Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 10:21
Before I go [whence] I shall not return, [even] to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;
Before I go – from where I shall not return. To the grave, to the land of shades, to
That undiscovered country, from whose bourne
No traveler returns.
To the land of darkness – This passage is important as furnishing an illustration of what was early understood about the regions of the dead. The essential idea here is that it was a land of darkness, of total and absolute night. This idea Job presents in a great variety of forms and phrases. He amplifies it, and uses apparently all the epithets which he can command to represent the utter and entire darkness of the place. The place referred to is not the grave, but the region beyond, the abode of departed spirits, the Hades of the ancients; and the idea here is, that it is a place where not a clear ray of light ever shines. That this was a common opinion of the ancients in regard to the world of departed spirits, is well known. Virgil thus speaks of those gloomy regions:
Oii, quibusimperium est animarum, umbraeque silentes,
Et Chaos, et Phlegethon, loca nocte tacentia late,
Sit mihi fas audita loqui; slt numine vestro
Pandere res alta terra et caligine mersas.
Ibant obscuri sola sub nocte per umbram,
Perque domos Ditis vacuas, et inania regna:
Quale per incertam lunam sub luce maligna
Est iter in silvis: ubi coelum condidit umbra
Jupiter, et rebus nox abstulit atra colorem
Aeneid vi. 259ff
A similar view of Hades was held by the Greeks. Thus, Theognis, 1007:
,
, .
Hos makar eudaimon te kai olbios, hostis apeiros
Athlon eis h’ dou doma melan katebe.
There is nowhere to be found, however, a description which for intensity and emphasis of expression surpasses this of Job.
Shadow of death – See this phrase explained in the note at Job 3:5.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 21. I shall not return] I shall not return again from the dust to have a dwelling among men.
To the land of darkness] See Clarke on Job 3:5. There are here a crowd of obscure and dislocated terms, admirably expressive of the obscurity and uncertainty of the subject. What do we know of the state of separate spirits? What do we know of the spiritual world? How do souls exist separate from their respective bodies? Of what are they capable and what is their employment? Who can answer these questions? Perhaps nothing can be said much better of the state than is here said, a land of obscurity, like darkness.
The shadow of death] A place where death rules, over which he projects his shadow, intercepting every light of every kind of life. Without any order, velo sedarim, having no arrangements, no distinctions of inhabitants; the poor and the rich are there, the master and his slave, the king and the beggar, their bodies in equal corruption and disgrace, their souls distinguished only by their moral character. Stripped of their flesh, they stand in their naked simplicity before God in that place.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
To the place whence I shall not return into this world and life: see Job 7:9,10.
Darkness and the shadow of death, i.e. a dark and dismal shade: See Poole “Job 3:5“.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Before I go [whence] I shall not return,…. Before he went out of the world, the way of all flesh, to the grave, his long home, from whence there is no return to this world, and to the business and affairs of it; to a man’s house, his family and his friends, to converse with them as before, there will be no return until the resurrection, which Job does not here deny, as some have thought; it was a doctrine he well understood, and strongly asserts in
Job 19:26; but this must be understood in the same sense as in Job 7:9;
[even] to the land of darkness, and the shadow of death; which describes not the state of the damned, as some Popish interpreters, carry it; for Job had no thought nor fear of such a state; but the grave, which is called “a land”, or country, it being large and spacious, and full of inhabitants; a land of “darkness”, a very dark one, where the body separated from the soul is deprived of all light; where the sun, moon, and stars, are never seen; nor is there the least crevice that light can enter in at, or be seen by those that dwell in those shades, which are “the shadow of death” itself; deadly shades, thick and gross ones, the darkest shades, where death itself is, or dead men are, destitute of light and life; where no pleasure, comfort, and conversation, can be had; and therefore a land in itself most undesirable.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
21. Whence I shall not return
The undiscovered country, from whose bourne
No traveller returns.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 10:21 Before I go [whence] I shall not return, [even] to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;
Ver. 21. Before I go whence I shall not return ] Before I go out of this world, never more to return hither to enjoy the comforts that are here to be had. Death is a departure hence, 1Pe 1:15 Luk 9:31 . And so the ancients (Irenaeus, Clement, and others) used to call it. I shall change my place, but not my company, said that dying saint who had here walked with God in uprightness, and was now to bid adieu to all worldly interests (Tertul.). The old Romans were wont to say of a dead friend, Abiit, et reversurus est, He is gone, and will come again. It seems hereby that they had some dark notions of a resurrection; whence also their poets called a dead body a soul; – animamque sepulchro condimus (Virg. neid). The Hebrews did the like, Num 5:2 ; Num 9:10 ; Num 19:11 Hag 2:13-14 , as having a more sure word of prophecy; and Job was clear in this point, firmly believing in the resurrection of his body, Job 19:26-27 . It must needs be therefore that he speaks here of not returning into this world. See the like, Job 16:22 Psa 39:13 2Sa 12:23 .
Even to the land of darkness, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
of darkness and the shadow = deep darkness. Figure of speech Hendiadys. Not two things, but one.
darkness. Hebrew. hashak. See note on Job 3:6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I go whence: Job 7:8-10, Job 14:10-14, 2Sa 12:23, 2Sa 14:14, Isa 38:11
the land: Job 3:5, Psa 88:6, Psa 88:11, Psa 88:12
the shadow: Job 3:5, Psa 23:4, Jer 2:6
Reciprocal: Job 7:7 – no more see Job 7:9 – he Job 14:12 – So man Job 15:30 – depart Job 17:13 – the grave Job 28:3 – the stones Psa 39:13 – spare Psa 44:19 – with the Psa 107:14 – brought Isa 9:2 – in the land Amo 5:20 – darkness
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
10:21 Before I go [whence] I shall not {t} return, [even] to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;
(t) He speaks this in the person of a sinner, that is overcome with passions and with the feeling of God’s judgments and therefore cannot apprehend in that state the mercies of God, and the comfort of the resurrection.