Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night [in which] it was said, There is a man child conceived.
Ver. 3. Let the day perish wherein I was born] He curseth his birthday, which the Greeks call γενεθλιον, quasi γενεσιν αθλιον : the beginning of a man's nativity they call the begetting of his misery; because he is non prius natus quam damnatus (Aug.), no sooner born but damned to the mines of misery, Job 14:1. Crying he comes into the world, and before he speaketh he prophesieth, and saith in effect, Tι βιος ει μη βια; σωμα μεν σημα, χρωμα πτωμα, δεμας δεσμος, γενεσις εις γην ωσος, &c.
Nasci poena, labor vita, necesse mori.
To be born is a penalty, to labour life, to die necessary. Oh that I had ne'er been born! Woe worth the day That brought me forth, and made me not away!
This whole life is overspread with sins and miseries as with a filthy morphew; A leprous or scurfy eruption or as Job was with his leprosy; the anguish whereof, together with his inward troubles, so grieved and galled him, that he not only crieth out (which is natural for a man to do), but giving the reins wholly to his grief, he roareth and rageth beyond all reason; and had not the Spirit held him back, he would surely have run headlong into blasphemy and desperation, which was Satan's design. But in the saints, as the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and sometimes getting the upper ground (as it were), bears it down, as here in Job at this present; so the Spirit again lusteth against the flesh, and a great bustle there is in the good soul (as when two opposite things meet together, cold saltpetre and hot brimstone, there is a great noise; and as when Paul came to Ephesus, there was no small stir about that way, Act 19:28-41), so that ye cannot do the things that ye would, saith the apostle, Galatians 5:17. As Job cannot do and say the good that he would, because of the flesh, so neither could he do or say the evil that he would, because of the Spirit; he curseth indeed his day, but not his wife nor friends, much less his God, as those malcontents did, Isaiah 8:21. Nay, so soon as God came into his mind, Job 3:20, the flesh was thereby, though not altogether, quailed and quelled, yet so far daunted and damped, that it kept itself within the compass of weeping and wailing; and God himself, though he find fault with Job's speeches for unadvised, and sometimes ranging beyond the precincts of godliness; yet acquitting him from all gross sin, he crowneth him with the garland of a famous victory, as Mr Beza here well observeth. Most wisely, therefore, and fitly doth St James warn us, that in thinking upon Job, we regard not so much what was done while the combat lasted, as what end the Lord made, James 5:11. The saints do never more prevail and triumph than when it seemeth otherwise. See Rev 13:7 Job 12:11. They gather strength by opposition, and conquer in being conquered, Romans 8:37. They repent of their outbursts, as Job did, Job 42:5,6. And Quem poenitet peccasse, pene est innocens (Senec.), he is little less than innocent who is afterwards penitent. Yea, it is almost more to repent of a fault, saith a Father, than to have been free from the fault (Ambr. in Psal.).
And the night] He would be sure to hit the time, whether it were day or night. He that is once out of God's way knows not where he shall stop, or when he shall step back. Take heed therefore to thy ways, that thou sin not with thy tongue, that unruly member, Psa 39:1 James 3:8 .
- Hanc fraenis, hanc tu compesce catenis.
For this bridle, this restrain you for chains. When God's hand is on thy back, let thy hand be on thy mouth, keep it as with a bridle or muzzle, Psalms 39:1. Passionate speeches leniter volant, non leviter violant. The best that come of them is repentance; Job, when he was once out, could keep no mean; but what he had said against day and night, he amplifieth by the parts; and first for the day, Job 3:4,5, and then for the night, Job 3:6,8, &c.