2. Job’s first reply to Eliphaz chs. 6-7Job began not with a direct reply to Eliphaz but with another complaint about his condition. Then he responded to Eliphaz’s speech but addressed all three of his friends. The "you" and "yours" in Job 6:24-30 are plural in the Hebrew text. read more
Job’s prayer to God 7:7-21Throughout his sufferings, Job did not turn away from God. Often people undergoing severe affliction do forsake Him. However, Job kept God in view and kept talking to God, even though he did not know what to ask, which was a major part of his torment. I believe this accounts for his ability to maintain his sanity and to come through his adversity finally. It is when people abandon God in their suffering that they get into serious trouble spiritually.Job believed he... read more
Job’s First Speech (concluded)1-10. Job laments the hardship and misery of his destiny.1. Man’s life is a lot of hardship. Appointed time] RM ’time of service.’2, 3. As the labourer longs for the weary day to end and to receive his wages, so Job bemoans the length of his sufferings and sighs for death to end them. 3. Months of vanity] so called because they were unsatisfactory, hopeless. ’Months’ imply that Job’s sufferings had lasted a considerable time. 5. Worms] from the diseased flesh.... read more
(19) Till I swallow down my spittle.—This is doubtless a proverbial expression, like “the twinkling of an eye,” or “while I fetch a breath.” read more
Job 7:6 ; Job 7:9 Having gazed, in their brief fate, on a life that is no life at all, they disappear like a vapour, convinced alone of what each hath met in his whirling to and fro in all directions. Empedocles. Job 7:7 Although we have some experience of living, there is not a man on earth who has flown so high into abstraction as to have any practical guess at the meaning of the word life. All literature, from Job and Omar Khayyam to Thomas Carlyle or Walt Whitman, is but an attempt to... read more
VIII.MEN FALSE: GOD OVERBEARINGJob 6:1-30; Job 7:1-21Job SPEAKSWORST to endure of all things is the grief that preys on a man’s own heart because no channel outside self is provided for the hot stream of thought. Now that Eliphaz has spoken, Job has something to arouse him, at least to resentment. The strength of his mind revives as he finds himself called to a battle of words. And how energetic he is! The long address of Eliphaz we saw to be incoherent, without the backbone of any clear... read more
CHAPTERS 6-7 Job’s Answer 1. His Despair justified by the greatness of his suffering (Job 6:1-7 ) 2. He requests to be cut off (Job 6:8-13 ) 3. He reproacheth his friends (Job 6:14-30 ) 4. The misery of life (Job 7:1-7 ) 5. Two questions: Why does God deal with me thus? Why does He not pardon? (Job 7:8-21 ) Job 6:1-7 . He meets first of all the reproach and accusation of Eliphaz (Job 4:1-5 ). Because his sufferings are so great his utterances are so desperately wild. If Eliphaz only... read more
DOES GOD NOT RECOMPENSE GOOD DEEDS? (vv.1-16) Job's questions in verse 1 indicate why he was so distressed at God's dealings. No doubt too his friends would agree to his questions. "Is there not a time of hard service for man on earth? Are not his days also like the days of a hired man?" How many people are like Job in this matter. They consider their relationship to God as being like that of a hired man working for a righteous employer. If they do right, their recompense should be good: if... read more
FIRST SERIES OF THE DEBATE The first series of the debate may be outlined as follows: 1. With Eliphaz (chaps. 4-7) a. Speech of Eliphaz (chaps. 4-5) b. Reply of (chaps. 6-7) 2. With Bildad (chaps. 8-10) a. Speech of Bildad (chap. 8) b. Reply of Job (chaps. 9-10) 3. With Zophar (chaps. 11-14) a. Speech of Zophar (chap. 11) b. Reply of Job (chaps. 12-14) It is thought the debate may have occupied several days, by which supposition some of the difficulties of the book are removed. In the... read more
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Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Job 7:19
19. How long (like a jealous keeper) wilt thou never take thine eyes off (so the Hebrew for "depart from") me? Nor let me alone for a brief respite (literally, "so long as I take to swallow my spittle"), an Arabic proverb, like our, "till I draw my breath." read more