Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Job 10:11

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Job’s reply to Bildad (9:1-10:22)

While agreeing with Bildad that God is just, Job argues that ordinary people are still at a disadvantage. They cannot present their side of the case satisfactorily, because God always has the wisdom and power to frustrate them. He can ask a thousand questions that they cannot answer (9:1-4). He can do what he wishes in the heavens or on the earth (5-9). He can work miracles and no one can resist him (10-12). If God overthrows those with supernatural power such as the mythical monster Rahab, what chance does a mere human like Job have (13-14)?
Job knows he has not committed great sins, but he also knows that if he tried to argue his case before God he would still lose (15-16). He would surely say something wrong and so be proved guilty. God would crush him then as he crushes him now (17-20).
Although he is blameless, Job sees no purpose in living, since God destroys the innocent and the guilty alike. There seems to be no justice (21-24). Life may be short, but it is full of pain and suffering (25-28). He can see no purpose in trying to bear suffering gladly or act uprightly, because God still condemns him as a sinner (29-31). Job feels that because God is God and he is only a man, the battle is unequal. He wants an umpire, a mediator, someone to bridge the gap by bringing the two parties together and settling the case (32-33). By himself Job cannot plead his case satisfactorily, because he is overwhelmed by the suffering God has sent him (34-35).
In bitterness Job asks God why he makes the innocent suffer, yet at the same time blesses the wicked (10:1-3). Is he like an unjust judge who punishes a person even though he knows the person is innocent (4-7)? Did God create Job simply to destroy him (8-9)? Has he kept him alive merely to torment him (10-13)? It seems to Job that it makes no difference whether he is good or bad. God’s purpose seems to be to hunt him mercilessly and heap punishment upon him for even the smallest sins (14-17).
Job wishes he had never been born into a world of such injustice and suffering (18-19). He asks only for the briefest period of happiness before he dies and goes to the gloomy comfortless world of the dead (20-22).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

JOB CONTINUES TO PLEAD WITH GOD

Here indeed is the secret of spiritual excellence. Suffering, distressed, shamefully treated by his friends, Job nevertheless communed continually with the Lord in prayer.

“Thy hands have framed me and fashioned me Together round about; yet thou dost destroy me. Remember, I beseech thee that thou hast fashioned me as clay; And wilt thou bring me into dust again? Hast thou not poured me out as milk, And curdled me like cheese? Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, And knit me together with bones and sinews, Thou hast granted me life and lovingkindness; And thy visitations have preserved my spirit. Yet these things thou didst hide in thy heart; I know that this is with thee: If I sin, then thou markest me, And thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity. If I be wicked, woe unto me; And if I be righteous, yet shall I not lift up my head; Being filled with ignominy, And looking upon mine affliction. And if my head exalt itself, Thou huntest me as a lion; And again thou showest thyself marvelous upon me. Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, And increasest thine indignation upon me: Changes and warfare are with me.”

“Thou hast fashioned me as dust” The Psalmist remembered these very words (Psalms 103:14), expressing the same thought that was here in the mind of Job. Job here also granted the right of God to bring him again into the dust.

“Thou hast granted me life… and lovingkindness… and preserved my spirit” What a beautiful example is this! When sorrows are multiplied and the terrors of life seem about to sweep us away, what a consolation derives from remembering those precious and wonderful things that God did for his in the days that have vanished.

“These things thou didst hide… I know this is from thee” Job here spoke of the terrible things that had come upon him; but he here showed himself willing to accept bad things as well as good from the hand of God.

“If I be righteous, yet shall I not lift up my head… being filled with ignominy” The very condition of Job was one of extreme shame; and he recognized that, even if his righteousness should be known, his pitiful condition would deny it in the eyes of men.

“Thou showest thyself marvelous upon me” Job here called attention to the superlative nature of the disasters that had come upon him. The complimnent he thus bestowed upon God should not be overlooked.

“Thou renewest thy witnesses against me” This appears to be a reference to Job’s friends whose words certainly were, in a sense, witnesses against Job. In view of all this, Job again renewed his appeal for God to let him die.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh - This refers, undoubtedly, to the formation of man in his foetal existence, and is designed to denote that the whole organization of the human frame was to be traced to God. Grotius remarks that this is the order in which the infant is formed - that the skin appears first, then the flesh, then the harder parts of the frame. On this subject, the reader may consult Dunglison’s Physiology, vol. ii. p. 340ff.

And hast fenced me - Margin, Hedged. Literally, Hast covered me. The sense is plain. God had formed him as he was, and to him he owed his life, and all that he had. Job asks with the deepest interest whether God would take down a frame formed in this manner, and reduce it again to dust? Would it not be more for his honor to preserve it still - at least to the common limit of human life?

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 10

Now Job goes on in the tenth chapter. He said,

My soul is weary of my life ( Job 10:1 );

He goes right back into his misery. He looks for the answer, but it isn't there; it isn't to be found. And so I return back to my weariness of life.

I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; show me where you are contending with me. Is it good unto thee that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and that you should shine upon the counsel of the wicked? Have you eyes of flesh? or do you see as a man sees? Are thy days as the days of a man? are your years as a man's days, that you inquire after my iniquity, and search after my sin? You know that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of your hand. Your hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet you are destroying me. Remember, I beseech thee, that you have made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again? ( Job 10:1-9 )

So Job is pleading now his cause before God. "God, I don't know. Can You see as I see? Do You have ears? Do You, you know. You've made me, Lord. You've made me out of the dust. Now remember that." That, to me, is comforting that God does remember that. In the psalms we read that, "He knows our frame, that we are but dust" ( Psalms 103:14 ). Hey, you're not Superman. You're not Wonder Woman. You're dust. You're not the super saint that you'd like to be. And that you sometimes think you are. You're dust. You are made out of dust. And God remembers that. Thank You, Father, for remembering, because I sometimes forget. I think that I am more than I really am. I think that I can accomplish more than I really can. I think I've achieved more than I really have. And I begin to get a little self-confidence, a little prideful. And in His love He deflates me. And here I am all bummed out. Failed again. Messed things up. "Oh God, why did You allow this to happen to me? I'm so disappointed in myself. Stumbled once more. Failed again." And He says, "Oh, come on. You're nothing but dust to begin with. You forget that?" "Yep." "Well, I didn't." He knows your frame. He knows you're not made of steel. He knows you're made of dust. And so Job is reminding him and it is the truth. "Remember that You have made me like clay. Are You going to bring me to the dust again?"

Have you not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese? ( Job 10:10 )

This, of course, is poetry, picturesque kind of speech. God has poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese.

You've clothed me with skin and flesh, and you've fenced me [about] ( Job 10:11 )

Can you see now your skeleton as a fence?

with bones and sinews. You have granted me life and favor, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit. And these things hast thou hid in thine heart: and I know that this is with thee. If I sin, then you mark me, and you will not acquit me from mine iniquity. If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore look upon my affliction ( Job 10:11-15 );

God, I'm totally confused. I don't understand life. I don't understand the things that are happening to me. Oh God, just look upon my affliction tonight. Here I am, God, just filled with confusion.

I've sat where Job is sitting, many times, where I've just become totally confused with life. All of the intricate little intertwinings. Look upon my affliction, Lord.

For it increases. You hunt me as a fierce lion: and again you show yourself marvelous upon me. You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation upon me; and changes and war are against me. Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? ( Job 10:16-18 )

Why, Lord, did You allow me to live from birth?

Oh that I had died, and no eye had ever seen me! I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave. Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take just a little comfort, Before I go from where I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death; A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness ( Job 10:18-22 ).

God, just give me a little reprieve before I die. I'm so confused.

That's a sort of a dark place to leave you, but unfortunately, we don't get any light until we get to the thirty-eighth chapter. So hang on. Life in the raw, that's what it's all about. The basic gut-level issues of life. What is it really about? When you take away the props upon which we are constantly leaning, what's the real issue of life? We have it here in Job. It's not always pleasant. It's far from perfect. We do have basic needs. But God has met our needs through Jesus Christ. And for each cry that comes out from the heart of Job, in the New Testament through Jesus Christ, there's an answer. For God in Christ has provided for the basic needs of man and I'm so thankful.

"

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Job’s challenge to God ch. 10

This whole chapter, another prayer (cf. Job 7:7-21), is a cry to God for answers: "Let me know why . . ." (Job 10:2). God’s silence intensifies sufferings. Notice the legal setting again, especially in Job 10:2. Job again claimed to be not guilty (Job 10:7).

"It is a remarkable fact, apparently unobserved by commentators, but very revealing of Job’s mind, that in none of his petitions does he make the obvious request for his sickness to be cured. As if everything will be all right when he is well again! That would not answer the question which is more urgent than every other concern: ’Why?’" [Note: Andersen, p. 152.]

Job marveled that God would expend such care on him from the womb to the tomb only to destroy him (Job 10:8-17; cf. Job 10:11 with Psalms 139:13). Again Job expressed a desire to die (Job 10:18-22; cf. ch. 3; Job 6:8-9). He evidently had little revelation concerning life after death. For him death opened the door to a land of shadows, gloom, and darkness (Job 10:21-22), but he welcomed it as better than life as he was experiencing it. Each of Job’s speeches so far concluded with some reference to death and gloom (Job 3:21-22; Job 7:21; Job 10:21-22). He was a broken man.

"If we are tempted to criticize [Job], we should ever remember that in the whole Book God lays no charge against His child. Terrible things were these which Job uttered about God, but at least they were honest." [Note: Morgan, p. 206.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh,.... The bones with flesh, which is the under garment, and the flesh with skin, which is the upper; which is artificially composed of intricate little arteries, veins, nerves, and glands, through which the blood continually circulates, and through innumerable pores, and transpires, of which pores 125,000 may be covered with a small grain of sand l, amazing! Timaeus Locrus m calls them invisible little mouths; see Ezekiel 37:6; the order of generation seems to be observed; after the semen is hardened and consolidated, the inward parts are formed, and then the outward parts, the flesh and skin, to protect and defend them; and so are compared to clothes which are outside a man, and put about him; Porphyry n calls the body the clothing of the soul; see 2 Corinthians 5:4; the spiritual clothing of Job was the righteousness of his living Redeemer, who was to partake of the same flesh and blood with him, and stand on the earth in the fulness of time, and work out and bring in a righteousness for him, consisting of his obedience in life in the days of his flesh, and of his sufferings and death, or blood, by which he and every believer are justified before God; and with which being clothed, shall not be found naked:

and hast fenced me with bones and sinews; the bones are said by philosophers o to be the fences of the marrow, and the flesh the covering of them; the bones are the strength and stability of the human body; the sinews or nerves bind and hold the several parts of it together, and are of great use for its strength and motion: the bones, some of them are as pillars to support it, as those of the legs and thighs; and others are of use to act for it, offensively and defensively, as those of the hands and arms; and others are a cover and fence of the inward parts, as the ribs: Gussetius p seems inclined, could he have found an instance of the word being used for making a tent, which it has the signification of, to have rendered the words,

"with bones and sinews, thou hast given ate the form of a tabernacle; or, thou hast made me to be a tent;''

so the human body is called a tabernacle, 2 Corinthians 5:1; the skin and flesh being like veils or curtains, which cover; the bones are in the room of stakes, and the nerves instead of cords, the breast and belly a cavity: in a spiritual sense, a believer's strength lies in the grace of Christ, in the Lord, and in the power of his might; his defence is the whole armour of God provided for him, particularly the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, and the breastplate of righteousness, with which he is fenced and protected from every spiritual enemy; and will God suffer such an one to be destroyed, whom he hath taken such care of, both in a natural and spiritual manner?

l Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 4. p. 681. m De Anima Mundi, p. 18. n De Antro Nymph. o Timaeus Locrus, ib. p. 15. p Ebr. Comment. p. 555, 556.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      8 Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.   9 Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?   10 Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?   11 Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews.   12 Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.   13 And these things hast thou hid in thine heart: I know that this is with thee.

      In these verses we may observe,

      I. How Job eyes God as his Creator and preserver, and describes his dependence upon him as the author and upholder of his being. This is one of the first things we are all concerned to know and consider.

      1. That God made us, he, and not our parents, who were only the instruments of his power and providence in our production. He made us, and not we ourselves. His hands have made and fashioned these bodies of ours and every part of them (Job 10:8; Job 10:8), and they are fearfully and wonderfully made. The soul also, which animates the body, is his gift. Job takes notice of both here. (1.) The body is made as the clay (Job 10:9; Job 10:9), cast into shape, into this shape, as the clay is formed into a vessel, according to the skill and will of the potter. We are earthen vessels, mean in our original, and soon broken in pieces, made as the clay. Let not therefore the thing formed say unto him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? We must not be proud of our bodies, because the matter is from the earth, yet not dishonour our bodies, because the mould and shape are from the divine wisdom. The formation of human bodies in the womb is described by an elegant similitude (Job 10:10; Job 10:10, Thou hast poured me out like milk, which is coagulated into cheese), and by an induction of some particulars, Job 10:11; Job 10:11. Though we come into the world naked, yet the body is itself both clothed and armed. The skin and flesh are its clothing; the bones and sinews are its armour, not offensive, but defensive. The vital parts, the heart and lungs, are thus clothed, not to be seen--thus fenced, not to be hurt. The admirable structure of human bodies is an illustrious instance of the wisdom, power, and goodness of the Creator. What a pity is it that these bodies should be instruments of unrighteousness which are capable of being temples of the Holy Ghost! (2.) The soul is the life, the soul is the man, and this is the gift of God: Thou hast granted me life, breathed into me the breath of life, without which the body would be but a worthless carcase. God is the Father of spirits: he made us living souls, and endued us with the power of reason; he gave us life and favour, and life is a favour--a great favour, more than meat, more than raiment--a distinguishing favour, a favour that puts us into a capacity of receiving other favours. Now Job was in a better mind than he was when he quarrelled with life as a burden, and asked, Why died I not from the womb? Or by life and favour may be meant life and all the comforts of life, referring to his former prosperity. Time was when he walked in the light of the divine favour, and thought, as David, that through that favour his mountain stood strong.

      2. That God maintains us. Having lighted the lamp of life, he does not leave it to burn upon its own stock, but continually supplies it with fresh oil: "Thy visitation has preserved my spirit, kept me alive, protected me from the adversaries of life, the death we are in the midst of and the dangers we are continually exposed to, and blessed me with all the necessary supports of life and the daily supplies it needs and craves."

      II. How he pleads this with God, and what use he makes of it. He reminds God of it (Job 10:9; Job 10:9): Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me. What then? Why, 1. "Thou hast made me, and therefore thou hast a perfect knowledge of me (Psalms 139:1-13), and needest not to examine me by scourging, nor to put me upon the rack for the discovery of what is within me." 2. "Thou hast made me, as the clay, by an act of sovereignty; and wilt thou by a like act of sovereignty unmake me again? If so, I must submit." 3. "Wilt thou destroy the work of thy own hands?" It is a plea the saints have often used in prayer, We are the clay and thou our potter,Isaiah 64:8. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me,Psalms 119:73. So here, Thou madest me; and wilt thou destroy me (Job 10:8; Job 10:8), wilt thou bring me into dust again?Job 10:9; Job 10:9. "Wilt thou not pity me? Wilt thou not spare and help me, and stand by the work of thy own hands?Psalms 138:8. Thou madest me, and knowest my strength; wilt thou then suffer me to be pressed above measure? Was I made to be made miserable? Was I preserved only to be reserved for these calamities?" If we plead this with ourselves as an inducement to duty, "God made me and maintains me, and therefore I will serve him and submit to him," we may plead it with God as an argument for mercy: Thou hast made me, new--make me; I am thine, save me. Job knew not how to reconcile God's former favours and his present frowns, but concludes (Job 10:13; Job 10:13), "These things hast thou hidden in thy heart. Both are according to the counsel of thy own will, and therefore undoubtedly consistent, however they seem." When God thus strangely changes his way, though we cannot account for it, we are bound to believe there are good reasons for it hidden in his heart, which will be manifested shortly. It is not with us, or in our reach, to assign the cause, but I know that this is with thee. Known unto God are all his works.