That night — let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.
After seven days of silence with three friends, Job's grief breaks out, and he wants the night of his conception struck off the calendar. Is this the cursing of God that Satan expected?
What Job is asking for
Job aims his words at a single date on the calendar.
Samuel RidoutIn this first part Job curses the day of his birth. He wishes it could be wiped off the calendar, because it allowed his birth. He wants that day and night never to come into remembrance. Then the day would stop returning to remind him that he exists.
Coming from a man known for blessing God, the sound of it is a shock.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe silence is broken by Job. Sadly, his lips do not utter praises now — he cursed the day of his birth. It was a painful trial for Job to look into the faces of these devout friends. They stood there in full health and strength. He was more devout than they were, yet God had stricken him and struck him down.
A prayer that cannot be answered
Nothing Job asks here is possible, and he is too deep in pain to notice.
Leslie M. GrantJob did not even now charge God foolishly, but he did curse the day of his birth. This did not blame God directly. Yet it blamed Him indirectly, however little Job realised it, for it was God who gave him life… Job's grief was so deep that he did not even consider that what he was saying was impossible. How could history reverse itself?… Later Job would thank God that he had been born. That thankfulness will last for eternity. But he was moved by his anguish, not by faith.
The line he did not cross
Where Job aims his curse matters, and so does the strain that pulled it out of him.
William KellyJob then did not curse God. No, he did not fall into what the devil thought he would do, but he cursed his own day, cursed his own lot. I do not say that this was right; I do not say so, far from it. But that was how it came out, that Job then opened his mouth. It came after seven days of silence. For seven days his dearest friends sat stunned at the size of his sufferings! Well, we must not be surprised that he broke out.
Why the words came now
Loss alone did not produce this speech. Company did.
The Christian's FriendTrials come. Job remains as exemplary in adversity as he had been in prosperity… But at last God permits his friends to visit him and offer comfort. Then Job, so noted for his patience, curses the day of his birth. What afflictions we can endure in secret! But as soon as our friends become witnesses of them, our pride is stirred. Man's compassion excites impatience.
Job's question and Christ's answer
One complaint lies under the imagery: why was I ever brought into a life like this? Christ came into the same world and did not ask it.
William KellyThe great point is his mourning over this terrible lot. He grieves that he was ever allowed to come into the world to bear such awful suffering. Where do you find that in Christ? "For this cause was I sent." The Lord accepts it; He felt it, deeply felt it; was troubled in spirit. He felt it, but He also accepted it. For this cause He had come. But not so Job. His sufferings could not compare with those of Christ. Still, he could not understand why a holy God should allow such suffering. It was inexplicable to Job.
Measured by later light
Job wants death as a way out. The New Testament points elsewhere.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinWeighed in the light of the New Testament, all these expressions are found wanting. Death is not a friend whose visit is to be desired, but an enemy. In the light of the gospel, the hope of God's people in affliction and sorrow is not relief by death. It is the coming of the Lord… Job's language is that of a man in despair. He seems to have quite forgotten the bright and blessed days of the past, and he fears a hopeless future.
Summary
- Silence breaks. Seven days of unbroken grief end, and the most patient man opens his mouth and curses the day of his birth instead of praising God.
- Sympathy stings. Job bore his losses in private. The arrival of friends stirred his pride and turned endurance into impatience.
- Day erased. Job wants his birth-night struck out of the year, so its return stops reminding him he exists. History cannot grant that.
- God spared. He curses his day, not God. Kelly will not call the words right, yet the devil still did not get what he expected.
- Christ contrasted. Job cannot see why he was ever sent into such suffering. Christ felt His suffering deeply and accepted it, because He had come for that very purpose.