Job's Dreaded Consequences in the Book of Job
The Book of Job vividly portrays the patriarch's experience of dreaded consequences, which encompass both the direct afflictions he suffers and the fears he expresses regarding his fate and the fate of others. Job, whose name can mean "he that weeps or cries" or "persecuted" [6, 7], resided in the land of Uz and was overwhelmed by a series of trials despite his integrity [7, 8].
Job's personal suffering is profound. He laments that terrors make him afraid on every side and chase him at his heels [1]. His physical condition is so dire that he detests his bread and loathes his favorite food [3]. The emotional and spiritual toll is equally severe; he is dismayed by the task of complaining against God and discussing his terrors, a reaction that causes his body to tremble [13]. Job even curses the day of his birth, wishing he had never come into the world or had died upon it, believing this would have brought him happiness [12].
Beyond his own immediate pain, Job expresses dread concerning the vulnerability and destruction of his children. one tradition states that his children are "far from safety" and "crushed in the gate," with no one to deliver them [2]. This fear is realized early in the narrative when his children are killed during a feast, a time chosen by Satan to make the trouble more grievous [14].
Job also fears condemnation and the futility of his efforts. one tradition states, "I shall be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain?" [4]. This concern about being condemned by his own mouth is a recurring theme, as he fears that his words will be used against him [9]. The accusations from his friends, such as Eliphaz, suggest that Job's calamities are a result of his sins, leading to snares and distresses encompassing him [10]. The book also touches on the idea that God frustrates the devices of the crafty, preventing their enterprises [5], which, in the context of Job's suffering, highlights the perceived divine intervention in his misfortunes. Rashi notes that Job's statement, "What I dreaded," indicates a profound sense of foreboding that came to pass [11].
Sources
- Job “Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall chase him at his heels. -- Job 18:11”
- Job “His children are far from safety. They are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them, -- Job 5:4”
- Job “Job 33:20 (BSB) — so that he detests his bread, and his soul loathes his favorite food.”
- Job “I shall be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain? -- Job 9:29”
- Job “He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands can’t perform their enterprise. -- Job 5:12”
- Hitchcock's Bible Names “Hitchcock's Bible Names: Job — he that weeps or cries”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Job — Persecuted, an Arabian patriarch who resided in the land of Uz (q.v.). While living in the midst of great prosperity, he was suddenly overwhelmed by a series of sore trials that fell upon him. Amid all his sufferings he maintained his integrity. Once more God visited him with the rich tokens of his goodness and even greater prosperity than he had enjoyed before. He survived the period of trial for one hundred and forty years, and died in a good old age, an example to succeeding generations of integrity (Ezek. 14:14, 20) and of submissive patience under the sore”
- Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Job — the patriarch, from whom one of the books of the Old Testament is named. His residence in the land of Uz marks him as belonging to a branch of the Aramean race, which had settled in the lower part of Mesopatamia (Probably to the south or southeast of Palestine, in Idumean Arabia), adjacent to the Sabeans and Chaldeans. The opinions of Job and his friends are thus peculiarly interesting as exhibiting an aspect of the patriarchal religion outside of the family of Abraham, and as yet uninfluenced by the legislation of Moses. The form of worship belongs essentially ”
- Job (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Job 15:6: 15:6 Your own mouth condemns you: Job feared that this would happen (9:20; see Matt 26:65).”
- Job (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Job 22:9: Therefore snares are round about thee,.... Not what occasion sin, draw into it, and issue in it, as inward corruptions, the temptations of Satan, and the things of this world, but punishments; because of the above sins charged upon Job, therefore evils, calamities, and distresses of various kinds, came upon, him, beset him, and encompassed him all around, so that there was no way left for him to escape; it may refer to the Sabeans and Chaldeans seizing on his cattle, and carrying them away; to the fire that fell from heaven upon his sheep, and consumed them; to the great”
- Sefaria (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki) on Job 3:25: What I dreaded—Behold!”
- Job (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Job 3 (introduction): INTRODUCTION TO JOB 3 In this chapter we have an account of Job's cursing the day of his birth, and the night of his conception; Job 3:1; first the day, to which he wishes the most extreme darkness, Job 3:4; then the night, to which he wishes the same and that it might be destitute of all joy, and be cursed by others as well as by himself, Job 3:6; The reasons follow, because it did not prevent his coming into the world, and because he died not on it, Job 3:10; which would, as he judged, have been an happiness to him; and this he illustrates by the still an”
- Job (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Job 21:6: 21:6 When I think about what I am saying: Job was dismayed by his horrible task of complaining against God (13:3, 15-16, 22; 23:1-5) and discussing his terrors (6:4; 27:20; 30:15). • My body trembles: This reaction resembles that of Habakkuk (Hab 1:5; 3:16), Ezekiel (Ezek 3:14), and Daniel (Dan 8:27; 10:8-9).”
- Job (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Job 1:13: We have here a particular account of Job's troubles. I. Satan brought them upon him on the very day that his children began their course of feasting, at their eldest brother's house (Job 1:13), where, he having (we may suppose) the double portion, the entertainment was the richest and most plentiful. The whole family, no doubt, was in perfect repose, and all were easy and under no apprehension of the trouble, now when they revived this custom; and this time Satan chose, that the trouble, coming now, might be the more grievous. The night of my pleasure has he turned i”