a philosophical investigation that might have led to a religious solution and would have avoided the contention that follows.
2:12 When they saw him from afar, they almost did not recognize him. Sobbing loudly, each one ripped his coat and threw dust upon his head.
While this verse is made up of familiar words, it is still difficult to render into idiomatic English. The verse begins with the familiar biblical idiom “and they lifted their eyes from a distance,” that is, when they first saw him. Because of his suffering, Job had changed so much that they didn’t recognize him—lo heekeeruhu. But the Hebrew that follows implies that Job’s friends did recognize him. That is why we have rendered the phrase as “they almost did not recognize him.”
The verse continues vayisoo et kolam vayvkooi, “and they lifted up their voices and wept,” which we translated as “sobbing loudly.” The last Hebrew clause (va’yizrkoo afar al rosheyhem ha-shammamah—they threw dust heavenward upon their heads) suggests some kind of mourning ritual in which dust is thrown in the air in order to fall on the heads of mourners. It may simply mean that they sprinkled themselves with ashes.
2:13 The three sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights. Seeing how great was his pain, no one said anything to him.
Job’s friends sat with him on the ground to share his pain. As noted in 2:11, Gersonides sees their act as a shortcoming rather than an expression of empathy. Nevertheless, it is the Jewish custom not to speak to mourners when visiting them during their period of mourning until they have spoken to you. The text does not report any initial exchange between Job and his friends, even when they first approached him. So it is really not known if the author’s intent is to imply that no words were spoken at all or, to use an English idiom, that “they had nothing to say to him.” In other words, Job’s condition was so bad that they didn’t possess any words that could provide any measure of solace and, as a result, remained silent.
2:14 Then Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
In some editions this verse is 3:1. By placing it in 2:14 it serves to bridge the gap between chapter 2 and chapters 3 through 41. We have followed the critical manuscripts and included it here. Regardless of where it is placed, in this verse, Job finally expresses the pain that has been bubbling under the surface of this text since the beginning of his misfortunes. How could he not express himself in such a way given what he has experienced? One would expect no less. It is the reason why a mourner is exempt from certain religious obligations during the initial days of mourning. The Rabbis understood the position of someone who has suffered a loss of such magnitude. Perhaps the silence of his friends provoked Job to speak out at that moment. It might have been a reaction to the bitter words of Job’s wife—following his reflection on them. While the author uses the word yomo (literally, his day) at the end of the verse, we translated it as “the day of his birth,” following the suggestion of Ibn Ezra (and as implied in 3:2).
Gehinnom
The Jewish version of hell, Gehinnom, also called Sheol, literally refers to a valley south of Jerusalem on one of the borders between the territories of Judah and Benjamin. (Compare Joshua 15:8; 18:16.) During the time of the monarchy it was a site associated with a cult that burned children. Jeremiah condemned the practice. In the rabbinic period, the name is used to refer to the place of torment after death reserved for the wicked. It stands in contradistinction to Gan Eden, the “Garden of Eden,” which, in rabbinic literature, became known as the place of reward for the righteous. In the Bible, these two names never connote the abode of souls after death. Yet, in rabbinic literature, such references abound: in Pesachim 54a, Gehinnom and Gan Eden existed even before the world was created; Gehinnom is at the left hand of God and Gan Eden at God’s right in the midrash to Psalms 50:12.1
Providence
Sometimes referred to as “divine providence,” it is the notion that God can enter into people’s lives and history and exercise control. To better understand the notion, it might be called divine supervision of the individual. It includes the opportunity for God to intervene in nature “miraculously” as needed.
1. Kravitz and Olitzky, Pirke Avot, 91.
Chapter 3
3:1 Job then said,
This simple phrase is formulaic. When the Bible uses the phrase v’yaan . . . va’yamar (literally, “he answered . . . and said”) it means that a declaration is being made. (See Deuteronomy 21:7; 27:14 and Jeremiah 11:5.) Rashi’s understanding of the idiom, taking a lead from Deuteronomy 27:14, is that Job shouted loudly. Ibn Ezra takes his cue from the phrase as it is used in Deuteronomy 26:5. He thinks that the use suggests that a person so described is responding to a question. After three days of sitting in silence, Job’s three friends finally asked him how he was feeling. This verse, therefore, introduces his response.
3:2 Would that the day I was to be born had disappeared, the night when it was said, “a boy was conceived!”
Job is so disgusted with his life that he wished that he had never been born (the day) and never conceived (the night). We find a similar sentiment in Ecclesiaste 6:3 “. . . a still birth would be better off.”
3:3 Let that day be dark. Let God on high never search for it. And let no light shine on it.
This is a curse. Like other forms of proverbs, they are often presented in patterns. In this verse, the author heaps up notions that are introduced in the preceding verse. Darkness, which is the salient element of the curse, is presented in three ways in the verse, all reflecting the oblivion for which Job currently yearns.
3:4 May darkness and gloom pollute it. May a cloud take residence above it. May those who can make a day terrible make it that way [or even worse].
This verse is Job’s attempt to dig even deeper into the darkness of the curse as an expression of his state of mind. He is grasping at words and images that will express how he feels and his perspective on the world. It is dark and depressing and he is wallowing in the darkness. The sense is that the day should become ritually impure: may it be plunged in darkness even at daytime (the cloud). May the day terrify all within it. In many languages, darkness is linked to suffering and pain. Thus, the Yiddish curse a finstere fire af im (a dark fire should envelop him / Go to hell).
3:5 As for that night, may deep darkness take it. May it never be connected to any day of the year. May it never enter the cycle of months.
Job continues to express his anguish. He wants the day never to be repeated. It stands alone in its misery and no one else should have to suffer by it. He is asking that it be taken out of history so that it should not be given the dignity of acknowledging that it ever even existed.
3:6 May that night be desolate. May no joyous sound ever come into it.
Job continues the expression of his innermost feelings of despair. For Rashi, Job will be bereft of contact with human or animal. And for Gersonides, it indicates that the night is so dangerous that people wouldn’t even go out in groups since they are so concerned about personal safety.
3:7 May those who curse the day, [go ahead and] curse it. Indeed, even those who are ready to stir up Leviathan [may do so].
This verse seems to be an echo of a prebiblical pagan world replete with other deities. Nevertheless, the author has Job continuing to direct his imprecations at the moment of his conception and the moment of his birth with the help of gods so powerful that they have
