Job 7:2 (BSB)
Like a slave he longs for shade; like a hireling he waits for his wages.
Commentary on Job 7:2
- Matthew Henry (Presbyterian), Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on Job 7:1-6: Job is here excusing what he could not justify, even his inordinate desire of death. Why should he not wish for the termination of life, which would be the termination of his miseries? To enforce this reason he argues, I. From the general condition of man upon earth (Job 7:1): "He is of few days, and full of trouble.
- John Gill (Reformed Baptist), Exposition of the Old and New Testaments on Job 7:2: As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow,.... Either the shadow of some great rock, tree, or hedge, or any shady place to shelter him from the heat of the sun in the middle of the day, which in those eastern countries is hot and scorching; and very burdensome and fatiguing it is for servants and labourers to work in fields and vineyards, or in keeping...
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (Reformed), Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible on Job 7:2: earnestly desireth--Hebrew, "pants for the [evening] shadow." Easterners measure time by the length of their shadow. If the servant longs for the evening when his wages are paid, why may not Job long for the close of his hard service, when he shall enter on his "reward?" This proves that Job did not, as many maintain, regard the grave as a mere sleep.
- Keil & Delitzsch (Lutheran), Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament on Job 7:1-3: Job 7:1-3 1 Has not a man warfare upon earth, And his days are like the days of a hireling? 2 Like a servant who longs for the shade, And like a hireling who waits for his wages, 3 So am I made to possess months of disappointment, And nights of weariness are appointed to me.