Job 6:11

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

What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life? What is my strength - so as to warrant the hope of restoration to health? a hope which Eliphaz had suggested.

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, , &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, . I need not those vain consolations which thou givest me of being kept from death, , 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, . 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, . The Hebrew word nephesh, here rendered soul or life, oft signifies desire, as .

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] i.e. The later part of my life, what is that else but trouble and sorrow? See this elegantly set forth by Solomon, Ecclesiastes 12:2-4, &c. That I should prolong my life?] That I should desire my life to be prolonged or eked out to that? Rather let it be my care, with Varro, ut sarcinas colligam antequam proficiscar e vita, to be ready for death, which seemeth so ready for me (De re Rust. lib. 1, cap. 1).

(11) Prolong my life.—This is the literal rendering; but some understand be patient, as in our phrase, long-suffering.

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.

Ch. Job 6:1-13. Job defends the violence of his complaints and his despair Eliphaz had made no reference directly to sin on Job’s part; but he drew dark pictures of the evilness of human nature before the eye of his friend, and for his advantage. Job shews a dislike to touch this point. His dislike is that of a man conscious of his innocence, and who can hardly believe that his friends seriously mean what their indirect allusions seem to imply. Hence he attaches his reply to what Eliphaz had openly expressed, namely, his wonder at the despair of Job and his blameable impatience. The idea of his having sinned he touches only in passing and with strong repudiation of it (ch. Job 6:28-30). Eliphaz had used the word “confounded” of Job’s hopeless despair (ch. Job 4:5); he had spoken of “impatience,” and “passion”; and had referred to the “fool” or godless man, as shewing this kind of temper under affliction (Job 6:2). All this wounds Job deeply, and he first of all replies to it, justifying the bitterness of his complaints by the overwhelming heaviness of his sorrow. First, he wishes that his impatience and his calamity were laid against one another in the balance. His calamity is heavier than the sand of the sea. For that which gives it its terror is that it is from God. The arrows of the Almighty are in him, and his spirit drinks in their poison and is paralysed, Job 6:1-4. Second, a more kindly judgment, he thinks, would have reasoned the other way from his friends, namely, from the violence of his complaints to the greatness of his sufferings. So men reasoned with regard to beasts even. No creature complained if it had no want or no pain; neither would he complain if what was unbearable were not thrust upon him, Job 6:5-7. Third, so far he goes in his defence. But so keenly does he realize as he describes it (Job 6:6-7) the misery and loathsomeness of his state that here he breaks out into a passionate cry for death, his mind passes into a momentary frenzy, and he says he would leap for joy in the midst of unsparing pain, if it brought death with it. This is the consolation that he seeks. And this consolation he can look for, for he has never denied the words of the Holy One. And no other can he look to, for his flesh is not brass that it should resist his exhausting afflictions; and what issue has he to expect that he should be patient? Job 6:8-13.

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.

Second long strophe — THE OF HUMAN , 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.