Job 3:11-22

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 3:17

There the wicked cease - In the grave the oppressors of men cease from irritating, harassing, and distressing their fellow creatures and dependents. And there the weary be at rest - Those who were worn out with the cruelties and tyrannies of the above. The troubles and the troubled, the restless and the submissive, the toils of the great and the labors of the slave, are here put in opposition. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 3:18

The prisoners rest together - Those who were slaves, feeling all the troubles, and scarcely tasting any of the pleasures of life, are quiet in the grave together; and the voice of the oppressor, the hard, unrelenting task-master, which was more terrible than death, is heard no more. They are free from his exactions, and his mouth is silent in the dust. This may be a reference to the Egyptian bondage. The children of Israel cried by reason of their oppressors or task-masters. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 3:19

The small and great are there - All sorts and conditions of men are equally blended in the grave, and ultimately reduced to one common dust; and between the bond and free there is no difference. The grave is "The appointed place of rendezvous, where all These travelers meet." Equality is absolute among the sons of men in their entrance into and exit from the world: all the intermediate state is disparity. All men begin and end life alike; and there is no difference between the king and... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 3:20

Wherefore is light given - Why is life granted to him who is incapable of enjoying it, or of performing its functions? read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 3:21

Which long for death - They look to it as the end of all their miseries; and long more for a separation from life, than those who love gold do for a rich mine. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 3:22

Which rejoice exceedingly - Literally, They rejoice with joy, and exult when they find the grave. There is a various reading here in one of Kennicott's MSS., which gives a different sense. Instead of who rejoice, גיל אלי eley gil , with Joy, it has גל אלי eley gal , who rejoice at the Tomb, and exult when they find the grave. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:1-12

Human infirmity revealed in deep affliction. Frail is the heart of man. With all its heroism, its endurance and power, yet the stout heart yields and the brave spirit is cowed. The strongest bends beneath the heavy pressure. But if the human life is to be truthfully presented, its failures as well as its excellences must be set forth. It is an evidence that the writer is attempting an impartial statement, and in the midst of his poetical representations is not led away to mere extravagance... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:1-26

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:1-26

The eloquence of grief. This book, so entirely true to nature, presents here one of the darkest moods of the grief-stricken heart. The first state is that of paralyzed silence, dumbness, inertia. Were this to continue, death must ensue. Stagnation will be fatal. The currents of thought and feeling must in some way be set flowing in their accustomed channels, as in the beautiful little poem of Tennyson on the mother suddenly bereaved of her warrior-lord- "All her maidens, wondering, said, ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 3:11

Why died I not from the womb? " From the womb" must mean, "as soon as I came out of the womb," not "while I yet remained within it" (comp. Jeremiah 20:17 , "Because he slew me not from the womb" ). Many of the ancients thought that it was best not to be born; and next best, if one were born, to quit the earth as soon as possible. Herodotus says that with the Trauri, a tribe of Thracians, it was the custom, whenever a child was born, for all its kindred to sit round it in a circle, and... read more

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