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Verse- by-Verse Bible Commentary
New American Standard Bible
Bible Study Resources
Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities; Death; God Continued...; Zeal, Religious; Scofield Reference Index - Inspiration;
Clarke's Commentary
Verse Job 6:10. Then should I yet have comfort — Instead of עוד od, YET, three of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. have זאת zoth, THIS. And THIS should be my comfort. The expectation that he will speedily make an end of me would cause me to rejoice with great joy. This reading is supported by the Vulgate and the Chaldee.
I would harden myself in sorrow — To know that I should shortly have an end put to my miseries would cause me to endure the present with determinate resolution. Let him not spare - let him use whatever means he chooses, for I will not resist his decree; he is holy, and his decrees must be just.
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Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on Job 6:10". "The Adam Clarke Commentary". https://www.studylight.org/​commentaries/​acc/​job-6.html. 1832.
Bridgeway Bible Commentary
Job’s reply to Eliphaz (6:1-7:21)
Eliphaz had rebuked Job for his impatient outburst. In reply Job acknowledges that God is the one who has sent this affliction, but he points out that if Eliphaz knew how great this suffering was he would understand why Job spoke rashly (6:1-4). An animal cries out only with good reason (for example, if it is hungry for food). Job likewise cries out only with good reason. His tormenting thoughts and Eliphaz’s useless words are to him like food that makes him sick (5-7). He still refuses to curse God, and wishes that God would give him his request and kill him, even if the death is painful (8-10). He cannot endure much more suffering; he is not made of rock or bronze (11-13)!
Job expected kindness from his friends but found none. They are like useless streams that overflow with destructive ice and snow in winter, but dry up in summer (14-17). They disappoint all who go to them expecting to find something beneficial (18-21). Job has not asked his friends for money or help, but he had hoped for sympathy (22-23).
Instead Job receives from his friends nothing but rebuke for his rash words. They make no effort to understand what despair must have caused him to make such an outburst. He accuses them of being heartless, and challenges them to show him plainly where he is wrong (24-27). He is being honest with them; in return he wants some understanding. At least he wants their acknowledgment that he can tell the difference between suffering that is deserved and suffering that is not (28-30).
Life for Job has no pleasure. He looks for death as a worker looks for wages or a slave looks for rest at the end of a hard day’s work. Day and night he has nothing but pain (7:1-5). Bitterly Job says that if God is going to help him, he should do it quickly, otherwise Job will soon be dead. It will then be too late for God to do anything (6-10).
This leads Job to an angry outburst addressed to God. Job asks why God must treat him with such severity, as if he were a wild monster (11-12). Tortured with pain by day and horrible dreams by night, he wants only to die (13-16). If God is so great, why doesn’t he leave Job alone? Job complains that God’s torment of him is so constant he does not even have time to swallow his spittle (17-19). He cannot understand why the mighty God is so concerned over the small sins of one person. Surely they are not such a burden. Surely God can forgive. If he does not hurry and forgive soon, it will be too late, because Job will be dead (20-21).
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Fleming, Donald C. "Commentary on Job 6:10". "Fleming's Bridgeway Bible Commentary". https://www.studylight.org/​commentaries/​bbc/​job-6.html. 2005.
Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible
JOB REAFFIRMS HIS DESIRE TO DIE
"Oh that I might have my request: And that God would grant me the thing that I long for! Even that it would please God to crush me; That he would let loose his hand and cut me off! And be it still my consolation, Yea, let me exult in pain that spareth not, That I have not denied the words of the Holy One. What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is mine end, that I should be patient? Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass? Is it not that I have no help in me, And that wisdom is driven quite from me."
"Be it still my consolation… I have not denied the words of the Holy One" The fearlessness of Job in his contemplation of death is very significant. "He had nothing to fear in death; his conscience was clear; and the commandments of God he had never denied."
"What is my strength that I should wait" "What Job is saying in this and the next verse is that, "I am a human. I am a weak, frail, faltering human";
Coffman's Commentaries reproduced by permission of Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. All other rights reserved.
Coffman, James Burton. "Commentary on Job 6:10". "Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible". https://www.studylight.org/​commentaries/​bcc/​job-6.html. Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.
Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible
Then should I yet have comfort - Dr. Good renders this, “then would I already take comfort.” Noyes, “yet it should still be my consolation.” The literal sense is, “and there would be to me yet consolation;” or “my consolation would yet be.” That is, he would find comfort in the grave (compare Job 3:13 ff), or in the future world.
I would harden myself in sorrow - Dr. Good renders this, “and I will leap for joy.” In a similar way Noyes renders it, “I would exult.” So Schultens understands the expression. The Hebrew word rendered “I would harden myself” (סלד sâlad) occurs nowhere else, and expositors have been divided in regard to its meaning. According to Castell, it means to strengthen, to confirm. The Chaldee (סלד) means to grow warm, to glow, to burn. The Arabic word is applied to a horse, and means to beat the earth with his feet, and then to leap, to exult, to spring up; and this is the idea which Gesenius and others suppose is to be retained here - an idea which certainly better suits the connection than the common one of hardening himself in sorrow. The Septuagint renders it ἡλλόμήν hēllomēn - “I would leap,” or exult, although they have sadly missed the sense in the other part of the verse. They render it, “Let but my city be a grave, upon whose walls I will leap; I will not spare, for I have not falsified the holy words of my God.” The Chaldee renders it, “and I will exult (ואבוע) when fury comes upon the wicked.” The probable meaning is, that Job would exult or rejoice, if be was permitted to die; he would triumph even in the midst of his sorrow, if he might lie down and expire.
Let him not spare - Let him not withhold or restrain those sufferings which would sink me down to the grave.
For I have not concealed the words of the Holy One - I have openly and boldly maintained a profession of attachment to the cause of God, and to his truth. I have, in a public and solemn manner, professed attachment to my Maker; I have not refused to acknowledge that I am his; I have not been ashamed of him and his cause. How much consolation may be found in such a reflection when we come to die! If there has been a consistent profession of religion; if there has been no shrinking back from attachment to God; if in all circles, high and low, rich and poor, frivolous and serious, there has been an unwavering and steady, though not ostentatious, attachment to the cause of God, it will give unspeakable consolation and confidence when we come to die. If there has been concealment, and shame, and shrinking back from a profession of religion, there will be shame, and regret, and sorrow; compare Psalms 40:9; Acts 20:20-27.
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Barnes, Albert. "Commentary on Job 6:10". "Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible". https://www.studylight.org/​commentaries/​bnb/​job-6.html. 1870.
Smith's Bible Commentary
Chapter 6
So Job responds to him and he says, Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamities laid in the balances together! ( Job 6:1-2 )
Now, of course, picturesque, you got to see it. In those days, the balances, the scales were always balances and they had the little weights that they would put on the one side and then, you know, the grapes or whatever you were buying were put on the other side. And when the balance came to be equal, then you had the talent, the weight of the talent, the talent of grapes and so forth. And you've got to see these balances. Now he said, "Oh that my calamities, my griefs were laid in the balance."
They would be heavier than the sands of the sea ( Job 6:3 ):
So you picture all of the sand of the sea put in the one side of the balance, and now you're pouring in Job's calamities and Job's grief and it balances up. I think he's exaggerating a little bit. "They would be heavier than the sand of the sea."
therefore my words are swallowed up. For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. Does the wild donkey bray when he hath grass? or does the ox loweth over his fodder? Can that which is unsavory be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg? The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat. Oh that I might have my request; and that God would just grant me the thing that I long for! ( Job 6:3-8 )
Oh, what is it, Job, that you request?
Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off! ( Job 6:9 )
And poor old Job, he's really in desperate straits. "I just wish God would grant me my request, the thing that I long for. And it's just that I be dead; I be cut off. I can't stand life anymore." And I'm certain that all of us have come to situations in our own lives that are so unsavory, so distasteful that there have been those same thoughts pass through. "Oh, that God would grant me my desire." But yet, I don't think that we always really think those thoughts sincerely. I think a lot of times we say that. "Oh, I wish I were dead." But we really don't mean it.
Like the fellow who was carrying his heavy load on a hot, hot day. And he finally came to this river. And he just sort of collapsed and he set the load down and he was just sitting there by the river, and he said, "Oh, death, death, please come, death." And he felt a tap on his shoulder and he looked up and there was death. It said, "Did you call me?" And he said, "Yes, would you mind helping me get this back on my back so I can get going again?" So we don't always mean what we say when we call for death or wish it was all over. But yet we feel that way sometimes, you know, at least for the moment of despair. And Job is expressing it himself. Now he's still, though, expressing about, he doesn't know what death is all about. "For if I were destroyed,"
Then should I yet have comfort; yes, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life? Is my strength the strength of stones? or is my flesh of brass? Is not my help in me? and is wisdom driven quite from me? To him ( Job 6:10-14 )
Now he's talking to Eliphaz and to the whole speech that Eliphaz had given to him.
To him that is afflicted pity should be showed from his friend ( Job 6:14 );
Look, man, I need pity. I don't need someone to come and jump on my case at this point. I need pity.
My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away; Which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid: What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place ( Job 6:15-17 ).
Now this is very picturesque and it's poetry. And thus, it's meant to be picturesque and he's just saying, "My friends are like ice or like snow. They appear to be friends, but when things get hot, they melt. They don't exist." I've had those kind of friends. They're called fair-weather friends. When things get hot, you'll never find them.
The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish ( Job 6:18 ).
Down to verse Job 6:21 :
For now you are nothing; you see my casting down, and you are afraid. Did I say unto you, Come to me? Give me a reward of your substance? Or, Deliver me from the enemy's hand? Redeem me from the hand of the mighty? ( Job 6:21-23 )
Job said, "Look, man, did I ask you to come around? Did I ask you for anything? Don't give me anymore. I'm tired of you. I didn't ask you for anything. I didn't say I want you to give me something." He said, "I didn't call for you." And then he went on to say,
Teach me, and I will hold my tongue ( Job 6:24 ):
Tell me something that's worthwhile and I'll be quiet. You haven't told me anything worthwhile.
and cause me to understand wherein I have erred. How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove? ( Job 6:24-25 )
Boy, Job gets really cutting with his tongue.
Do you imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind? ( Job 6:26 )
Just a bag of wind, man, it just...you don't have anything to say of any value.
Yea, you overwhelm the fatherless, and you dig a pit for your friend. Now therefore be content, look on me; for it is evident unto you if I lie. Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; yea, return again, my righteousness is in it. Is there any iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things? ( Job 6:27-30 ) "
Copyright © 2014, Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, Ca.
Smith, Charles Ward. "Commentary on Job 6:10". "Smith's Bible Commentary". https://www.studylight.org/​commentaries/​csc/​job-6.html. 2014.
Dr. Constable's Expository Notes
Job’s desperate condition 6:8-13
Job longed for death. He wished God would release him from his enslavement to life (cf. Psalms 105:20) and snip off his life as a weaver cuts thread (Job 6:9).
"Life is like a weaving, and only God can see the total pattern and when the work is finished." [Note: Wiersbe, p. 20.]
Job affirmed his faithfulness to God’s words (Job 6:10) but acknowledged that he had no hope and no help to live. Job 6:13 should read as an affirmation rather than as a question: "Indeed my help . . . and deliverance is driven from me."
"The fact that Job speaks about God in the third person should not be permitted to give the wrong impression. He is actually praying, not talking to Eliphaz. Such a convention is common in the respectful address to a superior." [Note: Andersen, p. 129.]
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Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Constable, Thomas. DD. "Commentary on Job 6:10". "Dr. Constable's Expository Notes". https://www.studylight.org/​commentaries/​dcc/​job-6.html. 2012.
Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
Then should I yet have comfort,.... Either before death, and in the midst of all his pains and sorrows, being in view of it as near at hand, and sure and certain; could he but be assured of its near approach, he could exult in his afflictions; it would be an alleviation of his trouble, that he should be soon out of it; and he would sit and sing upon the brink of eternity, and say, "O death, where is thy sting! O grave, where is thy victory?" 1 Corinthians 15:55; his sufferings being just at an end, and being comfortably persuaded of a happy future state, and a glorious resurrection, see Job 19:25; or after death, when destroyed and cut off by it; and he hereby signifies as if he expected no comfort on this side death and the grave; that is, no temporal comfort, his comforts were gone, his substance, his children, and health, and he had no hope of the restoration of them, Eliphaz had suggested; but he believed, that though he now had his evil things, as Lazarus since, yet after death should be comforted with the presence of God, in which is fulness of joy; with the discoveries of his love, as a broad river to swish in; with a glory that should be on him, and revealed in him, with which "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared", Romans 8:18; and with the company of angels, and glorified saints, as well as be freed from all bodily disorders and pains, and death itself, from all sin, and sorrow, from Satan's temptations, divine desertions, doubts, and fears:
yea, I would harden myself in sorrow; meaning either upon the first news of death's being near at hand, he would harden himself against all pains and pangs of death; when those should beset him around, and he should find trouble and sorrow through them, he would not regard them, but most cheerfully and patiently bear them, and most courageously go through them, not at all intimidated by them, or by death, and the most terrible agonies of it: or "though I should be hot, burn", or "be burnt in sorrow" or "pain" o, as some render it; or parched with pain, as Mr. Broughton; though I should be still more and more inflamed with these burning ulcers upon me, or be dried up with a burning fever, or my body cast into a fire, and be scorched and burnt in the flames of it, I should not value it; I could bear the most excruciating pains, and sharpest torments, could I but be assured I should die. Some observe, that the word signifies to "leap" p; and so the Septuagint render it; and then the sense is, that he should leap for joy, as men do when they are elevated at good news, or possess what is exceeding grateful to them, was it certain to him he should die quickly; and so the Targum interprets it of exultation. The word in the Arabic language, as a good judge q of it observes, is used of the prancing and pawing of a horse, which makes the ground to shake; he strikes with his foot, and which as done in the midst of a battle, mocking at fear, at the rattling quiver, and glittering spear and shield, is most beautifully described in Job 39:21 in like manner, Job suggests, he should rejoice in the view of death, and mock at the fear of it: or this may respect the happiness he should enjoy after death; for in the Syriac and Arabic versions the words are rendered, "and I shall be perfected in virtue"; and the word used has the signification of solidity, confirmation, stability, and perfection; and to this sense it is rendered by some r, though to different purposes; and after this suffering state is over, the saints will be established, settled and perfected in all virtue, in knowledge, holiness, and happiness: therefore
let him not spare; laying on his blows thicker and heavier, till he has beaten me to pieces, and utterly destroyed me, a petition the reverse of David's, Psalms 39:13; his desire is to have it done quickly and thoroughly, neither to spare him any longer, nor abate in measure, but strike him immediately, and that effectually, so as to dispatch him at once:
for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One; that is, of God, as some t supply it, whose name is holy, who is holy in his nature, and in all his works, and is eminently glorious in the perfection of his holiness; for though there are holy men and holy angels, there are none holy as the Lord: his "words" are the doctrines delivered out by him concerning Christ the promised seed, and salvation by him, which were spoken of by the mouth of all the prophets from the beginning of the world, of which Job had knowledge, Job 19:25; see Genesis 3:15 Luke 1:70; and the duties of religion enjoined men in those early times; which Sephorno refers to the laws and commandments given to the sons of Noah; of which Luke 1:70- :; Here everything is included, both with respect to doctrine and practice, then revealed unto the sons of men, all which Job had a special regard unto: he embraced, professed, and practised them; he did not hide them from himself, or shut his eyes to the evidence of them, and smother within him the light he had; nor did he conceal them from others, but communicated the knowledge of them among his neighbours, as far as he could reach; he was not ashamed to profess the true religion of God; he held fast, and did not deny the faith in the midst of a dark and Heathenish country, and he lived up to his profession and principles in his life and conversation: now having a testimony of a good conscience within him, that he, through the grace of God, had acted a sincere and upright part in the affair of religion, and having knowledge of a living Redeemer, and faith in him, and in his justifying righteousness, he was not afraid of death, come when it would, and in whatsoever shape: and whereas his friends had suggested that he was a hypocrite and a wicked man, his conscience bore witness to the contrary; and to let them know they were mistaken in him, he signifies, he was not afraid to die, yea, he desired it; he cared not how soon he left the world, and appeared before God, the Judge of all, since the truth of grace was in him, and the righteousness of Christ upon him, and he had not, through the course of his profession of religion, departed wickedly from his God, his truths and ordinances. Some u read this in connection with the first clause, putting the rest in a parenthesis: "this is yet my comfort (though or when I am burned or parched with pain, and he spares not), that I have not concealed the words of the Holy One".
o ואסלדה "calefaciam", Pagninus, Bolducius; "flagrem", Vatablus; "exaestuo", Junius Tremellius "urar", Drusius, Mercerus; so Gersom, Kimchi, Peritsol, Ben Melech. p ηλλομην, Sept. "saltarem prae gaudio" so some in Munster. q "Et pede terram quatium cum exultatione", Schultens. r "Consolidescam", Montanus; "corroboror", Beza; so Aben Ezra. t Vatablus, Tigurine version, Michaelis. u So Vatablus, Mercerus, Codurcus, Cocceius.
The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernised and adapted for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rights Reserved, Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
A printed copy of this work can be ordered from: The Baptist Standard Bearer, 1 Iron Oaks Dr, Paris, AR, 72855
Gill, John. "Commentary on Job 6:10". "Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible". https://www.studylight.org/​commentaries/​geb/​job-6.html. 1999.
Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible
8 Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for! 9 Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off! 10 Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. 11 What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life? 12 Is my strength the strength of stones? or is my flesh of brass? 13 Is not my help in me? and is wisdom driven quite from me?
Ungoverned passion often grows more violent when it meets with some rebuke and check. The troubled sea rages most when it dashes against a rock. Job had been courting death, as that which would be the happy period of his miseries, Job 3:1-26; Job 3:1-26. For this Eliphaz had gravely reproved him, but he, instead of unsaying what he had said, says it here again with more vehemence than before; and it is as ill said as almost any thing we meet with in all his discourses, and is recorded for our admonition, not our imitation.
I. He is still most passionately desirous to die, as if it were not possible that he should ever see good days again in this world, or that, by the exercise of grace and devotion, he might make even these days of affliction good days. He could see no end of his trouble but death, and had not patience to wait the time appointed for that. He has a request to make; there is a thing he longs for (Job 6:8; Job 6:8); and what is that? One would think it should be, "That it would please God to deliver me, and restore me to my prosperity again;" no, That it would please God to destroy me,Job 6:9; Job 6:9. "As once he let loose his hand to make me poor, and then to make me sick, let him loose it once more to put an end to my life. Let him give the fatal stroke; it shall be to me the coup de grace--the stroke of favour," as, in France, they call the last blow which dispatches those that are broken on the wheel. There was a time when destruction from the Almighty was a terror to Job (Job 31:23; Job 31:23), yet now he courts the destruction of the flesh, but in hopes that the spirit should be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Observe, Though Job was extremely desirous of death, and very angry at its delays, yet he did not offer to destroy himself, nor to take away his own life, only he begged that it would please God to destroy him. Seneca's morals, which recommend self-murder as the lawful redress of insupportable grievances, were not then known, nor will ever be entertained by any that have the least regard to the law of God and nature. How uneasy soever the soul's confinement in the body may be, it must by no means break prison, but wait for a fair discharge.
II. He puts this desire into a prayer, that God would grant him this request, that it would please God to do this for him. It was his sin so passionately to desire the hastening of his own death, and offering up that desire to God made it no better; nay, what looked ill in his wish looked worse in his prayer, for we ought not to ask any thing of God but what we can ask in faith, and we cannot ask any thing in faith but what is agreeable to the will of God. Passionate prayers are the worst of passionate expressions, for we should lift up pure hands without wrath.
III. He promises himself effectual relief, and the redress of all his grievances, by the stroke of death (Job 6:10; Job 6:10): "Then should I yet have comfort, which now I have not, nor ever expect till then." See, 1. The vanity of human life; so uncertain a good is it that it often proves men's greatest burden and nothing is so desirable as to get clear of it. Let grace make us willing to part with it whenever God calls; for it may so happen that even sense may make us desirous to part with it before he calls. 2. The hope which the righteous have in their death. If Job had not had a good conscience, he could not have spoken with this assurance of comfort on the other side death, which turns the tables between the rich man and Lazarus. Now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
IV. He challenges death to do its worst. If he could not die without the dreadful prefaces of bitter pains and agonies, and strong convulsions, if he must be racked before he be executed, yet, in prospect of dying at last, he would make nothing of dying pangs: "I would harden myself in sorrow, would open my breast to receive death's darts, and not shrink from them. Let him not spare; I desire no mitigation of that pain which will put a happy period to all my pains. Rather than not die, let me die so as to feel myself die." These are passionate words, which might better have been spared. We should soften ourselves in sorrow, that we may receive the good impressions of it, and by the sadness of the countenance our hearts, being made tender, may be made better; but, if we harden ourselves, we provoke God to proceed in his controversy; for when he judgeth he will overcome. It is great presumption to dare the Almighty, and to say, Let him not spare; for are we stronger than he?1 Corinthians 10:22. We are much indebted to sparing mercy; it is bad indeed with us when we are weary of that. Let us rather say with David, O spare me a little.
V. He grounds his comfort upon the testimony of his conscience for him that he had been faithful and firm to his profession of religion, and in some degree useful and serviceable to the glory of God in his generation: I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. Observe, 1. Job had the words of the Holy One committed to him. The people of God were at that time blessed with divine revelation. 2. It was his comfort that he had not concealed them, had not received the grace of God therein in vain. (1.) He had not kept them from himself, but had given them full scope to operate upon him, and in every thing to guide and govern him. He had not stifled his convictions, imprisoned the truth in unrighteousness, nor done any thing to hinder the digestion of this spiritual food and the operation of this spiritual physic. Let us never conceal God's word from ourselves, but always receive it in the light of it. (2.) He had not kept them to himself, but had been ready, on all occasions, to communicate his knowledge for the good of others, was never ashamed nor afraid to own the word of God to be his rule, nor remiss in his endeavours to bring others into an acquaintance with it. Note Those, and those only, may promise themselves comfort in death who are good, and do good, while they live.
VI. He justifies himself, in this extreme desire of death, from the deplorable condition he was now in, Job 6:11; Job 6:12. Eliphaz, in the close of his discourse, had put him in hopes that he should yet see a good issue of his troubles; but poor Job puts these cordials away from him, refuses to be comforted, abandons himself to despair, and very ingeniously, yet perversely, argues against the encouragements that were given him. Disconsolate spirits will reason strangely against themselves. In answer to the pleasing prospects Eliphaz had flattered him with, he here intimates, 1. That he had no reason to expect any such thing: "What is my strength, that I should hope? You see how I am weakened and brought low, how unable I am to grapple with my distempers, and therefore what reason have I to hope that I should out-live them, and see better days? Is my strength the strength of stones? Are my muscles brass and my sinews steel? No, they are not, and therefore I cannot hold out always in this pain and misery, but must needs sink under the load. Had I strength to grapple with my distemper, I might hope to look through it; but, alas! I have not. The weakening of my strength in the way will certainly be the shortening of my days," Psalms 102:23. Note, All things considered, we have no reason to reckon upon the long continuance of life in this world. What is our strength? It is depending strength. We have no more strength than God gives us; for in him we live and move. It is decaying strength; we are daily spending the stock, and by degrees it will be exhausted. It is disproportionable to the encounters we may meet with; what is our strength to be depended upon, when two or three days' sickness will make us weak as water? Instead of expecting a long life, we have reason to wonder that we have lived hitherto and to feel that we are hastening off apace. 2. That he had no reason to desire any such thing: "What is my end, that I should desire to prolong my life? What comfort can I promise myself in life, comparable to the comfort I promise myself in death?" Note, Those who, through grace, are ready for another world, cannot see much to invite their stay in this world, or to make them fond of it. That, if it be God's will, we may do him more service and may get to be fitter and riper for heaven, is an end for which we may wish the prolonging of life, in subservience to our chief end; but, otherwise, what can we propose to ourselves in desiring to tarry here? The longer life is the more grievous will its burdens be (Ecclesiastes 12:1), and the longer life is the less pleasant will be its delights, 2 Samuel 19:34; 2 Samuel 19:35. We have already seen the best of this world, but we are not sure that we have seen the worst of it.
VII. He obviates the suspicion of his being delirious (Job 6:13; Job 6:13): Is not my help in me? that is, "Have I not the use of my reason, with which, I thank God, I can help myself, though you do not help me? Do you think wisdom is driven quite from me, and that I am gone distracted? No, I am not mad, most noble Eliphaz, but speak the words of truth and soberness." Note, Those who have grace in them, who have the evidence of it and have it in exercise, have wisdom in them, which will be their help in the worst of times. Sat lucis intus--They have light within.
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Henry, Matthew. "Complete Commentary on Job 6:10". "Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible". https://www.studylight.org/​commentaries/​mhm/​job-6.html. 1706.