Job now turns Eliphaz’s argument right around, to turn it against him and God. In effect, what he is saying is that God is my enemy. He describes his life as a hard and painful servitude, Job 7:1-2, and all there was to look forward to was the end of life.
Dummelow, in his commentary, says the following.
‘As the labourer longs for the weary day to end and to receive his wages, so Job bemoans the length of his sufferings and sighs for death to end them.’
Months of misery are aggravated by the torture of his disease, and he is not getting much sleep, Job 7:3-5. He describes the brevity of life, days are swifter than the weaver’s shuttle, Job 7:6.
The final thing being without hope is death, Job 7:7-9, but later he will regret what he has said. Like a cloud, it was vanishing away and headed for the grave, Job 7:9 / Job 3:15-19.
The dead don’t return to the living, Job 7:9, and so, the dead are forgotten by the living, Job 7:10. He wants to be left alone because his days are up, and he still felt that death was an option in order to be delivered from his suffering.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Human life is a state of probation, a time of exercise to train us for eternal life. It is warfare; we are enlisted in the Church Militant and must accomplish our time of service. And there is no discharge in that war, Ecclesiastes 8:8.’
Job now turns to bring his case before God. He won’t keep silent, but he will speak out in the anguish of his spirit and will complain in the bitterness of his soul, Job 7:11.
He more or less says to God, ‘Why do you keep harassing me and watching me? ‘Am I a monster that you have to do this to?’, Job 7:12. He questioned why God would allow him to live since his plight was so miserable in life.
Dummelow, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The Babylonians told the myth of the dragon Tiamat, who waged war against heaven and was slain by the God Marduk. This myth is referred to here, but in a form which represented the monster, not as slain, but imprisoned and kept under strict observation. The sea needs to be held down lest it flood the earth or smite the sky, Job 38:8-11; the dragon must be watched lest it burst its bonds. Is Job as formidable as they that God should watch him as closely?’
Job says that God even pursues him in his dreams and visions, Job 7:13-14. He prefers strangling and death, rather than his body, Job 7:15. He despises his life and wouldn’t want to live forever, and asks God to leave him alone because his life has no meaning, Job 7:16. He felt that God was constantly afflicting him and so, questioned why he was being tormented.
In Psalm 8:4, the palmist asks, ‘what is man that you make so much of him’, but here, the contrast is vivid, Job 7:17. Job says what is there about man that makes God hound him so much, Job 7:17. God doesn’t look away long enough for Him to even leave him alone, even for an instant, Job 7:18-19.
Job is worked up so much, that he challenges God, he asks if he has sinned, ‘show me, show everyone what I have done’, Job 7:20. He sees himself as a target and even if he has sinned so badly why doesn’t God take away the consequences, Job 7:21.
If he has sinned, why has God had not forgiven him of his sin, Job 7:21. He says soon he will be gone and he will not be able to be kicked around anymore, Job 7:21.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Job does not contemplate suicide. The case of Ahithophel, 2 Samuel 17:23, is the only bona fide case of suicide in the Old Testament. The instances of two warriors resorting to suicide, Judges 9:54 / 1 Samuel 31:4, in order to escape dishonour are not quite the same as deliberate and premeditated suicide.’
Job speaks disrespectfully and stupidly, and he is desperate and doesn’t have the understanding that he will have later. He still saw God as a God of love, 1 John 4:8 / 1 John 4:16, but he pleads that God seeks him out urgently before he died, Job 7:21. Job appears to believe that if he did die, he would be beyond God’s reach.
Dummelow, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Job believes that one day God will turn to him once more in love, but then it will be too late. The faint hope expressed here gradually becomes a conviction, Job 13:15-18 / Job 14:13-15 / Job 16:19-21 / Job 19:23-27.’