Job Seven
by Dr. Henry M. Morris
(taken from the Defender's Study Bible)
Job 7:3 So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.
months of vanity. Evidently Job had already been suffering for “months” before the arrival of the three friends.
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 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 7:10 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.
Job 7:12 Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?
a whale. This “whale” (Hebrew tannin, same as in Genesis 1:21) was actually some kind of great sea monstera sea serpent or marine dinosaur. The word tannin is usually translated “dragon.”
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:
scarest me with dreams. Eliphaz had thought to impress Job with his account of the visit and message he had received from a spirit (Job 4:12-21). However, Job easily discerned that this spirit could not have been sent from God; rather, the spirit intended merely to frighten him into blaspheming against the God he trusted.
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.
What is man. At this point, Job directs his comments in prayer to God, rather than in defense to Eliphaz. In a sense, he raises the question which David would ask many centuries later (Psalm 8:4).
Job 7:18 And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment?
Job 7:19 How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?
I have sinned. Job frankly confesses that he, like all men, is a sinner, even though he is unaware of any specific sin that might have led God to punish him so severely, as contended by his friends.
pardon my transgression. Job knew he had confessed such sin as he knew, and had offered the appropriate sacrifices (Job 1:5), so he could not understand why God seemed to be refusing His promised forgiveness.