©1997 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
13. Relentless pain (30:17) 14. Skin turned black (30:30) 15. Raging fever (30:30) 16. Dramatic weight loss (33:21) ©1997 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
JOB—NOTE ON 7:1–21 After having directed his words at his friends in ch. 6, Job then directed them at God. Throughout this section he used words and arguments that sounded much like Solomon in Ecclesiastes, i.e., "labor, vanity, trouble, and breath."
JOB—NOTE ON 7:1–10 hard service. He felt like a slave under tyranny of his master, longing for relief and reward (vv. 1–2); he was sleepless (vv. 3–4); he was loathsome because of worms and scabs, dried filth, and new running sores (v. 5); he was like a weaver's shuttle, tossed back and forth (v. 6); and he was like a breath or cloud that comes and goes on its way to death (vv. 7–10). In this discourse, Job attempted to reconcile in his own mind what God was doing.
JOB—NOTE ON 7:11 Therefore. On the basis of all he had said in vv. 1–10, he felt he had a right to express his complaint.
JOB—NOTE ON 7:12 sea, or a sea monster. The sea and the whale are two threatening forces that must be watched or curbed due to their destructive force. Job was not like that.
JOB—NOTE ON 7:13–14 Even when he slept, he had terrifying dreams so that he longed for death (vv. 15–16).
JOB—NOTE ON 7:17–18 Why is he so important, Job wonders, that God would spend all this attention on him? Why did God cause all this misery to one so insignificant as he?
JOB—NOTE ON 7:19 till I swallow my spit. This strange statement was an Arabic proverb, indicating a brief moment. Job was asking for a moment "to catch his breath," or in the case of the proverb, "swallow my spit."
JOB—NOTE ON 7:21 not pardon my transgression. Job conceded the argument of Eliphaz that he must have sinned, not because he was convinced, but because he seemed to find no other explanation (cf. 6:24).