Commentaire sur Job 10:23

My soul quarrels Heb. נקטה. My soul quarrels about the fact that I am alive. That is an expression of (Ezek. 20:43), “and you shall quarrel (ונקטתם) with yourselves.

I will leave my speech i.e., my trouble, to cry and lament, and I cannot forget it or restrain it.

Job renews his contention that by virtue of His Perfection, God must have immutable foreknowledge of everything and so man has neither choice nor free-will and should not be held responsible for his actions.

Is it good Heb. הטוב, an interrogative form. [Is it good to You] that You should oppress and rob the righteous man of his righteousness, [while] upon the council of the wicked, who vex You, You shine Your splendor to show them a friendly countenance?

Are Your days like the days of a mortal to provoke him and pursue [him]?

Job renews his contention that by virtue of His Perfection, God must have immutable foreknowledge of everything and so man has neither choice nor free-will and should not be held responsible for his actions.

It is in Your knowledge You know.

shaped me Heb. עצבוני, They made me a shape, a mold, like “nor straighten (מעצבין) an infant’s limbs,” in Tractate Shabbath (22:6). But now Your hosts are together round about.

and You destroy me These are the worms.

You will return me in the end.

Did you not pour me like milk Concerning the drop from which I was born.

and Your providence The providence of Your watch, for You appointed watchers for me.

watched my spirit in my mother’s womb, and afterwards...

But You hid these in Your heart to destroy me as though You did not remember them, but...

Though all that would happen. (The iniquities and sins referred to in verse 6).

I knew that this was with You, everything as it was delineated, and You did not forget.

If I sinned, You watched me You laid Your eyes on me so as not to ignore [my sins] nor to forbear retaliation, and [from now on] You are not cleansing me of my iniquity but are requiting me for everything.

sated with disgrace am I.

and seeing my affliction Heb. וראה. This is not an expression of the imperative, but is an adjective. וראה עניי is badlace (?) in Old French, “that I see it all the time.” As you say (below, at the end of the Book), “וּשְׂבַע יָמִים, and I am sated with days,” like “וְשָׂבֵעַ יָמִים” (with a “kamatz” under the “sin”) so do you say; וּרְאֵה, like וְרוֹאֶה, “and seeing my affliction.”

And it is so great that You hunt me like a lion And it is so great in Your eyes to be to You as a burden and a disappointment, that You hunt me like a lion; You spread out a net for me as though I was as mighty as a lion.

Though in fact denied free-will, human beings are treated and are expected to behave as if endowed with it. Not that it makes any real difference, for they only ever seem to be punished for their sins; never to be rewarded for their good deeds. Man is trapped, for his freedom of choice is an illusion created by his existence in time. With no hope of escape, it would be better if he had never been born.

and You repeatedly from day to day.

pronounce a verdict upon me Heb. תתפלא, to exact and to pronounce judgment, an expression of (Num. 6:2). “shall pronounce (יפלא).”

Your witnesses to testify about the changes of the ailments and the pains.

Change cannot occur outside time. God is beyond time, and therefore neither He nor His Knowledge can change. Man exists in time and so is subject to change. Because of this, his actions appear to change at every moment, at his volition. This gives rise to the appearance of free-will. But it is an illusion, associated with our sense that time flows. For in truth, God's immutable foreknowledge has predetermined man's actions. Being part of His Knowledge, they too are immutable and beyond time. So why should man be punished for them?

with set times are with me Times set for these my tortures, which serve (once) and [then] repeatedly shift with changes different from these, and serve again.

Would that I had died and no eye had seen me If only I had died [upon emerging] from the womb.

would that I was brought from the womb to the grave Would that I was brought.

withdraw from me Withdraw Yourself from me and from upon me, like (Isa. 65:5), “Keep to yourself” Remain by yourself and distance yourself from me.

All Job asks for now is to be left to die in peace.

before I go While I am still alive, and the time for me to die has not yet arrived, desist from me and I will rest.

darkness Heb. עפתה. This is a noun meaning darkness, like (Amos 4: 13) “dawn and darkness (ועיפתה).”

the shadow of death it is, without orders in it (that there are no orders of man; i.e., there are no customs, for there is no civilization, and its light is like darkness).

and where the light is as darkness The illuminated place [therein] is like darkness.