then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions,
Job's bed should have brought him relief. Instead his nights became the worst part of his suffering. Two hard questions follow. Where did the terror come from, and what was God doing?
The bed that gave no comfort
Job stops describing his misery and turns to speak to God. He traces the dreams to God's hand.
F. B. HoleBut in the second part Job clearly turned toward God, and began to address Him with his bitter complaint. He realised his own littleness. He was not something great, like a sea or a sea-monster. He cries out that his very nights are a torment. They are filled with dreams and visions of terror which, he feels, come to him from God. He loathes his present life and tells God that he wants to die.
Where the terror came from
Commentators differ on the source. Some read Job as tracing the dreams straight to God's hand. Another points to Eliphaz, one of Job's friends, who claimed a night vision of his own.
Leslie M. GrantWhen he looked for comfort in lying down in his bed, he says they "scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions." He refers to the vision Eliphaz claimed to have had. Job considered it was not for his comfort, but to frighten him. This moved him all the more to choose to die. So he declares bitterly, "I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath." We can understand that Job would prefer to be left alone rather than have the cold criticism of his friends.
Arrows Job misread
Job felt God was shooting at him. One writer says he had the archer wrong.
Charles StanleySatan used a misapplication of truth in the speeches of Job's friends. Job 6 shows that this gave Job a terrible shaking. He said, "Oh that my vexation were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances! For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea." "For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me." This was a great mistake. They were the arrows of Satan. God was not against Job. If Job had only known it, God was for him.
The same writer describes how that lie works on any believer under pressure.
Charles StanleyHow great is the distress of soul when Satan can insinuate that God is against the believer! How he will magnify every trial, every affliction!
What dreams mean in Scripture
Job's dreams brought him only torment. Yet Scripture does not treat every dream as empty.
Morrish Bible DictionarySome passages link dreams with trifles and empty things. Even so, the Scriptures give abundant evidence that God often made His mind known to people through dreams. He did this not only with those who obeyed Him, but also with those outside Israel. God said that He would instruct His prophets in dreams. He also used dreams in the case of Nebuchadnezzar and of Daniel, to reveal His will and purpose concerning the future.
The answer that comes later in the book
Job could see no purpose in his broken nights. Elihu, another speaker in the book, gives one.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinElihu speaks of two different ways in which God deals with man. The first is in a vision of the night, in a dream. When there was no Bible, no written revelation of God, God spoke to man individually by dreams and visions. He does not do so any longer. We now have His completed Word, in which He makes His will known to us. God deals with man this way for a purpose. It is to draw him back from an evil way and to warn him. Then he may leave the pride he nourishes in his heart. It keeps his soul from the pit and his life from perishing by the sword.
The furnace with an end in view
Job wanted the suffering to end. One writer names God's purpose in it.
William KellySometimes we have a little of that experience; but how little it is compared with Job's, and how very quickly it gives place. But God was putting him into the furnace so that he might come out purer than ever. He was under the hand of God, but he begs God's hand to bring it to an end.
Summary
- Night — Job's bed was the one place he expected relief. It became the sharpest point of his trial.
- Voices — commentators differ on the source. Some trace the terror to God's hand. Others point to Eliphaz's vision, which frightened Job instead of comforting him.
- Misread — Job blamed the arrows on the Almighty. They were Satan's. God was for him all along.
- Dreams — Scripture links some dreams with empty things. Yet God spoke through dreams before His Word was complete. Now we have that finished Word.
- Furnace — Job could not explain those nights. God had him in the furnace so he would come out purer than ever.