“Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!”
Job reveals his hope: that it would please God to crush him, to let loose his hand and cut him off. The articulation of what he hopes for reveals that death itself is what Job desires from the hand of God. The image of divine crushing and cutting off represents the swiftest possible termination of existence. Job's hope has been reduced to the single wish for annihilation.
Church Fathers on Job 6:9
That He That hath begun would bruise me! For very often the Lord begins to work in us the bruising of our vicious habits, but when the mind is lifted up at the very first step of its progress, and when it already exalts itself as on the ground of its virtuous attainments, it opens an entrance to the adversary, that rages against it, who penetrating into the depths of the heart, dashes in pieces all that he may find therein springing from the earnestness of a good beginning,…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a reflection on this verse
No reflections on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!