Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants [which] never saw light.
Ver. 16. Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been] As an abortive or miscarrying embryo that falleth from the mother, as untimely fruit falleth off from the tree. See Revelation 6:13. Hidden it is called, because cast aside as an unsightly spectacle, that cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name is covered with darkness, Ecclesiastes 6:4. Job could have wished some way or other never to have been, rather than to have been in so calamitous a condition; and herein he sinned, no doubt: for that which is of the flesh is flesh, John 3:6 .
As infants which never saw light] But were still born, as we call them. The word rendered infants is taken from a word that signifieth to defile, see Job 16:15, for children in the womb are compassed about with pollution; and the first sheet or blanket wherewith they are covered is woven of sin, shame, blood, and filth, Ezekiel 16:4; Ezekiel 16:6 .