Job 7:2

_AS A SERVANT EARNESTLY DESIRETH THE SHADOW, AND AS AN HIRELING LOOKETH FOR THE REWARD OF HIS WORK:_ Earnestly desireth - Hebrew, pants for the (evening) shadow х_ YISH'AP_ (H7602) _ TSEEL_ (H6738)]. The Orientals measure time by the length of their shadow. If the servant, wearied witch toil and mid-day heat, longs for the evening, when his hard-earned wages are paid, why may not Job long for the close of his hard service, when he shall enter on his reward? This proves that Job did not, as many maintain, regard the grave as a mere sleep....

1-6 Job here excuses what he could not justify, his desire of death. Observe man's present place: he is upon earth. He is yet on earth, not in hell. Is there not a time appointed for his abode here? yes, certainly, and the appointment is made by Him who made us and sent us here. During that, man's life is a warfare, and as day-labourers, who have the work of the day to do in its day, and must make up their account at night. Job had as much reason, he thought, to wish for death, as a poor servant that is tired with his work, has to wish for the shadows of the evening, when he shall go to rest. The sleep of the labouring man is sweet; nor can any rich man take so much satisfaction in his wealth, as the hireling in his day's wages. The comparison is plain; hear his complaint: His days were useless, and had long been so; but when we are not able to work for God, if we sit still quietly for...

Verse Job 7:2. _EARNESTLY DESIRETH THE SHADOW_] As a man who labours hard in the _heat_ of the day earnestly desires to get under a _shade_, or wishes for the _long evening shadows_, that he may rest from his labour, get his day's wages, retire to his food, and then go to rest. _Night_ is probably what is meant by the _shadow_; as in VIRGIL, AEn. iv., ver. 7: Humentemque Aurora _polo dimoverat_ UMBRAM. "The morning had removed the humid shadow, i.e., _night_, from the world." Where SERVIUS justly observes: _Nihil interest,_ _utrum UMBRAM an NOCTEM dicat: NOX enim UMBRA terrae est_, "It makes no difference whether he says _shadow_ or _night_; for night is the _shadow_ of the earth....

AS A SERVANT EARNESTLY DESIRETH - Margin, gapeth after. The word here שׁאף _shâ'aph_ means to breathe hard, to pant, to blow, and then to desire earnestly. THE SHADOW - This may refer either to a shade in the intense heat of the day, or to the night. Nothing is more grateful in oriental countries, when the sun pours down intensely on burning sands, than the shadow of a tree, or the shade of a projecting rock. The editor of the Pictorial Bible on this verse remarks, “We think we can say, that next to water, the greatest and deepest enjoyment we could ever realize in the hot climates of the East was, when on a journey, any circumstance of the road brought us for a few minutes under some shade. Its reviving influence upon the bodily frame, and consequently upon the spirits, is inconceivable by one who has not had some experience of the kind. Often also during the hall of

EXPOSITION JOB 7:1 In this chapter Job first bewails his miserable fate, of which he expects no alleviation (verses 1-10); then claims an unlimited right of complaint (verse 11); and finally enters into direct expostulation with God—an expostulation which continues from verse 12 to the end of the chapter. At the close, he admits his sinfulness (verse 20), but asks impatiently why God does not pardon it instead of visiting it with such extreme vengeance (verse 21). JOB 7:1 IS THERE NOT AN APPOINTED TIME TO MAN UPON EARTH? rather, _Is there not a warfare _(or, _a time of service_)_ to man upon earth?_ Has not each man a certain work appointed for him to do, and a certain limited time assigned him within which to do it? And th

AS A SERVANT EARNESTLY DESIRETH THE SHADOW,.... Either the shadow of some great rock, tree, or hedge, or any shady place to shelter him from the heat of the sun in the middle of the day, which in those eastern countries is hot and scorching; and very burdensome and fatiguing it is for servants and labourers to work in fields and vineyards, or in keeping herds and flocks in such countries, and at such a time of the day; to which the allusion is in Song of Solomon 1:7 Isaiah 25:4. Wherefore they "gape" for, or "pant" after some shady place for refreshment, as the word n used signifies; or for the shadow of the evening, or the sun setting, when the longest shadow is cast, Jeremiah 6:4; and when the work of

Job was sorely troubled by the cruel speeches of his friends, and he answered them out of the bitterness of his soul. What we are first about to read is a part of his language under those circumstances. Job 7:1. _Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?_ Is there not a certain time for each one of us to live? Is there not an end to all the trouble and sorrow of this mortal state? «Woe is me,» says Job, »will this sad condition of things never come to a close? Must it always be thus with me?» Job 7:2. _As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow,_ When the day shall close, and he can go to his home, Job 7:2. And as an hireling

CHAPTER S 6-7 JOB'S ANSWER _ 1. His Despair justified by the greatness of his suffering (Job 6:1)_ 2. He requests to be cut off (Job 6:8) 3. He reproacheth his friends (Job 6:14) 4. The misery of life (Job 7:1) 5. Two questions: Why does God deal with me thus? Why does He not pardon? (Job 7:8) Job 6:1. He meets first of all the reproach and accusation of Eliphaz (Job 4:1). Because his sufferings are so g

Job complains of the misery of his life and destiny. How is it that Job does not go on to maintain his innocence? Instead of this he proceeds to show how dreadfully he suffers, and to accuse God of cruelty (Job 7:11 f.). The point is that he cannot think of his suffering without viewing it as a ground against God. The ideas of Eliphaz about suffering being due to sin make no impression on him: moreover he feels that, if he had sinned, that would give God no reason to treat him as He does. Again Job can hardly believe as yet that Eliphaz really meant to accuse him of sin. He indulges himself, therefore, freely again in the complaint of his misery. As before, however, in Job 3:20, he is led to think of his own case as one among many (Job 7:1 f.). Life is a sold

THE SHADOW. the shade: i.e. daytime. WORK. Put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Effect), App-6, for the wages or reward gained by work: i.e. evening....