Job 17

It appears in Job 17 that Job is in a state of utter despair. From the very start of this chapter in verse one we see that Job is wishing to be in the grave. He shuns the mocking of those around him and seems to be making the excuse for his friends that the truth about his suffering has been hidden from them. This seems like a very generous act considering that they are his friends and are sitting there watching him and yet seem to have little compassion. He is at a very low state emotionally and seems to be searching for the meaning of life. He seems to not understand what is going on and is trying to remind himself of good things. In verse nine he talks about the righteous but directly following that in verse ten he is sinking right back into despair. In verse eleven it seems as though he has already completely given up on life. He shows no sign of thinking he will ever come out of this hardship. He goes on in verse thirteen to beautifully explain, despite it's sheer darkness, how the grave is his home. This is a beautiful metaphor showing extreme comfort in death and no desire to live. It seems like Job is just waiting for the day he can die. It is just a matter of time until death overtakes him and he has nothing to live for until then. His life has become all about waiting for death. He has not hope. As we found in verse one he is in utter despair here again in verse thirteen. In verse fourteen Job seems to even give up on righteousness. Though he has been a righteous man it has profited him nothing. This seems to be a conformation that really truly he doesn't care about anything other than to be done with the life he is living. He doesn't even care about righteousness and wants to become as if he were family with corruption. I believe that the worm he is speaking about is death and rottenness of body after death. Even the ugliness involved with a dead body is better, in his mind, to him than living life the way it is now. In verse fifteen he asks the rhetorical question: “Where is my hope?” this isn't really a question as we know that he has no hope at this point. It is only one more beautiful way of pointing towards his hopelessness. In the final verse of this chapter he speaks again of death. This chapter seems to be full of both despair in death and a desperate desire to be dead and not have to live in the horrible existence that Job now finds himself.