In our study of Job chapter three, we see the depths of his sorrow as he wishes that he had never even been born. In this, we will see how the indirect attacks from Satan can be even tougher to bear than the physical.
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At length, Iyov broke the silence and cursed the day of his [birth]. Iyov said, "Perish the day I was born and the night that said, 'A man is conceived.'
The "After this" refers to the seven days of sitting silently with his three friends as they all mourned his situation. His friends had never seen him as a poor man sitting in a heap of trash as they knew that he had been a very rich man. Though no words were said, you can imagine the air of judgment as his friends would have been sure that he had brought this on himself through sin. This same sort of thing happens even today among Christians as we may see a brother or sister that is struggling and automatically assume that their situation is due to a "hidden sin". Many of us have probably heard a teenager say something like: "I wish I had never been born." and many of us, as adults, may have said the same thing. Job goes there with the "If only I had never been born" attitude. He goes so far as to say that he wished that he had never even lived a second as he speaks of being conceived. This is just a little reminder to all of us that, real life begins at that moment that is commonly called conception.
May that day be darkness, may God on high not seek it, may no light shine on it, may gloom dark as death defile it, may clouds settle on it, may it be terrified by its own blackness. "As for that night, may thick darkness seize it, may it not be joined to the days of the year, may it not be numbered among the months; may that night be desolate, may no cry of joy be heard in it;
Job goes on to wish that the joy of creating a new life be removed and even the very day and night forgotten by God. We see how torn up the man is and the fact that he is walking a very fine line and yet he still does not curse God as the devil wanted. He wishes that he had never been born but he does not blame God for the day.
may those who curse days curse it, those who[se curses] could rouse Livyatan;
ob goes on and speaks of fortunetellers (like Balaam) that were hired to pronounce curses on people, days, etc. He refers to the end days and the Messianic banquet of Jewish legend. According to Jewish legend, at the end of days Leviathan, the serpent, will be raised from the deep and served to God's people at the Messianic banquet.
may the stars of its twilight be dark, may it look for light but get none, may it never see the shimmer of dawn because it didn't shut the doors of the womb I was in and shield my eyes from trouble.
Job asks that the day be cut short as we are reminded that the Jewish day begins at sunset. He asks that it be stopped before the morning light because he had not been stopped from being born on that day.
"If I had been stillborn, if I had died at birth, had there been no knees to receive me or breasts for me to suck.
We see the "If only I had died during birth" attitude as he questions the meaning of his life based on his current situation. It appears that the devil's plan is working as Job continues to spiral deeper and deeper into depression as he sees no purpose or meaning to his life as he looks back on it. This is one of the favorite tactics of the devil even today with Christians. If Satan can get us to doubt our purpose for living, then, he thinks he can stop whatever God has planned for us. We are reminded of the fact that God has prepared things for each and every one of us to do and, even if we may not see their purpose now, He does. Job did not see the purpose for his suffering and was hoping that his life would be ended but he did not know that, in the end, his story of faith would be shared with millions and even billions of people to build them up. He did not know but God did.
Then I would be lying still and in peace, I would have slept and been at rest, along with kings and their earthly advisers, who rebuilt ruins for themselves, or with princes who had [plenty of] gold, who filled their houses with silver.
Job continues as he compares the rest in the grave as a dead child to the doom and gloom that he is now facing. He is right in the fact that, if he had died during childbirth, he would have gone to sleep and waited for the Lord. After Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the dead, he would have rose with Christ and gone to heaven. Even so, he is missing the fact that God is in control of all things and has a purpose for all of us. He has lost sight of the fact that God knows all things and desires what is best for us.
Or I could have been like a hidden, miscarried child that never saw light. "There the wicked cease their raging, there the weary are at rest, prisoners live at peace together without hearing a taskmaster's yells. Great and small alike are there, and the slave is free of his master.
Job continues to sink further into depression as he wonders why he did not die at the moment of birth. An infant would have the same fate as the child that was not carried to term as they would now be in heaven with Jesus but the "wicked" are not. Here, we see a misunderstanding that Job had which many people of today also share. That is the thinking that the "wicked" (those that do not know the Lord) are resting in the grave. Although it is true that they are in the grave, it is not a time of rest as they can only look forward to the time where they will be judged and sentenced to hell. While men are yet alive, they can deny the existence of God and deny His Son but, upon death, they find out that they were very wrong.
"So why must light be given to the miserable and life to the bitter in spirit? They long for death, but it never comes; they search for it more than for buried treasure; when at last they find the grave, they are so happy they shout for joy.
Job now has the attitude of "if only it would all end" as he has accepted God's will in giving him birth and the life that he has led so far. But, now, he asks the question of why God does not just "call him home". This is still a struggle in his mind with the sovereignty of God and the fact that God has him going through this for a purpose. At some point in our lives, we have all probably had this same type of struggle. We must remember and realize that it is during the toughest struggles that we learn to rest in God and grow in our faith. Job was thinking that it would all be better if his life on this earth would just end but, once again, he does not know everything that God does. This same type of crying out for life to just end will occur again during the Great Tribulation where, at that time, the people on the earth will cry out for the mountains to crush them to save them from the wrath of God (see Revelation 6:16).
[Why give light] to a man who wanders blindly, whom God shuts in on every side? "My sighing serves in place of my food, and my groans pour out in a torrent; for the thing I feared has overwhelmed me, what I dreaded has happened to me. I have no peace, no quiet, no rest; and anguish keeps coming."
In a way, Job is once again acknowledging the power of God as he recognizes that God is protecting his life but he just does not understand why. We see that Job describes his fear and we are reminded that fear is not from God but is a tool of the devil. He describes how his peace and rest through his faith in God is being taken away by fear. When we see fear creeping into our lives, we, like Job, must remember to rest in our faith in the goodness of God.
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