Commentary on
The Book of Job

Chapter Seven: Job Replies to Eliphaz

Job Continues His Lament

Job Continues His Lament

Job: chapter 7
¹ Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?
² As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work:
³ So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.
⁴ When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.
⁵ My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.
⁶ My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.
⁷ O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good.
⁸ The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not.
⁹ As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.
¹⁰ He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.
¹¹ Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
¹² Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?
¹³ When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaints;
¹⁴ Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions:
¹⁵ So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.
¹⁶ I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity.
¹⁷ What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?
¹⁸ And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment?
¹⁹ How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?
²⁰ I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself?
²¹ And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.

Job turns away from his companions to address his lament to God once more. Job is becoming discouraged. he is beyond misery. ‘As I am soon to die’, he proclaims, ‘I will not hesitate to complain’ (7:7-11). “Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth?” (7:1). In Hebrew, ‘appointed time’ refers to the congregation of people, especially an army (Barnes, note on 7:1). The Israelites would be called for a specific campaign or for a season of service and then they would be released to return home. Job is suggesting that his time of misery has surely been extended too long.

“My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust” (7:5). We are seeing a glimpse of the problem here. Where Job was former clothed in spirituality, at least in the eyes of men; now God has made him spiritually naked. He is clothed in nothing but worms and dirt, the base elements. It appears that God has rejected Job. Job's self-image is shattered. This sense of rejection, returning to the dust so that “you shalt seek me... but I shall not be”(7:21) presents a palpable self-pity.

Am I a Sea-Monster?

Job 7:12 telegraphs things to come when Job asks, “Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep that you put me under guard” (from NIV)? The ‘sea’, ‘yâm’ in Hebrew, according to Strong's is from a root meaning ‘to roar’, i.e. crashing and pounding waves (Strong, H3220). The ‘whale’ of King James translation is ‘tannîym’, better translated ‘sea monster’ (Strong, H8577). The same word appears as "the great dragon" in Ezekiel 29:3: “I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.” Here the Pharaoh is pictured as a clutching, possessive dragon. Job is asking: ‘Am I such a dragon? Am I so dangerous that I need to be immobilized?’ Unknown to Job, God is worried about a great danger hidden within Job's own depths, Job's own ‘sea-monster’.

The sea and monsters of the deep are ready allegories for the deep dark recesses of the soul: “Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me” (Ps. 69:1-2). “The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea” (Ps. 68:22).

It would appear that Job already intuits what God is after. Unfortunately, he not only resists the notion, he argues with God right up through his oath of chapter 31. He doesn't actually break down and repent in recognition of his error until chapter 42, the very last chapter. I have always wondered just how long the Apostle Paul fought, in just such a way, until the Lord struck him down on the road to Damascus: “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” (Acts 9:5). We are never shown the struggle of Paul, but here we see Job kicking against the pricks.

You Try Every Moment

The torment continues day and night (7:18). Job's sleep is now being troubled with terrifying dreams (7:4,14) which he assigns to God. Satan is leaving no avenue of comfort. Job makes no distinction between the workings of God and the works of Satan as allowed by God. He begins to address God directly. He will continue to alter-nate between answering his accusers and addressing God di-rectly through the rest of his replies.

“Let me alone” (7:16), cries Job, “What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him,” (7:17)? In desperation, Job is using the argument of Eliphaz's night visitor, turning it backwards: ‘why am I so important to you that you peer in on me and torment me?’ Convinced that God is now some cosmic parent, nit-picking and punishing every tiny infraction, Job strikes the teenager's pose. ‘Stop looking over my shoulder!’ “Every morning” you visit to “try him every moment” (7:18). Here Job speaks generically of all humanity, but it is clear that he is really talking about himself.

Job is chaffing here because his relationship with God is cold and impersonal. He does not know deep down in his gut that God loves him. In fact, right now he is afraid that God hates him. Our doubt is part of our nature struggling to understand. Even the disciples struggled in this manner: “And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?” (Mark 4:37-38). Even the disciples who have been walking with Jesus come to doubt in their heart in a moment of fear: ‘Don't you care?’ Faith when everything is coming up roses is an easy thing. But let the storms arise and the waves break over the bow and our pleasant lives begin to sink under the waters, when the deep things come up to surround us, then can we still believe that God loves us and is here? Or do we become Deist: believing that God has withdrawn to watch from a distance; He cares, but not enough to intervene. Job would prefer such a God for he is sure that God is sifting through his rubbish to find his every peccadillo and punish him.

Never-the-less, here is something truly fine about Job. He thinks that God hates him, he is totally despondent and close to suicidal, yet he does not condemn God. Satan is still loosing. Job does ask God to turn away: “How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?” (7:19). David also cries, “O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more” (Ps. 39:13).

I Choose Strangling

Job is in unbearable anguish: “my soul chooseth strangling” (7:15). Strangling was considered a cruel death. Food killed by strangling was forbidden by Jews, as cruelty was against God's law. The prohibition was sufficiently important to the leaders of the early church that they forbid it to Gentile Christians (Acts 15:20 & 29). While he may be being dramatic, Job legitimately feels like he has been backed into a corner by God. In fact, Satan has him penned in. Job has not learned how to get around Satan. He will try every method imaginable except the one that works.

Job concludes, “I have sinned” (7:20). This is not genuine repentance. In fact, NASB translates this as “Have I sinned?” The NET Bible underlines the confrontational tone of this passage: “If I have sinned–what have I done to you, O watcher of men?” (7:20, NET Bible). This is desperation. ‘Whatever I did’, he complains, “why dost thou not pardon my transgression?” (7:21). Many times we pray to God for relief or comfort or for the appearance of righteousness. Often God must change us before he will answer our prayer, but when God begins to press us, we are uncomfortable and resist the Holy Spirit. Job is fully despondent, “thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be” (7:21). He seems thoroughly drained. But he is still stiff and defiant. He has yet to become pliable before God.

Job's friends cannot refrain. Job is surely correct (6:21), the sight of so much misery in a man so righteous is terrifying to his friends. There is a compulsion to find a reason for it. Bildad speaks next.

back

*All Bible quotes are from the King James Version unless otherwise indicated.

Commentary onThe Book of Job