If an enemy slanders us it hurts but it hurts a thousand times more when brethren or close friends say we are guilty of a crime we never committed. Here we have the lowest level in Jobs’s condition, in the first trial he still worshipped God, Job 1:20-21, in the second trial he did not sin with his lips, Job 2:10, but from now on he cannot be submissive any longer.
If his theology is correct then he is the worst of sinners but he knows he is not and if he listens to the testimonies of his heart, that he is a sinner, then his whole theology that he has built his life upon must be wrong. That theology in part is this, only things like this happen to the sinful and the wicked, John 9:2. It is the same theology that his friends hold as well.
After seven days and in despair because of his situation, Satan prepares a new temptation for him. Job broke the silence by cursing the day he was born, Job 3:1 / Psalms 139:13-16, in numerous ways.
Dummelow, in his commentary, says the following.
‘It was thought that the days of the year had an existence of their own, so that any given day would come round again in its turn. Hence Job is not cursing a day which long ago ceased to be, but one which year by year comes back to blight the happiness of others as it blighted his, Job 3:5.’
He personifies the day and night, Job 3:2-3. God originally brought the light into existence out of darkness, Genesis 1:3, and so, Job wishes that his life remained shrouded in darkness, Job 3:3-6.
Dummelow, in his commentary, says the following concerning Job 3:6.
‘The ancients believed in lucky and unlucky days. Let this day ruin no more lives, it has ruined enough.’
Keil, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Job’s trust in God is not destroyed, but it is overcast with thick clouds of melancholy and doubt.’
As far as his birthdate is concerned, he would prefer if there was no such day, Job 3:7. The firm moorings of life are gone and his ship is adrift. He even calls on the mythology of his day to come forth and curse all that pertained to his existence, Job 3:8.
Ellicott, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Let those who proclaim days unlucky or accursed curse that day as pre-eminently so or let them recollect that day as a standard or sample of cursing. ‘Let it be as cursed as Job’s birth day.’
Job cries out of his soul because he doesn’t know what is happening to him, Job 3:8. So there is a striking resemblance between Job here and Jeremiah, Jeremiah 20:14. Although both wish they were never born they never contemplate suicide. They may question God’s wisdom but they won’t opt to take the precious life that God has given them.
The word, ‘Leviathan’, Job 3:8, is used five times in the Old Testament, Job 41:1 / Psalm 74:14 / Psalm 104:26 /
Isaiah 27:1. They are large aquatic animals, sea monsters. Some biblical scholars say that they were real animals, others assume it is a mythical animal, basing their assumptions on old Canaanite and Phoenician literature in which a similar creature was known as Lothan, one capable of destroying world order and it was only the experts in magic that were able to conjure it up.
Job says may its morning stars become dark, may it wait for daylight in vain and not see the first rays of dawn, for it did not shut the doors of the womb on him to hide trouble from his eyes, Job 3:9-10.
Job wished that he died at birth and that he wasn’t put on his father knees, Genesis 50:23, and his mother never nursed him, Job 3:11-12.
Dummelow, in his commentary, says the following.
‘It was usual for the new-born child to be laid on its father’s knees in token of ownership. If he suffered it to remain he pledged himself to bring it up.’
Death is described as lying down, being quiet or at rest, Job 3:13. Death in the Bible is spoken of as sleep, John 11:11-16 / 1 Thessalonians 4:14. The term sleep, Job 3:13, is used to describe death in the body. Only the body sleeps in death, Daniel 12:2. It is clear that a part of a person that is placed in the ground sleeps, the body sleeps in death, not the spirit. In the New Testament, the word for sleep is ‘koimaomai’, which literally means to lie down.
The word, ‘koimeterion’ is used for strangers coming to lie down for the night at an inn. The Old Testament’s understanding of death is not as full as the New, because of what is revealed in the New Testament, 2 Timothy 1:9-10. In the Old Testament references to ‘Sheol’, are used in the sense of the grave. It comes from a root word meaning to penetrate or go down deep. When Job or his friends talk about death, they mean you are free from pain and misery, they mean no more life.
So far as the early Hebrews understood, life ended in the grave, at death, Genesis 37:35 / Ecclesiastes 9:5 / 1 Samuel 28:19. In death, kings and princes lie in rest from their burdens of leadership, Job 3:14-15.
If the day of his birth cannot be blotted out, then he wishes he was stillborn, Job 3:16. If he could suffer death, then he too would be at rest from his burdens like the wicked, Job 3:17. Even prisoners are free in prison from those who oppressed them outside prison, Job 3:18. In death, the slave is free from the demands of his master, Job 3:19. Notice again that Job never thought about suicide, he understood that it was God who gives and takes, Job 1:21.
Now Job asks the question, ‘why me Lord?’ Notice he connects light and life, Job 3:20 / Psalms 36:9 / John 1:4. He sees himself as a man groping in darkness not knowing where he is going or what he is about, Job 3:20-22. He questions the purpose of life and feels hedged in, Job 3:23, he feels hemmed in, in turmoil and misery. Earlier Satan accused God of making a hedge around Job, Job 1:10, now Job uses the same terminology to blame God for the first time, for his hedged position, Job 3:23. He is struggling with his faith and begins to question his faith. If he hasn’t done before now, Job has certainly sinned with his lips now.
Job says that sighing has become his daily food and his groans pour out like water, Job 3:24 / Psalms 42:3. What he feared has come upon him and what he dreaded has happened to him, Job 3:25 / Proverbs 28:14.
Ellicott, in his commentary, says the following, concerning Job 3:25.
‘It means that he had always had in remembrance the uncertainty and instability of earthly things, an yet he had been overtaken by a calamity that mocked his carefulness and exceeded his apprehensions.’
He has no peace, no quietness, no rest, only turmoil, Job 3:26. We can sympathise Job but his complaint is rash and abruptly spoken without much thought.
Dummelow, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The passionate complaints and longings for death in this chapter testify to the agitation of Job’s soul. There are signs of impatience and resentment at God’s dealings, which shock his friends and evidently influence the tone of their language towards him in the debate which follows.’
We must remember there’s nothing wrong with questioning God but our questioning mustn’t be rash or sinful. Although Satan is introduced as an adversary in the life of the Christian, 1 Peter 5:8, we must never forget that it is God who is controlling our existence and the existence of the universe, Genesis 18:25 / Ephesians 1:11-12.
The desperate utterances of Job here are not inspired by God but they are an inspired record of what Job and his friends thought and said. What they say is not from God because they are not consistent with the truth and sometimes they may even border on blasphemy.