Job 7:17 - Meaning and Application

Job reasons with God here about how God deals with people in general (Job 7:17, 18). He asks, “What is man, that you should make much of him?” This can be read in two ways.

First, it may be a bitter complaint about God’s ways, as if the great God were lowering himself by taking notice of people. Human rulers often think it beneath them to deal with those far below them, to correct their faults or punish their bad behavior. So Job asks why God would keep pressing so hard on man, an unequal match, with repeated troubles and tests at every moment. He pictures affliction coming like a daily fever, returning as steadily as morning light. But we misunderstand God and his providence if we think it dishonors him to notice even the smallest of his creatures.

Second, it may be a humble wonder at God’s grace, like the praise in (Psalm 8:4) and (Psalm 144:3). Job still admits God’s kindness to humanity, even while he is complaining about his own suffering. “What is man,” he seems to say, “weak and miserable as he is, that you, the great and glorious God, should deal with him like this?” What is man, that God should honor him by bringing him into covenant, a binding relationship of promise, and fellowship with himself? What is man, that God should care so much for him, set his heart on him, and treat him as dear? What is man, that God should visit him with mercies every morning, like a friend checking in, or a doctor making daily rounds? What is man, that God should test him every moment, watching closely as one who is concerned and careful? It is always worthy of wonder that such a creature as man should be the delight of heaven.

Job then turns to his own case. He complains about his sufferings and makes them sound as severe as he can, as people in pain often do. He says that he is like a target for God’s arrows, with God aiming at him alone (Job 7:20). He also feels like a burden to himself, as if his own life were too heavy to carry. When God seems to stand against us, we cannot find comfort in ourselves. Job also says that his grief never stops (Job 7:19). He asks how long it will be before God lifts his hand, or at least eases the pressure long enough for him to swallow his spit. His illness seems to have made it hard for him to breathe and swallow. He is asking for even a little relief, a little space to recover.

Job is also deeply troubled about his sins. The best people still have sins to grieve over, and the better they are, the more they will grieve over them. He openly admits before God, “I have sinned.” God had called Job a perfect and upright man, yet Job still confesses his sin. A person may be sincere and upright without being sinless, and true repentance is accepted through a Mediator, one who stands between God and humans, as spiritually complete in the gospel sense. Job had defended himself against his friends as not being a hypocrite or a wicked man, but before God he still says he has sinned. If we have been spared gross sins, that does not make us innocent. The best of us must still confess our sins before God.

Job’s name for God, the watcher or preserver of men, likely makes his sin seem even greater. God had kept watch over him for good, yet Job had still sinned against him. When we are under affliction, it is fitting to confess that our sin brought it on. Honest confession would quiet many bitter complaints.

Job also asks how he can make peace with God: “What shall I do to you, since I have done so much against you?” When a person sees his sin clearly and owns it honestly, he cannot help but feel that something must be done to keep the sin from destroying him. The matter cannot simply stay as it is. Some action must be taken to undo what has been done wrongly. If we truly feel the danger we are in, we will be ready to do anything to receive pardon, and to ask what we must do (Micah 6:6, 7). Job is asking what he should do toward God, not to satisfy God’s justice, which only the Mediator can do, but to prepare himself to receive God’s favor under the terms of the gospel covenant. In asking this, he keeps a right view of God as the preserver and Savior of men, not their destroyer. In repentance, we must hold onto good thoughts of God, knowing that he does not delight in ruining his creatures, but wants them to return and live. “You are the Savior of men; be my Savior, for I put myself in your mercy.”

Finally, Job pleads for forgiveness (Job 7:21). His strong feelings made his complaints sharper, but they also made his prayers more urgent. He asks why God does not pardon his sin. Is God not full of mercy and ready to forgive? Has not God worked repentance in him? Then why not give him forgiveness and let him hear the sound of joy and gladness again? Job surely means more than just the removal of his outward suffering. He is asking for God’s favor to return, since that was what he felt he had lost. “Lord, pardon my sins, and give me the comfort that comes with pardon, and then I can bear my troubles.” When God pardons the sin we have done, his grace also removes the sin that rules within us. Wherever God takes away sin’s guilt, he also breaks sin’s power.

Job presses this prayer by thinking of how near death is: “For now I shall sleep in the dust.” Death will lay us in the dust and make us sleep there, perhaps soon, perhaps very soon. Job had complained of sleepless nights, when sleep stayed far from him (Job 7:3, 4, 13, 14). But those who cannot sleep on a soft bed will soon sleep in the dust, and then there will be no dreams to scare them and no tossing from side to side. He says, in effect, “You may look for me in the morning to show me favor, but I will be gone. It will be too late then.”

If my sins are not forgiven while I am alive, I am lost and ruined forever. The thought that we must soon die, and may die suddenly, should make us all very earnest to have our sins forgiven and our guilt taken away.