Albert Barnes Commentary Job 3:23

"[Why is light given] to a man whose way is hid, And whom God hath hedged in?" — Job 3:23 (ASV)

Why is light given to a man whose way is hid? That is, who does not know what way to take, and who sees no escape from the misery that surrounds him.

Whom God hath hedged in. See Notes, Job 1:10. The meaning here is that God had surrounded him as with a high wall or hedge, so that he could not move freely.

Job asks with impatience why light, that is, life, should be given to such a man. Why should he not be permitted to die? This closes the complaint of Job, and the remaining verses of the chapter contain a statement of his sorrowful condition and of the fact that he had now been called to suffer all that he had ever apprehended.

In regard to the questions Job proposed here (Job 3:20–23), we may remark that there was doubtless much impatience on his part, and not a little improper feeling. The language shows that Job was not absolutely sinless; but let us not harshly blame him.

What he says is an statement of feelings that often pass through the mind, though they are not often expressed. Who, in deep and protracted sorrows, has not found such questions rising up in his soul—questions that required all his energy, all his firmness of principle, and all the strength he could gain by prayer, to suppress? To the questions themselves, it may be difficult to give an answer; and it is certain that none of Job’s friends provided a solution to the difficulty. When it is asked why man is kept in misery on earth when he would be glad to be released by death, perhaps the following, among others, may be the reasons:

1. Those sufferings may be the very means that are needed to develop the true state of the soul. Such was the case with Job.

2. They may be the proper punishment of sin in the heart, of which the individual was not fully aware, but which may be distinctly seen by God. There may be pride, the love of ease, self-confidence, ambition, and a desire for reputation. Such appear to have been some of the besetting sins of Job.

3. They are needed to teach true submission and to show whether a man is willing to resign himself to God.

4. They may be the very things that are necessary to prepare the individual to die. At the same time that people often desire death and feel that it would be a relief, it might be to them the greatest possible calamity. They may be wholly unprepared for it. For a sinner, the grave contains no rest; the eternal world provides no repose.

One design of God in such sorrows may be to show the wicked how intolerable future pain will be, and how important it is for them to be ready to die.

If they cannot bear the pains and sorrows of a few hours in this short life, how can they endure eternal sufferings? If it is so desirable to be released from the sorrows of the body here—if it is felt that the grave, with all that is repulsive in it, would be a place of repose—how important is it to find some way to be secured from everlasting pains?

The true place of release from suffering for a sinner is not the grave; it is in the pardoning mercy of God, and in that pure heaven to which he is invited through the blood of the cross.

In that holy heaven is the only real repose from suffering and from sin; and heaven will be all the sweeter in proportion to the extremity of pain that is endured on earth.