Job 3 - Job curses his day
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Introduction
Introduction
Job 3:1 “After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.”
It has been months since he was stricken with a disease.
“Opened Job his mouth” - the silence is broken.
Robert Alden: “The third chapter of Job must be on of the most depressing chapters in the Bible.”
Many people divide this chapter into 3 parts:
Job cursed his day - Some of argued that this was less than a curse and more making light of his birth. IN Hebrew to curse speaks of having the power to effect the curse. Job had no power to affect his birth.
Job curses the day of his birth v.3-10.
A personal lament v.11-19.
A complaint v.20-26
Based upon Job’s parallel imagery and language describing his desire for rest in verses 13 and 26, some divide this chapter into 2 parts:
Job’s curse on the day of his birth v.1-13.
a Lament v.14-26.
I have divided this chapter into 3 parts:
Darkness affected his desire v.1-13
Death’s joy over birth’s glee v.14-22
His realization of his fear v.23-26
Even though this speech starts a dialogue between Job and his 3 friends, the intent of this speech was not to set off a dialogue. His 3 friends were not in purview when he spoke these words. His intended audience was God. He wanted God to give him rest from his misery.
It is very possible that Job had not uttered words for months. His friends beholding to tradition waited until Job spoke before they speak. What came out of his mouth surprised them. Job wishing he had not been born.
Darkness overwhelmed him
Darkness overwhelmed him
And Job spake, and said,
Let the day perish wherein I was born,
And the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.
Let that day be darkness;
Let not God regard it from above,
Neither let the light shine upon it.
Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it;
Let a cloud dwell upon it;
Let the blackness of the day terrify it.
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.
Lo, let that night be solitary,
Let no joyful voice come therein.
Let them curse it that curse the day,
Who are ready to raise up their mourning.
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:
Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb,
Nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.
Why died I not from the womb?
Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
Why did the knees prevent me?
Or why the breasts that I should suck?
For now should I have lain still and been quiet,
I should have slept: then had I been at rest,
The only way that Job could wish he was not born was to remove the day altogether.
The description that he wants this day to have v.2-6
Perish (also the day of his conception) v.3
Darkness v.4 - The idea of “darkness” was to counter God’s first words in creating the universe - Let there be light. Thus, if a day never has light then the day never came into being.
Let darkness and the shadow of death. v.5
Let a could dwell upon it. v.5
Let darkness terrify it. v.5
Let darkness seize upon it. v.6
God to disregard the day and no light to shine v.4 - He did not want God to attend to that day. If He did not attend to that day then the day would go out of existence.
Darkness and a shadow to stain (Redeem) v.5 - He wants the power of darkness to claim the day.
Cloud to dwell v.5 - The cloud cover would snuff out any ray of light.
Blackness to terrify the day v.5
Terrify - The feeling of dread one experiences in confronting the spirit world or something numinous.
The night of his conception:
Darkness to seize upon the day v.6
Removed the the calendar v.6
Solitary - desolate v.7
No joyful voices v.7
Curse the day v.8
Perhaps, calling the most skilled sorcerers to make a pronouncement against that night
Mourning of Leviathan
Stars to not find light v.9
No dawning of the day v.9
The longing for death v.10-12
The first rhetorical question.
Why did not I die from the womb?
Could reference his conception but more likely, his birth.
If this is reflective of his birth then the meaning is still-born.
The second Rhetorical question
Why did the knees prevent?
Perhaps speaking of his father grabbing the child.
Or, between the knees of the mother.
Death’s joy over birth’s glee
Death’s joy over birth’s glee
With kings and counsellers of the earth,
Which built desolate places for themselves;
Or with princes that had gold,
Who filled their houses with silver:
Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been;
As infants which never saw light.
There the wicked cease from troubling;
And there the weary be at rest.
There the prisoners rest together;
They hear not the voice of the oppressor.
The small and great are there;
And the servant is free from his master.
Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery,
And life unto the bitter in soul;
Which long for death, but it cometh not;
And dig for it more than for hid treasures;
Which rejoice exceedingly,
And are glad, when they can find the grave?
Rest in death v.13-19
Job announces the intent of this curse: rest
The intensity of his desire to rest is illustrated in 4 ways: v.13
lain still
Been quiet
Slept
Rest
Perfect rest is his goal. v.13-15
If he died, he would join the great people of the past: v.14
Kings
Counselors
Princes
Built ruins
Possibly their tombs
Or rebuilt ruined cities
Princes v.15
Houses filled with silver - Tomb filled with wealth. To say, Princes that die live better in the after-life then those who live before death.
Miscarriage v.16
In the afterlife everybody is powerless. although there may be degrees of punishment, the social has been done away with. v.17-19
Rejoicing in death v.20-22
v.20-22 is the first great question Job struggles with. Why is life and light given to a person destined for misery and bitterness?
Realization of his fear
Realization of his fear
Why is light given to a man whose way is hid,
And whom God hath hedged in?
For my sighing cometh before I eat,
And my roarings are poured out like the waters.
For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me,
And that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet;
Yet trouble came.
Why is light given unto a man who does not know what is coming v.23
He applies the question in v.20-22 to himself in v.23.
“Way” - “Destiny”
“Hedged in” - Fenced in so that he cannot escape his troubles.
His pain v.24-26
Sighing - loud moans or wails from those who are oppressed, slaves or devastated by tragedy.
Roaring
Fear - I was not in safety, rest or quiet.
Safety - Mental rest
Rest- Physical rest
Quiet - Rest in general
Conclusion
Conclusion
Even though Job cursed his own life, he did not curse God.
John Hartley - “Though Job approaches the brink of cursing God, he does not. Instead he vents the venom of his anguish by wishing that he were dead. He survives his darkest hour, since he neither curses God nor takes fate into his own hands.”