Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 6:11
What [is] my strength, that I should hope? and what [is] mine end, that I should prolong my life?
11. This verse should read,
What is my strength that I should wait?
And what is mine end that I should be patient?
His impatient cry for death and his despair are justified by his condition. “Mine end” i. e. what can the end of my afflictions be but death? Why then should I wait?
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
11 13. With more calmness Job proceeds to describe his hopeless condition, carrying out in this indirect way his defence of his despair.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
What is my strength, that I should hope? – Job had hitherto borne his trials without apprehension that he would lose his constancy of hope, or his confidence in God. He here seems to apprehend that his constancy might fail, and he therefore wishes to die before he should be left to dishonor God. He asks, therefore, what strength he had that he should hope to be able to sustain his trials much longer.
And what is mine end, that I should prolong my life? – Various interpretations have been given of this passage. Some suppose it means, What is the limit of my strength? How long will it last? Others, What end is there to be to my miseries? Others, How distant is mine end? How long have I to live? Noyes renders it, And what is mine end that I should be patient? Rosenmuller supposes that the word end here means the end of his strength, or that he had not such fortitude as to be certain that he could long bear his trials without complaining or murmuring. The phrase rendered prolong my life, probably means rather to lengthen the patience, or to hold out under accumulated sorrows. The word rendered life nephesh often means soul, spirit, mind, as well as life, and the sense is, that he could not hope, from any strength that he had, to bear without complaining these trials until the natural termination of his life; and hence, he wished God to grant his request, and to destroy him. Feeling that his patience was sinking under his calamities, be says that it would be better for him to die than be left to dishonor his Maker. It is just the state of feeling which many a sufferer has, that his trials are so great that nature will sink under them, and that death would be a relief. Then is the time to look to God for support and consolation.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 11. What is my strength] I can never suppose that my strength will be restored; and, were that possible, have I any comfortable prospect of a happy termination of my life? Had I any prospect of future happiness, I might well bear my present ills; but the state of my body and the state of my circumstances preclude all hope.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
My strength is so small and spent, that although I may linger a while in my torments, yet I cannot live long, and therefore it is vain and absurd for me to hope for such a restitution of my strength and prosperity as thou hast promised to me, Job 5:22, &c.; and therefore I justly pray that God would take away my life.
What is mine end? either,
1. What is the end or period of my miseries? when may I expect it? I see no end of them; I know not how long I may pine and linger in them. Therefore, Lord, take me speedily away. Or,
2. What is the end of my life? or what is death to me? It is not terrible, but comfortable, as he said, Job 6:10. I need not those vain consolations which thou givest me of being kept from death, Job 6:20, or having life continued and health restored. Death is not the matter of my fear, but of my desire.
That I should prolong my life, to wit, by my seeking to God for it, as thou advisest me, Job 5:8. Why should I desire or endeavour the prolonging of my life? Or, that I should lengthen out my desire, to wit, of life, and those comforts of life which thou hast propounded to me. I desire not to live longer, though in the greatest splendour and prosperity, but to be dissolved, and to be with my God and Redeemer, Job 19:25. The Hebrew word nephesh, here rendered soul or life, oft signifies desire, as Gen 23:8; Deu 23:24; Pro 23:2; Ecc 6:9.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. What strength have I, so asto warrant the hope of restoration to health? a hope which Eliphazhad suggested. “And what” but a miserable “end”of life is before me, “that I should” desire to “prolonglife”? [UMBREIT].UMBREIT and ROSENMULLERnot so well translate the last words “to be patient.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
What [is] my strength, that I should hope?…. For a perfect restoration of health, suggested by Eliphaz; since it was so sadly weakened by the present affliction, which made death more desirable than life lengthened out in so much weakness, pain, and sorrow; or “that I should bear” w, such a weight and heavy load that lay upon him, and crushed him, and to which his strength was not equal; or continue and endure x;
what [is] mine end, that I should prolong my life? what end can be answered by living, or desiring a long life? His children were gone, and none left to take care of and provide for; his substance was taken away from him, so that he had not to support himself, nor to be useful to others, to the poor; he had lost all power, authority, and influence, among men, and could be no more serviceable by his counsel and advice, and by the administration of justice and equity as a civil magistrate; and as to religious matters, he was reckoned an hypocrite and a wicked man by his friends, and had lost his character and interest as a good man; and so for him to live could answer no valuable end, and, therefore, he desires to die; for what is here, and in Job 6:12 said, contain reasons of his above request.
w , Sept. “ut sustineam”, V. L. x “Ut durem”, Junius & Tremellius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
11 What is my strength, that I should wait,
And my end, that I should be patient?
12 Is my strength like the strength of stones?
Or is my flesh brazen?
13 Or am I then not utterly helpless,
And continuance is driven from me?
The meaning of the question (Job 6:11); is: Is not my strength already so wasted away, and an unfortunate end so certain to me, that a long calm waiting is as impossible as it is useless? , to draw out the soul, is to extend and distribute the intensity of the emotion, to be forbearing, to be patient. The question (Job 6:11) is followed by , usual in double questions: or is my strength stone, etc. , which is so differently explained by commentators, is after all to be explained best from Num. 17:28, the only other passage in which it occurs. Here it is the same as , and in Num. : or is it not so: we shall perish quickly altogether? Thus we explain the passage before us. The interrogative is also sometimes used elsewhere for , Job 20:4; Job 41:1 (Ges. 153, 3); the additional stands per inversionem in the second instead of the first place: nonne an = an nonne, annon : or is it not so: is not my help in me = or am I not utterly helpless? Ewald explains differently (356, a), according to which , from the formula of an oath, is equivalent to . The meaning is the same. Continuance, , i.e., power of endurance, reasonable prospect is driven away, frightened away from him, is lost for him.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(11) Prolong my life.This is the literal rendering; but some understand be patient, as in our phrase, long-suffering.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Second long strophe THE DECEITFULNESS OF HUMAN FRIENDSHIP, Job 6:11-20.
First strophe His helplessness and consequent hopelessness, Job 6:11-13.
11. Prolong my life The Vulgate is right patiently endure. The original, “that I should stretch out my spirit,” is a decided Hebraism. In Exo 6:9, anguish is expressed by shortness of spirit. Compare Jer 21:5.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 6:11. And what is mine end, &c.? Or, what is mine end, that I should wish it to be deferred? Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
(11) What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life? (12) Is my strength the strength of stones? or is my flesh of brass? (13) Is not my help in me? and is wisdom driven quite from me?
Eliphaz had intimated, the want of wisdom in Job’s grief Job 4:21 . Job in those verses refutes this argument, and proves that he was not void of reason.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 6:11 What [is] my strength, that I should hope? and what [is] mine end, that I should prolong my life?
Ver. 11. What is my strength, that I should hope? ] q.d. Thou hast told me, O Eliphaz, that if I frame to a patient and peaceable behaviour under God’s chastisement, I shall go to my grave in a good old age, &c., but, alas, it is now past time of day with me for that matter: “my breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me,” Job 17:1 . Were I as young and lusty as ever I have been, some such things as ye have promised me might be hoped for; but, alas, the map of age is figured on my forehead, the calendars of death appear in the furrows of my face, besides my many sores and sicknesses which, if they continue but a while, will certainly make an end of me.
And what is mine end
That I should prolong my life?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 6:11-16
Job 6:11-16
THE BITTERNESS OF JOB’S COMPLAINT
“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
Am I a sea, or a sea-monster,
That thou settest a watch over me?
When I say, My bed shall comfort me,
My couch shall ease my complaint;
Then thou scarest me with dreams,
And terrifiest me through visions:
So that my soul chooseth strangling, And death rather than these my bones.
I loathe my life; I would not live alway:
Let me alone, for my days are vanity.”
The recurrence of the word `thou’ (Job 7:12; Job 7:14) indicates that we have a prayer here in which Job pours out the bitterness of his complaint to God Himself. The terrible dreams and nightmares that came to Job are thought by some to have been characteristic of the disease of Elephantiasis. This may nor may not have been the case.
One of the most significant things in Job is the frequency and persistence in which Job turns again and again to God. Even though Job recognizes God as his antagonist, “He still addresses him as Friend, the Unseen, the Author of his sorrows; but, through all of these agonized protests, there runs the perception that God cannot be entirely against him,” and that God alone is the answer to all our misfortunes.
“So that my soul chooseth strangling and death” (Job 7:15). Nevertheless, “Job does not contemplate suicide. The case of Ahithophel (2Sa 17:23) is the only bona fide case of suicide in the Old Testament. The instances of two warriors resorting to suicide (Jdg 9:54; 1Sa 31:4) in order to escape dishonor are not quite the same as deliberate and premeditated suicide.”
E.M. Zerr:
Job 7:11. Job gave Eliphaz to understand that his grief was too great to allow another the right to silence him.
Job 7:12. This is another verse in the form of a question but is meant for an assertion. Job meant to tell Eliphaz that his attempt to regulate or influence a man with such a volume of emotion as that now possessed by him (Job), would be like trying to curb the sea or its monsters.
Job 7:13-14. The speeches of Job were a mixture of replies to the false reasoning of his friends interspersed with descriptions of his troubles. In this paragraph he reported an experience similar to what he described in Job 7:4.
Job 7:15-16. Job would rather die than live on with the weight of sorrows then bearing down on him. The same thought was expressed in Job 7:8-10; but he will not do anything by violence in order to get release from this life.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
What: Job 7:5-7, Job 10:20, Job 13:25, Job 13:28, Job 17:1, Job 17:14-16, Psa 39:5, Psa 90:5-10, Psa 102:23, Psa 103:14-16
Reciprocal: Job 6:8 – the thing that I long for Job 7:6 – without hope Job 11:18 – because Job 15:22 – He believeth not Job 17:15 – my hope Job 19:10 – mine hope Isa 38:10 – General Lam 3:18 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 6:11. What is my strength that I should hope? My strength is so small and spent, that although I may linger a while in my torments, yet I cannot live long, and therefore it is vain for me to hope for such a restitution as thou hast promised me, Job 5:22. And what is my end? What is the end of my life? Or, what is death to me? It is not terrible, but comfortable. That I should prolong my life? That I should desire or endeavour to prolong it, by seeking unto God for that purpose. But, as desirous of death as Job was, yet he never offered to put an end to his own life. Such a thought will never be entertained by any that have the least regard to the law of God and nature. How uneasy soever the souls confinement in the body may be, it must by no means break the prison, but wait for a fair discharge.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
6:11 What [is] my strength, that I should hope? and what [is] mine {h} end, that I should prolong my life?
(h) He fears lest he should be brought to inconveniences, if his sorrows should continue.