job-3:1-10,job-42:1-6

The Pulpit Commentary - 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 friends he saw something which displeased him, something indicative of their belief that he had brought his afflictions upon himself by secret sins of a heinous character. Pharisaism finds it... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:1

The curse of despair. Job had endured bravely up to this moment. But when his courage broke down his despair swept all before it like an avalanche. Existence itself then seemed only a curse, and Job thought it a matter of regret that he had ever been brought into the world. In his despair he cursed the day of his birth. I. THE CAUSES OF THE CURSE . Job was no mere dyspeptic pessimist. His utterance of despair was not simply bred from the gloom of a discontented mind. Nor was he... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:1-10

The stricken patriarch's lament: 1. Deploring his birth. I. DELIBERATE DISCOURSE . 1 . The time. "After this;" i.e. after the seven days' silence, after waiting, perhaps, for some expression of sympathy from his friends, perhaps also after discerning no mitigation in his misery—an indication that Job spoke not under the influence of some sudden paroxysm of grief, but with fixed resolve and after mature consideration. Language that is passionate may also be deliberate; and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:1-12

Human infirmity revealed in deep affliction. Frail is the heart of man. With all its heroism, its endurance and power, yet the stout heart yields and the brave spirit is cowed. The strongest bends beneath the heavy pressure. But if the human life is to be truthfully presented, its failures as well as its excellences must be set forth. It is an evidence that the writer is attempting an impartial statement, and in the midst of his poetical representations is not led away to mere extravagance... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:1-26

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:1-26

The eloquence of grief. This book, so entirely true to nature, presents here one of the darkest moods of the grief-stricken heart. The first state is that of paralyzed silence, dumbness, inertia. Were this to continue, death must ensue. Stagnation will be fatal. The currents of thought and feeling must in some way be set flowing in their accustomed channels, as in the beautiful little poem of Tennyson on the mother suddenly bereaved of her warrior-lord- "All her maidens, wondering, said, ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:2-3

And Job spake, and said, Let the day perish wherein I was born . An idle wish, doubtless; the vague utterance of extreme despair. Days cannot perish, or, at any rate, one day cannot perish more than another. They all come, and then are gone; but no day can perish out of the year, which will always have its full complement of three hundred and sixty-five days till time shall be no more. But extreme despair does not reason. It simply gives utterance to the thoughts and wishes as they arise.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:4

Let that day be darkness ; i.e. let a cloud rest upon it—let it be regarded as a day of ill omen, "carbone notandus." Job recognizes that his wish, that the day should perish utterly, is vain, and limits himself now to the possible. Let not God regard it from above ; i.e. let not God, from the heaven where he dwells, extend to it his protection and superintending care. Neither let the light shine upon it . Pleonastic, but having the sort of force which belongs to reiteration. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:5

Let darkness and the shadow of death . "The shadow of death" ( צלמות ) is a favourite expression in the Book of Job, where it occurs no fewer than nine times. Elsewhere it is rare, except in the Psalms, where it occurs four times. It is thought to be an archaic word. Stain it ; rather, claim it , or claim it for their own ( Revised Version). Let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it . The hot, stifling "blackness" of the khamsin wind is probably... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:6

As for that night . The night, that is, of Job's conception (see above, verse 3). Let darkness seize upon it . The Revised Version has thick darkness ' but this is unnecessary. Let it not be joined unto the days of the year . According to the Massorites' pointing, we should translate, "Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;" and so the Revised Version. But many of the best critics prefer the pointing which is followed by the LXX . and by King James's translators. The... read more

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:1

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:1

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:1-10

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:1-12

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:1-26

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:1-26

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:2-3

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:4

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:5

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:6

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