NOTES for Job 7:1-21
Although he finds no support from Eliphaz, Job nevertheless continues his speech. He turns to God with the questions his friends were unable to answer. He says: my life is like the days of a hired worker; I await the end of my life as a hired worker awaits the end of his appointed term of service (vv. 1–3). There is neither peace nor joy nor rest in my life (vv. 4–6). Ahead lies Sheol, the world of shadows, to which people depart without return, and I shall vanish like a cloud; why, then, should I be silent (vv. 7–11)? Job understands that he has nothing to lose, and he wants to attain at least one thing: meaning. He wants to understand why and for what reason what happened to him has happened. He addresses God with a request unusual for a believer: leave me alone, withdraw from me, let me breathe freely (vv. 16–19).
In this case, however, such a request is not surprising, for Job associates everything happening to him, all his troubles and misfortunes, precisely with God, with God’s closeness and His intervention in Job’s life (vv. 12–15). If God’s closeness results in such troubles and misfortunes, would it not be better to keep away from Him? Job naturally understands that everything happening to him has some connection with his life and his sins. He understands that God wants something from him and perhaps wants to make him different, better than he was before. If so, Eliphaz is right: the day will come when the trials end and God’s closeness ceases to be unbearable.
But will Job live to see that day? Human strength is not limitless. To Job, God resembles a stern examiner or an implacable judge who peers intently at the accused, who in effect becomes a victim of His judgment (vv. 17–19). This gaze and this closeness are unbearable to Job. He does not deny his sinfulness, but he is already prepared to be reconciled to it if deliverance from it costs such effort. After all, human sinfulness in no way diminishes God’s greatness or stains His holiness. If that is so, why should He not leave alone someone who has little time left? Just forgive me, Job says to God, and let me die (vv. 20–21). Job evidently senses that God wants from him something of which he is utterly incapable and will not leave him until He has achieved His purpose. This prospect terrifies him, for in that case God’s presence becomes for the righteous man not a joy but a torment.