Job 3:22

22 Who rejoice exceedingly, And are glad when they can find the grave?

Job 3:22 Meaning and Commentary

Job 3:22

Which rejoice exceedingly
Or, "which joy till they do skip again", as Mr. Broughton renders it, and to the same purport others F4; are so elated as to skip and dance for joy:

[and] are glad when they can find the grave;
which is to be understood either of those who dig in the earth for hid treasure, such as is laid there by men; when they strike and hit upon a grave where they expect to find a booty; it being usual in former times to put much riches into the sepulchres of great personages, as Sanctius on the place observes; so Hyrcanus, opening the sepulchre of David, found in it three thousand talents of silver, as Josephus F5 relates: or rather this is said of the miserable and bitter in soul, who long for death, and seek after it; who, when they perceive any symptoms of its near approach, are exceedingly pleased, and rejoice at it, as when they observe the decays of nature, or any disorder and disease upon them which threaten with death; for this cannot be meant of the dead carrying to the grave, who are insensible of it, and of their being put into it.


FOOTNOTES:

F4 (lyg yla Myxmvh) "qu laetantur ad choream usque", Schultens, "quasi ad tripudium", Michaelis.
F5 Antiqu. l. 13. c. 8. sect. 4. Ed. Hudson.

Job 3:22 In-Context

20 "Why is light given to him who is in misery, And life to the bitter of soul,
21 Who long for death, but it does not come, And search for it more than hidden treasures;
22 Who rejoice exceedingly, And are glad when they can find the grave?
23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, And whom God has hedged in?
24 For my sighing comes before I eat, And my groanings pour out like water.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.