Commentaire sur Job 7:23

Is not man on earth for a limited time This is what I said to you. ‘Agree and turn to me.’ because how can I be silent from crying our about my misfortune? Do you not know that the time a man has to live is limited?

Job now turns his attention to the notion put forward by Eliphaz that God makes righteous persons suffer presently for some minor sin they have committed so as to purge them, thereby saving them from more severe punishment in the future. Job cannot accept this. For man was created to achieve that perfection which was the very purpose of his creation. Achieving this perfection may depend on one of two things. Either on the manner of a person's life, namely, on whether at all times he tried his best in the service of God, or on his actual success in performing God's commandments. If the former then the longer he lives the greater the perfection he can reach. And if the latter, then it is the number of commandments he has actually fulfilled that counts, irrespective of how long he lives. Thus, man can be compared either to a day laborer who is paid by the hour or to a craftsman paid according to his output

and...like the days of a hireling and I—that time that is allotted to me...

As a slave who longs for the shadow As a slave, who toils all day through and longs and yearns, “When will the shadow of evening come?” And as a hireling, who hopes for his wages at eventide, because the whole day was to him for toil, and he yearns for the sunset.

However, whether a person's perfection depends on his life-span or his productivity, he cannot work towards it if he is bed-ridden or totally distraught. How then can Eliphaz argue that it is because of God's love for the righteous man and because He wishes him to correct the shortcomings in his service of God, that He purges him of sin through suffering, for he is thereby precluded from serving Him at all? He is not only prevented from correcting his previous shortcomings but falls even further behind in his pursuit of perfection.

So was I made to possess from Heaven months of futility and torments, that limited time that is given to man upon earth.

and they appointed wearisome nights for me from Heaven

If I would lie down at night, I would hope and say, etc.

and the evening depart When will it become light and when will the time of arising come, and when will the evening depart? [The word מדד ] is an expression of (Gen. 31:40) “and sleep was banished (ותדד).” The “mem” is a defective radical, as in מאמר, statement; משמר, watch.

And I was sated with restlessness I was sated with restlessness on my bed by day until twilight, because, due to the torments I could not sleep until the twilight of day, since my flesh was clothed with worms.

and clods of earth Clods of earth (?) Now this is the development of rust, because it is the custom of clods of earth to moisten and cause rust.

wrinkled Heb. רגע wrinkled, as in (Isa. 51:15), “Who wrinkles (רגע) the sea.” Another explanation: עוֹרִי רָגַע is an expression of resting a wave after a wave, like wrinkles (?).

My days are swifter The days of my prosperity hastened to go away.

than a weaver’s shuttle Than weaving that is done swiftly. So said Hezekiah (Isa. 38:12), “I severed, like a weaver, my life.”

without hope I no longer hope for good.

my eye will not return after death. Here Job denies the dogma of the Resurrection of the Dead.

shall see me no more The eye that wishes to see me shall see me no more after I die.

Because of the severity of his afflictions Job considers himself as good as dead. Moreover, he believes that with death all souls perish and so the time he is now losing is lost for ever. There is no life after death and so he sees no point in God punishing him now in the middle of his life in order to save him from perdition, for in his opinion there is nothing from which or for which to be saved. It would have been preferable, therefore, had he been allowed to live his life normally and had he been punished, if that was necessary, by an early death.

set Your eyes upon me and I will be here no longer He is addressing the Holy One, blessed be He: “Why did You have to finish me off and crush me with pains? With one look that you set Your eyes on me, I am no longer in the world.”

Neither will I restrain my mouth Since You do not desist from me, neither will I restrain my speech from complaining about Your ways.

Am I a sea that You placed sand over me as a guard?

or a sea monster A huge fish that You imprisoned in the depths of the sea, that You place this Adversary as a guard over me, to watch me lest my soul depart?

that my couch shall bear my speech The couch upon which I sleep at night will bear my trouble somewhat, and I will be able to restrain my speech.

death rather than these my bones I choose death rather than these limbs in my body.

I despised my life, because ultimately I will not live forever.

desist from me From harming me, because my days are futile and few.

that You should give him importance to pay attention to him, to visit his deeds every morning and test him every moment?

Job concludes his speech with a general attack on the belief in Providence.

How long For what length of time will You not desist from me, like (Exod. 5:9), “and let them not turn (ישעו) to false words.” Similarly (below 14:6), “Turn away (שעה) from him and desist.”

How can it be imagined, he asks, that the Most High is concerned with such trivial matters as an individual person's afflictions? Such an obsessive interest can only be explained in one of two ways. Either as being a frightful vendetta or the result of an overwhelming concern for man's welfare. The notion that God is taking revenge on man in untenable, for there is nothing a person can do to God for which He would seek vengeance. On the other hand, neither does the condition of man suggest that God has such an overwhelming concern for the welfare of His handiwork.

until I swallow my spit long enough to swallow my spit.

as a mark for You As an object that a man strikes when he is angry and vents upon it the entire act of his hatred (other editions: his sin).

so that I have become a burden to myself [Etz Chayim ms: Like “and I have become a burden to You.”] This is one of the words in which Scripture euphemized, and they are known as the emendation of the scribes.

Now why do You not forgive my transgression What is this matter that You do not forgive my transgression?

and You shall seek me You shall seek me and not find me.