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After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.

After this — After so long silence of his friends, and to provoke them to speak, who haply waited for some words from him first, as knowing him wise and well spoken. Or [After this] After that Job’s pains were somewhat allayed, so that he could breathe, recollect himself, and utter his mind; for some troubles are above speech, Psalms 77:4 , they will hardly suffer a man to take breath, Job 9:18 , See Trapp on " Esther 4:14 " or to hear anything, though never so wholesome or comfortable, Exodus 6:9 .

Job opened his mouth — But better he had kept it closed still: either be silent, saith the Greek proverb, or else say something that is better than silence. But it may befall the best, left to themselves, to speak unadvisedly with their lips, as meek Moses did at the waters of Meribah, for which sin of his, some Jews say that he was damned, because we read not of his repentance. And a like wretched censure they pass upon holy Job for his cursing his day here, saying, that although in words he cursed the creature only, yet interpretatively and indeed, he cursed the Creator; like as he that spitteth upon a king’s picture, or robe royal, doth the same to the king himself. But why do they not then say the same of Jeremiah, and pronounce him a reprobate for cursing his birthday too? Jeremiah 20:14 . R. Levi answereth, because it appeareth to be otherwise by Jeremiah’s whole prophecy besides. And may we not say the like for Job, if we wisely weigh his words in their right sense, and the end which the Lord made, James 5:11 , propounding him for a pattern of patience, not of impatience, whereof nothing is said against him, though he had his outbursts, as here; and must have his allowance (as good gold hath when it comes to the scale) that so he may pass. If he had blasphemed God, or denied his providence, ascribing all events to the conjunction of the stars at a man’s birth (as the Talmudists falsely gather from this chapter), Satan had had his design upon him; and God would never have justified him, and preferred him before his friends, as he did, Job 42:7-8 True it is, that, Job 38:2 , when he had spoken his mind overly freely, and indeed sinfully (as there is not a man upon earth that liveth, and sinneth not), as if the Lord had dealt unkindly, if not unequally, with him, God in the end steppeth forth, as it were, from behind the hangings, overhearing him, and taking him up, Who is this, saith he there, that talketh thus? how now? After which Job was not only hushed, Job 40:4-5 , but humbled, Job 42:6 . And truly it should be considered, say both Ambrose and Chrysostom, in Job’s defence, that, though patient in the two former chapters, yet now he begins to be wet to the skin; yea, the drops of God’s wrath began to soak into his soul; the devil also set upon him with all violence, as some conceive from the next verse, Job answered and said, sc. to some dispute with the devil. Now, therefore, that he thus falleth a roaring and a cursing his day, it is, saith Chrysostom, as a sick man, who, being under the physician’s hands, of whom he is well persuaded, useth all patience towards him; but, being in extremity of pain, lays about him, and strikes at the bystanders, … Exemplo Iobi liquet, it is evident from the example of Job saith another good writer; by this example of Job it appeareth, that in extreme trials of the best it oft happens that pain and grief speaketh rather than the man himself, and that in the sieve of temptations, upon a more violent sifting, the holes being worn or widened, not the offal only, but some grains of good wheat, that is, of faith, do slip through; which yet the right hand of a gracious God is wont to gather, and to lay up in the granary of his grace (Bucholc.). Job cannot altogether be excused, saith Fetus upon this chapter, neither is he said, as before, not to have sinned in these following expressions. Rather is it to be held, that the Lord, who before stood by him, now for a time left him, to try what is in man, even the best man living, if he be not strengthened by God continually. David was most courageous when he went against Goliath, but fearful when Saul pursued him. Elijah was most zealous for the Lord of hosts when he slew 450 of Baal’s priests: Tantus tamen fulminator ad Iezabelis minas trepidat, factus seipso imbecillior, saith one; and yet this valiant prophet flees at the threats of Jezebel, and heareth from heaven, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" So Jeremiah, Peter, Father Latimer, Pray for me, saith he, I say, pray for me; for I am sometimes so fearful that I would creep into a mouse hole; sometimes God doth visit me again with his comforts; so he cometh and goeth, to teach me to feel and know mine infirmity. Thus he writeth to Bishop Ridley, with whom he afterwards suffered at the same stake. His last words were, Fidelis est Deus, …, God is faithful, who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able, … This was also Job’s comfort, when himself, doubtless; for at this time it was Ego non sum Ego I am not I, with him, and God considered it; for he knoweth our mould, he remembereth we are but dust.

And cursed his day — Diem, non Deum; his day, and not his God, as the devil would have had it. It was too much howsoever of that; and Job should have opened his mouth to better purpose. In the Revelation, whensoever heaven opened, some memorable matter followed; when wisdom openeth her mouth, she speaketh excellent things, Proverbs 8:6 . When Asaph opened his mouth, he spake parables, Psalms 78:2 . When our Saviour did so, he delivered that famous Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:2 . But Job, alas, in the extreme pain of his body, and anguish of his soul, openeth his mouth, and curseth bitterly; curseth his day in a most emphatical manner, and in most exquisite terms, wishing all the evil to it that it was any way capable of. Now the day that he here curseth, is either the day wherein he suffered such a world of evils, as Obadiah 1:12 Isaiah 2:12 , or rather the day which gave occasion to his sufferings, his birthday, as Job 3:3 . Jeremiah did the like by a like infirmity, Job 20:14 , and some others; but never hath any yet been heard to curse the day of his new birth, nor ever shall as whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these we might be partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust: and besides an entrance ministered unto us further and further into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 2 Peter 1:4 ; 2 Peter 1:11 . There is a μυριομακαριοτης , a multiplied happiness in holiness.

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And Job spake, and said,

And Job spake, and said — Heb. Answered and said. Answered? Whom answered he? The Jewish doctors say, he answered his friends, who having hitherto said nothing to him, and heard as little from him, at length - rupere silentia voce, to destroy a silent voice, and asked him what he ailed? others more probably conceive that Job answered here to some dispute in his own mind, or rather with the devil. Some take this verse for a transition only. Others make it a preparation for Job’s future discourse, to move expectation, and win attention. The discourse indeed is all along, to Job 42:7 , poetical, and very accurate, made up in hexameters (as Jerome holdeth), not by Job and his friends at the first uttering, but afterwards by Job at better leisure; or, as some think, by Moses whilst a shepherd in Midian, for the comfort of his poor countrymen in Egypt, Sic et Ionas orationem suam in ventre balaenae habitam, et David plerosque Psalmos, … Mercer saith that his predecessor Vatablus (as he had heard) had found out a way of scanning these hexameters to others unknown, and to all the more obscure, because the verse causeth a cloud. The first hexameter that ever was made in Greek is said to be this,

Sυμφερετε πτερατ οιωνοι κηρον τε μελισσαι .

Birds, bring your plumes, and bees, your wax at once.

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Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night [in which] it was said, There is a man child conceived.

Let the day perish wherein I was born — He curseth his birthday, which the Greeks call γενεθλιον , quasi γενεσιν αθλιον : the beginning of a man’s nativity they call the begetting of his misery; because he is non prius natus quam damnatus (Aug.), no sooner born but damned to the mines of misery, Job 14:1 . Crying he comes into the world, and before he speaketh he prophesieth, and saith in effect, Tι βιος ει μη βια; σωμα μεν σημα, χρωμα πτωμα, δεμας δεσμος, γενεσις εις γην ωσος , …

To be born is a penalty, to labour life, to die necessary. Oh that I had ne’er been born! Woe worth the day That brought me forth, and made me not away!

This whole life is overspread with sins and miseries as with a filthy morphew; A leprous or scurfy eruption or as Job was with his leprosy; the anguish whereof, together with his inward troubles, so grieved and galled him, that he not only crieth out (which is natural for a man to do), but giving the reins wholly to his grief, he roareth and rageth beyond all reason; and had not the Spirit held him back, he would surely have run headlong into blasphemy and desperation, which was Satan’s design. But in the saints, as the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and sometimes getting the upper ground (as it were), bears it down, as here in Job at this present; so the Spirit again lusteth against the flesh, and a great bustle there is in the good soul (as when two opposite things meet together, cold saltpetre and hot brimstone, there is a great noise; and as when Paul came to Ephesus, there was no small stir about that way, Acts 19:28-41 ), so that ye cannot do the things that ye would, saith the apostle, Galatians 5:17 . As Job cannot do and say the good that he would, because of the flesh, so neither could he do or say the evil that he would, because of the Spirit; he curseth indeed his day, but not his wife nor friends, much less his God, as those malcontents did, Isaiah 8:21 . Nay, so soon as God came into his mind, Job 3:20 , the flesh was thereby, though not altogether, quailed and quelled, yet so far daunted and damped, that it kept itself within the compass of weeping and wailing; and God himself, though he find fault with Job’s speeches for unadvised, and sometimes ranging beyond the precincts of godliness; yet acquitting him from all gross sin, he crowneth him with the garland of a famous victory, as Mr Beza here well observeth. Most wisely, therefore, and fitly doth St James warn us, that in thinking upon Job, we regard not so much what was done while the combat lasted, as what end the Lord made, James 5:11 . The saints do never more prevail and triumph than when it seemeth otherwise. See Revelation 13:7 Job 12:11 . They gather strength by opposition, and conquer in being conquered, Romans 8:37 . They repent of their outbursts, as Job did, Job 42:5-6 . And Quem poenitet peccasse, pene est innocens (Senec.), he is little less than innocent who is afterwards penitent. Yea, it is almost more to repent of a fault, saith a Father, than to have been free from the fault (Ambr. in Psal.).

And the night — He would be sure to hit the time, whether it were day or night. He that is once out of God’s way knows not where he shall stop, or when he shall step back. Take heed therefore to thy ways, that thou sin not with thy tongue, that unruly member, Psalms 39:1 James 3:8 .

• Hanc fraenis, hanc tu compesce catenis.

For this bridle, this restrain you for chains. When God’s hand is on thy back, let thy hand be on thy mouth, keep it as with a bridle or muzzle, Psalms 39:1 . Passionate speeches leniter volant, non leviter violant. The best that come of them is repentance; Job, when he was once out, could keep no mean; but what he had said against day and night, he amplifieth by the parts; and first for the day, Job 3:4-5 , and then for the night, Job 3:6-8 , …

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Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.

Let that day be darkness — Thick darkness, as that once was in Egypt, Exodus 10:28 . A day of trouble and distress, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, Zephaniah 1:15 . Let it be a dreadful and a dismal day, let sorrow and sadness overshadow it, let mourning and tears overwhelm it; let it be as when the sun hideth his head in a mantle of black, and is eclipsed; at which time all creatures here below flag and hang the head. In the gloomiest day there is light enough to make it day, and distinguish it from night, though the sun shine not. But Job would have no light to appear on his birthday. Thus he throweth out words without wisdom, and as hinds by calving, so he by talking casteth out his sorrows, Job 39:3 .

Let not God regard it — Or require it; let it pass as not worth looking after, let him not take care of it, or pour down any special blessing upon it, as he doth upon his people every day, but especially upon the Sabbath Day, God’s market day, called by the Jews desiderium dierum, the desire of days, and by the Primitive Christians Dies lucis, the day of light.

Neither let the light shine upon it — And what is the air without light, that first ornament of the visible world? so what are all creature comforts, unless God shine through them? What a woeful case is that poor soul in that walketh in darkness, and hath none of his light, Isaiah 50:10 ; how lamentably is such a one deserted, benighted! how doth he find himself in the very suburbs of hell itself, where the pain of loss is greater than the pain of sense, 2 Thessalonians 1:9 . And to note thus much, Job here, after he had said, Let that day be darkness, added as a greater evil, Let not the light shine upon it.

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Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it — Let it be dies luctuosus et lethalis, such a deadly dark day, that each man may think it his last day, fatal and feral. Let there not be dimness only (such as appeareth through a painted glass, dyed with some obscure colour), but horrid and hideous darkness, such as was that at our Saviour’s passion, when the sun was totally eclipsed, and a great philosopher thereupon cried out, Either the God of Nature suffers, or the world is at an end. To darkness Job here emphatically addeth the shadow of death. The shadow is the dark part of the thing, so that the shadow of death is the darkest side of death, death in its blackest representation. Now let these stain it, saith he, or challenge it, or espouse it. In nocte funestatur mundi honor - Sordent, silent, stupent cuncta, saith Tertullian, elegantly.

Let a cloud dwell upon it — Crescit etiamnum per Auxesin oratio. Job heaps up words, like in sound, and not unlike in sense. Grief had made him eloquent; as hoping thereby to ease himself. "Let a cloud dwell upon it," a fixed cloud, not such a one as continually hangeth over the island of St Thomas, on the back side of Africa, wherewith the whole island is watered; nor such a cloud of grace as God promiseth to create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, that upon all his glory may be a defence, Isaiah 4:5 . But such as St Paul and his company were under before the shipwreck, Acts 27:20 , when neither sun nor star appeared for many days together, the heavens being wholly muffled, …

Let the blackness of the day terrify it — Or, Let the heat of the day terrify it; as it befalleth those that live under the torrid zone, where nothing prospereth. The Atlantes (a certain people) are said to curse the rising sun, it doth so torture them with extreme heat. When the dog star ariseth, those are in ill case who dwell in hot countries towards the east, they are troubled and terrified. Some take the word Chimrine, here rendered blackness, for those Chemarims mentioned by the prophets, those chimney chaplains of the heathen idols, and so render it thus, Let the priests of the day terrify it, Hinc forsan tenebrae Cimmeriae; that is, Let those who used to observe and distinguish days note it for a terrible day. Others understand it of the noon day devils, that should vex people on that day with hellish heats and fires: the Vulgate Latin hath it thus, Let, as it were, the bitternesses of the day terrify it: and to the same sense the Chaldee Paraphrast. Job still riseth in his discourse, making use of many poetical figures, and tragic phrases, picked out for the purpose.

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As [for] that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.

As for that night, let darkness seize upon it — Having spent his spleen upon the day, he now vents himself upon the night, according to that division, Job 3:8 . As for that night of mine unhappy conception, or birth, let tenebrosus turbo (as the Vulgate here hath it), a dark tempest, or a tempestuous darkness, grasp it, or invade it; let it be as dark as pitch, by a darkness superadded to its natural darkness, Caligo perpetua et inusitata (Mercer).

Let it not be joined unto the days of the year — Let nature quite disclaim it, and disjoint it from the day following; let it not be reckoned as any part of time, that measure of all our motions. Some render it, Ne gaudeat inter dies, Let it not rejoice itself among the days of the year, as one of them. The night hath glory by union with the day; this he wisheth taken from it. Disunion and division is a curse; and the number of two hath been accounted accursed, because it was the first that departed from unity.

And let it not come into the number of months — Deleatur e calendario, let it be razed out of the calendar, and not have any place in the computation of time. The Hebrews call the moon and a month by the same name; because the moon is renewed every month, So μην , month, and μηνη , moon.

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Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.

Lo, let that night be solitary — And so consequently sorrowful; for aloneness is comfortless, et optimum solatium sodalitium. There is a desirable solitariness, such as was that of Isaac, Genesis 24:63 , of Jacob, Genesis 32:24 , of Christ, Mark 1:35 , of Peter, Acts 10:9 , to talk with God and with themselves. But usually to sit solitary is a misery, Lamentations 1:1 (for Satan is readiest to assault when none is by to assist), neither is there a greater tie to constancy than the society of saints. This the heathen persecutors perceived, and therefore banished and confined the Christian confessors to isles and mines; where they could not come together for mutual edification and comfort. There is a woe to him that is alone, and good reason showed for it by Solomon, Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 . Let no man sty up himself, or affect solitariness; but make conscience of fellowship in the gospel, as the Philippiaus did from the first day of their conversion to Christ, Philippians 1:5 , accounting, that communion of saints is a point of practice, as well as an article of belief.

And no joyful voice come therein — That is, saith one, no pleasing stillness (as in other nights there is), to invite the melody of music. Or, let there be no merry meetings, feastings, and jollities, as was usual in the night season. Let not so much as the voice of the cock be heard that night (so the Chaldee here paraphraseth), but the doleful ditties of screech owls, and other inauspicate creatures. Let no traveller, that is then benighted, solace himself with sweet songs, or musicians play from house to house, as minstrels do.

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Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.

Let them curse it, that curse the day — As those atri et tetri Atlantes (before spoken of) curse the rising sun for scorching them, Non tam cute, quam corde Not so much skin as heart, (Aethiopici); as despairing persons, and malefactors led to execution, use to curse the time that ever they were born. The help of all such Job here calleth in against the harmless night he banneth with so much bitterness. Like as that desperate wretch mentioned by Mr Bolton, who being upon his death bed, albeit he swore as fast and as furiously as he could, yet desired he the bystandersy to help him with oaths, and to swear for him. Tremellius here thinks that Job calls to the stars and winds to help him curse, See his translation of the text, and his notes thereon.

Who are ready to raise up their mourning — Whether they be those mercenary mourners mentioned elsewhere, which, for hire, are wont at funerals with doleful execrations to lament the day of their benefactor’s death, Jeremiah 9:17-18 ; Jeremiah 9:20 ; crying out, Oh the day! alas for the day! oh that ever such a day came! See Ezekiel 30:2 2 Chronicles 35:25 Amos 5:16 . Or else those that really mourn for their deceased friends; and yearly, as oft as the day returneth, they renew their mourning. These are called upon by Job, totes saccos deplere, to pour out their utmost lamentations and execrations upon this his night. Concerning the word Leviathan, here rendered mourning, whether it be taken for the sea dragon, or the devil, and what it is to raise him up, and why they cursed him that are ready to do so, with a prepared and meditated active readiness, if I should go about to show the reader, with the several opinions of interpreters, I should not only tire him out, but also danger doing as that vicar of Augsburgh did, mentioned by Johannes Manlius. This doctor of divinity (for so he was) having read at Tubinga certain lectures upon Job, at the end of his last lecture said, that both Job and himself were very glad to be rid of one another; for as he understood little or nothing of Job’s meaning, so Job seemed to him to be more tormented with his narrations than ever he had been with all his own ulcers. Let them that have a mind consult the commentators here.

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