Job 3:21

Which long for death, but it [cometh] not,.... Who earnestly desire, wistly look out, wish for, and expect it, and with open mouth gape for it, as a hungry man for his food, or as the fish for the

Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures; No JFB commentary on these verses.

i.e. Desire and pray for it with as much earnestness as men dig for treasure. But it is observable that Job durst not lay violent hands upon himself, nor do any thing to hasten or procure his death; but notwithstanding all his miseries and complaints, he was contented to wait all the days of his appointed time, till his change came, .

Job 3:21 Which long for death, but it [cometh] not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;Ver. 21. Which long for death, but it cometh not] The bitter in soul long for death, those that are in pain or penury are apt to desire to be dispatched upon any terms, and would freely pardon them, they say, that would give them their passport. But these, for the most part, consider not the unsupportableness of the wrath to come, that eternity of extremity in hell, that death usually baleth at the heels of it; so that by death, whereof they are so desirous, they would but leap out of the frying pan into the fire, as Judas did: they do so, as the ass in the fable, who desired to die, that he might be no more beaten; at post mortem factus est tympanum, but when he was dead he was made a drum head of, and so was ten times more laid on than ever in his lifetime before. And dig for it more than for hid treasures] Covetousness is παντολμος, all daring, saith an ancient; and men, for love of wealth, will dig to hell, light a candle at the devil, as they say: with such an eagerness of desire do some (that have little reason for it, all things reckoned) long and labour after death, not to be rid of sin, or to be with Christ, as Philippians 1:23, but to be freed from misery incumbent or impendent. Thus Cato (having first read Plato’ s book of the soul’ s immortality) committed suicide, that he might not fall into the hands of the conqueror. Thus Adrian the emperor, having lain long sick (and could get no help by physicians, but was the worse for them, as he complained at his death, πολλοιιατροικατεκτειναντονβοσιλεα), would gladly have slain himself, if those about him would have suffered it. It is said that Severianus, whom this emperor injuriously put to death, wished of God, ut Adrianus, quamvis mortem obire percupiat, tamen non possit, that Adrian might desire to die, and not be able, or find opportunity. There is an epistle of his extant, saith the historian, wherein is set forth what a misery it is to desire to die, and yet to be denied it (Dio Cass. in Adrian). This was the case of those popelings, Revelation 9:6. And in particular of Roger, bishop of Salisbury in King Stephen’ s time; who, through long and strait imprisonment, was brought to that evil pass, ut vivere noluerit, mori nescierit, live he would not, and yet die he could not. This is a very typical hell, and a foretaste of eternal torment.

Verse 21. Which long for death] They look to it as the end of all their miseries; and long more for a separation from life, than those who love gold do for a rich mine.

20–26. Why does God continue life to the wretched, who long for death? The vision of the peacefulness of death passes away, and Job awakens again to the consciousness of his real condition, and his words, which had sunk into calmness as he contemplated the peace of death, now seem to rise again like the storm after a lull, Wherefore gives He light to him that is in misery? He does not name though he alludes to God, and the indirect reference though partly due to reverence betrays a rising alienation in his heart. His question is one of anguish and impatience. His own condition throws its gloom over all human life, and he puts the question first generally, Job 3:20-22; there are many like him seeking death and unable to find it, who would exult for joy if they could find the grave. Then he comes to the individual, Job 3:23, meaning himself, Wherefore gives He life to the man whose way is hid? the man who cannot see and cannot move, who can discover no solution of the riddle of his life, and find no course of action to relieve himself, who lies in the grasp of a calamity which has too surely come from God, and which has introduced confusion among all the principles of religion which he has hitherto held and into the relation to God in which he has hitherto stood, Job 3:23. And finally he adds some touches to the picture of his misery, his constant moaning, and the unbroken succession of troubles that afflict him, which come so thick that he has no respite from one before another overtakes him, Job 3:24-26.

Which long for death - Whose pain and anguish are so great that they would regard it as a privilege to die.

21. Which long for death — Of the sufferings of the miserable slaves anciently employed in the Egyptian mines, to whom Hitzig and others think Job refers, Diodorus Siculus gives a long and most painful description.