Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Job 7:8

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Job 7:8. Shall see me no more] If I die in my present state, with all this load of undeserved odium which is cast upon me by my friends, I shall never have an opportunity of vindicating my character, and regaining the good opinion of mankind.

Thine eyes are upon one, and I am not. — Thou canst look me into nothing. Or, Let thine eye be upon me as judged to death, and I shall immediately cease to live among men.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Job’s reply to Eliphaz (6:1-7:21)

Eliphaz had rebuked Job for his impatient outburst. In reply Job acknowledges that God is the one who has sent this affliction, but he points out that if Eliphaz knew how great this suffering was he would understand why Job spoke rashly (6:1-4). An animal cries out only with good reason (for example, if it is hungry for food). Job likewise cries out only with good reason. His tormenting thoughts and Eliphaz’s useless words are to him like food that makes him sick (5-7). He still refuses to curse God, and wishes that God would give him his request and kill him, even if the death is painful (8-10). He cannot endure much more suffering; he is not made of rock or bronze (11-13)!
Job expected kindness from his friends but found none. They are like useless streams that overflow with destructive ice and snow in winter, but dry up in summer (14-17). They disappoint all who go to them expecting to find something beneficial (18-21). Job has not asked his friends for money or help, but he had hoped for sympathy (22-23).
Instead Job receives from his friends nothing but rebuke for his rash words. They make no effort to understand what despair must have caused him to make such an outburst. He accuses them of being heartless, and challenges them to show him plainly where he is wrong (24-27). He is being honest with them; in return he wants some understanding. At least he wants their acknowledgment that he can tell the difference between suffering that is deserved and suffering that is not (28-30).
Life for Job has no pleasure. He looks for death as a worker looks for wages or a slave looks for rest at the end of a hard day’s work. Day and night he has nothing but pain (7:1-5). Bitterly Job says that if God is going to help him, he should do it quickly, otherwise Job will soon be dead. It will then be too late for God to do anything (6-10).
This leads Job to an angry outburst addressed to God. Job asks why God must treat him with such severity, as if he were a wild monster (11-12). Tortured with pain by day and horrible dreams by night, he wants only to die (13-16). If God is so great, why doesn’t he leave Job alone? Job complains that God’s torment of him is so constant he does not even have time to swallow his spittle (17-19). He cannot understand why the mighty God is so concerned over the small sins of one person. Surely they are not such a burden. Surely God can forgive. If he does not hurry and forgive soon, it will be too late, because Job will be dead (20-21).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“Is there not a warfare for man upon earth? And are not his days like the days of an hireling? As a servant that earnestly desireth the shadow, And as a hireling that looketh for his wages: So am I made to possess months of misery, And wearisome nights are appointed to me. 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. My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; My skin closeth up and breaketh out afresh. My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, And are spent without hope. Oh remember that my life is a breath: Mine eye shall no more see good. The eye of him that seeth me shall behold me no more; Thine eyes shall be upon me, but I shall not be. As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away, So he that goeth down to Sheol shall come up no more. He shall return no more to his house, Neither shall his place know him anymore.”

“Is there not a warfare for man upon the earth” We like Adam Clarke’s explanation of this. “Human life is a state of probation, a time of exercise to train us for eternal life. It is a warfare; we are enlisted in the Church Militant and must accomplish our time of service.”Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible (London: T. Mason and G. Lane, 1837), Vol. III, p. 47. “And there is no discharge in that war” (Ecclesiastes 8:8).

“As the servant… desireth the shadow, and… an hireling looketh for his wages” Jamieson has the best comment on this we have seen. “If the servant longs for the evening when his wages are paid, why may not Job long for the close of his life of hard service, when he shall enter on his reward”?Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown’s Commentary, p. 315. This proves that Job did not, as many maintain, regard the grave as the end of everything, in spite of what he said later in Job 7:9.

“When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise” Paul Sherer explained Job’s words in these verses thus: “What on earth was there to live for? With his days as long as empty months, and no shadow of the evening to bring him a little respite, there’s nothing but tossings to and fro from dusk till dawn. Would God it were day! And every night, would God it were dawn”!Interpreter’s Bible. Vol. III, p. 962.

“He that goeth down to Sheol shall come up no more” Job does not, in these words, abandon all hope after death, but merely states a well-known truth that the dead do not return to their houses, nor are they seen any more by their contemporaries.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more - I shall be cut off from all my friends - one of the things which most distresses people when they come to die.

Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not - see Job 7:21. Dr. Good renders this, “let thine eye be upon me, and I am nothing.” Herder, “thine eye will seek me, but I am no more.” According to this the sense is, that he was soon to be removed from the place where he had dwelt, and that should he be sought there he could not be found. He would seem to represent God as looking for him, and not finding him; see Job 7:21. The margin has,” I can live no longer.” It may be possible that this is the meaning, that God had fixed an intense gaze upon him, and that he could not survive it. If this is the sense, then it accords with the descriptions given of the majesty of God everywhere in the Scriptures - that nothing could endure His presence, that even the earth trembles, and the mountains melt away, at his touch. Thus, in Psalms 104:32 :

He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth;

He toucheth the hills, and they smoke.

Compare the representation of the power of the eye in Job 16:9 :

He teareth me in his wrath who hateth me;

He gnasheth upon me with his teeth

Mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.

On the whole, I think it probable that this is the sense here. There is an energy in the original which is greatly enfeebled in the common translation. God had fixed his eyes upon Job, and he at once disappeared; compare Revelation 20:11 : “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them.”

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 7

Is there not an appointed time to man upon the earth? are not his days also like the days of a hireling? As a servant earnestly desires the shadow ( Job 7:1-2 ),

That is, the shadow of the clock going down so that the shadow disappears. The servant waits for that because he has rest in the evening.

and as the hireling looks for the reward of his work: So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me. When I lie down, I say, When will I arise, and when will the night be gone? I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day. My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and it's become loathsome ( Job 7:2-5 ).

Now Job is telling about his horrible condition. Clods of dirt are clinging to the sores where they would begin to dry up and then the clods of dirt just clinging there and his flesh all over is just loathsome.

My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope. O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good. The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not. As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away; so is he that goeth down to the grave, he shall come up no more ( Job 7:6-9 ).

Job, you don't know what you're talking about.

He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more. Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Am I a sea, or a whale, that you set a watch over me? When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint; Then you come along and try to scare me with your dreams, and you terrify me through your visions: So that my soul chooses strangling, and death rather than my life. I loathe it; I would not live always: let me alone; for my days are empty. What is man, that you should magnify him? ( Job 7:10-17 )

Let me say at this point Job is turning from Eliphaz. He said it. He said, "Just leave me alone. I will choose to strangle on my own spittle than to hear any more of your words. Death is better than life." Now he turns to God in verse Job 7:17 . And addressing himself to God he says, "What is man that You should magnify him?"

and that you should set your heart upon him? ( Job 7:17 )

Interesting question. What is man that God should exalt man? And that God should set His heart upon man? I liked what Dave said this morning as he was leading us in singing. "And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Died He for me who caused His pain." He said he likes to sing that looking in the mirror. "Amazing love, how can it be? That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me." You ought to sing that looking in the mirror. Job is sort of looking in the mirror saying, "God, what is man that You should magnify him or that You should set Your heart upon him?" What am I that God should set His heart upon me? That God should desire my love. That God should desire my fellowship. That God should desire my responses to Him. It's the amazing mysteries of God and I cannot understand it.

And that you should visit him every morning, and try him every moment? How long wilt you not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle? I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee ( Job 7:18-20 ),

And, of course, Job's talking about, it's quite a picturesque phrase for death, "I began to just swallow my own spit. That's it. I can't cough it up any more. I'm gone. I have sinned; what shall I do unto Thee."

O thou preserver of men? why have you set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself? Why do you 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 ( Job 7:20-21 ).

So his complaint to God. "Why don't You forgive me, God? Why don't You relieve me of this? What's going on?" And Job is crying out of the misery. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Job’s prayer to God 7:7-21

Throughout his sufferings, Job did not turn away from God. Often people undergoing severe affliction do forsake Him. However, Job kept God in view and kept talking to God, even though he did not know what to ask, which was a major part of his torment. I believe this accounts for his ability to maintain his sanity and to come through his adversity finally. It is when people abandon God in their suffering that they get into serious trouble spiritually.

Job believed he would die soon. Yet he did not ask to die here as he had earlier (Job 3:20-22). This slight upturn in his feelings may be the result of his praying to God. [Note: Carter, 2:65.] Sheol (Job 7:9) refers to the grave in the Old Testament. The ancients thought it was the place where the spirits of people went when they died. Their condition there was a mystery in the patriarchal period. [Note: See H. C. Brichto, "Kin, Cult, Land and Afterlife-A Biblical Complex." Hebrew Union College Annual 44 (1973):1-54.]

Since his friends could not identify his sin, Job asked God why he was suffering. In this prayer Job complained that God would not leave him alone so he could die. Job felt God was hounding him for no apparent reason. God would not let Job alone long enough for him even to swallow his saliva (Job 7:19), a proverbial expression meaning "for a moment." He asked God to point out his sin if he had sinned (Job 7:20; cf. Job 6:24). Job believed he had done nothing worthy of such suffering (Job 7:21).

"I would suggest that the imagery of Job 7:12 . . . has been chosen by the poet to articulate precisely the main thrust of Job’s protest against God (i.e., the deity’s relentless surveillance), and in doing so the poet has created a text with clear mythologized content but without a strict parallel . . . he has molded general mythological ideas to suit his own purpose." [Note: David A. Diewert, "Job 7:12: Yam, tannin and the surveillance of Job," Journal of Biblical Literature 106:2 (1987):215. See also Elmer B. Smick, "Mythology and the Book of Job," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 13 (Spring 1970):101-8; and idem, "Another Look at the Mythological Elements in the Book of Job," Westminster Theological Journal 40 (1978):213-28.]

Some people are afraid to pray frankly and honestly to God, but Job had nothing to hide. He was open to God’s correction even though he believed God was dealing with him unjustly. In this, his prayer of complaint is a model for us. God understood Job’s chafed feelings and did not "kick him when he was down" for his bitter words.

I think Job reacted with hostility toward Eliphaz partly because of the way his friend tried to comfort him. Eliphaz assumed a position of having superior knowledge based on his personal experience. He forced Job into the mold of being a great sinner to keep his theory of retribution intact. Job did not appreciate being put down or made to look like a greater sinner than he was. He had formerly held Eliphaz’s theory, but now he believed that it was not always true. Job’s was a common reaction to counsel that comes from someone who claims greater experience, either direct or vicarious, even experience derived from Scripture. This approach often produces an overreaction. Job refused to admit he was a sinner at all, though later he did admit it. Such an approach also offends people who have considerable experience in life. Eliphaz had no reason to be surprised when the person he was trying to help rebuked him.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no [more],.... Or "the eye of sight" e; the seeing eye, the most acute and quick sighted eye; so Mr. Broughton renders it, "the quick eye" f: this is to be understood as "after" g death, that then the sharpest eye should not see him, he would be out of the reach of it; which must be taken with a limitation; for men after death are seen by the eyes of the omniscient God, their souls, be they in heaven or in hell, and their bodies in the grave; and as for good men, such as Job, they are at once with him in his immediate presence, beholding and beheld by him; and they are seen by angels, whose care and charge their souls become immediately upon death, and are carried by them into heaven, where they are fellow worshippers with them; and they are seen by glorified saints, to whose company they are joined; for if the rich man in hell could see Abraham, and Lazarus in his bosom, Luke 16:23, then much more do the saints see one another: but the meaning is, that when a man is dead, he is seen no more by men on earth, by his relations, friends, and acquaintance; the consideration of which is a cutting stroke at parting, see Acts 20:25; the state of the dead is an invisible state, and therefore called in the Greek tongue "Hades", "unseen"; so the dead will remain, with respect to the inhabitants of this world, till the resurrection, and then they shall see and be seen again in the same bodies they now have; for this is no denial of the resurrection of the dead, as some Jewish writers charge Job with, and infer from this and some following passages:

thine eyes [are] upon me, and I [am] not; am a dead man, a phrase expressive of death, and of being in the state of the dead, or however of being no more in this world, see Genesis 5:24; not that the dead are nonentities, or are reduced to nothing; this is not true of them, either with respect to soul or body; their souls are immaterial and immoral, and exist in a separate state after death, and their bodies, though reduced to dust, are not annihilated; they return to earth and dust, from whence they came; but still they are something, they are earth and dust, unless these can be thought to be nothing; and this dust is taken care of and preserved, and will be gathered together, and moulded, and framed, and fashioned into bodies again, which will endure for ever: nor is the meaning, that they are nowhere; the spirits of just men made perfect are in heaven, in paradise, in a state of life, immortality, and bliss; and the souls of the wicked are in their own place, in the prison of hell, reserved with devils, to the judgment of the great day; and the bodies of both are in the graves till the day of the resurrection; but they are not, and no more, in the land of the living, in their houses and families, in their shops and business, and places of trade and merchandise, or in the house of God serving him there, according to their different stations. And this Job ascribes to God, "thine eyes [are] upon me": meaning not his eyes of love, favour, and kindness, which had respect unto him; and yet, notwithstanding this, as it did not secure him from afflictions, so neither would it from death itself; for "though [his] eyes [were] upon [him]" in such sense, yet he "would not be" a, or should die; but rather his angry eyes, the frowns of his countenance, which were now upon him, and might be discerned in the dispensations of his providence towards him, by reason of which he "was not" as he was before; not fit for anything, as Sephorno understands it; or should he frown upon him, one angry look would sink him into the state of the dead, and he should be no more, who "looks on the earth, and it trembles", Psalms 104:32. Mr. Broughton renders it as a petition, "let thine eyes be upon me, that I be no more"; that is, let me die, the same request he made in Job 6:8; but it seems best to interpret it or the eyes of God's omnipresence and providence, which are on men in every state and place; and the sense be, either as granting, that though the eyes of men should not see him after death, yet the eyes of God would be upon him when he was not, or in the state of the fiend; or else, that should he long defer doing him good, it would be too late, he should soon die, and then, though he should look after him, and seek for him, he should not be in the land of the living, according to Job 7:21; or this may denote the suddenness of death, which comes to a man in a moment, as Bar Tzemach observes, in the twinkling of an eye; nay, as soon as the eye of God is upon a man, that is, as soon almost as a man appears in the world, and the eye of Divine Providence is upon him, he is out of it again, and is no more; see Ecclesiastes 3:2.

e עין ראי Heb. "oculus visus", Drusius, Piscator; "aspectus", Mercerus; so Simeon Bar Tzemach. f "Ocuium perspicacissimum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. g Posthac, Tigurine version. a "Etiam oculis tuis ad me respicientibus, me non fore amplius", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      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 refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain 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;   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.

      Job, observing perhaps that his friends, though they would not interrupt him in his discourse, yet began to grow weary, and not to heed much what he said, here turns to God, and speaks to him. If men will not hear us, God will; if men cannot help us, he can; for his arm is not shortened, neither is his ear heavy. Yet we must not go to school to Job here to learn how to speak to God; for, it must be confessed, there is a great mixture of passion and corruption in what he here says. But, if God be not extreme to mark what his people say amiss, let us also make the best of it. Job is here begging of God either to ease him or to end him. He here represents himself to God,

      I. As a dying man, surely and speedily dying. It is good for us, when we are sick, to think and speak of death, for sickness is sent on purpose to put us in mind of it; and, if we be duly mindful of it ourselves, we may in faith put God in mind of it, as Job does here (Job 7:7; Job 7:7): O remember that my life is wind. He recommends himself to God as an object of his pity and compassion, with this consideration, that he was a very weak frail creature, his abode in this world short and uncertain, his removal out of it sure and speedy, and his return to it again impossible and never to be expected--that his life was wind, as the lives of all men are, noisy perhaps and blustering, like the wind, but vain and empty, soon gone, and, when gone, past recall. God had compassion on Israel, remembering that they were but flesh, a wind that passeth away and cometh not again,Psalms 78:38; Psalms 78:39. Observe,

      1. The pious reflections Job makes upon his own life and death. Such plain truths as these concerning the shortness and vanity of life, the unavoidableness and irrecoverableness of death, then do us good when we think and speak of them with application to ourselves. Let us consider then, (1.) That we must shortly take our leave of all the things that are seen, that are temporal. The eye of the body must be closed, and shall no more see good, the good which most men set their hearts upon; for their cry is, Who will make us to see good?Psalms 4:6. If we be such fools as to place our happiness in visible good things, what will become of us when they shall be for ever hidden from our eyes, and we shall no more see good? Let us therefore live by that faith which is the substance and evidence of things not seen. (2.) That we must then remove to an invisible world: The eye of him that hath here seen me shall see me no more there. It is hades--an unseen state,Job 7:8; Job 7:8. Death removes our lovers and friends into darkness (Psalms 88:18), and will shortly remove us out of their sight; when we go hence we shall be seen no more (Psalms 39:13), but go to converse with the things that are not seen, that are eternal. (3.) That God can easily, and in a moment, put an end to our lives, and send us to another world (Job 7:8; Job 7:8): "Thy eyes are upon me and I am not; thou canst look me into eternity, frown me into the grave, when thou pleasest."

      He takes away our breath, and we die; nay, he but looks on the earth and it trembles,Psalms 14:29; Psalms 14:30. (4.) That, when we are once removed to another world, we must never return to this. There is constant passing from this world to the other, but vestigia nulla retrorsum--there is no repassing. "Therefore, Lord, kindly ease me by death, for that will be a perpetual ease. I shall return no more to the calamities of this life." When we are dead we are gone, to return no more, [1.] From our house under ground (Job 7:9; Job 7:9): He that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more until the general resurrection, shall come up no more to his place in this world. Dying is work that is to be done but once, and therefore it had need be well done: an error there is past retrieve. This is illustrated by the blotting out and scattering of a cloud. It is consumed and vanisheth away, is resolved into air and never knits again. Other clouds arise, but the same cloud never returns: so a new generation of the children of men is raised up, but the former generation is quite consumed and vanishes away. When we see a cloud which looks great, as if it would eclipse the sun and drawn the earth, of a sudden dispersed and disappearing, let us say, "Just such a thing is the life of man; it is a vapour that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." [2.] To return no more to our house above ground (Job 7:10; Job 7:10): He shall return no more to his house, to the possession and enjoyment of it, to the business and delights of it. Others will take possession, and keep it till they also resign to another generation. The rich man in hell desired that Lazarus might be sent to his house, knowing it was to no purpose to ask that he might have leave to go himself. Glorified saints shall return no more to the cares, and burdens, and sorrows of their house; nor damned sinners to the gaieties and pleasures of their house. Their place shall no more know them, no more own them, have no more acquaintance with them, nor be any more under their influence. It concerns us to secure a better place when we die, for this will no more own us.

      2. The passionate inference he draws from it. From these premises he might have drawn a better conclusion that this (Job 7:11; Job 7:11): Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak; I will complain. Holy David, when he had been meditating on the frailty of human life, made a contrary use of it (Psalms 39:3, I was dumb, and opened not my mouth); but Job, finding himself near expiring, hastens as much to make his complaint as if he had been to make his last will and testament or as if he could not die in peace until he had given vent to his passion. When we have but a few breaths to draw we should spend them in the holy gracious breathings of faith and prayer, not in the noisome noxious breathings of sin and corruption. Better die praying and praising than die complaining and quarrelling.

      II. As a distempered man, sorely and grievously distempered both in body and mind. In this part of his representation is he is very peevish, as if God dealt hardly with him and laid upon him more than was meet: "Am I a sea, or a whale (Job 7:12; Job 7:12), a raging sea, that must be kept within bounds, to check its proud waves, or an unruly whale, that must be restrained by force from devouring all the fishes of the sea? Am I so strong that there needs so much ado to hold me? so boisterous that no less than all these mighty bonds of affliction will serve to tame me and keep me within compass?" We are very apt, when we are in affliction, to complain of God and his providence, as if he laid more restraints upon us that there is occasion for; whereas we are never in heaviness but when there is need, nor more than the necessity demands. 1. He complains that he could not rest in his bed, Job 7:13; Job 7:14. There we promise ourselves some repose, when we are fatigued with labour, pain, or traveling: "My bed shall comfort me, and my couch shall ease my complaint. Sleep will for a time give me some relief;" it usually does so; it is appointed for that end; many a time it has eased us, and we have awaked refreshed, and with new vigour. When it is so we have great reason to be thankful; but it was not so with poor Job: his bed, instead of comforting him, terrified him; and his couch, instead of easing his complaint, added to it; for if he dropped asleep, he was disturbed with frightful dreams, and when those awaked him still he was haunted with dreadful apparitions. This was it that made the night so unwelcome and wearisome to him as it was (Job 7:4; Job 7:4): When shall I arise? Note, God can, when he pleases, meet us with terror even where we promise ourselves ease and repose; nay, he can make us a terror to ourselves, and, as we have often contracted guilt by the rovings of an unsanctified fancy, he can likewise, by the power of our own imagination, create us much grief, and so make that our punishment which has often been our sin. In Job's dreams, though they might partly arise from his distemper (in fevers, or small pox, when the body is all over sore, it is common for the sleep to be unquiet), yet we have reason to think Satan had a hand, for he delights to terrify those whom it is out of his reach to destroy; but Job looked up to God, who permitted Satan to do this (thou scarest me), and mistook Satan's representations for the terror of God setting themselves in array against him. We have reason to pray to God that our dreams may neither defile nor disquiet us, neither tempt us to sin nor torment us with fear, that he who keeps Israel, and neither slumbers nor sleeps, may keep us when we slumber and sleep, that the devil may not then do us a mischief, either as an insinuating serpent or as a roaring lion, and to bless God if we lie down and our sleep is sweet and we are not thus scared. 2. He covets to rest in his grave, that bed where there are no tossings to and fro, nor any frightful dreams, Job 7:15; Job 7:16. (1.) He was sick of life, and hated the thoughts of it: "I loathe it; I have had enough of it. I would not live always, not only not live always in this condition, in pain and misery, but not live always in the most easy and prosperous condition, to be continually in danger of being thus reduced. My days are vanity at the best, empty of solid comfort, exposed to real griefs; and I would not be for ever tied to such uncertainty." Note, A good man would not (if he might) life always in this world, no, not though it smile upon him, because it is a world of sin and temptation and he has a better world in prospect. (2.) He was fond of death, and pleased himself with the thoughts of it: his soul (his judgment, he thought, but really it was his passion) chose strangling and death rather than life; any death rather than such a life as this. Doubtless this was Job's infirmity; for though a good man would not wish to live always in this world, and would choose strangling and death rather than sin, as the martyrs did, yet he will be content to live as long as pleases God, not choose death rather than life, because life is our opportunity of glorifying God and getting ready for heaven.