_A.M. 2484. B.C. 1520._ We have here Job cursing his birth-day, and complaining that he was born, Job 3:1. Complaining that he did not die as soon as he was born, Job 3:11. Complaining that his life was continued now he was in misery, Job 3:20.... [ Continue Reading ]
_After this Job opened his mouth_ The days of mourning being now over, and no hopes appearing of Job's amendment, but his afflictions rather increasing, he bursts into a severe lamentation; he wishes he had never existed, or that his death had immediately followed his birth; life under such a load o... [ Continue Reading ]
Here the metrical part of this book begins, which in the original Hebrew is broken into short verses, and is very beautiful, thus: שׂאבד יום אולד בו _Jobad jom ivaled bo,_ והלילה אמר הרה גבר _Vehalailah amar horah geber._ _LET THE DAY PERISH WHEREIN I WAS BORN, AND THE NIGHT WHICH SAID, A MAN CHILD... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let that day be darkness_ I wish the sun had never risen on that day; or, which is the same thing, that it had never been: and whensoever that day returns, instead of the cheering and refreshing beams of light arising upon it, I wish it may be covered with gross, thick darkness, and rendered black,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let darkness and the shadow of death_ Let the most dismal darkness, like that of the place of the dead, which is a _land of darkness_, and where the _light_ is _darkness, Job 10:21_; or darkness so gross and palpable, that its horrors are insupportable; _stain it_ Take away its beauty and glory, an... [ Continue Reading ]
_As for that night, let darkness seize upon it_ Constant and extraordinary darkness, without the least glimmering of light from the moon or stars; darkness to the highest degree possible. Thus, as Job had thrown out his resentment against the day in which he was both, so now the severity of his cens... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let that night be solitary_ Destitute of all society of men, meeting and feasting together. Let it afford no entertainment or pleasure of any kind; _let no joyful voice come therein_ No music, no harmony of sound be heard, no cheerful or pleasing voice admitted! Let no expressions of joy be so much... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let them curse it that curse the day_ That is, their birth-day: when their afflictions move them to curse their own birth-day, let them remember mine also, and bestow some curses upon it; _who are ready to raise up their mourning_ Who are full of sorrow, and always ready to pour out their cries, an... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let the stars of the twilight thereof_, &c. That adorn the heavens with so much beauty and lustre, never be seen that night. _Let it look for light, but have none_ Let it wait with the greatest impatience for some pleasing refreshment from thick, heavy clouds hanging over it; but let not the smalle... [ Continue Reading ]
_Because it shut not up my mother's womb_ Because it did not confine me to the dark prison of the womb, but suffered me to escape from thence; _nor hid sorrow from mine eyes_ Because it did not keep me from entering into this miserable life, and seeing or experiencing those bitter sorrows under whic... [ Continue Reading ]
_Why died I not from the womb?_ It would surely have been far better, and much happier for me, had I either expired in the womb where I received my life, or it had been taken from me the very moment my eyes saw the light of this world. _Why did the knees prevent me?_ Why did the midwife or nurse rec... [ Continue Reading ]
_For_ now _should I have lain still, and been quiet_ Free from those torments of body, and that anguish of mind, which now oppress me. _With kings and counsellors of the earth_ I had then been as happy as the proudest monarchs, who, after all their great achievements, go down into their graves; _whi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Or with princes that had gold_, &c. My repose and security from worldly anxieties would have been the same with that of those princes who were once celebrated for their wealth, and whose birth entitled them to large treasures of gold and silver. _Or as a hidden_ That is, undiscerned and unregarded;... [ Continue Reading ]
_There the wicked cease from troubling_ In the grave the great oppressors and troublers of the world cease from their vexatious rapines and murders; _and there the weary be at rest_ Those who were here molested, and tired out with their tyrannies, oppressions, and injuries, now quietly sleep with th... [ Continue Reading ]
_There the prisoners rest together_ That is, one as well as another; they who were lately deprived of their liberty, kept in the strongest chains and closest prisons, and condemned to the most hard and miserable slavery, rest as well as those who were captives in much better circumstances. _They hea... [ Continue Reading ]
_The small and great are there_ It should rather be rendered, _are equal there;_ persons of all qualities and conditions, whether higher or lower, are in the same circumstances. There is no distinction in the grave, but the meanest and most despised peasant is in a situation equal to that of his ric... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore is light given_ למה יתן, _lama jitten;_ why doth he give, or hath he given, _light_, namely, the light of life, to him that is in misery, whose life is a scene of sorrow and distress, loaded and pressed with numberless calamities? _and life unto the bitter in soul_ Unto those whose life i... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who long for death_ With eagerness and impatience, as the Hebrew means. _Who calls aloud for death_, as Heath translates it. _Qui ægre expectant, inhiant morti_, who anxiously long and gasp for death; _but it cometh not_ They long and gasp in vain. _And dig for it more than for hid treasures_ Whose... [ Continue Reading ]
_Which rejoice exceedingly, when they can find the grave_ To be thus impatient of life, for the sake of the trouble we meet with, is not only unnatural in itself, but ungrateful to the Giver of life, and shows a sinful indulgence of our own passion. Let it be our great and constant care to get ready... [ Continue Reading ]
_Why is light given to a man whose way is hid?_ Hid from him; who knows not his way, that is, which way to turn himself, what course to take to obtain comfort in his miseries, or to get out of them. _And whom God hath hedged in_ Whom God hath put, as it were, in a prison, so that he can see no way o... [ Continue Reading ]
_For my sighing cometh before I eat_ Hebrew, _before the face of my bread._ Instead of enjoying the satisfaction of being refreshed with the common necessaries that are afforded us, and taking any pleasure in eating and drinking, which are granted for comfort as well as sustenance, my cries and tear... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me_ Before this flood of misery was poured upon me, I was indeed under great and strong apprehensions, which I could not account for, of something or other that would happen to me; something extremely grievous and afflicting; something as bad, nay,... [ Continue Reading ]
_I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet_ Three expressions denoting the same thing, which was also signified in the verse immediately preceding, namely, that even in his prosperous days he never esteemed himself secure, or was perfectly free from the torment of fear and anxiety... [ Continue Reading ]