The Book of Job

Word Study

"opened... his mouth," Hebrew patach... pihu (פָּתַח פִּיהוּ), a formula for beginning a solemn or weighty speech. After seven days and nights of silence (chapter 2:13), Job finally speaks, and the flood of grief he had held in pours out. "After this opened Job his mouth." The expression is a formula, marking what follows as no passing murmur but a solemn, weighty speech; the whole of chapter 3 is what comes out when that silence finally breaks. Job's seven days of silence gave way to a torrent of sorrow, and God does not condemn him for it.

"cursed his day," va-yeqallel eth-yomo (וַיְקַלֵּל אֶת־יוֹמוֹ), he cursed the day (of his birth). Note carefully what Job curses and what he does not. Satan had predicted that Job would "curse thee [God] to thy face" (chapter 1:11; 2:5). But Job does not curse God. He curses "his day", the day of his birth, wishing he had never been born. This is a crucial distinction. Job's lament is raw, dark, and full of anguish, but it is not blasphemy; he does not accuse or reject God. The rest of the chapter is an extended, poetic outpouring of a soul in unbearable pain, wishing for the oblivion of never having existed. And Scripture records it without rebuke. This is significant: the Bible gives us Job's anguished lament, and elsewhere the laments of the psalms and of Jeremiah, showing that faith has room for the honest expression of grief and even despair, so long as it is poured out toward God rather than in rejection of Him. There is a place, in the life of faith, for lament, for the honest cry of pain, even the wish that one had never been born, as long as, like Job, we do not curse God but pour out our grief before Him.

Explanation

After seven days of silence, Job's held-in grief burst out. He "cursed his day", the day of his birth, wishing he had never been born. But note what he did not do: he did not curse God, exactly what Satan had predicted he would. Job's lament is raw and full of anguish, but it is not blasphemy; he does not reject or accuse God. Scripture records his outpouring of sorrow without rebuke, showing that faith has room for the honest expression of grief, even despair, so long as it is poured out before God rather than in rejection of Him.

Gospel Focus

That Job "cursed his day" yet did not curse God shows that faith has room for lament. The Bible does not present the life of faith as unbroken cheerfulness; it gives us Job's anguish, the psalms of lament ("My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?", Psalm 22:1), and Jeremiah's grief, showing that honest sorrow poured out before God is not sin. Even the Lord Jesus lamented, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death" (Matthew 26:38), and cried the words of Psalm 22 from the cross. There is a vast difference between lamenting to God and rejecting God: Job did the first, not the second. So we are free to bring our rawest grief, our darkest questions, even our wish that we had never faced such pain, honestly before God, "casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you" (1 Peter 5:7); "pour out your heart before him" (Psalm 62:8). What faith must not do is curse God or turn from Him. Job kept pouring out his sorrow toward God, not away from Him, and that is the pattern for the suffering believer. If you are in anguish, do not think you must hide it or pretend; bring it to God in honest lament, as Job did, as the psalmists did, as Christ Himself did. Faith is not the absence of grief but the refusal, in the midst of grief, to let go of God. Lament is a language of faith, and God receives the honest cry of His hurting children.

Word Study

"give up the ghost," Hebrew egva (אֶגְוָע), expire, die; the chapter's longing for death as rest, "there the weary be at rest" (v17). Job's lament turns to a longing for death: "Why died I not from the womb?" He wishes he had died at birth, so deep is his pain. And his reason is that death, to his mind, would be rest: "there the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest" (v17); the grave levels all, and the sufferer finds relief. Job is not, here, expressing a clear hope of resurrection or heaven (that will come later, chapter 19:25-27); in his present darkness, he longs simply for the cessation of pain, for the rest of the grave. This is the honest voice of despair, when suffering is so great that death seems a mercy and existence a burden. We must be careful and compassionate here. Job's longing to die is not a model to imitate, but it is a real cry that Scripture does not hide. Deep suffering can bring a godly person to wish for death; even the prophet Elijah prayed, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life" (1 Kings 19:4), and Jeremiah cursed his birth-day (Jeremiah 20:14-18). God did not condemn them, but met them in their despair with gentleness. For those in such darkness, this chapter is a comfort: you are not the first believer to feel this, and Scripture holds your anguish without shame. And the true and lasting rest Job longed for is found not in the grave but in God, and fully in Christ, who says, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

Explanation

Job's pain was so deep that he wished he had died at birth, longing for death as the only rest he could imagine: "there the weary be at rest." In his present darkness he was not expressing a clear hope of heaven but simply longing for the cessation of pain. This is the honest voice of despair under crushing suffering. Job's wish to die is not a model to imitate, but a real cry Scripture does not hide, as Elijah and Jeremiah also voiced. God met such despair not with condemnation but with gentleness, and the true rest Job longed for is found fully in Christ.

Gospel Focus

Job's longing for death, "why died I not from the womb?", is the honest voice of despair under crushing suffering, and Scripture holds it without shame. Godly people have felt this: Elijah prayed to die (1 Kings 19:4), Jeremiah cursed his birth (Jeremiah 20:14-18), and Paul was "pressed out of measure... insomuch that we despaired even of life" (2 Corinthians 1:8). If you have ever felt that death would be a mercy, you are not alone, and you are not beyond God's compassion; He does not condemn the despairing but draws near to them, "the LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart" (Psalm 34:18). Yet the rest Job longed for is found not finally in the grave but in God, and fully in Christ. To the weary and heavy laden, the Lord Jesus says, "Come unto me... and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28-29). And He offers a hope beyond even the rest of the grave: eternal life and the resurrection, so that for the believer death is not oblivion but "to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better" (Philippians 1:23). Job in his darkness could see only the grave as rest; we, in the light of Christ, know a better rest, in Him now, and with Him for ever. If you are in such darkness, do not give up; bring your despair to the God who is near the broken-hearted, and find in Christ the rest your soul truly longs for, a rest the grave could never give.

Word Study

"greatly feared," Hebrew pachad pachadti (פַּחַד פָּחַדְתִּי), a dread I dreaded, an intense fearing. Job closes his lament with a poignant confession: "the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me." The doubled Hebrew form, a dread I dreaded, gives the intensity of it. Even in his days of prosperity, it seems, Job had carried a quiet dread that such calamity might come, and now it has. This is a very human note: the fear of loss haunting even a happy life, and then the fear realized. Some have suggested that Job's earlier fear (his constant sacrificing "lest" his children had sinned, chapter 1:5) reflected an anxious heart, but the text does not condemn Job for his fear; rather it records the anguish of a man whose worst nightmare has come true. There is a comfort even here for the sufferer: Job names his fear honestly, and lays it, with all his grief, before God. He does not pretend to a peace he does not feel.

"trouble," rogez (רֹגֶז), turmoil, agitation. The final line of the chapter captures the totality of his overthrow: "I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came." All his peace is gone; turmoil has swept it away, and the word names exactly that churning agitation which has replaced safety, rest, and quiet. And though Job cannot see it now, his very "trouble" (rogez) is under the sovereign hand of the God who permitted it "without cause" (chapter 2:3) and will, in the end, restore him double (chapter 42:10). The feared thing came, but it was not outside God's control, and it would not have the last word.

Explanation

Job ended his lament by confessing that his worst dread had come true: "the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me." Even in prosperity he had carried a quiet fear of such loss, and now it had fallen on him. His final words capture his total overthrow: all his safety, rest, and quiet were gone, swept away by trouble. Job names his fear honestly and lays his grief before God, not pretending to a peace he does not feel. Yet, though he cannot see it, his trouble is under the sovereign hand of God, who permitted it and would in the end restore him.

Gospel Focus

"The thing which I greatly feared is come upon me" is the cry of a man whose worst nightmare has come true, and it speaks to the fear of loss that haunts even happy lives. Job's honesty about his dread, and his laying it before God, is itself a kind of faith. And the Gospel speaks to this deepest fear. The believer is called to cast fear on God: "casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you" (1 Peter 5:7); "be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer... let your requests be made known unto God" (Philippians 4:6). And the ultimate answer to fear is the love of God in Christ, "there is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear" (1 John 4:18). Even when the feared thing comes, as it did for Job, it does not come outside the sovereign, loving control of God, "who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will" (Ephesians 1:11), and who works even our worst trials "together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28). Job could not yet see it, but his trouble was permitted by God for a purpose, and God would restore him beyond his losses. So the believer, even when the dreaded thing arrives, is not without hope: our God reigns over the trouble, He is near the broken-hearted, and He will have the last word. Bring your fears and your griefs honestly to God, as Job did, and trust that even the feared thing come is not beyond the reach of His redeeming purpose in Christ.