6:1 Then Job responded: 6:2 “Oh, if only my grief could be weighed, and my misfortune laid on the scales too!
The message from Eliphaz added even more grief to Job. Job wanted to take his own grief, plus the grief that Eliphaz added, and weigh them on the scale. The weight was overwhelming for Job. He could barely carry it. Satan was not through adding weight. He still had three more “friends” who would add to Job’s burden.
6:3 But because it is heavier than the sand of the sea, that is why my words have been wild.
Job is going to use some metaphors to explain his grief to his “friends.” The Bible often uses metaphors to convey some type of literal concept. The Bible is to be taken literally, unless the literal meaning does not make common sense. Job’s grief is heavier than the sand of the sea. This heavy burden causes him to speak with less composure. He is crying out like a wounded wild animal, but he is not being heard. In fact, he is being attacked.
6:4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me; my spirit drinks their poison; God’s sudden terrors are arrayed against me.
God has struck Job with poison arrows. His spirt has drank a cup of poison. God has sent attackers disguised as “friends” against Job.
6:5 “Does the wild donkey bray when it is near grass? Or does the ox low near its fodder?
The donkey brays when it is hungry and near its grass. The ox lows when it is hungry and near its fodder. Job is hungry, he is crying, but there is no food in sight.
6:6 Can food that is tasteless be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
Eliphaz had served a hungry Job with tasteless food.
6:7 I have refused to touch such things; they are like loathsome food to me.
Eliphaz has served Job food that is spoiled. Job will not taste or eat this food. It is full of bad doctrine.
6:8 “Oh that my request would be realized, and that God would grant me what I long for!
Job has a special request for God, but God will not grant it.
6:9 And that God would be willing to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and kill me.
Job desires for God to kill him and put him out of his misery. He is not seeking suicide, but he desires for God to bring him home. Suicide is a sin against God. Job possessed strong bible doctrine. He knew that God gave life, and only God had the right to take it away.
6:10 Then I would yet have my comfort, then I would rejoice, in spite of pitiless pain, for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.
Job had some kind of access to the pre-Mosaic written Word of God which was available in that day.
6:11 What is my strength, that I should wait? and what is my end, that I should prolong my life?
Job has no reason to live.
6:12 Is my strength like that of stones? or is my flesh made of bronze?
Job has no more strength to live. His flesh was gone. It is just a bunch of sores with pus running out.
6:13 Is not my power to help myself nothing, and has not every resource been driven from me?
Job has no strength, power, wealth, or resources to help himself.
6:14 “To the one in despair, kindness should come from his friend even if he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
Job is not receiving kindness from his friends. He is being attacked in his weakness.
6:15 My brothers have been as treacherous as a seasonal stream, and as the riverbeds of the intermittent streams that flow away.
Job calls these friends his brothers, meaning that he once had a close relationship with them. The seasonal stream is a mirage. Job looks down the street. He thinks that he sees his friends, but it is only a mirage.
6:16 They are dark because of ice; snow is piled up over them.
Job’s friends are like a dark pool on ice. One steps on the pool, thinking that it is ice, and then it collapses and freezes them to death.
6:17 When they are scorched, they dry up, when it is hot, they vanish from their place.
Job’s friends are scorched and dried up. They are vanishing away.
6:18 Caravans turn aside from their routes; they go into the wasteland and perish.
Job’s friends are caravans who get lost and end up dying in the desert.
6:19 The caravans of Tema looked intently for these streams; the traveling merchants of Sheba hoped for them.
Tema was a son of Ishmael in the northern Arabian desert. Sheba was a town in the southern Arabian desert. The caravan route between these desert two towns was scarce of water. This caravan gets lost in the desert. They look for water, but they only find a mirage. Job’s friends were a mirage that does not quench thirst.
6:20 They were distressed, because each one had been so confident; they arrived there, but were disappointed.
Job’s friends were distressed. They arrived with confidence, but Job’s horrible situation caused them to be disappointed. They saw no hope for Job, because they believed that he had committed a terrible sin.
6:21 For now you have become like these streams that are no help; you see a terror, and are afraid.
Job’s friends were nothing but mirages that offered false hope and no help.
6:22 “Have I ever said, ‘Give me something, and from your fortune make gifts in my favor’?
Job has never asked these friends for anything. Job has never taken advantage of them.
6:23 Or ‘Deliver me from the enemy’s power, and from the hand of tyrants ransom me’?
Job has never asked them for assistance against his enemies.
6:24 “Teach me and I, for my part, will be silent; explain to me how I have been mistaken.
If Job has committed a sin, then they need to SHOW him what sin that he had committed.
6:25 How painful are honest words! But what does your reproof prove?
The friends believed their own accusations against Job, but they possessed no evidence for their accusations.
6:26 Do you intend to criticize mere words, and treat the words of a despairing man as wind?
Their criticism was just empty wind.
6:27 Yes, you would gamble for the fatherless, and auction off your friend.
Job accused them of selling orphans or friends into slavery.
6:28 “Now then, be good enough to look at me; and I will not lie to your face!
The three friends had a hard time looking at Job, because his appearance was so distasteful.
6:29 Relent, let there be no falsehood; reconsider, for my righteousness is intact!
Job told them flat out that he had not participated in some secret and terrible sin.
6:30 Is there any falsehood on my lips? Can my mouth not discern evil things?
Job asked them to point out his sin. Can they accuse him of a specific lie? Can they accuse him of saying evil things?
7:1 “Does not humanity have hard service on earth? Are not their days also like the days of a hired man?
In this chapter, Job will make his address directly to God. His first point is that of slavery. Human beings are born into a life of slavery. Sin is their master. Satan has blinded man concerning his true condition. God must open the eyes of men so that they can see that they were born into slavery.
7:2 Like a servant longing for the evening shadow, and like a hired man looking for his wages,
Job had worked for God as His servant, but he had not yet received his wages. Instead, God repaid him with suffering.
7:3 thus I have been made to inherit months of futility, and nights of sorrow have been appointed to me.
Job had already been suffering for “months” before the arrival of his three “friends.”
7:4 If I lie down, I say, ‘When will I arise?’, and the night stretches on and I toss and turn restlessly until the day dawns.
Every night when Job goes to sleep, he thinks that he may die in his sleep.
7:5 My body is clothed with worms and dirty scabs; my skin is broken and festering.
Satan sent worms to eat Job’s body. He sent sores and boils upon the body of Job in order to break him. He did this right in front of the entire angelic world. When a created angel or person rebels against God and rejects Him, then he evolves into this same kind of evil and loathsome creature. The evil grows within him and drives him into insanity, turning him into a sadistic murderer and torturer of God’s people.
7:6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle and they come to an end without hope.
Job feels that he will die very quickly.
7:7 Remember that my life is but a breath, that my eyes will never again see happiness.
Everyone is just one breath away from eternity. When God takes that last breath, then man enters into either heaven or hell.
7:8 The eye of him who sees me now will see me no more;
your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone.
People will look for Job on this earth, but they will not find him. Death will take him away.
7:9 As a cloud is dispersed and then disappears, so the one who goes down to the grave does not come up again.
When a cloud disappears, it is gone. When a man dies on earth, his spirit is gone from this earth.
7:10 He returns no more to his house, nor does his place of residence know him any more.
When a man dies, he will never again visit his earthly home.
7:11 “Therefore, I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
Since Job was in such of a bad condition, he felt that he had earned the right to express his bitterness.
7:12 Am I the sea, or the creature of the deep, that you must put me under guard?
The Hebrew for “the creature of the deep” is תַּנִּין (tanim), meaning not a whale, but a sea monster. The word תַּנִּין (tanim) can be translated as sea monster, dragon, or dinosaur. This sea monster could have also been an allusion to either the Ugaritic or Babylonian myth. If תַּנִּין (tanim) does refer to one of these ancient myths, then Job was not giving credence to those myths, but he was simply using known stories to depict his condition.
7:13 If I say, “My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,”
Getting bed rest did not help Job’s condition.
7:14 then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions,
Job then accused God of frightening him with dreams, but the dreams were actually a part of Satan’s attack on Job. God speaks today through His written word, not through the dreams of charismatics. Satan speaks through dreams, but the messages are a mixture of truth and error.
7:15 so that I would prefer strangling, and death more than life.
Job’s life quality is so poor, that he would rather be strangled to death.
7:16 I loathe it; I do not want to live forever; leave me alone, for my days are a vapor!
Job wants God to just leave him alone and allow him to die.
7:17 “What is mankind that you make so much of them, and that you pay attention to them?
Why is Job so important that God would want to spend all of this time on him?
7:18 And that you visit them every morning, and try them every moment?
Why does God visit Job every morning and cause him to suffer? Satan has Job blaming God for his suffering.
7:19 Will you never look away from me, will you not let me alone long enough to swallow my spittle?
Will God not leave Job alone just for an instant so that he can swallow his spittle? “Swallowing the spittle” was an Arabic metaphor for a “split second.”
7:20 If I have sinned—what have I done to you, O watcher of men? Why have you set me as your target? Have I become a burden to you?
Job asked God what specific sin that he had done which caused God to judge him so unmercifully. Job is beginning to break down. Satan will attack the mind of Job with a second “friend.”