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 thus, Are not his days also like the days of an hireling? Since the hireling is engaged to do a certain work in a certain time. read more
The days of a hireling. Job compares himself to a mercenary in war and to a hired servant at work. As these men have little interest in what they are doing, partly because the masters who hire them take little interest in them, Job feels his life but a weariness, and longs for the term of his service to expire. I. LIFE MAY APPEAR LIKE THE DAYS OF A HIRELING . 1 . It involves hard toil. The lot of most men is not easy; but some find life a grinding servitude. 2 .... read more
The days of the hireling. Job speaks from the depth of suffering, and as yet he has no clear light upon the Divine purpose concerning him. God, who is his true Refuge, appears to be his Enemy; and he likens his miserable days to those of the oppressed slave. This he urges as a justification of the longing for rest which he has expressed. For him there is no prospect of that rest but in the grave. It is the cry of bitter subjection. 1. THE COMPARISON OF HUMAN LIFE TO THAT ... read more
The weariness of sorrow. Expressing Itself— I. IN A DESIRE FOR THE CLOSE OF LIFE . ( Job 7:2 .) II. As A CONTINUOUS DISAPPOINTMENT . ( Job 7:3 .) III. As A CEASELESS RESTLESSNESS . ( Job 7:4 .) IV. AS A REVOLT FROM THE PAINFULNESS OF ITS CIRCUMSTANCES . ( Job 7:5 .) V. AS A CONDITION OF HOPELESSNESS . ( Job 7:6 .)—R.G. read more
Job to God: 1. The soliloquy of sorrow. I. A PATHETIC REPRESENTATION OF HUMAN LIFE . In contrast to the fascinating picture sketched by Eliphaz ( Job 5:17-27 ), Job depicts human life in general, and his own sorrowful existence in particular, as: 1 . A term of hard service. "Is there not an appointed time [literally, 'a warfare, a term of hard service'] on the earth?' like that of a mercenary soldier hired out for military purposes to a foreign despot; and "are not his... read more
The weakness of man's appeal to the clemency of God. I. GENERAL VIEW OF MAN 'S MISERY AND HIS OWN . ( Job 7:1-5 .) Man is compared to a hireling with an appointed time of service, the end of which is wearily and wistfully looked for. The ideas suggested are As the slave longs for the lengthening shadows of evening, the hired labourer for pay-time, so the oppressed sufferer, toiling beneath a load of pain, longs for the welcome end of death. He "would 'twere bedtime, and... read more
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). read more
As a servant (or, a slave ) panteth for the shadow; i.e. longs for the shades of evening to descend and bring the day to a close. The slavery of Job's time was probably not unlike that of captive races in Egypt, so graphically portrayed in the early chapters of Exodus. The captive, working from morning to night at exhausting labour, would long intensely for the night to arrive, when his toil would come to an end. The inference is not drawn, but clearly is—so Job may be excused if he... read more
So am I made to possess months of vanity . "Months of vanity" are "months of which he can make no use "—"months which are no good to him." It has been concluded from this theft some considerable time had elapsed since Job was stricken by his disease. But he is perhaps looking to the future as much as to the past, anticipating a long, lingering illness. Elephantiasis is a disease which often lasts for years . And wearisome nights are appointed to me . To one stretched on a bed of sickness,... read more
Get Bible verse every day in your inbox
Read on Mobile
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 7:5
My flesh is clothed with worms - This is perhaps no figure, but is literally true: the miserably ulcerated state of his body, exposed to the open air, and in a state of great destitution, was favorable to those insects that sought such places in which to deposit their ova, which might have produced the animals in question. But the figure is too horrid to be farther illustrated. Clods of dust - I believe all the commentators have here missed the sense. I suppose Job to allude to those... read more