Job 7:3
Verse
Summary
Commentary
- Adam Clarke
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
- John Gill
- Tyndale
Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
So am I made to possess - But night is no relief to me, it is only a continuance of my anxiety and labor. I am like the hireling, I have my appointed labor for the day. I am like the soldier harassed by the enemy: I am obliged to be continually on the watch, always on the look out, with scarcely any rest.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
--Months of comfortless misfortune. I am made to possess--literally, "to be heir to." Irony. "To be heir to," is usually a matter of joy; but here it is the entail of an involuntary and dismal inheritance. Months--for days, to express its long duration. Appointed--literally, "they have numbered to me"; marking well the unavoidable doom assigned to him.
John Gill Bible Commentary
So am I made to possess months of vanity,.... This is not a reddition or application of the above similes of the servant and hireling, Job 7:1; for that is to be understood, and to be supplied at the end of Job 7:2; that as those looked for the shadow and payment of hire, so Job looked for and earnestly desired death, or to be removed out of the world; besides, the things here instanced in do not answer; for Job, instead of having the refreshing shadow, had months of vanity, and instead of rest from his labours had nothing but wearisome nights, and continual tossings to and fro; whereas the sleep of a labouring man is sweet to him; and having laboured hard all day, the night is a time of rest to him; but so it was not with Job; wherefore this "so" refers to the common state and condition of mankind, in which Job was, with an addition of extraordinary afflictions upon him: the time of his afflictions, though but short, seemed long, and therefore is expressed by months; and some months might have passed from the time his calamities began to the present; since it must be some time before his friends heard of them, and more still before they could meet together and agree upon their coming, and were actually come to him; as also some time was spent in silence, and now in conversation with him; the Jews (p) make them to be twelve months: and these months were "months of vanity", or "empty" (q) ones; such as winter months, empty of all joy, and peace, and comfort; times in which he had no pleasure, no ease of body or of mind; destitute of the good things of life, and of the presence of God and communion with him; and full of trouble, sorrow, and distress: and these were "given him for an inheritance" (r); were his lot and portion, which he received as an inheritance from his parents, in consequence of original sin, the source of all the troubles and miseries of human life, in common with other men; and which were allotted him by his heavenly Father, according to his sovereign will and pleasure, as all the afflictions of the Lord's people are the inheritance bequeathed them by their Father, and the legacy of their Redeemer: and wearisome nights are appointed to me; one after another, in succession; in which he could have no sleep nor rest, through pain of body and distress of mind; and so became the more weary, through long lying down and tossings to and fro, through groans and tears, and much watching; and these were prepared for him in the purposes of God, and appointed to him in his counsels and decrees; see Job 23:14; or they "prepared" or "appointed" (s); that is, "Elohim", the three Divine Persons. (p) Vid. Misn. Ediot, c. 2. sect. 10. & R. Simeon Bar Tzemach, in loc. (q) "menses vacuos", V. L. so Tigurine version, Michaelis. (r) "accepi hereditate", Pagninus, Montanus, Bolducius; so Cocceius, Schmidt, Schultens. (s) "constituerunt mihi", Pagninus, Bolducius; "mihi paraverunt", Mercerus; so Schmidt, Cocceius, Schultens.
Tyndale Open Study Notes
7:3 Job’s trial might already have gone on for months. • The Hebrew term (‘amal) that runs throughout Job is translated as “misery/miserable” (3:20; 11:16; 16:2; 20:22) or as “trouble” (3:10; 4:8; 5:6, 7; 15:35).
Job 7:3
Job Continues: Life Seems Futile
2Like a slave he longs for shade; like a hireling he waits for his wages. 3So I am allotted months of futility, and nights of misery are appointed me. 4When I lie down I think: ‘When will I get up?’ But the night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.
- Scripture
- Sermons
- Commentary
- Adam Clarke
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
- John Gill
- Tyndale
Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
So am I made to possess - But night is no relief to me, it is only a continuance of my anxiety and labor. I am like the hireling, I have my appointed labor for the day. I am like the soldier harassed by the enemy: I am obliged to be continually on the watch, always on the look out, with scarcely any rest.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
--Months of comfortless misfortune. I am made to possess--literally, "to be heir to." Irony. "To be heir to," is usually a matter of joy; but here it is the entail of an involuntary and dismal inheritance. Months--for days, to express its long duration. Appointed--literally, "they have numbered to me"; marking well the unavoidable doom assigned to him.
John Gill Bible Commentary
So am I made to possess months of vanity,.... This is not a reddition or application of the above similes of the servant and hireling, Job 7:1; for that is to be understood, and to be supplied at the end of Job 7:2; that as those looked for the shadow and payment of hire, so Job looked for and earnestly desired death, or to be removed out of the world; besides, the things here instanced in do not answer; for Job, instead of having the refreshing shadow, had months of vanity, and instead of rest from his labours had nothing but wearisome nights, and continual tossings to and fro; whereas the sleep of a labouring man is sweet to him; and having laboured hard all day, the night is a time of rest to him; but so it was not with Job; wherefore this "so" refers to the common state and condition of mankind, in which Job was, with an addition of extraordinary afflictions upon him: the time of his afflictions, though but short, seemed long, and therefore is expressed by months; and some months might have passed from the time his calamities began to the present; since it must be some time before his friends heard of them, and more still before they could meet together and agree upon their coming, and were actually come to him; as also some time was spent in silence, and now in conversation with him; the Jews (p) make them to be twelve months: and these months were "months of vanity", or "empty" (q) ones; such as winter months, empty of all joy, and peace, and comfort; times in which he had no pleasure, no ease of body or of mind; destitute of the good things of life, and of the presence of God and communion with him; and full of trouble, sorrow, and distress: and these were "given him for an inheritance" (r); were his lot and portion, which he received as an inheritance from his parents, in consequence of original sin, the source of all the troubles and miseries of human life, in common with other men; and which were allotted him by his heavenly Father, according to his sovereign will and pleasure, as all the afflictions of the Lord's people are the inheritance bequeathed them by their Father, and the legacy of their Redeemer: and wearisome nights are appointed to me; one after another, in succession; in which he could have no sleep nor rest, through pain of body and distress of mind; and so became the more weary, through long lying down and tossings to and fro, through groans and tears, and much watching; and these were prepared for him in the purposes of God, and appointed to him in his counsels and decrees; see Job 23:14; or they "prepared" or "appointed" (s); that is, "Elohim", the three Divine Persons. (p) Vid. Misn. Ediot, c. 2. sect. 10. & R. Simeon Bar Tzemach, in loc. (q) "menses vacuos", V. L. so Tigurine version, Michaelis. (r) "accepi hereditate", Pagninus, Montanus, Bolducius; so Cocceius, Schmidt, Schultens. (s) "constituerunt mihi", Pagninus, Bolducius; "mihi paraverunt", Mercerus; so Schmidt, Cocceius, Schultens.
Tyndale Open Study Notes
7:3 Job’s trial might already have gone on for months. • The Hebrew term (‘amal) that runs throughout Job is translated as “misery/miserable” (3:20; 11:16; 16:2; 20:22) or as “trouble” (3:10; 4:8; 5:6, 7; 15:35).