Job 23:17

Job 23:17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness, [neither] hath he covered the darkness from my face.

Ver. 17. Because I was not cut off before the darkness] i.e. The afflictions that now are upon me. It is a mercy to some to die sometimes, as Josiah, and those righteous ones, Isa 57:1, who were taken away from the evil to come. When God’s glory was to pass by, he put Moses into the hole of the rock; so he sometimes doth his servants, till the glory of his justice hath passed upon others.

Neither hath he covered the darkness from my face] i.e. He hath neither prevented my troubles by death, as I wished he would have done, Job 3:3; Job 3:11-13, nor yet will he put an end to them by the same means; for, Mors aerumnarum requies (Chaucer’s motto), Death is a rest from trouble. To the tossed soul it is as Mount Ararat was to Noah, where the ark rested; as Michel was to David, a means to shift him out of the way, when Saul sent to slay him; or as the fall of the house was to Samson, an end of all his sorrows and servitude.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He showeth the cause of his fear, which is, that he being in trouble seeth none end, neither yet knoweth the cause.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Because I was not taken away by death from the evil to come (literally, "from before the face of the darkness," Isa 57:1). Alluding to the words of Eliphaz (Job 22:11), "darkness," that is, calamity.

cut off--rather, in the Arabic sense, brought to the land of silence; my sad complaint hushed in death [UMBREIT]. "Darkness" in the second clause, not the same Hebrew word as in the first, "cloud," "obscurity." Instead of "covering the cloud (of evil) from my face," He "covers" me with it (Job 22:11).

Next: Job Chapter 24

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 17. Because I was not cut off] "O, why can I not draw darkness over my face? Why may not thick darkness cover my face?" Mr. Good. This verse should be read in connection with the preceding; and then we shall have the following sense.

Ver. 16: "The Lord hath beaten down my strength, and my soul has been terrified by his fear."

Ver. 17: "For it is not this deep night in which I am enveloped, nor the evils which I suffer, that have overwhelmed me; I sink only through the fear which the presence of his Majesty inspires. This is my greatest affliction; sufferings, diseases, yea, death itself, are nothing in comparison of the terror which my soul feels in the presence of his tremendous holiness and justice."

NOTHING can humble a pious mind so much as Scriptural apprehensions of the majesty of God. It is easy to contemplate his goodness, loving-kindness, and mercy; in all these we have an interest, and from them we expect the greatest good: but to consider his holiness and justice, the infinite righteousness of his nature, under the conviction that we have sinned, and broken the laws prescribed by his sovereign Majesty, and to feel ourselves brought as into the presence of his judgment-seat, - who can bear the thought? If cherubim and seraphim veil their faces before his throne, and the holiest soul exclaims,

I loathe myself when God I see,

And into nothing fall;

what must a sinner feel, whose conscience is not yet purged from dead works and who feels the wrath of God abiding on him? And how without such a mediator and sacrifice as Jesus Christ is, can any human spirit come into the presence of its Judge? Those who can approach him without terror, know little of his justice and nothing of their sin. When we approach him in prayer, or in any ordinance, should we not feel more reverence than we generally do?

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. This verse reads,

For I am not dismayed because of the darkness,

Nor because of myself whom thick darkness covereth.

The words refer back to the language of Eliphaz, ch. Job_22:11, “or seest thou not the darkness?” The “darkness” is the fatal calamity that has overtaken Job, a frequent use of the word. What dismays Job, or strikes him dumb with moral awe, is not his calamity in itself, nor himself (or, his face) marred and distorted by disease, but this, that it is God who has inflicted the calamity upon him, not because he is guilty, but in the arbitrary and unjust exercise of His almighty power. This is the point in this whole speech, both in ch. 23 and ch. 24; Job misses any true moral rule in the world. The A. V. seems to make the enigma consist in this, that Job was not removed by death before such afflictions overtook him. But this would at best have substituted one enigma for another.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Because I was not cut off before the darkness - Before these calamities came upon me. Because I was not taken away in the midst of prosperity, and while I was enjoying his smiles and the proofs of his love. His trouble is, that he was spared to pass through these trials, and to be treated as if he were one of the worst of men. This is what now perplexes him, and what he cannot understand. He does not know why God had reserved him to treat him as if he were the chief of sinners.

Neither hath he covered the darkness from my face - The word “neither” is supplied here by our translators, but not improperly. The difficulty with Job was, that God had not “hidden” this darkness and calamity so that he had not seen it. He could not understand why, since he was his friend, God had not taken him away, so that all should have seen, even in his death, that he was the friend of God. This feeling is not, perhaps, very uncommon among those who are called to pass through trials. They do not understand why they were reserved to these sufferings, and why God did not take them away before the billows of calamity rolled over them.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Face. My afflictions have not yet taken away my life, as might have been expected. (Haydock) --- I am less affected with my miseries, than with the dread of God’s presence, ver. 15, 16. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Because I was not cut off; because God did not cut me off by death. Before the darkness, i.e. before these dark and dismal miseries came upon me. Or, before the face, or by reason of the darkness, i.e. that God hath not yet cut me off by these calamities, but prolonged nay days under them, that he might increase my torment.

Neither hath he covered the darkness from my face; so that I might no longer see or feel my miseries, but might be taken out of them by my long-desired death. Seeing (and consequently having before one’s face) is oft put for experiencing, for enjoying good, or feeling evil, as Job 20:17; Psa 16:10, &c. Or, but he hath covered darkness, to wit, death, which is so called Job 10:21,22, and elsewhere, from my face, i.e. he will not allow me the favour to see death.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. Cut off — The key to this much-vexed passage lies in nitsmath, “cut off,” which should bear its Arabic meaning of brought to silence. Eliphaz (Job_22:11) had taunted Job not only with his fear, but with the darkness and deluge that covered him. He replies, For I grow not dumb because of (or before) the darkness, nor because of (or before) myself, whom thick darkness hath covered. Thus most moderns. Job is still ready to maintain what he believes to be the right; he will “not be reduced to silence,” notwithstanding the black midnight darkness (אפל) which had overwhelmed him. This bold and defiant declaration is transitional to the awful arraignment of God’s ways in the following chapter. “From the incomprehensible punishment which, without reason, is passing over him, he now again comes to speak of the incomprehensible connivance of God, which permits the godlessness of the world to go on unpunished.” — Delitzsch.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face. Job complains of two things:

(1) That he was not cut off (i.e. removed from earth) before the great darkness fell upon his life. (comp. Job_3:11-13)

(2) That he was not "covered," i.e. sheltered and protected, by the love and care of God when the dark days came.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Because - God did not cut me off by death. Before - These miseries came upon me. Covered - By hiding me in the grave.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Because I was not cut off from before the darkness Because of this I am startled; because I was not completely cut off and laid permanently in the grave before this darkness that has come upon me, and because He did not cover this thick darkness from before me until my death.

and [because He did not] cover the thick darkness from before me This refers back to “because not” at the beginning of the verse.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.