Old Testament Commentary - Job 7

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 7 Job asks: Is there an appointed time for man on earth? What is man that thou shouldst magnify him? Why dost thou not pardon my transgression?
1 IS there not an ^aappointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an ^bhireling? 2 As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work: 3 So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.		1^a Alma 12:27; D&C 42:48 D&C 121:25 ^b Job 14:5-6
4 When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day. 5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome. 6 My ^adays are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.		6^a Job 8:9; Job 10:20; Job 17:11
7 O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good. 8 The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not. 9 As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. 10 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.
11 Therefore I will not ^arefrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will ^bcomplain in the bitterness of my soul. 12 Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me? 13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint;		11^a OR restrain ^b 1 Ne. 16:20; D&C 9:6
14 Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions: 15 So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life. 16 I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity.
17 What is ^aman, that thou shouldest magnify him?^a and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? 18 And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and ^atry him every moment? 19 How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?	17^a What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? Perhaps the strongest argument for God is found in the intricate being of man himself. What is man that he is so singled out with the bestowal of contemplative intelligence? What other creature is given to even consider whether there be God? To figure, to calculate, to write, to read, to have the complexity of mind to explore and discover; why has only man so developed the vast superior exponential dimensions and magnitudes of the magnified consciousness? The logic is that it is so that man may consider that he is not only the dominant creature on earth, but that he has the mind and soul power to advance himself limitlessly into that eternity wherein God, that infinitely superior mind and being does dwell.	17^a Ps. 84:4 (1-9); Ps. 144:3 (1-15) 18^a TG Probation
20 I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself? 21 And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.