Old Testament Commentary - Job 10

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 10 Job is weary of life—He expostulates with God about his afflictions—Why hast thou brought me forth out of the womb?
1 MY soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the ^abitterness of my soul. 2 I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me^a. 3 Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?	2^a shew me wherefore thou contendest with me Albeit that Job knew no great wickedness that was his, he still had the question or wanted to have the answer as to wherewith did the Lord so afflict him. And though many things in life are but happenstance and the unaccounted for misfortune, in Job's case there was that detail that the Lord had permits Satan to afflict Job. So there was a need to that understanding of why?	1^a Isa. 38:15; Moses 7:44 (42-44)
4 Hast thou eyes of flesh? or ^aseest thou as man seeth? 5 Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man's days, 6 That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?		4^a 1 Sam. 16:7; D&C 121:24
7 Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand. 8 Thine hands have ^amade me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me. 9 Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into ^adust again?		8^a TG Jesus Christ, Creator 9^a Gen. 3:19; Alma 42:30; Moses 4:25
10 Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese? 11 Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast ^afenced me with bones and sinews. 12 Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy ^avisitation hath preserved my spirit.		11^a HEB covered, protected 12^a Moses 1:9-10
13 And these things hast thou hid in thine heart: I know that this is with thee. 14 If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity. 15 If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction; 16 For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me.
17 Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; ^achanges and war are against me. 18 Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb?^a Oh that I had given up the ^aghost, and no eye had seen me! 19 I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.	18^a Wherefore [Why] then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? There are various possibilities why the Lord has allowed Job to be afflicted and to suffer so. And I do not know the mind of the Lord. When Joseph Smith suffered unjustly the Lord told him this too will be unto thy experience and that he was not yet as it were with Job. One thing we do not always remember is that this is our time to be tried and tested, and all is not reciprocal as to one's wickedness and/or righteousness. The benefit to Job to be so tested is to know of himself just what he was capable of enduring and still be faithful unto God. Job was truly tested beyond what he reciprocally deserved is true, but that is not the point. The point is that the day of this life is a testing and a trial. How else would Job have know just what he was able to withstand? Remember the Lord says he will not 'tempt' us beyond our capacity to withstand'. Job obviously had a great capacity and a great righteousness to have withstood what he did. But how would Job have ever known, least he was so tested? As I said I do not know the mind of God. And God could have had a number of reasons. It certainly kept Lucifer busy with Job and perhaps distracted him from other works of darkness on his part. I don't know. God knows and I suppose that Job now knows also. And it is not for me to know or judge, as God's ways are not my ways for me to know this of God. But there are various perspectives and possibilities.	17^a Ps. 55:19 18^a Job 3:11
20 Are not my ^adays few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little, 21 Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of ^adeath; 22 A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any ^aorder, and where the ^blight is as darkness.		20^a Job 7:6 21^a TG Death 22^a TG Order ^b TG Light