Job 3:1

_AFTER THIS OPENED JOB HIS MOUTH, AND CURSED HIS DAY._ Opened Job his mouth. The Orientals speaks seldom, and then sententiously. Hence, this formula, expressing deliberation and gravity (Psalms 78:2). _ Formally began._ CURSED HIS DAY - the strict Hebrew word for cursing х_ WAYªQALEEL_ (H7043)]; not the same as in Job 1:5. Job cursed his birthday, but not his God....

1-10 For seven days Job's friends sat by him in silence, without offering consolidation: at the same time Satan assaulted his mind to shake his confidence, and to fill him with hard thoughts of God. The permission seems to have extended to this, as well as to torturing the body. Job was an especial type of Christ, whose inward sufferings, both in the garden and on the cross, were the most dreadful; and arose in a great degree from the assaults of Satan in that hour of darkness. These inward trials show the reason of the change that took place in Job's conduct, from entire submission to the will of God, to the impatience which appears here, and in other parts of the book. The believer, who knows that a few drops of this bitter cup are more dreadful than the sharpest outward afflictions, while he is favoured with a sweet sense of the love and presence of God, will not be surprised to find...

CHAPTER III _Job curses the day of his birth, and regrets that he ever saw_ _the light_, 1-12. _Describes the empire of death and its inhabitants_, 13-19. _Regrets that he is appointed to live in the midst of sorrows,_ _for the calamities which he feared had overtaken him_, 20-26. NOTES ON CHAP. III Verse Job 3:1. _AFTER THIS OPENED JOB HIS MOUTH_] After the _seven days'_ _mourning_ was over, there being no prospect of relief, Job is represented as thus _cursing the day of his birth_. Here the _poetic_ part of the book _begins_; for most certainly there is nothing in the preceding chap

AFTER THIS - Dr. Good renders this, “at length.” It means after the long silence of his friends, and after he saw that there was no prospect of relief or of consolation. OPENED JOB HIS MOUTH - The usual formula in Hebrew to denote thc commencement of a speech; see Matthew 5:2. Schultens contends that it means boldness and vehemency of speech, παῤῥησία _parrēsia_, or an opening of the mouth for the purpose of accusing, expostulating, or complaining; or to begin to utter some sententious, profound, or sublime maxim; and in support of this he appeals to Psalms 78:2, ard Proverbs 8:6. There is probab

EXPOSITION The "Historical Introduction" ended, we come upon a long colloquy, in which the several _dramatis personae_ speak for themselves, the writer, or compiler, only prefacing each speech with a very few necessary words. The speeches are, one and all of them, metrical; and are well represented in the Revised Version. The first colloquy extends from Job 3:1 to Job 14:22. JOB 3:1 AFTER THIS OPENED JOB HIS MOUTH. The first to take the word is Job, as, indeed, etiquette made necessary, when the visit paid was one of condolence. It can only be conjectured what the feelings were which had kept him silent so long. We may, perhaps, suggest that in the countenances and manner of his fr

AFTER THIS OPENED JOB HIS MOUTH,.... order to speak, and began to speak of his troubles and afflictions, and the sense he had of them; for though, this phrase may sometimes signify to speak aloud, clearly and distinctly, and with great freedom and boldness, yet here it seems to design no more than beginning to speak, or breaking silence after it had been long kept: be spake after his first trial and blessed the name of the Lord, and upon his second, and reproved his wife for her foolish speaking; but upon the visit of his three friends, and during the space of seven days, a profound silence was kept by him and them; and when he perceived that they chose not to speak to him, and perhaps his distemper also decreased, and his pain somewhat abated, he broke out into the following expressions: AND CURSED HIS DAY: he did not curse his God, as Satan said he would, and his wife advised him to:...

CHAPTER 3 JOB'S LAMENT _ 1. Job curses the day of his birth (Job 3:1)_ 2. He longs for death (Job 3:10) 3. The reason why (Job 3:24) Job 3:1. The silence is broken by Job. Alas! his lips do not utter praises now, but he cursed the day of his birth. It was a sore trial for Job to look into the faces of these pious friends, in perfect health and strength, and he, even more pious than they, stricken and smitten of God. It was an aggravation of Job's grief and sorrow. But let us notice though Job gives way to his feelings in this passionate outburst, he did not renounce God, nor is there a word of rebellion against Him. All through his a

JOB'S LAMENTATION. Here the later poem begins, and at once we pass into another world. The patient Job of the Volksbuch is gone, and we have instead one who complains bitterly that ever he was born. This cry of misery is thrice repeated, ever in deepening pathos (Job 3:1; Job 3:11; Job 3:20). JOB 3:1. The first cry of misery Would to God I had never been born. This is the idea when Job curses his day, and wishes it blotted out of existence. First he curses the day of his birth and the night of his conception together (Job 3:3) and then each separately, the day in two verses and th

AFTER THIS: i.e. after this long restraint. CURSED. Here we have the Hebrew _kalal,_ which was in the primitive text. See note on Job 1:5. HIS DAY: i.e. his birthday. Compare Job 3:3....

_cursed his day_ The day of his birth. Reverent minds have always found difficulty in accommodating themselves to the religious boldness of the Book of Job. A curious instance of this is given in the Catena of Greek interpreters on Job, where one writer interprets Job's "day" to be the day when man fell from righteousness to sin. The same feeling has influenced the translation of Job 13:15 and Job 19:25....