Faint Hope in Dark Despair: Explanatory Notes on Job 17:1-16
Preparing for the Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost: Three Days before Sunday (Year B)
Scripture
Semi-continuous: Psalm 22:1-15; Job 17:1-16; Hebrews 3:7-19
Complementary: Psalm 90:12-17; Deuteronomy 5:1-21; Hebrews 3:7-19
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Prayer
Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer)
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Reflection
“My spirit is broken; my days are extinct;
the grave is ready for me.
Surely there are mockers around me,
and my eye dwells on their provocation.
“Lay down a pledge for me with yourself;
who is there who will give surety for me?
Since you have closed their minds to understanding,
therefore you will not let them triumph.
Those who denounce friends for reward—
the eyes of their children will fail.
“He has made me a byword of the peoples,
and I am one before whom people spit.
My eye has grown dim from grief,
and all my members are like a shadow.
The upright are appalled at this,
and the innocent stir themselves up against the godless.
Yet the righteous hold to their way,
and they who have clean hands grow stronger and stronger.
But you, come back now, all of you,
and I shall not find a sensible person among you.
My days are past; my plans are broken off,
the desires of my heart.
They make night into day;
‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’
If I look for Sheol as my house,
if I spread my couch in darkness,
if I say to the Pit, ‘You are my father,’
and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’
where then is my hope?
Who will see my hope?
Will it go down to the bars of Sheol?
Shall we descend together into the dust?” (Job 17:1-16).
Verse 1 / “My spirit is broken, my days are cut short, the grave awaits me.”
Job begins this chapter expressing his deep despair. He feels that his inner strength (his spirit) is crushed, and his life is nearing its end. The imagery of the grave awaiting him highlights his sense of hopelessness and imminent death. Job is convinced that he is on the brink of death, with no hope for recovery.
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