Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 7:7
O remember that my life [is] wind: mine eye shall no more see good.
7. This feeling of the hopeless brevity of his life overwhelms the sufferer, and he turns in supplication to God, beseeching Him, the Everlasting, to think how swiftly his mortal life passes, cf. Psa 102:11.
see good ] i. e. happiness or prosperity. He means in this life; but then the state of the dead, though not extinction, was not to be called life, it was but a dreary, dreamy shadow of life, having no fellowship with the living, whether men or God; cf. ch. Job 10:21 seq.; Psa 6:5; Ecc 9:5 seq.; Isa 38:18.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
O remember – This is evidently an address to God. In the anguish of his soul Job turns his eye and his heart to his Maker, and urges reasons why he should close his life. The extent of his sufferings, and the certainty that he must die Job 7:9-10, are the reasons on which he dwells why his life should be closed, and he released. The language is respectful, but it is the expression of deep anguish and sorrow.
That my life is wind – Life is often compared with a vapor, a shadow, a breath. The language denotes that it is frail, and soon passed – as the breeze blows upon us, and soon passes by; compare Psa 78:39 :
For he remembered that they were but flesh;
A wind that passeth away and cometh not again.
Mine eye shall no more – Margin, as in Hebrew not return. The idea is, that if he was cut off, he would not return again to behold the pleasant scenes of this life.
See good – Margin, To see, that is, to enjoy. The sense is that he would no more be permitted to look upon the things which now so much gratified the sight, and gave so much pleasure. There is some resemblance here to the feelings expressed by Hezekiah in his apprehension of death; see the notes at Isa 38:10-11.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. My life is wind] Mr. Good translates, “O remember that, if my life pass away, mine eye shall turn no more to scenes of goodness;” which he paraphrases thus: “O remember that, if my life pass away, never more shall I witness those scenes of Divine favour, never more adore thee for those proofs of unmerited mercy, which till now have been so perpetually bestowed on me.” I think the common translation gives a very good sense.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He turneth his speech to God, as appears from Job 7:8,12,14.
Wind, i.e. vain, Isa 47:13; Hos 8:7; quickly passing away, so as never to come again, as is said, Psa 78:39.
See good, i.e. enjoy (for so seeing is sometimes used, as Psa 34:12; Jer 17:6) good, to wit, in this world, as my friends flatter me. Compare Job 14:12; 19:26,27.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. Address to God.
Winda picture ofevanescence (Ps 78:39).
shall no more seerather,”shall no more return to see good.” This change from thedifferent wish in Job 3:17, c.,is most true to nature. He is now in a softer mood a beam from formerdays of prosperity falling upon memory and the thought of the unseenworld, where one is seen no more (Job7:8), drew from him an expression of regret at leaving this worldof light (Ec 11:7); so Hezekiah(Isa 38:11). Grace rises abovenature (2Co 5:8).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
O remember that my life [is] wind,…. Or, “breath” c; man’s life is in his breath, and that breath is in his nostrils, and therefore not to be accounted of, or depended on; man appears by this to be a poor frail creature, whose life, with respect to himself, is very precarious and uncertain; it is but as a “vapour”, an air bubble, full of wind, easily broken and dissipated, and soon vanishes away; it is like the “wind”, noisy and blusterous, full of stir and tumult, and, like that, swiftly passes and sweeps away, and returns not again: this is an address to God; and so some d supply it, “O God”, or “O Lord, remember”, c. not that forgetfulness is in God, or that he needs to be reminded of anything but he may seem to forget the frailty of man when he lays his hand heavy on him; and may be said to be mindful of it when he mercifully takes it off: what Job here prays for, the Lord often does, as he did with respect to the Israelites, Ps 78:39;
mine eye shall no more see good: meaning not spiritual and eternal good, here and hereafter; he knew he should, after this life, see his living Redeemer even with the eyes of his body, when raised again; that he should see him as he is, not through a glass, darkly, but face to face, in all his glory; and that for himself, and not another, and even see and enjoy things he had never seen before: but his sense is, that he should see or enjoy no more temporal good; either in this world, being without hope of any, or in the grave, whither he was going and would shortly be; and therefore entreats that some mercy might be shown him while he lived; to which sense the following words incline.
c “hali us”, Cocceius, Michaelis. d So Beza, Vatablus, Drusius, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
7 Remember that my life is a breath,
That my eye will never again look on prosperity.
8 The eye that looketh upon me seeth me no more;
Thine eyes look for me, – I am no more!
9 The clouds are vanished and passed away,
So he that goeth down to Shel cometh not up.
10 He returneth no more to his house,
And his place knoweth him no more.
11 Therefore I will not curb my mouth;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
We see good, i.e., prosperity and joy, only in the present life. It ends with death. with infin. is a synonym of , Job 20:9. No eye ( femin.) which now sees me (prop. eye of my seer, as Gen 16:13, comp. Job 20:7; Psa 31:12, for , Isa 29:15, or , Isa 47:10; according to another reading, : no eye of seeing, i.e., no eye with the power of seeing, from , vision) sees me again, even if thy eyes should be directed towards me to help me; my life is gone, so that I can no more be the subject of help. For from Shel there is no return, no resurrection (comp. Psa 103:16 for the expression); therefore will I at least give free course to my thoughts and feelings (comp. Psa 77:4; Isa 38:15, for the expression). The , Job 7:11, is the so-called talionis; the parallels cited by Michalis are to the point, Eze 16:43; Mal 2:9; Psa 52:7. Here we first meet with the name of the lower world; and in the book of Job we learn the ancient Israelitish conception of it more exactly than anywhere else. We have here only to do with the name in connection with the grammatical exposition. (usually gen. fem.) is now almost universally derived from = , to be hollow, to be deepened; and aptly so, for they imagined the Sheol as under ground, as Num 16:30, Num 16:33 alone shows, on which account even here, as from Gen 37:35 onwards, is everywhere used. It is, however, open to question whether this derivation is correct: at least passages like Isa 5:14; Hab 2:5; Pro 30:15., show that in the later usage of the language, , to demand, was thought of in connection with it; derived from which Sheol signifies (1) the appointed inevitable and inexorable demanding of everything earthly (an infinitive noun like , ); (2) conceived of as space, the place of shadowy duration whither everything on earth is demanded; (3) conceived of according to its nature, the divinely appointed fury which gathers in and engulfs everything on the earth. Job knows nothing of a demanding back, a redemption from Sheol .
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
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 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.
Job, observing perhaps that his friends, though they would not interrupt him in his discourse, yet began to grow weary, and not to heed much what he said, here turns to God, and speaks to him. If men will not hear us, God will; if men cannot help us, he can; for his arm is not shortened, neither is his ear heavy. Yet we must not go to school to Job here to learn how to speak to God; for, it must be confessed, there is a great mixture of passion and corruption in what he here says. But, if God be not extreme to mark what his people say amiss, let us also make the best of it. Job is here begging of God either to ease him or to end him. He here represents himself to God,
I. As a dying man, surely and speedily dying. It is good for us, when we are sick, to think and speak of death, for sickness is sent on purpose to put us in mind of it; and, if we be duly mindful of it ourselves, we may in faith put God in mind of it, as Job does here (v. 7): O remember that my life is wind. He recommends himself to God as an object of his pity and compassion, with this consideration, that he was a very weak frail creature, his abode in this world short and uncertain, his removal out of it sure and speedy, and his return to it again impossible and never to be expected–that his life was wind, as the lives of all men are, noisy perhaps and blustering, like the wind, but vain and empty, soon gone, and, when gone, past recall. God had compassion on Israel, remembering that they were but flesh, a wind that passeth away and cometh not again,Psa 78:38; Psa 78:39. Observe,
1. The pious reflections Job makes upon his own life and death. Such plain truths as these concerning the shortness and vanity of life, the unavoidableness and irrecoverableness of death, then do us good when we think and speak of them with application to ourselves. Let us consider then, (1.) That we must shortly take our leave of all the things that are seen, that are temporal. The eye of the body must be closed, and shall no more see good, the good which most men set their hearts upon; for their cry is, Who will make us to see good? Ps. iv. 6. If we be such fools as to place our happiness in visible good things, what will become of us when they shall be for ever hidden from our eyes, and we shall no more see good? Let us therefore live by that faith which is the substance and evidence of things not seen. (2.) That we must then remove to an invisible world: The eye of him that hath here seen me shall see me no more there. It is hades—an unseen state, v. 8. Death removes our lovers and friends into darkness (Ps. lxxxviii. 18), and will shortly remove us out of their sight; when we go hence we shall be seen no more (Ps. xxxix. 13), but go to converse with the things that are not seen, that are eternal. (3.) That God can easily, and in a moment, put an end to our lives, and send us to another world (v. 8): “Thy eyes are upon me and I am not; thou canst look me into eternity, frown me into the grave, when thou pleasest.”
| Shouldst thou, displeased, give me a frowning look, I sink, I die, as if with lightning struck.–Sir R. BLACKMORE. |
He takes away our breath, and we die; nay, he but looks on the earth and it trembles,Psa 14:29; Psa 14:30. (4.) That, when we are once removed to another world, we must never return to this. There is constant passing from this world to the other, but vestigia nulla retrorsum–there is no repassing. “Therefore, Lord, kindly ease me by death, for that will be a perpetual ease. I shall return no more to the calamities of this life.” When we are dead we are gone, to return no more, [1.] From our house under ground (v. 9): He that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more until the general resurrection, shall come up no more to his place in this world. Dying is work that is to be done but once, and therefore it had need be well done: an error there is past retrieve. This is illustrated by the blotting out and scattering of a cloud. It is consumed and vanisheth away, is resolved into air and never knits again. Other clouds arise, but the same cloud never returns: so a new generation of the children of men is raised up, but the former generation is quite consumed and vanishes away. When we see a cloud which looks great, as if it would eclipse the sun and drawn the earth, of a sudden dispersed and disappearing, let us say, “Just such a thing is the life of man; it is a vapour that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” [2.] To return no more to our house above ground (v. 10): He shall return no more to his house, to the possession and enjoyment of it, to the business and delights of it. Others will take possession, and keep it till they also resign to another generation. The rich man in hell desired that Lazarus might be sent to his house, knowing it was to no purpose to ask that he might have leave to go himself. Glorified saints shall return no more to the cares, and burdens, and sorrows of their house; nor damned sinners to the gaieties and pleasures of their house. Their place shall no more know them, no more own them, have no more acquaintance with them, nor be any more under their influence. It concerns us to secure a better place when we die, for this will no more own us.
2. The passionate inference he draws from it. From these premises he might have drawn a better conclusion that this (v. 11): Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak; I will complain. Holy David, when he had been meditating on the frailty of human life, made a contrary use of it (Ps. xxxix. 9, I was dumb, and opened not my mouth); but Job, finding himself near expiring, hastens as much to make his complaint as if he had been to make his last will and testament or as if he could not die in peace until he had given vent to his passion. When we have but a few breaths to draw we should spend them in the holy gracious breathings of faith and prayer, not in the noisome noxious breathings of sin and corruption. Better die praying and praising than die complaining and quarrelling.
II. As a distempered man, sorely and grievously distempered both in body and mind. In this part of his representation is he is very peevish, as if God dealt hardly with him and laid upon him more than was meet: “Am I a sea, or a whale (v. 12), a raging sea, that must be kept within bounds, to check its proud waves, or an unruly whale, that must be restrained by force from devouring all the fishes of the sea? Am I so strong that there needs so much ado to hold me? so boisterous that no less than all these mighty bonds of affliction will serve to tame me and keep me within compass?” We are very apt, when we are in affliction, to complain of God and his providence, as if he laid more restraints upon us that there is occasion for; whereas we are never in heaviness but when there is need, nor more than the necessity demands. 1. He complains that he could not rest in his bed, Job 7:13; Job 7:14. There we promise ourselves some repose, when we are fatigued with labour, pain, or traveling: “My bed shall comfort me, and my couch shall ease my complaint. Sleep will for a time give me some relief;” it usually does so; it is appointed for that end; many a time it has eased us, and we have awaked refreshed, and with new vigour. When it is so we have great reason to be thankful; but it was not so with poor Job: his bed, instead of comforting him, terrified him; and his couch, instead of easing his complaint, added to it; for if he dropped asleep, he was disturbed with frightful dreams, and when those awaked him still he was haunted with dreadful apparitions. This was it that made the night so unwelcome and wearisome to him as it was (v. 4): When shall I arise? Note, God can, when he pleases, meet us with terror even where we promise ourselves ease and repose; nay, he can make us a terror to ourselves, and, as we have often contracted guilt by the rovings of an unsanctified fancy, he can likewise, by the power of our own imagination, create us much grief, and so make that our punishment which has often been our sin. In Job’s dreams, though they might partly arise from his distemper (in fevers, or small pox, when the body is all over sore, it is common for the sleep to be unquiet), yet we have reason to think Satan had a hand, for he delights to terrify those whom it is out of his reach to destroy; but Job looked up to God, who permitted Satan to do this (thou scarest me), and mistook Satan’s representations for the terror of God setting themselves in array against him. We have reason to pray to God that our dreams may neither defile nor disquiet us, neither tempt us to sin nor torment us with fear, that he who keeps Israel, and neither slumbers nor sleeps, may keep us when we slumber and sleep, that the devil may not then do us a mischief, either as an insinuating serpent or as a roaring lion, and to bless God if we lie down and our sleep is sweet and we are not thus scared. 2. He covets to rest in his grave, that bed where there are no tossings to and fro, nor any frightful dreams, Job 7:15; Job 7:16. (1.) He was sick of life, and hated the thoughts of it: “I loathe it; I have had enough of it. I would not live always, not only not live always in this condition, in pain and misery, but not live always in the most easy and prosperous condition, to be continually in danger of being thus reduced. My days are vanity at the best, empty of solid comfort, exposed to real griefs; and I would not be for ever tied to such uncertainty.” Note, A good man would not (if he might) life always in this world, no, not though it smile upon him, because it is a world of sin and temptation and he has a better world in prospect. (2.) He was fond of death, and pleased himself with the thoughts of it: his soul (his judgment, he thought, but really it was his passion) chose strangling and death rather than life; any death rather than such a life as this. Doubtless this was Job’s infirmity; for though a good man would not wish to live always in this world, and would choose strangling and death rather than sin, as the martyrs did, yet he will be content to live as long as pleases God, not choose death rather than life, because life is our opportunity of glorifying God and getting ready for heaven.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
b. Job turns supplicatingly to God that he may remember him, the incumbent of so miserable an estate, lest the opportunity to help should soon and forever evanish, Job 7:7-11.
7. No more see good Literally, not return to see good; that is, in this world. “To see” is used in the sense of enjoy.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 7:7-11. That my life is wind That my life is but empty breath. Houbigant. It is easy to observe, in almost all Job’s speeches, the struggle which he laboured under, between an earnest desire of death, as a removal from a life of pain and misery, and a dread of it, as he must die in the ill opinion of his friends, and leave a blot and a reproach upon his memory, which he should never have the opportunity to wipe off again; for after death there was no return. Read with attention the following verses in this view; and you will see nothing in them which contradicts the doctrine of a future resurrection, and another state of life, as some would have us believe. The expressions, indeed, are strong; Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not; Job 7:8. He that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more, Job 7:9. But nevertheless the following verse shews the full importance of these phrases; that they mean just so much, and no more than this: He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more. Peters; who observes, that the expression, and I am not, is used by Homer’s heroes for the dead; and yet no one questions their belief of a future state. Thus Telemachus says of his father Ulysses: “If I hear that he is dead, and is not any longer, [ ] then I will celebrate his funeral, &c.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
(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 anymore.
From man Job appears to be turning unto GOD. Oh! that in all the afflictions of the LORD’S faithful ones, this plan was more adopted. I do not mean that we should use Job’s words; but only Job’s method. If a child of GOD instead of seeking out companions, to pour out his afflictions into their bosom, was to go with his sorrows to pour them in to the bosom of JESUS. Oh! how different would be the relief?
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 7:7 O remember that my life [is] wind: mine eye shall no more see good.
Ver. 7. O remember that my life is wind ] Before, swifter or lighter than a weaver’s shuttle (or than a sword or speech, as the Septuagint there render it, ), now my life is a wind, or as a wind (so the Chaldee paraphraseth), that speedily passeth away, and returneth not. So St James, “What is your life?” saith he; “it is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away,” Jas 4:14 . One hath well observed, that the Holy Ghost giveth us very many items of this (and especially in this book), which shows that we are very apt to forget it. A point that is easy to be known, but very hard to be believed; every man assents to it, but few live it, and improve it to reformation.
Mine eyes shall no more see good
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
wind. Hebrew. ruach. App-9.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
remember: Job 10:9, Gen 42:36, Neh 1:8, Psa 74:18, Psa 74:22, Psa 89:47, Psa 89:50, Jer 15:15
my life: Psa 78:39, Jam 4:14
no more see: Heb. not return to see, that is, to enjoy, Job 10:21, Job 10:22
Reciprocal: Job 9:25 – swifter Job 10:20 – my days few Job 14:10 – where is he Job 33:22 – his soul Psa 34:12 – that he Psa 119:49 – Remember Ecc 6:6 – yet Ecc 8:13 – as a Isa 38:10 – General Isa 38:12 – is removed Lam 3:17 – I forgat Lam 3:19 – Remembering Lam 5:1 – Remember 1Pe 3:10 – see
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 7:7-8. O remember He turns his speech to God; perhaps observing that his friends grew weary of hearing it. If men will not hear us, God will: if men cannot help us, he can: for his arm is not shortened, neither is his ear heavy. The eye, &c., shall see me no more In this mortal state: I shall never return to this life again. Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not If thou cast one angry look upon me, I am not; that is, I am a dead man: or, when thine eyes shall be upon me, that is, when thou shalt look for me to do me good, thou wilt find that I am not, that I am dead and gone, and incapable of enjoying that bounty and goodness which thou givest to men in this world.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job’s prayer to God 7:7-21
Throughout his sufferings, Job did not turn away from God. Often people undergoing severe affliction do forsake Him. However, Job kept God in view and kept talking to God, even though he did not know what to ask, which was a major part of his torment. I believe this accounts for his ability to maintain his sanity and to come through his adversity finally. It is when people abandon God in their suffering that they get into serious trouble spiritually.
Job believed he would die soon. Yet he did not ask to die here as he had earlier (Job 3:20-22). This slight upturn in his feelings may be the result of his praying to God. [Note: Carter, 2:65.] Sheol (Job 7:9) refers to the grave in the Old Testament. The ancients thought it was the place where the spirits of people went when they died. Their condition there was a mystery in the patriarchal period. [Note: See H. C. Brichto, "Kin, Cult, Land and Afterlife-A Biblical Complex." Hebrew Union College Annual 44 (1973):1-54.]
Since his friends could not identify his sin, Job asked God why he was suffering. In this prayer Job complained that God would not leave him alone so he could die. Job felt God was hounding him for no apparent reason. God would not let Job alone long enough for him even to swallow his saliva (Job 7:19), a proverbial expression meaning "for a moment." He asked God to point out his sin if he had sinned (Job 7:20; cf. Job 6:24). Job believed he had done nothing worthy of such suffering (Job 7:21).
"I would suggest that the imagery of Job 7:12 . . . has been chosen by the poet to articulate precisely the main thrust of Job’s protest against God (i.e., the deity’s relentless surveillance), and in doing so the poet has created a text with clear mythologized content but without a strict parallel . . . he has molded general mythological ideas to suit his own purpose." [Note: David A. Diewert, "Job 7:12: Yam, tannin and the surveillance of Job," Journal of Biblical Literature 106:2 (1987):215. See also Elmer B. Smick, "Mythology and the Book of Job," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 13 (Spring 1970):101-8; and idem, "Another Look at the Mythological Elements in the Book of Job," Westminster Theological Journal 40 (1978):213-28.]
Some people are afraid to pray frankly and honestly to God, but Job had nothing to hide. He was open to God’s correction even though he believed God was dealing with him unjustly. In this, his prayer of complaint is a model for us. God understood Job’s chafed feelings and did not "kick him when he was down" for his bitter words.
I think Job reacted with hostility toward Eliphaz partly because of the way his friend tried to comfort him. Eliphaz assumed a position of having superior knowledge based on his personal experience. He forced Job into the mold of being a great sinner to keep his theory of retribution intact. Job did not appreciate being put down or made to look like a greater sinner than he was. He had formerly held Eliphaz’s theory, but now he believed that it was not always true. Job’s was a common reaction to counsel that comes from someone who claims greater experience, either direct or vicarious, even experience derived from Scripture. This approach often produces an overreaction. Job refused to admit he was a sinner at all, though later he did admit it. Such an approach also offends people who have considerable experience in life. Eliphaz had no reason to be surprised when the person he was trying to help rebuked him.