Do not long for the night, when peoples vanish in their place.
Elihu turns from general truths about God to a warning aimed at Job himself. Job had begged for death, and Elihu tells him not to want it — may a sufferer treat death as his way out?
The Night Job Had Been Asking For
The "night" here is not a time of day. It is the end Job had begged for, and the same end that comes to everyone. Commentators differ over how the line just before this one reads. One takes it as a question about Job's crying:
Samuel RidoutShall your crying place you beyond distress, and all the efforts of strength? This gives a consistent meaning, for Job had been crying aloud to the limit of his strength, but without help. He had longed for the night of death to come upon him, as it eventually does upon all the nations of the earth. Let him take heed, and rather bow to affliction than choose the path of pride.
The verse does not present the night as a release. It presents it as a cutting off.
A Call To Change His Mind
Elihu asks Job to want the opposite of what he has been wanting:
Leslie M. GrantBut in effect he had desired the night and oblivion. Elihu urges him to change his mind about this, for the night was only the cutting off of people in their place (v.20). He did not want Job to fail the test by turning to the sin of judging God. This was the bad fault Job had chosen, instead of bowing in faith to the affliction that tried him (v.21).
The warning is protective. Elihu wants to keep a suffering man from failing the test he is in.
Worse Than Affliction
The next verse warns Job not to turn to wrongdoing. A man in pain can make a choice that costs him more than the pain did.
William KellyJob, therefore, had reason to be careful. His excited feeling might stir him up against the blow, and something worse might happen to him. There all resources fail, and the night, in which no one can work, is no comfort. It is dangerous, but very possible, to choose what is worse than affliction, or because of it.
Wanting out can become its own sin.
What Job Should Have Wanted Instead
Elihu's argument in this chapter is that God watches the righteous and opens their ears through trouble. The alternative to longing for the night is listening.
The Bible TreasuryIn Job 36 another point is pressed on Job, that if he looks at things from God's side, he must see His righteousness. Job ought to understand that "He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous," "He opens also their ear to discipline," "He delivers the poor in his affliction." This is where Job had failed. He was busy justifying himself, instead of having his ear opened to discipline.
The Wish To Die
Job is not the only man in the Bible who asked God to take his life. Elijah, one of God's prophets, was worn out in the wilderness and asked the same thing:
William KellyIt is not that we do not see the man of God, but still the man who was tired of life. That was not a feeling of faith. There is very often much more faith in being willing to live than in wishing to die. Wishing to die is not the proof of faith at all.
The same writer names the one wish that is always right:
William KellyDeath to a believer is gain, but still we ought not to wish for that gain until the Lord's time comes for it. We ought to wish to do His will, the only right wish for a saint.
Escape Or Home
This does not condemn every longing for rest. The difference is in what the person wants:
C. H. MackintoshWe must wait God's time, and until then seek to go on in patient, uncomplaining service. There is a vast difference between longing to get away from trial and sorrow, and longing to be at home in our Father's house.
Summary
- The night — What Job wanted was death — the end that takes whole nations away where they stand. It is a removal, not a rescue.
- The warning — Elihu urges Job to change his mind. In that night all resources fail and no one can work.
- The danger — A sufferer can choose something worse than his suffering. Judging God in the trial is a greater loss than the trial itself.
- The alternative — Instead of longing for the exit, bow to the affliction. Let God open the ear to discipline. Job's failure was being busy with self-justification.
- The test — Wanting to escape trouble and wanting to be home with God are not the same desire. There is often more faith in being willing to live, and the only right wish is to do God's will.