Am I a sea, or a sea monster, that you put a guard over me?
Parallel Translations
-
Am I a sea, or a sea monster, that you put a guard over me?
-
Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?
-
Am I a sea, or a sea-monster, that Thou settest a watch over me?
Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to Job 7:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Job 7:17 What is man, that you should magnify him, that you should set your mind on him,
- Job 38:6-11 What were its foundations fastened on? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? “Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb, when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness, marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors, and said, ‘You may come here, but no further. Your proud waves shall be stopped here?’
- Lamentations 3:7 He has walled me about, so that I can’t go out. He has made my chain heavy.
- Ezekiel 32:2-3 ‘Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and tell him, “You were likened to a young lion of the nations; yet you are as a monster in the seas. You broke out with your rivers, and troubled the waters with your feet, and fouled their rivers.” The Lord Yahweh says: “I will spread out my net on you with a company of many peoples; and they will bring you up in my net.
- Job 41:1-34 “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook, or press down his tongue with a cord? Can you put a rope into his nose, or pierce his jaw through with a hook? Will he make many petitions to you, or will he speak soft words to you? Will he make a covenant with you, that you should take him for a servant forever? Will you play with him as with a bird? Or will you bind him for your girls? Will traders barter for him? Will they part him among the merchants? Can you fill his skin with barbed irons, or his head with fish spears? Lay your hand on him. Remember the battle, and do so no more. Behold, the hope of him is in vain. Won’t one be cast down even at the sight of him? None is so fierce that he dare stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me? Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Everything under the heavens is mine. “I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, nor his mighty strength, nor his goodly frame. Who can strip off his outer garment? Who will come within his jaws? Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth is terror. Strong scales are his pride, shut up together with a close seal. One is so near to another, that no air can come between them. They are joined to one another. They stick together, so that they can’t be pulled apart. His sneezing flashes out light. His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. Out of his mouth go burning torches. Sparks of fire leap out. Out of his nostrils a smoke goes, as of a boiling pot over a fire of reeds. His breath kindles coals. A flame goes out of his mouth. There is strength in his neck. Terror dances before him. The flakes of his flesh are joined together. They are firm on him. They can’t be moved. His heart is as firm as a stone, yes, firm as the lower millstone. When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid. They retreat before his thrashing. If one attacks him with the sword, it can’t prevail; nor the spear, the dart, nor the pointed shaft. He counts iron as straw; and bronze as rotten wood. The arrow can’t make him flee. Sling stones are like chaff to him. Clubs are counted as stubble. He laughs at the rushing of the javelin. His undersides are like sharp potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge. He makes the deep to boil like a pot. He makes the sea like a pot of ointment. He makes a path shine after him. One would think the deep had white hair. On earth there is not his equal, that is made without fear. He sees everything that is high. He is king over all the sons of pride.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Am not I a poor wretch? what needest thou…
Am not I a poor wretch? what needest thou then to lay so much pain on me?
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 7:12 [Am] I a sea, or a whale,…
Job 7:12 [Am] I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?
Ver. 12. Am I a sea, or a whale] Can I bear all troubles, as the sea receives all waters, and the whale bears all tempests? This (as is well observed) was too bold a speech to God from a creature, for when his hand is on our backs our hands should be upon our mouths; as Psa 39:9, "I was dumb," or (as others read it) I should have been dumb … "because thou didst it." But it is a fair step to perfection and victory when one can kiss God’s rod and say, as Psa 44:17, All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten thee, nor declined from thy way. Job was not without his impatience; but being he was right for the main, and at length bewailed them, God looked not upon him as he doth upon those refractories, who to their impatience add impenitence; and to their passive disobedience, active.
Read full note →
That thou settest a watch over me?] That thou surroundest me with sorrows, and wilt not suffer me to die? Here Job should have set a better watch over his lips, Psa 39:1; Psa 141:3, than thus boisterously to have blustered against God (who is ανυπευθυνος, not to be called to an account for his proceedings) like the raging sea or unruly whirlpool. He should have considered that the best men have somewhat of the sea in them, that must be bounded; and somewhat of the whale, that must be watched and kept under; and that God never lays more upon a man than there is need, though he may think otherwise.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Am I so great, and powerful, and dangerous a…
Am I so great, and powerful, and dangerous a creature, that thou needest to use extraordinary power and violence to rule and subdue me? Am I as fierce and unruly as the sea, which, if thou didst not set a watch over it, and bounds to it, would overwhelm the earth, and destroy mankind upon it? Or am I a vast and ungovernable sea monster, which, if thou didst not restrain it by thy powerful providence, would overturn ships, and destroy men in them, and devour all the lesser fishes? Have I behaved myself towards thee, or towards men, with such rage and violence, as to need such chains to be put upon me? Or is my strength so great as that of the sea, which can endure so many and long storms one after another, and yet can subsist under them and after them? or of a whale, that can laugh at darts and spears? as is said, Job 41:29. No, Lord, thou knowest that I am but a poor weak creature, which thou canst crush with the least touch of thy finger, without these violent and unsupportable pains and miseries; and that I have not been so fierce and boisterous in my carriage as to need or deserve these extraordinary calamities.
That thou settest a watch over me; that thou shouldst guard and restrain me with such heavy and unexampled miseries, lest I should break into rebellion against thee, or into cruelty towards men.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Am I a sea, or a whale,.... Like the…
Am I a sea, or a whale,.... Like the restless sea, to which very wicked, profligate, and abandoned sinners are compared, that are continually casting up the mire and dirt of sin and wickedness; am I such an one? or like the raging sea, its proud waters and foaming waves, to which fierce and furious persecutors and tyrannical oppressors are compared; did I behave in such a manner to the poor and distressed in the time of prosperity? nay, was I not the reverse of all this, kind and gentle to them, took their part, and rescued them out of the hands of those that oppressed them? see Job 29:12; or like its tossing waves, which attempt to pass the bounds that are set to them; am I such an one, that have transgressed the laws of God and then, which are set as boundaries to restrain the worst of men? and am I a whale, or like any great fish in the ocean, the dragon in the sea, the leviathan, the piercing and crooked serpent? an emblem of cruel princes, as the kings of Egypt and Assyria, or antichrist, Isa 27:1; see Psa 74:13. The Targum is,"as the Egyptians were condemned to be drowned in the Red sea, am I condemned? or as Pharaoh, who was suffocated in the midst of it for his sin, since thou settest a watch over me?''or, as another Targum,"am I as the great sea, which is moved to extreme parts, or the leviathan, which is ready to be taken?''or else the sense is, have I the strength of the sea, which subsists, notwithstanding its waves are continually heating, and which carries such mighty vessels upon it, and would bear down all before it, if not restrained? or of a whale, the leviathan, whose flakes of flesh are joined together, and his heart as firm as a stone, and as hard as a piece of the nether millstone, and laughs at the spear, the sword, and the dart? no, I have not; I am a poor, weak, feeble creature, whose strength is quite exhausted, and not able to bear the weight of the chains and fetters of afflictions upon me; or rather the principal thing complained of, and which he illustrates by these metaphors, is, that he was bound with the cords of afflictions, and compassed with gall and travail, and hedged in hereby, that he could not get out, as the church says, Lam 3:5; or could not get released from his sorrows by death, or otherwise; just as the sea is shut up with bars and doors, that its waves can come hitherto, and no further; and as the whale is confined to the ocean, or surrounded with vessels and armed men in them, when about to be taken; and thus it was with Job, and of this he complains:
that thou settest a watch over me? which Jarchi and others understand of Satan; and though in his hands, he was not suffered to take away his life; but besides him may be meant all his afflictions, calamities, and distresses, in which he lay fettered and bound, in which he was shut up as in a prison, and by which he was watched over and guarded; and from which he could make no escape, nor get a release.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain A sea - Am I as fierce and unruly…
A sea - Am I as fierce and unruly as the sea, which, if thou didst not set bounds to it, would overwhelm the earth? Or, am I a vast and ungovernable sea-monster? Which thou must restrain by thy powerful providence. That, &c. - That thou shouldest guard and restrain me with such heavy and unexampled miseries? We are apt in affliction to complain of God, as if he laid more upon us than there is occasion for: whereas we are never in heaviness, but when there is need, nor more than there is need.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 12. Am I a sea, or a whale]…
Verse 12. Am I a sea, or a whale] "Am I condemned as the Egyptians were who were drowned in the Red Sea? or am I as Pharaoh, who was drowned in it in his sins, that thou settest a keeper over me?" Targum. Am I as dangerous as the sea, that I should be encompassed about with barriers, lest I should hurt mankind? Am I like an ungovernable wild beast or dragon, that I must be put under locks and bars? I think our own version less exceptionable than any other hitherto given of this verse. The meaning is sufficiently plain. Job was hedged about and shut in with insuperable difficulties of various kinds; he was entangled as a wild beast in a net; the more he struggled, the more he lost his strength, and the less probability there was of his being extricated from his present situation. The sea is shut in with barriers, over which it cannot pass; for God has "placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it," Jer 5:22. "For thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth;" Ps 104:9. "Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it, and brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors; and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed;" Job 38:8.
Here then is Job's allusion: the bounds, doors, garment, swaddling bands, decreed place, and bars, are the watchers or keepers which God has set to prevent the sea from overflowing the earth; so Job's afflictions and distresses were the bounds and bars which God had apparently set to prevent him from injuring his fellow creatures. At least Job, in his complaint, so takes it. Am I like the sea, which thou hast imprisoned within bounds, ready to overwhelm and destroy the country? or am I like a dragon, which must be cooped up in the same way, that it may not have the power to kill and destroy? Surely in my prosperity I gave no evidence of such a disposition; therefore should not be treated as a man dangerous to society. In this Job shows that he will not refrain his mouth.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Job 7:12. Am I a sea — Am I…
Job 7:12. Am I a sea — Am I as fierce and unruly as the sea, which, if thou didst not set bounds to it, would overwhelm the earth? Or a whale? — Am I a vast and ungovernable sea-monster? that thou settest a watch over me? — That thou must restrain me by thy powerful providence; must shut me up and confine me under such heavy, unexampled, and insupportable sufferings, as these creatures are confined by the shore? “To set a watch over a whale,” says Dr. Dodd, “is certainly a very improper and absurd idea. Hence Houbigant, by a very slight alteration, reads it, Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou raisest a tempest against me? an idea which very well suits with that storm of troubles, wherewith Job was nearly overwhelmed.” We are apt in affliction to complain of God, as if he laid more upon us than there is occasion for: whereas we are never in heaviness but when there is need, nor more than there is need.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Am I a sea? - That is, “am I…
Am I a sea? - That is, “am I like a raging and tumultuous sea, that it is necessary to restrain and confine me? The sense of the verse is, that God had treated him as if he were untamable and turbulent, as if he were like the restless ocean, or as if he were some monster, which could be restrained within proper limits only by the stern exercise of power. Dr. Good, following Reiske, renders this, “a savage beast,” understanding by the Hebrew word ים yâm a sea-monster instead of the sea itself, and then any ferocious beast, as the wild buffalo. But it is clear, I think, that the word never has this meaning. It means properly the sea; then a lake or inland sea, and then it is applied to any great river that spreads out like the ocean. Thus, it is applied both to the Nile, and to the Euphrates; see Isa 11:15, note; Isa 19:15, note. Herder here renders it, “the river and its crocodile,” and this it seems to me is probably the meaning. Job asks whether he is like the Nile, overflowing its banks, and rolling on impetuously to the sea, and, unless restrained, sweeping everything away. Some such flood of waters, and not a savage beast, is undoubtedly intended here.
Or a whale - תנין tannı̂yn. Jerome, cetus - a whale. The Septuagint renders it, δράκων drakōn, a dragon. The Chaldee paraphrases it, “Am I condemned as the Egyptians were, who were condemned and submerged in the Red sea; or as Pharaoh, who was drowned in the midst of it, in his sins, that thou placest over me a guard?” Herder renders it, “the crocodile.” On the meaning of the word, see Isa 13:22, note; Isa 51:9, note. It refers here probably to a crocodile, or some similar monster, that was found either in the Nile or in the branches of the Red sea. There is no evidence that it means a whale. Harmer (Obs. iii. 536, Ed. Lond. 1808) supposes that the crocodile is meant, and observes that “Crocodiles are very terrible to the inhabitants of Egypt; when, therefore, they appear, they watch them with great attention, and take proper precautions to secure them, so as that they should not be able to avoid the deadly weapons the Egyptians afterward make use of to kill them.” According to this, the expression in Job refers to the anxious care which is evinced by the inhabitants of countries where crocodiles abound to destroy them. Every opportunity would be anxiously watched for, and great solicitude would be manifested to take their lives. In countries, too, which were subject to inundation from waters, great anxiety would be evinced. The rising waters would be carefully watched, lest they should burst over all barriers, and sweep away fences, houses, and towns. Such a constant vigilance Job represents the Almighty as keeping over him - watching him as if he were a swelling, roaring, and ungovernable torrent, or as if he were a frightful monster of the deep, whom he was anxious to destroy. In both respects the language is forcible, and in both instances scarcely less irreverent than it is forcible. For a description of the crocodile, see the notes at Job 41.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Sea. Ungovernable and malicious. Some of the ancients looked…
Sea. Ungovernable and malicious. Some of the ancients looked upon the sea as a huge animal, whose breathing caused the tides. (Strabo i.; Solin xxxii.) --- They represented its fury as proverbial. "Fire, the sea, and woman are three evils;" and they call the most savage people sons of Neptune. (Agel. xv. 21.) --- Am I so violent as to require such barriers? Am I capacious, or strong enough to bear such treatment? (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Why dost thou deny me the comfort of care-assuaging…
Why dost thou deny me the comfort of care-assuaging sleep? Why scarest thou me with frightful dreams?
Am I a sea--regarded in Old Testament poetry as a violent rebel against God, the Lord of nature, who therefore curbs his violence (Jer 5:22).
Read full note →
or a whale--or some other sea monster (Isa 27:1), that Thou needest thus to watch and curb me? The Egyptians watched the crocodile most carefully to prevent its doing mischief.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain Fifth long strophe — AN ARRAIGNMENT OF GOD, Job_7:12-21.
Fifth long strophe — AN ARRAIGNMENT OF GOD, Job_7:12-21.
The preceding thoughts upon the vanity of life, and its irretrievable destruction by death, forever sundering man from home and its endearments, arouse Job to violent expostulations and reproaches against God. As God deals so hard with man, and with himself in particular, he declares he will no longer restrain his mouth.
Read full note →
Strophe a. “The first conceivable cause of Job’s troubles — he might be a menace to heaven.” — Davidson and Hitzig. God treats him as if he were a monstrous adversary; whereas, he is at best an insignificant being, whose days are a breath. He asks not for life, but relief, Job_7:12-16.
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
12. Am I a sea — God sets bounds to the sea, and may thus be said to watch over it. The sea was fancied by the Hebrew poet to be in a state of rebellion, and as calling for divine restraint Jer_31:35, etc. Job is not conscious of a similar revolt against the Divine Majesty, and hence he remonstrates against being treated like some wild “monster,” — a term that Virgil applies to the ocean. — AEneid, 5:849. Some suppose Job refers to the river Nile, which Isaiah (Isa_19:5) calls a sea; while Homer calls it ωκωανος, the ocean. The monster, then, would be the crocodile, against which men set guards. The monster (“whale”) Job speaks of bears a name (תנין, Tannin) similar to that in the Egyptian ritual tanem, which designated a horrible serpent, the enemy of light and life. Bunsen gives the snake as one of the hieroglyphic signs for the letter “T.” — Egypt’s Place, etc., 1:568. Tiamat appears in the Assyrian documents as the name of the dragon mistress at Chaos, answering to Thalatth in the fragments of Berosus. — SMITH’S Chaldean Account, etc., pages 14, 99. Notwithstanding, it is more natural to suppose that Job refers to the sea, with its sublime restlessness, ever chafing against its shores. Such a figure would naturally suggest itself to one “full of tossings to and fro.” Job_7:4.
Whale — Tannin. Sea monster. Species not defined. See above.
Watch — A bold conception. The pains and sorrows with which God visits man are heaven’s watch over him.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 12. First, he asks with bitter irony if he…
12. First, he asks with bitter irony if he is the sea or the monster of the sea, that he must be watched and subdued with plagues lest he prove dangerous to the universe? The proud waves of the sea must be confined and a bound which they cannot pass set to them (ch. Job_38:8 seq.; Jer_5:22); has he a wild, untameable nature like this? The monster of the sea here is no real creature such as the crocodile, “sea” being used in the sense of the river. The connexion shews that the reference is to the half poetical, half mythological conception of the raging sea itself as a furious monster, for it is God that sets a watch over it. Studer boldly renders, “am I the sea, or the sea serpent?” His sea serpent, however, is not that of the modern mariner and the mythology of our own day, but that of a more ancient mythology. The serpent of the sea—which was but the wild stormy sea itself—wound himself around the land and threatened to swallow it up, as the serpent of the sky swallowed up the heavenly luminaries (ch. Job_26:12, see on Job_3:8). God sets a watch upon the one, as His hand pierces the other, lest the fixed order of the world be disturbed and land and sea or light and darkness be confused. Job enquires if he must be watched and plagued like this monster lest he throw the world into disorder?
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (12) Am I a sea, or a whale .…
(12) Am I a sea, or a whale . . .?—This very hard verse it seems most reasonable to explain, if we can, from Scripture itself: e.g., in Jer_5:22 we read, “Fear ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea?" The writer was probably familiar with Egypt when the Nile, which is still called the sea, was carefully watched and guarded by dykes that its overflow might not destroy the land. So Job exclaims, “Am I like the sea, or one of its monsters—like that Leviathan which Thou hast made to take his pastime therein, that Thou keepest guard over me and makest me thy prisoner continually, shutting me up on every side so fast in prison that I cannot get free?”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Job now begins his complaint, which is wholly addressed…
Job now begins his complaint, which is wholly addressed to God. The heads of it are:
(1) that he is confined and restrained, allowed no liberty (ver. 12);
Read full note →
(2) that he is terrified by visions in the night (vers. 13, 14);
(3) that he is not "let alone" (ver. 16);
(4) that so much attention is paid to him (vers. 17-19);
(5) that he is made a butt for God"s arrows (ver. 20); and
(6) that he is not pardoned, but relentlessly persecuted (ver. 21).
Am I a sea, or a whale? rather, Am I a seaor a sea-monster? Am I as wild and uncontrollable as the ocean, as fierce and savage as a crocodile or other monster of the deep? Do I not possess reason and conscience, by which I might be directed and guided? Why, then, am I treated as if I were without them? The sea must be watched, lest it break in upon the land; in Egypt there had been many such breaches, as the configuration of the coast, with its narrow belts of sand and its vast lagoons, shows; and crocodiles must be watched, lest they destroy human life; but is there any need that I should be watched, restrained, coerced, hedged in on every side? (Job_3:23) Am I so dangerous? Surely not. Some liberty therefore might have been safely given to me, instead of this irksome restraint. That thou settest a watch over me; or, a guard; i.e. a set of physical impediments, which leave me no freedom of action.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Am I a sea, or a whale, that Thou…
Job_7:12
Am I a sea, or a whale, that Thou settest a watch over me?
Read full note →
Watch and ward
These words are part of that first great cry to heaven that broke from the stricken soul of Job. He seems to expostulate with the Almighty for treating him so harshly. He, a poor, weak, frail mortal, was being handled as firmly and as severely as though he was as boisterous and encroaching as an angry sea; as savage and as dangerous as a monster of the river or the deep. His heart and his flesh cry out against this. I am not going to upbraid Job for this. It is far more the groaning of the flesh than the insurrection of the soul. God knoweth our frame, He remembereth that we are dust. There are great lessons here, nevertheless. God exercises a direct control in the universe His hand hath made, and all things are under a law of restraint. Job himself was conscious of this restraining law. Thou settest a watch over me. Every individual has to bend to this superior will; is held in check by this unseen hand. No man can accomplish the full gratification of his desires, can work out the full execution of his plans. He is held back by the force of public sentiment; by the power of conscience; by lack of capacity; by the force of circumstance; and by the direct interposition of the will of God. Jobs words imply perplexity, doubt, question, and distress because of this restraint. You and I know his line of feeling and of thought very well, we fret and murmur within the chain that binds us, the fetters that restrain us, the ropes that hold us in. There are good reasons why man should be watched even more closely, reined in more firmly, than anything in the material universe beside. Man possesses a higher nature, and sustains a nearer relationship to God. He is the offspring of God. Man is the only being that has a capacity to break through the lawful boundaries and limits of his place and sphere. He can overleap the laws of moral being, and become a curse to himself and to his kind. He has even a tendency to deviate and rush across the true line of his being, the just and righteous limitations of his nature. Nothing but man in all nature has a tendency to get out of his place. And man is also the only creature capable of definite improvement under the control and superintendence of God. It is a grand thing then, a noble privilege, a gracious mercy that God sets a watch over us, puts us under special ward, and makes His providence so that all things shall work together for good. And our true wisdom lies in this, that we seek, and suffer, and yield ourselves to Gods wise and good control. If we will, His government of us shall be the law of love, the law of life. Self-will is our peril. To take our own course is, in the most serious sense, to take our own life. Thy will be done. That is the way of wisdom. Love holds the reins of government, and God is Guardian, Controller, Governor, and Guide. (Good Company.)
Man marked and watched
Certain men are not only plagued by conscience and dogged by fear, but the providence of God seems to have gone out against them. Just when the man had resolved to have a bout of drinking, he fell sick of a fever, and had to go to the hospital. He was going to a dance; but he became so weak that he had not a leg to stand upon. He was forced to toss to and fro on the bed, to quite another tune from that which pleases the ballroom. He had yellow fever and was long in pulling round. God watched him, and put the skid on him just as he meant to have a breakneck run downhill. The man gets better, and he says to himself, I will have a good time now. But then he is out of berth, and perhaps he cannot get a ship for months, and he is brought down to poverty. Dear me! he says, everything goes against me. I am a marked man; and so he is. Just when he thinks that he is going to have a fair wind, a tempest comes on and drives him out of his course, and he sees rocks ahead. After a while he thinks, Now I am all right. Jack is himself again, and piping times have come. A storm hurries up; the ship goes down, and he loses all but the clothes he has on his back. He is in a wretched plight: a shipwrecked mariner, far from home. God seems to pursue him, even as He did Jonah. He carries with him misfortune for others, and he might well cry, Am I a sea, or a whale, that Thou settest a watch over me? Nothing prospers. His tacklings are loosed; he cannot well strengthen his mast; his ship leaks; his sails are rent; his yards are snapped; and he cannot make it out. Other people seem to get on, though they are worse than he is. Time was when he used to be lucky too; but now he has parted company with success, and carries the black flag of distress. He is driven to and fro by contrary winds; he makes no headway; he is a miserable man, and would wish that the whole thing would go to the bottom, only he dreads a place which has no bottom, from which there is no escape, if once you sink into it. The providence of God runs hard against him, and thus he sees himself to be a watched man. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Man magnified in view of Gods providence
This is an expression of wonder, petulance, and expostulation at the strangeness of Gods dealings. They seemed to Job unsuitable and disproportionate. Viewing himself as the object of them, he was amazed and disaffected at their character and scale. He deemed such an exertion of force, such a stretch of observation, such an expense of care and agency, unmeet, and wasted on so inconsiderable and impotent an object. Surely it is unnecessary and unbecoming condescension in Thee to stoop at such an expense of care and effort, to repress his designs and chastise his faults! Contempt and derision are alone suited to the case of such a puny creature . . . Man is treated by God as though he were a thing of magnitude, consequence, might, and value. The providence of God magnifies man, proves him to be an object of wonderful interest, concern, and solicitude to his Maker. Herein is a mystery. Why am I thus? Wherein does the value consist? None of His stupendous and potent creatures has cost Him, and yet does cost Him so much as poor, feeble, short-lived I, who, if blotted out of creation, would make a void too small to be felt or seen. But God measures values not by material volume, or physical efficiency, but by likeness to Himself, spiritual furniture, length of being. Then, since Thou hast made me thus, I marvel not that Thou dost care for me thus. I marvel not that by so many precautions, and by such frequent checks and corrections, Thou restrainest me from ruining so precious a substance, and filling with wretchedness so durable a being. The discovery of this invisible value may serve to explain the fact of Gods vigilance and jealousy over man, but it does not account for the methods in which they are exhibited. The character of Gods providence over man is well described in the phrase of Job, Thou settest a watch over me, which denotes constant distrust, observation, and vigilance, an attitude of suspicion and alarm. Can this be a true picture of the way in which the great God treats feeble man? I should expect more summary and decisive measures. Yet God saves man, as it were, by stratagem, with much painstaking and multiplied endeavours. Here a new phase of human greatness presents itself. Man is not only a spiritual and immortal creature, but a being of will, a voluntary agent, the arbiter of his own destiny. Liberty is a dangerous thing, involving fearful hazards. The control of a wise, good despot might be much safer. God can only set a watch over me, and eye me with affectionate solicitude. And surely He spares no expense to persuade me to choose aright, and impress me with a sense of my own importance, and of the vastness of the stake dependent on my choice. Then, brethren, esteem and treat yourselves as your God esteems and treats you. So respected and cared for by God, begin to respect and care for yourselves. (R. A. Hallam, D. D.)
Am I a sea, or a whale?
Job was in great pain when he thus bitterly complained.
I. I have, first, to say that some men seem to be specially tracked and watched by God. We hear of persons being shadowed by the police, and certain people feel as if they were shadowed by God; they are mysteriously tracked by the great Spirit, and they know and feel it. All men are really surrounded by God. He is not far from every one of us. In Him we live, and move, and have our being. Some are singularly aware of the presence of God. Certain of us never were without a sense of God. With others Gods watch is seen in a different way.
1. They feel that they are watched by God, because their conscience never ceases to rebuke them.
2. In some this watching has gone farther, for they are under solemn conviction of sin.
3. Certain men are not only plagued by conscience and dogged by fear, but the providence of God seems to have gone out against them. Yes, and God also watches over many in the way of admonition. Wherever they go, holy warnings follow them.
II. Secondly, we notice that they are very apt to dislike this watching. Job is not pleased with it. Do you know what they would like?
1. They want liberty to sin. They would like to be let loose, and to be allowed to do just as their wild wills would suggest to them.
2. They wish also that they could be as hard of heart as many others are.
3. Men do not like this being surrounded by God--this wearing the bit and kicking strap--because they would drop God from their thoughts.
4. Once more, there are some who do not like to be shadowed in this way, because they want to have their will with others. There are men--and seamen to be found among them--who are not satisfied with being ruined themselves, but they thirst to ruin others.
III. The third part is this--that this argument against the Lords dealings is a very bad one. Job says, Am I a sea, or a whale, that Thou settest a watch over me?
1. To argue from our insignificance is poor pleading; for the little things are just those against which there is most need to watch. If you were a sea, or a whale, God might leave you alone; but as you are a feeble and sinful creature, which can do more hurt than a sea, or a whale, you need constant watching.
2. After all, there is not a man here who is not very like a sea, or a sea monster in this respect, that he needs a watch to be set over him. A mans heart is as changeable and as deceitful as the sea.
3. I shall now go further, and show that, by reason of our evil nature, we have became like the sea.
(1) This is true in several ways; for, first, the sea is restless, and so is our nature.
(2) Let us say, next, that the sea can be furious and terrible, and so can ungodly men. When a man is in a fury, what a wild beast he can be!
(3) Think, again, how unsatisfied is the sea. It draws down and swallows up stretches of land and thousands of tons of cliff, but it is not filled up.
(4) Human nature is like the sea for mischief. How destructive is the ocean, and how unfeeling! It makes widows and orphans by the thousand, and then smiles as if it had done nothing!
(5) We must not forget that we are less obedient to God than the sea is. Nothing keeps back the sea from many a shore but a belt of sand; and though it rages in storm and tempest, the sea goes back in due time and leaves the sand for children to play upon. It knows its bounds and keeps them. A man will go against wind and tide in his determination to be lost. O sea! O sea! thou art but a child with thy father, as compared with the wicked and rebellious heart of man! It is a bad argument, then. We need to be looked after.
IV. Last of all, I would remark that all they complained of was sent in love. They said, Am I a sea, or a whale, that Thou settest a watch over me? but if they had known the truth they would have blessed God with all their hearts for having watched over them as He has done.
1. First, Gods restraint of some of us has kept us from self-ruin. If the Lord had not held us in we might have been in prison; we might have been in the grave; we might have been in hell! Who knows what would have become of us?
2. God will not always deal roughly with you. Perhaps tonight He will say His last sharp word. Will you yield to softer means? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 7:12 The sea monster (Hebrew yam) and dragon (Hebrew…
7:12 The sea monster (Hebrew yam) and dragon (Hebrew tannin) represent chaotic opposition to God’s orderly creation. In Canaanite mythology, Yam was the primordial sea god and Tannin was a sea monster (Jer 51:34) or a mythological deity of chaos (Ps 74:13-14). This kind of chaos is also represented in Job as Leviathan (Job 3:8; Isa 27:1) or Rahab (Job 9:13; 26:12; Isa 51:9). The Lord is sovereign over the sea and all that it represents (Job 26:12; 38:8-11; Ps 89:9-10; Jer 5:22).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.