“They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.”
"Will they go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?" Job asks whether his hopes descend into the grave with him. The verse suggests that if vindication does not come before death, it will not come at all. The finality of the grave seems to be the finality of all possibility. Chapter 17 ends in profound darkness, with Job having abandoned hope for earthly justice or divine explanation.
Church Fathers on Job 17:16
All of mine shall descend into the lowest hell. Whereas it appears that among those below the righteous are held bound not in places of punishment, but in the bosom of tranquillity above, an important question springs up before us, why it is that blessed Job declares, saying, All of mine shall descend into the lowest hell; who even if before the Advent of the Mediator between God and man he had to descend into hell, yet it is plain that into the lowest hell he had not to…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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