and not of diffidence.

(25) For the thing which I greatly feared . . .—Comp. Proverbs 28:14. It means that he had always had in remembrance the uncertainty and instability of earthly things, an yet he had been overtaken by a calamity that mocked his carefulness and exceeded his apprehensions.

Verse 25. For the thing which I greatly reared] Literally, the fear that I feared; or, l feared a fear, as in the margin. While I was in prosperity I thought adversity might come, and I had a dread of it. I feared the loss of my family and my property; and both have occurred. I was not lifted up: I knew that what I possessed I had from Divine Providence, and that he who gave might take away. I am not stripped of my all as a punishment for my self-confidence.

20–26. Why does God continue life to the wretched, who long for death? The vision of the peacefulness of death passes away, and Job awakens again to the consciousness of his real condition, and his words, which had sunk into calmness as he contemplated the peace of death, now seem to rise again like the storm after a lull, Wherefore gives He light to him that is in misery? He does not name though he alludes to God, and the indirect reference though partly due to reverence betrays a rising alienation in his heart. His question is one of anguish and impatience. His own condition throws its gloom over all human life, and he puts the question first generally, Job 3:20-22; there are many like him seeking death and unable to find it, who would exult for joy if they could find the grave. Then he comes to the individual, Job 3:23, meaning himself, Wherefore gives He life to the man whose way is hid? the man who cannot see and cannot move, who can discover no solution of the riddle of his life, and find no course of action to relieve himself, who lies in the grasp of a calamity which has too surely come from God, and which has introduced confusion among all the principles of religion which he has hitherto held and into the relation to God in which he has hitherto stood, Job 3:23. And finally he adds some touches to the picture of his misery, his constant moaning, and the unbroken succession of troubles that afflict him, which come so thick that he has no respite from one before another overtakes him, Job 3:24-26.

For the thing which I greatly feared - Margin, As in the Hebrew “I feared a fear, and it came upon me.” This verse, with the following, has received a considerable variety of exposition.

25. I greatly feared — Literally, A fear I feared, and it came upon me.The elegance of the Hebrew (τηγτηγϊι) is lost in the A.V. Compare Psalms 53:5, see margin.