Bible Commentaries
Job 10

Introduction

Job Chapter 10

Job 10:1 "My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul." Job begins this by saying, that he really did not want to live in the pain and suffering. His worst pain was that of his heart feeling that he might have displeased God. He was sick in his soul with bitterness toward his hopeless life.

Job 10:2 "I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me." Job wanted to know what God had condemned him for, that he might repent. He loved God so much that he wanted to be back in fellowship with God. I do not believe that Job even cared about all of the wealth. His hurt was that he might have unknowingly offended God.

Job 10:3 "[Is it] good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?" Job believed that God was oppressing him, who had spent his time doing the will of God, and had let the wicked go free. Job had no idea what was going on.

Job 10:4 "Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?" Job was expressing the superiority of God to man, here. His eyes were not as those of man. God sees into the heart of man. Man can only see the physical. God sees into the heart and soul, as well as the physical. He is above man, and His judgements are above man’s.

Job 10:5 "[Are] thy days as the days of man? [are] thy years as man’s days," Of course, the answer to this is no. God is eternal. Man’s days are numbered. Most of mankind can expect to live about 70 years on the earth. God is forever. He is the Beginning and the Ending.

Job 10:6 "That thou inquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?"

Job 10:7 "Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and [there is] none that can deliver out of thine hand." In the very same statement that Job said God inquirest of Job’s iniquity, he said God knew that he was not wicked. The heart of Job was pure. Job, also, knew that not anyone could deliver him out of the hands of God.

Job 10:8 "Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me."

Job 10:9 "Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?" Job was aware that he was no more than putty in the hands of the LORD. The LORD made him, and the LORD could destroy that clay, and start again. Job was saying in this, "I am in your hands to do with as you wish". The Creator can do with His creation as He wishes.

Job 10:10 "Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?"

Job 10:11 "Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews." Job was fully aware that God started with a shapeless form and made him. His skin and flesh were brought on to the bones that God had formed. He was but a clay doll, until God breathed the breath of life into him. His body, spirit, and soul were all from God.

Job 10:12 "Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit." Job using words like "granted" showed that he knew his very existence was of God. He looked back with appreciation to the wonderful life he had before, and realized it was by the grace of God.

Job 10:13 "And these [things] hast thou hid in thine heart: I know that this [is] with thee." This is speaking of the foreknowledge of God, who knows everything even before it happens. Job was not complaining to God about his troubles, but was saying that God knew about them.

Job 10:14 "If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity." Job had been fully aware that the wages of sin was death. He was careful to sacrifice for his children in the chance that they might have sinned. He was fully aware of the penalty for sin. He tried to live a righteous life.

Job 10:15 "If I be wicked, woe unto me; and [if] I be righteous, [yet] will I not lift up my head. [I am] full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;" Job was confused, because he knew he was not a wicked man. He was willing to accept punishment for sins that he committed. He did not quite understand, if God said he was righteous, why he must pay for sins he did not commit. In this, again, he was a type of Christ who paid the price for sin, on the cross, for everyone of us, when He had not sinned.

Job 10:16 "For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me." Job’s disease did not get any better, it just seemed to get worse every day. The sufferings of Job were not just ordinary diseases of their day. They were marvellous in that they were unknown.

Job 10:17 "Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war [are] against me." It seemed to Job that everything was happening to him at once. His animals and servants were lost in a war of sorts. His own friends had witnessed against him. The indignation of God seemed to be upon him, because his plight was worse and worse.

Job 10:18 "Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me!"

Job 10:19 "I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave." This was just another way of saying, "Why was I ever born"?

Job 10:20 "[Are] not my days few? cease [then, and] let me alone, that I may take comfort a little," Job felt that he was near death and he wished that God would let him die now, and stop some of this suffering. He was asking God to shorten his life.

Job 10:21 "Before I go [whence] I shall not return, [even] to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;" Job was not speaking of heaven, here, but of the darkness of the grave. He was even thinking that God might have found wrong in him so great, that he would go to hell, when he died.

Job 10:22 "A land of darkness, as darkness [itself; and] of the shadow of death, without any order, and [where] the light [is] as darkness." It was almost as if Job was saying, if I am going to hell where there is no light and all is total confusion, why delay it? Just let me go on, and get this over with.

Job 10 Questions

1. How did Job begin this chapter?

2. What was his worst pain?

3. Job wanted to know what God had _________ him for.

4. What did Job really care about, if it was not the loss of his wealth?

5. Who did Job believe was oppressing him?

6. What did Job call himself in Job 10:3?

7. Quote Job 10:4.

8. What is the answer to those questions?

9. What can God see, that man cannot see?

10. God is ________.

11. What is the approximate life span of mankind?

12. In Job 10:7, Job said, "Thou knowest I am not _________".

13. Job was aware that he was no more than ______ in the hands of the LORD.

14. The Creator can do with His __________ as He wishes.

15. What did Job say that God started with, when he made him?

16. What does "granted", in Job 10:12, show?

17. Job 10:13 is speaking of the _________ of God.

18. If I sin, then thou __________ me.

19. The wages of sin is _________.

20. If I be wicked, ______ unto me.

21. Job was confused because he knew he was not a _________ man.

22. How was he a type of Christ, here?

23. Thou huntest me as a fierce _________.

24. It seemed that Job felt that everything was happening to him ___ ________.

25. In Job 10:21 and Job 10:22, what is this place of darkness?

Verses 1-7

Job 10:1-7

Job 10

THE CONCLUSION OF JOB’S RESPONSE TO BILDAD:

JOB EARNESTLY DENIES THAT HE IS WICKED

Job 10:1-7

"My soul is weary of my life;

I will give free course to my complaint;

I will speak in the bitterness of my soul;

I will say unto God, Do not condemn me;

Show me wherefore thou contendest with me.

Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress,

That thou shouldest despise the work of thy hands,

And shine upon the counsel of the wicked?

Hast thou eyes of flesh?

Or seest thou as man seeth?

Are thy days as the days of man,

Or thy years as man’s days,

That thou inquirest after mine iniquity,

And searchest after my sin,

Although thou knowest that I am not wicked,

And there is none that can deliver me out of thy hand?"

"I will give free course to my complaint" (Job 10:1). Job’s friends had implied that they were critical of his complaints; but Job here affirmed his right to speak of his wretchedness.

"I will say unto God, Do not condemn me" (Job 10:2). Job still trusted God to do the right thing, even as Abraham had said, "Shall not the God of all the earth do right" (Genesis 18:25)?

"That thou inquirest after mine iniquity" (Job 10:6). In these lines Job tacitly admits his sin and iniquity, insisting only that he does not know what it is, and pleading with God to, "Show me wherefore thou contendest with me" (Job 10:2). There was a marvelous integrity resident in Job’s heart; and no one can wonder that even God was especially well pleased with it, and that God, in effect, challenged Satan to destroy it if he could.

"Thou knowest that I am not wicked" (Job 10:7). This is not a contradiction of what Job had just said in Job 10:6. Some sin, unknown to himself, Job freely admitted; but wicked, he was not!

E.M. Zerr:

Job 10:1-2. The awful state of affliction being endured by Job must be kept before the mind of the reader because of the main purpose of the book. (Job 3:2-3.) That will account for the many places throughout that devote so much attention to the subject. As a man, no doubt Job felt the sting of his sufferings; but as an inspired writer he was giving us a true description of his condition.

Job 10:3. Apparently God was giving rough treatment to a part of his own creation. In doing that he was giving the enemy something to boast about.

Verses Job 10 :same manner that a man would treat him if he had it "in for him."

Job 10:6. Job had no knowledge of any particular sin for which he should be so grievously tormented. Yet it appeared that God was making a search "by scourging" as it were, to see if some secret sin existed in Job’s life.

Job 10:7. Job had a clear conscience before God, therefore he was assured that no one could snatch him from the Lord’s hand.

Verses 8-17

Job 10:8-17

Job 10:8-17

JOB CONTINUES TO PLEAD WITH GOD

Here indeed is the secret of spiritual excellence. Suffering, distressed, shamefully treated by his friends, Job nevertheless communed continually with the Lord in prayer.

"Thy hands have framed me and fashioned me

Together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.

Remember, I beseech thee that thou hast fashioned me as clay;

And wilt thou bring me into dust again?

Hast thou not poured me out as milk,

And curdled me like cheese?

Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh,

And knit me together with bones and sinews,

Thou hast granted me life and lovingkindness;

And thy visitations have preserved my spirit.

Yet these things thou didst hide in thy heart;

I know that this is with thee:

If I sin, then thou markest me,

And thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity.

If I be wicked, woe unto me;

And if I be righteous, yet shall I not lift up my head;

Being filled with ignominy,

And looking upon mine affliction.

And if my head exalt itself,

Thou huntest me as a lion;

And again thou showest thyself marvelous upon me.

Thou renewest thy witnesses against me,

And increasest thine indignation upon me:

Changes and warfare are with me."

"Thou hast fashioned me as dust" (Job 10:9). The Psalmist remembered these very words (Psalms 103:14), expressing the same thought that was here in the mind of Job. Job here also granted the right of God to bring him again into the dust.

"Thou hast granted me life ... and lovingkindness ... and preserved my spirit" (Job 10:12). What a beautiful example is this! When sorrows are multiplied and the terrors of life seem about to sweep us away, what a consolation derives from remembering those precious and wonderful things that God did for his in the days that have vanished.

"These things thou didst hide ... I know this is from thee" (Job 10:13). Job here spoke of the terrible things that had come upon him; but he here showed himself willing to accept bad things as well as good from the hand of God.

"If I be righteous, yet shall I not lift up my head ... being filled with ignominy" (Job 10 :l5). The very condition of Job was one of extreme shame; and he recognized that, even if his righteousness should be known, his pitiful condition would deny it in the eyes of men.

"Thou showest thyself marvelous upon me" (Job 10:16). Job here called attention to the superlative nature of the disasters that had come upon him. The complimnent he thus bestowed upon God should not be overlooked.

"Thou renewest thy witnesses against me" (Job 10:17). This appears to be a reference to Job’s friends whose words certainly were, in a sense, witnesses against Job. In view of all this, Job again renewed his appeal for God to let him die.

E.M. Zerr:

Job 10:8. Destroy refers to the destruction of Job’s family and property and the loss of his health. God had allowed such a condition to come upon Job although he was the Creator of all those things.

Job 10:9. Job knew that he was made out of the earth and was destined to return to it; he feared that such a change was about to occur.

Job 10:10. When milk is poured out it is lost and Job used the Illustration in view of what he had lost. One meaning of the original for curdled is to shrink or become diminished, and Job had certainly been diminished by the Lord.

Job 10:11-13. This passage is an acknowledgement of the favors of God that had been bestowed on Job notwithstanding all his afflictions.

Job 10:14. Job had denied all along, in his conversations with his friends, that his afflictions were a special judgment, yet he admitted that if he did commit sin he would deserve the judgment of God.

Job 10:15. Job would expect the severe judgment or chastisement of God were he to commit wickedness knowingly. Yet, even though he was not aware of any specific sin, he would not feel inclined to boast of it. On the humble basis of his admission of unworthiness Job asked for the mercy of God.

Job 10:16. God had suffered afflictions to come on Job as if a fierce lion were pursuing him. In spite of that, however, the divine favor had been great.

Job 10:17. War is used figuratively and refers to the attacks being made on Job by his many afflictions as if by an invading army.

Verses 18-22

Job 10:18-22

Job 10:18-22

JOB’S APPEAL FOR GOD TO ALLOW HIM TO DIE

"Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb?

I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me.

I should have been as though I had not been;

I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

Are not my days few? cease then,

And let me alone that I may take comfort a little,

Before I go whence I shall not return,

Even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;

The land dark as midnight,

The land of the shadow of death without any order,

And where the light is as midnight."

"The Land of ... the shadow of death" (Job 10:21). Here again we have an expression picked up and used in the Psalms (Psalms 23).

Some scholars understand Job’s remarks here as coming very close to the category of blasphemy. For example, Franks wrote that, "He accuses God of having created him only to torment him ... that he sees faults where they do not exist ... torturing him to make him confess ... having blessed and preserved him, while all the while secretly planning to torture him." We reject such comments. One may find many other similar comments in the writings of scholars regarding this chapter; but as we have noted above, there are marvelous evidences of faith and submission to God’s will throughout the whole passage.

E.M. Zerr:

Job 10:18-19. The uselessness of his birth is the subject of this paragraph. See my comments at Job 3:10-11 for explanation of the passage.

Job 10:20. This verse is a pitiable plea for just a few days of comfort before Job was to pass from the earth.

Job 10:21-22. This doleful description of the state of man after death applies only to the fleshly part. What Job said in Job 3:13-17 showed he did not believe that death ended it all for the spiritual part of human beings.