Job Continues: Where Then Is My Hope?
1 Job appealed from men to God. 6 The unmerciful dealing of men with the afflicted may astonish, but not discourage the righteous. 11 His hope is not in life, but in death.
Job 17:1 My spirit is broken, my days are cut short, the grave awaits me.
The same form of the Hebrew verb occurs in Isa. 10:27, and is there translated “shall be destroyed.” Instead of “my breath” (Heb. ruchi) we may read “my spirit.” This chapter is a continuation of Job’s complaints, which began with ch. 16. Logically, this chapter division should either have been omitted or have been placed after ch. 16:21.
Cut short. Extinct. Job feels he is close to death.
Job 17:2 Surely mockers surround me; my eyes must dwell on their hostility.
Job’s friends had insisted that his life might be spared if he would repent of his sins. They even held out before him the prospects of a bright future. To Job such an outlook was so remote that it appeared as sheer mockery.
Job 17:3 “Give me, O God, the pledge you demand. Who else will put up security for me?
The terms used in this verse are law terms. Job calls upon God to go into court with him. The “pledge” refers to the money that the court requires before it undertakes the investigation of the case. The whole passage would be clearer if we knew more about ancient legal practices. It seems that Job desired God to give bond that he would enter litigation with Job on equal terms
Job 17:4 You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore you will not let them triumph.
Job is referring to his friends. He is sure God will not permit them to triumph.
Job 17:5 If anyone denounces their friends for reward, the eyes of their children will fail.
This expression is thought by some to refer to those who betray their friends to the spoiler. If this is correct, Job compares his friends to people who announce the whereabouts of their neighbors to robbers, that the robbers may plunder them.
Of their children. The children suffer in the calamity that strikes the parents.
Job 17:6 “God has made me a byword to everyone, a man in whose face people spit.
Job did become a byword, but not in the sense he anticipated. He bore his affliction so well that he became a byword for patience and endurance (see James 5:11).
Job says literally, “a spitting of the face do I become.”
Job 17:7 My eyes have grown dim with grief; my whole frame is but a shadow.
Job is a mere skeleton, exhausted and emaciated.
Job 17:8 The upright are appalled at this; the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.
Upright men will marvel at how a man who is reputed to be faithful could be allowed to suffer so terribly.
Job 17:9 Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways, and those with clean hands will grow stronger.
Job seems to be referring to himself and declaring that he, a righteous man, one who had been so grievously wronged, would “hold on his way.” Despite his temptations and misfortunes, Job had a conviction that he would be able to persevere. He had settled certain things in his heart. Calamity might shake him, but it could not destroy his integrity (see 2 Cor. 4:8, 9).
Job 17:10 “But come on, all of you, try again! I will not find a wise man among you.
Renew your attack. Take up your old arguments. Repeat your unfeeling criticisms. You will reveal anew your lack of wisdom.
Job 17:11 My days have passed, my plans are shattered. Yet the desires of my heart
Job 17:12 turn night into day; in the face of the darkness light is near.
Job is asking in effect, “What does it matter what happens to me now?” He feels that all hope of recovery is past. His short phrases resemble the gasps of a dying man.
They declare in their way what is expressed in the thought, “The darkest hour is just before the dawn.” Job had not found comfort in these assurances. They seemed to lack the ring of sincerity.
Job 17:13 If the only home I hope for is the grave, if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness,
Job looks forward with a degree of anticipation to the rest from suffering that the grave will bring.
Job 17:14 if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’
A highly figurative way of describing death. The gender changes from “father” to “mother” and “sister” to agree with “worm,” which is feminine.
Job 17:15 where then is my hope— who can see any hope for me?
The question is one of unsolved perplexity. His friends had held out hope. In view of the nearness of the grave, where is that hope?
Job 17:16 Will it go down to the gates of death? Will we descend together into the dust?