Job 3:1-15
11“Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? 12Why were there knees to receive me, or breasts for me to suck? 13Now I would be lying down and quiet; I would be asleep; then I would be at rest 14with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuild ruins for themselves, 15or with princes who have gold, who fill their houses with silver.
Job curses the day of his birth – but, importantly, still does not curse God (1:22, 2:10) – because of his immense suffering. The author uses poetic explorations of day and daylight, night and dark, to express Job’s passionate desire for his birth date (and conception date, 3.3) to be expunged from the calendar and from history. The ‘day’ of his birth is personified: Job wants it to be blinded, that is, to become a non-day.
He wishes he had never been born; or that he had died at birth, or soon afterwards because he received no nourishment or care (3:11-12).
Death would have been a time of calm rest and peace; he would have slept beside the great ones of history who had achieved memorable projects or immense wealth. That would have been preferable to Job’s continuing life of indescribable pain and suffering, which has left him having achieved nothing.
Job plunges to the depths of depression and despair. The nearest parallel in the Bible is Jeremiah 20:14-18.
In verse 8 Job says: “Let those curse it who curse the Sea, those who are skilled to rouse up Leviathan.” He may be referring to magical or ritual spells, to quell storms at sea, caused by a sea monster. ‘Leviathan’ was a mythical monster borrowed from Canaanite religion: the high god overcame Leviathan at the time of the creation of the world. That myth occurs also in Psalms 74:14 and 89:10. Here an appeal is made to some divine power, even stronger than Leviathan, to utter a curse on the day of Job’s birth. In Isaiah 27:1 the myth is used to describe God’s forthcoming victory over evil on the Last Day – a forerunner of the defeat of the Dragon (or ‘Beast’ or ‘Satan’) in the Book of Revelation.
To Ponder:
- We live in an era where mental ill-health is increasing rapidly as a disabling plight. Fortunately not every such illness is as profound as the one Job describes. Even so, we are often at a loss to know what to do or say when someone shares with us their emotional dysfunction. If you attend church, is it discussing how to exercise sensitive pastoral care towards those who experience sadness, depression, or even suicidal thoughts?
- The Christian tradition encourages believers to cast all their anxieties on God or Jesus (1 Peter 5:7). How do we help one another to discern the gift of Jesus’ peace, which promises inner stability, serenity and harmony?