In our previous study we discovered that Job was the first to break the silence of the last seven days, when his three friends began sitting with him, weeping and mourning together in consolation (Job 2:13; 3:1). What did we find out? When Job finally spoke, did he reveal himself a hypocrite as Satan predicted (cp. Job 2:4-5)? Not at all! The fact is Job didn’t curse God. Instead, he cursed his own birth, and we have the Lord’s own testimony that he agreed with Job in that Job was forced to endure all this suffering undeservedly (Job 2:3). That is, he never committed any sin that would warrant such punishment or correction from the Lord. This is not to say Job didn’t sin at all, that’s not the point of this book. All men sin, but Job made a real effort to avoid evil. He lived his life in a self-correcting manner in an effort to keep from sinning against the Lord (Job 1:1, 8; 2:3).
At this point, Job really desired to die. He cried out: “Why didn’t I die at birth?” (Job 3:11). He wonders how his own mother could receive him with joy and comfort him, when in the end he would suffer so greatly and for no logical reason (verse-12). The picture simply didn’t make sense. If only he had died at birth. That would have been comforting! Then he would at this moment be quiet and at rest (Job 3:13). In death he would rest with the wise and the mighty who built cities that are now in ruins, and with those who had been with the unimaginably rich (Job 3:14-15).
Job lamented: “Why wasn’t I like the discarded miscarriage that had never been born and never saw the light of day” (Job 3:16). Even to never have existed would have been more comforting than to live but end one’s life in pain and humiliation, as he was apparently doing now. Death was desirable now; death, where the wicked ceased troubling others and the weary are at ease (verse-17); death, where folks in prison rest and no longer hear the voice of their taskmaster (verse-18); death, where goes the small and the great, and where slaves are set free (verse-19). Job longed for the rest of death, to be free of the constant pain and the humiliating condition, which he was forced to endure. Both good and evil, small and great are at rest, and lay in comfort. Yet, Job continued to suffer. Why?
Job was confused in that he didn’t understand why he continued to live. When he was great, he comforted others (Job 4:3-4), but where was his comfort (cp. verse 12)? When he was great, he sought to satisfy the needs of the weak. However, when those who are great need comfort, who is their comforter but the Lord? Where was God in all this? Why doesn’t he, at the very least, relieve me of my sorrow and remove me out of the land of the living?
Job didn’t see any purpose in living. Anything that had any purpose for him was now in the past. He took care of business, when he was great, but now all that has been removed, and he is left to endure the very fringe of what is understood as life, that part of life, which no one wants. It is life that many cast off as unwelcome and remove themselves from the land of the living. Moreover, as might be fitting his present condition, he dwelt in the very place where the city threw away what was no longer fitting for use in life. So, Job lamented, “When will it all end, Lord? Why won’t you take me, so I can be at rest?” Death was a welcome, albeit, long overdue prize.
As we conclude this part of our study, we may want to ask “How could God do this to Job? Where’s the justice in it all?” and “How can a loving God permit, let alone take part in doing such things, as were done to Job?” Well, these questions will be answered later in the study, when the Lord begins to speak with Job directly in the later chapters of the book. Nevertheless, Job has begun asking such questions. Life is often difficult, and such was true in Job’s day. There were no humanitarian organizations that cared for the weak. That sort of thing fell to those who were mercifully inclined, like Job. Nevertheless, Job was a cast off of the city and found no mercy nor anyone to care for him but his wife. At least his three friends sought to comfort him, and we’ll soon discover how that worked out. Job found himself between a rock and a hard place with no way out, except death, and he longed for it like hidden treasure (Job 3:21).
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