Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 7:11
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.
11. Job heaps image upon image to set before himself and the eye of God the brevity of life, the weaver’s shuttle ( Job 7:6), the wind ( Job 7:7), the morning cloud ( Job 7:9, Hos 6:4), ending with a pathetic reference to his home which shall see him no more ( Job 7:10). These regrets altogether overmaster him and, combining with his sense of the wrong which he suffers and his impatience of the iron restraints of human existence, hurry him forward, and he resolves to open the floodgates to the full stream of his complaint ( Job 7:11): Therefore I will not refrain my mouth, i. e. therefore I also, I on my side, will not refrain.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Therefore I will not refrain my mouth – The idea in this verse is, such is my distress at the prospect of dying, that I cannot but express it. The idea of going away from all my comforts, and of being committed to the grave, to revisit the earth no more, is so painful that I cannot but give vent to my feelings.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 11. Therefore I will not refrain] All is hopeless; I will therefore indulge myself in complaining.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Since my life is by the common condition of mankind so vain and short, and, when once lost, without all hopes of recovery, and withal extremely miserable, I will plead with God for pity and relief before I die; knowing that I must now speak, or else for ever after hold my peace, as to requests of this nature. I will not smother my bitter anguish within my own breast, which will make it intolerable, but I will give it vent, and ease myself by pouring forth complaints, and expostulating with my God, who, as I hope, will hear and help me one way or other.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. Therefore, as such is myhard lot, I will at least have the melancholy satisfaction of ventingmy sorrow in words. The Hebrew opening words, “ThereforeI, at all events,” express self-elevation [UMBREIT].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore I will not refrain my mouth,…. From speaking and complaining; seeing, besides the common lot of mankind, which is a state of warfare, sorrow, and trouble, and is as much as a man can well grapple with, extraordinary afflictions are laid upon me, which make life insupportable; and seeing I enjoy no good in this present life, and am shortly going where no temporal good is to be expected, and shall never return to this world any more to enjoy any; therefore I will not be silent, and forbear speaking my mind freely, and uttering my just complaint, for which I think I have sufficient reason: or “I also will not refrain my mouth” c; in turn, as a just retaliation, so Jarchi; since God will not refrain his hand from me, I will not refrain my mouth from speaking concerning him; since he shows no mercy to me, I shall utter my miserable complaints, and not keep them to myself; this was Job’s infirmity when he should have held his peace, as Aaron, and been dumb and silent as David, and been still, and have known, owned, and acknowledged the sovereignty of God, and not vented himself in passion as he did:
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; or “in the straitness” d of it; he was surrounded on all sides with distress, the sorrows of death compassed him about, and the pains of hell got hold upon him; he was like one pent up in a narrow place, in a close confinement, that he could not get out of, and come forth from; and he felt not only exquisite pains of body from his boils and sores, but great anguish of soul; and therefore he determines to speak in and “of” e all this, to give vent to his grief and sorrow, his passion and resentment:
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul; his afflictions were like the waters of Marah, bitter ones, very grievous and disagreeable to flesh and blood, and by which his life and soul were embittered to him; and in and of f this he determines to complain, or to utter in a complaining way what he had been meditating on, as the word g signifies; so that this was not an hasty and precipitate action, but what upon deliberation he resolved to do; to pour out his complaint before God, and leave it with him, in a submissive way, would not have been amiss, but if he complained of God and his providence, it was wrong: “why should a living man complain?” not even a wicked man, of “the punishment of his sin”, and much less a good man of fatherly chastisements? We see what the will of man is, what a stubborn and obstinate thing it is, “I will, I will, I will”, even of a good man when left to himself, and not in the exercise of grace, and under the influence of it; the complaint follows, by way of expostulation.
c “etiam ego”, Vatablus, Beza, Piscator, Bolducius, Cocceius, Schmidt, Michaelis, Schultens; “vicissim”, Noldius, p. 222. d “in angustia”, Junius Tremellius, Schmidt “in arcto”, Cocceius; “in angusto”, Schultens. e “De angustia”, Vatablus, Drusius, Mercerus, Piscator. f “de amaritudine”, Drusius, Piscator, Mercerus. g “meditabor et eloquar”, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
6. He finds no mercy, neither from God or from his friends. (Job. 7:11-15)
TEXT 7:1115
11 Therefore I will not refrain my month;
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 sea-monster,
That thou settest a watch over me?
13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me,
My couch shall ease my complaint;
14 Then thou scarest me with dreams,
And terrifiest me through visions:
15 So that my soul chooseth strangling,
And death rather than these my bones.
COMMENT 7:1115
Job. 7:11For the first time, Job charges God with being his tormentor. Bitterness oozes out of the disease of soul sickness.
Job. 7:12God has set limits to the seaGen. 1:10 and watches that it does not violate its appointed boundary. Do I, cries Job, need to be watched like that great inanimate ocean?[101] God is creator of the universe and, thus, Lord of the waters.[102] Job reminds God that he cannot threaten Him. The word translated A. V. set a watch means guard, or perhaps with Dahood, a muzzlePsa. 39:2; Psa. 68:23; and Psa. 141:3. God, you are trying to put a muzzle on me, so I will be silent.
[101] Buttenweisers (The Book of Job) claim that this verse refers to the Babylonian creation myth is unsubstantiated and unnecessary in order to understand this verse, neither is it necessary to compare this verse with the West Semitic Ugaritic myths; but see for both I. B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (Princeton, 1955).
[102] For discussion of the claim of the influence of the Ugaritic creation myth, see M. Dahood, Journal of Biblical Literature, LXXX, 1961, 270ff; O. Kaiser, Die mythische Bedeutung des Meeres in Agypten, Ugarit und Israel, Beihefte zur Zeitschriftfur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 78, 1959.
Job. 7:13See Eliphazs description of his nightmareJob. 4:12-16, and Jobs discussion of his restless tossingJob. 7:4.
Job. 7:14Job accuses God of causing his nightmares. Terrify is a major word in Jobs theology, where it occurs in intensive form eight, out of the total of thirteen, times in the entire Old Testament.
Job. 7:15This verse means that my soul prefers choking, my bones prefer death.[103]
[103] N. M. Sarna, Journal of Jewish Studies, 6, 1955, 109.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
11. Therefore I : also I. Compare Psa 52:5, “ also God.” I will have my turn now. The abrupt expression quivers with a sense of wrong a feeling that God’s treatment of the speaker is founded in unreason. Job’s utter suspense of faith could not be more painfully declared than by this voluntary breaking down of all barriers. The pent-up emotions of despair are now free to roll forth as a flood.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
(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) Amos 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 complaint; (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 mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.
Those who know what restless nights and pains are, will best enter into an apprehension of Job’s complaints, in these verses. But amidst these expostulations of Job, what is the most pleasing part of this prayer, and which shows that grace was still alive in his breast, is that expression where Job confessed; that he hath sinned. Here we find him a child of GOD still. And let the Reader remark with me, from this precious evidence, what seems the whole design of the HOLY GHOST, in recording the life and trials of Jobadiah GOD describes him as his servant: so he mentioned him to Satan: A perfect and an upright man, one that feared GOD, and eschewed evil: chap. 1:8. And what is the scripture sense of such a character? The word of GOD tells us elsewhere, when we are informed, that there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not. Ecc 7:20 . Hence, therefore, the character of Job was peculiarly marked as a man faithfully attached to GOD. Against this, Satan contends that Job would prove himself to be an hypocrite. To demonstrate the reverse of this, the LORD permitted Job to be thus severely exercised. When, therefore, we find Job’s integrity unimpeached, and in the midst of owning himself to have sinned, that he is still faithful in his creed, the testimony of GOD is confirmed. Job, like Elias, is a man of like passions with other servants of the LORD. But GOD’S testimony standeth sure; Job is the one that feared GOD, and eschewed evil.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
“Handfuls of Purpose”
For All Gleaners
“I will speak in the anguish of my spirit.” Job 7:11
This is natural, but unwise. A spirit that is in anguish cannot take a fair and full view of any question. Anguish and justice can hardly dwell together. To speak in an agony of sorrow is to attach undue meanings to words, to burden them with unjust weight, and to shut out elements and considerations which are essential to impartial and philosophical conclusions. No man ought to speak in the anguish of his spirit concerning divine providence; otherwise he may charge God foolishly, bringing together all the inequalities, severities, and miscarriages of life, and urging them against the goodness of divine providence. We should be silent in sorrow, for to speak without self-control is to speak without wisdom. Let him speak who has passed through sorrow and seen something of its true purpose: then will he be likely to speak with the sobriety of experience and with the deep feeling of sympathy. We could not speak fairly about a friend in the moment in which he has caused us grief or severe anxiety; we should fall into an accusatory strain and charge him with having been inconsiderate if not cruel towards us. Time is required for many an explanation, social and divine. Sometimes we boast that in the course of a year or two the friend whom we have now annoyed or grieved will see the wisdom of our course and thank us for our decision or counsel: in the strength of this we support ourselves, sometimes indeed we plume ourselves with pardonable conceit; and when in the lapse of time our judgment is vindicated we hail our friend with the expectation that he will bless us for counsel that appeared to be unsympathetic or for a decision which was so stern as to be momentarily cruel. There are indeed countless incidents in life calculated to bring anguish upon the spirit, to excite scepticism in the heart, and to depose faith from its calm and absolute sovereignty: virtue is thrown down in the streets, vice has everything its own way, men who never pray are satisfied with abundance, and thus Providence appears to be on the side of wickedness and selfishness of every degree. Under such circumstances the spirit is filled with anguish, and when it speaks it is in tones of disapprobation or fretful-ness or unbelief. We should pray for the calm spirit, for the spirit of patience and longsuffering, and only speak after we have been in profound and continuous communion with God. Even a believing man, when he allows his anguish to dictate his speech, may offend against God, and bring discredit upon the altar at which he serves. Let us understand that the moment of anguish is to be the moment of silence, so far as criticism is concerned.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Job 7:11 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.
Ver. 11. Therefore I will not refrain my mouth ] Heb. I will not prohibit my mouth, sc. from speaking, I will bite in my grief no longer; but since death, the certain end of all outward troubles, is not far from me; I will, by my further complaints, press the Lord to hasten it, and not suppress my sorrows, but give them a vent.
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
spirit. Hebrew. ruach. App-9.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I will not: Job 6:26, Job 10:1, Job 13:13, Job 16:6, Job 21:3, Psa 39:3, Psa 40:9
the anguish: Gen 42:21, 2Ki 4:27, 2Ki 4:28, Mat 26:37, Mat 26:38, Luk 22:44, 2Co 2:4
the bitterness: Job 10:15, Job 21:25, 1Sa 1:10, Isa 38:15, Isa 38:17
Reciprocal: 1Ki 8:38 – the plague Job 7:20 – I am Job 8:2 – the words Job 13:19 – if I hold Job 21:4 – is my complaint Job 29:9 – refrained Psa 77:3 – I complained Psa 88:15 – while Pro 14:10 – heart
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 7:11. Therefore I will not refrain, &c. Since my life is so vain and short, and, when once lost, without all hopes of recovery. I will plead with God for pity before I die; I will not smother my anguish within my breast, but will ease myself by pouring out my complaints.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 7:11-21. Job again gives utterance to his complaint. In the previous passage Jobs tone, as in Job 3:11-19, had become quieter, and his complaint almost an elegy on human misery. But now he bursts forth again with the utmost violence of expression, and now, as he had not ventured to do in Job 3, directly attacks God. He will not refrain. Though God destroy him, he will speak (Job 7:11). He asks if he is the sea, fretting against the earth with its turbulent waves, or the sea-monster, the great dragon of the deep, once conquered by God long ago (Job 26:12, Isa 51:9 Rev 21:1*), but always liable to attempt a fresh assault upon God and the world. When Job seeks rest in sleep, God sends him awful dreams (Job 7:13 f.). He has no conception of second causes, and attributes the misery of his dreams directly to God. He wishes that he could die outright (Job 7:15). If only God would let him alone (Job 7:16). In Job 7:17 f. he bitterly parodies Psa 8:4. The Psalmist in devout ecstasy speaks of the littleness of man, and the wonderful condescension of God, who has made him his vicegerent and lord of the creation. But Job thinks of God as the great Watcher of men (Job 7:12; Job 7:20), the Almighty Eye, always regarding human conduct to try and prove it according to its worth. This is precisely the same idea of God which we have already had from Eliphaz, the God who watches men and rewards or punishes them. But Eliphaz, like the Psalmist, glorified this conception of God. To Job in his present mood it seems nothing but darkness and terror, and he cries out against it. If religion is conceived as a strict moral order, which lays on man full responsibility for every action and impulse, it must crush him; the poet of Job anticipates Paul in recognising this truth. The above propositions are, however, as little the last word of the poet on the true nature of God, as his previous statements on the questions of life after death give his last judgment on the question of immortality, On the contrary, there is here merely the weighing of the possibility that Jobs sufferings are the result of Divine repressive measures, and through the sarcastic conclusions drawn from it rather an indirectly negative than an affirmative answer (Duhm). In Job 7:19 Job pleads for a moments respite. In Job 20 he suggests that even if he has sinned, his sin cannot have injured God, who is infinitely above aught that man can do to him. The inference is that God, instead of making Job, by watching him so, into a perpetual stumbling-block (mark) that always seems to be in His way, might simply forgive his sins. We see that Job is already moving from the idea of God as an Almighty Judge to the thought that at bottom His nature is pardoning love. Cf. Psa 13:04, which makes it clear that if God be simply a Judge, fellowship between man and Him is impossible; if He is to be feared, i.e. if religion is to be possible, it can only be on a basis of forgiveness. The conclusion of Job 7:21 shows that Job is beginning to feel that the God who tortures him is not the real God, but only a passing phase (Psa 30:5, mg.). When Job is dead at least God will want him. From the real God, who is love, it is not then too much to hope even the forgiveness of sin. The two thoughtsthat of the God who is great enough to pardon sin, and of the God who needs himare intimately connected together.
Job 7:15. The interpretation of the second clause, I choose death in preference to being this skeleton, is forced. Read, emending the text very slightly, I choose death rather than my pains.
Job 7:20. According to Jewish tradition the original text was a burden on Thee, which was altered by the scribes into a burden to myself. The tradition is probably correct, and the alteration has been made because the original text seemed irreverent.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
7:11 Therefore I will not {g} refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
(g) Seeing I can by no other means comfort myself I will declare my grief in words, and thus he speaks as one overcome with grief of mind.