Albert Barnes Commentary Job 7:16

"I loathe [my life]; I would not live alway: Let me alone; for my days are vanity." — Job 7:16 (ASV)

I loathe it - I loathe my life as it is now. It has become a burden, and I desire to part with it and to go down to the grave. There is, however, considerable variety in the interpretation of this. Noyes renders it, “I am wasting away.” Dr. Good connects it with the previous verse and understands it to mean, “death in comparison with my sufferings do I despise.” The Syriac translates it as: “it fails me,” that is, I fail, or my powers are wasting away. But the Hebrew word מאס (mâ'as) properly means to loathe and despise (see the note at Job 7:5), and the true idea here is expressed in the common version. The sense is, “my life is painful and offensive, and I wish to die.”

I would not live alway - As Job used this expression, there was doubtless some impatience and an improper spirit. Still, it contains a very important sentiment, and one that may be expressed in the highest state of just religious feeling. A man who is prepared for heaven should not and will not desire to live here always. It is better to depart and to be with Christ, better to leave a world of imperfection and sin, and to go to a world of purity and love. On this text, fully and beautifully illustrating its meaning, the reader may consult a sermon by Dr. Dwight, Sermons, Edinburgh, 1828, vol. ii. 275 and following.

This world is full of temptations and sin; it is a world where suffering abounds. It is the infancy of our being, a place where our knowledge is imperfect, and where the affections of the best are comparatively grovelling.

It is also a world where the good are often persecuted and the bad are triumphant. Consequently, it is better to go to abodes where all these conditions will be unknown. Heaven is a more desirable place to dwell in than the earth.

Indeed, if we had a clear view of that world and proper desires, we would long to depart and be there. Most people, however, live as though they would live here always if they could. Multitudes are forming their plans as if they expected to live this way, building their houses and forming their plans as if life were never to end.

It is the privilege of the Christian, however, to EXPECT to die. Not wishing to live always here, he forms his plans with the anticipation that all which he has must soon be left; and he is ready to loosen his hold on the world the moment the summons comes. So may we live; so living, it will be easy to die. The sentiments suggested by this verse have been so beautifully versified in a hymn by Muhlenberg, that I will copy it here:

I would not live alway; I ask not to stay
Where storm after storm rises dark over the way;
The few fleeting mornings that dawn on us here
Are enough for life’s sorrows - enough for its cheer.
I would not live alway; no, welcome the tomb;
Since Jesus has lain there, I dread not its gloom;
There sweet be my rest, till he bids me arise,
To hail him in triumph descending the skies.
Who, who would live alway, away from his God,
Away from yon heaven, that blissful abode,
Where rivers of pleasure flow over the bright plains,
And the noontide of glory eternally reigns?
Where the saints of all ages in harmony meet,
Their Saviour and brethren transported to greet;
While anthems of rapture unceasingly roll,
And the smile of the Lord is the feast of the soul.

Let me alone - This is an address to God. It means, “Cease to afflict me. Suffer me to live out my little length of life with some degree of ease. It is short at best, and I have no desire that it should always continue.” This sentiment he illustrates in the following verses.

For my days are vanity - They are as nothing and are unworthy the notice of God. Life is a trifle, and I am not anxious that it should be prolonged. Why then should I not be allowed to pass my few days without being thus afflicted and pained?