Bible Commentaries

Without waiting for their reply, Job broke out into a new lamentation, more bitter than the first, for it came out of a heart whose sorrow was aggravated by the misunderstanding of friends. Indeed, its very strength was a new protest against the only open charge Eliphaz had made, namely, of sin and foolishness in complaining at all.

In this lamentation there are two movements: first, a great complaint concerning the stress and misery of life (1- l0), and, second, a complaint directed against God (11-21). The toil of life is strenuous indeed. It is a warfare. Man is a hireling, a servant, whose labor issues in nothing, and whose rest is disturbed with tossing. Nothing is satisfying, for nothing is lasting, and figure is piled on figure to emphasize this: a weaver's shuttle, wind, the look of the eye, the vanishing cloud. There was absolutely no ray of hope in this outlook on life. Because of it Job complained not only of life, but directly against God. It was determined. "I will not refrain . . . I will speak .. . I will complain."

How terribly the vision of God was blurred in these days of suffering is illustrated as the man cried out that God would not let him alone, and asked why he must be tried every moment. It is such a cry and complaint that none can understand who has not passed into some sorrow equally severe. In saying this we simply state the fact, and those tempted to criticism of the attitude should remember that God patiently bore and waited, knowing that at the back of the complaint was an unshaken confidence, even though for a moment the surfaces were swept with the hurricanes of doubt blowing up out of the darkness.