Heritage Reformed Baptist Mission
Job
Chapter 6a
Job 6:1-13
I. JOB JUSTIFIES HIS COMPLAINTS - vv. 1-7
6:1 - "answered" = Job waited patiently until Eliphaz finished even though he might have wanted to interrupt, especially at Job 4:5.
Throughout the book, the discourses are given without interruption. This is a good lesson for those of us who are prone to interrupt others while they are speaking to us (or even to others). Doing so is foolish. See Pro 18:13
6:2 - Job wants his afflictions to be honestly and completely considered by his friends (or anyone else)
balances = old fashioned scale where something to be weighed is put on one side and measured weights on the other; still used in many places
together = Job wishes everything which had happened to him could be piled up on one side of the balance; then it would be obvious his complaint was not unfounded or exaggerated
6:3 - Because they would outweigh however much wet sand would be piled on the other side.
words swallowed up = EITHER, I don't have enough words to express my grief; OR; I recognize the words I spoke were rash, but they were so because of my suffering
According to Strong, the Hebrew word lua can be understood figuratively to mean rash and is translated that way in most translations I've seen except the KJV, although its root meaning is to gulp. Used but one other time in the OT, viz., Oba 1:16 where it is translated swallow down.
6:4 - arrows . . . within me = Job recognizes the afflictions to be from God and says that they have pierced not only his flesh, but also his innermost being. cf. Psa 6:2-3
poison = taken from the usage of poison-tipped arrows by ancients and savages which inevitably caused death though the arrow wound would not. The poison spread to the vital parts of the body and Job says that's what God's arrows have done to him, i.e. affected his innermost being as well as his body.
Soul-trouble is the very soul of trouble. It matters not that the bones shake if the soul be firm, but when the soul itself is also sore vexed this is agony indeed. - C.H. Spurgeon
terrors . . . array . . . = like an army entering into battle
6:5 - Implies that these animals would indeed bray or low if they did not have their necessary food, and that Job was no less significant than they and was thus justified in his complaint.
6:6 - As salt is fit for tasteless foods, so sorrow and lamentation are fit for afflictions
6:7 - things = the foods described in v. 6 without salt
refused to touch = loathed them
as my sorrowful meat" = his afflictions are as loathsome to him as those foods
II. JOB AGAIN WISHES TO DIE - vv. 8-13
6:8 - Wishing for death, really, praying for it, especially to escape troubles, sorrows and afflictions, is praying out of the will of God.
There is here a good point to be observed that Job looked to God and not to himself (as Ahithophel [2 Sam 17:23] and Judas [Mat 27:5]) or someone else (as King Saul [1 Sam 31:4; 2 Sam 1:9]). Job was not in favor of suicide and euthanasia and neither is God, which is the reason Job was not.
6:9 - destroy me = not eternally, but physically to escape the suffering
let loose His hand = remove His hand (power) which keeps me alive and let me die
6:10 - . . . comfort . . . harden . . . sorrow = if I knew death was at hand, I would rejoice in the afflictions; but cf. Neh 8:10; Phi 4:4
not spare = heap upon me His full power to take my physical life
not concealed = openly spoken His Word to all; not spoken against Him at all; implies Job did not fear death having been faithful to God in life
6:11 - . . . strength . . . hope? = seeing the terrible condition I'm in, how can I even hope for recovery
mine end . . . prolong my life = what good is my life in this condition; what will it lead to seeing all I had is gone and I am unable to be useful to anyone
6:12 - Job declares he is but a man of flesh, not made of rock or brass; and, being as he is, his complaints are well-founded and should not be spoken against by his friends
6:13 - help; wisdom = Job is saying that, though he cannot do anything about his outward condition, he still has the ability to judge whether or not he is a hypocrite, whether or not it is better to live or die, and to defend himself against false accusations.