Re:Verse passage – Job 2:1-10, 3:11, 20-26 (day three)
“Why is light given to him who suffers,
And life to the bitter of soul,
Who long for death, but there is none?”
Whoever put the account of Job together took actual events and expressed them in poetic form because of poetry’s power and economy of language. Poetry sometimes has a (false) reputation of being somewhat out of touch with reality. But the question in this passage is most assuredly a real one, and it most certainly arises from a heart that has seen hope disappear. This book is so honest that Job isn’t asking this question rhetorically. No, he’s really wondering: what’s the point to the shining of the sun and the beating of the heart when he’d rather be dead? This book is for everyone – everyone – who asks if there is a reason to go on.
