Job 3:18-19

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 3:11-19

Job, perhaps reflecting upon himself for his folly in wishing he had never been born, follows it, and thinks to mend it, with another, little better, that he had died as soon as he was born, which he enlarges upon in these verses. When our Saviour would set forth a very calamitous state of things he seems to allow such a saying as this, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the paps which never gave suck (Luke 23:29); but blessing the barren womb is one thing and cursing... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 3:18

There the prisoners rest together ,.... "Are at ease", as Mr. Broughton renders the words; such who while they lived were in prison for debt, or were condemned to the galleys, to lead a miserable life; or such who suffered bonds and imprisonment for the sake of religion, at death their chains are knocked off, and they are as much at liberty, and enjoy as much ease, as the dead that never were prisoners; and not only rest together with those who were their fellow prisoners, but with those... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 3:19

The small and great are there ,.... Both as to age, and with respect to bulk and strength of body, and also to estate and dignity; children and men, or those of low and high stature, or in a mean or more exalted state of life, as to riches and honour, these all come to the grave without any difference, and lie there without any distinction F25 "Grandia cum parvis Orcus metit". Horat. Ep. l. 2. ep. 2. ver. 178. "----Mista senum ac juvenum densantur funera". Horat. Carmin. l. 1. Ode. 28. ... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 3:18

The prisoners rest together - Those who were slaves, feeling all the troubles, and scarcely tasting any of the pleasures of life, are quiet in the grave together; and the voice of the oppressor, the hard, unrelenting task-master, which was more terrible than death, is heard no more. They are free from his exactions, and his mouth is silent in the dust. This may be a reference to the Egyptian bondage. The children of Israel cried by reason of their oppressors or task-masters. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 3:19

The small and great are there - All sorts and conditions of men are equally blended in the grave, and ultimately reduced to one common dust; and between the bond and free there is no difference. The grave is "The appointed place of rendezvous, where all These travelers meet." Equality is absolute among the sons of men in their entrance into and exit from the world: all the intermediate state is disparity. All men begin and end life alike; and there is no difference between the king and... 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 3:11-19

The stricken patriarch's lament: 2. Bewailing his life. I. THE DESPISED GIFT — LIFE . In bitterness of soul, Job not only laments that ever he had entered on the stage of existence at all, but with the perverse ingenuity of grief which looks at all things crosswise, he turns the very mercies of God into occasions of complaint, despising God's care of him: 1 . Before birth. "Why died I not from the womb?" i.e. while I was yet unborn; surely a display of monstrous ingratitude,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:13-19

The grave. I. A REGION OF IMPENETRABLE DARKNESS . II. A REALM OF UNBROKEN SILENCE . III. AN ABODE OF DEEP TRANQUILLITY . IV. A BED OF PEACEFUL SLUMBER . V. A WORLD OF ABSOLUTE EQUALITY . VI. A PLACE OF UNIVERSAL RENDEZVOUS . VII. A HOUSE OF TEMPORARY LODGING . LESSONS . 1 . Humility. 2 . Contentment. 3 . Diligence. 4 . Watchfulness. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:13-19

The grave a rest. In the toil and sorrow of life men long for rest. They lighten the toils and brighten the darkness of the present by the hope of repose and gladness in the future. Without such a hope life's burdens would be much heavier than they are; and in some cases almost insupportable. As the worn labourer longs for the rest of the even-tide, so does the over-wrought spirit of the sad desire the rest of the grave. It is proper to consider if this is a healthy, a just, a well-grounded... read more

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