Job 7:12 - Exposition

Job now begins his complaint, which is wholly addressed to God. The heads of it are:

(5) that he is made a butt for God's arrows (verse 20); and

Am I a sea, or a whale? rather, Am I a sea, or a sea-monster ? Am I as wild and uncontrollable as the ocean, as fierce and savage as a crocodile or other monster of the deep? Do I not possess reason and conscience, by which I might be directed and guided? Why, then, am I treated as if I were without them? The sea must be watched, lest it break in upon the land; in Egypt there had been many such breaches, as the configuration of the coast, with its narrow belts of sand and its vast lagoons, shows; and crocodiles must be watched, lest they destroy human life; but is there any need that I should be watched, restrained, coerced, hedged in on every side ( Job 3:23 )? Am I so dangerous? Surely not. Some liberty therefore might have been safely given to me, instead of this irksome restraint. That thou settest a watch over me; or, a guard ; i.e. a set of physical impediments, which leave me no freedom of action.