3:1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born.
The first two chapters were written in prose. The rest of the book will be written in Hebrew poetry. God is a poet. He used prose, poetry, lyrics, and letters to communicate His word to mankind.
Satan hates believers who honor God. Satan wants to devour Job, but God has placed a hedge of protection around him. Satan accuses Job of following God, because God has bribed him. God allows Satan to take everything away from Job, except for his life. Job loses his family, his wealth, and his health. Like a leper, he is living outside the city in a garbage dump. Satan has sent him three godless human philosophers to glare at him silently with a smirk, as if they know the reason for Job’s suffering. Those philosophers do not know God, Job, or even themselves. They have no clue about suffering, because they are biblically ignorant. Their soul is full of human philosophy.
Satan’s hypothesis is that Job will curse God. After all, Satan has placed Job in one of the worst possible situations that any man (except Christ) has ever experienced. Job is ready to speak. The entire angelic world is watching this experiment, waiting to hear what Job will say. God knows what Job will say. Job does not curse God as Satan predicted, but in very flowery language, he does curse the day that he was born. What Job is actually cursing is the satanic world system. He did not curse God, but Satan. Job was living in a satanic world system created by Satan himself. Satan, not God, was being cursed.
3:2 Job spoke up and said: 3:3 “Let the day on which I was born perish, and the night that said, ‘A man has been conceived!’
Job wished that his birthday could be wiped off of the calendar.
3:4 That day—let it be darkness; let not God on high regard it, nor let light shine on it!
The day of his birth into the satanic world system was not a day of celebration, but a day of darkness.
3:5 Let darkness and the deepest shadow claim it; let a cloud settle on it; let whatever blackens the day terrify it!
The day of his birth into the satanic world system was a black day of terror.
3:6 That night—let darkness seize it; let it not be included among the days of the year; let it not enter among the number of the months!
In very flowery language, Job is wishing that he never had any birthdays. It would be better if he was never born into the satanic world system.
3:7 Indeed, let that night be barren; let no shout of joy penetrate it!
Many people shouted with joy when Job was born, but it would have been better if he was never born. Job wished that his mother would have been barren.
3:8 Let those who curse the day curse it—those who are prepared to rouse Leviathan.
Leviathan was a seven-headed sea monster of ancient Near Eastern mythology. When this monster was aroused, the dragon would swallow the sun or moon, causing an eclipse.
Leviathan was also another name for Satan. Job was righteous, so he woke up the Leviathan. The Leviathan took notice of Job and destroyed him.
3:9 Let its morning stars be darkened; let it wait for daylight but find none, nor let it see the first rays of dawn,
The morning stars refer to the planets Venus and Mercury. They can be easily seen at dawn because of their brilliance. Job wished that he would never have seen those stars.
3:10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb on me, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes!
Those morning stars (Venus and Mercury) could not keep his mother from giving birth to him into the satanic world system.
3:11 “Why did I not die at birth, and why did I not expire as I came out of the womb?
Job wished that he would have died at birth.
3:12 Why did the knees welcome me, and why were there two breasts that I might nurse at them?
Job wished that he would have never nursed upon the breasts of his mother. He wished that he would never had lain on the knees of his father (an ancient tradition).
Job wished to be unborn, but this was not an option. God allowed Job to be born into the satanic world system for a purpose. Job does not yet understand that this experience will not only strengthen him and cause him to be more Christ-like, but it will also help other created intelligences grow and become more Christ-like as well. Both angels and humans will learn from Job’s experience.
3:13 For now I would be lying down and would be quiet, I would be asleep and then at peace 3:14 with kings and counselors of the earth who built for themselves places now desolate, 3:15 or with princes who possessed gold, who filled their palaces with silver. 3:16 Or why was I not buried like a stillborn infant, like infants who have never seen the light?
Job wished that he would have been stillborn. If so, then he would not be in a garbage dump scraping his sores. If Job had been stillborn, he would be asleep in the earth with kings, queens, and princes who died before him.
3:17 There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest. 3:18 There the prisoners relax together; they do not hear the voice of the oppressor. 3:19 Small and great are there, and the slave is free from his master.
Job is giving his own human philosophy. He is saying that death is the great equalizer. The good and the wicked will both find peace at death. However, Job’s human philosophy is flawed. There is no peace for the wicked.
Cults and isms like to use these verses to teach that there is no punishment for the wicked. However, this is Job’s human philosophy that he spoke at this time of suffering. He was using metaphors to describe his present suffering. The meaning of the metaphor was that it would have been better to have never been born, or it would have been better to have been stillborn.
3:20 “Why does God give light to one who is in misery, and life to those whose soul is bitter,
Job is living in more misery that any man who has ever lived. He cannot understand the reason for his suffering. Since Job was suffering so much, since he was living such a bitter life, he just wished that God would take his life away.
3:21 to those who wait for death that does not come, and search for it more than for hidden treasures,
Just as a man seeks for hidden treasures, Job was seeking for death.
3:22 who rejoice even to jubilation, and are exultant when they find the grave?
Job would rejoice if he could find death.
3:23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has hedged in?
Why does God still give Job life when Job is trapped in suffering?
3:24 For my sighing comes in place of my food, and my groanings flow forth like water.
Instead of food, Job is receiving sorrow. He has lost his appetite to eat.
3:25 For the very thing I dreaded has happened to me, and what I feared has come upon me.
Even when Job was living in prosperity and good health, Job always feared that he would lose both of them. This is the fear of every man who has ever been born.
3:26 I have no ease, I have no quietness; I cannot rest; turmoil has come upon me.”
In Job’s current position, he had no peace of mind.
In conclusion of Job’s first discourse, he did not curse God as Satan had predicted. Neither did he suggest suicide. His bible doctrine was too strong to engage in either of these two options. Instead, he wished that (1) he would have never been born, (2) he would have been stillborn, or (3) God would take his life. Job complained, but he did not give a solution to the problem of suffering. He just wished that he was unborn or dead.