Job 17:10 - Meaning and Application

Job’s friends had pretended to comfort him by promising that he would become prosperous again. Job now shows how foolish that was. He says, in effect, “Come back and admit your mistake, and let me persuade you to agree with me. I cannot find one wise man among you who can explain the hard ways of God’s providence, or apply the comfort of God’s promises.” People do not comfort the suffering wisely when they build hope on possible recovery and success in this life. That kind of comfort may fail, since it is uncertain. Real wisdom is to comfort ourselves and others with what will not fail, God’s promise, his love and grace, and a solid hope of eternal life.

Job also says it would be far more foolish for him to listen to them. All his plans were already broken, and he was full of confusion. In his better days, he had often enjoyed making plans and looking ahead to future blessings. But now he saw his days as nearly over, and all those plans were cut off. He had thought about enlarging his land, increasing his wealth, and settling his children. He may also have hoped to do good in more serious ways, such as promoting religion, correcting wrongs, helping the poor, and supporting charity. But now he felt that all these thoughts were coming to an end, and he would never see them carried out. The time of our life will also be the end of all our plans for this world. Yet if we truly hold fast to the Lord, death will not break that purpose.

Job says this change left him with constant pain inside. His broken hopes made the night feel like day, and they made the light feel short. Some people turn night into day and day into night because of vanity and wild living. Job’s experience was different. Trouble and deep sorrow kept him from resting at night, so the night tired him as much as the day. The daylight also gave him little relief, because the darkness inside him took away its comfort. The morning light was welcome at first, but soon it felt as gloomy as the darkest night (Deuteronomy 28:67). We should be thankful for health and ease, because they let us welcome both evening rest and morning light.

Job then says all his hopes from this world would soon be buried with him, so the bright promises his friends had made were only a joke. They had told him he would enjoy great things again, but he sees that as empty talk. He feels himself slipping into the grave. A comfortable home, a restful bed, and loving family are among the things people enjoy in this world. Job did not expect any of those above ground. Everything he could see and feel was painful, but he expected relief only below ground. He says that if he waits for any real rest, it must be in the grave. That is the one sure end of earthly trouble.

Job even speaks of the grave as his house. The grave is a house, but for the wicked it is a prison-house (Job 24:19, Job 24:20). For the godly, it is like a passage house on the way home. It is his house by descent, because he was born to die. It is his house by purchase too, because through sin he has made himself subject to it. Every one of us must soon move into that house, so it is wise to prepare for it. We should think about moving and send our thoughts ahead to our long home.

He also says he has made his bed in darkness. He means the grave is his resting place, and it is ready for him. The grave is a bed because we rest there in the evening of our earthly life and rise in the morning of our eternal life (Isaiah 57:2). That should make godly people willing to die. It is only going to bed after a long day. If they are weary and sleepy, why should they not go gladly when their Father calls? Job also says he has made his bed by preparing for it, trying to make it easier through a clear conscience, by seeing Christ resting there before him, and by looking past the grave to the resurrection.

He says he has cried to corruption, meaning the grave where the body will decay, “You are my father,” because our bodies came from the earth. He calls the worms his mother and sister, because he is closely joined to them and must be among them. Job had said his relatives had turned away from him (Job 19:13, Job 19:14), so here he speaks of other relations that will stay with him when his own abandon him. We are all closely related to corruption and the worms. It is wise to become familiar with that truth by often thinking about it. That helps weaken our strong love of life and our fear of death.

Job also sees all his hopes from this world going down into the grave with him. Since he must soon leave the world, he asks, “Where is my hope now?” How can he expect success if he does not expect to live? He is not without hope, but his hope is not the kind his friends want him to have. If his hope were only for this life, he would be the most miserable of all people. His true hope is something hidden, something he cannot see now. It is not earthly things, which pass away, but eternal things that do not. The hopes his friends offer him will go down with him into the bars of the pit. They are dying men, so they cannot guarantee their promises. He is a dying man, so he cannot enjoy the good they promise.

Since, then, our rest will be together in the dust, let us all put aside the things of this world and set our hearts on another world. We must soon be in the dust, because we are dust. We are dust and ashes in the grave, under its bars, held fast there, never freed from the bonds of death until the general resurrection.

But we will rest there, and we will rest together there. Job and his friends could not agree now, but they will both be quiet in the grave. The dust of that place will soon stop their mouths and end the dispute. Let the thought of this cool the heat of all who argue and soften the harshness of people in this world.