so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
Job answers his friends by comparing life on earth to hard service — the long day of a hired worker. He got empty months and painful nights in return for the good he did, and that raises a hard question: has God been fair with him?
Note: the older translation used in the quotes below says "months of vanity" and "wearisome nights." The ESV says "months of emptiness" and "nights of misery."
The picture behind the words
Verses 1 and 2 set up a working man's day, and verse 3 turns it against Job. A labourer at least gets his evening; Job had no break at all.
William Kelly"Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth?" (Job 7). There he has another ground; his trial was so prolonged. It was not merely a huge trial of the kind that usually passes very quickly in this world… A servant longs for the shade of evening, when he has finished his work. A hired worker looks for the reward of his work. "So I am made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me." Servants and hired workers had their break from work every day. The work may have been hard, but they still had their night of ease and rest. Job could only say: "I have nothing day or night; it is all the same terrible unbroken suffering."
The wages that never arrived
Job's comparison shows how he was thinking about God: as an employer with a payroll.
Leslie M. GrantJob's questions in verse 1 show why he was so upset at God's dealings… Many people are like Job here. They think of their relationship to God as that of a hired man working for a fair employer. Do right, and the pay should be good. Do wrong, and they expect a painful return. But Job was in agonising pain. Was this the pay for the good he had done? He had looked eagerly for his wages for doing good (v. 2), and found himself enduring months of futility and wearisome nights, tossing to and fro in his bed.
The same writer names what God was after in leaving that wage unpaid.
Leslie M. GrantGod was seeking to teach Job that his relationship to Him must not be that of a man working for wages. Job was one whom God loved and who loved God. So he was to do good out of a heart of love, expecting no payment for it. Job did not at this time understand this, and neither did his friends.
Long pain in a short life
Job weighs his months of pain against a life that is almost over.
Samuel RidoutHaving challenged his friends to test him, Job now dwells on his sufferings, with the shortness of life in view. His nights are sleepless, full of "tossings to and fro," and his months of pain never let up. So he longs for that "appointed time" set for all flesh, like a hired worker waiting eagerly for the close of his day's work.
What the friends owed him
Job was not exaggerating, and his friends owed him a response they never gave.
F. B. HoleNo one can read the first section without being struck by the sadness of his plight. He felt it deeply himself, and he expressed it in a moving way. "Months of vanity" and "wearisome nights" had been his portion. A servant or hired worker longs for the shade of evening and for his wages; in the same way Job was longing for the end… He paints his pitiful state in the clearest colours, and his friends should have been more filled with compassion.
Why it went on so long
Job could see no reason for months rather than moments. God had one.
William KellyBut God was putting him into the furnace in order that he might come out purer than ever.
Samuel RidoutHe would put the precious ore into the crucible. He knew how much unsuspected evil lay hidden under all that outward excellence, mixed even with the inner piety of this good man. He would show that even piety cannot feed upon itself, nor righteousness lean upon its own arm.
Nights that were counted
Job says the nights were apportioned to him. He meant it as a complaint; read another way, the same word is comfort.
Hamilton SmithYour time is measured. Infinite wisdom considered your days and hours of suffering from eternity.
Summary
- Appointed — Job's nights were not random. God measured them out, and infinite wisdom counted every hour before they came.
- Wages — He treated God as an employer who owed him good pay for good work. The unpaid wage is what made the pain unbearable.
- Love — God's lesson was that the bond is love, not payroll. Do good because you love Him, and expect no pay.
- Furnace — The trial ran into months, not moments. A crucible needs time to bring up what lies hidden under real piety.
- Compassion — His plight was real, and he told it plainly. His friends answered with argument instead of pity.