Job 7:1 ¶ Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?
Job 7:2 As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work:
Job 7:3 So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.
Job 7:4 When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.
Job 7:5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.
Job 7:6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.
Job goes on to compare the life of a man on the earth to those of a hired man. The worker looks forward to the shadows of evening (the end of each work day) and his coming paycheck. In fact, the Hebrew for “appointed time” makes reference to a time of war and hardship. Though Job doesn’t know it, he is involved in a spiritual war. Job has been enduring months of destruction and ruin filled with nights of pain and misery. He lay down at night thinking about how long it will be before morning since he knows his night will be full of tossing and turning until daybreak. His flesh is covered with maggots, dirt and disgusting sores. His days move (from the Hebrew for “swifter”) back and forth like a weaver’s shuttle (day and night, day and night, etc.) with no hope for the future.
Job 7:7 ¶ O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good.
Job 7:8 The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not.
Job 7:9 As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.
Job 7:10 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.
As you continue to read the rest of this chapter, it is obvious that Job has turned his address to God. Foolish though it be, Job presumes to remind God, his Creator, that his life is like a breath of wind; he never expects to experience pleasure again. He compares the death of a man to a cloud that vanishes from sight. He will never be seen again on this earth.
Job 7:11 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.
Job insists that he cannot be silent; he must express the sorrow and heaviness of his spirit and soul that accompanies the pain in his body.
Job 7:12 Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?
I’m not sure what Job is saying here. Maybe—What have I done to get your attention? Do I pose a danger to others?
Job 7:13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint;
Job 7:14 Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions:
Job 7:15 So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.
Job 7:16 I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity.
Job notes that though he hopes for comfort when he goes to bed at night, he gets nightmares and terrifying visions that he believes are from God. He would rather die. He hates his life and no longer wants to live in such a state. He asks God to just leave him alone; his life is useless.
Job 7:17 ¶ What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?
Job 7:18 And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment?
As Job continues to talk to God, he wonders why God takes such note of man and gives him so much attention every moment of every day.
Maybe the psalmist was familiar with these verses.
Psalms 8:4 “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?”
Psalms 144:3–4 “LORD, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him! Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.”
I have often pondered about God’s omniscience and omnipresence in the life of each of those that trust Him—let alone the rest of mankind. Why would He be so interested in me, certainly one of those insignificant parts of the bride of Christ? Oh how thankful I am, however, to know that He is!
Job 7:19 How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?
Job 7:20 I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself?
Job 7:21 And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.
Job is basically asking God how long he is going to have to suffer His judgment; can’t He let up for even an instant? (Bullinger notes that “till I swallow down my spittle” is an Arabic idiom meaning “for one instant.”)
Job wants God to reveal how he has sinned, why he is being punished. He wants to know why he won’t forgive his sin. Job realizes that he is bound to die soon, so God won’t have to bother with him anymore.
I liked this observation from Stedman: “In every time of trial there are two purposes in view: Satan has his purpose, and God has his. Satan's purpose here was to use the pain of Job's illness to afflict his body; to use the priggish, well-intentioned comfort of his friends to irritate his soul; and to use the silence of God to assault his spirit and to break his faith. But God's purpose is to teach Job some truths that he never knew before, to deepen his theology, and help him understand God much better. God's truth was to answer Satan in the eyes of all the principalities and powers of the whole universe, and to prove him wrong in his philosophy of life. God's purpose was also to provide a demonstration for all the sufferers in all the ages that would follow that God knows what he is doing.”
I also liked this quote from Spurgeon, though I am not sure I would volunteer to embrace his conclusion: “Job was not being punished; he was being honored. God was giving to him a name like that of the great ones of the earth. The Lord was lifting him up, promoting him, putting him into the front rank, making a great saint of him, causing him to become one of the fathers and patterns in the ancient Church of God. He was really doing for Job such extraordinarily good things that you or I, in looking back upon his whole history, might well say, ‘I would be quite content to take Job’s afflictions if I might also have Job’s grace, and Job’s place in the Church of God.’”
Job 8:1 ¶ Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
Job 8:2 How long wilt thou speak these things? and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?
Job 8:3 Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?
Job 8:4 If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression;
Job 8:5 If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty;
Job 8:6 If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.
Job 8:7 Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.
The next one to speak is Bildad the Shuhite. Job had made a plea for mercy, but I guess Bildad chose to ignore that fact. He basically calls Job’s plea a bag of wind. He continues to assume Job’s guilt and questions how long he plans to maintain his innocence. Does Job really think that God is unjust?
That is a question that every Christian confronts some time or another. We can’t help but try to judge God using human understanding. I have learned to cling to the truth of Isaiah 55 when I can’t understand. If I could fully understand God, He wouldn’t be God.
Isaiah 55:8–9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Bildad posits that Job’s children were killed because they sinned against God; their death was an act of God’s justice. If Job would seek God in righteousness before Him, then He would surely restore him to a place of blessing. Though he might not have much to begin with, God would surely greatly bless the rest of Job’s life.
Bildad is right in declaring that God is just and ready to forgive the repentant sinner and restore him to a place of blessing. He is wrong, however, to assume that what happened to Job and his children was a result of sin. Not only that, he was also horrid to make that accusation to an obviously distraught and bereaved father. He is also wrong to think that the righteous never suffer and will always prosper. Scripture is full of examples and verses that refute this supposition.
Job 8:8 ¶ For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers:
Job 8:9 (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:)
Job 8:10 Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?
Bildad then uses the argument of the experience of their ancestors. In comparison, their own experience is quite small. Aren’t you willing to learn from the words they have passed down to us?
This seems to imply some type of written or oral history to which they can refer.
Bildad is right to posit that we can benefit from studying history and striving not to make the same mistakes made by others as recorded and revealed there. He was wrong, however, to assume that the experiences of men are always valid standards by which one can determine truth.
Job 8:11 Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?
Job 8:12 Whilst it is yet in his greenness, and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb.
The obvious answer to the first two questions is “No.” Bildad rightly notes that they will begin to wither before they can reach maturity without the proper nourishment.
Job 8:13 So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish:
Job 8:14 Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider’s web.
Job 8:15 He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.
Bildad notes that the man that forgets (does not heed) God and the hope (expectation of good) of the sinner (from the Hebrew for “hypocrite”) will surely die. He’s like a spider spider that has confidence that his house will support him, despite the fact that it can easily be destroyed. No matter how he tries to strengthen it, it will not hold up.
What Bildad says is true, but his application to Job is not.
Job 8:16 He is green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden.
Job 8:17 His roots are wrapped about the heap, and seeth the place of stones.
Job 8:18 If he destroy him from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee.
Bildad pictures the sinner as a plant growing in a garden with roots that grow through ruins among stones. If God removes that sinner, it declares him to have been false (from the Hebrew for “deny”) in his faith; and He has no regard (from the Hebrew for “seen”) for that sinner.
In other words, Bildad is repeating once again that Job must be lying about having no sin or God would not bring such destruction upon him.
Job 8:19 Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others grow.
This verse is very confusing to me; I got no help from the Hebrew. Most translations seem to connect “joy of his way” to the sinner’s life. Once that life is gone, another will arise to replace him.
Coffman quoted this explanation from Samuel Terrien that makes sense to me: “Behold, this is the joy of his way, should be interpreted ironically."
Job 8:20 ¶ Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers:
Job 8:21 Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing.
Job 8:22 They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought.
Bildad then confidently declares that God does not cast off a righteous man; neither does He strengthen the wicked. Implied conclusion: Job, you can’t be righteous.
“Till” is not in the Hebrew. Bildad tries to close on a positive note, declaring that he knows that Job will yet find cause to rejoice. His enemies will be wrapped in shame and the wicked will be destroyed. I guess he is assuming that Job will surely confess his sin and be restored to God’s good graces.
I liked these thoughts from Stedman: “…these friends never seem to refer to God for help for themselves in understanding Job's problem. They never pray with Job. They never ask God for help to open their minds and to illuminate their understanding so that they can help their friend. The book is filled with prayers, but they are all the prayers of Job, crying out to God in the midst of his sufferings. His friends never seem to feel the need for further illumination on the subject.”
I loved this quote Guzik used from Chambers: “The biggest benediction one man can find in another is not in his words, but that he implies: ‘I do not know the answer to your problem, all I can say is that God alone must know; let us go to Him’. . . . The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is not to talk platitudes, not to ask questions, but to get into contact with God, and the ‘greater works’ will be done by prayer.”