Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Job 17:16

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Job 17:16. They shall go down to the bars of the pit — All that I have must descend into the depths of the grave. Thither are we all going; and there alone can I rest.

בדי baddey, which we translate bars, signifies also branches, distended limbs, or claws, and may here refer either to a personification of the grave, a monster who seizes on human bodies, and keeps them fast in his deadly gripe; or to the different branching-off-alleys in subterranean cemeteries, or catacombs, in which niches are made for the reception of different bodies.

When our rest together is in the dust. — That is, according to some critics, My hope and myself shall descend together into the grave. It shall never be realized, for the time of my departure is at hand.

IN those times what deep shades hung on the state of man after death, and on every thing pertaining to the eternal world! Perplexity and uncertainty were the consequences; and a corresponding gloom often dwelt on the minds of even the best of the Old Testament believers. Job's friends, though learned in all the wisdom of the Arabians, connected with the advantages derivable from the Mosaic writings, and perhaps those of the earlier prophets, had little clear or distinct in their minds relative to all subjects post mortem, or of the invisible world. Job himself, though sometimes strongly confident, is often harassed with doubts and fears upon the subject, insomuch that his sayings and experience often appear contradictory. Perhaps it could not be otherwise; the true light was not then come: Jesus alone brought life and immortality to light by his Gospel.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Job’s reply to Eliphaz (16:1-17:16)

Tired at this repetition of the friends’ unhelpful teaching, Job says he could give similar ‘comfort’ if he were in their position and they in his (16:1-5). His argument with God may not have brought relief from his pain, but neither has his silence. In fact, his physical condition only becomes worse (6-8). God opposes him and people insult him. Some deliberately try to do him harm (9-11). He feels like a helpless victim that wild animals attack, like a target that archers fire at, like a weak city wall that enemy soldiers smash to pieces (12-14). He mourns and suffers, though he is innocent (15-17).
For a moment Job’s faith grows strong again despite his bitter anguish. His innocent blood has been spilt on the earth, and he asks the earth to cry to heaven that justice might be done on his behalf (18). He believes he has a heavenly witness who knows he is not guilty of the wrongdoing of which people accuse him (19-21). Although he is confident that this witness hears his cries and affirms his innocence, he nevertheless fears that he is on the way to his death (22-17:2).
Job asks God himself to guarantee that in the end he will be declared righteous. He has given up expecting any understanding from those who have closed their minds to reason. He feels they have betrayed him (3-5). Job is sad that he, a godly person, must suffer such pain and insults, but his sufferings make him the more determined to do right and oppose wrong (6-9).
As he returns to consider the so-called comfort of his friends, Job becomes discouraged again. There is no wisdom in what any of them say (10). It is useless for them to try to comfort him by saying that the night of suffering will soon be past and a new day of joy will dawn. He expects only the greater darkness of death (11-16).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

CERTAIN OF FINAL VINDICATION, JOB VOWED TO KEEP HIS INTEGRITY

"But he hath made me a byword of the people; And they spit in my face. Mine eye is dim also by reason of sorrow, And all my members are as a shadow. Upright men shall be astonished at this, And the innocent shall stir up himself against the godless. Yet shall the righteous hold on his way, And he that hath clean hands shall wax stronger and stronger. But as for you all, come on now again; And I shall not find a wise man among you. My days are past, my purposes are broken off, Even the thoughts of my heart. They change the night into the day: The light, say they, is near unto the darkness. If l took for Sheol as my house; If I have spread my couch in the darkness; If I have said to corruption, Thou art my father; To the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister; Where then is my hope? And, as for my hope, who shall see it? It shall go down to the bars of Sheol, When once there is rest in the dust."

Job 17:6-9 here are difficult. "It is hard to find a path through the profusion of ideas here."Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, op. cit., p. 184.

"All my members are as a shadow" Barnes paraphrased this, "I am a mere skeleton; I am emaciated and exhausted by my sufferings."Barnes' Notes on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, a 1987 reprint of the 1878 edition), Job, Vol. 1, p. 300.

"Upright men shall be astonished at this" "They will be amazed that God has permitted a holy man to suffer such calamity and to be treated in such a manner by his friends."George DeHoff's Commentary, op. cit., p. 42.

"Yet shall the righteous hold on their way" "As these words stand, they express Job's conviction of final victory."Arthur S. Peake, A Commentary on the Bible (London: T. C. and E. C. Jack, Ltd., 1924), p. 357. They do even more than that. They constitute Job's pledge, that in spite of his friends' unbelief, in spite of his terrible sufferings, in spite of everything, he will continue in the way of righteousness.

"These words confounded the hopes of Satan to destroy Job's integrity; for they indicate that the righteous (including Job), in spite of the irregular dealings of providence and the slanders of the public (including Job's friends), will persevere more and more in righteousness."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 475. "The human spirit here rose to the height of moral grandeur."New Century Bible Commentary, op. cit., p. 125.

The authorship of Job continues to be more and more impossible to attribute to anyone other than to Job himself. No writer during Israel's captivity, or at any other time than that of Job's lifetime, could have revealed the innermost thoughts of Job, as do these chapters. Job himself is the author of this great central section of the book; and his words are most certainly inspired of God.

"But as for you all, come on now again; and I shall not find a wise man among you" Rawlinson gave the meaning here as, "A challenge to Job's detractors. `Return, all of you, to your old work of detraction, if you please'; I don't even care."The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 7d, p. 295. Jamieson interpreted it thus: "Return if you have anything really wise to advance, although I doubt it. As yet, I cannot find one wise man among you all."Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary, p. 323.

"My purposes are broken off" No sadder words than these were ever written. "How many unfinished plans are terminated every day! The farmer leaves his plow in the furrow; the lawyer his brief half prepared, the mechanic his work undone, the student his books lying open, the author his writing not finished! How many schemes of wickedness or of benevolence, of fraud or of kindness, or of hatred or mercy are concluded every day by death! Dear reader, soon all your plans, and mine will be forever terminated.Barnes' Notes on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, a 1987 reprint of the 1878 edition), op. cit., p. 301.

In the concluding verses of this chapter, Job clearly contemplated death, but there is no hint of disrespect for God. "There is a note of acceptance and confidence throughout the passage."Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, op. cit., p. 187. Despite his perplexity and suffering, "One finds this growing sense that all is not as it seems, and that one day, at another time, and another place, he will be vindicated."The Bible Speaks Today (Downer's Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1976), p. 90.

"When once there is rest in the dust" Rowley wrote that this rendition does not conform to the Masoretic text, and recommended the RSV which reads: "Where then is my hope… Shall we descend together into the dust"?New Century Bible Commentary, op. cit., p. 126.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

They shall go down - That is, my hopes shall go down. All the expectations that I have cherished of life and happiness, will descend there with me. We have a similar expression when we say, that a man “has buried his hopes in the grave,” when he loses an only son.

To the bars of the pit - “Bars of Sheol” - שׁאול בד bad sh^e'ôl. Vulgate, “Profoundest deep.” Septuagint, εἰς ᾅδην eis hadēn - to Hades. Sheol, or Hades, was supposed to be under the earth. Its entrance was by the grave as a gate that led to it. It was protected by bars - as prisons are - so that those who entered there could not escape; see the notes at Isaiah 14:9. It was a dark, gloomy dwelling, far away from light, and from the comforts which people enjoy in this life; see Job 10:21-22. To that dark world Job expected soon to descend; and though he did not regard that as properly a place of punishment, yet it was not a place of positive joy. It was a gloomy and wretched world - the land of darkness and of the shadow of death; and he looked to the certainty of going there not with joy, but with anguish and distress of heart. Had Job been favored with the clear and elevated views of heaven which we have in the Christian revelation, death to him would have lost its gloom.

We wonder, often, that so good a man expressed such a dread of death, and that he did not look more calmly into the future world. But to do him justice, we should place ourselves in his situation. We should lay aside all that is cheerful and glad in the views of heaven which Christianity has given us. We should look upon the future world as the shadow of death; a land of gloom and spectres; a place beneath the ground - dark, chilly, repulsive; and we shall cease to wonder at the expressions of even so good a man at the prospect of death. When we look at him, we should remember with thankfulness the different views which we have of the future world, and the source to which we owe them. To us, if we are pious in any measure as Job was, death is the avenue, not to a world of gloom, but to a world of light and glory. It opens into heaven. There is no gloom, no darkness, no sorrow. There all are happy; and there all that is mysterious in this life is made plain - all that is sad is succeeded by eternal joy. These views we owe to that gospel which has brought life and immortality to light; and when we think of death and the future world, when from the midst of woes and sorrows we are compelled to look out on eternity, let us rejoice that we are not constrained to look forward with the sad forebodings of the Sage of Uz, but that we may think of the grave cheered by the strong consolations of Christian hope of the glorious resurrection.

When our rest together is in the dust - The rest of me and my hopes. My hopes and myself will expire together.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 17

My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me. Are there not mockers with me? and doth not my eye continue in their provocation? Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me? ( Job 17:1-3 )

Who will be my friend?

For you have hid your heart from understanding: therefore thou shalt not exalt them. He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail. He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret ( Job 17:4-6 ).

Before, I was actually a song to them. Now I'm a curse.

My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow. Upright men shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite. The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you. My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart. They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness. If I wait, the grave is my house: I have made my bed in the darkness. I have said to corruption, You are my father: to the worm, You are my mother, and my sister. And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it? They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust ( Job 17:7-16 ).

I mean, this is really a dirge of the lowest you can imagine. "I've had it. You know, I'm just waiting for the grave. It's my house. I've made my bed in darkness. I've said to the corruption, 'Hey, corruption, you're my dad.' To the worms, 'You're my mother, eat me up.' You know, waiting for the maggots to come along and just destroy me, and then I'll be at rest." "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Job’s despair in the face of death 17:6-16

Job proceeded to accuse God of making him a byword (proverb) to others (Job 17:6). Perhaps parents were pointing to him as an example of what happens to a person who lives a hypocritical life. One writer suggested that Job 17:6 should read, "Therefore I repudiate and repent of dust and ashes." [Note: Dale Patrick, "The Translation of Job XVII 6," Vetus Testamentum 26:3 (July 1976):369-71.] This statement would express Job’s intention to abandon mourning. However, most interpreters have not adopted this rendering. Job did not stop mourning.

Bright flashing eyes were and still are a sign of vitality, but Job’s eyes had grown dim because of his suffering (Job 17:7). Nonetheless, Job still believed that his experiences would not discourage other godly people from opposing the wicked (Job 17:8 b).

Again, Job ended his speech with a gloomy reference to the grave and his anticipated death (Job 17:13-16).

"However, at no time did Job ever consider taking his own life or asking someone else to do it for him. Life is a sacred gift from God, and only God can give it and take it away." [Note: Wiersbe, p. 35.]

3. Bildad’s second speech ch. 18

In his second speech, Bildad emphasized the fate of the wicked. There is little that is unique in Bildad’s second speech, but it was harsher than his first speech.

"Bildad’s second speech is straightforward. It is no more than a long diatribe on the fate of the wicked (5-21), preceded by a few reproaches addressed to Job (2-4)." [Note: Andersen, p. 187.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

They shall go down to the bars of the pit,.... He himself, and his friends, and the hopes they would have him entertain; these should all go down together to the grave, and there lie barred and locked up; these hopes, so as never to rise anymore, and the bodies of himself, and his friends, till loosed by him who has the keys of hell and death: or "the bars shall go down to the grave"; the members of his body, as Jarchi, which are the bars of it, as some in Bar Tzemach; the strength and support of it, as particularly the bones, these shall go down to the grave, and there turn to rottenness and dust; and therefore, as if he should say, as he elsewhere does, "what is my strength, that I should hope?" Job 6:11;

when [our] rest together [is] in the dust; which is man's original, and to which he returns, and in which the dead lie and sleep until the resurrection; and where they are at rest from all adversity and affliction of body, mind, and estate; from all the troubles and vexations occasioned by wicked men, and from all disputes, wranglings, contentions, and animosities among friends, which would be the case of Job, and his friends, when their heads were laid in the dust, and which he supposed would quickly be; and therefore it was in vain for them to feed him with hopes of outward happiness, and for him to entertain them; it best came them both to think of death and the grave as near at hand, where their controversies would be buried, and they would be good friends, and lie quietly together, and take their rest until they should awake and rise to everlasting life.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      10 But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.   11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.   12 They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.   13 If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.   14 I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.   15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?   16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.

      Job's friends had pretended to comfort him with the hopes of his return to a prosperous estate again; now he here shows,

      I. That it was their folly to talk so (Job 17:10; Job 17:10): "Return, and come now, be convinced that you are in an error, and let me persuade you to be of my mind; for I cannot find one wise man among you, that knows how to explain the difficulties of God's providence or how to apply the consolations of his promises." Those do not go wisely about the work of comforting the afflicted who fetch their comforts from the possibility of their recovery and enlargement in this world; though that is not to be despaired of, it is at the best uncertain; and if it should fail, as perhaps it may, the comfort built upon it will fail too. It is therefore our wisdom to comfort ourselves, and others, in distress, with that which will not fail, the promise of God, his love and grace, and a well-grounded hope of eternal life.

      II. That it would he much more his folly to heed them; for,

      1. All his measures were already broken and he was full of confusion, Job 17:11; Job 17:12. He owns he had, in his prosperity, often pleased himself both with projects of what he should do and prospects of what he should enjoy; but now he looked upon his days as past, or drawing towards a period; all those purposes were broken off and those expectations dashed. He had had thoughts about enlarging his border, increasing his stock, and settling his children, and many pious thoughts, it is likely, of promoting religion in his country, redressing grievances, reforming the profane, relieving the poor, and raising funds perhaps for charitable uses; but he concluded that all these thoughts of his heart were now at an end, and that he should never have the satisfaction of seeing his designs effected. Note, The period of our days will be the period of all our contrivances and hopes for this world; but, if with full purpose of heart we cleave to the Lord, death will not break off that purpose. Job, being thus put upon new counsels, was under a constant uneasiness (Job 17:12; Job 17:12): The thoughts of his heart being broken, they changed the night into day and shortened the light. Some, in their vanity and riot, turn night into day and day into night; but Job did so through trouble and anguish of spirit, which were a hindrance, (1.) To the repose of the night, keeping his eyes waking, so that the night was as wearisome to him as the day, and the tossings of the night tired him as much as the toils of the day. (2.) To the entertainments of the day. "The light of the morning is welcome, but, by reason of this inward darkness, the comfort of it is soon gone, and the day is to me as dismal as the black and dark night," Deuteronomy 28:67. See what reason we have to be thankful for the health and ease which enable us to welcome both the shadows of the evening and the light of the morning.

      2. All his expectations from this world would very shortly be buried in the grave with him; so that it was a jest for him to think of such mighty things as they had flattered him with the hopes of, Job 5:19; Job 8:21; Job 11:17. "Alas! you do but make a fool of me."

      (1.) He saw himself just dropping into the grave. A convenient house, an easy bed, and agreeable relations, are some of those things in which we take satisfaction in this world: Job expected not any of these above ground; all he felt, and all he had in view, was unpleasing and disagreeable, but under ground he expected them. [1.] He counted upon no house but the grave (Job 17:13; Job 17:13): "If I wait, if there be any place where I shall ever be easy again, it must be in the grave. I should deceive myself if I should count upon any out-let from my trouble but what death will give me. Nothing is so sure as that." Note, In all our prosperity it is good to keep death in prospect. Whatever we expect, let us be sure to expect that; for that may prevent other things which we expect, but nothing will prevent that. But see how he endeavours not only to reconcile himself to the grave, but to recommend it to himself: "It is my house." The grave is a house; to the wicked it is a prison-house (Job 24:19; Job 24:20); to the godly it is Bethabara, a passage-house in their way home. "It is my house, mine by descent, I am born to it; it is my father's house. It is mine by purchase. I have made myself obnoxious to it." We must everyone of us shortly remove to this house, and it is our wisdom to provide accordingly; let us think of removing, and send before to our long home. [2.] He counted upon no quiet bed but in the darkness: "There," says he, "I have made my bed. It is made, for it is ready, and I am just going to it." The grave is a bed, for we shall rest in it in the evening of our day on earth, and rise from it in the morning of our everlasting day, Isaiah 57:2. Let this make good people willing to die; it is but going to bed; they are weary and sleepy, and it is time that they were in their beds. Why should they not go willingly, when their father calls? "Nay, I have made my bed, by preparation for it, have endeavoured to make it easy, by keeping conscience pure, by seeing Christ lying in this bed, and so turning it into a bed of spices, and by looking beyond it to the resurrection." [3.] He counted upon no agreeable relations but what he had in the grave (Job 17:14; Job 17:14): I have cried to corruption (that is, to the grave, where the body will corrupt), Thou art my father (for our bodies were formed out of the earth), and to the worms there, You are my mother and my sister, to whom I am allied (for man is a worm) and with whom I must be conversant, for the worms shall cover us,Job 21:26; Job 21:26. Job complained that his kindred were estranged from him (Job 19:13; Job 19:13); therefore here he claims acquaintance with other relations that would cleave to him when those disowned him. Note, First, We are all of us near akin to corruption and the worms. Secondly, It is therefore good to make ourselves familiar with them, by conversing much with them in our thoughts and meditations, which would very much help us above the inordinate love of life and fear of death.

      (2.) He saw all his hopes from this world dropping into the grave with him (Job 17:15; Job 17:16): "Seeing I must shortly leave the world, where is now my hope? How can I expect to prosper who do not expect to live?" He is not hopeless, but his hope is not where they would have it be. If in this life only he had hope, he was of all men most miserable. "No, as for my hope, that hope which I comfort and support myself with, who shall see it? It is something out of sight that I hope for, not things that are seen, that are temporal, but things not seen, that are eternal." What is his hope he will tell us (Job 19:25; Job 19:25), Non est mortale quod opto, immortale peto--I seek not for that which perishes, but for that which abides for ever. "But, as for the hopes you would buoy me up with, they shall go down with me to the bars of the pit. You are dying men, and cannot make good your promises. I am a dying man, and cannot enjoy the good you promise. Since, therefore, our rest will be together in the dust, let us all lay aside the thoughts of this world and set our hearts upon another." We must shortly be in the dust, for dust we are, dust and ashes in the pit, under the bars of the pit, held fast there, never to loose the bands of death till the general resurrection. But we shall rest there; we shall rest together there. Job and his friends could not agree now, but they will both be quiet in the grave; the dust of that will shortly stop their mouths and put an end to the controversy. Let the foresight of this cool the heat of all contenders and moderate the disputers of this world.