My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.
Job's final speech ends with this line. The instruments that once led celebration now carry only grief, and there the lament stops.
The End of the Wail
One commentator traces the whole lament down to this last note.
Samuel RidoutAt last we reach the end of the wail — the last of those laments that pierce the heart. He pictures himself as a lonely wanderer in the dark, a companion of beasts and birds that avoid the face of man. … Job has sounded all the depths of his suffering and grief. His harp has no notes but the sad wail of mourning. His pipe leads no dance; it is turned only to notes of sorrow.
Harp and Pipe
The "pipe" in this verse names a real instrument. A Bible dictionary describes its shape and where else it turns up in the Bible.
Morrish Bible Dictionaryuggab, ugab. A wind musical instrument, of either one or several pipes. The Egyptian monuments show a double pipe, with holes like a flute. Several pipes of different lengths were also joined together. Gen. 4:21; Job 21:12; Job 30:31; Ps. 150:4. The syrinx, or Pan's pipe, is still used in Syria, and sometimes has as many as twenty-three pipes.
Made Into Someone Else's Song
Job's own music turns to mourning, but other people are still singing about him. One commentator describes the crowd doing it.
William KellyAnd now Job had become their song and their byword. These were wretched cave-dwellers, if not worse by birth. Even they dared to turn him into a joke and spiteful abuse. In their disgust they would keep far away. If they did come near, it was to pour on him the lowest mark of shameful contempt. But Job could see God's hand behind all the humiliation he suffered.
Why the Light Did Not Come
Commentators differ on how much blame lies with Job. One finds a reason why the light never came.
Leslie M. GrantHe looked for good as a result of his apparent goodness, but evil came to him (v.26), and darkness came rather than light. But we can never enjoy the light of God's presence when we maintain our own self-righteousness. No wonder then his heart was in turmoil, unable to rest (v.27). … He felt he had sunk as low as the animals, jackals and ostriches (v.29), but he was still speaking as a man! What music he had enjoyed was now turned into mourning and weeping.
Another writer looks at the state Job's body was in and draws a gentler lesson.
F. B. HoleIn the closing verses of this chapter he described the extreme weakness, misery and decay his body had come to. … Let us not judge Job harshly. In such a fearful plight as his we should probably have said far worse things than he.
A Cry That Was Heard
A few verses earlier Job said God did not hear him and had turned cruel. One commentator answers those words line by line, quoting an older translation of them.
William Kelly"I cry to You and You do not hear me." But God did hear him. There was a reason why He did not answer; but God did hear. "I stand up, and You do not regard me. You have become cruel to me." There he was quite wrong… "For I know that You will bring me to death" — there he was wrong again. God had good things in store for Job.
Where the Song Is Found
The chapter ends with no upward look. One writer turns from Job's darkness to Another who suffered more.
Samuel RidoutSo the wail ends in a song of sadness, without a note of faith. Oh, let us thank our God that Another has lifted His voice out of deeper darkness than all that pressed upon Job. He spoke words of sweet assurance: "Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given Me?" "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit" (John 18:11; Luke 23:46). To Him — our Saviour, our Lord, our all — we turn, and learn in our grief to say, "Your will be done."
Summary
- The note. Job's harp keeps only one sound, and his pipe leads no dance — his music is reduced to the noise of mourners.
- The instrument. The "pipe" is the uggab, a wind instrument of one or several pipes, the same word used in Genesis 4:21 and Psalm 150:4.
- The mockery. The lowest men in the land made him their song, while his own instruments could only weep.
- The cause, disputed. One commentator blames Job's self-righteousness for keeping God's light away. Another asks us not to judge a man in that state.
- The answer. God did hear Job, and He had good things in store. In deeper darkness, Christ could still say, "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit."