3:13 For now I would have lain still and been quiet- When Job lays down he gets no rest (7:4). Job’s point “not that death is so wonderful, but that life has become intolerable. Wilson. Again, the term Sheol is not used in the passage but that is clearly the idea.

I would have been asleep then I would have been at rest- Rest is a great blessing of God tied with receiving the land of promise Ex. 33:14; Deut. 3:20; 12:10; 25:19; Josh. 1:13, 15; 21:44; 22:4; 23:1; II Sam. 7:1, 11; I Kings 5:4. This word translated rest will also be used in 3:17, 26. Job believes the same kind of rest associated with the promised land is available in Sheol. Here “Job does not hope that death will rectify the injustice of his undeserved sufferings. It will be enough that it ends them” Anderson, 106.

This roll call of Sheol includes the powerful, kings, counsellors of the earth, princes and great men (14-15, 19). It also includes the weak and powerless like infants, stillborn children, the weary, and the slaves, the small (16, 19). This list also has those who are ungodly like the wicked and prisoners (17-18). All together are united in Sheol. Death and Sheol are great equalizers for all kinds of people (Eccl. 9:2-6). Job speaks of Sheol as a place of rest (13, 17), ease (18), and freedom (19). How much of Job’s words here can be trusted? When the LORD speaks, He will ask Job how much does he really know about these things he speaks about with such authority (38:16-18)?" Smick, 891.

Job’s view of Sheol is not consistent throughout the book. For example, the words of Job 10:18-22 and 17:13-16 are much gloomier than the picture in 3:11-19. Job uses at least three of the five terms used in 3:4-6 to describe darkness in speaking of Sheol in Job 10:21-22. Other passages of the OT do not portray Sheol or death in the positive terms seen here (Ps. 6:5; 30:9; 88:11-13; 115:17; Isa. 38:18). In Ecclesiastes in particular it is death itself that renders life’s pursuits vanity (Eccl. 2:12-17, 18-23; 9:5, 10) It is probably best to see Job’s positive view of life after death in 3:11-19 not as representing his final word on Sheol, but as a manifestation of his state of mind at that time. Anything looks better to Job than his present condition.

3:21 Who long for death, but it does not come- The word long for is used for longing or waiting on God in Ps. 33:20; Isa. 8:17; 30:18; 64:4 and of God’s longing to be gracious in Isa. 30:18. God longs to be gracious to those who are longing for Him. The longing for God is most common object of such longing in the biblical account. However, here the object of longing is death and that thought appears only here in the Bible.

3:26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet- The word for at ease was used in 3:18 and is used later in Job 12:6. In 12:6 the destroyers and those who provoke God are at ease but Job has none.

The word quiet was used in 3:13. Here Job has no quiet in contrast to what he envisioned for those who are in Sheol- 3:13.

I have no rest, for trouble comes- The word for rest was used in 3:13, 17. The point is the same as that made above about the word quiet. While Job has no rest, those who are in Sheol do in 3:13, 17. The word trouble in vs. 26 is the same word translated raging in vs. 17. Interestingly, in vs. 17 the word is said to characterize the wicked. Job raging is not from his wickedness but from his depth of pain.

Job 3

3:1-10 Job curses the day of his birth

Job pours out his grief and pain in a bold and dramatic way. It does not seem to be that Job is specifically addressing anyone specifically in Job 3:1-10. The fact there are so many psalms of lament show how common this is for the people of God. Job’s frustrations throughout the book cannot be blamed solely on his friend’s words because he speaks before they speak. One writer described Job 3 as “one of the most depressing chapters in the Bible” (Alden, 71). However, those who are presently experiencing this kind of pain may identify with and find great comfort in these words. Psalm 88 is filled with darkness. It is a psalm of lament that has no ending of praise and hope. The final word of the Hebrew text and most translations of Psalm 88 is the word darkness. I have found that preaching that psalm has led many people to come out and say seriously, “That was encouraging.”

Job’s longing to have never been born is similar to the request of Elijah (I Kings 19:4) and Jonah (Jonah 4:3) for the LORD to take their life. They knew life was in God’s hands and they asked him to take their life and they did not take matters into their own hands. There is a difference between Elijah and Jonah, however. Elijah is broken because his ministry as a prophet has been rejected. Jonah is discouraged because the Ninevites have responded to his message and repented and been spared by God. Jonah wanted the LORD to take his life because the wrong people listened and obeyed his preaching.

Jeremiah 20:14-18 Jeremiah had the difficult task of speaking for God and giving an unpopular message to a wicked people.[1] There are several similarities between Jer. 20:14-18 and Job 3. Both deals with cursing the day of one’s birth (Job 3:1, 8; Jer. 20:14). They both mention the announcement of a male child (Job 3:3; Jer. 20:15). Blocking the womb is described in both (Job 3:11; Jer. 20:17). Both use the same Hebrew word trouble (Job 3:10; Jer. 20:18). The hyperbole of Jeremiah 20:14-18 is even more stunning than Job 3:1-10. He asks that the LORD bring judgment upon the man who announced the happy news to his father that he had a son. Jeremiah asks that the judgment against him be like the judgment that fell on Sodom and Gomorrah (20:16; Gen. 19:25-26). He curses the man because he did not kill him before his birth (20:17). Clearly, the innocent man who brought the news to Jeremiah’s father of his birth should not have literally taken Jeremiah’s life in the womb. The text is speaking in using the most extreme exaggeration and overemphasis to say that he wishes he was never born. The words of Matt. 26:24 that it would have been better for Judas if he had never been born do not emphasize his stress in life but the horror of his judgment after death.

While we would be worried about anyone near us who uttered the words of Job 3:1-10 or Jer. 20:14-18, the text does seem to show that thoughts like these and expressing these thoughts may be part of the life of some of God’s faithful servants. When we feel completely broken, these passages affirm that many who have sought to follow God have felt the same way. These passages may give us guides for words we can use if we face similar circumstances. They neither curse God nor take His name in vain (Ex. 23:7; Lev. 24:10-16). They do not curse their parents (Ex. 20:12; 21:14). They do vent their frustration that they were born at all. While their efforts to write themselves out of history are not logical, they are understandable. Job and Jeremiah give full expression to their desires within certain limits and boundaries that they will not pass.

What roles do God and Satan play in Job’s suffering and suffering throughout Scriptures?

Satan appears in Job 1:6-12 and 2:1-6, 7. His hand in suffering is particularly emphasized in Job 1:12 and 2:6, 7. Satan’s hand in suffering is stressed in several New Testament passages as well. In Luke 13:16 the woman Jesus heals in the synagogues is one “whom Satan has bound for eighteen years.” In Acts 10:38 Jesus went about doing good and “healing all who were oppressed of the devil.” II Cor. 12:7 describes Paul’s thorn in the flesh as a “messenger of Satan.” In Jesus’ letter to the church of Smyrna he says that “the devil is about to cast some of you into prison” (Rev. 2:10). Each of these passages speak of Satan, the devil playing a significant role in human suffering. There are certainly other passages that tie Satan to temptation, sin, and spiritual suffering, but now we are focusing on physical suffering.

These truths from the book of Job about God’s hand in human suffering are consistent with the rest of Scripture.

Deuteronomy 32:39 “See now that I, I am He, and there is no god besides Me; It is who put to death and give life. I have wounded and it is I who heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.”

I Samuel 2:6-7 “The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up. The LORD makes poor and rich; He brings low, He also exalts.”

Isaiah 30:26 “The LORD binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted.”

Isaiah 45:7 “The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these.”

Jer. 32:42 “Just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them.”

Lam. 3:37-38 “Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, unless the LORD has commanded it? Is in not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ill go forth?”

Amos 3:6 “If a trumpet is blown in a city will not the people tremble? If a calamity occurs in a city has not the LORD done it?”

Heb. 12:1-11 The hostility followers of Jesus experienced from sinners in 12:1-4 seems to be the same as the discipline of the LORD in 12:5-11.

There are several events in which both God and Satan are said to be active. Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil (Matt. 4:1; Luke 4:1). The devil is trying to get Jesus to sin and undo God’s entire plan of salvation. God using to the same event to qualify Jesus as the perfect high priest (Heb. 2:17-18; 4:14-16). While Paul’s thorn in the flesh was a messenger of Satan, it was given to keep Paul from exalting himself (II Cor. 12:7-10). Obviously, keeping Paul from becoming proud was not Satan’s purpose but it was God’s purpose. While Satan entered Judas to entice him to betray Jesus (Luke 22:3; John 13:2, 27), all the things that happened around the crucifixion were to fulfill the will of God (Acts 2:23; 3:13-15; 4:27-28; 13:27). While Satan and God were both involved in these events, in none of these cases are God and Satan acting together. Satan is seeking to cause man to curse God. But God is working in the same events to seek to teach man things he would not have learned otherwise (Ps. 119:67, 71, 75). God is seeking to help man see Him more clearly than previously (Job 42:5-6). God is working to save man from sin. The message of the Bible is that nothing happens to us that is not ultimately controlled by the knowledge, love, wisdom, and power of our God of all comfort (II Cor. 1:3). The test of Job was ultimately a step in the utter defeat of Satan and not Job.