Job Wishes for an End to His Life

Continuing with a Bible study of Job:

(Job 6:1) But Job answered and said, (2) "Oh, that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the scales together (with it)! (3) For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words are swallowed up."

Paraphrased, "My grief is so great that I don't have the words to express it."

(4) "For the arrows of the Almighty are within me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me."

Job is not only afflicted in his body, but he says his spirit is suffering because of these terrors of God.

(5) "Does the wild donkey bray when it has grass, or does the ox low over its fodder?"

His analogy is to illustrate that he would not be complaining if there was not a reason.

(6) "Can flavorless food be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? (7) The things that my soul refused to touch are as loathsome food to me."

Paraphrased, "So as the foods that are bland and tasteless are rejected by the mouth, so are these things rejected by my soul."

(8) "Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant me the thing that I long for! (9) Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!"

Job says that he wishes God would just go ahead and completely destroy him or kill him.

(10) "Then I would yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow; let Him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One."

Job reasons that he would then have comfort if he were dead; he would bear up with courage to receive it (death), so let God not spare his life any longer. Job is not afraid to die because he has boldly professed the word of God.

(11) "What is my strength, that I should hope? And what is my end, that I should prolong my life? (12) Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass?"

Job has no strength left to even hope for deliverance and he is not afraid to die.

(13) "Is my help not in me? And is wisdom driven quite from me?"

There is an interrogative form to the scripture before this one that may not need to be continued here. In light of the previous scriptures, this is more likely a statement, that there is no help left in Job. The word translated as "wisdom" is "tushiyah" which may more properly be defined as "support", but either could have been used by Job, as he is describing that there is no strength of help left in himself.

(14) "To him who is afflicted, kindness should be shown by his friend, but he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. (15) My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away; (16) Which are dark because of the ice, and in which the snow is hidden; (17) When it is warm, they cease to flow; when it is hot, they vanish from their place. (18) The paths of their way turn aside, they go nowhere and perish. (19) The troops of Tema looked; the companies of Sheba waited for them. (20) They were confounded because they had hoped; they came there, and were ashamed. (21) For now you are nothing; you see my calamity and are afraid."

Job feels he should have received more from his friends. He uses the analogy of a brook, full in the winter due to melting ice, but dried up and non-existent in the summer. As various thirsty travelers have looked for the brook in the desert, only to be sadly disappointed when they found it dried up, Job's friends have extremely disappointed him when he was looking for refreshment of spirit and they shrank back.

(22) "Did I say, 'Bring something to me'? Or, 'Give a reward for me of your substance?'? (23) Or, 'Deliver me from the enemy's hand'? Or, 'Redeem me from the hand of the mighty'?"

Paraphrased, "Did I ask you to come here; did I ask anything of you?" His friends had come on their own accord, but Job did not ask for them to come and offer their advice.

(24) "Teach me, and I will hold my tongue, and cause me to understand wherein I have erred. (25) How forceful are right words! But what does your arguing prove? (26) Do you intend to rebuke my words, and the speeches of one who is desperate, which are as wind? (27) Yes, you overwhelm the fatherless, and you dig a pit for your friend."

Job may mean himself when he speaks of the fatherless. He is like an orphan who has had everything stripped from him. He challenges his friends to teach him the error of his ways, if they can.

(28) "Now therefore be content, look upon me; for it is evident to you if I lie. (29) Return, I pray you, let there be no iniquity; yes, return again, my righteousness still stands. (30) Is there iniquity in my tongue? Cannot my taste discern perverse things?"

Job still seems to challenge his friends. They would be able to tell if he were lying or a hypocrite. He challenges them to reconsider the whole subject and not be offended by doing so. Consider if there is any untruth or iniquity in what he has already said; does Job himself not have good judgment?

(Job 7:1) "Is there not an appointed time for man on earth? Are not his days like the days of a hired man? (2) As a servant earnestly desires the shade, and as a hired man looks for his wages, (3) So am I made to possess months of futility, and wearisome nights are appointed to me."

Job rationalizes that there is a time to die, and just as a servant looks forward to an end to his toil, so does Job.

(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 until 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 a breath; my eye shall no more see good. (8) The eye of him who has seen me shall see me no more; your eyes are upon me, and I am no longer. (9) As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, so he who goes 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."

Job continues his rationalization that since everyone is appointed to die and the time of life is indeed brief in the scheme of things, why shouldn't he be ready for its end, after such toil and trouble?

(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."

Even though life is vain and short and it may be normal and expected to die, Job will indulge himself in complaining about it.

(12) "Am I a sea, or a whale, that You set a watch over me?"

Job asks God if he is so fierce and unruly as the sea or a sea monster that he must be restrained with such powerful providence.

(13) "When I say, 'My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,' (14) Then You scare me with dreams and terrify me through visions, (15) So that my soul chooses strangling and death rather than my life. (16) I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone, for my days are emptiness. (17) What is man, that You should magnify him? And that You should set Your heart on him? (18) That You should visit him every morning, and try him every moment? (19) How long will You not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?"

Job wonders what importance mortal man can have that God would greatly favor him or spend every moment trying him.

(20) "I have sinned; what shall I do to You, O preserver of men? Why have You set me as Your target, so that I am a burden to myself? (21) And why do You not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? For now I will sleep in the dust; and You will seek me in the morning, but I will no longer be."

Although Job believes he is free from the sins worthy of God's judgment that his friends accuse him of, he admits he is a sinner, but what can he do to satisfy God? The Lord God alone can pardon the transgressions of basic sinful man, and Job wonders why He will not do it before it is too late and Job has died.