Job 3

me.] The thing which Job meant here as the greatest of his fears, and which was now come upon him, was probably the loss of his children; for whom an over-tender parent is in continual solicitude. And that Job was such, appears plain from that remarkable circumstance in his story, his constant sacrificing upon occasion of his children’s feasting, lest any impiety might have been committed by them in those unguarded hours, that might provoke the Deity to punish them, chap. i. 5. Peters.

Chap. IV. ver. 5. But now it is come upon thee, &c.] But now thou canst not learn the same lesson thou didst teach others; for now that affliction is come, thou canst not bear it patiently. Clark.

Job 3:2

2. Let the day perish] “The day,” namely, his birthday. “Let the day perish,” by being deprived of the light of the sun; “the night,” by losing the light of the moon and stars: to which he adds other circumstances, to aggravate the horrour. Scott.

— There is a man child conceived.] The bearing of a son was a matter of great consequence among the Arabians: the form of their appreciation of happiness to a new married woman being, “May you live happily, and bring forth male children.” Schultens, Heath.

Job 3:4

4. — let not God regard it from above.] In Deut. xi. 12, the word, here rendered “regard,” is translated “care for.” God is here represented, sitting on His throne in heaven, and surveying the universe, to see that all its movements be carried on according to the laws which He has established. Job wishes that the day of his nativity may be rejected from the care of that Providence, by which the constant vicissitudes of day and night are preserved. Scott.

Job 3:5

5. — shadow of death] Such a dismal darkness as is in the place of the dead. Clark.

— let the blackness of the day terrify it.] Let a continued darkness make it terrible to all beholders. Bp. Hall.

Whatever can be imagined most dismal to make a day terrible and abhorred, such as destructive storms, lightnings, thunderings, portents, and the like, I conceive to be comprehended in this phrase. Scott.

Job curseth the day of his birth. The ease of death. Before CHRIST about 1320. Or, let it not rejoice among the days. Or, a Leviathan. Heb. the spitute of the morning.

Job 3:7

7. Lo, let that night be solitary.] In that night let none assemble to converse, or to rejoice. The Arabs had their meetings for conversation in the night; and among the Eastern nations in general, the night was devoted to festivity, Matt. xxv. 1, &c. It is so still among the Moors in Barbary, as Dr. Shaw says. Scott.

Job 3:8

8. Let them curse it that curse the day, &c.] Let those men be hired whose business and employment it is to “curse the days” that are esteemed ominous and inauspicious: let them apply all their skill in “raising” their mournful voices to the highest pitch. Chappelow. According to the marginal reading, the verse may be thus translated; “Let them execrate it, who curse the (natal) day (compare ver. 1.) of those who are about to, or who shall, rouse the Leviathan:” which was almost sure to be attended with immediate and horrid destruction. See chap. xli. 8—10. “The crocodile,” says Hasselquist, “does inexpressible mischief to the people of upper Egypt, often killing and devouring women, who come to the river to fetch water, and children playing on the shore, or swimming in the river.” Parkhurst. It was natural to mention such a terrible casualty in the strongest terms of abhorrence; and to lament those, who so miserably perished, with most bitter imprecations on the disastrous day. Job here calls for the assistance of such language, to execrate the fatal night of his nativity. Scott. 11. Why died I not from the womb? As soon as I had life in the womb. Clark. 12. Why did the knees prevent me? Why did the knees of the midwife assist at my birth in preserving my life? Dr. Durell.

Job 3:14

14. With kings and counsellors of the earth.] This beautiful description of the grave contains a fine oblique satire on ambition and avarice. Scott. — which built desolate places for themselves;] By “desolate places,” we may understand tombs and sepulchres, which kings and counsellors build for themselves: and the word, which we have here for “desolate places,” is in Scripture clearly applied to the grave or place of burial. We have it in Ezek. xxvi. 20. Caryl. “Desolate places,” those dreary sepulchral mansions, where the body is wasted or consumed. Such for instance as the pyramids of Egypt, some of which were probably older than the times of Job. Parkhurst.

Job 3:18

18. — they hear not the voice of the oppressor.] Of the taskmaster, or driver, chap. xxxix. 7. The account given us of the treatment of the Christian slaves in Mequines, is a lively comment on this passage: “Their respective guardians, or taskmasters, deliver them over at night, as so many sheep, to another, who is appointed to take charge of all; who secures them in one house till next morning, and then they hear the doleful echo of Come out to work.” Scott.

Job 3:19

19. The small and great are there;] Rather, “there the small and the great are the same;” for that seems to be the precise meaning of the passage. Dr. Durell.

Job 3:21

21. — dig for it more than for hid treasures;] Compare Prov. ii. 4; Is. xlv. 3, &c. These expressions of Scripture, which refer to hidden treasures, will perhaps derive a spirit from knowing, that a custom prevails among the Eastern people of burying their riches, by which means vast sums have been lost; that the great as well as the small are persuaded of all the ancient monuments containing some hidden treasures; and that in fact a number of men make a kind of business of going about pretending to discover such treasures. Fragments to Calmet.

Job 3:23

23. — to a man whose way is hid, &c.] Why is light cast upon a man whom God hath made so miserable, that there is no way to be hoped of his deliverance from this calamity; whom God hath shut up in this distress, without the possibility of escape? Bp. Hall. “Whose way is hid,” so that he cannot see how to get out of his miseries. Bp. Wilson.

Job 3:24

24. — my sighing cometh before I eat.] So that I eat Eliphaz reproveth Job for want of religion. Before CHRIST about 1520. feared a fear, and it came upon me. I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.

Job 3:26

26. I was not in safety, &c.] I did not lull myself into security, (chap. i. 5,) and yet that did not prevent me from being miserable. Bp. Patrick. I never confided in my power, or wisdom, or holiness. The thought of his innocence was the only comfort which Job had: the devil had deprived him of all else, and his friends strive to deprive him of this. Bp. Wilson. Chap. IV, V. Eliphaz, the first of Job’s friends, reproves him for grieving so excessively himself, who had formerly preached patience to others in affliction. He represents God as afflicting the wicked, but not good men. He relates a vision which he had seen, wherein God had convinced him of His justice, and of the meanness and corruption of human nature. He enlarges upon God’s judgments on the wicked and their posterity. And he speaks of the usefulness of God’s corrections; exhorts Job to improve by those, with which he was visited, and to acknowledge his sins: giving him hopes that he would then be delivered from his misfortunes, and restored to his former condition. Ostervald. This address of Eliphaz has the appearance of friendship. But several strokes, and the tenour of the whole, many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.