Job Three

by Dr. Henry M. Morris

(taken from the Defender's Study Bible)

Job 3:1 After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.

cursed his day. Job would not curse God, but he did give way and curse the day of his birth, as well as even the night of his conception.

Job 3:2 And Job spake, and said,

Job 3:3 Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.

Job 3:4 Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.

Job 3:5 Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

shadow of death. This is the first of twenty references in the Bible to “the shadow of death,” ten of which are in Job (e.g., Job 38:17).

Job 3:6 As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.

Job 3:7 Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.

Job 3:8 Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.

their mourning. The Hebrew word for “mourning” here is the same as for “leviathan,” and it is so translated every other time it is used (e.g., Job 41:1). Job is including in his “curse” the fear of this terrible marine reptile.

Job 3:9 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:

Job 3:10 Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.

Job 3:11 Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?

Job 3:12 Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?

prevent. The Old English usage came from the Latin, meaning “going before;” thus, “precede” is the real meaning in the Hebrew.

Job 3:13 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,

Job 3:14 With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;

Job 3:15 Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:

Job 3:16 Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.

Job 3:17 There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.

Job 3:18 There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor

.

Job 3:19 The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.

Job 3:20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;

Job 3:21 Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;

Job 3:22 Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?

Job 3:23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?

Job 3:24 For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.

Job 3:25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

greatly feared. Job confesses that, even during his former days of prosperity and esteem, he had realized that things could change. God may bless a righteous man with prosperity, but it is all of grace. No man—not even righteous Job—deserves God's favor, for “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Job realized he was innately a sinner, and offered sacrifices to cover his sins, as God had instructed, but he still realized God had every right to withhold His blessings.

Job 3:26 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.