Job's Opening Discourse
Chapter 3
After the terrible disasters he had suffered, and a week of silence in great pain, in the company of his three silent friends, Job expressed in words the thoughts which were oppressing him, under the critical and accusing eyes of his friends.
He first cursed the day in which he was born and the night in which it was said he was conceived:
- "May they both perish"
- "May that day be darkness…"
- "May the night be seized by darkness …, not be counted"
- "May those curse the night who curse the day, those who are ready to arouse Leviathan".
- "May that night never see light …"
According to Easton's Bible Dictionary, Leviathan is a transliterated Hebrew word (livyathan), meaning "twisted," "coiled." Some interpret it as a dragon, others as a large animal existing today, but it seems more likely to have been a dinosaur, now extinct, as this fits better with the description given later in the book. It was clearly a fearsome creature, not to be aroused lightly.
In effect, in the first ten verses, he was simply saying, "I wish I had never existed." He wishes the date he was born and the night the news was given that he had been conceived could be obliterated from the calendar, and this would only possible had he not existed at all. The reference to those who are ready to arouse Leviathan, isn't clear. Some commentators suggest that in those days people were hired to pronounce curses, and Job would wish them figuratively to arouse Leviathan for it to swallow up this day and night.
It is not uncommon for people to say they wish they had never come into existence, when weighed down by stress and frustration due to an overwhelming disaster or disappointment. Job must have been a man of great learning, and could express himself very vividly and poetically even when in great sorrow.
Job then wished he had been stillborn: "Why did I not die at birth?" He was experiencing extreme physical pain as well as grief over the loss of his family and possessions. In these circumstances he shouldn't be blamed for wishing he had died at birth.
He may have been at the crossroads of his faith, shattering many misconceptions about God which are prevalent even today, such as that He always keeps us from trouble and pain, or protects our loved ones. Job was being driven back to the basics of his faith in God. He had only two choices:
- he could curse God and give up,
- he could trust God and draw strength from Him to continue.
The attitude "I wish I had never been born" never solves any problems of this life. We may wish we had never been born, but we can't undo the fact that we have been born. We may wish that we could die, but we will not die by wishing. It is all a waste of time. It may help a person let off some steam. That seems to be what Job was doing now.
Job expresses his thoughts on death as the great leveller. All sleep equally, the stillborn child, the kings and counsellors of the earth (who built great monuments for themselves, later in ruins), wealthy princes (who had to leave their fortunes behind them), the wicked (who no longer can cause trouble), the weary ( now at rest), the prisoners (relieved from the oppressor) and the servant (free from his master). The small and the great are there.
Job complained that this oblivion had been denied him. Primarily he wished that he had never existed, but as he did, he wished that he had died at birth. He doesn't enter into the question of the afterlife, and it could well be that this had not been revealed to him. His view is only that of this world, and he looks on death as rest after life in this world.
Such an attitude is very common, if not prevailing, in our days, and is expressed in the initials R.I.P. on gravestones. God has revealed to mankind very clearly, however, in His word, that after death the unsaved sinner will be in torments (Luke 16:23).
Following on these thoughts, Job then wondered why he who is in misery or bitter of soul, and longs and searches keenly for death (like himself) was kept alive? Someone who would rejoice exceedingly to die?
Such a question is asked time and time again when we see or experience great suffering, and some doctors are even prepared to practise euthanasia to relieve their patients from excruciating pain when no hope of cure seems to exist.
Job had feared God and shunned evil in a way that made him an outstanding example to all, yet now he was overwhelmed by calamities that made him hate his life. All the principles by which he had lived were crumbling, and he began to lose his perspective.
Trials and grief, whether temporary or enduring, do not destroy the real purpose of life. Life is not given merely for happiness and personal fulfilment, but for us to serve and honour God. The worth and meaning of life is not based on what we feel, but on the one reality no one can take away - God's love for us.
We must not assume that because God truly loves us, he will always prevent suffering. The opposite may be true. God's love cannot be measured or limited by how great or how little we may suffer. Romans 8:38, 39 teaches us that nothing can separate us from God's love.
Job enquires "Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has hedged in?" (verse 23). In the first chapter Satan had claimed that God had built a hedge around Job to protect him. Now Job was saying that God had hedged him in from the enjoyment of life and asking why was he given life in such conditions?
He was greatly distressed because the thing he greatly feared had come upon him, and what he dreaded had happened to him. Even at the time when he had been enjoying peace and prosperity with his family and possessions, he had been worried about the uncertainty of the future.
He served the true God and offered Him sacrifices regularly, but he was not assured that the good things he had in life would continue indefinitely. He had great fear and dread that they might come to an end.
That is a fear of a great many people today. They fear that something terrible might happen to them, as they see is happening to people all over the world. This fear brings anxiety and mental depression, which ruins the lives of even those we might otherwise consider the most fortunate of people.
One would get the impression that Job had good reason now to lose his faith, and to curse God as Satan thought he would. But he did not. This was just the bitter complaint of a man who is tasting the very dregs in the bottom of the cup of life and does not understand at all why it should have come. Job did not yet have the answer.
R David Jones
1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
2 And Job spoke, and said:
3 "May the day perish on which I was born, and the night in which it was said, 'A male child is conceived.'
4 May that day be darkness; may God above not seek it, nor the light shine upon it.
5 May darkness and the shadow of death claim it; may a cloud settle on it; may the blackness of the day terrify it.
6 As for that night, may darkness seize it; may it not rejoice among the days of the year, may it not come into the number of the months.
7 Oh, may that night be barren! may no joyful shout come into it!
8 May those curse it who curse the day, those who are ready to arouse Leviathan.
9 May the stars of its morning be dark; may it look for light, but have none, and not see the dawning of the day;
10 Because it did not shut up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide sorrow from my eyes.
11 "Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb?
12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
13 For now I would have lain still and been quiet, I would have been asleep; then I would have been at rest
14 With kings and counsellors of the earth, who built ruins for themselves,
15 Or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver;
16 Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like infants who never saw light?
17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.
18 There the prisoners rest together; they do not hear the voice of the oppressor.
19 The small and great are there, and the servant is free from his master.
20 "Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter of soul,
21 Who long for death, but it does not come, and search for it more than hidden treasures;
22 Who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they can find the grave?
23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has hedged in?
24 For my sighing comes before I eat, and my groanings pour out like water.
25 For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me.
26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes."