Chapter 3

1 Job curses the day and services of his birth. 13 The ease of death. 20 He complaineth of life, because of his anguish.

1. Cursed his day. The word translated “cursed” is from qalal, a common term for cursing, and not barak as in chs. 1:5, 11; 2:5, 9 (see on ch. 1:5). The passing weeks had apparently reduced Job from an attitude of calm resignation to one of deep despair. Compare Jeremiah’s cursing of the day of his birth in similar language (Jer. 20:14–18).

2. Spake. Heb. Фanah, generally translated “to answer.” Here it means “to respond to an occasion,” “to speak in view of circumstances” (see Deut. 26:5; Isa. 14:10; Zech. 3:4). This verse ends the prose introduction to the book of Job.

CHAPTER 3:3–26 PRESENTS THE FIRST POEM. IT IS DIVIDED INTO THE THREE STANZAS, VS. 3–10; 11–19; AND 20–26. In the first stanza Job curses the day of his birth and the night of his conception. In the second he expresses the wish that he had died before birth. The third stanza asks the question, Why does God compel men to live when they would rather die? His execrations are solemn, deep, and sublime. These poetic statements do not lend themselves to minute technical analysis. Job is not presenting logic. Rather, he is pouring out the impassioned feelings of a suffering soul.

Let the day perish. A poetic way of saying, “I wish I had never been born.” “Day” is here personified.

The night. “Night” is also personified. A simpler rendering would be “the night which said” (see RSV).

Man child. Heb. geber, “a man,” emphasized as being strong, distinguished from women and children. It is not the ordinary word to designate the male sex, which would be zakar. Geber is here poetically employed. As the announcement of the conception is made by the personified “night,” so the individual who was conceived is considered, not in the ordinary sense of a child, but as the man Job eventually was to become. The LXX makes the night that of Job’s birth rather than that of his conception. The reason is presumably to avoid the difficulty of announcing the sex of the child on the night of conception. However, by poetic fancy such knowledge is here ascribed to the night.

4. That day. Verses 4 and 5 curse the day of birth, vs. 6–10 the night of conception.

Darkness. The most dramatic curse that could be pronounced upon a day, because darkness is the opposite of day.

Regard it. Literally, “inquire after it.” God is the One who gives to the day its light. He is now called upon to pass it by.

Light shine. Emphasis is achieved by the reiteration.

5. The shadow of death. Heb. salmaweth. Some scholars change the vowel pointings to read salmuth, and translate it “deep darkness” (see RSV). Salmuth is regarded as the strongest word in the Hebrew language expressing the idea of darkness (see Job 10:21, 22; 12:22; 16:16; 24:17; 34:22; Isa. 9:2; Jer. 2:6; Amos 5:8). Other scholars see insufficient reason for departing from the traditional vowel pointings, which are supported by the LXX, and retain the translation “shadow of death.”

Stain. From the Heb. gaХal, “to redeem,” “to act as kinsman.” Here probably in the sense of “to claim.” The word also has the meaning, “to stain” or “to pollute.” Both meanings give sense to the passage, but the former gives the more vivid imagery. The night, as next of kin to the day, would immediately upon the arrival of day claim it for itself. For a discussion of the meaning of gaХal in this sense see on Ruth 2:20.

Cloud. Let clouds, condensed, compacted, heaped together, settle down upon it. This is another way of expressing the idea of darkness that the poet is endeavoring to stress.

Blackness of the day. Probably a reference to eclipses, tornadoes, or sandstorms such as would darken a day.

6. That night. The night of Job’s conception (v. 3).

Darkness. Heb. Хophel, sometimes used to express the darkness of the underworld (see ch. 10:22).

Be joined. Literally, “rejoice.” The translation “be joined” requires a change of vowels in the Hebrew verb. Such a change is supported by Symmachus’ version of the LXX. However, the literal rendering is perfectly intelligible, and there seems to be insufficient reason to depart from it.

Let it not come. Job would banish from the records the night of his conception.

7. Solitary. Literally, “barren,” “hard,” “sterile.” Let that night be as destitute of good as a bare rock is of verdure.

8. Let them curse. This is a very puzzling text. Many commentators believe that Job was invoking the aid of sorcerers, “cursers of the day,” individuals who claimed to be able to bring curses on specific days. If this interpretation is correct, it does not follow that Job believed in such sorcerers. He merely recognized their existence, and in the language of poetry, he wished that there might be heaped on the night of his conception not only real evils but those that were imaginary. Clarke sees in the “cursers of the day” those who detest the day—those who hate daylight, such as adulterers, murderers, thieves, and bandits, for whose practices the night is more fitting.

Mourning. Literally, “leviathan.” The sentence should read, “who are ready to rouse up leviathan.” Those who apply the first line of the verse to the sorcerers see in the added line a further reference to the power of these sorcerers to rouse up leviathan. Ancient mythology had a great dragon who was the enemy of the sun and moon, and who was supposed to have power over eclipses. It seems unreasonable to believe that Job had any faith in such powers. If he is referring to mythology, he is doing so only to provide a vivid poetic figure.

9. Stars of the twilight. The word “twilight” may refer either to evening or to morning twilight; here, to the latter.

Dawning of the day. Literally, “eyelids of the dawn.”

10. My mother’s womb. Literally, “my womb,” that is, the womb that bare me. The night is here pictured as having the power to prevent conception.

11. Why? A repeated question of Job as it is of all sufferers throughout the ages. But in this case, Job is not asking why he was caused to suffer; he asks, rather, why he did not die in infancy. He is not so much seeking an answer as he is expressing his deep despair.

Give up the ghost. Literally, “die,” or “expire.” The expression “to give up the ghost” is an interpretative translation reflecting the theology of the translators regarding the nature of man. In most instances the expression translates a Hebrew or Greek word meaning simply “to expire” (see Gen. 25:8, 17; 49:33; Mark 15:37; Acts 5:5, 10). On the other hand “to give up the ghost [spirit]” is a literal translation of the Greek in Matt. 27:50.

12. Prevent. The word carries the obsolete meaning, “to anticipate,” or “to go before” (see 1 Thess. 4:15). A better translation of the form of the Hebrew verb here used would be “to meet,” “to confront,” “to receive.” Job was probably asking, “Why did my mother take me onto her lap?”

13. Slept. Job pictures death as quiet, restful sleep (see Ps. 13:3; John 11:11; 1 Cor. 15:51; 1 Thess. 4:14). He is not in this present passage looking forward to the life following the resurrection. He is simply contrasting his present sufferings with the repose he might enjoy if he were dead.

14. With kings. Job contrasts his miserable condition with the dignity of death. His thought has been well expressed in Bryant’s “Thanatopsis”:

“Yet not to thine eternal resting-place

Shalt thou retire alone, nor couldst thou wish

Couch more magnificent. Thou shalt lie down

With patriarchs of the infant world—with kings,

The powerful of the earth—the wise, the good,

Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past,

All in one mighty sepulcher.”

Desolate places. Brevity makes the discovery of the exact meaning of this expression difficult. Some see in the clause the idea of kings building monuments for themselves by rebuilding ruined, desolate cities (see Isa. 61:4; Eze. 36:10, 33; Mal. 1:4); others, the erecting of edifices that have since become desolate. Others believe that the term is an ironical designation of splendid palaces which, notwithstanding their grandeur, must at last fall in ruins.

16. Hidden untimely birth. Previously Job had asked, “Why did I not die at birth?” (see on v. 11).

17. Troubling. Literally, “raging,” “excitement.” The word describes the unrest, the agitation, the inward raging, that characterize the wicked. The word comes from a Hebrew root meaning “to be agitated,” “to quiver,” “to quake” (see Deut. 2:25; Prov. 29:9; Isa. 5:25). Job 3:17–19 does not refer to the future life. It describes the oblivion of the grave. The agitation, the weariness, the galling servitude of life, are swallowed up in dreamless sleep. While this is a beautiful thought, the Christian must see beyond the grave to the resurrection and immortality. Job later expresses this greater hope (ch. 14:14, 15).

18. Prisoners. Or, “bondmen.” Here those who work at enforced labor and are constantly under the lash of the “oppressor” are indicated. The word translated “oppressor” is the one rendered “taskmaster” in Ex. 3:7; 5:6, 10, 13, 14.

19. The small and great. The equality of all ages in death is beautifully portrayed in Bryant’s “Thanatopsis”:

“… As the long train

Of ages glides away, the sons of men,

The youth in life’s green spring, and he who goes

In the full strength of years, matron and maid,

The speechless babe, and the gray-headed man—

Shall one by one be gathered to thy side,

By those, who in their turn shall follow them.”

20. Wherefore? More simply, “Why?” This expression introduces the third stanza of Job’s lament. He has been meditating on the quiet serenity of death. Now his thoughts return to his own misery, and he repeats the age-old question, “Why?” The stanza is the picture of a man earnestly longing for death, but doomed to live on and on. The experience has its modern counterpart in the cancer sufferer who wastes away during long, agonizing, futile months before death ultimately provides release. Now, as then, the question is often asked, “Why?”

Light. See v. 16. Light seems to be used here as a figure of life.

Bitter in soul. Heb. mare nephesh. The combination of these Hebrew words is variously translated: “angry” (Judges 18:25), “in bitterness of soul” (1 Sam. 1:10), “discontented” (1 Sam. 22:2), “soul [was] grieved” (1 Sam. 30:6), “chafed in [their] minds” (2 Sam. 17:8). The expression here is plural. Job is thinking, not alone of himself, but of other sufferers as well.

23. Hid. Job feels thwarted. He knows not what way to turn.

Hedged in. Satan had claimed that God had built a hedge of protection around Job (ch. 1:10). Now Job claims that God has built a hedge of affliction about him.

24. Before I eat. Literally, “before my bread.” The meaning is uncertain. Some translate the phrase, but with doubtful authority, “instead of my food.” Others have suggested the following readings: “takes the place of my daily food,” “in the manner of my food,” “when I begin to eat.” Some have supposed that Job’s condition made eating painful; others that sighing was as constant as his daily food. The poetic nature of the passage makes the latter explanation seem more probable.

Roarings. Or, “groanings,” “sighings.” These expressions of Job’s grief are like a continuous stream of water.

25. The thing. Does this imply that Job had harbored a fear of disaster before trouble struck him? This deduction is not necessary. Translated literally, the text reads: “For I fear a fear, and it cometh upon me; and that which I dread cometh unto me.” It seems that Job is describing his experience after his troubles began. Each catastrophe increases his fear of further trouble; and in each case, so it appears, further trouble comes.

26. Trouble. See on v. 17.

It must not be concluded that Job’s statements of ch. 3 represent a laudable reaction to calamity. This poem contains much of complaint and bitterness that, under the circumstances, may be forgiven but not approved. The fact that Job did complain of his lot makes him seem closer to humanity than if he had been unperturbed by his misfortunes. Job was spiritually great, not because he was never discouraged, but because he eventually found his way out of discouragement. If we wish to see a perfect example of fortitude under suffering, we must look at Jesus, not at Job. Job, in his suffering, cursed the day of his birth; Jesus said, “For this cause came I unto this hour” (John 12:27). In this world of sin perfection of character comes only through suffering (see on Heb. 2:10; 1 Peter 4:13).

Ellen G. White comments

3    PK 162; 3T 262