And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.
For now, х `ataah (H6258)] - very soon. It surely is worthy of thee, the great God, to pardon, rather than relentlessly to punish me: if so, then pardon me soon, or I shall be dead.
In the morning - not the resurrection; for then Job will be found. It is a figure, from one seeking a sick man early in the morning, and finding he has died in the night. So Job implies that if God does not help him at once it will be too late, because he will be gone. In the Hebrew, "seek me in the morning" is all in one word, and means simply 'seek me early' х shichartaniy (H7836)] from х shaachar (H7837)] to seek early. The same Hebrew, in Proverbs 8:17, is translated, "They that seek me early," not literally 'in the morning,' but seek diligently, as it were getting up early to seek me. The reason why God does not give an immediate sense of pardon to awakened sinners is, they think they have a claim on God for it.
Remarks:
(1) Man's life is a warfare, in which a good fight is to be fought against our spiritual enemies, the flesh, the world, and Satan; if we do not by the grace of God in Christ overcome them, they will overcome and ruin us everlastingly. The time appointed for this warfare is a set time of short duration. How necessary, then, is it that we should "redeem the time," seeing that upon our use, or else neglect and abuse, of the time it depends whether we shall be happy or miserable throughout eternity!
(2) We must expect, and not be impatient under, hardship, trial, and toil, in our earthly pilgrimage, since our high calling here is to be "good soldiers of Jesus Christ" (2 Timothy 2:3), enlisted under Him as the great "Captain of our salvation," who was Himself also "made perfect through sufferings" (Hebrews 2:10).
(3) "Hired" (Matthew 20:7) as labourer into the Lord's vineyard, the believer, while patiently and diligently doing the Lord's work here, "eagerly pants for" the shades of life's evening, and for the premised "reward of his work" (Job 7:2), to be given by Christ at His coming (Hebrews 10:35-37), and "earnestly desires the rest that remaineth for the people of God" (Hebrews 4:9; Revelation 14:13). At the same time he serves God in no "hireling" (Job 7:1) spirit, but regards God Himself as His people's "reward" (Genesis 15:1), and looks for a reward wholly of grace, not of debt or merit.
(4) It is the working of the old corrupt nature which tempts the believer like Job to say, "My days are spent without hope" (Job 7:6). However much besides we lose, so long as we have God, we have all things in Him, and a good hope through grace. But clouds of sorrow often obscure the shining of the Sun of righteousness even on the child of God. And while we sympathize with the suffering patriarch, we must not copy his language. At the same time, his case, even in respect to this impatient language, is not without its profits to us, because it shows the believer, when tempted to entertain hard thoughts of God, that other saints have passed through the same sore temptation. So we may learn "that no man should be moved by these afflictions, for yourselves know," saith Paul (1 Thessalonians 3:3), "that we are appointed thereunto" (cf. also 1 Peter 4:12).
(5) How amazing is the long-suffering of God even with the believer! How often might we expect that the impatient thoughts and hard speeches of the afflicted one would tempt God to swear that the sinner should not enter into His rest. But Christ intercedes for the saint as He did for Simon when Satan desired to have him to sift him as wheat; so, though the believer fall for a time, he is not utterly cast down, because the Lord upholdeth him with His hand. Considerable allowance, however, is to be made for Job in the frequently gloomy views which he took of the future, seeing that he had not as yet the clear shining of the Gospel, which "hath brought life and immortality to light" (2 Timothy 1:10) in our days. It is indeed marvelous, and can only proceed from the direct inspiration of God, that his faith so often breaks out in bright flashes from the gloom which surrounded him. May the Holy Spirit give us grace, with our greater light, never to lose sight of our sure and blessed hope, as Job did at times, and to follow in the steps of his faith wherein soever it stood the test of the fiery ordeal to which it was exposed!