Job 7:1-21

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 7:1-6

Job is here excusing what he could not justify, even his inordinate desire of death. Why should he not wish for the termination of life, which would be the termination of his miseries? To enforce this reason he argues, I. From the general condition of man upon earth (Job 7:1): ?He is of few days, and full of trouble. Every man must die shortly, and every man has some reason (more or less) to desire to die shortly; and therefore why should you impute it to me as so heinous a crime that I wish... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 7:7-16

Job, observing perhaps that his friends, though they would not interrupt him in his discourse, yet began to grow weary, and not to heed much what he said, here turns to God, and speaks to him. If men will not hear us, God will; if men cannot help us, he can; for his arm is not shortened, neither is his ear heavy. Yet we must not go to school to Job here to learn how to speak to God; for, it must be confessed, there is a great mixture of passion and corruption in what he here says. But, if God... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 7:17-21

Job here reasons with God, I. Concerning his dealings with man in general (Job 7:17, 18): What is man, that thou shouldst magnify him? This may be looked upon either, 1. As a passionate reflection upon the proceedings of divine justice; as if the great God did diminish and disparage himself in contending with man. ?Great men think it below them to take cognizance of those who are much their inferiors so far as to reprove and correct their follies and indecencies; why then does God magnify man,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 7:1

Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth ?.... There is a set time for his coming into the world, for his continuance in it, and for his going out of it; this is to man "on earth", with respect to his being and abode here, not in the other world or future state: not in heaven; there is no certain limited time for man there, but an eternity; the life he will enter into is everlasting; the habitation, mansion, and house he will dwell in, are eternal; saints will be for ever with... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 7:2

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 .... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 7:3

So am I made to possess months of vanity ,.... This is not a reddition or application of the above similes of the servant and hireling, Job 7:1 ; for that is to be understood, and to be supplied at the end of Job 7:2 ; that as those looked for the shadow and payment of hire, so Job looked for and earnestly desired death, or to be removed out of the world; besides, the things here instanced in do not answer; for Job, instead of having the refreshing shadow, had months of vanity, and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 7:4

When I lie down, I say, when shall I arise ,.... Or, "then I say", &c.; F20 ואמרתי "tum dixi", Beza, Piscator, Mercerus. ; that is, as soon as he laid himself down in his bed, and endeavoured to compose himself to sleep, in order to get rest and refreshment; then he said within himself, or with an articulate voice, to those about him, that sat up with him; oh that it was time to rise; when will it be morning, that I may rise from my bed, which is of no manner of service to me,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 7:5

My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust ,.... Not as it would be at death, and in the grave, as Schmidt interprets it, when it would be eaten with worms and reduced to dust; but as it then was, his ulcers breeding worms, or lice, as some F25 So Sephorno and Bar Tzemach. ; these spread themselves over his body: some think it was the vermicular or pedicular disease that was upon him, and the scabs of them, which were all over him like one continued crust, were as a garment to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 7:6

My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle ,.... Which moves very swiftly, being thrown quick and fast to and fro; some versions render it "a racer" F2 δρομεως , Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion in Drusius. one that runs a race on foot, or rides on horseback, agreeably to Job 9:25 ; where, and in Job 7:7 ; to it, other similes are used, to set forth the swiftness and fleetness of man's days; as they also are elsewhere represented, as swift as a tale told, a word expressed, or a... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 7:7

O remember that my life is wind ,.... Or, "breath" F3 רוח "hali us", Cocceius, Michaelis. ; man's life is in his breath, and that breath is in his nostrils, and therefore not to be accounted of, or depended on; man appears by this to be a poor frail creature, whose life, with respect to himself, is very precarious and uncertain; it is but as a "vapour", an air bubble, full of wind, easily broken and dissipated, and soon vanishes away; it is like the "wind", noisy and blusterous,... read more

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