Job Chapter 6
1 Then Job answered,
2 "Oh that my anguish were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances!
3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas, therefore have my words been rash.
4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.
5 Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass? Or does the ox low over his fodder?
6 Can that which has no flavour be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
7 My soul refuses to touch them. They are as loathsome food to me.
8 "Oh that I might have my request, that God would grant the thing that I long for,
9 even that it would please God to crush me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!
10 Let still be my consolation, yes, let me exult in pain that doesn't spare, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
11 What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient?
12 Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of bronze?
13 Isn't it that I have no help in me, That wisdom is driven quite from me?
14 "To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
15 My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away;
16 Which are black by reason of the ice, in which the snow hides itself.
17 In the dry season, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.
18 The caravans that travel beside them turn away. They go up into the waste, and perish.
19 The caravans of Tema looked. The companies of Sheba waited for them.
20 They were distressed because they were confident. They came there, and were confounded.
21 For now you are nothing. You see a terror, and are afraid.
22 Did I say, 'Give to me?' or, 'Offer a present for me from your substance?'
23 or, 'Deliver me from the adversary's hand?' or, 'Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?'
24 "Teach me, and I will hold my peace. Cause me to understand my error.
25 How forcible are words of uprightness! But your reproof, what does it reprove?
26 Do you intend to reprove words, since the speeches of one who is desperate are as wind?
27 Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless, and make merchandise of your friend.
28 Now therefore be pleased to look at me, for surely I will not lie to your face.
29 Please return. Let there be no injustice. Yes, return again. My cause is righteous.
30 Is there injustice on my tongue? Can't my taste discern mischievous things?
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Job Chapter 6 Guide
Job's answer is a magnificent and terrible outcry. First, he speaks of his pain as a protest against the method of Eliphaz. His reply is not to the deduction which Eliphaz' argument suggested, but rather to the charge it made, of unreasonableness and folly manifest in his lamentation. Eliphaz had used terms of strong condemnation. Job declared, in effect, that he did not understand the cry because he did not know the pain. His vexation and calamity should be set over against each other, poised in fair balances. If this were done, the calamity would be found to be so heavy as to excuse even the rashness of speech. The wail is always evidence of a want. The wild ass does not bray when he has grass, nor the ox low over his fodder. Having declared this, his sorrow seemed to surge on his soul anew, and he cried out for death because his strength was not equal to the strain thus placed upon him. His strength was not "the strength of stones," nor was his "flesh of brass."
Job then turned on his friends with reproaches of fine satire. He had expected kindness, but was disappointed. Here there would seem to be reference not merely to the attitude of Eliphaz, but to that attitude as a culminating cruelty. His eyes were wandering back to olden days, and he spoke of "my brethren," likening them to a brook in the desert to which the travelling caravans turned, only to find them consumed and passed. He declared that his friends were nothing. Reproach merged into a fierce demand that instead of generalization and allusion, there should be definiteness in the charges they made against him. "What," says he, "doth your arguing reprove?" There is a majesty in this impatience with men who philosophize in the presence of agony, and it is impossible to read it without a consciousness of profound sympathy with the suffering man.
From "An Exposition of the Whole Bible" by G. Campbell Morgan.
Job Chapter 6 Commentary
Chapter Outline
- Job justifies his complaints. -- (1-7)
- He wishes for death. -- (8-13)
- Job reproves his friends as unkind. -- (14-30)
Verses 1-7
Job still justifies himself in his complaints. In addition to outward troubles, the inward sense of God's wrath took away all his courage and resolution. The feeling sense of the wrath of God is harder to bear than any outward afflictions. What then did the Saviour endure in the garden and on the cross, when he bare our sins, and his soul was made a sacrifice to Divine justice for us! Whatever burden of affliction, in body or estate, God is pleased to lay upon us, we may well submit to it as long as he continues to us the use of our reason, and the peace of our conscience; but if either of these is disturbed, our case is very pitiable. Job reflects upon his friends for their censures. He complains he had nothing offered for his relief, but what was in itself tasteless, loathsome, and burdensome.
Verses 8-13
Job had desired death as the happy end of his miseries. For this, Eliphaz had reproved him, but he asks for it again with more vehemence than before. It was very rash to speak thus of God destroying him. Who, for one hour, could endure the wrath of the Almighty, if he let loose his hand against him? Let us rather say with David, O spare me a little. Job grounds his comfort upon the testimony of his conscience, that he had been, in some degree, serviceable to the glory of God. 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.
Verses 14-30
In his prosperity Job formed great expectations from his friends, but now was disappointed. This he compares to the failing of brooks in summer. Those who rest their expectations on the creature, will find it fail when it should help them; whereas those who make God their confidence, have help in the time of need, Heb 4:16. Those who make gold their hope, sooner or later will be ashamed of it, and of their confidence in it. It is our wisdom to cease from man. Let us put all our confidence in the Rock of ages, not in broken reeds; in the Fountain of life, not in broken cisterns. The application is very close; "for now ye are nothing." It were well for us, if we had always such convictions of the vanity of the creature, as we have had, or shall have, on a sick-bed, a death-bed, or in trouble of conscience. Job upbraids his friends with their hard usage. Though in want, he desired no more from them than a good look and a good word. It often happens that, even when we expect little from man, we have less; but from God, even when we expect much, we have more. Though Job differed from them, yet he was ready to yield as soon as it was made to appear that he was in error. Though Job had been in fault, yet they ought not to have given him such hard usage. His righteousness he holds fast, and will not let it go. He felt that there had not been such iniquity in him as they supposed. But it is best to commit our characters to Him who keeps our souls; in the great day every upright believer shall have praise of God.
From the "Concise Commentary on the Bible" by Matthew Henry.