Job Chapter 17
1 "My spirit is consumed. My days are extinct, and the grave is ready for me.
2 Surely there are mockers with me. My eye dwells on their provocation.
3 "Now give a pledge. Be collateral for me with yourself. Who is there who will strike hands with me?
4 For you have hidden their heart from understanding, Therefore you will not exalt them.
5 He who denounces his friends for plunder, Even the eyes of his children will fail.
6 "But he has made me a byword of the people. They spit in my face.
7 My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow. All my members are as a shadow.
8 Upright men will be astonished at this. The innocent will stir himself up against the godless.
9 Yet the righteous will hold to his way. He who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.
10 But as for you all, come back. I will not find a wise man amongst you.
11 My days are past. My plans are broken off, as are the thoughts of my heart.
12 They change the night into day, saying 'The light is near' in the presence of darkness.
13 If I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness,
14 if I have said to corruption, 'You are my father;' to the worm, 'My mother,' and 'My sister,'
15 where then is my hope? as for my hope, who will see it?
16 Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol, or descend together into the dust?"
Footnotes
- Verse 13 (Sheol)
- Sheol is the place of the dead.
- Verse 16 (Sheol)
- Sheol is the place of the dead.
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Job Chapter 17 Guide
Job was in the midst of difficulties. About him were mockers, none of whom understood him. He was become "a byword of the people." There was no "wise man." And yet he struggled through the unutterable darkness toward God's vindication. If that is not to come here, then let it come somewhere.
In all the movement of this great answer it would seem as though outlines of the truth were breaking upon Job. He was conscious of the action of God in his sorrows, of an adversary who followed him relentlessly and seemed to tear him pitilessly, even as a wild beast. Somehow, this adversary was connected with the action of God, and yet in the deepest of him Job knew that God was his Witness. His present trouble was that God did not appear for him. He had cried out, but the answer had not come. If he had a hope it was not evident, it could not be seen. He would go down to the dust.
And yet he seems to have got back to his original thought about death. It was rest. There was no clear shining of light, but one can well imagine how in the after-days he would come to recognize that these strivings of the soul and these passionate desires for divine defence were gleams even in the darkness.
From "An Exposition of the Whole Bible" by G. Campbell Morgan.
Job Chapter 17 Commentary
Chapter Outline
- Job appeals from man to God. -- (1-9)
- His hope is not in life, but in death. -- (10-16)
Verses 1-9
Job reflects upon the harsh censures his friends had passed upon him, and, looking on himself as a dying man, he appeals to God. Our time is ending. It concerns us carefully to redeem the days of time, and to spend them in getting ready for eternity. We see the good use the righteous should make of Job's afflictions from God, from enemies, and from friends. Instead of being discouraged in the service of God, by the hard usage this faithful servant of God met with, they should be made bold to proceed and persevere therein. Those who keep their eye upon heaven as their end, will keep their feet in the paths of religion as their way, whatever difficulties and discouragements they may meet with.
Verses 10-16
Job's friends had pretended to comfort him with the hope of his return to a prosperous estate; he here shows that those do not go wisely about the work of comforting the afflicted, who fetch their comforts from the possibility of recovery in this world. It is our wisdom to comfort ourselves, and others, in distress, with that which will not fail; the promise of God, his love and grace, and a well-grounded hope of eternal life. See how Job reconciles himself to the grave. Let this make believers willing to die; it is but going to bed; they are weary, and it is time that they were in their beds. Why should not they go willingly when their Father calls them? Let us remember our bodies are allied to corruption, the worm and the dust; and let us seek for that lively hope which shall be fulfilled, when the hope of the wicked shall be put out in darkness; that when our bodies are in the grave, our souls may enjoy the rest reserved for the people of God.
From the "Concise Commentary on the Bible" by Matthew Henry.