Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.
Job has sat in silence for seven days. When he speaks, he curses the day of his birth, and here he calls in help: people who make a trade of cursing days and know how to wake a monster. The line raises two questions. What is Leviathan doing here, and how far has Job's mind drifted from God?
What the words mean
Older English Bibles read "their mourning" here instead of a creature's name. One reference work says the creature is the right reading, and ties the word to a figure Scripture uses elsewhere for Satan:
Morrish Bible DictionaryIn Isaiah 27:1 it also stands for Satan: "Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent," whom God will punish… In Job 3:8 it should be translated "leviathan" instead of "their mourning." This confirms the general meaning of some monster.
The people Job calls on
Cursing days was a trade. One writer reads the line against a myth, and finds in it a measure of where Job's mind had gone:
Samuel RidoutOne translation of verse 8 reads, "Let those who curse the day curse it, who are skilled in stirring up leviathan." It points to the pagan myth that a dragon swallowed the sun and moon and so stopped the day. If this is correct, it shows how far Job had drifted in his thoughts, to turn to pagan superstitions.
What Job did not do
Even at his lowest, Job kept inside a line:
F. B. HoleHe opened his mouth and cursed his day. He did not curse God, note it well. He called down a curse upon the day he was born, grieving that he had not died when his mother gave him birth.
A wish that could never be granted
The curse aimed at something no curse can touch. A day already lived cannot be unmade, and behind that day stands the God who gave Job life:
Leslie M. GrantJob did not even now charge God foolishly, but he did curse the day of his birth. This was not blaming God directly. But however little he realised it, he was blaming God indirectly, because it was God who gave him life… How could the day of Job's birth perish? How could history reverse itself? That day had passed long before… But anguish moved him, not faith.
Why God allowed the outburst
The despair itself has a use. Job feels only his misery; God is working toward something else:
The Bible TreasuryThe first thought after waking to a full sense of one's misery, and the most bitter one, is to curse one's day. That is a terrible impression, and where God is not known it leads to suicide. But when God is known, as in Job's case, it is the beginning of healthy action. Not because of the discontent and misery it uncovers, but because he knows and feels the sense of death, of being utterly wiped out from everything… He does not know that God seeks to make him a witness of dependence on Himself against Satan.
Leviathan answered — much later
Job wanted Leviathan stirred up to serve his curse. God does bring the creature before him, but for another purpose:
Charles StanleyGod now shows Job, under the figure of leviathan, that Satan's power is too great for him. What a terrible being he is, this king over all the proud… But what could be God's object in describing the power of the enemy? Surely it was to lead Job into complete dependence on Himself. "I know," says Job, "that You can do all things."
The contrast with Christ
Job mourns that he was ever allowed into the world. Christ never speaks that way:
William KellyThe great point is his mourning over this terrible lot of his — that he was ever allowed to come into the world to bear such awful suffering. Where do you find that in Christ? "I was sent for this purpose." The Lord accepts it. He felt it, and felt it deeply; He was troubled in spirit. He felt it, but He also accepted it.
Summary
- Translation. The right reading is not "their mourning" but Leviathan — a monster Scripture uses elsewhere as a picture of Satan.
- Drift. Job turns to hired cursers of days and a pagan story of a dragon swallowing the sun. It shows how far his thoughts had drifted.
- Limit. He cursed his day, not God. Yet the wish blamed God indirectly, because God gave the life he wanted undone.
- Discipline. The bitterness comes to the surface for a reason: God is making Job a witness of dependence on Himself against Satan.
- Answer. God does bring Leviathan before Job at last — not to serve his curse, but to show him a power too great for him, and to drive him into dependence on God.